Issue 201

Hooded Pitohui

The Bird With Batrachotoxin
Core 'Shroom Staff
Awards Committee
Poll Committee
Pronouns
He/him
MarioWiki
Hooded Pitohui
Happy holidays, all you readers of The 'Shroom! As strange as it may feel to file issue 200 away in the archives, it's time to move forward to issue 201. You'll notice many of the aesthetic changes are carrying forward, though!

This is where I'd usually tell you about our holiday theme, but we already did the big milestone blow-out last month, so, this year, we've opted for a lighter, more relaxed December issue. We've strung up the lights, we put those shiny End-of-the-Year Awards plaques out next to the candy bowl, and we're all curling up by the fire, unfolding the paper in our hands and settling in for a long, lazing weekend read. Won't you join us?

Speaking of joining us, a once-a-year opportunity arrives! That's right, as of today, the Director Election begins to determine who will lead The 'Shroom through 2024! As a reminder, Waluigi Time and I are not running, so don't hesitate to jump right in, because The 'Shroom could use you! You have until January 13th to post a campaign, so if you've ever thought about stepping into the role of Director or Sub-Director, put your name on the page with a plan for the year (it doesn't need to be big or complex!). With the big milestone in the rearview mirror and a lot of under-the-hood changes to make things easier to swap around, it's a great time to get your feet wet and learn the ropes of the position!

Everything else announcements-wise, you can read in the Staff Notes. We've got a good selection of sections for you to read, including a new Mario section in Critic Corner and a game you'll find to be quite interactive in Fun Stuff, so go on and enjoy the issue and the holidays! Have a happy new year!
 
merry christmas adam (the day before christmas eve), we got you all 32 picross puzzles! once again, SUPER major shout-out to Espyo from Pikipedia for creating the original Pikcross applet this was modified from, we cannot stress enough that this wouldn't have been anywhere near as cool as it turned out to be without him graciously open-sourcing the entire thing.

a bit of fun trivia: originally we wanted to sneak in the picross puzzle from the objectively terrible PC game "Spiderman: The Sinister Six"... unfortunately, the "hard" mode version is 10x10. that's a little too small for what we were doing. and um, the "easy" version has spider-man not, in fact, solve picross, he smashes it with a wrecking ball. while this is objectively hilarious, it's also not a puzzle in the first place! so, in the interest of keeping a fairly consistent difficulty curve, you got the Ominous Secret Obscure References you got instead. sorry to all 3 Spiderman: The Sinister Six for PC knowers across the entire Mario Wiki userbase. ;P
 
Thank you for the birthday shout out!
 
Just finished reading this issue of The 'Shroom, and I really enjoyed it! Really loved everything the issue had to offer, and I also wanna thank the 'Shroom Staff for presenting me with the Golden Mario Award, the Diamond Bowser Award and the Golden Toad Award in the End Of The Year Awards! It makes me happy to see that my efforts for The 'Shroom are being recognized, and much like being nominated during this year's Community Awards, being presented with these End Of The Year Awards gives me new energy to continue writing for The 'Shroom in 2024, so once again, my gratitude goes out to the 'Shroom Staff for this! All in all, this was a really fun issue to read through, and I can't wait what the first 'Shroom issue of 2024 will hold! :D
 
Yoooooooo I won two awards! They must be getting my name mixed up with someone else's again. In all seriousness, It made my day to see my writing is good enough to win stuff. I'm looking forward to charge into the new year with all the energy I can muster to deliver some Delicious awesome new travel guides.
 
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