Talking Flower

About

Talking Flowers are characters that appear in the 2023 platformer video game Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The characters are orange flowers that talk to the player when they approach, commenting on the player's actions and providing hints. In late October 2023, following the release of the game, the character achieved virality in memes and fan art online.

Origin

On June 21st, 2023, the Nintendo video game Super Mario Bros. Wonder was unveiled during a Nintendo Direct broadcast (shown below).^[1] The presentation introduced Talking Flowers, background characters in the game that comment on players' actions, cheer them up and sometimes provide hints.

Onward and upward!

On June 21st, 2023, the earliest meme format to feature a Talking Flower, That Goomba Looks So Serene, was spawned. On that day, X^[2] user @FunnyBoiJuilios posted the earliest found edit that edited in a scream sound as Elephant Mario kicked a Goomba, receiving over 200 likes in five months (shown below).

On October 20th, 2023, Super Mario Bros. Wonder was released for Nintendo Switch. On October 21st, X^[3] user @ramenoranges posted an image of a Talking Flower, commenting that Nintendo managed to make a That Just Happened character that wasn't annoying (shown below). The post received over 2,100 reposts and 35,000 likes in three weeks.

Spread

In the following days after the game's release, memes about Talking Flowers and humorous fan art of them went viral on X. For example, on October 21st, 2023, X^[4] user @wandydoodles posted a meme that received over 3,500 reposts and 22,000 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). Later that day, artist @M1STERRYAN posted a drawing of Mario holding a Talking Flower's mouth shut, which received over 1,300 reposts and 14,000 likes on X^[5] in the same period (shown below, right).

The line "love that sound," said by the flowers when the player walks near music blocks, achieved particular recognition in memes. For example, on October 24th, 2023, X^[6] user @_scoobandshag posted a drawing of a Talking Flower saying "love that sound" inside a public toilet, which received over 3,300 reposts and 27,000 likes in two weeks (shown below, left).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References