pull a yellow toad
To pull a Yellow Toad is to exclude a character from a sequel, usually being replaced by someone else. No one ever uses this character, but it was still nice to have them as an option, and their absence in the sequel is immediately noticed. This term originates from the transition from NSMBW to SMM2, where Yellow Toad is replaced by Toadette. It is less common, but a commonly used character can also have a Yellow Toad pulled on them, such as when Blue Toad was replaced by Toadette in the transition from NSMBW to NSMBUD.
Another instance was when Smash Bros. pulled a Yellow Toad on Lucas going from Brawl to Smash 4. At least 90% of Smash players can agree that Ness is overall better, but it was still nice to have him there, even if it meant I couldn't play as Ness for a while in SSE. In Smash 4, when it said I unlocked all the characters, I immediately noticed Lucas was gone. I didn't notice that Snake, Ice Climbers, and Pokémon Trainer (replaced by Charizard) were gone, so I wouldn't say a Yellow Toad was pulled on them, I would just consider them that irrelevant. However, a character having a Yellow Toad pulled on them is subjective, as I'm sure Hideo Kojima noticed Snake's absence in Smash 4. Also however, you can't pull a Yellow Toad on someone who isn't usually there, such as Blue from the Pokémon series, whose replacement gets replaced every game. This also doesn't apply when these games without this character count as an alternate timeline or a side series. The reason the term is "pull a Yellow Toad" and not "pull a Lucas" is because my immediate realization of Yellow Toad's absence in SMM2 is when I coined the term, despite Yellow Toad having had a Yellow Toad pulled on him after Lucas. Yes, I invented the phrase, so no, it technically doesn't exist, but my brother understands what I mean when I say it. This phrase was coined in late July or early August of 2019, sometime after my brother got SMM2 for his birthday.
pull a yellow toad by justsomerandomkidwholikesgames December 31, 2020
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