Last week, a new item for New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe was unveiled which created a brand new character in Mario lore. The power-up, called the Super Crown, appears to transform Toadette into a Princess Peach fusion called Peachette - and understandably, many Nintendo fans were utterly flummoxed. Is Peachette an entirely new character that only appears with the crown? Or is the crown able to transform any Mario character into a Peach version?

Until yesterday, I naively thought this was the end of the debate, until I spotted a strange new fan creation appear on my Twitter feed. At first glance, it looked like Peach - same hair, a dress, that cutesy Mario art style. But on closer inspection, I noticed some things seemed a little off. Horns, spikes, a tail?

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Bowsette, as the internet has named her, is a character merge inspired by the idea of Bowser using the Super Crown to transform into a Peach version. She appears to have originated from the work of artist aykk92, who sketched an amusing comic strip imagining a spurned Mario and Bowser finding love using the Super Crown.

The Super Crown's some spicy new Mario lore pic.twitter.com/7DQe6UXvLQ — haniwa (@ayyk92) September 19, 2018

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The internet has fallen in love with this unlikely combination, and seemingly overnight, artists have created thousands upon thousands of fanart pieces dedicated to the turtle princess. As I write this, #Bowsette is trending on Twitter with over 150,000 mentions (and that's not including the Japanese hashtag). Be careful when you explore #Bowsette, by the way - even if you appreciate all the Bowsette fanart, your boss may not.

#bowsette

fack shes cute can we all just have a silent moment to thank original artist pic.twitter.com/070CBokNut — ??/Hood (@hood_x_art) September 24, 2018

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What's interesting about the trend is the sheer variety of Bowsettes and the creative scenarios in which she appears. Some depictions present her as a more humanoid character; others give her a full shell and tail. Many have imagined Bowsette as a lesbian character - which totally makes sense, given Bowser is always trying to hook up with Princess Peach. Could this be the start of a new Nintendo power couple?

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hopping on the #bowsette bandwagon because she's literally all my favorite aesthetics put into one and wrow :'3 #ArtistOnTwitter pic.twitter.com/pmOHqsKXRs — bk (@barakoodra) September 23, 2018

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Personally, I like the idea of Bowsette as a new feisty and (literally) fiery female character for the world of Mario. Also, can you imagine the ramifications for Mario lore? That plumber must be so confused right now.

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In the midst of all this, I'm just wondering how this is going down at Nintendo HQ. The company has already had an eventful couple of weeks on social media due to Stormy Daniels'...erm, interesting description of Trump's penis. Don't be cowards Nintendo - give us Bowsette!