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"I have absolutely no idea what's going on." |
The Great Beyond is the term used by in-series characters to the real world existing outside of their video game universes. It was first mentioned in "SMG4: Mario and The God Box" by SMG1 when he explained that it was the dwelling place of the mysterious God Box. It serves as a pivotal location in the SMG4 Cosmology Lore, more specifically the Revelations Arc and SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS.
In-universe legends refer to it as the "place in between places", a magical dimension that connects all universes together which can be accessed through interdimensional transport like a Guardian Pod.
Specifically, it's limited to the Glitch Productions office in Sydney, Australia. It's where the "unfathomable being" and creator of the video game multiverse, Luke Lerdwichagul, keeps his laptop housing Mario's universe, as well as where the God Box itself exists; a cardboard box holding all of Luke's broken hard drives which contains corrupted game universes and the anti-memes.
History[]
Pre-series[]
Long ago, when the memes in SMG0 and Fred's universe became corrupted, SMG0's Guardian Pod fell from the sky. Seeing this as a miracle, SMG0 entered the Guardian Pod and used it to enter the Great Beyond to meet the God Box, which he makes a prayer to so that everything would go back to normal. The God Box responded by creating the artificial meme guardian, Niles, who would help SMG0 create the Internet Graveyard.
After a while however, Niles begins to sense that something is wrong with him after seeing disturbing visions of his eldritch form and the God Box's presence invading of his mind. He journeys to the Great Beyond using SMG0's Guardian Pod to confront his creator and stop the visions and demands that it fixes him but the God Box only worsens the corruption it has on its creation by influencing him that he needs to make their universe "perfect" and to do that, it grants him more power which only makes the corruption even worse.
With this power and his mind now tainted by the God Box's power, Niles forces a rift open between the Great Beyond and the Mage universe where he attempts to perfect the game but instead fails after accidentally striking Fred with this new power, killing him and reducing him to a texturless stick figure and dooming their universe.
Despite the loss of their avatar, Niles still believes he can create the perfect universe and forcibly possesses SMG0 using the corruptive power of the God Box to become an interdimensional virus with enough power to recreate their universe: Eldritch SMG0. With this done, Niles (as Eldritch SMG0) uses SMG0's Guardian Pod to escape their dead universe and find a new avatar to create his "perfect universe" with, kicking off the events of the entire Cosmology Lore and the series as a whole.
Pre-Genesis Arc[]
Super Mario 64 Bloopers: ÐД gℓђ[]
At the end of the video, Toad teleports to Luke's room and he gave Toad a two thumbs up.
SM64: Mario In Real Life!? (200 Vid Special)[]
"The Great Beyond" makes an early appearance through two older videos far before the The SMG4 Cosmology Lore began.
When Mario stumbled across SMG4's computer which was left on at night, he accidentally created a portal which dragged him and his friends into The Great Beyond, where they met multiverse creator, Luke Lerdwichagul. They are eventually sent back to their own world after Mario and Luke figure out how to recreate the portal.
Mario In Real Life: Mario Monster Mash (700k Special!)[]
Mario sneaks into The Great Beyond again to steal food from Luke. He tries to defend himself using a magic wand he stole from Wizard Rock in SMG4 Universe but only succeeded in spawning a bunch of monsters, forcing him and Luke to team up to stop them.
SSENMODNAR DELUXE - 1 MILLION SUB SPECIAL[]
Dr. Eggman uses a dab gun into Luke in the Great Beyond.
SSENMODNAR 12 - STOLEN SPAGHETTI EDITION[]
Luke uses a giant Mario to make a Sesame Street parody.
Genesis Arc[]
SMG4: The Other Universe[]
Flashback of the Great Beyond was seen in SMG1's Guardian Pod memories where Luke disconnected SMG1's Guardian Pod with Zero's severed arm and Luke downloaded Project64 to connect SMG3's and SMG4's Guardian Pods into Mario universe.
Revelations Arc[]
SMG4: Absolute Betrayal[]
Melony (under Niles' control) creates a portal in the sky revealing The Great Beyond. SMG1 and SMG2 freak out as they realize that they're looking at the Great Beyond. Niles-possessed Melony and the Box Club leader then enter the spaceship made from the memes to go through the portal.
SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS[]
Continuing from the previous episode, the Niles-possessed Melony and the Box Club Leader go through the Great Beyond to reach the God Box. When the God Box is approached, the surrounding area shifts from real life to a more cosmic appearance. the SMGs and Mario later go through the Great Beyond as well and have a close encounter with an enormous looking Luke Lerdwichagul who never notices them and instead asks why there is an ominous red light coming out of his box of broken PC parts (revealing the nature of the God Box) before concluding that there's nothing to worry about.
After Mario, SMG3, SMG4, and the now free Melony escape the exploding God Box, they fly through the Great Beyond, grab the unconscious SMG1 and SMG2 as they escape and return to their world. After the movie ended, the video cuts to the Great Beyond as it appears in real life, showing the God Box on fire. Luke asks why it's on fire before realizing that he doesn't need it and kicking it away before beginning the ending advertisement.
Post-Revelations Arc[]
SMG4: Mario Steals Your Liver[]
SMG4 mentions the fact that 1up mushrooms can do anything that the writer wants them to, causing Meggy to look at the screen with her eyes extending out of Kevin's laptop.
Trivia[]
- As of the Revelations Arc, the nature of the real world compared to the SMG4 world was changed. Before the Revelations Arc, Mario was at least plush sized when compared to Luke. In SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS, the cast are practically ant-sized in the real world.