The outfits thing is a little contentious, but Mario only using the new outfit post-Mario 3 just doesn’t line up with other story points, namely Peach’s character arc, which to me seems like stronger evidence, especially since Mario USA did still happen while Mario was sleeping, and he explicitly was wearing his pajamas in the real world based on the game’s ending. I haven’t played BS USA yet, maybe that will change my view on the first game’s placement. I think too many people are willing to write off the events of certain Mario games (USA and 3, as you mentioned, as well as the Paper Mario games), probably because so many people are willing to write off the Mario canon as a whole, which is disappointing, especially when those events are still very much referenced elsewhere.

@@SpoilerGoblin so true so true on people writing them off. As for the outfits we do know there is the whole thing about the outfits being literal but yeah. True on the Dream Thing but there is the whole manual thing alongside the Dream World and Dream Depot establishing dream realms are literal.

Yeah, the manual makes things a little weird. I think I mentioned that story in the video, the best explanation I have for both the manual and the ending working is that the picnic adventure with the cave was, in itself, part of the dream in the first place, just separating the regular dreamscape these characters dream in from Subrosia. But that's kind of a weird reading.