#nkdl

Wuh oh, time to head back in time to Kirby's Dream Land for a bit to toss in an extra "character", Kirby's Warp Star! Now you may be wondering, is Warp Star really a character? And in the past, I'd say "probably not, but maybe?" But after Kirby & the Forgotten Land released, my feelings on the matter have changed! This isn't spoilers for Forgotten Land mind you, but rather just in reference to the very beginning cutscene, which depicts the Warp Star in a really interesting manner. In that cutscene, the Warp Star seems really, uh.... how do I put this.... alive? Sentient? Kirby and the Warp Star seem to directly communicate with each other, and the star even gestures at him! Like a funny person! It's very cute and a very fun little personification of the Warp Star. Kirby's exact control over the Warp Star has been really questionable in the past. As far as I'm aware, the only times Kirby has been able to directly summon the Warp Star himself is with a literal cell phone. I think Kirby and the Warp Star have a very specific bond that makes the star a very faithful partner, and the idea that the Warp Star has a mind of it's own makes their relationship even more interesting! So I'm glad Forgotten Land kinda shook off my doubts from the past (all the way back to the original version of this project, in fact) and encouraged me to draw the Warp Star as it deserves. Maybe we'll get to know more about the Warp Star in the future! Now that I've drawn the Warp Star though, you may want to ask "hey, what about the 3D Warp Star? What about the other Air Ride Machines? Are they all sentient? Are you going to draw all of them? Huh?" Those are all valid questions, and to that I must say- oh look at the time, gotta go!

Kracko Jr. has always been one of my favorite Kirby characters, and I’m not sure exactly why. It’s charmingly simple, I guess. A floating eyeball with 4 spherical clouds orbiting around it. Kracko Jr.’s name implies that it’s the offspring of the larger Kracko, but that’s not true! Kracko Jr. actually is Kracko, a weaker form of him to be specific. Kracko Jr. is often encountered before fighting against the real Kracko. Sometimes it’s as a mid-boss, like in his debut in Kirby’s Dream Land. Sometimes, Kracko Jr. just appears as an obstacle leading up to the Kracko fight, like in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. Kracko Jr. has his fair share of unique attacks, even having the ability to throw bombs in some appearances. It’s been a while since he’s been in a mainline Kirby game, but Kracko Jr.’s more recent appearance was as a boss in Kirby’s Blowout Blast, so we’ve at least seen Jr. moving around in 3D!

And here we are! Our first final boss in the entire series, and- it’s a big funny penguin? The self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land, King Dedede is a very interesting character from very early on into the Kirby series. In his debut, he’s the main antagonist, having stolen Dream Land’s food supply and Sparkling Stars, lead by his greed. Not very nice! King Dedede seems to continue his bad acts in Kirby’s Adventure, after he destroys the very important Star Rod, but as it turns out, he only did so to protect Dream Land from the evil scheme of Nightmare, who planned to use the Star Rod as an outlet to spread his nightmares to the entire planet! It only took two games, and King Dedede is already framed as a good guy! Isn’t that cool! It took forever for Bowser to do anything nice. Besides being the antagonist in the occasional spin-off, King Dedede would act as Kirby’s ally, sometimes reluctantly, for the entire series from that point onwards. I think that’s a really fun role for the first game’s “Bad Guy” to take in the subsequent games. He would be misinterpreted as the bad guy again in Kirby’s Dream Land 2 and 3, but it’s revealed in both that he was possessed by Dark Matter, a strange group of entities we’ll get to later. This happens again early on in Kirby 64, but this time, the King actually joins your party for the rest of the adventure! I definitely find Kirby 64′s version of Dedede to be my favorite for that reason. He’s a main playable character in Return to Dream Land, he’s kidnapped by Taranza in Triple Deluxe after having been mistaken for the Hero of Dream Land (the real hero being Kirby of course), he gets cloned in Planet Robobot, and turns extremely buff in Star Allies. King Dedede is easily one of Kirby’s most interesting characters, with personality to spare, and I always look forward to what he’s going to end up doing next.

Waddle Dee is just wonderful. Truly a shining example of the word wonderful. The most common creature found in the Kirby series, Waddle Dees can be seen everywhere and doing anything. Driving a car, chopping down trees, swinging on ropes, holding on to dandelions, riding in wagons, paddling in boats, and so on. They’re often depicted as the main underlings of King Dedede, but I don’t assume that’s the case for every Waddle Dee. There doesn’t seem to be any clear divide between what a “person” is on Planet Popstar, but Waddle Dee is the most common species used to be doing “people” things. Except in the anime where Cappies are the more common people and Waddle Dees are just these weird little things that just kinda do whatever you tell them to do. No wonder there’s so many of them working for Dedede! Anyways, this is far from the last time I’ll have to draw a Waddle Dee during this series, as they’re certainly the record holder for most variants of a Kirby enemy. I’m privileged to be able to draw this thing as much as I can.

Certainly one of Kirby’s most commonly encountered, and yet still well equipped foes. Sir Kibble is a strange creature that seems to be wearing a suit of armor, but it seems like it might just be the suit of armor? Peering into the visor of Sir Kibble’s helmet is to simply stare at nothing, and their gloved hands aren’t connected to anything. Certainly a charming mystery at least. Sir Kibble is one of many weapon users in the Kirby universe, although Kibble is certainly a unique one. He has the ability to remove the blade on top of his head and throw it as a projectile! This cutter returns back to him, and sometimes he’s even smart enough to JUMP over the returning blade if it means it has a better chance to hit Kirby! Despite not giving any abilities in his debut, Sir Kibble would be one of the few enemies in Kirby’s Dream Land to give a Copy Ability in a later game, in this case the Cutter ability, which allows Kirby to ALSO throw a blade that he takes off of his head. Sir Kibble is also the playable Helper for the Cutter ability in both Kirby Super Star and Kirby Star Allies.

Finally we arrive at the Final Boss of Kirby’s Dream Land, King De- wait a minute who the hell is this? WELL, as it turns out, despite drawing Koozer months ago, AND posting them to my twitter, I guess I forgot to post them here? Or maybe I deleted it on accident? I have no clue, but here they are again anyways! I should still give my thoughts on Koozer, which is that they’re very weird in a good way. Clearly related to Bronto Burt, as they do appear as Burt’s Extra Game counterpart, but with a beak! That’s a pretty odd change between the two characters, making Koozer look very strange in comparison. Koozer is definitely very cute though, with a much calmer expression than Bronto Burt usually has. Koozer is one of the few Extra Game enemies to reappear in Revenge of the King in Kirby Super Star Ultra, which is good news.

Absolute ICON. Scarfy definitely seems to be one of the most recognizable Kirby enemies to a more general audience. Or at least I think they are. Their unique enemy gimmick is probably part of that. Scarfy is an enemy that just kinda floats around, and doesn’t usually directly attack you. (There are exceptions.) Scarfy’s main gimmick, however, is that you can’t inhale them! They’re not invincible, but Kirby just can’t eat them no matter how hard he tries. Despite that, using the Copy Copy Ability from Kirby Super Star DOES allow you to scan them, and they give the Crash ability! Sure, you can’t inhale them, but what happens if you try? Well.....