Ask Guru Gobbo #159

This is the perfect question to open up things. Back in the day, I'd probably have said something silly, along the lines of I'll show you a cannon! This remark, of course, followed up with some sort of old timey artillery being fired at said questioner. And, sure, I could do that, but such is more befitting the Mailbag. This here is Ask the Kirby Gurus, and I should properly address this inquiry.

The answer -- to everyone's surprise, if there are any that remember how I handled things in the past -- is yes. That's right, the whole Star Warrior thing, coming to Dream Land in a spaceship a la the Man of Steel, it's all canon. That much cannot be denied; however, where this story applies is where the pondering truly begins.

For you see, little Kratos (you're little now, don't care if you happen to be full grown), there is little that cannot be considered canon. In television, this typically will be dream episodes (or seasons, as the case sometimes is) that are slated as "non-canon". Rarer occurrences would included one-offs and holiday specials, most notably those of being The Simpsons with their annual Tree House of Horror and, I dunno, the Star Wars Holiday Special?

Now, the Kirby franchise doesn't have much that falls into these categories, although some of the non-platforming games might, such as Pinball Land. However, to my knowing, every episode of the Kirby animated series is canon. Most all of the Kirby video games are canon. The two simply represent a take on one property. When one transverse into multiple media forms, being video games and television, there is the strong possibility of taking a "clean slate" mentality and starting anew.

There is no better example of this than Marvel's Uncanny X-Men, and a lot of comic books, really, nowadays. X-Men is a long running comic book series that has had several cartoons and a good few movies made. While they are all the same X-Men, at the core, there are varied nuances between each of the forms. The same character archetypes are present, they perform roughly the same tasks, follow the general time line of events, etc. Marvel, in fact, when one step further to categorize all these different versions by having all of them exist at the same, just in different universes throughout the multiverse. The standard comics take place in Earth-616, the movies in Earth-199999, and many more beyond count.

Kirby is no different, where there is a distinct "game version" and a separate "animated version". But, one could ask, why is it that things from the animated series appeared in the games, like King Dedede's monster download machine in the background of his stage in Squeak Squad. This does not necessarily mean the two are one in the same. If one where to judge a case based on one slight piece of evidence in the face of a mountain to the contrary, that would make for a terrible defense attorney.

Normally, such is done as a cross-promotion or integration. For example, going back to comics, the X-Men traditional wear blue and yellow spandex. Classy, I know, but the movies thought it would look better if they had... bland, black leather? Sure enough, when the movies were a big deal, the team of mutants ditched their colorful garb in favor of the lackluster leather. This was a decision from the higher-ups in the company to help transition fans of the cinema into buying comics. Think of them as a feature length commercial that you paid to watch.

When there was this inclusion from the animated series in the game, it was about the next game released. Thus, they wanted to give a nod as if to say, "You know this, right? Yeah, it's that Kirby." The fact that it appears in the first stage, Castle Dedede, really helps the transition of animated fan into gaming fan.

So, yes, Kirby being an infant Star Warrior, coming to Pop Star in a spaceship, never speaking, and everything else surrounding his origin is canon... in the animated series. In the game series, Kirby is introduced with the simple sentence: Suddenly a spry little boy named Kirby happened along and said, "Don't worry, I'll get your food and your Sparkling Stars back!" That's it; say hello to Kirby, kids. Strangely, it doesn't even mention that Kirby is a Dream Lander, the people afflicted by King Dedede's theft of food and Sparkling Stars. He just seems to be walking by and offers to kick butt. At his core, that is what Kirby is about, a brave lad who opposed evil. No big, grandiose backstory needed, no destiny, no uniqueness. He's just a boy who stood up to a bully. Do you really need any more of an origin than that?

Prince Fluff is a boy from Patch Land. Kirby, too, is a boy, and we all know that larval forms tend to look alike -- just round shapes with eyes and a mouth. As far as species goes, it is a bit hard to tell even if there is such a thing in Pop Star, really. However, Fluff is yarn while Kirby was merely transformed into it by Yin-Yarn's spell. Thus, any possibly likeness between the two is sketchy and stretched, despite the visual similarities. It would be a bit like asking if a sculpture of a woman was related to the woman herself; the two are made of entirely different things.

I do not believe there is any possibly explanation for these guys showing up. No, they are not the copies produced when Dark Meta Knight cut duplicates out of Kirby -- which, in itself, makes no sense -- as this occurred later in the time line. The simplest answer would be that this is just a nonsense, non-canon romp created specifically for multi-player mode. If it were the case that Kirby had his own little gang of doppelgangers, then his quests would go a lot easier (unless they had the same mentality of the copies from Amazing Mirror... not smart...). Taking the other three to be just that, three other puffballs going along for the ride, seems a more logical in-game reasoning. Like you mentioned, there is Keeby, a yellow cream puff who shows up now and again alongside Kirby, so there's nothing to say that there couldn't be more than this plus-one. Kirby is not regarded as unique in the games, unlike how the animated series seems to push, a fact that is apparent by looking no further than Meta Knight. Kirby is merely a brave boy, which probably just means that he'll forgo sleeping for five minutes to do what's right. Such bravery...

This question has a follow up in Session #161.

This technically is more of a Mailbag question, but I do not believe that anything is technically closed as this point in time. In fact, I just logged into the "KRR Staff Email" -- which appears to be linked to on all major submission pages -- and found a grand total of one email, a submission for the fan comics, sent back in early 2015. By the way, they sent a link to their comic website which was no longer operational. So, things are apparently still a thing at ol' KRR.

You missed yet another of these points, knowledgeable contributor, that has not even come out yet. In Planet Robobot, there is another side-game (Team Kirby Clash) in which an entire pseudo-medieval class-themed quartet of multi-playing Kirby heroes do battle and actually level up. While not there, it is a step in the right direction.

Continuing, there's no real barometer of prediction for this sort of thing. One can look towards the far more established Super Mario Bros. franchise with its flat-out role-playing titles as an example of a platforming series crossing over. The Kirby series, also, has made its name with about a 50% action:something with a ball ratio of titles. In fact -- doing the legit count -- the numbers are exactly split: eleven to eleven, which excludes the yet-to-be released newest title and slots Mass Attack in the "other" category.

This decade, Nintendo seems to have shattered its pink-shaming of '00s (I just have to type it, not say it, score!). In the '90s, there was a new title every year or two. Then, between Crystal Shards (2000) and Epic Yarn (2010), there were only three (original, not remade) titles released in a cluster (2004-2006). There was a struggle to release a single title from limbo at the later part of this whimpering -- Kirby for the Game Cube with its helper stacking glory -- as well as Tilt 'n' Tumble 2 as well as a second Air Ride. Not a good decade for the creampuff.

Currently, the machine seems to be running in full swing, bamming out a new K-link in the chain at a mostly regular beat. It was very fast at the start of the decade but possibly hit a snag with a (another) canceled title, a title with a possible fully 3D environment. Given this, maybe they'll be idea bankrupt and try an RPG? While they have teased at it in the past, there's nothing that can really guarantee that such will happen. The likelihood, however, I would say, is possible, given the precedent.

I read that as "day-day-day-tour", understandably, so I initially thought it had to do with sight-seeing.

Aaaaaah man. Thanks for the "spoiler". I just got Triple Deluxe (as well as the rest of the DS titles for the franchise).

I really don't feel that this even needs to be explained all that much. That mirror is a source of nothing but misery. Bad things keep slipping through it and into the, uh, non Mirror Dimension. The king, in a less-than-finessed way that only he can do, just locked the door, permanently. No longer will Dream Land ever have to see Dark Meta Knight again. In my opinion, King Dedede is the true hero of Pop Star.

You are correct, sir, in that Kirby was robbed of his limbs by a spell cast by the inky sorceress in Canvas Curse. Strangely, in Rainbow Curse, I believe that Kirby still has all his limbs. He merely rolls about for... fun?

Kirby is, after all, just a child. Have you ever leaped from one furniture piece to another in your youth for the pure reason that the floor was lava? If you have not, sir, then you are not human.

Back to point, recall how often Kirby just rolled through his adventures. Tilt 'n' Tumble, Dream Course, Pinball Land. I believe that King Dedede (probably) robbed the land of something or another in each case, and despite the real threat, Kirby refrained from straight-up puffing and flying his way through the hazards and being the baddie the ol' fashioned way. Rather, he... rolled into things.

I truly believe that Kirby rolls through the game simply because he can, or that he wants his new friend Elline to feel like a contributing member of the adventure. That, and he can't resist rolling up rainbows.