Ask Guru Gobbo #82

That's mostly a bugbear of my own doing. I wanted to try and make each run of the Interactive Fandom a little different in the default images. This round, I tried to use a good ink pen, the kind with a metal tip that you load up with a bottle and have to constantly refill. Yeah, those things are real pains. I don't know what I was thinking. Additionally to that, I sort of hit my "crash" point, both figuratively and literally. As things run there course, I just get a little bit disheartened with things. I don't know how many entries were either too sparsely described or called "a ball" with not much else to them. Luckily, most of those were thrown out. Luckily for me, that is. Why, this waning concern is most evident in the Animal Friend making contest in which the last few entries were never done. I even have some of them drawn up but just never got around to scanning them. In my defense, it was after the contest was officially unofficially over.

In truth, I actually have the next lot, including Bzzerk, ready to go. The problem, however, is that I don't like them. They didn't really come out good and I've been floundering on the issue, slowly turning on my side and shifting my one eye next to the other to lay flatter on the sea floor. Or, possibly, since songs with a little mermaid and her crustacean pal. Either one is good.

I pray you mean outside of the games and his origin of creation. But, yes, Kirby is a Japanese creation, made by one Masahiro Sakurai, as are most every video game icon. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Mario, Link, Samus Aran, Mega Man, and Kirby, all of them and many more were created by Japanese game corporations. I'd actually be hard pressed to think of characters who were not from the land of the rising sun. I think, maybe, that the Mortal Kombat characters are American in origin, especially given that they reflect Chinese culture more in those games than Japanese. Now, when you move from video game consoles to computer games, the places of origin aren't so one-sided. But, when you are talking characters from the early 90's and back, they are all mostly Japanese since, well, video games weren't "big" yet. It was all of those fans nurtured in that past era that strived to stick an American flag in the industry and game making. That, or I'm just making stuff up.

Favorite... transformation? I don't think I've ever heard it put quite that way. I take it you mean just plain ol' ability. Generally, the term transformation is used in explicit reference to Kirby's little sequences following a copied ability in the animated series. I have never heard it used to describe the copy abilities themselves before. Then again, I call them powers, so who am I to criticize?

Well, regardless, I do not have a favorite transformation. The reason is quite simple: I don't like it when Kirby changes. When Kirby gets an ability, the most I like to see change about his appearance is a little shift in his skin's hue or the appearance of a parasol in his grasp. I think the hats are just gaudy eyesores. I prefer him unchanged and slimmed down, like in Adventure or the Dream Land sequels.

1) No. I mean, I can't say for certain, but the duo with similar names is nothing new. The common occurrence of twins or siblings with one letter or syllable differences are abundant in literature and such. And, apparently, there aren't many people who share such a view on their name origins. Why, when looking for it, this was one of the only relevant pages turned up. Yeah, I apparently mentioned all of their names at some point in time. Wacky, no? Of course, with proper spelling (which I failed at, too, by the way), Tweedledee and Tweedledum still just fall into the themed naming convention rule with the Waddles of Dream Land. Nothing new.

2) That's not even attempted to be phrased as a question! But, yeah, I guess it does say that. The page crafter probably felt that Sparky had feminine qualities, I don't know why. It looks pretty neutral to me. Regardless, I guess since most characters are just blanketly referred to as male, what's wrong with the other sex getting some word in edge-wise?

0) Yes... wonder how it got there. Heh heh heh... Hah hah hah. Mwa-hahahahaaa!

1) Just because you make something doesn't give you rights to it. This is a common theme seen with characters in comics, wrestler gimmicks, and other media: the creator will leave the company but, whoops, the character rights lie with the company and not the creator. A shrewd maker also ensures that they retain the final rights on what they make, but sometimes they can't help with given their contract. It's actually a pretty basic clause to ensure one doesn't use a larger enterprise to get their name and product known before flying off to another corporation to further grow their thing. If that seed is planted on one side of the fence, it's gotta stay there. No moving. It's fair business, really, but it really seems flawed in a lot of cases. This usually, now, leads to knock-offs of the original by the creator. Funny, know?

2) It is impossible for every question to be answered. It's more plausible that every good question will be answered. And, really, I suspect interest to fade long before that day hits, be it in Kirby or by the fans.

What? What happened in Mario? What are you talking about? I know you probably dropped this off in direct connection to a question, but it wasn't one of yours answered last time, and it's really just puzzling.

Anyhoo, Satan is just a prosecutor. It's not a name, just a title. The entire concept of a "devil" that causes evil is a throwback to absorbed pagan religions to demonize, literally, fertility deities and the such. That's where the horns came from. Lucifer, Beelzebub, the serpent, and all the rest of those evils just got jumbled with the title over time. Of course, this is just scratching the surface, and there's much deeper relations between ha-satan, angels, and evil beings in the various Abrahamic religions.

What was this question about? Oh, right, Marx. Yeah, no. He just tricked Kirby. Easy way to get what you want: have someone else do it for you.

1) I believe he is a derivation of Zero, kinda like how Dark Matter is a being and a substance, the stuff being gooey, black darkness manifest. The difference is that, in this case, Zero is sorta all white and supreme, and this wad of Miracle Matter is, well, Miracle Matter, an ultimate substance that possess all properties and can change to take on any specific state of being, hence its transformation to all the abilities. Of course, that's just a completely rabid fan theory I honestly spit out just now. Really, they don't say. It's obviously connected to Zero, as is painfully obvious from its appearance, and it is suppose to make you think it is the final boss.

2) Brawl in the Family is a web comic created by Matthew Taranto that features the classic Nintendo and other characters from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, primarily Kirby and his related fellows.

3) Hey! Are you saying that all the Kirby games with Dark Matter to date weren't good? The Dream Land sequels ruled. Crystal Shards... eh, you may have a point. But, seriously, Dark Matter was defeated thrice. Thrice. That's twice more than most people have to be killed. In the final, epic battle, he was done away with for good, being in his final, true, ultimate state. And, not only was he destroyed, but all his presence across the solar system was eradicated. There's nothing left for him to even respawn from. He's gone for good, unless you take it that some last, weakened spec of his being was sealed away in a chest that caused all the trouble in Squeak Squad.

4) If you look closely, you can see that Mints submitted two. His first was a regular submission but the second was a complete, playable adventure featuring the miniboss. So, yes, I'd definitely accept a second. As with the Ability Review, I expect an increasing grade of quality with repeat offenders. I don't quite know what or who they are offending, but they are.

Yes, that is a fully plausible explanation, in the animated series. In that, Kirby truly is a dumpling compared to Meta Knight. However, in the games, they are the exact same size. With identical heights, their ages have to be more closely grouped. You don't grow in just one spot. No, it's just that they couldn't make him perform his actions in a higher graphical state given his old arms. There was no problem when there was just hands represented by balls, but jump into 3D high-resolution and, uh-oh! We got us some troubles. Well, also the fact that the parasite known as the animated series had to infect the game series and, in particular, Meta Knight's character design. That's a biggie.

1) It's impossible to really define "best". I would have said that Link was the best character, but then Wind Waker and "Toon Link" came about, and that just doesn't sit well with me. Then, I'd have to mention Samus Aran, mega-pimp and secret hot chick but, then I recalled, they ruined her legacy, too. Ever since I learned there was a way for her armor to come off, they managed to reverse everything that made the Metroid star great: a lead woman who didn't appeal to the sought after demographic for the normal reasons a woman does. And, of course, how can Mario be denied his throne? He is video games. Yes, Kirby is a great character. No one is denying that, but to be best, there's a lot of competition.

2) Nightmare is much more "pure evil" than Dark Matter. Sure one is made out of darkness and stuff, but Nightmare literally is a nightmare, a manifestation of fear whose sole purpose is to spread torment and despair. At least Dark Matter has the questionable motive of just wanting friends but being really, really bad at it. Nightmare only tried to cause suffering. Dark Matter just possessed people. The prior is much more evil.