#Dederanza

[y0d00p]

I used to ship (to varying degrees) (like anywhere between "yeah sure put them together" and "they'd definitely be together in my personal au") Marx/Mags/Gryll, SuZan, Dederanza, Kirfluff. but now I can't imagine Marx, Susie, Dedede, and Kirby as anything but aromantic

Marx still has something vaguely queer going on with the other two but I think he's like actually romance repulsed? He may not be particularly averse to sex but has never been able to explore that because the wide societal expectations of it being a Romantic Thing is a huge hurdle. Mags and Gryll still being together would be cute I think especially since they were the pair I explored the least when I shipped the polycule

I think Susie is aro and ace. I like her and Zan being friends but nothing romantic going on. Maybe Zan has a little crush but keeps it secret... She's happy being platonic friends

I think Dedede is aro but not ace. I think a funny(?) dynamic would be that he actually attracts a lot of crushes but he just doesn't swing like that. He doesn't mind the attention and is always very graceful turning people down lol. He's had some casual flings but you'd never know because he's quite private about it

Shadow Dedede is also aro but hasn't really gotten physical with anyone either. I don't think he's ace per se he just doesn't really care I guess. Someone being interested in him is like nightmare scenario for him he is NOT great at handling that lmao

Idk about Kirby... I guess he's also aro and ace. He is also an unfortunate victim of being Desired (Chuchu, Ribbon, Fluff... maybe more) and I think he hasn't gotten the hang of dealing with that yet lol. I think it'd be cute if he went to Dedede like PLEEASE HELP WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO KISS ME!!! UGH! and Dedede is like oh you poor kid bless your heart

[bonnielunkas]

that one penguin with the hammer for the character thing

favorite thing ; THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT i love how dedede has gone from a complete jerk who's here to be a major inconvenience to. well, he's still kind of a jerk but he's clearly also happy to help out!! and i love this development especially in regards to kirby!! he was genuinely sad when he couldn't find kirby in forgotten land!! his rivalry with kirby means so much to him!! and he cares about the little puffball!!

least favorite thing ; i don't like his current design....... there's just Something about him that i don't like

brOTP ; as stated earlier whatever him and kirby got going on HIGHLY compels me.

OTP ; i like metadede i think it's fun!! shoutout to dedegoon / dederanza too those are also very epic 👍

nOTP ; dedede x dark matter blade makes me just. really uncomfortable for some reason

random hc ; i think dedede collects plushies :]

unpopular opinion ; refer to the least favorite thing

song i associate with them ; aside from his multiple theme songs?? uhhh... i got nothing

favorite picture of them ; uhhhh anime dedede isn't my favorite dedede but he's got some good expressions

look at him. nefarious guy up to some mischief.

also love his keyart from battle royale

[desultory-novice]

I don't know if you're still doing character asks, but if you are, what are your thoughts on Taranza?

You bet I’m still doing asks! Will happily talk Kirby all day long!

003 Taranza

How I Feel About This Character:

I like Taranza. I've got characters I'm more hyperfixated on, but Taranza is good. Very good. You basically need to push me to start talking about Taranza, but once I do, I can talk for a surprisingly long time! Which is what I'm about to do here, haha! 

(No lie, I think this is my longest ask yet??)

So, okay, I LOVE puppeteering characters/characters associated with puppets and control. While I was completely reeling during the Masked Dedede fight (my brain screaming "Noooooooo! Dedede!!") I was kind of digging it at the same time, no lie!

I also love vassal characters. Loyalty is big yes for me in fictional characters/relationships and Taranza is one of the few (only??) "villain" character to have that in spades.

Finally, everything about Dark Taranza is just completely amazing?? Their design (THAT DESIGN), the little scraps of personality we get from him. If I were only better at drawing flashy (and fabulous) villains...!

Any/All the People I Ship Romantically With This Character:

Sectranza, yeah!!! Oh wait, she's... But no, I love the lovey-spider-duo and their painfully doomed romance. (I know it's not made explicit, so you can view their relationship in a variety of ways, but I choose to see them as romantic.) They've got that sliiiight class difference of ruler and vassal, but you can just tell watching them that a young Sectonia didn't care about that stuff at all and treated Taranza like an equal. And then, out of love for her, he accidentally curses her, leading to her death at (partially) his hands...No good deed...

Brb, crying forever over spiders...

...Also, I'm, um, one of those weirdos that quietly ships Dederanza...? So, okay, I -really- expected Taranza to move to Dream Land after Triple Deluxe, at least as an ambassador of Floralia or something. And once there, he'd come to interact with King Dedede as Dream Land’s (self-proclaimed) monarch in a much more positive way than their -previous- interaction. Dedede has a big heart and would generally forgive him fast enough, I think, which would be kind of important for a Taranza who is still grieving. 

At the same time, that forgiveness and openness leads to a kind of painful rebound crush for Taranaza, because he finds he admires Dedede similar to how he admired Queen Sectonia - only King Dedede is the ideal powerful AND compassionate monarch that Queen Sectonia wasn’t - and he starts to fall back into this obsequiousness that got him in so much trouble last time. And Dedede accidentally lets Taranza play into it (because he's kinda used to being served by the Dees without any wrought emotional baggage coming up on their side) until he realizes at last just how unhealthy this direction is for Taranza.

They get to talking, maybe at night, on the balcony, and Dedede tries to set him straight and maybe starts to recommend that Taranza go back to Floralia, but that's when Taranza tells Dedede that yes, he DOES like him the same way he liked Sectonia...but also different!! And they--...

...wait, sorry, I think I was starting to write a fanfic here...?

My Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship For This Character:

Pairing him with his fellow magic user contemporaries, aka, Marx, Magolor, and Gryll. The fact that he's such a good boy (or -tries- to be) but his friend group are all terribly devoius tricksters and he's sort of the "I don’t know if we should do this...." conscience of the group, and yet, it's -surprisingly- easy to talk him into their nonsense games because he's not THAT much of a good boy.

(I could possibly be talked into some Marxoranza or whatever that OT3 is called at some point, but -my- Marxolor is a little too bonded-over-shared-experiences that I think my Taranza would feel like the third wheel.)

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character:

Okay, it was probably all leading to this anyway, so here is my take on the "Should Taranza move on?" debate. The answer is... yes and no. 

Sectonia was such a huge part of his life. And Taranza is portrayed as continuing to mourn her in media and I honestly think that is FAIR. I don't think that's awful or cruel to have him keep feeling that way because, like yeah...death is seriously sad. And the death of someone you loved? Someone who meant the world to you? It’s traumatic. A scar you carry with you for your whole life. So no, I don't want to see Taranza move on from Sectonia necessarily, nor do I think he -needs to- for his mental health. I think it's okay for him to continue to think about her and try to preserver her memories/the things important to her, and to hope for her happiness in whatever form she exists in now. But...I do want to see him find happiness too.

I guess what I don't want is a "Omg, look at how much better Taranza is doing now that he's with someone else!" resolution. (Healing, if it happens, should come from within, not just because you found someone new.) The thing is, some of my previous fandoms were -really- big on lambasting any guy with a "lost love" trope in their backstory - as if they could NEVER be a good partner because for some reason, they'd never treat their current partner as if they were first in their life unless they specifically disavowed their previous love?? (Like, yikes! Imagine having to publicly disavow someone you loved or else your partner couldn’t trust you...) and anyway, the language around that was adamant, damning, and moreover, just exhausting, so I'd rather see other avenues explored for "lost love" characters rather than “hope they get over it.”

Oh, and one final opinion! 

I HATE his speech pattern in Japanese! Marx's なのサ is cute. Taranza's のね reminds me of some of the annoyingly xenophobic speech patterns they'd give foreigner characters in certain old anime and it just gives me hives. It's probably not on purpose and just there to make him sound obsequiousness and cute but... my experiences make it not cute for me. EN Taranza > JP Taranza.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen / Had Happened With This Character in Canon:

Shipping or not, I'd still have loved to see the "Floralia's ambassador to Dream Land" thing happen. I think, with his book smarts, he would make a good final point on the triumverate to Dream Land's unofficial "court" of political (Dedede) and military (Meta Knight).

Oh, I guess there was a comic adaptation in which all six of his hands had different personalities and acted independently of each other/himself? I don't wish that for canon Taranza, but heck if that doesn't sound hilarious for a couple of cheap jokes now and again.

Favorite Friendship For This Character:

...GDI I messed up with the categories again... You know, I enjoy this character ask meme a lot, but I sure chose one with weird formatting, haha!

I already listed my favorite friendship up above, um... what else should I talk about? The Wave 3 group is okay. I personally think their personalities clash too much (two HUGE warring egos in Mago and Susie) for them to have a lot of fluff together, but they've got a great blue/green/pink color combo going.

I was trying to figure out just now whether I want to see fireworks when Taranza gets to meet Dark Meta Knight. I mean, I already wrote about my Soul Melter EX Unpopular Opinion that -everyone- is friends after Star Allies, but I never actually did much thinking about how that would even work with DMK and Taranza when I wrote that... So lets's do that now!

Obviously, DMK is not the one who corrupted the Dimension Mirror (he just seems to take all the blame for it, haha) but that is exactly why Taranza might be convinced to fall into that same trap of "It's YOUR fault that happened to Sectonia!" and DMK - who is Meta Knight's terseness and aggressiveness upped to 11 thanks to -whatever- is going on in that world that caused the greatest swordsman in Dream Land to take a scar to.the.face - is not even remotely interested in correcting Taranza or doing anything except add fuel to the fire and so a minor fight breaks out (which the good guy team mates have to stop because you've got the 2nd best (?) physical fighter in the group going up against the 2nd best spellcaster and that could be BAD.) 

...And then there's sore feelings all around and someone else has to tell Taranza about Dark Mind, and Taranza - who'd just had his pain stirred up anew and had a -brief- taste of “revenge” for his loss - is now burdened with 1) the fact that Sectonia's revenge is already gone and 2) he’s feeling guilty for blaming the wrong person -- even if that wrong person IS kind of a jerk. 

So you get some kind of scene where Taranza has a big damn heroes moment helping out the loner DMK, and Taranza would probably give a "I don't actually like you! You're mean and violent and <etc etc> but after that incident, I swore to never stand by while <etc etc> happened, and so I'll help you out!" And DMK, who doesn't go in much for feelings, but appreciates a good fighter just gives him a "Hrmph. Just don’t slow me down." and allows Taranza to assist.

...God, this little exercise just makes it clear how much I want a Star Allies novel w/ the Dream Friends included. I really, really want to see these characters talk, argue, find common ground, fight, make up, and become true friends as they save the world.

FREE SPACE/Recs:

I think I wrote everything that would have gone in the free space (including the outlines for two separate fanfic??) so, uh, everyone's seen Rinyo's "Egomama" right?

Man, rewatching this made me think about how good Triple Deluxe was. It has the unenviable position of being the "good" middle child stuck between two Kirby masterpieces, but it's got such heart! And it's just very pretty? 

I've talked (briefly) before about my feelings on Kirby and grimly dark fairy tales in my "Horrors of the Soul" series (need to get back to that; I've got everyone but Void scripted out, but they're a huge pain to draw because they're so visually intensive...) but this "trilogy" of games has the strongest "careful what you wish for" vibes of the whole series. (RtDL even opens like a storybook!) 

But while Robobot has the best visual design work (maybe in all of Kirby?) Triple Deluxe is possibly the prettiest, with that heavy floral theme and bright, soft colors throughout. I personally find Taranza hard to draw (...and get right, at least) but damn, the details on his (and Sectonia's) costume are great.

[desultory-novice]

since you are still doing character asks... i'd love to hear your thoughts on dedede :)

003 Dedede

How I Feel About This Character:

King Dedede holds a permanent position in my top 5 favorite Kirby characters and I want everyone to know that my top 5 in a series this great and with so many amazing characters...well, getting a spot there is a really big deal.

For one, his character design is nearly perfect. Like, Kirby obviously has the perfect character design. Just beautifully simple and flawless. I'd probably rate Magolor second for excellent use of simple shapes, colors, patterns, and silhouette, but Dedede is third. He rocks the RBY color scheme and is a delightful combination of circles and rounded triangles. If you've never drawn him before, I recommend it. He's a character that is actually FUN to draw. Just like Kirby!

(But I also love people experimenting with him. Feathery Dedede++)

We're obviously all big Kirby fans here on Kirby-Tumblr, but I want to give a shoutout to "The Subspace Emissary" from Smash Bros Brawl, which really should have been everyone's wake up call to what King Dedede was -really- like. The way he feigns being on the villains side when he ends up being the damn hero of the story who literally saves all the fighters from being wiped out forever by Tabuu, hello?!?

Also his sliding hug tackle when he sees Kirby again! Cutest thing ever. I could watch it 100 times. I probably have...!

Any/All the People I Ship Romantically With This Character:

Already mentioned I have Dederanza feels in the Taranza ask. Let's see, I mentioned in my Kirby general series ask that I also ship MetaDede so might as well talk about that?

MetaDede is something I hadn't actually seen in the games -I'd- played that much (I only picked the ship up after being alerted to some of the stuff in the later games.) I thought it came from the anime, tbh! I'm fairly low-key about it, but I think it's neat. I really enjoy monarch x vassal and they are in no way your average king and knight, and actually end up bonding over their shared experiences with KIRBY of all things, which is pretty hilarious! Anyway, there's so much MetaDede in the fandom that I rarely feel the need to talk about it, but having them fight at each other's side/back-to-back to defend Dream Land is the A++ quality I look for in this particular ship.

...That said, I do want them to play chess together sometime. (Man, you cannot believe how I screamed when I saw in the Planet Robobot opening cutscene that chess playing Dedede was real. Chess-playing Dedede! Ahhhh!!)

My Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship For This Character:

Dedede and Adeleine. The protective pseudo-sibling (?) relationship they have is one of those low-key amazingly heartwarming things going on in the background of Kirby.

I have a scrap of a comic idea written down where time passes VERY strangely on Dream Land, and so, in this particular story idea, Ado is actually Adeleine's grandmother, and she tells young Adeleine that should she -ever- get in trouble or need anything, go to the king. "He'll take care of you, just like he's taken care of our entire family till now." That is, in a nutshell, how I see them and why I adore them.

But also King Dedede and the Waddle Dees and Doos all the residents of Dream Land. Even in the chaotic and brain-breaking Kirby manga by Hikawa-sensei, Dedede still has a good rapport with his sovereign subjects.

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character:

I think everyone being tired of "mean ol' King Dedede!" is a popular opinion, at least, it should be, so... Hmm, I don't know where this falls, but one of the reasons I love King Dedede so much is that he ISN'T perfect? Like, I recall hearing once upon a time that the stories say the Arthurian knight Lancelot had the healing touch not because he was a perfect human being, but because he accepted his flaws?

King Dedede LIKES being in charge! He's got a huuuge appetite, and he likes being pampered. (Heck, who doesn't?!) He wants to win against Kirby when the two are competing. (Not enough to set up him, but in an actual fair competition.) He can have all these traits and still be a hero. I don't want a flawless Dedede who is free from snark and never loses his temper or accidentally (oops) misjudges people and other character flaws. I want a Dedede who can do these things and then come around!

Oh...and also I don't headcanon him as being particularly older than the rest of the gang?? ("Kirby is in his 10s, Dedede is in his 40s" stuff is just not for me, thx.) Maybe it's because my older sibling always picks Dedede in Smash (while I always pick Kirby) but I'm not super into "Dedede Dad" either? (...Well, "Dedede Dad" with the Waddle Dees is okay. I just have a limit I hit with that stuff.) I can see where people get the idea of an age gap from, and there's a size difference to boot, but I just see them as closer in age than most? It makes their "destined (friendly) rivals" thing better if they're not 20+ years apart, y'know. Dedede is not the team's "grizzled old man veteran" to Kirby's "idealistic young hero" (that role goes to Meta Knight if anything!) he's right there with Kirby on the field.

Annnd last unpopular (?) opinion: I don't necessarily mind Dedede being damsel'd. WITH the corollary that he gets to have his hero moment after. (Or that they, you know, switch it up RtDL style and let him be a hero from the beginning.) That is to say, I don't think it never needs to happen again. This is a highly personal thing, but as bigendered peep who grew up with so.much. female-in-distress in media, as long as we're going to get "save person in danger!" fiction (and it's a good trope in a bottle, so we will) I am totally okay with the big tough guy being the "person in danger." Cliches are gonna cliche, so give a peep some role-reversal so I stop feeling crazy inside, thx!

One Thing I Wish Would Happen / Had Happened With This Character in Canon:

I have never seen KRBAY. I don't really want to. But, as I mentioned in my Taranza ask and again here, I am big on loyalty dynamics. And I guess in the anime, Meta Knight was -literally- a knight of the kingdom? Whereas in game canon, he seems to be more of a mercenary/leader of a para-military force? (I mean, Dedede was said to have give fragments of the broken Dream Rod to his most loyal allies so obviously he has a long standing relationship with Meta Knight) but anyway, what I am getting at is that I would have a LOT of fun with a Meta Knight who is officially sworn to Dedede's service. At least for a little bit!

Oops. That turned into more of a "what do I wish happened to Meta Knight in canon."

Speaking of Meta Knight, I wouldn't have minded if we got just a little bit more insight into Shadow Dedede? Like, we know Shadow Kirby is a trickster and a coward, and DMK is ruthless and pragmatic instead of noble. And we get some implications that Shadow Dedede was...maybe never -rescued- from one of his earlier possessions (?!?) but very little on what makes him a reflection of Dedede.(*)

...Oh yeah. MORE MERCH PLEASE! I want to have more Dedede in my home but his majesty just gets real bottom of the barrel stuff and it's so sad. Like, okay, no one is as cute as Kirby and Waddle Dee. I get it. But they make Kirby seasonal collabs with Waddle Doos and Gordos and Scarfies and yet no Dedede? Puh-lease.

Favorite Friendship For This Character:

Kirby. Honestly, a big part of my "unpopular opinion on Kirby character ages" is because I really, really, really, really REALLY like Kirby and Dedede's friendly rivalry/ "two heroes working the scene from different sides" dynamic and I massively prefer that to pretty much any other relationship they could possibly have.

I was playing Forbidden Land with the fam and my sibling commented that Dedede's mid-boss fight roar in the Ice Castle stage felt almost like he was shouting to Kirby, "Where HAVE YOU BEEN?!" and ugh, I got so many feels from that idea.

...Forgotten Land is really good for the Dedede+Kirby dynamic...

FREE SPACE/Recs:

Rinyo's next video is actually going to be Dedede focused, I hear? :excitement:

There's also this Dedede x "King" with 7 different artists collaborating to draw his majesty in all his glory. That was a little fun!

I want to burn his Kirby Cafe outfit/hat in a fire.

Dedede's Drum Dash was silly fun, but it will be weird if it stays the only Dedede focused spinoff in the history of the franchise. ...HAL?

(*) Oh, and lastly, I just went to the wiki to look up Shadow Dedede in Japanese only to find out he's got the, uh, ill-advised name of "Black Dedede" there but, it's noted further down that this gets shortened right in his pause screen to "Bla-De" - which is a parody of Dark Pit's nickname "Bla-Pi" (which got localized to "Pittoo") but anyway, my twisted brain accidentally read "Bla-De" as "Bloody" and suddenly "Bloody King Dedede" popped into my head, which is maybe a really cool take on Mirror-verse Dedede???