#classic Marx-level prank

[veinsfullofstars]

Get birthday’d, idiot.

(ID: Kirby series sketch of Magolor minding his own business when a certain cosmic clown yells from off-screen "Think fast, egghead!" and throws a whole-ass cake directly into his face, sending him reeling back, candles and frosting flying in all directions. END ID.)

Did I forget it was the 12th anniversary of the release of KRtDL in Japan today (and therefore a certain wizard’s b-day as well) and barely manage to crank out a quick sketch in celebration at the last minute? … Listen, you can’t prove anything.

Started and finished on 10/24/23. NOTE: This was originally posted on my deleted account on 10/24/23.

[desultory-novice]

How would you envision the dynamic between Marx and Daroach?

I bet Daroach likes to do mischief. Could be another candidate for a "prank partner" Marx could have, perhaps?

Very interesting thought you have there, and I think you may be onto something...!

Daroach is a thief, but he is, by way of costume and mannerisms, clearly modeled on the specific concept of "the phantom thief" and all phantom thieves are multi-classed in thief + stage magician. They just are. (That Daroach has some real magic to back it up, or at least his cane is magically imbued, helps.)

And of course, Marx was originally introduced as a Marx the Magician before settling in his better known job title of Cosmic Jester. (But what is a jester but a combination clown + stage magician?) So, now we have a pair of stage magicians who are both known to be smooth talkers and insanely dexterous.

What else can we pull out of this pair?

Something that's kind of easy to read from his character but not always obvious is that Daroach seems to be... fairly old?! Maybe not as old as Doc, who he himself states as being "up in years" but when I went back through the script for Mass Attack, he's clearly been all over the place, but he's also been to Popstar in the past and studied it extensively. This man is crazy traveled...

..Or he just likes Popstar a lot. We all do!

[Take a nap, old man!]

PS: I love this image of Daroach so much. It's probably my defining Daroach image. Look at this man mouse. Look at all the emotions you can read from one sketch! I would give him treasure and watch him scurry away with it except that I know he would only truly feel satisfied if he stole it. Dess looks at Daroach like the squirrels in my yard that steal all the birdseed. I should be annoyed. I should be, but they are so much fun to watch. Dess just wants to adopt all the Kirby characters... (assuming they indeed turn out to be 8cm, that is. ^^; ) Such good blorbos, all of them..

...

AHEM! Sorry about that tangent.

The reason I bring Daroach's age up is that he is still provably "young at heart." He's kind of a big goof?! Who else would get possessed by the Lord of the Underworld and then, snickering, call Doc over... "Say, Doc? I just got an idea for a shockingly good trap! Can you...?" So, yes! I believe he would have exactly the kind of fun-loving nature necessary to enjoy... at least SOME of Marx's goofs! 

The difference that I see is mainly is that Daroach will casually and freely admit to having several (implied) fears born from (implied) bad experiences and he cares about things like danger-level. Marx seems the type who lets his nigh invulnerability (?) to lasting harm and his confidence in his schemes inform 99% percent of his bad decision making. (1) "Caution" is where they really part ways.

That and, like in my own rabbit Marx drawing, I think that should Marx ever decide to turn on his fellow-of-a-shared-profession and assume he could beat Daroach in sleight-of-hand, Daroach would swiftly make Marx regret his hubris in the most embarrassing way.

But when they're on the same page? Oh boy, look out! You're not getting out of this with either your possessions OR your dignity!

With Marx and Daroach, you've basically got the gritty (goofball) veteran stage magician and the bold upstart with no limits and no fear together. That's a classic movie team-up right there!

-

(1) Common fandom interpretations aside, it's hard to say how many of Marx's plans/tricks were bad ideas or have ended badly for him when really, Marx has only been caught/stopped twice. Once with the whole Galactic Nova incident and again (depending on how you take these posts) in the Christmas Cake incident on Twitter. Of course, cartoon logic almost always dictates that once the "frighteningly intelligent trickster" character stops being a villain and joins the good guys, his schemes get more and more goofy/harmless and far easier to interrupt than that climactic first encounter!