#having them learn and grow from each other outside of that fluffy romantic context is just as exciting to me....! <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[jojo-schmo]

are dedede and meta in a relationship yet in the beginning of the forgotten land au comics or currently in the plot?

Great question! <3

To sum it all up:

The Forgotten Land Roleswap is a story about Love.

...But romance is not a central theme! So at no point before or during this AU's story will they be in a romantic relationship.

I may have answered this a long time ago but I'll go into more detail because it's still important to me! My yapping under the cut:

It's no secret that Metadede is my top ship hahaha, my blog is full of it! Drawing and writing SUPER SWEET fluff and exploring different romantic scenarios is definitely a favorite comforting activity of mine ;P

But to be completely honest? I didn't want to include a... for lack of a better word, "controversial" theme in my story. Yes Metadede is one of the top ships in the fandom, but I also didn't want to alienate any readers off the bat if they aren't a fan. Everyone has the right to not enjoy certain ships or romance in general in the Kirby fandom, and in no way am I using this to persuade anyone or imply my interpretations of things are the right ones! Just like how the canon "Kirby and the Forgotten Land" game on the Switch is for anyone and everyone who wants to play it, I wanted the bar of entry to be similarly open with "The Forgotten Land Roleswap." Anyone can read it, and whether a reader enjoys it and stays for the ride, or decides early on it's not for them, at least more people were able to give it a try! But for all the work and love I'm pouring into this, I didn't want to slap a "this is metadede" sticker on the cover, because there's LOTS of themes I'm excited to explore that aren't related to popular fandom ships or the discourse that can come with it!

For the purposes of this comic, I'll just spoil this right now, there's no explicitly romantic tropes, like a big romantic confession scene of feelings, or smooches, or other stuff like that, that one might find in my work outside of the Roleswap.

But just because I'm not explicitly putting the label of romantic in it, doesn't mean I'm not exploring their relationship, ya feel me? Because by definition, a relationship is still the connection between two people! And those connections between characters and how strong they are is one of the driving forces and central themes to this story!

I'm interested in exploring their relationship to each other as fellow leaders, warriors, role models, and heroes of their land! They're so outwardly different from each other, yet when you dig past the surface-level images these two carefully craft for themselves, one can find a lot of similarities! Beyond that noble gallant knight, and haughty passionate king, lies two individuals with a strong sense of duty to protect their loved ones, and a drive to better themselves to be the guardians that their home needs.

Also, I needed to give them a starting point where there's room for them to develop a better understanding of each other, even if they've worked together before! As of writing this, we're close to the end of Chapter 2, and we've seen plenty of examples of fumbles, miscommunications or misunderstandings between the two. Like when Meta tried to go ahead and split from Dedede for a "more efficient search," or when Dedede took solving the Tortuilding problem into his own hands and executed a projectile-based attack move that was NOT pre-approved by Meta Knight xD And there's plenty of hidden emotions and motivations they are still keeping closed off from each other, and there's room for those walls to be broken down as the story progresses.... And by the end, perhaps they will have gone through enough to understand each other in a deep way that truly embody their title of "Sworn Partners..."

....And whether the reader would like to interpret these interactions as building up to romantic undertones or not.... I was hoping to leave it open-ended for the purposes of my specific storytelling in this instance. Not a big fan of ships in Kirby? Okay! I really try to stick to the levels of interaction between Dedede and Meta shown in Kirby Fighters 2, a very canon game installment! HEHEHE. BUT HEY, if you like romance? I'm not immune to the pleasures of shipping!! But at no point will Dedede and Meta kiss or call each other "mi amor" or other such romantic pet names in my version of the story.

And hey, My Leon and Carol's romantic love is a driving force in the plot and an important motivation for the Beast Pack, so there will be some romance present!

I like to believe Love is one of the universe's strongest forces. And it's not restricted to romantic love, either. Familial love, friendly love... Caring for those around you, forming those deep connections where you can learn new and wonderful things for each other, finding your people and protecting one another even if you're not related by blood... Coming together as a community to combine your strengths and face the world around you with the very best you have...

That's the sort of story I'm hoping to tell.

If you're still along for the ride, thank you and I'm so glad you're here. EVERYONE'S welcome to live in this New World! <3