#i love the marx noddy theory

[desultory-novice]

who would be more traumatized?

Marx who literally was to the verge of death <like this close 🤏>

or

Magolor who got possesed with an acient artifact? <he wasnt as close as Marx to dying tbh>

In strictly canon terms, Magolor went on to build a theme park and literally invite the Master Crown (riding Landia) to come play and Marx seems really gleeful to be Marx so I'd argue neither of them!

^_^

.............

:psst psst: ...But if we're talking Dess's very particular brand of Kirby-verse, and I assume you wouldn't be writing me if you didn't want to hear my very specific Kirby worldview...

...Okay, so, the first time I rolled this answer over in my head, my heart immediately spat out: "Marx."

Because Magolor does have his theme park! He has his ambitions. The crown manipulated him in a lot of horrible ways, but he has something outside of that, which he is slowly regaining. He also has friends - though the degree of friendship was in doubt for about 10 years. Yes, I'm certain that having your warped and twisted body, practically bursting with power too great for you to possibly wield and puppeted by a malevolent artifact while you're not even free to scream about it is an experience beyond horrible...!

But...let's look at Marx here.

Marx has no friends.

We GIVE him friends. We say he's friends with the Wave 1 group and we see no strong reasons he shouldn't be. (Even if we don't know what they have in common...) But a few of us have tried to advance the cause of Marx + Animal Friends + Gooey = good pals! We also say he's friends/found family with Gryll, a character he's never been on screen with! We say he's friends (and some of us say he's more than) with Magolor - who he also hasn't TRULY been on screen with!

The closest thing he has to a friend is Kirby. And some of that stems from the fact that a very "...distinctive..." looking gag manga made up The Most Believable Backstory for Marx in his 25 years of existence! This isn't the first time people have assumed Marx and Kirby had a complex friendship, however. (And I'm incredibly fond of reading a lot into their having something, with or without any canon backing.)

But...

...While Magolor remembered HIS wish, Marx never did - if he even had one. We won't know until further evidence is provided if Marx was manipulated into wanting control of Popstar but if he did, then he was just as much a victim as Magolor...

And if he wasn't manipulated... well, he's just empty, isn't he? And isn't that more sad, in a way? The silly clown just wanted one star. One star, all for his own. And it's a wish he'll never, ever get...

Marx is considered by some to kind of an empty character. I would say to be so "empty" is actually really tragic...

(You don't even have to get into HC territory, about Marx's lack of hands or Marx's resemblance to a Noddy or Marx sharing a few design elements with Nightmare but if you do, it gets WORSE.)

Back to canon, we have no idea how long Marx was floating through space, in a state of near/undeath, unable to move. We only ASSUME Magolor picked him up in the Starcutter. But if so... when...?

And you know how 'everything is a MF Jojo's reference?'

I made a slight note in a random post last year about Marx's heart theming reminding me of Dio, but I gotta say, the JJBA villain that Marx reminds me of the most is Kars. His "death" just gives very "Eventually he stopped thinking" vibes. (I suppose there's a chance that actually factored into my "Clockwork Marx = Marx Can't Die" theory, now that I put it all together like that.)

And even though Marx is back again, one has to question what the overall effect of his experiences was on him? We don't see if Magolor has crown scars under his silly tophat. But we know Marx bleeds Fecto Green and can do other scary tricks. Does he love them?

He seems to. But just as a lot of people DO headcanon Magolor to have those scars, just as many people have HC'd that Marx can...lose control of his body horror tricks. And the results aren't pleasant.

Of course, ju~st as soon as I had settled on Marx's personal and unspoken tragedy being kinda more sad than Magolor's, well...

...I remembered The True Arena...! DAMN YOU, TRUE ARENA MAGOLOR...!! :sobbing endlessly:

Because we can't just stop at "had his body puppetted against his will while he was forced to watch" now can we?! Noooo! Because Kumazaki won't give us anything nice! (Just kidding & thank you for all the good angst food every time, Director, sir! Love it!)

Because Magolor is literally crying for help. Have you listened to "Supreme Overlord's Coronation" recently?! God... the sounds he makes... He can barely get out Kirby's name amidst his gasps. The Master Crown has rendered him blind, having Stolen His Eyes along with everything else, so that Magolor can't even visualize whether there is any hope; whether "he" has killed Kirby or Kirby is still fighting for his sake (and can he HEAR at this point or is that gone too?) but he never.stops.calling.for.him. Let me say that again:

He never stops crying out for Kirby to save him. Can you imagine being in THAT much pain?! That's hurt and fear and death all in one. But he doesn't even have the mercy of dying...?! He's carried away from us, out of reach, still a victim of the crown, his haunting cries echoing in our ears. Where has he gone? Will he ever be free or will Magolor's fate linger in our nightmares for another decade?

Of course, True Arena Magolor may just be out of the running for this whole argument because, again, as we don't know if he shall ever be free, it's hard to talk about how traumatized he is if the trauma is actually unending/still present. But if he is ever rescued alive from that fate worse than death (else he may just suffer until the Crown has finished absorbing the last bits of his soul and he ceases to be "Magolor") I would think the mental scarring from that experience is probably going to be as near to permanent damage as you can get.

So, from least traumatized to most: Game Marx < Game Magolor <<<<< Dess's Magolor < Dess's Marx <<<<<<<<<< True Arena Magolor

[nightfurywarriorcat]

Jackxy anon: count bleck, Kirby, kris madcap clone! also you're very loved and wanted NFWC! you a bean!

Thank you! Kris would fit better than partially based off of lancer, and I think a Noddy could fit because there's a theory that Marx is a noddy that woke the hell up.

[desultory-novice]

I just gotta ask... Does Dreamland have a licensed therapist? Because it sounds like a majority of the characters need one!

Dream Land is a really LOVELY place. The food is fresh and healthy for you. Even the fast food and the sweets, somehow! Lots of nature. Life is leisurely paced. The only jobs are the ones you want to work. There's plenty of activities for those who need some socializing and plenty of alone time for those who need their space.

There may not be a licensed therapist, but as long as you're open to your heart and the caring words of your friends, you can find your way out of the bad places on your own, in your own good time!

...In Dess's AUs, on the other hand...

Everything is bad. For everyone. I'm sorry. I feel very bad about it. :cough: ...That is, speaking frankly, as a creator, I trust that since everyone else does such a good job writing Kirby-verse fluff, no one will mind too bad if I have this little corner of the fandom where everyone can be sad and sometimes life does beat you down.

Now...

It probably doesn't come off this way, but sometimes the reason I hop back and forth to several different AUs is that in a few cases, characters DO get better! Marx and Magolor in the Branch AU? They're actually very happy right now running a theme park together for lost Souls! (Well, happier once Marx gets his body back.)

White-Haired Noir in the AU AU verse? He's...well, he's never going to be the same after the loss he suffered, but he is on the mend.

Adeleine, post-Apologies, is doing okay.

My personal Dark Meta Knight is a huge, incurable mess of issues but he gets to duel with his counterpart on occasion and loves it.

Some of my versions of the characters have REALLY awful, messed up traumatic backstories and yet they came out shockingly alright, re: Daroach. (And Elfilin too. Rats stay winning!)

I do enjoy fluffy things, a lot, but I don't write a whole lot of "pure fluff." Which arguably means, if you're not seeing me draw or write anything for someone, they're probably having a GREAT time! Take Taranza. Taranza is often characterized as the forever sad, "I miss my wife, Tails" character but I think he really is doing okay!

...Not great as could be. He lost his friend (and crush) of...some long period of time but he's healing. Dedede's probably got a whole routine set up for getting over possession trauma at this point!!

For my two favorite trauma puppy standbys, Marx and Magolor, I mostly write about them having lingering trauma side-effects because... it's just my favorite sub-genre to write in, I guess? Most of what I write are physical impossibilities anyway: curses, magic-induced ailments, body-snatching, etc. But I think they can be interesting metaphors for what I or others might feel in RL, so I like to write about them as a way to come to terms with those feelings.

-

[Warning: Things Get Personal Past This Point]

-

I almost went more indepth about this in an earlier ask this evening, but my favorite character from my last major fandom was a purely good character who, in the backstory, had his personality shifted 180 degrees by an evil god, driven to cuckoo levels of crazy, and possibly (at least, it was a fairly popular HC) trapped inside his own mind for a large chunk of time as he was made to commit atrocities that shattered every vow he ever made and everything he believed in.

(Mad Emperor Vector, my beloved... :sob: )

An anime backstory if I'd ever heard one! But one of the reasons he rose from character I loved to MY blorbo was because I was just understanding my autism at the time, and part of how I understood it for myself and how it affected me was through this character's traumas. You might think it was silly but it was shockingly useful!

Around when I started suffering from long-term insomnia is when I started to get really, really obsessed with the "Marx is a sleep-deprived Noddy" theory. When (not to get depressing but...) many of my dreams and aspirations started to fall apart, I became really attached to Magolor + the false promises of the Master Crown...

Noir's creation coincides fairly closely with my feeling massively overburdened with life's pressures and trying to support my loved ones, keeping a chipper exterior attitude despite home troubles while feeling like I couldn't tell ANYONE how much it hurt inside...

That's not to say that I only make these sweet characters have bad days because I'M having a bad day or that I'm "using" them like emotion sponges in place of just seeing a therapist.

It's more that, having experienced some of these things myself, I feel like I have a closer understanding of them. And I want to understand more. Or I want to explore avenues I didn't personally take.

...Or I want to celebrate my own life, shambles and all, by seeing how much worse it could be if only E~vil~ Magic had been involved...!!

-

TLDR, the actual Kirby characters probably don't need a therapist at all. Dess's versions are more likely to need one, but I'll probably write about the ones that haven't gone yet because that path is where I personally find the best and most meaningful stories...!

[desultory-novice]

I've been reading your various theories/analysis on the Nightmare Wizard and I was impressed what you came up with, given how HAL has given us virtually nothing on Mr. chin man.

It's a somewhat popular headcanon that Meta Knight was created by or at the very least connected to Nightmare, but this came from evidence in the anime canon. I was wondering what are your thoughts on this theory based on game lore?

Hrgh! I LOVE Nightmare! I have so much fun writing him and speculating on him! I mean, whether he's an actual physical, incarnation of the concept of bad dreams or just a once-upon-a-time power hungry Wizard who decided to name himself after the concept... that's so cool?!? It doesn't even bother me that he gets jobbed all the time. It's the POTENTIAL!!

I love his VA, Banjo Ginga, too. This wizard might have a chin the length of a galaxy but he's got a VOICE to back it up!

Now, you said game lore, but I'm going to go ahead and talk HC because, like you said, we know almost nothing canonical about Mr Chin Man, but the chance of a Halcandra connection seems GOOD at least. (Actually, even better now with a parallel version of him showing up in the same game with the Gem Apple Tree?)

So, I strongly HC him as being responsible for Marx (in several ways) but anime-originating or no, I think making him Meta's creator/corruptor is a fun little theory.

It's common to assume Kirby's species just gains wings as a matter of fact (I'm undecided, despite the fact that we have three winged... err, four if you count Zero Two - then again, those are apparently veins?? // why did this never click for me despite the fact that they show it in the END CREDITS?! // so maybe three - members of the "species") but if you start the whole line at Galacta, as a progenitor being or even god, with their unsullied angel wings, there is something "monstrous" about Meta Knight's devil/bat wings. He LOOKS like the "evil clone" despite being more the hero on every level.

(...Once we forget the military coup. Silly tangent, but I saw someone on Twitter make a joke about Elfilis and the Beast Pack forcing the captured Waddle Dees to work the generators and how cruel that's portrayed, when Meta Knight's own ship uses Wheelies for the same purpose! ...Of course, maybe that's just exercise for Wheelies? We don't know if it was mean... necessarily...)

Speaking of Meta Knight and a questionable past, I was thinking the other day about DMK and Marx and since they're the last two of the "You jerks don't deserve to be Dream Friends!" trio - Magolor having proven himself a true friend and worthy ally after an extended trip through hell - and trying to think just what Dark Meta Knight and Marx could possibly have in common. (Outside of Salty French Bread canon (?) where they get along surprisingly well. Then again, everyone in that group is a secret maniac, except Adeleine) This is especially when I step back and remember that DMK is still BASED ON Meta Knight. Meta Knight's thoughts and feelings exist somewhere within Dark Meta Knight, they're just twisted. (And under what grounds would META KNIGHT ever have to get along with/sympathize with/feel camaraderie with Marx??)

.That's a long way to get around to saying I'm actually REALLY fond of Nightmare Knight (...is that a badass name or what?! Also love that his independent play modes are called "Meta Knightmare" Too bad that's a localization only thing, as it would be GREAT fort this theory...) as a splinter HC! I actually have a lot of room for this to fit in my personal/main HC too!

(:cough: since I liked to imagine Nightmare as a former Halcandran Geneticist, this would not even be hard for him, especially if he managed to get ahold of Galacta Knight's DNA. And my Nightmare, who absolutely has a twisted sense of "humor"...

"You COULD have given the Noddies arms, you know." "Ha! They're literally engineered to sleep all day! What possible use would they have for arms? Grabbing a pillow??" :later, Marx, trying and failing to grab a pillow: "...Grrrr...!!!"

...would absolutely see Meta Knight as a consummate warrior and thus, as the "cherry on top" program him with an insatiable lust for battle, "...just like his stabbity-happy genetic predecessor!" Something Meta Knight is constantly trying to combat w/ copious amounts of book reading and fancy sweets... :cough:)

You know, it would be kind of fun, too, if that played into the reason Meta acted so unusual in Adventure. He's on-board with Dedede's plan to stop Nightmare, but he also knows well enough that the stall won't STOP Nightmare and thus, he supports Kirby throughout the puff's adventure.

Or maybe Meta Knight was even fighting his genetic programming/monster nature during that campaign? (Does that happen in the anime, too? Generally decent critters who are monster-fied try to fight the evil inside??) The potential story ideas are endless!

I was told at one point that Marx pulling his MWW stunt out of hunger from the "Spring Breeze" famine was the only way to explain how his game fit in the "plot" of Super Star. But when I think about Nightmare reaching out his long claws to manipulate both Marx and Meta Knight (one last tangent: but Noddies are pink just like Kirby. Both Marx and Meta Night look like them but with a distinct blue(ish, in Marx's case) palette. And who else is those colors??) the fact that you unlock Milky Way Wishes after Revenge of Meta Knight (I lied/another tangent: What IS Meta Knight "revenging" anyway? His defeat? The one he basically engineered in Kirby's Adventure? Weird thing to get upset about...) could also give you a slightly different take on that "storyline." Maybe?

The only thing I DON'T like about this theory is it would potentially make Meta Knight realllllllly old. Centuries, even. And that doesn't matter so much if you throw out the concept of realistic human-esque aging in Kirby altogether (which I sometimes do, because I'd easily take "Kirby is hundreds of years old but STILL maintains a young, optimistic, innocent point of view" over "Kirby is an almighty battle toddler" - We don't know Kirby's actual age, but I've seen some numbers thrown out by fans, and the idea of non-chalantly sending a literal 6-10 year old to do the stuff Kirby puts up with in game makes me uneasy) but in a lot of cases, I think i prefer Meta Knight to be closer to a contemporary with the main gang?

Chalk me up as one of those people that thinks Meta Knight tries his hardest to act mature, to always be seen as the "smartest and the eldest" but is actually a big, huge dork on the inside. Like he decided he would have the role of "group adult" only because he wanted it, not because he did anything to earn it.

[desultory-novice]

Do you have any headcanons on Marx Soul?

Do I have Marx Soul Heacanons...?

...This does remind me that sometimes I end up with several headcanons for a character that, oh, maybe differ from each other or conflict in some way? But heck, I typically love them all and want to play with all of them, so I just kind of juggle from one to another as the mood hits me! (I'm frequently balancing several different Kirby "universes" in my head for this reason.)

So I can't just give you one static Marx Soul HC that is my favorite. What I will do is take this opportunity to share several Marx Soul ideas I'm fond of, as well as just gabbing about Marx Soul (and Marx) in general, because there's some cool things going on there that can't easily be wrapped up in HCs alone!

---

Marx Soul is a fusion of Marx and Nightmare

...This one is my baby. Mostly because I think I'm the first one (?) to come up with it? This is entirely based on the similarities Marx Soul shares with Nightmare (color palette, necklace) and the fact that Marx Soul's JP pause description doesn't specify that it is Marx's "evil soul" that resurrected after the collision. Aka, what if a part of Nightmare got stuck in Marx (through any number of methods, but obviously, I favor the "he was once a peaceful Noddy hit by Nightmare shrapnel" theory) and when Marx was on the verge of death, Nightmare "woke up" and took over his unwitting host.

I like this one a lot because I, err, maybe kinda like body hijacking as a plot point...Oops... But also I just love love love the Dreamer (Marx being a Noddy) vs Nightmare (Nightmare being, well, a "nightmare"...) parallel and putting them together in one body gives me even more fun ground to play with there!

This way, Marx Soul has DOUBLE the reasons to want revenge on Kirby! I would argue that you could use this as an explanation for the infamous Marx Soul flash frames that occurs right before Marx transforms!

Because there's like a frame or two before Marx grows his wings and goes all boss mode where he actually looks like Marx Soul. And this is back in the original game, before Marx Soul was even created! Which is just fascinating...! 

So, if Nightmare IS lurking inside Marx, that flash could be a hint of Nightmare's power resurfacing/awakening with the sudden surge of energy? Also, Marx is *exceptionally* pale during that brief flash, with his skin turning a pale, sickly, corpse-like purple, just like Nightmare's skin!

Ahem. Outside of my desperate attempts to find enough evidence to make other people latch onto my favorite HC, I also just like it because it would make Nightmare more of a threat too. Which I always enjoy. Gotta give credit where credit is due to the OG "scary" Kirby boss. (...Even if the scariest part was how surprisingly easy it was to run out of time in the orb phase of the fight.) 

And if Nightmare, in *some form* carried on over into a second game (aka, Super Star) we'd have an antagonist who makes a much better foil to Dark Matter/Zero! Now we've got “The Dark Matter Trilogy” and “The Nightmare Trilogy!” Or maybe “The Fountain Trilogy?” Err, duology! Because I can't link a third game into this. Unless I'm missing a relevant game somewhere...?

(...Smash Bros Ultimate...??)

Oh, yes! Another thing that's kind of fun/funny about this theory is that, if it were true, in light of the connections Forgotten Land gives us regarding the Galactic Novae, then a Nightmare-carrying Marx Soul has the potential to be a fusion of THREE lifeforms, depending upon if the Novae are made from a living Elfilis simulacrum or a fake one. (But again, the *heartbeat*...)

Anyway, three may honestly be too much, but I absolutely believe Marx Soul is a fusion of two lifeforms, minimum. You COULD see the "splitting in two" at the end as just a random creepy thing, or some kind of ironic fate based on his black hole attack, but I can't believe it’s unrelated. The Kirby series has too many meaningful lore and background bits tucked away in innocuous places for that and I think the splitting is a sign of...SOMETHING. 

Just not sure what.

--

Marx Soul and Void...?

I've been trying to think about WHY Marx Soul and Void share a battle background. Obviously, I considered the shared BG to be an important element in my Nightmare v Marx comparisons. They're not identical, such that you could say they occur in the exact same place, but they are close enough to be noticeable.

But I really have no idea why...! The fight with Void's core takes place inside Void Termina's shell body (?) and it's difficult to say WHERE that space even is.

Given that Marx Soul is absolutely an Ancient artifact-fueled beastie made out of various Nova parts, it's not unreasonable to suggest that the weird polygonal beehive-esque space these fights occur in is one that spawns when you break or otherwise corrupt some kind of Ancient power source? ...Or rather, something the Ancients USED as a power source? ...A twisting of reality?

Void Termina wields the Master Crown as a weapon. And I think Void/Void's power must have been the inspiration for the physical crown's creation on Halcandra. Plus the Ancients (presumably/possibly) built the Novae based around Elfilis's dreamscape-creating/dimension traveling powers. 

Man, what little we know about the Ancients, we're already getting the feeling their "best" creations came from stealing the powers of other lifeforms...

Would you believe that, as big a Marx fan as I am, I hadn't even made the connection between Void Termina's glass wings and Marx's glass wings until it was pointed out to me? Ahaha... I guess I just associated Marx's with all that pretty color-changing, where as Termina's wings looked so static. But they are the same shape...ish. And I think that's relevant! Somehow! Again, it's a little hard to make a solid connection, unless you can somehow connect the Void-born species and Elfilis with each other...? That is, a connection outside of "A Voidborn and a fragment of Elfilis went on a journey together in Forgotten Land!"

(Also, why am I suddenly interested in calling Kirby's species "Voidborn?" What is this weird Bloodborne/Gothic-Horror Kirby crossover building in my head...?)

Oh, oh! But another thing that's kind of neat (BIAS TALK INCOMING) is that, partly due to their popularity in the fandom at large, Marx and Magolor ARE slowly working their way up into sub-main character status of the Kirby series! And I'm not just talking about the concert promotion either...!

I can't say if this was in all 30th Anniversary merch, but I got the Kirby Room Light (sooo cute) and it came with a booklet introducing the various major characters of Kirby and right alongside the four heroes (and Rick, Coo, and Kine) were Marx and Magolor. Not only does this please me for personal reasons, I think it's a REALLY GOOD CHOICE.

One way or the other, whether Magolor is just a Halcandran fanboy (fan cat?) or an actual Halcandran, whether Marx is just a jester or some sort of green goop producing semi-clockwork being now, the two of them provide an excellent link to the broader Kirby cosmos! They were villains once, are no longer serious villains now, both survived (?) their experiences, and they can be "friendly" to the heroes (...if you have enough REAL CASH on hand. Or maybe they’ll ambush you mid-credits sequence because it's funny!) 

Anyway, the brilliance of upgrading them to major characters is that the dev team can keep the main 4 relatively free from weird, complicated Ancient backstory hijinks (...although Meta Knight, should he also be Voidborn, remains a big, untapped secret...) while still giving us players a cute orb-sized link back to them any time they choose! And that's another reason Void Termina is such an interesting fight! Because while Void calls back to pretty much every Kirby boss, the two bosses they call back to the most are... Marx and Magolor.

.........This was about Marx Soul. Right. Sorry. Didn't mean to get distracted.

(But WHILE I'm distracted, I meant to say that part of what this means to me is that, if we were to get a new, more faithful Kirby anime, I can totally see/respect/want desperately for Marx and Magolor to become a Team Rocket-esque pair of reoccurring villains this time around. A selfish, greedy Dedede as villain of the week needs to go. Let the selfish mischievous jester and greedy lying wizard cause all the problems!)

--

Ahem. Now back to Marx Soul. And headcanons.

So, I dropped this idea out there once, but I headcanon Drawcia as Marx's magic teacher pre-Milky Way Wishes, and the reason for that is almost entirely due to their connection as Soul bosses and the inherited move set. I mean, he turns INTO PAINT! Who else could he have picked that up from but the living painting herself?! Of course, moves would be carried over from Soul boss to Soul boss after that, regardless of any potential ties between them, but eh, this one is too firmly entrenched in my mind that I just can't get rid of it!

...I like to imagine Drawcia made Marx's training anything but easy. (She IS a villain.)

--

Marx Soul and Death in the Kirby-verse

This one gets a little complicated because it's tied to a bunch of things and is more of a philosophy(?) thing rather than a headcanon thing? I’m going to talk about it anyway though because why not!

So, I think, in general, the understanding/implication is that Marx either died or was very near death after the collision with the Nova. His body is an ashen grey and he's not moving after that. This would, in a sense, make Marx Soul out to be Marx's animated corpse. (Yikes...)

But death is WEIRD in Kirby. There's that line in one of the early material books or earlier interviews or something (although every time I get asked about a source for these things, I end up being wrong so take what I’m saying here with a grain of salt, please!) but I RECALL a bit about the creatures in Popstar coming back "like the grass in summer." ...Or maybe it was weeds...? 

And yes, it might've been referring to the respawning system in the 2D games and NOT a lore element. But I'm ridiculously fond of this one as lore for whatever reason and I tend to work it into my generalized Kirby headcanon almost every time: the idea that things on Popstar never really die.

(It’s a stretch but then again...the critters in the Forgotten Land DON’T respawn like the Popstar ones when you destroy them. Now, that's because there's no "screen border" you can cross that means its safe for them to do so...and they DO respawn if you exit and re-enter a room. It’s an out there idea, but isn't it kind of interesting...?)

So, anyway! Popstar as a weird Fountain of Eternal Youth/paradise planet where nothing ever dies! Maybe it's energy of the planet? Maybe that's why everyone is attracted to it/always wants to invade it? And if Marx and Kirby had fought on Popstar, maybe Marx would have just been sent flying ala King Dedede in Dream Land 1? But they fought juuuuust outside the bounds of Popstar, so when Marx makes a magnificent crash into a Galactic Nova, he's a little more messed up than typical. (If Popstar residents CAN’T get permanently injured or die, that crash must have been a real system shock to poor Marx...)

And now you have this weird dead/dying/undead/undying Marx (...all the worse if he had just enough lingering Popstar energy in him so that he COULDN'T just die post-crash, but wasn't alive either...) Anyway, depending upon how deep you read into it, what you get there and the emotional implications of it are all kind of horrible, really. Because Kirby has never really faced or had to contend with, err, death before... Not yet, at last. Anything that's been an invader to Popstar is destroyed or dispersed in a safe clean way, but Marx is different because Marx was at one time alive and now...isn't.

I imagine, sometimes, what that must be like for Kirby. Kirby wouldn’t be exactly responsible for Marx’s death or the creation of Marx Soul because it was Marx himself that went spiraling out of control, but still... 

Even though Kirby games have no specific timeline, I occasionally think about how various events would take their toll on Kirby. Affect Kirby’s growth. (Like the stuff with the friend hearts in Star Allies and how Kirby goes on to save EVERYONE in FL, right off the heels of being unable to save either Secty or Haltmann. When you look at the big picture, it DOES tie together.) 

Long story short, I have various thoughts about the fact that the next mainline game to be released after Super Star Ultra is Return to Dream Land - where Kirby is (implied to be) constantly in the company of Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandee. Maybe they thought Kirby shouldn't be alone after, well...after the ghost of a former foe came back from the dead for a ghastly revenge...? And boy is Marx Soul ghastly. At least for the early Kirby series. The awful noises, glitchy movements, and the weird bits of sanity-slippage you get from that fight does play strongly into the "zombie Marx" theory.

Speaking of Marx Soul graphical weirdness, I love how, among the new animations for him, we get this cute (?) little one where he curls up into a ball...? Except the way he tucks his wings in so that they slowly cross over him/vaguely meld into his body...? It's not your typical HORROR horror, but there's something unnerving about it. Maybe it's that "creepy cartoon" effect?

...Brief aside. I’ve only watched, like, 10 episodes of Steven Universe but I did watch the movie, thanks to a friend. And my mind almost can't help but make visual parallels between Marx and Spinel. At least as far as "creepy cartoon characters who are creepy specifically BECAUSE they are a cartoon."

What makes this one move of Marx's even more weirdly dissonant is that when you stop to look at the sprite, he's got this surprisingly peaceful expression on his face for squishing himself into a physically impossible little ball of impossible.

--

Marx Soul is Marx's Negative Impulses/Thoughts

This HC is one I barely use myself, but I LOVE to see it??? 

I'm not at all into Marx/Marx Soul selfcest, which, frankly, is where I see this headcanon pop up the most, but ahhh, I can't help but enjoy the concept of a Marx Soul continuing to linger in the back of Marx's mind whispering all sorts of horrible things in his head even after Star Allies. As someone with negative intrusive thoughts, it feels kinda good to see versions of a comfort character struggle with them too, in either a mental or physical form...

It also makes for some damn good fanart.

On that note, temptation is strong to make a parody of Guchiry’s Flower song "Abnormality Dancing Girl" that plays into this version of Marx + Marx Soul.

--

Back to random Marx Soul observations!

You know what I also love? The minor detail of Marx Soul's hat switching colors! Regardless of WHAT Marx Soul is, we understand him to have needed to use the power of the Nova to reconstruct/revive himself, and I occasionally like to think the reversed hat is a possible representation of just how wrong he was when he came back. Yes, it doesn't exactly work out logically or physically, because Marx wasn't (yet) split in two when he near-died, but it's almost like, while absorbing Nova's parts to remake himself, he (or it) put himself back together in the wrong way. His eyes are more prominently facing outward too. I'm not exactly saying his left eye is on the right and his right eye is on the left now but...maybe?!?

 So much body horror in one tiny jester 

...Oh geez...! Speaking of...

This just came up in my feed today, but Super Star was supposed to have one last mini-game included in it that was horror-themed and it was initially planned that Kirby would have his *mouth sewn shut* by the villain so he couldn't use copy abilities?!? (Yikes yikes...) And he'd have to collect them instead? 

This is, I gather, the base of the system used in Milky Way Wishes? 

The lost game theory makes sense, because Milky Way Wishes is more like a rehash/revisitation of the other Super Star mini-games. Every planet is made of reused tiles. The most original element in it is Marx. So...if Marx was originally planned to be the villain of that horror game (...and it fits, what with him being a scary clown...) Well...you can sort of see why Sakurai's original version of Marx is a whole lot scarier if THAT is the kind of thing he'd do to Kirby...

...Also, I don't know why...but I get the strong feeling that, seeing as how Marx in MWW suffers a very karmic "He's destroyed by the very comet he wished on!" defeat, the ending to this horror-themed Kirby game would probably have the magic Marx used on Kirby backfiring on him in a very bad way... 

Imagine a zombie Marx Soul making Those Noises with a stitch-ripped mouth... 

...Or don't, because, you know, that's awful.

...

...

I CAN'T END THIS ON THAT IMAGE IN GOOD FAITH SOOOO....

...Aha, I know what I can still talk about! The Roses! 

Marx Soul's roses! Who told them they were allowed to add roses to Marx's attack patterns?! It's so...gah, it's so interesting! How is it Marx goes from thorny vines (...thorny catci?) to blooming roses?! I have NO idea. Kumazaki, why did you give Marx Soul roses?! Marx isn't tied into the plot of Triple Deluxe in any way, is he?! It's just...I mean, roses have a ton of associations, of course. One for every color. But Marx Soul's roses are blood red.

And he has those hearts on his wings. What do those mean??

I actually ended up doing some research on this, because I was trying to figure out if there could be some meaning to Marx's heart wings. Tbh, the first thing that came to mind was "...Is this a Dio Brando reference?" Because of the heart-iconography + crazy villain thing. But through that, I learned that the "heart shape" actually existed in Japan for centuries! Only it wasn't a "heart," it was a boar's eye(?) And it was a symbol of good fortune and to ward off evil. Interesting how, even if it didn't mean love yet, it was still a positive symbol.

So why is Marx associated with these positive symbols?! But this may be another Void connection because Void is all heart imagery all the time!

...And...so is Elfilis...

Huh. Wasn't I just wondering about ties between Void and Elfilis toward the beginning of this essay? If Marx's hearts are Elfilis's hearts are Void's hearts...?

Alas, I don't have an answer. Ran out of headcanons.

In any case, I really do hope that Marx's rising popularity means a consistent appointment to the position of semi-regular character (like with Magolor) because there is just SO MUCH packed inside this little jester to explore!

[desultory-novice]

What do you think of the theory that Marx and Kirby are childhood friends, which is why Marx used *kirby* of all people to manipulate and betray?

For a different theory, do you think it's possible for Void to store energy if it's not enough to reincarnate? If so, then both theories I've had about Kirby's possible energy origin could be true.

For the Void thing, I don't see why not! Especially in sealed form, it always kind of looked to me like Void was storing up energy. That energy can be dispersed and coalesce into things like the friendship heart and friend platforms, as it was in the beginning of Star Allies, or reabsorbed later! (Honestly, I always thought the Jamba group had been working on the Void thing for ages anyway!)

As for the first theory... I'm completely smitten by it and a huge devotee of it! Even though it was born from a (official) Kirby gag manga...it makes a lot of sense?! Lemme explain!

It feels a bit like an expansion on the "lost copy ability helper" theory. That being that there is a "Helper" for every copy ability in Kirby Super Star, except for Mic, Crash, and Sleep. But the idea is that if you COULD have turned these into helpers, they would follow Kirby around and help him save the day! And Marx would be the "Sleep" helper! (if you buy into the Noddy theory - even if you don't, you could say he's all three, because he's got the hat, is loud, and EXPLOSIVE!) But he's foe, not friend!

I've seen it said that Marx is a funny character to get fixated on because he appears only twice (one of those times is the pre-game cutscene) in the very last sub-game and has something like four lines of dialogue total. That it's silly because Marx has no "character" to speak of. But even before Star Allies came out, Marx has always been a subject of fan art and fan appreciation. What, then, were fans basing his character off of?

...Well, I think some of the bond between Kirby and Marx ties into the "0%/0%/0% Theory" (which I was going to save for another comic, but I'll go ahead and outline it here. I may have brought it up before, in which case...I don't apologize because it's a damn good theory.)

...

In short, due to the expansion chip “Kirby Super Star” (SNES) used, it was a very volatile game cartridge. Meaning that if you put it into the SNES wrong, or wiggled it or such, you might lose your data. A lot of people would turn the game on after completion only to be greeted with 0% 0% 0% (representing the three save files.) It was a relatively easy game (as long as you weren't going for full completion on GCO) so people would just beat it again.

What began to happen in the fandom thanks to that is the idea that the game was resetting ITSELF. And what's the last thing that happens before that reset? You fight Marx. (Marx who made a wish to get control of Popstar and failed to get his wish. And Galactic Nova is implied to be immortal sooooo...RESET TIME) And as much as I love Milky Way Wishes that (infamous) ending is...a bit anti-climactic? Marx + Galactic Nova explode, Kirby flies home, Kirby has a nap. The END. It's like something is MISSING....

...The idea became that what is missing is Marx himself. You can't "save" Marx. You can't stop him. Or talk him out of it. Or even talk TO him. You're just stuck in this time loop of fighting him again. And again. And again. And every time you fight him, his power inevitably goes berserk and sends him crashing into Nova... And the tragic cycle begins again.

There was a desire, at least in some fans, to want to SAVE Marx. (Anyone getting “Undertale” feels here? Because I think you can draw some “Undertale” parallels with Marx and Kirby and “Milky Way Wishes” being played out hundreds, possibly hundreds of thousands of times.) Even if they weren't friends to begin with, they have to know each other VERY WELL after X number of time loops they're stuck in, never able to escape this sad, inevitable conclusion.

I brought up in my Magolor's theme park post that there's a lot of pretty fanart of Magolor with those blue flowers that mean "I forgive you." 

There's an equal amount of fanart that portrays Kirby reaching out and grabbing Marx (saving him) to keep him from falling to his doom in Milky Way Wishes, and I think the timeloop/friends theory is the reason. This time...This time, we can prevent Marx from his fate...!

But while it's a brilliant little theory (and breaks this old fan's heart - I love me some tragic time-travel stories) it’s a little complicated to explain, so I think skipping back even further and setting them up as friends before Milky Way Wishes is an excellent way to reframe the accidental friendship the two of them had "built" over the years since Super Star was released.

It keeps the tragedy of the situation, that of two friends locked in battle, in a nice easy to consume way. If you like the additional idea from said manga that Kirby forgot about him for years, it makes it even more tragic on Marx’s part, and helps fuel why he wishes for what he did - and why he trusted that Kirby, of all people, could get it done. Or maybe that he chose Kirby to do this because he wanted Kirby to be there when he made his reveal?

It’s been questioned before, “Why didn’t Marx just summon Nova himself?” Especially if he’s that powerful? Then Kirby would never get involved and Marx would basically get his wish. If he’s already bitter at Kirby for some reason, it makes perfect sense why Marx wants Kirby there as opposed to just getting what he wants ALONE. (He’s tired of being alone!)

Frankly, outside of the "manipulation" thing, there's really no reason Kirby WOULDN'T be friends with Marx! We know that Kirby is himself someone who loves to play games and be silly. In the various manga, they’re often a total (adorable) troublemaker themself! The fact is, Kirby and Marx would probably have quite a few things in common! (Marx just takes his jokes further and has less interest in lazy, boring days. But even if "keep him fed" from Star Allies is a mistranslation, there's still enough associations with Marx and food that you imagine he enjoys eating enough to have that in common with Kirby too!)

So, yeah. What this boils down to is Dess cares a whole heck of a lot about the Marx + Kirby friendship and all its complexities, bruised feelings, misunderstandings, and eventual redemption! It is probably my second favorite "relationship" in Kirby. (First being my OTP, of course!)

[desultory-novice]

"It started with a Nightmare"  Pt1

~The Comprehensive "Marx is a Noddy" Essay~

...with bonus illustrations/comic!

Due to the amount of images in this essay, I had to split it up into 3 parts Luckily, it fits -perfectly- into 3 parts!

-Part One <You are Here> -Part Two -Part Three

Note: All images taken from the Kirby fandom wikia and official Japanese Kirby Twitter, unless otherwise noted. Various "Marx as a Noddy" fanart by me.

Extra Note: There is secondary source art (guide books and manga) that sometimes depict Marx with glasses. While this essay uses Marx's character design as evidence in places, I've ignored those where he has glasses, because the primary source high-quality 3D renders show him without them. But I feel it's possible to still work them into the theory, if one prefers glasses Marx!

Here's Marx!

This helpful, ball-bouncing jester appears briefly to introduce you to the plot of Milky Way Wishes, the final and most important sub-game in Kirby Super Star (and its remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra.) 

Marx is also the last boss of said sub-game, betraying you and stealing the power cosmic out from under your non-existent nose before transforming into this delightfully horrifying hell bat-looking creature. (And doing things like splitting his face in two to create a black hole to suck you inside. How nice!)

All that said, we never learn much about Marx himself. Where he comes from (he appears out of nowhere in the opening cutscene, though no one is -too- surprised to see him) or why he does what he does. He speaks maybe 2-3 times in total. Who is he really?

This adorable Dreamlander is called a Noddy. Noddies are one of the most harmless (insidious) enemies in the Kirby series, because while they can't hurt you outside of contact damage, if you inhale them (on purpose or accident) you're stuck with the "Sleep" ability, which puts Kirby to sleep for several seconds, preventing you from controlling him till he wakes up. (Or until you mash enough buttons.) The Noddies themselves are active and awake for far less time than Kirby himself sleeps for, often times falling asleep off-screen, as soon as they appear on screen, or after taking a step or two.

It’s been theorized that Marx may be (or had been) a Noddy himself before becoming the backstabbing jester we all know and love. (?)

In this essay, I'd like to examine why that theory is very likely true and morever... why it's almost frighteningly likely that Marx's true origins as a villain (and his unspoken backstory) lay not in Super Star's Milky Way Wishes, but way back in Kirby's second outing, the NES game Kirby's Adventure (aka, Nightmare in Dream Land.)

-Is Marx a Noddy?-

Let's look at them side by side....

They certainly appear to be the same shape, generally. Their eyes are made of the same basic iris block + 4 pixels of highlight. And if I may be so bold, Marx, when he's wounded/near death after the fight with Kirby in Super Star Ultra, bears a vague resemblance to the Noddies’ damage sprite as well.

(Screenshot from DyllonStej Gaming's "All Kirby Super Star Ultra Cutscenes in 60FPS”; image flipped for comparison's sake; Marx sprite sheet also by Jermungandr)

One of Marx's more notable traits is his lack of arms (until he gets wings after making a wish on a Galactic Nova - a wish granting comet.) Noddies also have no arms, which is fine considering they don't have to do anything except waddle a bit, fall asleep, and look harmless. Marx and the Noddies both have round bodies, similar to Kirby, but less circular and a bit more squat.

Then there's the hat. Noddies (and Kirby when he's got the Sleep ability) all wear sleeping caps. Marx's "jester cap" is notable for not...actually being that much like the traditional 3-4 pointed entertainer's cap. Of course, it resembles one just enough to trigger that "Ahh, so he's a jester!" sensation in your mind, but really, it looks just as much like two sleeping caps sewn together. Especially since the left side of the hat has a similar dot pattern to the Kirby series sleeping caps...

Stańczyk by Jan Matejko - the titular figure sporting a more classic "jester" look (it's also that guy in the "I'm Boo Boo the Fool" image macro) from Wikipedia. (But check out the article on this painting also because it's kinda neat, though completely irrelevant to Kirby!)

I might as well point out that the "modern" design of the "Mirror" copy ability DOES resemble a jester's cap with its tight peaks.

This is interesting as the -classic- design for the "Mirror" copy ability in Super Star and Super Star ultra bears a remarkable resemblance to what Marx is wearing! Especially since the use of this ability happens to turn Kirby purple and let him split himself in two! Now, that version was just a palette swap of the Beam hat (probably why it was changed in later games) with Marx's colors only reversed.

(...It's really a shame the enemy you get this copy ability from, Simirror, isn't itself wearing a jester hat/sleeping cap combo, else we could say Marx nicked his hat from one of those enemies, thereby having an easy origin story for it...!)

Moving on, as for their body, in recent games, Noddies have consistently appeared a shade of pink similar to Kirby. In earlier games, like Adventure and Super Star, they came in more shades, including blue and violet. Marx himself is a pale shade of violet, but he's sometimes portrayed as being closer to Kirby's color himself, as seen in the above artwork from the official twitter.

Marx's eyes differ from a Noddy's somewhat, having a similar tall, oval shape but with MUCH larger whites and smaller irises - we'll touch on that later! Although it's definitely worth mentioning that official artwork of the Noddies from Super Star (Marx's game) portray them with irises the same shade of purple Marx has! He also has a similar cheek blush to the Noddies (and Kirby.)

Another point of note is that while Kirby's red appendages have been confirmed by Sakurai to be his feet (not shoes) Marx is one of the few Kirby characters who clearly wears shoes. We can assume, with their general physical similarity to Kirby, that the Noddies are also shoeless and those orange lumps are their feet. But the shape of said feet is a good match for Marx's shoe size. Because he wears shoes, we cannot say for sure one way or another whether Marx has the pale orange feet distinctive of a Noddy under those laces or not.

Now Noddies are, again, notorious for only being able to take a few steps before falling asleep. While Marx, made playable in Star Allies, starts out by rolling on his classic jester ball, should you kick it at someone, he can then walk and run just like the rest of the allies and Dream Friends with no noticeable movement problems; meanwhile, using the Ghost ability to possess (control) Noddies in Squeak Squad results in something more like sleep walking/sleep jumping. So, walking doesn't seem to tire him out. Not at present, at least.

Okay, ready to move on? It's time for <Part Two!>

[desultory-novice]

...I never did get Marx/Magolor/Marxolor as asks and these answers are seriously burning a hole in my drafts file so everyone's just going to have to indulge me for now!

002 - Marxolor

When I Started Shipping Them:

...True story? 0.0005 seconds after reading this comic. https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/75595562

Also, I know this person has a tumblr, but I can't remember it and I don't think they post Kirby anymore...? I have this page bookmarked though because I like it so much. Oh, this comic also introduced me to the Noddy theory. I owe a lot of my Kirby fandom to it.

My Thoughts:

ilovethemilovethemilovethem :brainrot: ...Oh, you wanted a more -coherent- answer? :takes a deep breath: Who's ready for an essay?!

First off, I love that they are so good for each other and so bad for each other at the same time. Not relationship goals, but amazing and enthralling to watch it play out anyway. Because they're both tricksters and mischief-bringers, and you just know some of that inherent chaos is going to be leveled against each other when things get boring. Which could actually turn out pretty devastating because they're both powerful enough magic users that when they get into a fight, there's going to be collateral damage. But they're each a liiiiittle unhinged, a little maniacal, and so they can laugh off the fires and the broken walls and the puddles of whatever weird -goo- Marx is made of when everything is over. And neither of them are saints either, so they don't need to put on airs around each other or fake their personality to impress and cajole like they seem to do around other Dream Landers.

At the same time, they've both survived (?) major life changing experiences at the hands of strange eldritch powers on a scale that probably only Dedede’s frequent possessions can compare to. I feel like they have all the right elements to be "the only one who understands me" to each other, and I'm really into seeing them as trauma-bonded in a way that, though they drive each other crazy, they can't bear to be apart without just collapsing into pieces because that shared experience means they keep each other steady. When they're together, things are natural and the world makes sense again and they can remember what sunshine feels like and the scent of flowers and they can drive each other's lasting nightmares away.

Also, I like that there's this vague pocket of time between Super Star and Return to Dreamland that is the most likely candidate for "when" they meet and you can put anything you want in there and you can stretch that time out as long as you want to...with the caveat that you end the story with the two of them separated. (Or you can have Magolor keep Marx's unconscious body hidden in a tube somewhere on his ship, like I drew in that one piece of fanart...) 

Anyway, it's good stuff. Really good stuff.

What Makes Me Happy About Them:

...That these two who were so unsatisfied with the world and the way their lives were going that they tried to play god with the universe to get what they wanted only to fail horrifically might now be able to find simple happiness and safety and contentment post-Galactic Nova exploding/post-Master Crown possession with each other.

What Makes Me Sad About Them:

We KNOW they know each other. The official twitter art comes as close to confirming that it was Marx that Magolor was talking about. We basically know how and why they know each other too. Yet they.will.never.interact.in.canon. 

...On the other hand, they could never behave in canon exactly how I want them to, so it’s sort of a blessing for me. A  headcanon field day!

Things Done In Fanfic That Annoy Me: ...Not sure about "annoys me" but probably focusing only on the comical and chaotic aspects of their relationship and never looking at the more soulful aspects. But that's a personal thing as I'm mostly here for the serious stuff. Oh, also, writing a Marx that can -never- be serious or introspective ever. (I also do NOT like seeing “They’re too evil to love/to deserve love.” Blech. But that goes for Kirby as a whole. Now, loving each other but struggling terribly with navigating those feelings? Yess.)

Things I Look For In Fanfic: I’m simple. If there's a scene where either of them have a traumatic episode/a bad time/maybe just get sad and the other one is there to quietly assist, support, and comfort them, then I'm content!

My Wishlist: I keep talking about this, but the Maxolor comic I'm working on. It's a completely self-indulgent fanwork, but it has pretty much everything I'd ever want to see happen with them in it - and would never actually happen because Kirby stories always occur in the background, lol.

But! I also love when people draw them in different outfits! They both have such distinctive designs that I find different fans adding little touches to be sooo cute! On that note, gimme a canon Dreamy Gear Marx, please, so I can start shipping Dreamy Gear Marxolor too! /lh

Who I'd Be Comfortable With Them Ending Up With, If Not Each Other:

Marx with Kirby (not abusive, obvs) Marx really doesn't connect with that many people. But I think in a crisis, he would go to Kirby for help. Kirby is Kirby and would help him, because he’s already forgiven and accepted him. I think that kinda stuff is nice. While I’m interested in the dynamics of a MaruKabi romantic ship, I'd probably lean toward QPR or best friends with them anyway, just because I think they are important-to-each-other but not super lovey. I think it’s Magolor’s innate loneliness and his extended physical isolation that adds the key chemical in the Marxolor romantic ship. Kirby doesn’t have that, so Marx doesn’t need to respond.

Magolor with Drawcia. They share a cafe song together! (...Just like Marx and Magolor...) They're both Halcandran (probably), they're both magic users. They're both last bosses and have aims on remaking the world in their image. I think Magolor would find Drawcia's status as a living painting just completely fascinating. The egg who stole two different Halcandran treasures now dating a third? Though Drawcia would probably need to be won over before she paid poor Magolor any attention. Anyway, Marxolor takes up too much headspace for me to entertain this ship that much, but in a world without Marxolor? This would be my Magolor OTP.

My Happily Ever After For Them:

My Magolor has massive Crown-related PTSD and my Marx has persistent insomnia, so for me, I see them traveling the galaxy aboard the Lor, night after night, watching the stars and jokingly rating various planets they visit on their conquerability until they get too tired to possibly stay up any longer and fall asleep in each other's arms/claws, the only way either of them have found to get peaceful rest anymore. And yet, they wouldn’t change a thing...

[desultory-novice]

So I LOVE the theory about Marx and Nightmare. But what if

Marx was never originally a Noddy, and instead was just a creation of Nightmare meant to RESEMBLE one (potentially blend in with the other Noddies as a way to eventually wipe them out so that they can't mess with his plans anymore)?

Ooh, I like this! This is a neat one!

This works very well with the "Marx always looked like his boss form" theory. The other neat thing about this is it plays into probably the most interesting (?) part of Anime!Nightmare - his ability to make monsters! (I think it would be so neat if game Nightmare was confirmed to have this ability as well. If he's a wizard, as his name suggests, it should be possible!)

So, I mentioned in my other Nightmare post about Nightmare maybe being an Ancient himself, one who invented or worked on the Dream Fountains, possibly? And while this is HC of mine is coming completely (?) out of nowhere, I used to believe that the Fountain of Dreams was responsible for making the creatures of Popstar! Like everyone is born from the spring...?

So, since we're playing around with fun HC right now, let's go with it! Let's say baby Popstarians are born from the fountain. And Nightmare used his powers to either twist one of the newborn Noddies into being his loyal servant, or corrupt the waters to produce a Noddy-like creature that he could use, as you say, to wipe the Noddies out and establish his power!

Also? I love the idea that the nightmare-affiliated Nightmare would see the constantly dreaming Noddies as a threat to his power! Almost as if their combined dream powers would be enough to fill Dream Land and Popstar with positive dreams, keeping him from taking a hold! 

I've always thought it would be fun if Noddies weren't useless at all, but fulfilled some very important background function in the world of Kirby we just don't see because Kirby's always tackling things from a different angle!

(Since “Sleep” has healing attributes in certain games, you could extend that out to them being Popstar’s “healers!” If not active ones, then ones that help make the whole atmosphere of Popstar a relaxing, curative one!)

And as I mentioned in my "true form" post earlier, the fact that Marx looks vaguely bat-like gives me strong "a sorcerer and his familiar" vibes when you pair him with Nightmare, which I'm all here for! Speaking of that post, if Nightmare is his direct creator, you can pull some interesting ideas as to why Marx maybe goes around looking like a cute jester most of the time...

Imagine the following conversation! (...which I'd draw if I wasn't so exhausted...)

--

Marx: "Hey, hey, hey! I was so cool just a second ago! Why'd I turn small and ‘cute’? What happened to the wings and the claws?!"

Nightmare: "You'll get your -true power- back when I get mine. For now, use this form and make them think you're one of them."

Marx: "...Heh. Don't know how easy it'll be to blend in with those lazy idiots...but I suppose I can try!"

--

So, now you have "sleeper agent Marx" going on (somehow, calling him a "sleeper agent" makes the whole "looks like a Noddy thing" even more funny!) playing nice with Dream Land and Kirby till he gets his chance to strike. Perhaps his wish to control Popstar was part of a deal with his creator to restore him to power and make Popstar more welcoming to the dark wizard?

Although, if we draw this line all the way to Star Allies Marx, we can probably say that at some point, Marx must have decided working for Nightmare was not all it was cracked up to be (probably after his big, dramatic loss) and chose to go independent...

Or maybe...

...this Marx is STILL on Nightmare's side? Can't let Hyness et all have their way with Popstar if Nightmare's already laid claim to it long ago! (Especially if Hyness and Nightmare knew each other, either as former Ancients or just plain enemies! Hyness is implied to have a connection to/knowledge of Nightmare's initial defeat after all!) It’s really interesting to think of these kinds of tangential rivalries going on in the background of that game!

And while I prefer the Dream Friends to be true allies to Kirby, certain of their descriptions kinda lead to the implication they may be tagging along for selfish reasons or have eyes on the Jamba heart. (Daroach, I love you, but stop going after treasure that's just going to get you possessed and give you a bad time!)

One last amusing thought:

If you take the idea that "Kirby has always thought of Marx as a friend" implied by Marx's JP profile and their friendship in various manga, and extend that to NIGHTMARE by association, it gets VERY funny, very fast.

...Nightmare as a Dream Friend! Imagine!

Dedede/Meta Knight/et al: "Kirby, listen, we've got to draw the line on who you're counting in your ‘friend’ group..."

Although I seem to recall Dark Matter Blade was considered as a Dream Friend at one point, so “Friend Nightmare” may be less of a stretch than we think?! I guess as long as they’re still around, the chance for, ah, redemption is...always o-open...???

[desultory-novice]

What are your thoughts on Nightmare including his role in the anime?

You caught me, you tricky Anon. I haven't watched the anime (-still- haven't watched the anime) but I'll happily gab about Nightmare based on what I know anyway!

Actually, let's start off with talking about anime Nightmare, specifically since I haven't seen it yet...!

First off, I think there's some seriously amazing pun work going on there with the name! Bravo, bravo! Especially in the dub! "eNeMeE," pronounced "Enemy" and standing for "Nightmare Enterprises?" It's so darn clever!! Maybe even more clever than "Holy NightMare Co." (Though that one has a nice ~devious~ vibe to it, combining "Holy Night" and "Nightmare." Nice villain feels there!)

That said, I gather Nightmare was a bit of a disappointment in the anime? Something about him just disappearing for a large chunk of the show? Being too easy to defeat? Or that he doesn't really ever do anything except vaguely try to kill Kirby by selling Dedede silly monsters of the week? Honestly, that's a huge shame they don't go beyond that stale formula, because I think making him the big bad was really pretty cool!

And I think the idea I occasionally see pop up in fanfic, where he remains the big bad after the show ends and sends later Kirby game villains through his transmitter as demon beasts (?) is cute. Even if I've never read any of them -- well, except for THIS comic (Dess's Marx Bias) which is awesome! ...But has little to do with Nightmare...

Finally, I keep thinking that "Customer Service" is Nightmare in disguise, because of the face. But I guess they're separate people? (And Customer Service is really short too? That pic showing off his full body still throws me off every time I see it. It's like some weird photoshop!!)

....Sorry, my thoughts on Anime!Nightmare are pretty basic...

Switching gears more towards Game!Nightmare, I definitely like the idea of him being this great evil that has plagued Dream Land for some time! Mentioned this once or twice elsewhere, but the "Dream" = "Nightmare" parallels (why I like to put him in combination with a Noddy!Marx so much) strike me as REALLY GOOD STUFF.

...A lot of people seem to look down on Nightmare for being an early Kirby boss with a VERY silly design that just isn't scary. Plus, him having hardly any lore, and zero speaking lines in game. He doesn't even have a pause screen to explain his entire backstory! He's just "Nightmare Jumpscare!!!" and that's it!

But see, I kind of love him for that?? Because he's not explained, Nightmare has this lingering sense of primordial EVIL attached to him. (Whether or not he's like, "evil" evil is up for debate, I suppose.) Anyway, I like Nightmare very much as an Elemental Incarnation. Something that can never truly be destroyed.

.......Although I also like Nightmare as maybe an ancient sorcerer who once upon a time sought too much power and messed with the wrong forces and everything spiraled out of control after that? Like Magolor if Kirby hadn't been there. Or Hyness without the religious focus. Speaking of, what if it came out at some point that Nightmare was one of the Ancients?! Probably not going to happen (Dess continues to create nega-Kirby lore) but wouldn't that be WILD?! 

So, like, this is a teeny tiny tidbit of lore I had to scrape out of the JP wiki for the sake of a plot point in my fancomic (oops, still working on finishing Chapter 1 and now I'm casually spoiling stuff that I mean to hold onto till Chapter 6!!) but there's a line in Nightmare's JP trophy description that calls him "...an evil soul BORN FROM the Fountain of Dreams!" Meaning he wasn't an invader from beyond but something that emerged from the Fountain?!

Maybe he was sealed away in there after some magic accident! Or his soul placed in there as a punishment?! Maybe, in this weird Nightmare-as-an-Ancient theory we're running with now, he was the one who originally designed the Fountain of Dreams you see on all the planets, and a bit of his essence remains buried within each one!! (You see, Dess will never complain when there's not -enough- answers to Kirby lore questions, because it allows me to imagine all sorts of strange and interesting possibilities instead!)

While Nightmare Wizard's design is a bit......hmmmmmmmmmmm looking...I think his power orb form is just SO COOL. There's that joke about Kirby having biblically accurate angels (Miracle Matter) but Nightmare's Orb has that same, strange otherworld look to it....

You see, I drew the  pic above for my "Marx is a Noddy" essay, trying to convey my feelings on what I thought it would be like to see Nightmare for the first time, and I feel bad that I am not a very good artist because the visual I wanted was Marx waking up to see...

:cue Orson Welles voice:

...a mass of warping, twisting, and pulsating stars, their light alternating between too dim and far too bright in some kind of sickening pattern, all of them trapped in an undulating void of darkness without a center, without an end, as if the entire night sky had been sucked up suddenly from its resting place above, squeezed into a cramped little ball and turned inside out, the caged stars all screaming, begging to be set free...

...Ahaha, sorry-not-sorry for the dip into Cosmic Horror there. Anyway, long story short, that is what I would have WANTED to draw Nightmare to be like.

Weird old man with purple skin, a comically long chin, and ridiculous shades aside, I do love Nightmare as some early Kirby chthonian entity! I mean, King Dedede took one look at this thing and decided it was better to break one of Popstar's most important relics than let it run free. And even when Nightmare was sealed in the Star Rod-less Fountain of Dreams, he was STILL able to spread Nightmares to all of Dream Land!

It makes you wonder, just what the heck could Nightmare have done if he were allowed to roam free? (Maybe cause however many millennia of war and strife that killed hundreds of other star warriors like the anime implied? ...Maybe. Again, I'm just going off of my vague memories of what I've read.)

Long story short, I have a lot of respect for Nightmare as a last boss. Also, for an NES boss, he looks AMAZING. Great use of colors and limited NES effects.

...Hot take? He's better looking (done better) on the NES than he is in NiDL.

---

...Wait! Wait! Last minute edit!

Just found the Hidden Kirby Secrets (Settei) pic on r/Kirby - the one that says Kirby is 20 cm tall, and at the very end, it says Nightmare's "power orb" form is him in egg form? So he...hatches...? From the Dream Fountain?

I'm confused, but intrigued! (And once again, I'm completely off base with Kirby lore. Although this looks rather old, so who knows how much they stick to nowadays? Like the 20 cm thing doesn't hold a lot of water in FL.)

Unrelated to Nightmare, but this is the same document that says anything Kirby defeats or inhales just comes back to life (like the weeds in summer.)

Aha! So I WASN'T imagining it!

...

Wait...did I not include that part in my mini-"Fighting Marx" retrospective? Well, I meant to...