#idk it's been so long since star allies and it still causes everyone a headache

[queensectonia]

i’ll write a proper analysis about it one of these days but even after five years i am still kind of gobsmacked by just how much about hyness as a character is downright in bad taste, insensitive, or straight-up cruel stereotype. he genuinely mystifies me because like, the basic concept for this character is one that fits in seamlessly with the tone of the series overall: dark matter cultist who was ostracised for these beliefs and is now going on a roaring rampage of revenge about it. this is a pretty cut-and-dry parallel to the original “motivations” of dark matter (inasmuch as shimomura ever gave them any) - “i don’t have friends, so no-one can have friends”.

but the execution, holy shit. it’s bad. it’s really bad. it’s bad from so many angles - cultural, religious, health. we’ve had characters in the series before who were “poorly written”, which usually just means “meh, there isn’t really that much to work with for this character”, and the series is no stranger to edginess - see dark matter, which inspired hyness as a character in the first place - but hyness is just a bridge too far. his presentation and design almost feels malicious at some points.

this kind of feels like it springs from a thing i’ve mentioned a few times before, which is that kumazaki really needs someone standing by his side ready to slap his wrist every so often during the writing process. he is without doubt the best director the series has seen, and thanks to him we’ve gotten some amazing games with amazing stories and lore developments, but star allies demonstrated to us that he also kind of goes mad with power sometimes and creates a mess LOL

this isn’t even me being uncharitable or anything, it’s straight from the horse’s mouth. there are interviews about FL talking about how the team made the conscious decision to tell a much simpler story with FL after seeing how much confusion SA caused (and also, because of the same, choosing to have a much more stringent localisation process).

unfortunately, it feels like sometimes kumazaki - or any of the other writers, i’m only pointing out kumazaki so much here because it seems to be mostly him - wants to include some topics and themes that are just a bit of a stretch for what’s appropriate in a kirby game, and hyness is the chief example of this.

and it sucks! it sucks a lot! more dark matter rep and SPECIFICALLY a dark matter cult is something the fanbase has been slavering for for decades! i love hyness and what he represents in the story but BOY HOWDY DO I NOT LOVE HOW HE WAS DELIVERED.