#star dream is cool too but nothing competes with galactic nova

[polliwoggers]

have I ever told you how much i adore the concept of clockwork stars. They're the perfect balance of whimsical and deeply, deeply ominous. long-forgotten technology you don't have the first clue toward understanding. easily the most powerful of the ancients' creations. control of even one of the miraculous comets is enough to make you a god. it will do exactly as you ask, but only once. be careful what you wish for.

to think that the ancients had both the drive and ability to fabricate a literal wishing star just... boggles me. why do they exist? for what purpose were they intended? why weren't there any safeguards? how could the ancients have disappeared if they had devices as powerful as these at their disposal? why would they let themselves disappear?… and why would they have allowed something so dangerous to continue to roam the galaxy, eons after they were gone?

it's a fairy. it's a supercomputer. it is the curling finger on the monkey's paw. it's the size of a planet. god, its size. it must be the largest foe kirby has ever fought. there's no contest. To even put a dent in it requires taking it down from the inside. intercepting its immune response, sabotaging its structural support, and failing to smother its eternal, mechanical heartbeat. the sheer scale of this monster! how marvelous it must be to see it in action! translating a request into code, initializing a wish. valves open, gears turn; a cacophony of metallic pings, booms, and clicks. it's the loudest sound you've ever heard. steam whistles from an opening as it boils into the vastness of space. you can't escape the sound, and you can't look away. you're dying. were you careful with what you wished for?

i think it's really fitting how a lot of fan content uses "Nova" as a stand-in for "God" when they want characters to swear to something. there are a lot of godlike characters in Kirby to choose from, a number of whom are actually acknowledged as gods to certain groups within the text of the games themselves -- Dark Nebula, Necrodeus, Void Termina. Not to mention all of the contenders for angel or demigod status. but, no, it's Nova that we swear to? A lifeless machine with no will of its own? a tool with no protections, that any entrepreneuring tyrant could use to make the universe contort to their liking? It just… really speaks to how awe-inspiring and terrifying clockwork stars actually are. there is no "BE NOT AFRAID" when it descends. it does not have the capacity to care how you feel. a simple ">READY" is all it will say. and, honestly, I think that's even scarier.

clockwork stars are the closest thing the kirby universe has to a doomsday device, and i can't get enough of it