#storo gijinka

[moondust-artz]

Kirby is my hyperfixation

[yarmiko-art]

Is he serious or is he buying time for his crew to flee cuz they have no chance against MK? Oh well :)

The answer is below the cut

Yeah no, he is definitely buying them time - mk swiftly kicked their asses. Daroach is the type of person to put a target on himself to help out his gang

[somethinginworl]

The Squeak Squad!

I'll make more polished renders soon but I'm pretty proud of these designs

[kittenvirus]

Random Squeak Squad doodles. If you can decipher my notes you get a cookie 😂

Spinni is missing because my bestie is still working on his design!

[gihijinks]

The Squeaks and the Meta-Knights have this weird rivalry. I headcanon that neither Daroach or Meta Knight is originally from Popstar and that they probably met on some other planet. Their initial rivalry is based on that whole idea of "noble knight vs gentleman thief." And of course their respective crews follow them wholeheartedly. The rivalry dies down later on when they start working together in the Dream Friends group, and they actually bond over a shared love of history. And Meta Knight has some respect for Daroach's own sense of moral code that he follows without fail. Their dynamic shifts to something more like what it's like in the Dreamy Gear novel.

[wonderful-magician]

Glimpse into the past, 17 years ago to be exact. And you'll find my squeak squad gijinkas looking like this!

Daroach is 11, Storo 10, and spinni 6. But doc is 45... I realized while making the ages. That doc is likely intended to be a senior it seems. And for him to be in his 60s during the events of squeak squad he is definitely much older than the other squeaks. Imagine him like their weird found family dad tbh.

[reulim]

I ended up wanting to doodle Squeak Squad gijinkas again

[the-rat-house]

i've gotten so used to drawing kirby characters lately that drawing humans is even harder for me to do than usual. this blog and general hyperfixation has ruined me /lh

[i-like-eyes]

Was listening to Kirby music and whoops

[one-starry-knight]

hmmmmmm some mice for y’all

[desultory-novice]

character ask. rat.

Ah, the eloquence that Anon has failed to supply in their ask, I shall make up for with my own flair and panache, for what else are the legendary Squeaks known for, if not style!

...I swear I'm not a Daroach kinnie, I just love his type, okay?!

003 Daroach

How I Feel About This Character:

...I like cartoon mice. I'm not afraid to admit it! Whenever you've got an ensemble cast of anthropomorphized animals going on, tv show or game, my eyes just go to the rodents! And I like phantom thieves. Ooh boy, do I like phantom thieves... And I like the color red, especially when paired with top hats. So, uh, you put all those things together and you get a character Dess is going to like QUITE A LOT.

And I'm not the only one! Look at him! This is OFFICIAL ARTWORK!

Like, Magolor is a total chatterbox, but when it comes to dialogue in Kirby games, Daroach RAN so Magolor could float. How does he have so much character?! How does he have so much character that is sitting there and HAL just moves on...?! (If only Squeak Squad had a better rep as a game, or if Mass Attack came out a little earlier, he could have became a series regular, perhaps.)

Any/All the People I Ship Romantically With this Character:

More like who WON'T I ship with Daroach?!

...Hopefully you've all read "Dreamy Gear" in some form, where Daroach is just casually sleeping on Meta Knight's couch, entering through his window every night, talking about all his private habits to anyone who will listen, covering for him, and kissing him when the...! :SHOT: ...Ouch... Anyway. they're married. They're married in that universe, I'm sorry. I don't make the rules.

I actually forgot this during my DMK post, but I just now remembered that Star Allies pic of Daroach and DMK fighting back to back and it's like...oh no...they would be good too...

Oh, and I have a Daroach crack ship! Yesss, a crack ship. Are you ready? Daroach x Captain Vul! You heard me. Both of them have this mature vibe (...I've seen silver fox-style gijinka of Daroach that should be illegal...) and Daroach is a mouse and Vul is a bird of prey...but in this case, the tables are turned because Daroach is the master thief and Vul is, in a word, incompetent. And the way Vul gets all shooketh in Dreamy Gear whenever Daroach shows up! Anyway, thank you for letting me put that in your heads.

...To answer my own question of who I won't ship with Daroach, the answer is Adeleine but I always laugh at --the expression-- he gives her in the Star Allies victory picture. Maybe it’s the oldschool FF fan in me, but I feel he’s the kind to flirt harmlessly with her in a "...Perhaps if my lady was older..." kind of way. 

(...Waddle Dee squad cars appear. "Here Come the Squeaks!" plays.)

My Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship For This Character:

I've done this three times already and I actually think I keep getting this question wrong but whatever. I'll keep at it. I actually really like Daroach with THE SQUEAKS. Considering that none of the rest of them have any dialogue to speak of, you can just sort of sense their tight-knit band of brothers vibe? Daroach is so confident in his little Squeakers. And Doc...well Doc made Mecha Kracko and I hate that boss! (/pos) Spinni and Storo are good too. I love that they worked all of them into Star Allies! Class act!

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character:

I'm so sorry, I only have popular opinions that should be held by EVERYONE about Daroach, such as: "He is the most attractive Kirby character." "He should return to the main series." "He deserves to be represented in more merch." "He is a great cook, an upstanding gentleman, and an excellent lov-... :SHOT:

...Oh, here’s one! I have no idea where this falls on the scale of opinions, but it IS an opinion! I completely LOATHE how his name was localized! 

They did so good making sure "Mahoroa" became "Magolor" in English. How could they take a beautiful name like ドロッチェ, a clever combination of the Japanese word for "thief" (dorobo) and the Italian word for "sweet" (dolce) and come up with something that has the word ROACH in it?! I'm not always a huge weeb, but I will -always- pronounce his name JP style for this reason.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen / Had Happened With This Character In Canon:

...Maybe not getting jobbed by the worst last boss in Kirby history...? AHEM!  U-uh, the Triple Star!! The Triple Star is CLEARLY important (despite being terribly silly looking) yet with future Daroach appearances being a massive unknown, we still know almost nothing about it? Where did it come from? Is it another Halcandran artifact? How'd he get it?! (I actually have my own headcanon about that. Will make it a post someday.)

Favorite Friendship For This Character:

Outside of shipping them, he and Meta Knight are, again, amazing in the Dreamy Gear Novel. But also Kirby! Daroach is so soft on Kirby, sticking around to help him out for a really long time and talking to him, like, OMG, cute!

And Adeleine in an obviously non-romantic way. I keep thinking about I-like-eyes's post where Daroach and Adeleine are talking about fanfic (idk if it's a quote from something or not, anyway it was hilarious) and that is exactly the kind of thing I want to see more of!

My Crossover Ship/FREE SPACE/Video Recs:

...Uh, fandom? Where are the Daroach videos?! How am I supposed to link an amazing Daroach AMV if no one has made one?! There is that Rhythm Heaven parody, 「こっそりドロッチェ団」 which is super cute but still...

Anyway, he may not be loved by AMV creators, but according to what I've seen, he's fairly loved in both the Mie novels and many of the manga adaptations! I don't know if this is one of the ones that is out of print or not, but someday I'd like to see more of the Kirby manga that released right around Squeak Squad's release date that I recall bumps him right up to regular cast member!

[moondust-artz]

I’m starting to make Kirby comics so yeah I’ll be releasing the Cover of the first one while describing the plot. I’m doing this to develop my characters and it’s gonna be worth the wait. Here’s fanart of Spinni

[yarmiko-art]

He's allergic to cats

[recherche-raptor]

Why I allowed this to languish in drafts for so long is beyond me. Anyway, this is the final piece of this particular Kirby gijinka series.

Base Dream Friends- King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Dee Wave 1 Dream Friends- Dreamland 2 Animal Friends, Gooey, Marx Wave 2 Dream Friends- Adeleine & Ribbon, Dark Meta Knight, Daroach Wave 3 Dream Friends- Magolor, Taranza, Susie Three Mage Sisters- Francisca, Flamberge, Zan Partizanne Other Pals- Prince Fluff, Elline, Dyna Blade Groups of Pals- Dreamland 3 Animal Friends, Squeak Squad, The Meta-Knights Star Warriors- Kirby, Shadow Kirby, Galacta Knight Misc Antagonists- Dark Matter Swordsman, Queen Sectonia, Morpho Knight, Void Termina

Design notes under the cut:

Animal Friends: I haven’t played Dreamland 3 yet, but I’ve heard that most of Pitch’s abilities revolve around being a projectile, or being pitched- so I tried to make him look like a little leaguer, or at least a vaguely sporty child, and a pointed nose to somewhat hearken to a bird’s beak. Chuchu was pretty easy to figure out; just give her a wavy-looking skirt and hair drawn in a way so that the strands look rounded and almost tentacle-like. From there I tried to make her look somewhat fashionable, since that tallies with what I’ve gleaned about her personality without playing her game. Nago was the hardest to figure out, since I had to convey “this man is a cat!” without giving him cat ears or a cat tail and whatnot. Since Nago is a round, huggable cat, I gave gijinka Nago baggy, poofy clothing so he still looks like he’d give good hugs. Giving the characters their in-game eyes meant gijinka Nago looks somewhat sleepy, so I finally found a way to link back to his cathood by giving him kitty slippers.

The Meta-Knights: These were actually some of the first designs I started brainstorming way back when I’d first drawn Meta Knight in the margins of my notes. I thought it’d be cool to give each of the meta-knights a different knightly aesthetic. Axe Knight was the easiest- viking horns on his helmet? Make him a viking! Something about Trident Knight’s helmet shape made me think of samurai, so I sort of ran with that for their gijinka. Mace Knight is based on Medieval crusaders or monastic knights, since maces are a Medieval weapon and in some of his artwork he looks like he’s wearing a lil robe, which in gijinka I translated into a habit. Javelin Knight was a bit tougher, and I don’t know if I agree that they’re a robot or not, so I left that intentionally vague by dressing them in Shovel Knight-style rounded armor. Sailor Dee is there too as ship’s adorable sailor mascot.

Squeak Squad: The Squeaks were a lot of fun to design, and I tried pushing my style a lot with these guys. Storo in particular is way out from how I usually draw people, and I drew really heavily on old cartoon villains for him (I think I used Bluto as the pose and hand reference). Spinni I tried to make long, lanky, and sort of pointy, with ninja-ish clothing on account of his throwing star, and with messy hair meant to evoke his mouse ears. Doc is a straight-up mad scientist with wild mad scientist hair cramped into his little UFO. I didn’t have much space to work with for his design, or too much of an idea beyond “mad scientiest!” so I let his glasses and mustache cover as much of him as possible. Finally, the Squeakers I decided to turn into a host of Daroach’s little relatives, with small and simple designs, meant to look maybe vaguely Victorian to connect with Daroach’s gentleman thief design. As with Spinni, their hair is a bit mussed to make them look mousy.

[gihijinks]

I like doing these types of polls to help me prioritize what to work on. I usually do them on my insta but let's try it here again.

(If I get no votes I'll just delete this and pretend it never happened)

[wonderful-magician]

DAROACH HEAD CANNON RAMBLING???

More likely than you would think my friends.

Ok so I worked on the drawing above for maybe 10 hours and I'm very proud of it! And I felt like this post would be a good transition into elaborating MY VERY LONG LIST OF HEAD CANNONS for this rat.... Since he has very little backstory canonically similarly to most Kirby characters who have like a sentence of backstory. And unlike Meta knight or King DDD who have a general concept or idea. We know nothing about the silly rodents!! Nothing!!

( NOTICE THIS IS ONLY FOR MY GIJINKA VERSION OF HIM!! )

So I'm here to basically write a whole damn book for these guys. But specifically daroach because... I'm biased. Lmao. SO I decided to give him something! The life of a poor child from 1920!! ....woohoo?

I believe I've said this before, and I don't think it's that crazy- but I enjoy playing with the fact these characters are for the most part from different planets and have different cultures and experiences because of this. And I love to write little things about it. And just like many others. We have no idea where daroach is even from in the first place.

I like to think the original species of squeaks/squeakers originated from the forgotten land. But at some point they all moved to different planets and locations. You can find them on different planets, and they have a unique culture to each other. The only thing they all share is the bells! Which I shared on my post all about the bells!!

Anyway I figured I would have two bulletin lists about the fun head cannons of mine! But put both of them here for simplicity. And I hope this is coherent and doesn't come off too ... Wow! Tragedy! Daroach is really a chill, happy guy despite some of the things that happened to him in my personal canon...

Despite the events I list here, Daroach actually has a very positive attitude and outlook on life! Despite how his homworld has shitty living conditions and child labor.

Daroach lived with his father until he was ten, when his father was drunk and shot by an officer for being openly against the current mayor.

Daroach never met his mother. But he worries about it little. He cared about it more when he was younger. He also has no known extended family.

Daroach had to live in the streets for a while because of this. Working as a newspaper boy.

He met Storo during this time. The two quickly became good friends. As Daroach was fast and Storo was ... Big. Even as the two were only 10-12 year olds.

The boys became familiar with a lot of the adults in town. Knowing the baker or the locals well. Storo liked to speak to a specific man named doc, quite often.

One harsh winter. Daroach gets sick. And Storo starts to feel under the weather as well. Storo, worried for their well being. Begs doc for help one morning. Doc, after seeing the full conditions of the two boys. Let's them stay with him.

While this was originally temporary, doc ended up enjoying their company. And the three live together like a family. But none of them want to call it a family.

Daroach starts working at a factory and so does Storo. Doc trying to revive his career as a scientist. ( and failing.. miserably. ) around this time doc also takes in spinni. Who's only 7.

Daroach starts to become a more intense thief. While he was always good at it, he did live on the streets for two years after all. But he gets... Very good at theft. For he learns how to float and teleport.

As they all get older. They form a early version of the squeak squad. But it's more like a group formed against the current situations and political climate. As a civil war is occuring in the country and the city is very divided.

Daroach gets himself into a lot of fights. But is both loved and hated by the press. For his hatred to the government but attractive looks by squeak standard.

After daroach is wounded in a fight. They get money, and leave on their newly made airship. Never to return to this planet. As it's just miserable there.

Ok that was a basic outline of his story on my end! Time for more basic head cannons that can be applied much easier !!

Daroach has been smoking since he was like 13. This was normal for his planet. But nowadays he mostly understands his mistakes. But he still smokes, even if he's polite about it and smokes outside it matters little. Meta knight likes to absolutely mock him for this...

Daroach hates being hatless for an extended period of time. It's just ...weird...

Daroach is the only squeak/squeaker to stand on his tiptoes constantly.

Won the triple star in a bet with a certain wizard who plays star stacker.

Used to have a alcohol problem, as his father originally did. But he did actually recover from this.

Dated meta knight for a couple months before they broke up with no explanation.

Nobody but them and galaxia know why.

At the age of 11 he developed a limp and still to this day he doesn't even understand how he got this mysterious limp.

Owns like three of the same outfit and does his laundry often. Pure comfort

Hates not being formal. You won't find this man in public wearing slides and a T-shirt. Must be a poet shirt. Or something alike that.

Totally not weird that he dated meta knights reflection. When he broke up with the real thing.

Okay this better post correctly 🙂