Butt Monkey: In any cinematic not related to the "plot", Kirby will get abused. Case in point, the world title cards in Dreamland and Adventure, and the blooper reel in Super Star Ultra.
Evil Counterpart: Subverted. In Amazing Mirror, which has this for both Kirby and Meta Knight, Shadow Kirby actually protects the Mirror World, much like Kirby to Dreamland.
Good Is Not Nice: In Kirby's Avalanche, where he actually trash-talks some of his opponents in full sentences.
Mega Manning: Starting with Kirby's Adventure, Kirby gained the ability to absorb the powers of certain enemies he eats. He may even be more famous for it than the trope namer himself.
Nice Hat: Kirby gets one for almost every ability he can copy.
Silent Snarker: In Avalanche. A few of his reaction shots also have shades of this, such as giving the camera a look when the Tutorial calls him jolly.
Trademark Favorite Food: Maxim Tomatoes, as well as that one strawberry shortcake he went on a rampage for.
Transformation Sequence: Whenever he copies an ability; although it's quicker than most examples. It's made more elaborate in the anime, as well as with the Super Abilities in Return to Dream Land.
Unwitting Pawn: In Kirby Super Star's Milky Way Wishes, Kirby arrives at NOVA, only for his wish to be stolen by Marx. Also, in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Magolor tricks him into defeating a dragon named Landia to obtain the Master Crown for him, only for Magolor to use it to try and take over the universe.
Video Game Flight: Achieved by sucking in air and flapping his arms.
What Could Have Been: Shigeru Miyamoto wanted him to be yellow instead of pink, though since Miyamoto has little, if any, involvement in the games' development since they're developed by HAL Laboratory while Miyamoto works for Nintendo's EAD division, this may have just been a suggestion when it came up. However, yellow Kirby is usually the first choice for Kirby's alternate costumes.
Griefer: Somewhat. If player 2 doesn't feel like cooperating, he could hijack your animal friend or take one for himself (meaning you automatically dismount yours). Of course, Kirby himself can do this as well.
In Kirby's Dreamland 2 and 3, Kirby may come across his animal friends and hitch a ride from them (sometimes flipped). Typically, they change his copied powers in some way, and have a different sort of movement: for example, Kine has very fast and tight underwater controls (but is a bit awkward on land). All have appeared in the anime, although with very small roles.Tropes associated with all animal friends:
Suitable for land, Rick is a white and brown-spotted hamster that was one of the first three animal friends. He's described as "friendly and energetic". He doesn't skid on ice, can stand rough terrain, and somehow transforms with Kirby for some attacks.
Wall Crawl / Wall Jump - Rick can't fly, but he can climb walls just as easily as Kirby can fly.
Kine the Fish
First appearance: Kirby's Dreamland 2
A blue Sunfish that assists Kirby in the underwater levels, and was one of the three starting helpers. Described as "laid back and relaxed", he shows the least amount of emotions. His special ability is allowing Kirby to swallow enemies underwater and using those there and then.Tropes associated with Kine:
Fish out of Water: Literally! Largely averted (after Dream Land 2) though, as he's capable of hopping along at a normal pace and even jumping quite high on land.
Joke Character: His statue-expy in Kirby 64 is completely useless. Seriously, the thing can't budge an inch, even when underwater.
Coo the Owl
First appearance: Kirby's Dreamland 2
A purple owl and the air specialist and one the first Animal Friends, Coo is able to fly through fast currents like Kine. Originally a guy, the anime implies that he's a she. For some reason, Coo doesn't have any friends, but doesn't seem to mind.Tropes associated with Coo:
Although Rick appears along side Nago, Nago is usually far better than Rick; he's faster and can Triple Jump, as well as able to climb walls. He has a love interest/girlfriend named Shiiro, but a comic shows that the two don't get along as well as you think.Tropes associated with Nago:
A pink octopus with a red red bow. Similar to Kine, when Kirby's paired with Chuchu, he can swallow enemies underwater. Through the moves that she does with Kirby (and the manga), it's implied that she's in love with him (as they hold hands, spin together, ect).Tropes associated with Chuchu:
A tiny, green bird that functions like Coo, but can't last as long. Although Coo could be seen as better, Pitch's skills are much more useful, thus the Killer Rabbit trope below.Tropes associated with Pitch:
Expy: Tokkori is seen as this to Pitch, although all it is in some minor appearance.
Killer Rabbit: He's the smallest of the animal friends, but he's probably the best. His copied powers are generally highly effective and fun to use. He also handles almost exactly the same as Kirby, so the transition is natural.
Hammer-wielding penguin (possibly) and self-proclaimed ruler of Dreamland, though he never really does anything related to administration. Usually ends up as the villain through Greed or Demonic Possession.
First appearance: Kirby's Dreamland
Tropes associated with King Dedede:
Affably Evil: He's not really that bad a guy, he's just vain, extremely greedy and occasionally mean-spirited. Of course, that doesn't mean he's not affable - in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he hugs Kirby towards the end of The Subspace Emissary when he realizes he's alright.
Big Bad: Of the original game, Spring Breeze in Kirby Super Star, and Revenge of the King in Ultra. Also is the villain in most spinoffs such as Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble and Kirby's Dream Course. Appears to be the Big Bad of several other games as well, but is actually not, for various reasons.
Big Fun: When he's not doing something bad, anyway.
Harmless Villain: Dedede's not really bad (except in the anime), he's just big and greedy and Kirby has to bring him down to earth. In fact, he's been known to give Kirby giant hugs.
Heel Face Turn: In Kirby 64, to help fight Dark Matter. He's pretty reluctant about the whole thing, though. Also in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
Leitmotif: His theme from Kirby's Dreamland is carried to every single game onwards besides Avalanche; it's also not used for the fight with him in Kirby's Adventure and its remake, but it still gets used for the miniboss tower.
Mask Power: Masked Dedede is the final boss of Revenge of the King in Kirby Super Star Ultra. He's a lot harder than he was before.
No Pronunciation Guide: Is it "dee-dee-dee" or "day-day-day"? Seems to depend mostly on region. Most Western territories use the former, Japan uses the latter. It seems both are correct, because the announcer of Super Smash Bros. Brawl pronounces his name BOTH ways depending on your game's region.
Not Me This Time: Let's just say that he gets hit with this trope a lot, probably the worst offender being Kirby Squeak Squad.
Power-Up Mount: Plays this role for his sections in The Crystal Shards, as well as Return to Dream Land (the other playable characters can also serve as this in said game).
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played this part in Kirby's Adventure, as well as the remake Nightmare in Dream Land, where it seems like he was up to standard villainy by stealing the Star Rod from the fountain of dreams, but it is later revealed that he had a very good reason for doing so, as a horrifically evil entity, aptly named "Nightmare", had contaminated the fountain of dreams.
Meta Knight
A Walking Head with a mask, bat wings, a sword, and an unknown agenda. His morality is highly ambiguous, but he generally seems to be a Hero Antagonist.
First appearance: Kirby's Adventure
Tropes associated with Meta Knight:
AntiHero Antagonist: Is typically trying to do what's right/protect Dreamland from evil, though he sometimes goes into Well-Intentioned Extremist territory. Opposes Kirby because he tends to trigger what Meta Knight is trying to prevent.
Father to His Men: In Revenge of Meta Knight, where he tells his crew to abandon the Halberd so they'll be safe. When Axe and Mace refuse, he acts like he doesn't care, but in a way that sounds like he's trying to get them mad enough to leave him.
Honor Before Reason: The Halberd is on fire and plummeting towards the ocean, so naturally he throws Kirby a sword and will wait half a minute for him to pick it up before their duel.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Given that Kirby is an idiot, this is why Meta Knight ends up fighting him a lot.
Poor Communication Kills: Though he often fights Kirby because he knows some terrible secret and is trying to keep Kirby from screwing things up, he will never, ever, ever indicate this in any way until it's too late.
Stealth Mentor: In Kirby's Adventure. In the original, he's the one who supplies Kirby with the Invincible Lollipops, yet he periodically throws his soldiers, the Meta Knights, at him and fights the puffball himself. There's no other explanation for these actions except to be secretly training Kirby to defeat Nightmare.
Sword Fight: Will almost always throw Kirby a sword before their duels.
Wake Up Call Boss: Is often the hardest (or at least second-hardest) boss in the games he's fought in (including Kirby And The Amazing Mirror, as Dark Meta Knight fights exactly like him). It's particularly noticeable in boss rushes such as Helper to Hero.
The only time he breaks this pattern is in Revenge of Meta Knight, and even then, he'll wait a bit before jumping into the fray. Which is reasonable, since by that point the Halberd is going down fast.
He'll also break the pattern in Squeak Squad - while he doesn't hand you a sword, there is one in the room you're in before you fight him. Additionally, the stars his attacks leave give you the Sword ability when you swallow them... for some reason.
This is also how you can suspect that the Meta Knight you fought in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is an evil copy; he doesn't hand you a sword before the fight.
He eventually gets one in form of Galacta Knight (see below).
Whispy Woods
A big, sentient tree who tries to attack Kirby & co. by dropping apples and shooting air blasts.
First appearance: Kirby's Dreamland
Tropes associated with Whispy Woods:
Blow You Away: For some reason, he shoots air blasts like Kirby. They're much longer-ranged, though. In Revenge of the King and Return to Dream Land, he can sometimes shoot out small tornadoes, which are stronger.
Recurring Boss: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad are probably the only platformers where he's not the first boss of the game, and the former uses an expy anyways.
Warm Up Boss: In every game he appears in, without fail. Except for Kirby's Epic Yarn, where he's actually fairly tough. Return to Dream Land improves his abilities a bit, but overall he's comparatively easy.
High Altitude Battle: In his first form, while falling towards the surface of the moon. You have to complete the phase before Kirby hits the ground and dies.
Dark Matter is not any one individual, but a group of black, malevolent clouds, usually with a single red eye and a ring of orange spheres around the back. Their core and controller is Zero.
A huge, white eye with a red iris. Is capable of creating and controlling Dark Matter. Revived in Kirby 64 as Zero-Two, with wings, a halo, and a freaky green tail.
Clipped Wing Angel: In Kirby's Dreamland 3, for its final phase, it tears out its own iris, which will pursue you until you kill it. Very freaky, yes, but considerably easier than the rest of the fight.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Zero is unable to feel positive emotions, and this is its motive for attacking Dreamland. It hates that the inhabitants of the world live in such blissful joy.
Eye Scream: It cuts itself to shoot its own blood at you. When it gets low on health, it rips out its own iris. Which chases you down and leaves a trail of blood. And all of this in a game that is rated "E" for Everyone.
No Pronunciation Guide: The official pronunciation of the name of Zero's second form, 02, is "Zero-Two", although that hasn't stopped people from pronouncing it as "Zero-squared", "Oh-two", "Oh-squared", and even oxygen (which is O2*
A friendly-looking Walking Head who wants Kirby to ask the wish-granting comet Nova to stop the sun and moon's fighting... except he's actually evil and is just using Kirby as a pawn in order to wish for control of Pop Star. In Kirby Super Star Ultra, he reveals a Nightmare Fuel-riffic new form, Marx Soul. Basically a Sugar Bowl version of The Joker.
The Cameo: A statue of him is one of Stone's forms in Kirby's Return to Dream Land. He also shows up in the Kirby Master cutscene, and the friend that Magolor says told him about Kirby (as well as the person on Halcandra whom Kirby has fought before) is widely speculated to be him.
Not Quite Dead: In Super Star, he just kind of flies away after you beat him and apparently crashes into NOVA. Super Star Ultra shows that he was really retreating to take about 9000 levels in badass.
On the other hand, Marx looked pretty damn lifeless, just floating there motionlessly, before NOVA was sucked into him. This would mean that Marx Soul is actually a zombie... Which is disturbingly fitting.
Purple Eyes: Not mismatched, as commonly depicted in fan art.
Galacta Knight
The Final Boss of Meta Knightmare Ultra in Kirby Super Star Ultra. Galacta Knight is the greatest warrior in the galaxy, but was sealed away for fear that he was too powerful. Meta Knight unseals him in order to kick his ass.
First appearance: Kirby Super Star Ultra
Tropes associated with Galacta Knight:
Badass: The only Kirby foe to have a rock song for his battle theme, and it shows.
For comparison, Marx's strongest attack is a Hell Gate that does about 1/3 of your health. Galacta Knight's strongest attack simply stabs you in the face several times and deals 1/2 your health.
Cool Mask: It has a cross-shaped slit in the front, matching the design on his shield.
Evil Counterpart: Of Meta Knight. His design is basically an angelic version of Meta Knight's, interestingly enough. He may or may not be evil, however.
Flunky Boss: In Ultra, He can summon his own version of Meta-Knights.
One-Winged Angel: The actual mind for the last 2 phases of the battle.
Sequential Boss: It's fought 4 times in its standard form, then twice as its mind. To date, this is the boss with the highest number of times you're supposed to fight it in the series.
Drawcia
The Big Bad and Final Boss of Kirby: Canvas Curse, she's a Wicked Witch who wanted a land of paint and carried out her wish by turning Dreamland into a painting. Her true form is that of an unknown painting that she was created from.
First appearance: Kirby: Canvas Curse
Tropes associated with Drawcia:
Art Initiates Life: She creates clones of Paint Roller, Kracko, and King Dedede to serve her as part of boss mini-games at the end of the seven levels before her.
Her main mode of attack in her first boss form is through drawing paintings of enemies that you're forced to defeat.
Eldritch Abomination: Subverted, she's said to be a painting that came to life, which is not too strange in this setting. The fact that it isn't may actually be worse.
One-Winged Angel: After her initial defeat, she transforms into her soul, which is a giant multi-eyed screeching ball of paint.
Wicked Witch: Her high-pitched cackle is more than enough to creep you out.
The Squeaks
A group of mouse bandits traveling the universe in search of treasure, the Squeaks are the Big Bads and titular characters of Kirby: Squeak Squad. Daroach is the leader, Spinni is the speed, Storo is the muscle, Doc is the brains, and the Squeakers are the Team Pets.
The Bigger Bad and Final Boss of Kirby: Squeak Squad. It was sealed away in a chest until the Squeaks opened it and were possessed by it. Meta Knight knew the secret of the chest and therefore fought Kirby to prevent it from being released.
Affably Evil: Despite going through a very ambitious plan to take over a kingdom by kidnapping and mind-controlling its de facto leaders and succeeding in doing so with virtually no effort, Yin-Yarn has no idea what to do with the kingdom once he has it and seems to have no real motive.
And Then What?: Pulls this on himself at one point in the game. He really doesn't have a plan for what to do after conquering Dreamland, but he says he'll think of something.
The Big Bad of Kirby Mass Attack. He's the leader of the Skull Gang and he split Kirby into ten smaller versions of himself in the beginning, setting off the story for the game.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers this to Kirby while he's still sleeping by zapping him and splitting him into 10 completely defenseless Kirbys and then proceeding to murder almost every Kirby except one that follows his heart. Not only counts as Nightmare Fuel but also counts as crossing the Moral Event Horizon and showing the player what a completely evil villain he is.
A friendly-looking alien who crash-landed on Popstar with his ship, the Lor Starcutter. Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight and Bandanna Dee volunteered to help him recover the parts that broke off the ship. In truth, Magolor wants them to recover a magical item called the Master Crown from Landia so he can use it to become the supreme Evil Overlord of the galaxy.
First appearance: Kirby's Return to Dreamland
Tropes associated with Magolor:
A God Am I: He plans to rule the entire universe by wearing the Master Crown.
Affably Evil: He's certainly quite friendly, masking his Evil Plan all along with his friendly demeanor.
Informed Ability: He's the captain of the Lor Starcutter and requires you to find the energy spheres for him, but he never actually repairs the ship. At least not in front of Kirby.
Shout Out: His first boss form resembles Nightmare, while his second form resembles Marx, and Magolor Soul resembles Dark Mind. He also uses some of Marx's attacks, and his role in the plot is basically similar to Marx's, turned Up to Eleven.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Unlike most other dark being final bosses, he seems to have escaped from his apparent destruction in the end.
Supporting Characters
Ribbon
A fairy from Ripple Star. She is trying to collect all the shards of the Power Crystal that was shattered by Dark Matter and has the good fortune of meeting Kirby.
Eleventh Hour Superpower: For the final confrontation with Zero-Two, she helps Kirby fly and lends him the magic of the Power Crystal. This turns the fight into an UnexpectedRail Shooter.
Expy: Of Ado from Kirby's Dreamland 3 (if they're not actually the same person).
One-Hit-Point Wonder: As a boss, she can literally be killed in one hit... But you had to fight her drawings before you can approach her.
Token Human: Aside from Ado, is the only human character to be seen in the Kirby francise.
Galactic NOVA
The wish-granting comet in Milky Way Wishes. Kirby sought it out to help stop the sun and moon fighting each other before Marx interferes and send it in a Colony Drop, but Kirby managed to stop it. In Meta Knightmare Ultra, Meta Knight sought it out to give himself a Worthy Opponent.
A seemingly high-ranking Waddle Dee. He always wears a blue bandana, which sets him apart from other Waddle Dees.
First appearance: Kirby Super Star
Tropes associated with Bandana Dee:
Ascended Extra: His first appearance was as an opponent in Megaton Punch in Super Star. In Super Star Ultra, he appears as King Dedede's personal helper in Revenge of the King. In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, he is now a playable character, aiding Kirby, Meta Knight, and his King.
