Kirby's characteristics: Difference between revisions

{{rewrite|Since this is its own page now, it needs to be restructured to transition it from a "summary that isn't" into a well-organized page addressing each relevant detail.

Working on it, with a mentor's help :P [[User:Waddlez3121|Waddlez3121]] ([[User talk:Waddlez3121|talk]]) 02:45, 25 June 2023 (UTC)}}

*[[Dash! Jump!]] from ''[[Kirby: Canvas Curse]]'' is originally measured in centimeters. Kirby's score is measured by the distance from the wall to his center. [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/182899928140480512/1141901498683506748/20cm_kirby.png When scoring 20 cm], Kirby's distance from the wall is exactly half of his size, indicating that a half of Kirby is 10 cm, so a full Kirby is 20 cm.

Kirby is generally pink with red feet, but the exact shades vary — his feet are sometimes only a shade darker of pink than his body. Some early games also depict Kirby as changing color when copying an ability, such as ''[[Kirby's Adventure]]'' and ''Kirby Super Star''. Certain abilities in older games even have their own unique colors associated with them, such as red for [[Fire]], blue for [[Ice]], green for [[Plasma]] (or [[Spark]] as shown in one of his older artworks) and yellow for [[Beam]] (or [[Needle]] in ''[[Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land]]''), though this has largely been abandoned. The only legacy of this concept is [[Hypernova]], which causes his skin to become a swirling rainbow. While [[Colors|color variants]] of Kirby continue to appear, they tend to represent other members of [[Kirby (species)|his species]] rather than himself.

Kirby's skin is highly flexible and completely hairless. Kirby's younger design in ''[[Kid Kirby]]'' features a large protrusion on his forehead with a similar aesthetic function to wavy hair, but as the game was canceled, it cannot be considered canon. The texture of Kirby's skin was once described as "squishy" or "soft",<ref name="OnlineMagazine"/> and more recent sources, particularly the developer issues for ''Kirby Star Allies'' and ''Kirby and the Forgotten Land'' in Nintendo Dream, suggest that Kirby has a more "rubbery" texture to him, although when Kirby was first given HD textures in ''Kirby Star Allies'', there were debates on whether or not to give him fur.<ref>''"I think Kirby itself is soft like a rubber ball, and that’s what we’re trying to keep in mind. As for the surface texture, there was a lot of discussion about whether or not he should had fur like fuzzy hairs (laughs)."'' <small>--[[Shinya Kumazaki]], in the May 2018 developer interview for ''Kirby Star Allies'' in Nintendo Dream Magazine, as translated by [[User:Gigi|Gigi]]; [https://gigi9714.wordpress.com/2021/06/05/kirby-star-allies-vol-2-interview-direct-from-yamanashi-part-2-from-the-may-2018-issue/ translated article link]</small></ref><ref>''"The new world’s blend of civilization and nature also got its initial start through gameplay. We reexamined “Kirby” and thought about what only Kirby could do as a rubbery ball, a mysterious creature that can be pulled and twisted with no problem. By combining Kirby’s special skill of “inhaling” and this idea of him being a “mysterious creature like a rubber ball”, the idea of “Mouthful Mode” was born."'' <small>--[[Tatsuya Kamiyama]], in the June 2022 developer interview for ''Kirby and the Forgotten Land'' in Nintendo Dream Magazine, as translated by [[User:Gigi|Gigi]]; [https://gigi9714.wordpress.com/2022/07/31/translation-of-the-kirby-and-the-forgotten-land-interview-from-the-june-2022-edition-of-nintendo-dream/ translated article link]</small></ref> Kirby's body can expand to great sizes to accommodate the objects that he inhales, as seen with the "Full Belly" Kirby in ''[[Kirby's Blowout Blast]]'' and [[Mouthful Mode]] in ''Kirby and the Forgotten Land'' (though it's implied the latter is a side-effect of entering the portal to the new world). As seen in several games, Kirby is also able to sweat, typically when surprised or low on health.

Various non-[[canon]] or alternate-canon materials, particularly narrative ones such as comics and manga, also show Kirby speaking in full sentences, including the [[Kirby (novel series)|novel series]].

The Japan-exclusive official artbook ''[[20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia]]'' lists Kirby's gender as "unknown",<ref name=20th/> as does a profile written by [[Masahiro Sakurai]],<ref>[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/PostReturn117.html ''Super Smash Bros.'' official website (translated from Japanese)]:<br>''"…I wanted to ask a question about Kirby's profile. 'Name: Kirby. Gender: Unknown. Favorite phrase: [[A New Wind for Tomorrow|Tomorrow's wind blows tomorrow]]. Things I want to do but can't: Push-ups, Cossack dancing, rock-paper-scissors.' Was this Mr. Sakurai's idea?"''<br>'''Sakurai:''' ''"Oh, I came up with that profile in the past. I just had to do it…"''</ref> which he reaffirmed in the [[Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert]] according to unofficial accounts.<ref>[https://twitter.com/L_kurobato/status/876366502198247424 Tweet explaining that Sakurai considers both Kirby and Meta Knight's gender "a mystery"], [https://twitter.com/5656bomb/status/876364677713870849 another tweet claiming the same thing]</ref> Kirby's voice actress, [[Makiko Ohmoto]], has also stated that Kirby's gender is unknown,<ref>{{Cite person|quote="カービィの性別は不明です。" ("Kirby's gender is unknown.")|name=Makiko Ohmoto| url=https://twitter.com/Makiko_Ohmoto/status/1214819520918872065|title=Twitter (translated from Japanese)}}</ref> and that she is instructed to voice him as a gender neutral character.<ref>[https://htwmc.hateblo.jp/entry/2017/09/07/200000 A blog post with a summary of the June 16th 2017 Osaka concert]</ref> Reflecting this, commemorative artwork on the [[Kirby JP Twitter]] has shown Kirby taking on typical gender roles of both men and women, such as appearing as the Empress on [[wikipedia:Hinamatsuri|Hinamatsuri]] and baking sweets with both [[:File:Twitter commemorative - Valentine's Day 2018.jpg|female characters]] on [[wikipedia:Valentine's Day|Valentine's Day]] and [[:File:Twitter commemorative - White Day.jpg|male characters]] on [[wikipedia:White Day|White Day]]. In addition, Kirby is often featured in merchandise that may be considered more traditionally feminine, such as make-up lines, where more definitively male characters such as King Dedede and Meta Knight are never featured.

Japanese spin-off material does not always adhere to this. Some manga write Kirby as male outright; this may be due to his implied attraction to female characters, such as [[ChuChu]] and [[Ribbon]], in the games. The [[Kirby (novel series)|novels by Mie Takase]] also write Kirby with masculine speech patterns, and he shows aversion to cross-dressing as a woman in ''[[Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?!]]'' — though he sees himself as "cute" while wearing make-up. Neither of these correlate to Japanese [[canon]], however.