Fitness Fiend

Fitness Fiend
Max Flexer torments the obese King Dedede and Kirby using a musical exercise routine with deadly machinery.
Details
First aired	December 14, 2002 February 14, 2004
Episode #	61
Episode # (US)	61
Copy Ability (Abilities) featured	Mike
Monster(s) featured	Max Flexer
Character(s) featured	Kirby, Tiff, King Dedede, Escargoon, Max Flexer

Episode order
← Crusade for the Blade	Mabel Turns the Tables →

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Fitness Fiend is the 61st episode of the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! series. In this episode, King Dedede orders several boxes of unhealthy potato chips from Night Mare Enterprises intending on using them to make Kirby too fat to fight, but he fails to resist snacking on them himself, resulting in both of them becoming morbidly obese. To fix this problem, N.M.E. sends the fitness monster Max Flexer to whip them into shape using a rhythm-based exercise routine full of dangerous traps. Instead of killing Kirby, however, the traps force the chips out of his belly and he is able to return to normal, then use the Mike Copy Ability to defeat Max Flexer.

This episode marks the final appearance of the Mike Copy Ability in the anime series, though it would be mentioned one more time in The Kirby Quiz.

Characters

The following characters appear in this episode:

Cast of "Fitness Fiend"
Character	Selected quote	Notes
Primary characters
Kirby	"Poy, poy, poy, poy, po-yo, po-yo..."	Kirby is singing along with Max Flexer's song.
Tiff	"That's right! If you don't watch what you eat, you're gonna wind up being even rounder than you are now!"
King Dedede	"Outta my way! I know them things is for Kirby, but I'm hungry!^[sic]"
Escargoon	"You know, you're a real couch potato. You're as big as a couch and you're full a' potatoes."
Max Flexer	"Shimmy shift! Shake and sway! When you pig out you must pay! Yeah!"
Secondary characters
Buttercup	"Maybe he's sick."
Cappy villagers	"Look at the size of him!"
Captain Waddle Doo	"Heave! Ho!"
Chef Kawasaki	"I'd be glad to cook for you, Sire!"
Chief Bookem	"I'm beginning to suspect there's something fishy going on with the King."
Doctor Yabui	"Junk food is certainly fattening, but I've never seen it have this effect before! Where did you get those chips?"
Fololo & Falala	(Fololo) "Pufferzine?" (Falala) "I never heard of that before!"
Gengu	"How do we know the King's in the castle? Maybe he snuck^[sic] off!"
Gus	"He might be away on vacation."
Hana	"He hasn't left the castle."
Honey	"Wow! He's a junk-food giant!"
Honey's father	(no dialogue)
Honey's mom	"Let this be a warning, children."
Iro	(no dialogue)
Iro's father	"Take a good look, kids, and see what can happen to ya' if you eat too many of those junkie foods!"
Iro's mother	(no dialogue)
Lady Like	"Who knows, but Kirby may have heard what is doing^[sic] with the King. He slept here at the castle."
Mabel	"Now his body is as big as his ego!"
Mayor Len Blustergas	"If he's disappeared, perhaps you should look for him."
Melman	"I think the King is gonna need his own zip code."
Meta Knight	"My! He certainly has grown!"
N.M.E. Sales Guy	"It's not our fault he can't control his appetite. We made those snacks to fatten up Kirby, not you, Sire!"
Professor Curio	"Well he certainly is king-sized."
Samo	"Looks to me like he's been livin' a bit too large!"
Sir Ebrum	"I'm not sure what's become of the King. He hasn't left his quarters for days!"
Spikehead	"Really? What's that?"
Spikehead's father	(no dialogue)
Spikehead's mother	(no dialogue)
Tuff	"At least you could have left some toast!"
Tuggle	"Yeah, but that's too good to be true."
Waddle Dees	(no dialogue)

Locations

Dream Land
- Cappy Town
  - Tuggle's grocery store
- Castle Dedede

Plot synopsis

The castle court discover King Dedede in a morbidly obese state after eating the chips that were meant for Kirby.

The episode begins at Castle Dedede, where King Dedede is watching re-runs of his own shows on Channel DDD. He orders his Waddle Dees to fetch him a snack, but they are not quick enough to satisfy him. Instead, King Dedede heads across the throne room to snack on several boxes full of potato chips from Night Mare Enterprises that had been intended for Kirby. The Waddle Dees try to stop him from eating these, but he pushes them aside and starts snacking. Meanwhile, Kirby is walking around out in the castle courtyard when he sees a bag of the chips abandoned on the ground. He proceeds to gobble them down and finds them particularly appealing. He then spots another bag nearby and rushes to eat these as well. Escargoon watches and snickers from cover, and then heads back to report to King Dedede that the "chip trap" was a success. Upon entering the throne room, however, he sees that King Dedede is eating all of the chips and berates him for this, but to no avail. King Dedede proceeds to gobble up chips all evening, and skips dinner to have more while never moving from his seat.

Soon, King Dedede's newfound laziness causes the people of Cappy Town to start gossiping and wondering if he is sick or absent. Meanwhile, he continues to watch television and snack on the chips overnight, and his chair begins to sag under the weight as Escargoon sleeps. The next morning, Tiff and her family wonder what has become of King Dedede, and berate Kirby after he eats everything on the breakfast table again. This is cut short, however, when a massive thud is heard around the castle. Tiff's family and Escargoon rush into the throne room to find that King Dedede has swelled up and become massively obese, while still eating the chips. Sir Ebrum suggests taking King Dedede to the doctor to have him checked before it is too late, so the Waddle Dees are forced to make a new opening to take him though - as he no longer fits through the already large castle doorways - and then lift him up on a large wooden board, requiring hundreds to do so. The Cappies watch in awe as the massive King Dedede is carried through the town to Doctor Yabui's clinic. After a brief examination, the doctor concludes that King Dedede's metabolism had been hijacked by something, leaving Tiff and Tuff to investigate the cause.

Kirby's friends discover too late that he has also grown fat off of the chips.

Back at the castle, Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby have a look at the leftover crumbs of chips and collect them for sample analysis. As Tiff and Tuff head out, however, they lose track of Kirby, who is left behind to snack on the leftovers. Back in town, Doctor Yabui has King Dedede chained up to prevent him from escaping as he starts to have withdrawals from the lack of chips. As this is happening, Tiff is analyzing the components of the chips using her chemistry set, and determines there to be "pufferzine" in them. After confirming with Tuggle that none of his chips are of that particular brand, Tiff concludes that Night Mare Enterprises is responsible, and tells Meta Knight about her findings, suspecting the chips to have been a trap for Kirby. Meta Knight then asks where Kirby is, and they discover too late that Kirby has also ballooned into a behemoth in the throne room while watching T.V. As Kirby falls over and is unable to reorient himself, his friends quickly roll him away when they hear King Dedede's entourage returning to the castle to consult with N.M.E. about the situation.

Max Flexer is defeated by Mike Kirby's singing.

After berating the N.M.E. Sales Guy for making the chips too tasty, Tiff and Kirby reveal themselves and berate Dedede for the situation he put himself and Kirby in. The N.M.E. Sales Guy offers a solution by sending in the fitness monster Max Flexer. The monster proceeds to turn the throne room into a disco chamber as he sets both Kirby and King Dedede up for a rhythm-based fitness routine using dangerous equipment. King Dedede and Kirby are subjected to all manner of torturous devices, including being electrocuted, stretched and squashed, forced to run on a treadmill away from a spiky rotor, and being punched by boxing gloves. Soon, everyone in the throne room is obliged to dance along with Max Flexer, though Meta Knight makes a point of standing still on the dance floor. For the final routine, Max Flexer has a giant iron ball fall on Kirby - intent on crushing him - but it instead forces the potato chips he ate out of his stomach, which returns him to his usual size and shape. From here, Tiff instructs Kirby to inhale Max Flexer's headset to gain the Mike Copy Ability.

Once Mike Kirby begins to sing, Tiff immediately regrets her command, and the whole crowd is forced to endure the horrendous noise. The N.M.E. Sales Guy is forced to turn off his screen, and Max Flexer ends up exploding from the pain of the noise. From there, Kirby's singing causes Castle Dedede to collapse again. From the rubble, King Dedede emerges, having somehow returned to his normal size and shape. Before Escargoon can comment for too long, Mike Kirby emerges from the rubble and continues singing, prompting the two to flee. The episode ends as Kirby continues to sing his song and then strikes a pose.

Differences between versions

In the Japanese version, there is an extra short scene where Samo and Moso comment on King Dedede's absence at the bar.
In the Japanese version, an extra Macho-san routine is shown where King Dedede and Kirby get pushed through a tight space to squeeze them into a sausage shape.

Dialogue differences

In the Japanese version, Doctor Escargon wonders at King Dedede's ability to watch movies since Channel DDD does not air any, and King Dedede explains that he jacked into Holy NightMare Co.'s broadcast system. Escargon claims this to be a crime, but King Dedede retorts by saying that it's not a crime if everybody in the kingdom does it.
In the Japanese version, Chef Kawasaki comments on King Dedede's absence by wondering if he died.
In the Japanese version, Fumu identifies the compound in the chips as "Flaburicin", rather than "Pufferzine". It should be noted that neither of these are real substances.
In the Japanese version, Macho-san's song has different lyrics. Notably, the main verse includes the line "Punishment heaven, go go heaven!"

Music differences

In the Japanese version, an arrangement of the Bubbly Clouds theme plays from the T.V. as King Dedede watches and starts snacking.
In the Japanese version, an arrangement of the Castle Lololo theme plays when King Dedede is snacking during the credits of a movie at night.
In the Japanese version, Macho-san's work-out song is a dance arrangement of King Dedede's Theme. Later on, when Kirby recovers, the song changes to an arrangement of A New Wind for Tomorrow.

Trivia

Several of the television shows shown are from previous episodes. Most notable are scenes from the cartoon produced during Cartoon Buffoon.
One notable aspect about King Dedede and Kirby in this episode is that while they are fat, their actual size relative to other characters changes dramatically from shot to shot. This is particularly true of King Dedede.

Gallery

The Waddle Dees try to stop King Dedede from eating the dangerous potato chips that were meant for Kirby.
King Dedede starts to snack and watch T.V.
Kirby discovers and eats a bag of chips out in the courtyard.
King Dedede brushes Escargoon off by placing an empty bag over his face.
One of the T.V. shows featuring a cartoon pig and panda fighting with hammers
Mayor Len and Chief Bookem discuss King Dedede's several-day absence.
The Waddle Dees break down the throne room door in order to fit King Dedede through.
King Dedede is carried through Cappy Town in an embarrassing procession to Doctor Yabui's.
Doctor Yabui climbs on top of Dedede to check his pulse.
Tiff and Tuff collect samples of the chips to chemically analyze them.
Kirby becomes hooked to the leftover chips and is left to gobble them up.
King Dedede is restrained with chains to stop him doing anything drastic during his snack withdrawal.
Tiff analyzes the chips by mixing them in an unspecified chemical solution.
Tuff and Fololo & Falala check to see if the chips came from Tuggle's store.
Kirby's friends roll him out of sight as Dedede's entourage returns.
King Dedede is propped up using hundreds of Waddle Dees.
King Dedede and Escargoon laugh at Kirby's sorry state.
Max Flexer begins the exercise routine by converting the Night Mare Enterprises Teleporter into a dance podium.
King Dedede and Kirby are held in place as they are jiggled by belts placed around their waists.
Kirby is made to try and keep up the pace on a treadmill with spikes at the end.
Kirby and King Dedede are flattened by a steamroller.
Kirby and King Dedede sing along exasperatedly with the music as they are hoisted by cranes.
Everybody (except Meta Knight) dances on the stage.
Kirby spits out all the chips he ate after he is hit with an iron ball that was meant to kill him.
Kirby inhales Max Flexer's head-set.
Mike Kirby begins to destroy the stage with his singing.
Castle Dedede crumbles as Mike Kirby's singing continues.
King Dedede climbs out of the rubble, having somehow returned to normal.
The final shot of the episode