Kirby JP Twitter
The Kirby JP Twitter (known in shorthand as @Kirby_JP, formerly known as the Kirby 25th Anniversary Twitter) is the official Twitter account for the Kirby franchise and is administered by HAL Laboratory. As implied by the name, the Twitter account is presented in the Japanese language, and no formal English equivalent exists. On the Kirby JP Twitter, announcements and posts of all sorts are made relating to the Kirby franchise, including "presentations" from in-universe characters, artwork produced to commemorate specific events, news relating to new releases, and links to merchandise and related Nintendo and HAL Laboratory ventures. The Kirby JP Twitter was initially established in November 2016, and made its first post on December 11th, 2016. As of 2022, it has since made more than 2,500 posts and has garnered more than 385,000 followers.
The feed was originally created to celebrate Kirby's 25th anniversary along with a partner website. After the turn of the 26th anniversary, the feed and website were re-branded to remove the '25' motif, and have continued under general coverage of the Kirby franchise. The account was given 30th anniversary branding in 2022, but remained under the same display name and handle.
Content overview[edit]
The Kirby JP Twitter is fairly broad in terms of what comprises its tweets. Tweets range from simple announcements and merchandise plugs made in the real world to special "presentations" made by in-universe characters to describe various aspects of the series. While tweet topics invariably involve the Kirby series, priority is often given to coverage of recently released titles. As such, since the initial creation of the feed, much of the contents relate to games recently out at the time, and characters representing each game are often called in to "present" the news for those titles: for example, The Three Mage-Sisters for Kirby Star Allies, Bandana Waddle Dee for Kirby Battle Royale and Kirby Fighters 2, and Magolor for Team Kirby Clash Deluxe and Super Kirby Clash. At the beginning of the account's life, Susie was the primary presenter for game topics; more general Kirby topics are presented by a quartet of Waddle Dees referred to as the Channel PPP Crew. Naturally, due to Kirby's own disposition, he is almost never picked as a presenter, and is often the subject being covered instead.
One particular recurring feature was the Dedede Directory (referred to in full as "King Dedede's Wisdom! Dededen Great Directory", translated from Japanese 「デデデ大王のひらけ!デデデン大名鑑」), a series of posts where King Dedede describes various characters from the Kirby series in his own words. These descriptions are formatted with an image portraying King Dedede standing next to a collage of artwork of the character he is describing, and often provide insights into each character's traits and background, particularly if they are an obscure minor character.
Furthermore, whenever a special event takes place, or to celebrate a holiday, a commemorative piece of artwork is often created and posted to the Twitter feed. These illustrations are depicted in simple 2D vector style, and feature Kirby and other characters from the Kirby video game series in various situations. Often, these illustrations feature more obscure characters, enemies, and other objects.
In addition to news announcements and recurring features, more traditional promotional material (such as artwork, videos, and interesting lore) is often revealed in these Twitter posts which cannot be found in any of the games proper. Other details such as musical tracks, concept art, and developer commentary are sometimes released as well. As is normal for Twitter posts, users are allowed to post reactions to each of these announcements, with comments often stretching into the hundreds or thousands.
List of topics[edit]
The following is a list of specific post topics which appear on the Kirby JP Twitter:
Commemorative illustrations[edit]
To celebrate holidays or special events such as game releases, special artwork is posted to the account:
- Illustrations from 2016 and 2017
- Illustrations from 2018
- Illustrations from 2019
- Illustrations from 2020
- Illustrations from 2021
- Illustrations from 2022 onward
Game-based report series[edit]
During times when a new game is in the spotlight, there will be a special running report on the game's contents and related subjects. Often, one or more representative characters from that game will act as the "reporter" for each post:
- Game reports - Team Kirby Clash Deluxe
- Game reports - Kirby's Blowout Blast
- Game reports - Kirby Battle Royale
- Game reports - Kirby Star Allies
- Game reports - Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn
- Game reports - Super Kirby Clash
- Game reports - Kirby Fighters 2
- Game reports - Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- Game reports - Kirby's Dream Buffet
- Game reports - Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
- Game reports - Other
Other report series[edit]
A number of other report series have also appeared on the Twitter feed. These are as follows:
- Dedede Directory
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2016/2017
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2018
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2019
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2020
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2021
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2022
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2023
- List of Channel PPP miscellaneous posts - 2024
Trivia[edit]
- The Kirby JP Twitter lists its birthday as April 27th, 1992. This date corresponds to the release of Kirby's Dream Land in Japan, and is often cited as Kirby's birthday.
- The account's commemorative illustrations are stated to have been drawn by Adeleine.[1]
- HAL Laboratory sold a limited physical release of commemorative illustrations in 2018, called the Pupupu Memories Box. This was a tin box containing 47 mini-size message cards, each featuring one of the commemorative illustrations posted to the Twitter account between December 2016 and April 2018.
- The Special Edition was sold directly via the Kirby Portal in two preorder runs, first between May 24 and June 25 of 2017,[2] then from July 17, 2017 until the end of the month.[3][4] This version of the box included three bonus cards. One card featured Adeleine's illustration celebrating 100,000 followers (not included in the 47 comprising the normal edition) with a monochrome illustration of Adeleine on the other side.[4] The other two featured the Channel PPP images for the Twitter posts[5] accompanying the Waddle Dee 25th Anniversary April Fools' prank.
- The Normal Edition was later sold through the Kirby Café locations operating at the time.[6]
Gallery[edit]
- Main article: Category:Kirby JP Twitter commemorative illustrations
- Main article: Category:Dedede Directory images
- Main article: Category:Kirby JP Twitter screenshots
The Kirby JP Twitter banner around the time of Kirby Star Allies' release
The Kirby JP Twitter banner around the time of Kirby Fighters 2's release
The Kirby JP Twitter banner around the time of Kirby and the Forgotten Land's release
The Kirby JP Twitter banner around the time of Kirby's Dream Buffet's release
The Kirby JP Twitter banner around the time of Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe's release.
References
- ↑ Post celebrating 100,000 followers, which says that Adeleine drew the post's celebratory illustration.
- ↑ Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot); Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot)
- ↑ Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot); Wayback Machine archive of ValueMall page showing the pre-order period extended as late as the end of the month or while supplies lasted
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot) from July 26 advertising pre-orders were still open, showing a small portion of the illustration of Adeleine on the reverse of Adeleine's illustration
- ↑ Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot); Twitter link (Wayback Machine snapshot)
- ↑ Twitter link (archive.today snapshot); Twitter link (archive.today snapshot)
External links[edit]
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