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WiKirby:April Fools/2021/Those Things That're Usually Stuck in the Ground in Dream Land

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April Fools! Notice: This article was written as a joke for April Fools' Day of 2021.
As such, information in this article should not be taken at face value,
nor should the article be edited except to fix mechanical issues such as spelling or formatting.
Official artwork of one of those things that're usually stuck in the ground in Dream Land.

Those Things That're Usually Stuck in the Ground in Dream Land, otherwise known Popsicle Sticks, Wafers, Bourbon, Hills, Donut Pillars, Poles, or "Oh, those things?", are a recurring background object in the Kirby series. They're those things that're usually stuck in the ground in Dream Land. You know, those ones? The tall ones, flat, usually cream-ish in colTemplate:Or, kinda round at the top? They're in the first level of every game? Those things. They are a famous trademark of the Kirby series, but even though they've been around since show one, they've never been given a name. The title, which will now be abridged to Those Things for the sake of brevity, comes from a Kirby JP Twitter post regarding the things.

マホロアさんとマルクさんから聞いたのですが、プププランドの地面によく刺さっている「アレ」
 
I heard a rumTemplate:Or from Magolor and Marx about those things that're usually stuck in the ground in Dream Land.
— Kirby JP Twitter, post from April 1st, 2017


This is one of the few times Those Things have been officially addressed by supplementary material of the Kirby series. The prevailing theory is that the official name may be, in fact, Bourbon, because this is the name used for internal model files of Those Things. The name comes from the Japanese snack "Bourbon Chocoliere", which are chocolate-filled wafers that look a lot like Those Things. But Those Things don't look a whole lot like chocolate, do they? It's much simpler to call them Those Things, don't you agree?

Characteristics

Those Things as seen in Grass Land.

Those Things are very mysterious, and little is known about them. It is unknown whether they are a natural feature of Dream Land, or if they were placed there by some greater entity, such as the Ancients, or maybe Sweet Stuff. The purpose of these artifacts is a complete mystery, so one can only guess why they are so prevalent throughout the landscapes of Dream Land. In fact, not only are they seen on Popstar, but they've even spread to Shiver Star and Floralia, as well. Isn't that concerning? Could there be a spiritual significance to Those Things? Are they like satellite dishes? Could they be used to make Dream Land's sky blue even though the surface of Popstar is clearly yellow? It's simply a mystery.

Sometimes Those Things come in different colTemplate:Ors, like yellow or green or blue. Perhaps they are different flavTemplate:Ors. This is, of course, assuming that Those Things are edible. Which they are. Kirby can eat them with Hypernova, even. According to Marx and Magolor, if you run around one 25 times, the thing will turn into chocolate! But you can't trust Marx and Magolor; they're evil, and not very nice, and they were pulling an April Fool's prank on Kirby. We would never do such a thing. No way. We think Those Things taste like mint candy, personally.

Origin

While the purpose of Those Things is a riddle for the ages, we do have an answer as to why they exist. Here's a quote from beloved creator of Meteos, Masahiro Sakurai, who also made some other game about a pink guy.

Oh, those things! Okay, listen. Do you remember Bubby? She's listed in the credits for Kirby's Dream Land. 'Special thanks: Bubby.' It's because one day she came up to me with a pack of like, 20 popsicle sticks, and she was like 'Listen, Masahiro, my man. You gotta put these things in your game somehow. Just trust me.' And at first I was hesitant, but the idea grew on me, and eventually I realiTemplate:Zed she was right. So if you look in the background of Green Greens, you can see some popsicle sticks back there. They aren't popsicle sticks, though. Don't ask me. I don't know what they are.
— Masahiro Sakurai, 1999


It's all thanks to the ever-elusive Bubby. So the next time you're appreciating Those Things, just remember to give Bubby a shout-out.

Not only that, but we have another answer from a guy who worked on Otona no Joshikiryoku Training DS, Shinya Kumazaki, who also probably directed some other Nintendo franchise whose name escapes us. Take a look.

Occasionally, when you're running around the fields of Dream Land, you may see mysterious objects in the background. Take, for example, those things that look kind of like wafers you usually see stuck in the ground. These objects are actually buried within the earth of Dream Land and its surrounding areas. Who could have left them here? Since they appear in Green Greens, perhaps they are related to Green Greens - Pixel 13. The answers will reveal themselves in due time. Think about the scenarios these objects appear in, and that may give you some food for thought.
— Shinya Kumazaki, 2016 (via Miiverse)


In other words, he doesn't actually have an answer, but he wants to look like he does. We respect that. Cool guy.

Game appearances

Since Those Things are so prevalent throughout the entire Kirby series, we won't go over every appearance in detail. Instead, we will simply list the most notable examples, and leave the rest to this graph that's easy to skip over.

Appearances of Those Things  
Game Role Notes
Kirby series
Kirby's Dream Land Appears in Green Greens.
Kirby's Adventure Appears in various stages. First appearance in colTemplate:Or. An arched variety appears in Rainbow Resort.
Kirby's Pinball Land Appears in the opening cutscene.
Kirby's Dream Course Appears in the background of Course 3, Course 7, and Kracko Course.
Kirby's Dream Land 2 Appears in the background of Grass Land and Iceberg. First appearance of ice-based Things.
Kirby's Block Ball Appears in the ending cutscenes.
[[Kirby Super Star|Template:KSS KFP]] Appears in various stages. First appearance of underground-dwelling Things.
Kirby's Dream Land 3 Appears in the background of Grass Land and Iceberg. Grass Land has a rare pink variety.
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Appears in the background of Pop Star and Shiver Star. First appearance not on Popstar.
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land Appears in the background of various stages. Significantly fewer in number. The ones that are left are haphazardly arranged, as if someone tried to remove them, and failed.
[[Kirby: Canvas Curse|Template:KCC KPP]]. Appears in the background of Plant Plain and Growth Grasses. Also appears when the Kirby Dance is being performed.
[[Kirby: Squeak Squad|Template:KSqS KMoA]] Appears only in Ice Island. This may imply that Those Things migrate north in the summer.
Template:KSSU Appears in various stages. The ones in Purple Plants have mushrooms sprouting from them.
Kirby's Epic Yarn / Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn Appears in Dream Land. They're made of felt now.
[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land|Template:KRtDL KAW]] Appears in various stages. First appearance of underwater-dwelling Things.
Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition Appears in New Challenge Stages' Happiness Hall, and the ending cutscene. Also appears in the old games that are included.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe Appears in Fine Fields and Old Odyssey. Hypernova Kirby can eat them.
Kirby Fighters Deluxe Appears in Fountain of Dreams' 3D background.
Kirby: Planet Robobot Appears in various stages, and also in Team Kirby Clash. They've been mechaniTemplate:Zed. In Rhythm Route, they've got neon lights. Fancy!
Kirby Battle Royale Appears in the prologue and certain stages of Apple Scramble First time Those Things can be directly interacted with.
Kirby Star Allies Appears in various stages and the ending credits The arcs from Rainbow Resort appear in Echo's Edge, and gain crystals on Planet Frostak.
In Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!, the appearances of Those Things are replicated in the stage recreations.
Kirby Fighters 2 Appears in Gourmet Go Go.
Super Smash Bros. series
Super Smash Bros. Melee Appears in Greens Greens and the Fountain of Dreams.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Appears in Greens Greens.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Appears in Dream Land GB. Reused sprite from Kirby's Dream Land.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Appears in Green Greens, Fountain of Dreams, and Dream Land GB. Reused sprite from Kirby's Dream Land.
Other appearances
StreetPass Mii Plaza Appears in the Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby: Triple Deluxe Puzzle Swap panels.

Notable appearances

Kirby's Dream Land

Green Greens has got some primo Those Things.

This is the first appearance of Those Things, where they appear in Green Greens. This is the benchmark example of Those Things, the one that all later appearances are compared to. They're fine, really. Not too common, not too sparse. Remember, this is all thanks to Bubby.

Kirby's Adventure / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

File:VV Stage 1 start Adv.jpg
An absolute deluge of Those Things.
File:VV Stage 1 start NinDL.png
Where did all the Those Things go?

Those Things appear in massive numbers in this game. We're talking dozens of 'em. This is important, keep this in mind. In Nightmare in Dream Land, there's barely any Those Things at all! Look at that! You went from a whole pack of popsicles to only like three! For shame. Could it be that someone tried to remove Those Things, by force? Notice that the remaining ones are haphazardly arranged, compared to the perfectly-aligned, natural, healthy things in the original game. Something's going on here. We smell a conspiracy.

Kirby's Dream Land 2

From popsicle sticks to popsicles!

The second sequel to Kirby's Dream Land also has an interesting branch of Thing evolution. This is the first time we see Those Things frozen in ice, specifically in the Iceberg level. This becomes a recurring theme throughout the series; divergent Thing species. There's practically a whole family tree. And it all started here!

Template:KSS KFP / Kirby Super Star Ultra

File:Purple Plants RotK intro.png
Perhaps a rare variety of Those Things among the Kirby series.

In this sequel which has the strange subtitle of Kirby's Fun Pak in Europe, Those Things are back to their original numbers. You got some in Spring Breeze, you got some in Dyna Blade, you got some in Gourmet Race, you got some in Milky Way Wishes. In The Great Cave Offensive, there's a new underground-dwelling variety of the things, which implies they can evolve to exist without sunlight. This will be seen in later games, and yes, it will be on the test. There's also some Things in Revenge of the King's Purple Plants, which are not actually the eponymous purple plants, but they've got mushrooms sprouting from them. They must've been sitting out in the sun too long.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Even here!

Not only do Those Things appear on Pop Star in this game, they're also seen on Shiver Star, too. Could this be a result of the Dark Matter invasion? Is Ribbon in on the Thing Conspiracy? Or could this be ground zero, the origin point of all Those Things? Some or all of these answers are probably incorrect.

Template:KSqS KMoA

File:IceIsland-5.jpg
Thing migration?

In this game that definitely came out in 2006, Those Things appear only in Ice Island, and nowhere else. See, this could imply that Those Things are a migratory species. It's summer in Dream Land, so the Things have moved north for a break from the heat. That's why they're always showing up in ice stages. Isn't that strange? The biology of this species truly is astounding.

Template:KRtDL KAW

File:WW Stage 3-4.png
Letting the days go by, wafers floating underground.

New to the Dream Land to which Kirby has returned, some Those Things can be seen in underwater passages in White Wafers. What could this imply about Those Things? They could be a relative of coral. A very tasty relative of coral, if they're the white wafers implied by the level name. Oh, they appear in other stages too, we guess.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

Delicious Things in Fine Fields!

In the little-known prequel to Kirby: Planet Robobot, Those Things show up in Fine Fields and Old Odyssey, but what's more important is a new discovery of Thing lore. First of all, we already know that Those Things can appear outside of Dream Land, and now we have proof they're on Floralia. But look! Kirby can eat them when he has the Hypernova ability! And they're even covered with chocolate on the end! Or maybe that's dirt. We'd prefer them to taste like mint candy, but not when they're covered with dirt. Maybe the outside of the thing is merely a wrapper, which has startling implications about why wrapped candy would be buried in the ground.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Shiny Things in Rhythm Route!

Yeah, the Things are mechaniTemplate:Zed this time. Look, they've got neon lights in Rhythm Route! Just wanted to show you that. They're cool.

Kirby Battle Royale

The goal is to collect apples, but you can collect Things if you want.

Stop the presses. This one is important. This is the first time Those Things have ever appeared in a 3D game. Now you can touch the Things if you want to! They don't do anything, but the thought is there. The satisfaction is real.

Kirby Star Allies

They look kind of like cheese this time.

Those Things make their grand HD debut in Kirby Star Allies. The most important part here is that, in Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!, some of the Dream Friend routes are recreations of areas in older games. And they keep the Things exactly where they were originally! They must be, like, cultural milestones in the Kirby universe.

Merchandise

Now that you know what Those Things are all about, don't you want to purchase and/or eat them? Of course you do! That's why there's official Those Things That're Usually Stuck in the Ground in Dream Land merchandise!

There are some Kirby Café menu items that feature Those Things, first of all. The most important one is the カービィカフェの本格窯焼きピッツァ ~プププランドの“アレ”が香るクアトロフロマッジュ~ (Kirby Café's Authentic Oven-Baked Pizza - Quattro formaggi with the scent of "Those Things" from Dream Land). This is a four-cheese pizza which, supposedly, contains the scent of Those Things.

There's also the カービィのおうち (Kirby's House) cheesecake and the カービィがつくった!ハリキリおてつだいパフェ (Kirby Made This! The Spirited Assistant's Parfait). Both of these use chocolate to represent the Things, which may confirm that they're actually supposed to be chocolate after all. We can kind of see it now, actually. These things look super yum, but they're Japan-only for the moment, so sorry, everyone else.

Way in the back there. See?

Sometimes Those Things show up in non-edible merchandise, too. Take this Gourmet Race statuette as another example. You can clearly see Those Things on it, but just because it looks like a cake doesn't mean you should eat it. Not when you're paying $150 USD for it.

There may be even more Thing merchandise out there. Who knows? You'll have to find it yourself. We've probably talked more about Those Things than anyone was expecting or wanting us to.

Trivia

  • Those Things are the focus of the next game in the Kirby series, Kirby: The Mystery of Those Things.
  • Those Things may have some relation to Dracula Waddle, since they're always next to each other, but nobody knows for certain.
    • Those Things are definitely related to Green Greens - Pixel 13. Trust us.
    • Those Things are also what caused Hyness to summon Void Termina, since they are clearly "that repulsive nightmare of a galactic crisis" he was referring to in his rant.
  • Those Things have an article on the Japanese Kirby Wiki.
  • An urban legend states that Hexelectron is allergic to Those Things. Whenever this blue hexagon is placed near them, he has a tendency to sneeze. If he consumes them, he dies. He is further quoted as saying, "Oh, dear! I can't enjoy these darn delicious Bourbons!"
  • This Trivia section is neither too long nor too short.

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese プププランドの地面によく刺さっている「アレ」
Pupupurando no jimen ni yoku sasatte iru "Are"
Those things that're usually stuck in the ground in Dream Land
"Are" means "that thing" or "those things", and is used to refer to these objects in short.
"Jimen ni yoku sasatte iru" means "[object] that is usually stuck in the ground".
"Pupupuland no jimen" means "the ground in Dream Land"; "Pupupuland" is the Japanese name for Dream Land.