...I KNEW it. I just KNEW IT!! /lh What have I done?!

:does it again:

Anyway, they say having confidence in yourself is a good way to make friends, so unlike his main-verse counterpart, Mirror Noir gets along great with the other mirror residents! </biased perspective>

I'll draw him with Shadow Dedede later. Mirror Noir also LO~VES penguins!

Not...yet. Not a full one, anyway. I will say that the secret lab was in the back of my mind as I was writing my initial post.

Was tempted to say it belongs to someone else. King Dedede is always portrayed to be a secret gear-head but the tubes...

(Photos for those unaware of Moonlight Mansion's secret underground lab)

If... If Dark Meta Knight never had his own "Dark Halberd" and Moonlight Mansion was only his home base... Well, the Halberd is run on Wheelie technology (like the lab has Sparkies) and has similar trap/breakaway passages on it like the basement does...

Although if DMK didn't have his own Revenge of Meta Knight-style coup on Dream Land in the wings... what the HECK was he planning on doing with THIS stuff??! (All of a sudden, the idea of Susie and DMK bonding doesn't seem that strange after all...)

I've also thought a lot about DMK choosing Radish Ruins for the site of his second ambush. If it's a sign that he's got a barely concealed interest in ancient technology and old cultures as MK does...

(I was also thinking about how Moonlight Mansion is a hub to just two realms: Onion Ocean and Candy Constellation. Onion Ocean could relate to the sunken Halberd but I don't have anything relevant for Candy Constellation. It is one of the more tech-y of the realms so that could be where he got the equipment at least...)

If the Mirror enhances the negative, perhaps... MK's interest in the past was taken a bit too far in DMK? Perhaps he wasn't just content to observe it, he wanted to try and reproduce some of it?

...Then again, we're also talking about the guy who, when given a crayon and told he could draw whatever he wanted chose SWORD.

(I tease. Though him drawing a sword badly is still the funniest thing ever)

And, you know, perhaps he just needs a lab to keep the Halberd up and running? This baby is not gonna maintain itself!

Although, hot damn, that test tube is full of GREEN liquid isn't it...?

:Dess begins shaking violently:

EDIT: Last minute thoughts!! If he's got portraits of the realm bosses up, maybe he was...running experiments to try and connect the realms?? Or power the cellphone batteries...??!?

(Who DOES make those batteries? Maybe it IS DMK?!)

Silliness aside, while i was gathering images from Moonlight Mansion for that last post, I uh... realized something kinda BIG...

That towering manor, with the big "M" doorway? A symbol like that kinda reminds you of a certain airship.... ...But no! Surely that decorated "M" stands for "Moonlight!"

Oh, wait.... Oh no...

On the gate...is that......? IT IS!

IT'S DARK META KNIGHT! And all the BAT imagery everywhere too...! Ahhh! I can't believe I'm just now seeing this!?!

:cue "Damn, bitch, you live like this?":

But I will be taking those stained glass windows of the Guardians of the Mirror World as more evidence for my "Dark Meta Knight was a mole who truly cared about the Mirror World" theory though!

(And maybe the grave stone is for the Mirror Meta Knights, like when I theorized they'd all died and that's why DMK's such a loner...)

Oops. I think I wrote that wrong. I was trying so hard to trim all my summaries down I think I lost the vital part of that one.

It's SHADOW DEDEDE that is a meat suit.

DMK is mute, though, yes.

To explain (...in my weird little HCs obviously...) Dark Meta Knight and Shadow Dedede were actually lovers/in a relationship in the past. DMK was a bit bloodthirsty and fighty, but Shadow Dedede got a kick out of that wild side of him. However, because DMK was out doing the da~rk version of Meta Knight things (and because my Mirror Dream Land is like regular Dream Land but...uh, darker XD) Shadow Dedede was not saved from Dark Matter like regular Dedede was. Nor was he saved from any of his possessions...not in time.

Dark Meta Knight FAILED HIM. Irrevocably. Indelibly.

He had something good but his vices costed him. Shadow Dedede is now a puppet being piloted by a melange of dark forces. Most potently? Dark Mind in the form of the (non-parallel) King D-Mind.

In the pre-story to KatAM, Dark Meta Knight came back to challenge this invader for the body of his liege, but Dark Mind used their relationship against him and callously slit Dark Meta Knight's throat (and ground the resulting mirror shard into dust, ensuring he could not get his voice back) to shut up the ignoble knight up for good.

THAT is why all of DMK's acts in KatAM are circumspect. He cannot warn Shadow Kirby. He cannot train him now. He cannot ask his non-mirror counterpart for help. So he lures him and HIS disciple on a chase that ensures they will run headfirst into Dark Mind. (If he dies as collateral? Well, what more is there to lose...?)

...

And so yeah, that's my DMK backstory. He's a mess. ^^ And he's still a fight-y little bugger! Though now that the Dark Mind stuff is over, he's been forced to open up a little bit and make..... friends. Like that tall handsome rat fellow and that little artist girl who lets him use all her red crayons and doesn't judge.

The reason he attacked Dedede at the end of TDX? ...Jealousy, mostly. (And a warning to Meta Knight.)

Springing off of @icedragonlizard 's post about there not being a Dark Meta Knight plushie yet and why he deserves one...

...Crazy conspiracy theory here, but sometimes I feel like HAL put Dark Meta Knight in Star Allies without really thinking about the massive effect that the inclusion of the cameo Dream Friends would have on the fandom and the perception of the cast as a whole!

Like, people have already commented on how certain profiles make it sound like certain friends would be more likely to side with the Jamba Cult or just want the Jamba Heart for themselves!

But the Kirby series being the Kirby series, this suggestion of questioning loyalty faded slowly as the fandom came to warmly greet all of the friends... :cough: Susie :cough: WARMLY GREET ALL OF THE FRIENDS as Kirby's tried and true companions!

This came full circle in Merry Magoland where the park's golden statues really imply that, from the point of view of Magolor (himself implied to have seen multiple different timelines) these people are all HEROES who helped Kirby and saved the day with him!

...But then, HAL and even the fandom seemingly couldn't figure out a way to explain Dark Meta Knight's change. Even Daroach, who is almost explicitly in Star Allies to steal the Jamba Heart, was a steadfast ally in Mass Attack. It's easy enough to spin him becoming a friend. But DMK never had that moment of ally-ship. (Neither did Marx, but his heavily implied friendship with bad-guy-turned-good-guy Magolor indicates that he can at least behave.)

A few people, myself included, have worked hard to try and discover and share about DMK's heroic (?) side that could potentially earn him a place in the Star Allies! (In my verse, he's explicitly a forever unsung, uncredited hero of KatAM, mostly due to him being a terse bloodknight.) but I'm not sure HAL has decided just what he is yet.

Heck, he has NEVER had a speaking line, I don't think?!?

I don't know if this absence of additional lore means that they're still figuring out how they want to characterize Dark Meta Knight going forward or if they're all in their office sweating right now going, "Oh god!! We accidentally canonized the biggest jerk in the Kirby series as a HERO because we wanted to save on programming costs by including a palette swap Meta Knight!! How do we fix this?!?"

...But the Kirby Twitter DID make that post about DMK's ranking and the Mirror last year when Magoland was going strong, so they haven't forgotten about him. Even if they're staying characteristically... silent ...about him for now! ^_-

What if...

Its well known that I loathe the "DMK is Sectonia's mirror on the wall" theory but...I will give you this one, as a bonus. >w<

Writing this has brought an additional question about this silly theory into my mind. Why does anyone think Sectonia, obsessed with beauty, would listen to anything from THE most unwashed character in the Kirby series? XD

A-ahem. Starting over again...

@newthinkerer found THS post and said to me: "I'm sure the Kirby fandom has done something to grind your gears."

Which, in truth, the answer is not lately / not really no. ^^; But it wasn't hard to reach in and find some "comical outrage" style gear-grindy answers for those who find such rants entertaining! So, here those are for everyone's (hopeful) enjoyment

[Original Response Below] Ohhh? Did you want "Salty" Dess? XD Let's go down the list...!

Marx / Reduced to one single trait

Look, I know the games don't give people much to go on, but a lot of people (1) seem ha~ppy to come up with pages and pages of backstory for all the other characters - but Marx? Nope. Marx is the one character who people seem almost allergic to rounding out when he is RIPE with mystery and potential. "But the game doesn't tell us anything about him so maybe he isn't that big of a deal, Dess?" Tsk! The game tells us just as little about Meta Knight! The only difference is the number of appearances! Use your imagination, people!

Dark Meta and Shadow Kirby

It must be the contrast, I think.

I am quite average on "Metadad" content but completely FERAL for DarkMetaDad. I think, with MetaDad, I feel like making Meta Knight Kirby's protector/caretaker sidelines the fact that Kirby has always been shown to be capable of taking care of themselves. MK gives them some mid-adventure training in a couple of circumstances (and stands in their way as a foe in others) but the support has never really been given in a way that gives me any kind of parental figure vibes.

Kirby, as we know him, doesn't need Meta Knight for anything.

However, Shadow Kirby is portrayed as being mentally/emotionally weaker than regular Kirby. They spend most of KatAM hiding. Dark Meta Knight, meanwhile, is Meta Knight with the edge and aggressiveness cranked up. The concept that this violent, brooding, avenging bat knight has made it his mission to secretly defend the hero that SHOULD be defending everyone else? All while playing the villain so that Shadow Kirby's own reputation isn't besmirched? The fact that even Shadow Kirby can't say for sure but has seen just enough to still believe in Dark Meta Knight even after all this...

I love it. I love that Shadow Kirby comes out to confront you one last time, right before you face off with Dark Meta Knight in Radish Ruins. (Almost as if to say "...Wait! It's not him! He's not the one responsible!" threatening to undo DMK's clever sabotage(*) against Mind. But it's too late. There's no stopping what was set in motion.)

And after Dark Meta Knight is defeated a second time and shattered? It is only then, after losing his guardian, that Shadow Kirby is forced to grow up and assist you in fighting Dark Mind.

...By handing you, of all things, a sword.

Dark Meta Knight returns, of course (somehow) and it is after that that Shadow Kirby begins to take up the habit of going aggressive on regular Kirby, interrupting his fights and challenging him to duels. Gee, I wonder who he learned that behavior from? XD

[Last Minute DMK Sympathy Additions!!] Because I spent last night talking about this with Thecrashman

Another Lightning Round!

This time, we're answering:

-Borb Feet -Shadow Dedede and The Mirror World's Dream Fountain -Kirby Royalty -Soul of Kirby?! -Forgiving the "unforgivable" Dream Friends (a lo~ng post for an old ask!)