KSSUltimateSculptures: Sir Kibble

☆ Sir Kibble (サーキブル) is a low class knight- a basic enemy character, yet holder of the Cutter Ability, and steady Helper in Super Star. His origins date back to the first game, where he offered no ability when eaten by Kirby, as with other enemies. After which, Kibble's appeared in nearly every main-series Kirby game since. He is the forefather of the series's widely incorporated Cutter Ability, so of course, Sir kibble would have a big presence in the games. With the frequent inclusion of Cutter into Kirby's limited repertoire, Kibble has spanned the gamut of both Sakurai-and-Shimomura-style games, and his design has indeed fluctuated with the times. The knight is generally composed of a golden, metallic helmet, with a bivalve-oriented visor peering into a dark abyss. This is changed to a more organic sphere shape with a solid hexagonal visor with small slit eye-hole in the Dark Matter games. Red-gloved hands emerge from the shoulder plates for Cutter-grabbing versatility, and white boots below for walking and jumping prowess- all four limbs having rectangular, armored plates on the backsides, for extra protection and added detail in the Super Star design-sense. Kibble always equips his signature Cutter boomerang as a crest to his helm, which can be removed and thrown at opponents, or quickly slashed while at close range.

☆☆ When just starting out on your Kirby journey, Sir Kibble is usually one of the first enemies encountered. Therefore, Cutter is one of the first Abilities copied, and can be a great beginner's tool. One would imagine most Kirby novices simply go around, hurling cutter-boomerangs into the faces of foes, since enemies hardly try to dodge or take more than one hit to kill. However, when it comes to larger enemies, and those which can't easily be tackled from the ground, then it would seem that the inexperienced Cutter Kirby player would be at a disadvantage. This is where one can actually learn from watching Sir Kibble train on the field. In addition to his average out-and-back cutter-boomerang, Kibble also uses a move where he jumps, and then throws the cutter in the opposite direction he intends to attack, then allows the boomerang to reverse direction, flying an incredible distance across the opposite end of the screen! That is an amazing technique in my opinion, and just goes to show you what the characters (and creators) of Kirby can do with limited actions and abilities. For Cutter-Ability-empowered-Kirby, this is a great maneuver not taught by the pause-screen flavor text, to rack up lots of quick damage using small, yet quick, successive strikes.

☆☆☆ Ever since my days at the 'Resort, a mystery that has surrounded Sir Kibble's true form for me was, "could he be a hollow shell of armor, or simply a black ball with no visible eyes?"; however, through the power of Brawl's Trophy renders, I have reached a decision. Sir Kibble is actually an empty helmet, with stark-black interior. He also has floating hands (unlike Meta Knight, with visible arm-flaps) which seem to evoke a ghostly association with the armored enemy. Still, I made the figure before realizing, and sculpted him with a rounded, black interior-form, for simplicity's sake (And who doesn't simply LOVE sake~?). Forgive me, I'm rambling again... Anyway. There is a fine line between Cutter and Sword Ability, it seems. They even confusingly share the same attack (Final Cutter) on and off, and as Kirby's move pool expands, Cutter becomes even more similar to Sword, gaining close-range attacks. A defining factor between the two, at least for me, is that- since Sword knight and Blade Knight have both frequently been subjects to Meta Knight, I see it that Sir Kibble is King Dedede's signature armored knight. This is due to Sword and Blade only appearing in games where Meta Knight is also present, and Sir Kibble thriving in the "Dream Land Trilogy" where the atmosphere's more Dedede-centric. Finally, his name, I guess, comes from his skill at chopping people into kibble with his Cutter-blade, certainly~
Whoawowo! And, let's not forget mentioning Sir Kibble's mighty miniboss-upgrade in RtDL, "Kibble Blade" who looks even more nightly than the former! Yeah, that dude is something serious~!

☆Dedede-Daimyo-Koikoi☆
Sir Kibble © HAL Labs & Nintendo