In Defense of the Dee
I was going to sit this one out, but there was a brief discussion regarding Kirby on a Discord server I'm on that rekindled my passion and I've decided to go a bit more in-depth with the little guy. He's got the odds stacked against him, but I think he's got just a little more going for him that I gave credit for.
History of the Dee
This little guy needs no introduction, but %$#@ you, I'm giving one anyways. Bandana Waddle Dee, often just shortened to Bandana Dee or abbreviated to BWD, is a rising star in the Kirby series. As name suggests, he is a Waddle Dee, the most recurring enemy of the Kirby series. Most Dees are are carefree and peaceful, casually walking back and forth on their platforms. Due to their cute design and perfect track record, they've become secondary mascots of the series, showing up in quite a few artworks and side materials.
Bandana Dee first appeared in
Kirby Super Star in the Megaton Punch minigame, where he was just some Dee with a splash of blue. He was... kind of a joke, honestly. Barely made a dent in the planet (Though the fact that he could make a dent in the planet itself says a lot about Kirby power scaling). He came back with a slightly expanded role in
Kirby Super Star Ultra, being King Dedede's closest consort and replacing the Waddle Dee "boss" in The Arena. While he was still kind of a joke, he began showing some hints of his future characterization here; Loyally staying with his king to the bitter end and facing Kirby after he blazed through Dedede's troops, even after Dedede told him he didn't have to fight.
Bandana Waddle Dee's true debut was in
Kirby's Return to Dream Land as the fourth playable character, teaming up with series mainstays meta Knight, King Dedede, and Kirby himself. No longer a wimp like before, he now brandished a spear and used it quite well, effectively being a moveset clone of the Spear Copy Ability. He reappeared in
Kirby: Triple Deluxe and
Kirby: Planet Robobot, taking a more passive role by tossing Kirby healing items as he passed by. He also harvested the Gem Apples and gave hints in
Team Kirby Clash Deluxe and it's updated variant,
Super Kirby Clash, playing a similarly supportive role.
Aside from his helper roles, he also had some time in the spotlight with two spinoffs,
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse and
Kirby Battle Royale. In the former, he helped out Kirby while Meta Knight and Dedede were nowhere to be found. He took the role of Player 2 (And three and four, for that matter), playing just like his appearance in
Kirby's Return to Dream Land while Kirby was stuck in ball form. In the latter, he was Kirby's partner throughout the tournament, helping him out in team matches and holding his own against the clone Kirbys offscreen. He also played a pivotal role in the final battle, tossing Kirby a cannon that was the only way to damage the Dededestroyer Z. Interestingly, Bandana Dee used a parasol in this game, rather than his trademark spear.
Bandana Dee made a return to playable status in a mainline game in
Kirby Star Allies as a Dream Friend, using his trusty spear once more. While he didn't have a boss fight like with Meta Knight and Dedede, he instead had the honor of being the first Dream Friend available, being summonable as soon as you gain access to the Dream Palace. He also appeared in
Kirby Fighters 2, being the only buddy (Re: Non-Kirby character) available by default. Since the Story Mode requires you to use a buddy until you clear Chapter 3, he's also likely to be the buddy you use on the first playthrough if you go straight to that; Indeed, the reveal trailer uses Bandana Dee as Kirby's buddy when explaining the mode.
Bandana Dee has come a long way since his debut. Over time, he has grown into a capable fighter in his own right, and has displayed a cheerful demeanor in the majority of his appearances. He's been shown to be quite close to the main trio; Aside from his aiding of Kirby and Dedede listed above, he's also been shown fanboying over Meta Knight in
Kirby Battle Royale. And, par the course for a
Kirby character, he's displayed an interest in food - The little guy pulled an all-nighter walking to the Cake Royale just for the titular cake prize.
Despite his overall joyful personality, he's been shown to have a bit of an inferiority complex and a desire to grow stronger. In Battle Royale, he worries that he's been holding him back during the tournament, and in the
Team Kirby Clash expansions, he's expressed a slight twinge of envy, wishing to be rewarded for his actions like Team Kirby. This is spelt out in his personal theme from the
Kirby Memorial Arrangement CD, The Apple Juice Song, which details his desire to become strong, mature, and popular like his friends. You can listen to it
here. Also, the
lyrics.
Does he stand a chance?
While I love the little guy, I must admit that the odds are kinda stacked against him. Mainly, it's the DLC thus far (Sans Piranha Plant, who was a bonus and is on different standards). To wit:
Out of these, only three out of eight represent already-represented series. Of those three, two are first-party and only one hails from a game with playable representation - And that was for
Final Fantasy VII, the most infamously underrepresented game in Smash.
Kirby's representation has some gaps to fill, but it's certainly got more than the vast majority of the DLC series. Both Fighter's Passes have been consistently about new content beyond just the fighters, and
Kirby might be deemed good enough on it's own.
So what's going for him? Well...
- Popularity - Bandana Dee is a pretty darn popular request, all things considered. He easily scores the highest of any Kirby character, and is among the highest rankers for first-parties in general. He placed 7th on this consolidation poll for the Smash 4 ballot and even now managed to get 9th place on Source Gaming's megapoll, above even the likes of Rex, Isaac, and Waluigi. Notably, he was also the only first-party to reach the top ten. Probably not that exact number specifically, but it still shows that there's strong demand for him.
- Recent Relevancy - Bandana Dee has been a pretty recent addition, meaning he doesn't have to worry about being old and only popular in the Smash fanbase. It should also be noted that he's had a truly stellar track record; From Mass Attack to Star Allies, the only games he's missed are Kirby Fighters Deluxe, Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe, and Kirby's Blowout Blast. If we're going back to Super Star Ultra and counting only the mainline games, he's actually had more appearances than King Dedede and Meta Knight!
- Modern Kirby Rep - Going off of the above point, the modern era of Kirby is fairly lacking. It's got some Spirits and songs, but there isn't really that much. No stages, no Assists, heck, it doesn't even have the famous themes of Masked Dedede and Galacta Knight. While Nintendo could decide Kirby's fine the way it is, as I've mentioned above, in the scenario that they do go with Kirby there's definitely enough to supply a pack. Plus, Bandana Dee's presence in the modern era of Kirby means that he's got a pretty solid link to whatever modern content gets added in.
- Waddle Dee Rep - Bandana Dee's closest competitor is arguably Waddle Dees as a whole. As I noted in his introduction, Waddle Dees are secondary mascots of the Kirby series, being cute, recurring, and recognizable. Heck, they're even listed as the fourth major character at the Kirby Portal! So why is this a pro and not a con? Why not plop down a normal Waddle Dee? Simple: Bandana Dee exists to rep the Dees.
(Source)
As shown in this interview, Bandana Dee was brought into
Kirby's Return to Dream Land to act as a representative of Waddle Dees. He was even going to get a unique name,
Bundy Bandee, but was kept as just Waddle Dee to better represent the species. This gives me confidence that Bandana Dee would most definitely be chosen over some average Dee, because he was added specifically to represent Dees as a whole. Besides, he's already become a popular and defined character in his own right (Well, as defined as you can get with Kirby's way storytelling). On the topic of that interview...
Had it not been for the big anniversary aspect of
Star Allies, we would've gotten an Extra Mode for Bandana Dee, to go with Dededetour and the various iterations of Meta Knightmare. This, I feel, solidifies Bandana Dee's status as the fourth main character of the
Kirby series.
Also, I'll be tackling some arguments against him.
- He needs a gimmick! - Not really? Byleth didn't have one, and neither did Banjo (No, Wonderwing doesn't count). Sure, FP2 gave use some of the craziest gimmicks in the series with Min Min and Steve, but Sephiroth wasn't that gimmicky; Heck, he doesn't even have a meter on his HUD.
- He just has a spear! - Personal preference when it comes to this; I feel that the simplicity of it would be rather refreshing. Besides, it's not just a spear; As shown in Battle Royale, he can work with a parasol as well. And if we still need to spruce things up that badly, we can give him various gear from the various Waddle Dee variants throughout the series - For instance, the axe of the lumberjack Dees from Triple Deluxe, or the bows of the archers from Epic Yarn. After all, he is a representative of Dees as a whole.
- Sakurai Bias! - While he does seem to favor his creations, I don't think he outright hates the newer Kirby games. It's just that Kirby stumbled upon a bit of bad luck in Smash 4 that made him centralized around the older games; The planned Epic Yarn stage was turned into the Yoshi's Wooly World stage, and Dream Land GB was originally going to be a Super Mario Land stage. Marx is among the most recognizable Kirby bosses and easily translatable into Smash, and Kawasaki was added to preserve Kirby's Final Smash.
Besides, it's not like Kirby's centralized representation is an exclusive problem; Donkey Kong has a distinct lack of recent content, and even third-parties like Mega Man and Street Fighter neglect anything beyond the early installments. And either way, Nintendo's choosing the characters, nit Sakurai. If they asked him to add content for the modern Kirby games, I don't think he'd say no.
- Why not someone else?- They're just not on the same level or relevance and popularity. To go into more detail:
- Marx has the legacy of having later final bosses reusing his attacks, but he himself has only showed up a handful of times throughout the series. Besides, he's already a boss; While we do have Giga Bowser and Ganon, they're separate versions of their basis and have different names. Marx's most iconic form is his boss form, and he's already there, so...
- Gooey was Kirby's number two - Keyword being was. The guy took an extended break after Kirby's Dreamland 3 and only came back recently with Star Allies. He did get to be one of the buddies in Kirby Fighters 2 - And one of the earliest obtained, to boot - But he's still got a ways to go to reestablish his place in the series.
- Adeleine is decently popular and appeared more than once or twice, but like Gooey, she took an extended break after two appearances and only came back for Star Allies, which brought pretty much everyone back. And unlike Gooey, she didn't get a spot in Kirby Fighters 2. Again, still hasn't reestablished herself.
- Daroach has the honor of having the most amount of dialogue in the entire series, plus having shown up more than once before Star Allies, but much like everyone else on the list, he petered off until Star Allies brought everyone back.
- The Animal Friends were Kirby's biggest allies back in the Dark Matter Trilogy, but they didn't have a major appearance after that until Star Allies (Seeing a pattern?). They did get a fair bit of cameos throughout the series, but overall those cameos don't really amount to much, especially seeing as the majority of them weren't in-person.
- Dark Matter, like Marx, has a lot of legacy when it comes to final bosses, but hasn't made many in-person appearances as of late. There's been many bosses that are implied to be connected to them, but the only time we've had Dark Matter themselves appear in-person since the Dark Matter Trilogy are a minigame in Mass Attack and a bonus boss in Planet Robobot, and the latter isn't even the final boss of the Extra Mode.
- Galacta Knight actually has made a fair bit of recent appearances... but none of them are actually canon. They're all locked behind Extra Modes and The True Arena, with the one time he's a boss in the main campaign being an AU spinoff.
- Magalor is the closest competitor to Bandana Dee's fourth main character status beyond Waddle Dees in general (And we've already gone over how that actually helps him). He's popped up fairly often after Kirby's Return to Dream Land, but not quite to the same extent as Bandana Dee. His appearances have been relegated to spinoffs for the most part, like Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe. He actually didn't have any major appearances after his debut until Star Allies. He did show up again in Kirby Fighters 2, but he just can't match Bandana Dee's stellar track record.
And lastly, the infamous Hat Goomba argument. Honestly, that's kinda inaccurate. "Hat Goomba" implies some random mook with a hat, like this
Bandana Dee has a weapon and a personality. He'd be closer to this:
An established character with a weapon (Though not necessarily a firearm) who just happens to be the same species as a regularly appearing mook. Besides, Waddle Dees are a hundred times more huggable than a Goomba (Granted, Waddle Dees are a hundred times more huggable than anything that isn't Kirby himself, so that isn't saying much).
And yes, I indeed photoshopped Goombario with a gun just for this. You're welcome.
Overall, I award him a
30% chance. The formula of SSBU's DLC works against him, but he's got a lot going for him. He could be a real darkhorse for Smash. Of course, by definition a darkhorse is an unlikely victor, but maybe we should keep a closer eye on him.
Obviously, I wouldn't be making such a huge passionate writeup without a full
100% rating.
When I first started looking into
Smash speculation, I had two wants, Bandana Dee and Shadow (Or some other
Sonic rep). The former stuck with me for the majority of 2019, though Klonoa gave him some competition. By now, he's surpassed him, actually. I'm not as focused on
Kirby as I was before; There hasn't been many major releases to keep my hype going, and 2020 had me grabbed by the throat and down the
Touhou rabbit hole, followed by
Ys synching up with me extremely well, but I still love the little guy. Reimu, Adol, and Klonoa make up my top three, but Bandana Dee is still a close fourth. If my recently renewed hype for
Kirby keeps up, he might even regain his throne.
Originally, I just wanted another
Kirby character, and Bandana Dee looked like the best bet. But over time, he grew on me. I liked his underdog status, and I started developing my own interpretation of him based on that. Keep going, little guy. You'll get to prove yourself soon enough.
Abstain on Dixie. I'm just here for the Dee.
