King Dedede

"“The great king can lazily enjoy himself because Dream Land is at peace. Everyone in Dream Land doesn’t always respect him that much. Because it’s normal for everyone to be at peace. But when hard times arise, or if there’s trouble, King Dedede rises up to the forefront for everyone and protects them. When that happens, everyone finally realizes how strong King Dedede is. But when it becomes peaceful again, they forget. The times when King Dedede is lazy are the times when everyone in Dream Land is at their happiest. That’s why I have a lot of respect for the lazy King Dedede.” ― Bandana Waddle Dee on why he's such a loyal follower of King Dedede • King Dedede’s Great Escape Strategy (translated by deafeninggardenerpanda)"

King Dedede is a main character in the Kirby series. He's the self-made king of Dream Land and is said to be Kirby's "destined rival", being usually fought as a boss. Despite that, he's actually one of the series' many heroes.

Why He's Dededelightful

 * 1) While it is often believed Dedede's change into being a hero is more recent, his growth out of his antagonist role actually happened as early as the second game in the series, Kirby's Adventure, where he tried to defend Dream Land from Nightmare.
 * 2) *Dedede has also willingly joined Kirby and his friends in Kirby 64, and has many interactions in the cutscenes that show he's a caring friend, such as having picnics and sitting on the beach with them, helping Adeline escape from an erupting volcano, being sad to leave Ripple Star in the bad ending, and showing concern for Kirby falling over in the good ending.
 * 3) *Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary also shows Dedede's heroic and caring nature, even putting the safety of Princess Peach over his own, by giving her his badge that protects fighters from becoming trophies.
 * 4) *Even something as early and obscure as a Japan-only educational video featuring Mario and Kirby released in 1993, Dedede is portrayed as being a good friend, by nursing a lost pup's mother back to health and letting her stay in his castle.
 * 5) Some people consider him to be an "anti-hero", but that can't be true. Anti-heroes lack morality and genuine heroism, only doing good when it benefits them, which isn't the case for Dedede as he has grown to have a genuine sense of righteousness and responsibility, putting the safety of others above his own, which is the complete opposite of self-serving.
 * 6) He's one of the friendliest, most trusting and generous rivals a character could have. Most of the battles he has with Kirby out of their volition post Kirby's Dream Land have only ever been low-stakes challenges with the only things at stake being their own egos, and whenever they're not competing, they both get along really well. In a way, they are a lot like Sonic and Knuckles.
 * 7) *Towards the end of Super Smash Bros. Brawl 's Subspace Emissary, there is a scene where Dedede is visibly happy to see Kirby, even going as far as to run up to hug him.
 * 8) ** In Triple Deluxe, there is a scene that is parallel to this, but with the roles reversed.
 * 9) *According to the hammer description in Kirby Star Allies, Kirby has kept the hammer Dedede gave him in Revenge of the King and inherited it, and in Forgotten Land, he even gives Kirby an upgrade for the Hammer ability, which is literally his Forgo mask and dual hammers. More than gifts, those are hand-me-downs he trusts Kirby with.
 * 10) Unlike his anime counterpart, Dedede doesn't rule through cruelty and oppression, but through sheer charisma. His Waddle Dees follow him purely out of respect and admiration, and will continue to stay by his side even when given the opportunity to abandon him. This can be seen in Kirby Super Star Ultra 's Revenge of the King.
 * 11) *Dedede also cares for his minions as much as they care for him. Instead of constantly pushing them around, he can be seen peacefully playing chess and gazing at the sky with them in the intros of Kirby Planet Robobot and Kirby Star Allies, respectively. In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, his most recent outing, it's shown that he cares for his Waddle Dees to the point of self-sacrifice.
 * 12) *For the sake of comparison, in Episode 55 of Kirby Right Back at Ya (Sweet and Sour Puss), a monster invades King Dedede and siphons his anger, rendering him completely passive, and all the people of Dream Land, even Escargoon, who is the person closest to Dedede in this adaptation, take advantage of this by repeatedly attacking Dedede, showing how much they resent him.
 * 13) His will is even growing strong enough to fight back being manipulated by the true villains, even if by a little bit. For example: Before the battle against "Forgo Dedede" begins, he can be seen trying to remove the mask that's controlling him.
 * 14) He is wonderfully animated with numerous cartoonish and goofy expressions that makes up his silly personality.
 * 15) While his chubby build might make some believe he's a big slouch, Dedede works a lot harder than you'd probably think. A few examples that confirm this is the fact that he has a boxing ring in his castle, and in Kirby Super Star 's Spring Breeze (which is a remake of the first game), Dedede has the title of "champion", implying that he has an impressive reputation as a fighter. According to trophy descriptions in Smash Bros., Dedede underwent serious training after being bested by Kirby for the first time, showing just how dedicated Dedede is to competing with him.
 * 16) According to in-game flavor text from Kirby Planet Robobot (Vs. Dedede Clone), Dedede is even considered one of the strongest beings on Planet Popstar. Given the context that the game's pause descriptions are actually from the perspective of Star Dream (as revealed in the pause description during the fourth phase of his fight), a hyperintelligent supercomputer, this is very impressive.
 * 17) According to the current Kirby director, Shinya Kumazaki, the reveal of Dedede being a good guy is what inspired him to be so hardworking and creative with the franchise and its lore.
 * 18) Despite his out-of-character villainy in Kirby Right Back at Ya (see LTDDDSQ#1 for more details), both Ted Lewis and Kenichi Ogata's performances as him are still entertaining and have made their marks on the internet.

Less than Dededesired Qualities

 * 1) In the anime adaptation, Dedede was often represented as a cruel and abusive dictator who orders monsters to get the job done for him due to his incompetence. He even beats up his Waddle Dees for fun and goes as far as selling them without remorse for a quick buck.
 * 2) * While he might have been more caring in "Prediction Predicament" and "D'Preciation Day", he always returns back to his old habits the next episode as if it never happened.
 * 3) **Even in the final moments of the last episode in the series, where Dedede admits he doesn't really want to kill Kirby, he still whines about not being able to order monsters and cause mayhem anymore, showing that he hasn't learned a thing. Fortunately, he reverts back to his original self in subsequent works.
 * 4) His characterization was also done poorly in Kirby Battle Royale, where he was hellbent on humiliating Kirby and rigged the entire tournament against him instead of trying to succeed over him fair and square like in Revenge of the King.

Trivia

 * The symbol on the back of his robe is actually a very simplified version of a ✌️-sign.
 * He or his likeness has appeared in every game in the series except Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. As such, he is the most recurring major character of the series besides Kirby and Waddle Dee.
 * King Dedede is currently voiced by Shinya Kumazaki, the current series director for Kirby, and in the Super Smash Bros series, King Dedede is voiced by Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of both Kirby and Smash.
 * The people at HAL really seem to enjoy making clever titles based on Dedede's name. Examples include:
 * Triple Deluxes title can be interpreted as 3D, and it also released on the 3DS'. 3D obviously being a play on the 3 'De's in Dedede's name, considering his importance in the story of Triple Deluxe.
 * One of the sub-games in Triple Deluxe is Dedede's Drum Dash. If you acronymize the title, you get "DDD".
 * In Planet Robobot, Susie's Dedede Clone uses a Tri-Dimensional Cannon, 'Tri-Dimensional' also being another play on "3D" and "Dedede".
 * Shinya Kumazaki has mentioned many times that Kirby's Adventure is his favorite game in the series and the one that changed his perception on how videogames of this type even work. The reveal of Dedede actually being a good guy stuck with him and led to becoming his favorite character.

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