"Kirby the airship pilot makes his big return! It's the 2nd novel in the popular Dreamy Gear series!"
Welcome to Chocolate Town. Famous for the delicious chocolate mines, as well Kirby, President Dedede, and Meta Knight's airship races!
Till one day, when a sudden fog prevents anymore races from happening, and all the stuffed chimneys cover the city in soot
With a "Hey, hey, hey!" the traveling chimeny sweep Marx appears before the troubled residents.
Marx gets to work and fixes all the chimneys. But not long after he and the fog appeared, an incident starts in the section of town where the nobles live...?
What is the culprit's aim? And what is the truth behind the fog? Kirby seeks the answers to the mystery!!
It's the story of another world slightly different from Dream Land!!
Even if it's just using the characters with convenient, clean 2D art, I still appreciate the selection! We got the OG animal friends, Elfilin, and those two-...
...?
...They did it again.
They stuck them side by side again 🤣
Y'know, outside of the Air Riders Valentine's Day event, it actually feels like it's been a while since they've done that with these two?? It was solo Mags or Magolor and the other cast while Marx got left in the cold.
A disabled, half-crazy engineer trapped on a dying planet rescues an armless, half-dead jester from the cold void of space. A horrible mistake that will change both their wretched lives forever...
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In 2022, I attempted to draw a gijinka fan-manga based on a Marxolor-heavy interpretation of what I thought could have happened to Magolor before and immediately following Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
The script I had written was too long and far too complex for my novice skills, and I put it aside as other stories grabbed my attention. Though my art has improved since then, the practical impossibility of ever telling this story in a visual medium is fully apparent to me.
In addition, while I remain fond of what I wrote, Kirby lore has marched on unceasing, and most everything I carefully plotted out about Marx and Magolor has been jossed since I originally put this story to page.
So, I am releasing the entirety of the story here. The first 5 chapters that I drew as well as the remaining 20 or so in script format.
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As a last note, the story of Marionettes' Pavanne is very precious to me, and so I would be honored if you would be so kind as to share any thoughts you have on it with me while you read
You can use the comments section on this post or message me or even send an ask. I would feel very rewarded if you did 💖
Magolor gives the impression of having a logically driven mind. It must have been a surprise to discover (the hard way) this unique feature from Popstar.
And taking into consideration he is from an almost isolated planet like Halacandra… I kinda feel bad for him.
PS:
I'm one of many people who headcanon that Marx stayed on the Lor helping (somehow) Magolor for an amount of time.
I just wanted to play with the idea of cultural shocks that Magolor might have.
Also, the fact that this “feed-kiss-heal” dynamic started with Super Star just fuels my mind.
Second part ready!! Is the last part too, but maybe I will sketch something else about it in the future. I hope you enjoyed both parts.
Some extra thoughts:
1. I like to think Marx's expertise is dark magic. Maybe he is not as dexterous with soul, heart, and dream, but who knows.
2. Have you ever pondered the massive spell work Magolor did to cast his ultra sword? He is so smart and strong 💙(Also makes me think of the infinite power Kirby harvests to be able to use the ultra sword without visible magic)
As always, they consume my mind 24/7, so I wrote some ideas, but somehow these turned into a small story. I have never done it before, and being in English was another challenge, so I hope you enjoy it.
To give a vague context, this is placed before RTD. I love the “Marx helps Magolor to finish building the ship” trope, and they are in the “this guy is weird, but I’m curious” phase.
Anyways, I already have part 2 written but I haven't finished the small drawing and something else 👀.
"...How does it feel to finally be the one being toyed with? ...My beautiful and cruel marionette. At last, your strings are mine."
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Yes, this really happens in MariPav...
...Yes, it's a dream sequence
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:Magolor, sitting on a throne, looks down with irritation:
Magolor:
"...Say it to me."
Marx:
"..."
:Marx smiles with blank eyes:
Magolor:
"Say the words, Jester."
Marx:
"..."
:Marx continues to smile with blank eyes:
Marx:
"...I...love you......"
:A tear rolls down the "smiling" Marx's cheek:
:Magolor catches it, sneers:
Magolor:
"...You loathe me so much that even pretending to have to love me brings you to tears, does it…?"
:He shakes his head, one hand clutching his throbbing temple as the Master Crown digs in, drawing blood:
Magolor:
"Spiteful marionette...How much power will it take to finally circumvent that rebellious mind of yours?"
Marx:
("My punishment for lying to him…
was to be forced to tell the truth
…and go ever unheard.")
talk ab marx like right now and tell us wachu think of him plz
“Fufufu… Oh Mr. Daroach, you flatterer! My bank account…? Well, I wouldn’t say it has much but…”
Huh? What?
Oh. Right. Marx…
I love his alt colors. Fantastic, fantastic choice! (Though I was hoping he’d have one with the teal and maroon Marx Soul colored hat too.)
Making him a glass cannon is utterly hilarious!! It’s like The Meme come to life! I always thought the idea was only thing that COULD kill him was being flung into an exploding star, but apparently it just takes flinging him into anything to make him explode. LOL.
As for more detailed rambling, I’ve already shared my thoughts on the use of “true form” elsewhere. When it comes to things to talk about Marx…
…Do you know about shoujo and shonen manga? The two big divisions of manga for teens in Japan? (There are of course other divisions, but shonen and shoujo are two of the biggest.)
TLDR, shojo is manga aimed at a mostly female audience while shonen is aimed at a mostly male audience. (Acknowledging that shonen is read by viewers of all genders because its stories have universal appeal, typically.)
This division be seen in areas such as their plot, characters, and their arstyle, with shoujo manga having a tendency for large soulful eyes and shonen manga (especially for younger audiences) happily indulging in characters who look more silly or gross for laughs.
Can you see where I’m going with this? Kumazaki’s Marx, although I’m thinking of Star Allies in particular, is the Shoujo Manga Marx. He’s cutesy more than he is threatening. He’s fun and friendly and it’s much easier to imagine him actually palling around with the allies, pulling more harmless kinds of pranks. Even his bombs here explode into sparkling glitter bombs.
His wings glitter like colorful paper and he dances and spins in a perfectly adorable manner! Even his little stumble after his spin just makes you go “D’awww.”
(FWIW, the Star Allies development staff interview implies that Marx was mostly the work of a small, dedicated team of staffers and I’d bet money that at least one of them was a woman and a big Marx stan.)
You could start to see it in Smash Bros but it is almost undeniable here: Sakurai’s Marx is the Shonen Manga Marx. He is more weird and creepy and A THREAT.
He’s not designed FOR cuteness like the Star Allies Marx, even if he happens to have moments of cuteness. One only has to look at the way they celebrate messing with someone...
<I’d have gifs here but I’m typing this at work. Lol, you’ll just have to imagine/look the two different Marx up yourself>
Allies Marx has this cheeky grin before pulling a prank. He looks like an impish playground brat. Sakurai Marx looks like he could finish off his celebrating by biting your head right off your neck, blood spurt included. He’s more MONSTROUS. He is unleashed and you don’t quite know what this Marx is going to DO.
Which is all very fascinating, since Sakurai, of course, was Marx’s creator, and his Smash Bros commentary indicates he still has some strong feelings on Marx. For me at least, I’ve gotten the feeling that Star Allies “cuddly” Marx isn’t qui~te the way Sakurai sees him.
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Now, this is the Kirby series and we’re all free to interpret it as we want as long as we don’t harass, bully, or threaten each other. So if you like Star Allies Shojo Manga Marx, like I do, you can go back to that! And if you prefer that your Marx may~be eats baby Waddle Dees when their parents aren’t watching closely enough (/hj) then there is Sakurai’s Marx.
And that’s that!
EXCEPT…!
…Air Riders is going to have a Story(ish) Mode. Sakurai has stated that everyone is the main character. And Marx is one of those characters. For the first time in….well, for the first time ever, we are going to see Marx be characterized in a Kirby game
THIS IS A HUGE DEAL!!
I don’t know how many of my followers are familiar with Subspace Emissary or any of his other games, but Sakurai is a truly fantastic director. Not just of games but of character action and wordless storytelling.
Marx is not going to talk in this game, but his body language and expressions are going to tell us more about Marx than we have ever seen before. All from the mouth of his original creator.
For the first time, we’re going to know what Marx thinks and does and how he reacts. (At least from Sakurai’s perspective.)
This is something so HUGE it could actually change the entire Marx fandom! Now, as a fan of Kumazaki’s softer, more playful Marx, am I worried that the director who sees him in more of a shonen manga way is going to be the first one to put him in a cutscene since the SNES days…? Eh…yeah, a little… ^^;
It threw me off VERY strongly when Magolor was given more characterization in RtDL DX that conflicted with my old HCs. And after many, many years, it is finally Marx’s turn to grow. Change is hard, and I may not personally like all that we find out about this new Marx.
…But…I’m still glad it’s happening?
Since the Kirby series is going to be here for the long haul, it’s far better that Marx change some than stay trapped in a static retro game stasis forever.
If nothing else, I expect to see lots of footage of two player online games with him and Magolor running around the lobby being silly.
