King Dedede Should Be Evil Again

I don't want Dedede to revert back he has been through a lot of character development and a heck of a lot of possessions and he shouldn't go back to being a villain this far into the series.

King Dedede was never evil, he was just enemies with Kirby but now he's Kirby's friend and punching bag before the final boss

as someone who greatly appreciates Dedede's shift to more of an ally, I feel like having him as the villain is exactly what the spinoffs are good for. as you mentioned, games like Battle Royale and Fighters 2 have no issue placing him in an antagonistic role, and that's because in the mainline games having him as a straight villain without any influence beyond his will would just make him seem like a pawn of greater evil, which is ultimately not what his character is. IMO they've done a good job at making him feel cool and powerful even as a friend, though, notably in Triple Deluxe and Forgotten Land. More moments of characterization showing off the rivalry and some of dedede's stubbornness in mainline games would definitely be welcome (as deeper characterization in dialogue would be great for any of the characters), but there's also the factor you described in adventure wii and star allies, where it wouldn't really be relevant to shove that in for cases where he's one of multiple playable allies. I feel like that rivalrous side of him is still there, it's just that the goal of the games have moved past dwelling on it as the main focus.

He hasn’t been “evil” since Kirby’s Dreamland in the main series, why would we want him to suddenly lose all that development for nothing???

honestly i like what they've done with him, he can still be a bellend sometimes but he's grown past being evil. Even in his first game all he did was steal food, and by the second game he already was more sympathetic.

Not gonna lie, it would be extremely weird for him to just go back on all that character development. Also Dedede in Subspace was acting more of a force of good me thinks. He was trying to help those trophy people

I don’t know if I would say Anime Dedede is how Sakurai envisioned the character to be, I think it’s more likely he’s like that because it serves the narrative of the show. Someone always needs to be there to order new monsters for Kirby to fight. Similarly, this is why characters like Bugzzy were changed from a wrestler to a club/sword fighter. Kirby can get the Sword ability from him, and he can still fight with the club.

10:17 Here's the thing with Revenge of the King: they were settling their grudge once and for all, and that means not retreading it afterward. After that, Dedede has gone through so much character development that just making him evil again feels like a reduction for the sake of trying to reenact older stories. "Evil/petty Dedede" is best saved for the spinoffs, where there is no worry of having to stick to continuity or long-lasting consequences. 12:20 According to some archived info from the Smash Dojo (I think), he was actually trying to build up an army against whatever was trying to draw everything into Subspace, as proven with the restoration brooches he places on all of them. 13:05 I do agree there. We need more nonverbal Kirby stories. Remaking Return to Dreamland was a good start, and I hope we get more in that vein. Also, your assumption that Anime Dedede was Sakurai's undiluted "true vision" for Dedede kind of ignores the entire rest of the team and the premise/needs of the show: a monster-of-the-week romp, and someone needs to initiate each week's shenanigans.

yall missed Dedede's character development and only want him to be the bad guy because you watched the anime

sure, whatever you say Edit: You know, a spinoff set in the Mirror World where Shadow Dedede is the main antagonist and having all those traits from the anime would be pretty cool (I think that with all of regular Dedede's character development and shift to be more of a hero, making him evil again would put a wrench into many of his modern traits that the fanbase likes, so the obvious solution would be to make his mirror counterpart have those evil traits - it would make lore sense as the Mirror equivalent of characters are basically everything that their regulars counterparts aren't: DMK being dishonourable and not offering a sword to give an example - and there could be potential to give character development to Shadow Kirby as currently he lacks courage and couldn't stop the events of Amazing Mirror or Triple Deluxe)

12:00 "selfish intentions" he had an item which could free him from becoming a lifeless trophy and he didn't use it on himself, he took one off himself and gave it to someone else. He could've just hoarded them to himself to keep himself alive like a real selfish dude, but he didn't.

Hehe, yeah, nah, Frienemy Dedede is Peak Dedede. He's still glutonous, brash and a bit lazy, but his continuous interactions with Kirby have genuinely improved him as a person and as a king. That's called character development, which to my eyes always makes a character more interesting and less one-dimensional, and to suddenly take away all of that in main games would honestly just be removing all of that.

In the Japanese light novels, kirby and dedede are more like "frenemies" and but heads but still care for each other. Each constantly talk over each other and things like that and they somewhat acknowledge this in the games by saying that dedede is a "self proclaimed king" and is Kirby's rival but still is friends with him but it would be nice if more characters in the games had dialogue to show these interactions like the books

I like old villainous Dedede, but to be honest, if they really wanna go through with letting Dedede grow as a chatacter, I think they should be allowed to do so, especially since fans seem to generally like it. Suggesting Dedede to go back to his old villainy ways reminded me of how badly Shadow's character development got screwed by Sega just to stick to the familiar appeal of the character. I don't deny that Dedede can be a self-absorbed spud where it counts, but to go back to actively causing trouble for others just to get at kirby may rub some fans the wrong way. The way I see it, they can still make him a major voluntary competitor to Kirby, but more for lighter stuff like contests and tournaments as the spinoffs do.

I do find this an interesting point! There is something to be said about enjoying a specific interpretation of a character - that being King Dedede's more self-centered side and brash behavior. However, I do disagree with the central thesis of King Dedede needing to revert back into an "evil" form to do it. As you very nicely outline, most of Dedede's appearances where he IS antagonistic toward Kirby while not being possessed or is the main threat are competitions. Dream Course, Avalanche, Battle Royale, Fighters 2, even Revenge of the King - all direct challenges to Kirby for the sake of Dedede's ego (or just weird stuff like Pinball Land or Tilt N Tumble). Dream Land remains his only real appearance where he's being explicitly evil instead of simply serving his pride, even when you take the anime into account! Therefore, I think the issue is not that Dedede necessarily NEEDING to be evil, per say, but in a matter of the scope of Kirby's games expanding to the point where a lot of his characteristics apart from the kindness he's learned from Kirby do not get the chance to shine. I find the point of "Dedede is too nice so he HAS to be possessed to have a boss fight" to be untrue, especially considering Robobot's workaround and how Forgotten Land handles the Meta Knight encounter as purely sparring. Rather, I find that Dedede's constant possession is more of an in-joke or homage that allows for him to easily enter the plot. He could easily be a bonus boss, host of The Arena, whatever else, but freeing Dedede from possession is thrust to the forefront as a conscious choice as a representative of the bond between Kirby and Dedede overcoming any outside force. Which, admittedly, the series has leaned into very heavily for three of the last four mainline games, so I can understand it being a tad fatiguing, but I find it an excellent coda to the message of Kirby. tl;dr, I do not disagree that the character of Dedede is incredibly important. However, I do not think that his character has changed all that much compared to his moral compass. I'm confident he'd still toss around Kirby if he had the chance, he's still a prankster and egotist at heart (as evidenced by his Minion Waddle Dee suggesting Kirby give him space in Forgotten Land for outdoing him at his own kingly duty!), but the framing of current games chooses to tell stories grander than Dedede's antics that still choose to incorporate him due to his determination, natural strength, and connection to Kirby as a character, rather than out of necessity as Kirby's antagonist. And I think those are just as important, AND he's probably gonna have an appearance in a future game where he's just like "hey Kirby I know you need to beat Griggly the Monarch of Madness, but I need you to give me money so I can make a statue of myself and some sub-games where I play bowling but you're the ball and also there's lightning and chainsaws. And then we can fight. Trust me it'll be fun!". Gotta read the pause screen lore for Subspace, though. Dedede's kinda just pure hero there after he realizes he messed up letting the Halberd get stolen!

Knuckles the Echidna and Shadow the Hedgehog should be evil again.

I feel like the Masked Dedede fight was the climactic end of the grudge Dedede's held with Kirby

You do raise some good points about how fun he is in an individual game… but I can’t help but appreciate how much he’s grown as a character. Character development is incredibly rare in Nintendo games, so to see this with King Dedede is so great. He also hasn’t lost a lot of his egotistical and brash qualities, he just puts them towards different things. There’s a fantastic Designing For video about King Dedede that might be one of my favorite videos on YouTube that highlights his character growth and the value that has. I’m totally OK with Dedede being a goofy character because he still gets plenty of moments to show off how powerful he is.

I think that if king dedede was just kirby's rival he would be good. He doesn't necessarily have to be evil, but if the next game started by him challenging kirby to a duel or something, then afterward some big foe appears, would be perfect.

I believe a good way of having Dedede as villain without mind control is to simply trick him, like how happens with Kirby.