Mumbies

Mumbies is an enemy that first appeared in Kirby's Dream Land. It is a longtime member of the Kirby series, being featured in a plethora of both main games and spinoffs.

Physical Appearance
Mumbies is a floating disembodied mummy-like head that has white cloth wrapped around itself. There is a hole in its wrapping that reveals a yellow eye.

Kirby's Dream Land
Mumbies first appears in Castle Lololo. Many of them haphazardly float around the interior of the castle alongside other spooky enemies like Boolers and Flappers. Mumbies cannot be inhaled, so Kirby must either avoid them or attack them using a puff of air.

In the Extra Game, Mumbies is replaced with the more aggressive Skuller.

Kirby's Pinball Land
Mumbies (called Mummy Ball in this game) floats around the bottom stage of Whispy Woods Land. When Kirby hits it once, one letter of the word 'Warp Star' will light up; when hit eight times, Mumbies will explode and the Warp Star will take its place. Should the player choose to hop on the Warp Star, he/she will be taken back to the course selection screen.

Mumbies earns the player 360 points when hit.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land and Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition
Mumbies appears in the Item Challenge of Kirby's Return to Dream Land. It appears in the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition as well. It appears in the Normal Challenge and the Smash Combat Chamber.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Mumbies uses the same tactics as in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby's Return to Dream Land. The only minor change is that Mumbies' eye will turn red when it pursues Kirby.

Kirby: Planet Robobot
Mumbies appears in this game.

Other Games
In nearly all games Mumbies appears in after Kirby's Dream Land, it will follow Kirby around the levels. As usual, it cannot be inhaled. Exceptions are in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, and Kirby: Planet Robobot, where they only chase him when his back is turned, much like the Boos in the Super Mario series.

In the Anime
Episode 84 of the anime, Mumbies Madness, featured Mumbies. It was found in a jar that King Dedede tricked Professor Curio into digging up. After Curio released it from inside its jar, the mummified ball then flew around Cappy Town at night, scaring everyone it went to see with its scary face. It even attacked Kirby; that was its true mission, which was to hunt down and assassinate Star Warriors. Interestingly enough, unlike its game counterpart, Mumbies is only active at night; every time the sun came up, it would retreat and go back to sleep inside its jar. Eventually, Bomb Kirby was able to trick it into clamping onto him with its teeth without letting go until the sun came out, at which point the sunlight burnt Mumbies to a crisp.

The Mumbies in the anime is shown to have sharp, jagged teeth, which they use to ferociously bite anyone they come into contact with. It also attack by ramming full force and by shooting dark blasts from its eye. This tricky monster lives in a jar and is known to be full of surprises. Its eye can glow many different colors, and if a victim look into its eye when it's glowing dark blue, he/she will grow tired. Oddly enough, unlike in the games, Kirby was able to inhale Mumbies. It didn't give any ability, and the Star Warrior was forced to cough it back up. It is also revealed in the episode that there are multiple Mumbies scattered all over the universe, each one with the same goal of causing chaos. The Mumbies were probably created by Nightmare Enterprises, but this is not known.

Etymology
Its name is a combination of the words mummy and zombies.

Related Quotes
"Kirby can't inhale the Mumbies—he can ruffle their wrappings, though. Take a gulp of air and then shoot it at the Mumbie to defeat it."

- Description

"Invincible floating balls, Mumbieses are rarely encountered in Kirby's travels. When you do see one, quickly inhale it and use it as a weapon. It is immune to all other attacks."

- Description

Trivia

 * Mumbies' eye commonly alternates from yellow to red in from game to game. This was possibly explained in the anime, which shows that Mumbies can change the color of its eye at whim.
 * The Prima strategy guide for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is flawed; it states that Mumbies can be inhaled and that it is immune to all other attacks. The exact opposite is true — it cannot be inhaled, but instead can only be defeated using other attacks.

Sprites
Mumbies Mumbies Mumbie Mumbies マンビーズ