Halberd

Battleship Halberd is Meta Knight's signature airship.

General Information
The Halberd's size is not stated and varies from game to game. In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, it is just about larger than King Dedede's Castle. The Halberd is capable of atmospheric and space flight, and is able to take off from underwater. In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, it is "made to move at hyper speeds", and does so by using wormholes, managing to cover 900 light years in several minutes. The ship's power comes from the Reactor (known as the Engine Room in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!), and judging by the dialogue at the beginning of Revenge of Meta Knight, the Halberd is dependent on solar energy to some degree. In Kirby Super Star and its remake, some components of the Halberd are shown to be powered by Wheelies.

Interior
The interior of the ship is filled with long corridors with special trolleys to make travel faster. These trolleys are both present in the games and in the anime. In the anime, the many rooms inside include a kitchen, a jail, a training room, and a massive engine room, suggesting that a far larger crew was expected but the bridge is made to be run by just Meta Knight, Sword Knight and Blade Knight. In the games, bridge command consists of Meta Knight, Captain Vul, and Sailor Waddle Dee.

Also in the games, during a certain stage, Kirby, while travelling through the ship's interior, crosses through a massive, open room, via a sort of catwalk, that almost resembles a hangar for smaller air/spacecraft. If the player moves Kirby around or flies him the right way, more of the background is revealed and several small ships can be see. They resemble fighter jets or perhaps Sirica's spaceship in the anime in shape, but have purple bat wings like the Halberd and Meta Knight himself. The purpose of these vessels is never made clear, but it is possible that they serve as smaller, fighter ships, or perhaps escape pods. They are never seen outside this hangar.

Armament
Its exact armaments and firepower vary from game to game, but in its latest appearances, it has a large cannon beneath its bow, with Main Cannon #2 at the top part of the ship. All other cannons are smaller than those two, and cover most arcs of the ship. The cannons fire flak shells, beams, and pulsed energy projectiles in the games and managed to shoot down Dyna Blade. In the anime they only fire laser beams, but appear to be vastly more powerful; a single shot is all that's required to down a Destroya.

In its appearance in Revenge of Meta Knight, the Halberd carries a complement of a mech (or possibly two) known as Heavy Lobster to defend against threats. In the anime, Heavy Lobster is sent by Nightmare instead to destroy the Halberd.

Main Cannon #2
Main Cannon #2, also called Combo Cannon, is a double-barreled turret covering the top side of the Halberd. It fires a devastating laser, cannonballs, and has a mechanical arm to grab enemies and drop bombs on them. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the mechanical arm is used to attack Fox. Later, when destroyed, it wrecks most of the top portion of the Halberd. However, when seen later in the game (in the video "The Great Invasion", before the Halberd is destroyed), it seems to have been fixed. This cannon would eventually appear as an item in the team battle mode of Kirby Fighters Deluxe.

Reactor
The Reactor is the Halberd's main power plant. It is a room full of Wheelies running to power the ship, and its center is dominated by a large structure holding a crystal in place. It is defended by flamethrowers and a laser gun, the latter of which turns out to be its only weakness. In Kirby's Epic Yarn, it is defended by two flamethrowers instead.

Appearance
After its debut in Kirby Super Star, its appearance went through many changes, but there are several central design elements which have never been changed. Its bow always has Meta Knight's mask on it, its sides always have several large wings, and it is always bristling with a multitude of cannons. In many of its game appearances, its deck, top structures, and turrets resemble those of a stylized World War II-era battleship. The Halberd's appearance in Kirby: Squeak Squad resembles its incarnation in the anime.

Hull
Across the years, the ship's hull has become more elongated. In its appearance in Kirby Super Star, the anime, and in Kirby: Squeak Squad, it has a single bottom red glider like the one modern seafaring ships have. From Super Smash Bros. Brawl onwards, the ship has two sleek gliders with mounted guns instead, and a large cannon was installed between the gliders where the tip formerly was.

Wings
The Halberd's wings are usually bat-like in appearance, similar to Meta Knight's dimensional cape when he is flying. In Kirby Super Star, they simply phase into existence when deployed but in other games, they unfold slowly. In Kirby: Squeak Squad, the wings look like they do in the anime - they are sleek and have three rocket boosters attached to them, giving the Halberd a total of fourteen engines. In Kirby's Epic Yarn, the Halberd has six bat-like wings instead of just the usual four, having an additional large horizontal one on each side.

Other changes
Where Main Cannon #2 is attached is not exactly the same across versions either. In Kirby Super Star and Brawl it is located at the front part of the ship, but in Kirby: Squeak Squad it is at the second-to-top level. Its lasers are colored blue in the games and orange in the anime.

Crew
Meta Knight is the commander of the Halberd. His top subordinates are several high-ranking members of the Meta-Knights who command the rest of the crew.

Captain Vul
Captain Vul is a high-ranking officer on the Halberd and member of the Meta-Knights. From his conversation, he thinks rather highly of himself, and rather lowly of his crew, pummeling them with all sorts of insults. He is obsessed with destroying Kirby and his measures to get rid of him get more and more extreme throughout Revenge of Meta Knight. After the Reactor is destroyed, he is the first to leave the ship.

Sailor Waddle Dee
Sailor Waddle Dee is a member of the Meta-Knights, and shares command from the Halberd's bridge with Meta Knight and Captain Vul. He resembles a regular Waddle Dee wearing a sailor hat. He is the most timid among them and is first to voice the collective worry of the crew.

Axe Knight
One of the Axe Knights is an officer on the ship and has a few lines of dialogue in Revenge of Meta Knight. He appears to be very fond of Meta Knight, wanting to stay with him even after the reactor is destroyed.

Mace Knight
Like Axe Knight, one of them is an officer on the ship and has a few lines of dialogue. He stashed food and a 1UP in a secret room on the Halberd for himself without the knowledge of his superiors.

Other members
There is a Heavy Lobster mech (possibly two) on board the Halberd which was destroyed in Revenge of Meta Knight. The remainder of the Halberd's crew are made up of regular enemies and Meta-Knights including several Trident Knights and Javelin Knights. The lowliest of the crew are perhaps the Wheelies in the Reactor, which run around to and fro in chambers not unlike hamster wheels to power the whole ship.

Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra
The Halberd is first unveiled in Revenge of Meta Knight, a sub-game in Kirby Super Star (and afterwards Kirby Super Star Ultra). Meta Knight and his Meta-Knights intend to use its firepower to take control over Dream Land to end its inhabitants' lazy lifestyle. Kirby disables the ship part by critical part. When the Reactor is destroyed, Kirby finally sends the ship crashing down to the bottom of Secret Sea, a restricted area in Orange Ocean.

Kirby: Squeak Squad
During the events of Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby gathers all five Star Seals in search for his missing Strawberry Shortcake and gains access to Secret Sea. While journeying through the area, the Halberd is seen lying on the sea floor, but when he confronts Meta Knight in the Halberd's interior at the end of the stage, it becomes clear that Meta Knight had been repairing it during the time between Kirby Super Star and Kirby: Squeak Squad. These repairs may have been delayed due to the events of Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. Kirby manages to beat Meta Knight in honorable combat yet again, and Meta Knight leaves via his dimensional cape while Kirby stays on the Halberd, which powers up and flies into Gamble Galaxy in pursuit of the Squeak Squad. After Dark Nebula's defeat, Kirby returns to Dream Land on his Warp Star and the Halberd is presumably left unattended and fully operational.

There is an elongated and vague shadowy object on the stage select screen of the Secret Sea which is actually the Halberd lying on the sea floor. It is not apparent what the shadow is until the Halberd is seen at the bottom of the sea, however.

Kirby's Epic Yarn
Meta Knight apparently recovers the Halberd after Kirby: Squeak Squad's conclusion. In the cutscene titled "Ambush!", Meta Knight notices the changes in Dream Land's landscape while patrolling in the skies. Yin-Yarn the sorcerer ambushes him and his ship, turning both into yarn in the process. Kirby fights a possessed Meta Knight in Space Land and gains access to Dream Land and confronts and defeats Yin-Yarn.

The Halberd is actually first seen in the background during the battle with Yin-Yarn, but it is not accessible unless Meta Melon Isle is unlocked and the player gets a certain number of Beads in it, which causes some clouds to disperse and reveal Battleship Halberd as a final stage in the game. Kirby goes through it on the Starship, collecting beads and defeating yarn enemies in the process, and battles Main Cannon #2 and Reactor. Why he does so is not clear, but it is likely to clean up Yin-Yarn's remaining yarn creations; Meta Melon Isle and Battleship Halberd are the only stages to be unlocked after the main story finishes.

Kirby Mass Attack


The Halberd appears in the Strato Patrol EOS sub-game in Kirby Mass Attack. Kirby fights the Meta-Knights in space before entering it, where he fights Meta Knight before moving on to Nightmare.

Kirby: Planet Robobot
"The Robobot Armor has scanned Meta Knight's ship! It's equipped with the Planet Buster. Capture debris, and press A to fire it!"

- In-game description for the Halberd Mode of Robobot Armor When the Haltmann Works Company attacks Planet Popstar in the introduction of Kirby: Planet Robobot, Meta Knight attempts to assault the Access Ark with the Halberd. As the Halberd approaches, the Access Ark fires a laser at it, badly damaging the ship and making Meta Knight's effort fail. The Halberd crashes between two cliffs directly beneath the Haltmann Works Company's mothership. Meta Knight is then captured, though not before turning the Halberd over to his crew in order to make repairs.

The Halberd does not reappear until after President Haltmann's defeat at Kirby's hands. Once he is defeated, the Mother Computer Star Dream, bent on destroying all forms of life, flies into space. Susie calls a suit of Invader Armor that Kirby transforms into Robobot Armor. Meta Knight then flies to the Access Ark using the newly repaired Halberd, and signals for Kirby to join him on the ship. Instead, Kirby's Robobot Armor scans the battleship, absorbing and copying it. Under Halberd Mode (which serves as the Final Weapon), Kirby is able to give chase and defeat Star Dream. However, Star Dream releases a final laser that damages the Halberd significantly, forcing Meta Knight to eject Kirby and his Robobot Armor manually. The Halberd returns to normal upon Kirby's ejection. During the end cutscene, Meta Knight is seen aboard a fully-repaired Halberd flying over the skies of Dream Land.

Halberd Mode is also used against Star Dream Soul OS in The True Arena.

Robobot Armor Moveset
  Move Controls Description Element Combo Cannon B The Robobot Armor fires shots that can be aimed. None Capture Inhale B toward debris The Robobot Armor absorbs incoming debris, charging the Planet Buster move. None Planet Buster Capture Inhale, and then A The Robobot Armor fires a very large and damaging cluster of stars forward. None Sail Wing Left trigger/Right trigger The Robobot Armor performs a spinning maneuver left or right, depending on which trigger is pushed. None

During the Meta Knightmare Returns sub-game, the Halberd is parked and non-functional in the background of some of Meta Knight's rest stations in between worlds.

In the Super Smash Bros. series
In the The Subspace Emissary, the Halberd had been hijacked by the Subspace Army and used to spread Shadow Bugs - in addition, the Halberd fought off multiple assaults from Arwings, and even an assault from the Great Fox itself; both ships originating from the fellow Nintendo series Star Fox. Meta Knight regained control of it after infiltrating it with Snake and Lucario, and used it to confront the Subspace Gunship, but it was destroyed by a laser beam from the gunship in a cutscene. The game was originally going to have a part about how the Emissary stole the ship from Meta Knight with the help of King Dedede but the content was cut from the final release.

The Halberd is a location that combatants can fight on in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The stage begins in a hangar on high seas. The platform follows the Halberd as it departs. Eventually the players land on the ship’s deck where combatants will have to worry about Main Cannon #2 as well as other fighters. Main Cannon #2 has the same behavior in Kirby games; it launches bombs, fires a laser, and attacks with its arm. One of  Brawl' s Events, called Pink Ball Repulsion, involves the player (playing as Meta Knight) trying to KO Kirby before the floating platform lands on the Halberd.

The Halberd stage reappears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

In the Anime
The anime is in a different story continuity and does not follow the events in the games. In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, the Halberd is revealed in episode 98 (Cappy Town Down) after the first Destroya attack on Cappy Town. Meta Knight reveals that he had been constructing it in total secrecy in an enormous chamber below King Dedede's Castle ever since he arrived in Dream Land after the defeat of the Galaxy Soldier Army and Star Warriors to Nightmare's monster army.

The Halberd repels another six Destroyas before heading for Nightmare's Fortress. King Dedede and Escargoon originally planned to plant a time bomb on the ship in exchange for the Teleporter in the throne room to be fixed free of charge, but the plan failed when they end up on the ship as well. Meta Knight engages hyper speed using a wormhole and arrives within one light year of Nightmare's Fortress in order to avoid detection, but NME Salesman announces its detection anyway and sends Heavy Lobster after it. Heavy Lobster's space capsule drills a large hole in the Halberd's hull before wreaking havoc inside. It almost manages to destroy its main engine room before Ice Kirby manages to destroy it with the help of Sword and Blade.

King Dedede foolishly announces Meta Knight's plan to attack, and NME Salesman's response was to send out the entire Destroya fleet to repel the Halberd. The Halberd makes it into the Fortress with the help of three hijacked Destroyas piloted by Sir Arthur and his knights, as well as Sirica and Knuckle Joe, but its shields and hull took a pounding from the outside. It then ran right into Nightmare's ambush in the form of heavy cannon fire and Air Riders. Three stray Destroyas make it through the gate and bombard the crippled ship seeking shelter in a trench. Meta Knight orders all the crew to evacuate the ship before it finally gives way and explodes.

Crew
The Halberd takes off in the episode Cappy Town Down in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. Its crew is composed of:

Cappies: Stowaways:
 * Meta Knight
 * Sword
 * Blade
 * Kirby
 * Tiff
 * Tuff
 * Kit Cosmos
 * Tokkori
 * Chef Kawasaki
 * Chief Bookem
 * Gus
 * Mabel
 * Mayor Len Blustergas
 * Samo
 * Yabui
 * King Dedede
 * Escargoon

Related Quotes
"Meta Knight's battleship, built to help Meta Knight take control of Dream Land. It's crewed by Meta Knight and the Meta-Knights and is equipped with the Combo Cannon and a shrimp-like robot called the Heavy Lobster. In the Subspace Emissary, the Halberd appears and releases a massive horde or shadow bugs. These creatures form Primids and cause our heroes a lot of trouble."

- Trophy description

"Kirby's rival, the masked warrior Meta Knight, constructed this ship to conquer Dream Land. Just in case you forget who owns it, the ship's bow is designed to look like his mask. How is a small guy like Kirby supposed to defeat a battleship?! Maybe he'll find a way inside..."

- Trophy description

Trivia

 * In the anime, the Halberd flying around the surface of Nightmare's space fortress appears to be a homage to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, as it flies through a large trench on it. There are many other references to Star Wars, such as Meta Knight's saying that they were led into a trap in the English version, which is a homage to a famous line from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
 * The Halberd is named after a halberd. A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It always has a hook or thorn on the back side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants.
 * The Halberd's name could also reference HAL Laboratory, the creators of the Kirby franchise. Possibly since the name, when pronounced, sounds similar to "HAL" and "bird," "HAL" being a reference to HAL Laboratory, and "bird" due to the Halberd being a flying ship.
 * In Kirby Super Star Ultra, the Halberd's 3D model is almost exactly the same model seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, missing only the area where the floating platform drops down from. The model was provided for the game by Masahiro Sakurai himself. The original Halberd can still be seen in the bonus compilation of SNES-style videos.
 * A remix of the Halberd's theme is used in Kirby: Squeak Squad.
 * The Halberd in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is adorned with many guns. A total of 150 (including the Combo Cannon's twin guns) cover the battleship's exterior.
 * The Halberd's concept and design may have been inspired by the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato.
 * In the Subspace Emissary mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, there exists a single room encountered right before the boss fight against Duon. Upon entering, the stage music stops. The room contains ten cages, each holding an enemy. These enemies cannot hurt the player, or vice versa.