Kabula

"The flying internal weapon has been revealed. Who would've thought that the Kabula was acting as the power core for the research facility? Take out this flying security machine!"

- Vs. Core Kabula

Kabula (originally spelled Kaboola) is King Dedede's personal aircraft. She first appeared as a boss in Kirby's Dream Land and then made a minor appearance as, once again, a boss in Kirby's Block Ball. Nearly a decade later, Kabula made her re-debut in the series as a boss in Revenge of the King in the game Kirby Super Star Ultra.

Physical Appearance
Kabula has arguably had the most radical redesigns in the series. She first appeared as a yellow blimp with a Shotzo underneath her. She also had a strange, pink eye-like hexagon on her. She would keep this design in Kirby's Block Ball, however she would also have another Shotzo mounted on her side to increase the difficulty of the battle.

Most recently, Kabula was given yet another redesign. Here she appeared once again as a blimp. She now has a tan patchwork fabric stretched over her hull and a menacing face spray-painted on her head. Her fins are now orange and her blaster is a regular cannon rather than a Shotzo, which probably explains why the bullets can now be shot down. She is also a lot larger than she was before, meaning that the one in Kirby Super Star Ultra might be a different one.

In Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kabula is seemingly mechanized, like most of Popstar, with clear rivets in it. It also features a second cannon mounted to its top, and the cannon inside it is seemingly more advanced, now capable of firing a number of different projectiles besides missiles. It retains the overall design of its previous appearance however.

Kirby's Dream Land
Kabula's first appearance was in Kirby's Dream Land as a normal blimp with a cannon. The battle against Kabula at the end of Float Islands fully takes place in air. Kabula, who has two more health bars than other bosses, shoots flurries of bullets and dashes at Kirby. In advance to this battle, Kirby swallows a special Mint Leaf, which allows him to spit unlimited air puffs at Kabula. Kirby simply has to shoot the air puffs at her to win, but she is constantly moving around, making the battle much more difficult.

In the Extra Game, Kabula is much more aggressive; she will shoot more bullets at a much faster rate than before and charge at Kirby more unexpectedly.

Kirby's Block Ball
Kabula serves as the boss of Kabula's stage. A Mini Kabula flies back and forth in the upper-middle portion of the Target Shooting Area; hitting her four times causes her to flee and a Warp Star to descend from the ceiling. Touching it takes Kirby to the boss.

During the boss fight, Kabula flies back and forth in the center of the area. using two cannons, she shoots cannonballs downward and at slight angles. Any paddles that are hit by these cannonballs shrink, and thus temporarily become less useful in protecting Kirby from the spikes. Like all normal bosses in the game, Kabula has 12 HP.

Kirby Super Star Ultra
Kabula is the boss of the fourth level of Revenge of the King. She has been ordered by King Dedede to guard the skies above Mt. Dedede, where she lies in wait for Kirby. She successfully blasts the arriving Kirby off his Warp Star, causing him to fall to the ground below. Nevertheless, the Sparkling Stars come to his rescue and merge into the Starship. Kirby returns on the star craft to engage Kabula in combat.

She looks significantly different compared to past games. Apart from being larger, she has a mean grimace spray-painted onto her hull. Although her cannonballs can now be shot down, her attacks have been upgraded as she can shoot Gordos that cannot be shot down, and shoots groups of bullets rather than individual ones more frequently. Unlike in Kirby's Dream Land, the Starship's stars cannot pass through Gordos and are destroyed when colliding with a cannonball. When her health is low, she will try to overwhelm Kirby by swarming the stage with powerful large missiles that are similar in appearance to Banzai Bill from the Super Mario series (albeit bearing more resemblance to Kabula herself). As a last struggle to defeat Kirby, she fires four missiles in a row if her health is low. After her health is completely depleted, Kabula is engulfed in flames, deflates, and crashes into the ground below. Kabula reappears in The True Arena as one of the first six bosses. If a computer helper is taken in to the battle with Kabula, the helper will disappear immediately and will not be present after the battle, much like with the Galactic Nova Nucleus.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Kabula makes a cameo appearance in the Scope Shot sub-game. She flies slowly by in the distance and can be targeted for bonus points. She can be taken down with a single shot.

Kirby: Planet Robobot
Kabula reappears in this game as a mid-boss, referred to as Core Kabula. She is used by the Haltmann Works Company to serve as an enforcer and power source for their defense systems. In Stage 4 of Gigabyte Grounds, Core Kabula emerges from a defeated C.O.G.S. and engages Kirby, who fights her with his Robobot Armor's Jet Mode. Core Kabula has two cannons, much like in her appearance in Kirby's Block Ball, but she also has a larger cannon built inside her blimp section, which can shoot flames and lasers. In addition, Core Kabula makes use of both the foreground and background to harass Kirby. Core Kabula is also able to fire Gordos from her cannons.

Gender
The instruction booklet for Kirby's Dream Land refers to Kabula as a female, despite being mechanical and non-sentient. At the time, this was largely regarded by players to be an error. In the real world, battleships, planes, blimps, and other large vehicles are often referred to using feminine pronouns, despite being non-sentient and genderless, which was another possibility.

In Kirby Super Star Ultra, Kabula's gender was seemingly finalized. Kabula was now given a more feminine appearance--having large eyelashes surrounding her eyes and a pink nose cone. Kabula still had conflicting gender details, such as being referred to as the "sky lord" (lord is normally a masculine title of nobility, and the correct word would be "lady," though there have been some exceptions to this rule in real life) and "it" both in the same description.

In Kirby: Planet Robobot, she is referred to in a more gender-neutral way, being referred to as the Kabula' on the pause screen. However, in the French version of the game, Kabula is referred as female.

Related Quotes
"The fight with Kaboola is fairly simple—snag the Mint Leaf and press the B Button to fire at Kaboola. One thing to remember: when Kaboola starts spinning, fly to the top or bottom of the screen because it will try to crash into Kirby."

- Description

"Kirby needs to touch his clone to get rid of the Gordo that blocks the entrance to Kaboola's realm. This time, it will take more hits to take Kaboola out of commission. Stay to the left and fire constantly while avoiding Kaboola's cannon balls [sic]."

- Description

"The Starship comes just in time! Your foe is Kabula, sky lord! It's the king's flying fortress!"

- Pause screen description

Trivia

 * Kabula's original name may be a reference to the onomatopoeia "ka-boom," the sound of an explosion.
 * Kabula makes a cameo in the Super Famicom version of Kirby's Super Star Stacker, in the title screen's opening animation.
 * Kabula's theme in Kirby Super Star Ultra is a revamped remix of the Power-Up theme from Kirby's Dream Land.
 * Kabula's missiles in Kirby Super Star Ultra and Kirby: Planet Robobot strongly resemble Torpedo Ted from the Super Mario series of games, but are airborne like Bullet Bills. Also, they have an angry smile, like Banzai Bills, again from the Mario series.
 * In Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby's Block Ball, Kabula carries a Shotzo. In all other appearances, however, she carries a Blatzy.
 * However, in Kirby: Planet Robobot, the cannons that Kabula has on her sides resembles Shotzos, with cogs mimicing the circular base of a Shotzo.