Waddle Dee

Wow!

Waddle Dees are the main inhabitants of Dream Land. Some, but not all, of the Waddle Dees are also affiliated with the king of Dream Land. They are the most common regular enemy in the Kirby Series. They first appeared in Kirby's Dream Land and started appearing in just about every game after that. Waddle Dees are noticeable because they have no real form of attacking. They simply just walk around and sometimes leap into the air. Because they're so weak, most Waddle Dees stay out of Kirby's way and just walk around peacefully.

For the most part, Waddle Dees behave the same way in each game. However, many variations of the species exist. They are just as peaceful though. In some cases, Waddle Dee exists as a playable character, too.

Physical Appearance
Waddle Dees resemble Kirby's species with a round body, stubby feet and small stubs for arms. However all waddle dees always have a tan, pear-shaped face, rosy cheeks, and no mouth. Most Waddle dees appear either burgundy or some shade of red, however, green, orange, and purple-like (among others) colored Waddle dees have also been known to exist.

All waddle dee's have light orange feet and chestnut-colored eyes. Most of the variants look the same and have only small, minor additions and changes. For example, Parasol Waddle Dees look exactly the same but wield umbrellas. Notably, Parasol Waddle Dees have the same type of umbrella Parasol Kirby uses.

Kirby's Dream Land
Kirby's Dream Land was Waddle Dee's first appearance. In both Dream Land and Adventure, they just run and hop around, minding their own business. Some even drift down from the sky using their parasols (which could act as separate enemies). This is how Waddle Dees would act in almost every game following.

Kirby's Adventure and Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland
Waddle Dees and Parasol Waddle Dees appear, acting the same way they did back in Kirby's Dream Land.

Adventure also introduces a related species known as the Painted Waddle Dee. Paint Roller, the boss of Ice Cream Island, paints these creatures to life during the battle. After this painted foe steps off the canvas it immediately flees. But If Kirby is fast enough he can inhale it and use it as ammo against Paint Roller. The Painted Waddle Dee the Kirby painting are the only paintings that don't give an ability if eaten.

Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra
Waddle Dee are once again walking, hopping, and occasionally-parasol-wielding enemies. They now have health bars like the other enemies in the game and has 16 hit points which is more health than some of the usually stronger enemies in the games. A Waddle Dee with particularly high stamina is one of the opponents in The Arena (a common YouTube joke labels this Waddle Dee as an extremely hard boss character). A card of them (as well as many of it's variants) also appears in the mini-game Card Swipe.

A Parasol Waddle Dee also serves as the Helper for Parasol. The helper Waddle Dee is the only one in the game that has red skin. The enemy version usually comes in orange (pink in Milky Way Wishes). The Helper Waddle Dee can do any of the techniques that Parasol Kirby can.

In Revenge of Meta Knight, there is an unnamed Waddle Dee clad in a sailor hat (thus nicknamed "Sailor Waddle Dee" or "Sailor Dee") that serves Meta Knight. He stays on board the Halberd, and watches Meta Knight fight Kirby as the other crew members leave. Although this Waddle Dee's fate after the fight is unknown.

In Revenge of the King, there is a Waddle Dee wearing a blue bandanna (thus nicknamed "Bandanna Waddle Dee" or "Bandanna Dee") who serves King Dedede. After Kirby destroys King Dedede's best minions, he pits this Waddle Dee against Kirby. Kirby can simply inhale this Waddle Dee. Note that although Kirby appears to kill him, he will appear later in the sub-game alive and healthy. He is the only one to view Kirby battling with Masked Dedede. Also, in this sub-game, Spear Waddle Dees appear which throw spears at Kirby and also try stabbing and poking him with their spears.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
A friendly Waddle Dee (played by Jess Harnell) helps out Kirby in this game after he is freed from Dark Matter's control. He is usually seen in a vehicle of sorts, including a boat, a mine cart, and a sled. The Waddle Dee usually appears at least once in every planet. When possessed by Dark Matter, this Waddle Dee becomes a Waddle Doo.

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Waddle Dees also appear in the Mirror World with the same abilities like their real-world counterparts. A new species of Waddle Dee called Big Waddle Dee also appears, starting in Moonlight Mansion. They have the same abilities like a normal Waddle Dee but they have to be Super Inhaled because of their weight.

Kirby Canvas Curse
Waddle Dee appears as a regular enemy and like in other games just walks around, there are even some that just stand in place looking around that are even weaker than regular Waddle Dee. Two new varieties are introduced; Spear and Fluff Waddle Dee, Spear Waddle Dee stand in one spot until Kirby comes near then chuck their spears at him, Fluff Waddle Dee behaves just like Parasol Waddle Dee but ride down on dandelion fluffs and don't give Kirby any ability.

Waddle Dee is also a playable character in this game. After the player beats the game as Kirby, the Waddle Dee Ball is unlocked.

Kirby Squeak Squad
Waddle Dee appear once again as common enemies. Some Waddle Dee hide in wooden barrels and are released if the barrel is broken. King Dedede will also summon Parasol Dee to his side during the boss battle of Prism Plains.

Kirby's Avalanche
Waddle Dee is the first opponent Kirby faces in the Avalanche tournament. His stage is like a tutorial and the game gives the player hints throughout the match. In this game Waddle Dee is stated to be Waddle Doo's cousin. He is also shown to be very timid.

Kirby's KiraKira Kids
Early on in their adventure, Kirby and his friends run into a Waddle Dee that has stolen one of the star pieces. It tries to fend them off with its parasol, but is essentially defeated. The Waddle Dee later takes away Knuckle Joe in a wheelbarrow after he is beaten later on in the story.

Kirby's Air Ride
Waddle Dee appear in groups as obstacles along the track, they stand in the middle of the track and when a racer approaches they rush to the corners of the track attempting to avoid being hit. once hit, they slow the player down. However they can be inhaled and spit out at other racers. All the Waddle Dees in this game are slightly larger than Kirby and his Warp Star, possibly to make them harder to avoid.

Some Waddle Dee ride mine carts along the track looking like they are also participating in the race but are otherwise simple obstacles to be avoided or attacked.

Playable Appearances
Waddle Dee has been playable in the following games


 * Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: In mini-games and some levels (riding various vehicles)


 * Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra: Parasol Waddle Dee is the helper for Parasol Kirby available in Helper to Hero and as P2, and a bandanna wearing Waddle Dee can be in the two player mode of the Megaton Punch mini-game.


 * Kirby Canvas Curse: Waddle Dee Ball is unlocked after beating the game once.


 * Kirby Squeak Squad: Ghost Kirby can posses and control any Waddle Dee he encounters.


 * Kirby's Avalanche: Randomly chosen as the second player in two player mode.

Variants
These are Waddle Dee that do something besides walk around or enemies related to Waddle Dee.

Parasol Waddle Dee
‎ The second most common form of Waddle Dee. It's just a Waddle Dee holding a parasol- and Kirby can get the Parasol ability if he eats one before he lets go of his Parasol (though in most cases however, the Parasol can also be inhaled for the same effect after being let go of). Parasol Waddle Dees often times fall from the sky. While doing so, their parasols slow their descent. In Kirby Super Star and it's remake, This particular type of Waddle Dee is the Helper of the Parasol ability. The helper can use all the attacks that Parasol Kirby can use.

This variation appears alongside Waddle Dee in all games except Kirby 64, Kirby: Canvas Curse and all spinoff games.

Fluff Waddle Dee
Similar to Parasol Waddle Dee, Fluff Waddle Dees slowly fall to the ground. The main difference between the two is that these float down while carrying large dandelion fluffs, while the others use parasols. They only appear in Kirby Canvas Curse, and unlike their Parasol cousins, they don't give any ability.

Cart Waddle Dee
In Kirby Air Ride, some Waddle Dee ride around on the track in little mine carts as basic obstacles to slow the racers down. They are perhaps based on the Waddle Dee from Kirby 64, who at one point drove Kirby around in a mine cart. A card of them also appears in Kirby Super Star Ultra in the mini-game Card Swipe.

Spear Waddle Dee
Appearing only in Kirby Canvas Curse, and Kirby Super Star Ultra, these Waddle Dees wield sharp spears to throw at Kirby. They seem to be a reference to the anime series in which the Waddle Dee positioned around Dedede's Castle usually wield with spears. They also appear in Revenge of The King. They attack by stabbing Kirby with their pointy spear. They are also seen seen standing beside King Dedede in the Revenge of The King intro movie. A card of them also appears in the mini-game Card Swipe.

Parasol Spear Waddle Dee
So far only appearing in Kirby Super Star Ultra, a Parasol Spear Waddle Dee is a very special type of Waddle Dee that is equipped with both a parasol and a spear at the same time. They only appear in a few levels of Revenge of The King and have the same behavior as a Parasol Waddle Dee combined with a Spear Waddle Dee. They give the Parasol ability when eaten.

Other variants
Note that these Waddle Dees have some very noticable differences in physical appearance than other Waddle Dees.

Arena Waddle Dee
This variation of Waddle Dee only appears in the Arena game in Kirby Super Star (and its remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra) and in the Boss Endurance in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. It is an opponent in one of the rounds and its behavior is no different from an ordinary Waddle Dee but it has much more life than the regular enemy. However, it can still be easily inhaled and instantly defeated.

In Kirby Super Star the Arena Waddle Dee is yellow and in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror it instead has red-orange skin. In Kirby Super Star Ultra the Arena Waddle Dee is seemingly one-and-the-same as the Waddle Dee Kirby faced in Revenge of The King, as both are red-skinned and wear blue bandannas...

Big Waddle Dee
Main article: Big Waddle Dee

A super-sized Waddle Dee that needs to be super-inhaled. In all reality however, these colossal creatures are just as weak as their regular counterparts.

Golden Waddle Dee
Main article: Golden Waddle Dee

These shiny enemies carry treasure. They sometimes need to be trapped to get the treasure they hold. In some cases, there is no way way to trap them so Kirby would have to outrun and destroy it before it gets away.

In the Anime
In Kirby: Right Back at Ya! King Dedede's castle is filled with Waddle Dees who are commanded by a single Waddle Doo. The Waddle Dees are basically the King's underlings, and are forced to fulfill the king's desires as well as keep the castle clean, although they seem to enjoy the cleaning as they snatched the broomstick from the Cheif Bookem's wife and started cleaning then shot off with it. The Waddle Dees are often depicted with spears working as guards. However they rarely actually use them. It is said that Waddle Dees live across the sea and will settle down in an area of shown hospitality (i.e. food & shelter) because they feel the obligation to return the favour.

The actual number of Waddle Dee in the castle is unknown. This issue was brought up in the episode Episode 042, After Dedede got mad at them for not bringing him any tea and asked how many Waddle Dee live in the castle anyway. Waddle Doo states that there is "A lot of them!" before later admitting that he doesn't know (but definitely more than 10) and, prior to that, Escargoon had counted at least 1,580 of them before he confused Kirby with a Waddle Dee and made him lose count, so there could be at least that many. Escargoon quickly concludes that it's impossible to count them all. In another episode, Waddle Doo ordered "5,000 steak sandwiches for the Waddle Dees!"

Episode 042 is also the Waddle Dee's most prominant episode. They were kicked out of the castle when King Dedede orded the Home Helper Robo from Nightmare Enterprises, taking with them all their stuff, and a large wooden crate. When it was relieved that the Robot was stealing valuables from the castle to pay of Dedede's debt to them. When Waddle Doo saw the Castle being attacked, he brought the Waddle Dees to Arms. They attempt to attack the robot, but all their attempts were in vain. With Stone Kirby's help, they managed to dismantle the Robot and destroy it. Afterwards, they all did the Kirby Dance.

The box they took was later revealed to be the majority of Dedede's Savings.

The Waddle Dees in the anime are shown to talk, although their language is only understandable by Waddle Doo, who has to translate it for others.

What is interesting is that though they have no mouths they have been shown to be able to take and eat a cookie right from Escargoon's hands with it just disappearing, it munching on the cookie, swallowing and then leaving the scene with King Dedede and Escargoon shocked in amazement. They also seem to have an outstanding appetite which is very similar to Kirby's, although they show signs of being full unlike Kirby.

In the Super Smash Bros. Series
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Waddle Dee appears as a common Trophy that players can collect. Its trophy description states that Waddle Dee "don't consider themselves to be followers of King Dedede". Waddle Dee appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl also.



In Super Smash Bros. Brawl Waddle Dee is a projectile weapon thrown by King Dedede during his Side + B Move "Waddle Dee Toss". Dedede will also throw Waddle Doo and Gordo sometimes. After being thrown Waddle Dee behave the same as they do in any Kirby game. Only two Waddle Dee can be on the stage at once but Dedede can pick up and throw the same Waddle Dee more than once, they can also be attacked.

Dedede calls an army of Waddle Dee as his Final Smash. These Waddle Dee are faster than the ones the King throws and can easily sweep an opponent off-stage.

Dedede's intro consists of four Waddle Dee carrying him on his throne and in one of his winning poses King Dedede is accompanied by a lone Waddle Dee.

Subspace Emissary
In Brawl's story mode, an army of Waddle Dee help King Dedede capture Luigi by distracting him while King Dedede attacks. After using Luigi as bait to lure Wario out of his vehicle they all crowd around Wario allowing King Dedede to steal Wario's vehicle (and the Trophies he collected) from him. After distracting Wario, they all run after King Dedede who is now driving Wario's Cargo.