After the confusing nonsense of the original comic, I elected to greatly simplify things for the reboot. No more Mega Man content, no more inexplicable portals, etc. Instead, the plot was changed to be that Kamek was doing experimentation, and one gone wrong was what brought Kirby into the Mario universe. Albeit, the location of where Kirby came into the world was the part that went wrong, since Kamek was clearly looking for Kirby as a being of strong powers. It's a much tighter narrative than was present previously.

The very nebulous "Koopatrol Alpha & Beta" from the original comic were characters I very much wanted to flesh out further in this reboot. I renamed them to Alipha and Ateba respectively, and gave Alipha a Dark Koopatrol paintjob for his armor. Fun fact, they're also boyfriends in this version. Even in 2012 when these pages were coming out, I was all about that LGBT content.

In an effort to make Xenali have more relevance this time, she gets to be included on the rescue mission. The intent was to build her up into a leadership role, something she would essentially use to usurp the position of Head Yoshi away from Sencen, or something. Probably? I assume that's what I was going for at least, based on my spotty memory of vague plans that never came to fruition.

Why did I think "thingy" was an excellent insult back in 2012? Was I just that incapable of writing a more clever word into the dialogue?

In further "Ulti wants to bring LGBT content to the table", here I hinted at future plans to turn Boalt and Deska into a lesbian couple (yes, they are both girls, if you didn't realize). Boalt being highly cowardly and exaggeratedly shy, but then suddenly immediately coming to Deska's defense after an insult to her intelligence, was my way of hinting at Boalt having a crush on Deska, and had the comic continued, they were planned to become girlfriend and girlfriend.

Oh look, I finally learned how to do close-ups properly. Or, more rather, I learned of the value doing close-ups could provide. I already had figured out methods of doing them before this point, but tended to stubbornly not feel it was worth doing that often.

Past Ulti, you were the one who maintained keeping this status quo around, I don't know if that gives you a pass to make fun of the naming convention.

Would you look at that, the reboot version of Test actually worked in the Yoshi DNA and coloring into the writing this time around! It's as easy as actually putting it into the dialogue, sometimes. And also yes, another big change occured here. Test no longer being a clone, but an essentially-brainwashed Kirby, was another way in which I wanted to twist the plot details around in order to surprise old readers. But it also felt like a more sensible first step in terms of experimentation. Not only was it better to actually showcase this change happening this time, rather than the random surprise reveal of the original of Test's existence, but doing scientific experimentation felt more sensible than a random clone. ...Though, why I didn't have Kamek perform MAGICAL experimentation on Kirby is beyond me, I guess science and syringes was just where my mind was at.

I would later use the 'mlgafrgn' onotomapoeia in Kirby Adventure comic pages, but this was its first appearance.

Even back then, I was also super into the idea of genderswaps, especially boys being turned into girls. Little did Past Ulti know of all the trans implications, hah.

lmao

My sense of humor is really starting to shine through here with these more original takes on the plot. I approve, past Ulti. You were finally starting to hit your writing stride, but it's still only up from here.

As per the norm by this point, I was still not afraid to directly reference and call out the original script, including the 'new wave' joke that I had shamelessly stolen and used without context or understanding earlier. I don't think its reference here works that much better, I'm afraid, but at least this is more referencing the original than the stolen joke. It's weirdly layered like that, all things considered. Still kinda dumb though.

The Naval Piranha fight in the original comic was almost pointless and over way too quickly. I didn't want to really do the same thing again here, but I did like the idea of having Naval Piranha appear somewhere in this version of the comic as a bit of a callback. Thus, I had the idea of using Deska's wackiness as an excuse for yet another twist on the scenario: now, the Piranha Plant is on the Yoshies' side, fighting for them rather than against them.

Merging the two general fights together was honestly a much better call, because it helped the flow of the fight. First, the Yoshies are winning, then Test comes out and puts them on the backfoot, then Deska shows up with the Piranha Plant and all hell breaks loose but is vaguely once again favoring the Yoshies. Later, Kamek joins the fight as well and turns the tables yet again, so ultimately, the pacing is surprisingly well done. It doesn't feel stagnant at all, and for a sprite comic fight scene, is on the better end of the spectrum, all things considered.

For the hundredth reboot comic, I did a comic that was three times as long as normal. The effect isn't particularly noticeable on this site, though, given how all the pages are displayed.

So, ultimately, yes, Test still wound up being a magically-created clone of Kirby in this version, but the path to getting there felt more reasonable and with less sudden jumps in results. There was a cascade of plot details, rather than one single leap of information to dump, so even if the end result is about the same, the journey is far more palatable. Execution of ideas is just as important as the ideas themselves.

So with the castle successfully crashed and Kirby and Yoshi both rescued, this much-extended version of the chapter came to a close. At the time, in late 2014 by this point, my motivation to keep making Y&K pages had far dwindled. This chapter began in 2012 and updates slowed significantly while I worked on it. By the time I reached the chapter conclusion, I knew in my heart that I had had enough of the whole affair. I never said never to continuing it, but after a few years, it became pretty clear that the project was never going to conclude

I would get into things I had planned for the comic, but alas, I'm writing all this way too late for any of it to really be retained in my memory. I no longer recall most any of what I had planned for the future of Yoshi & Kirby, either the original or the reboot. I don't even remember too clearly much of how I was going to rewrite the remainder of the existing Y&K chapters in the reboot. It's a shame, because that could've been some fun behind-the-scenes reveals, but there's only one thing I DO remember.

That one thing being the nebulous concept that Yoshi & Kirby would've been a surprise prequel to my other comic, Kirby Adventure. Due to my mental timelines of the Kirby games tending to be "the games' chronological release order is the order that things happen", Kirby Adventure being Kirby Super Star Ultra themed meant that Yoshi & Kirby being Kirby Super Star themed could have Yoshi & Kirby take place in the same universe but at a much earlier point in Kirby's life. The idea of Yoshi & Kirby's Kirby and Kirby Adventure's Kirby being the same Kirby had some wide implications, mostly in terms of the childishness Kirby displayed in Y&K versus how much he had mellowed out in KA, but the main two benefits I actively saw for this would've been the usage of the character Keeby, who appeared in the original Y&K and was still planned for the reboot, and had of course also been in Kirby Adventure as a character introduced via flashback in order to be killed. The revelation that both Keebys were the same Keeby would've made his Y&K appearances have a lot more surprise weight with the realization that he later got killed.

The other benefit would've been being able to use Test in Kirby Adventure as a surprise reveal, but for what, I don't think I ever really planned or decided anything. It was moreso having the opportunity to do it, than actually planning on using the opportunity. Either way, it's not like it makes much of a difference nowadays. Yoshi & Kirby got cancelled and Kirby Adventure kept going unimpeded until it reached its own proper conclusion. Sometimes, ideas just don't always pan out, and that's okay, so long as what's present is still done effectively and enjoyably.

So, if you've been looking through these from start to finish, thanks for reading the machinations of teenage Ulti's crossover dabbling, and if you found any enjoyment in this, that's awesome. I'm happy to have this stuff archived someplace, so how far I've come since these days is even more palpable. I love having my history on display, and like I said in an earlier annotation, it's nice to see how it's not all just shit and embarrassment. There's some genuine charm and amusement to be found here, if you dig deep into it, and even just knowing what I'm like now and seeing how I used to write and how I improved and am still improving, it adds a layer of enjoyability to what could've just been sheer cringe exclusively.

With that, I leave you with one final manavalavara, and be sure to check out my other works when they're here on the website!

Prologue, Chapters 1 & 2

Chapters 3, 4 & 5

Chapter 6

Chapters 7 & 8

Chapters 9 & 10

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

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