#pacflower

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Pacto

Debut: Kirby’s Dream Land 3

Can you feel it in the air? The funkiness? That’s right! Today is a Funky Friday! And this one’s extra funky because it’s also my first post! I’m Mod Sockop! A new mod, it’s a pleasure to meet you all! Most important thing to know about me is I really like Kirby enemies, as the following post will surely prove! At its most basic, Pacto is a large, oblong yellow sphere. That alone is already really good but the features this sphere gets is what makes Pacto Special. For starters, a big gazing eye, everyone loves big round eyes! More importantly, they have a huge gaping maw! Which they can open to extreme lengths to gobble up Kirby.

Originally these mouths were filled with rows of exposed red teeth, in their next appearance, Canvas Curse, they were given wavy lips! Which make their mouths look much cuter when closed, a welcome change personally! Don’t worry red teeth fans, those bad boys are still in there!

After Canvas Curse, all their subsequent appearances have been in 3D, where their teeth are now yellow with red tips! This implies these teeth are part of the mouth itself instead of bony outgrowths, kinda like geese beaks! I personally also welcome this change.

The final feature we need to talk about are these cute little nubs at the base, I personally see them as ears or horns, though some people see them as tiny feet. 

This brings us to a point of controversy among the Kirby community: What’s the symmetry of Pacto’s body plan? Are they meant to be interpreted vertically? If so, that would imply they’re just a head with tiny legs, a singular eye, and a huge gaping mouth where their brain would be.

Or are they meant to be interpreted horizontally? Their brains being located between their two eyes, one on each side, and the mouth being on a regular mouth position.

The 3D models have one eye, which could be an argument for Team Vertical Symmetry, though this could easily just be a way to ease development since Pactos never rotate their bodies anyway. I personally am Team Horizontal Symmetry. Their appearance and their name, both in English and Japanese (Pakuto), seem to make an allusion to Pac-Man, which is meant to be interpreted horizontally!

Come on, the resemblance is uncanny!

Don’t let my position push you to either side though, I personally like both interpretations since they both have a lot of charm to them, we can all live peacefully knowing Pacto exists first and foremost, and we love them for that, regardless of their bauplan symmetry.

Pactos also hide surprising intelligence! As very often they’re found behind or below food items and other goodies, they use bait!!! Where they get these food items and how they put them in ideal bait positions is a mystery, but it’s clearly a working out for them! Especially if they catch players low on health, desperate for a healing item, they’ll rush in and get nommed, the player will then have to mash or shake quickly if they don’t want to become a hearty meal!

Blinded by a burger, Kirby has no idea what’s coming for him….

This feels like a good place to end today’s wonderful entry, but great news! Pacto has 2 alternate forms/related species! Starting with Pacloud, a personal favorite!

Name: Pacloud Debut: Kirby’s Return To Dream Land

I love clouds and I love Pacto, so if you’re like me you are losing your mind at the sight of this lovely image! Unlike Pacto, they have little cloudy circles between their nubs and their eyes, kinda like a very pretty frill, you look very elegant Pacloud! (please compliment them).

Their nubs also look quite distinct, seemingly imitating the horns of a ram! This, combined with their fluffy frill makes them resemble a sheep in more ways than one, and we can all appreciate sheep in videogames.

The teeth on Pacloud are completely white, but strangely enough, they’re a different shade of white from the rest of their body! So these guys’ teeth are actually bony outgrowths and not part of their mouth? What is the truth?!

Those pearly teeth do look very well taken care of so good job Pacloud, proud of your dental hygiene!

Name: Pacflower Debut: Kirby Triple Deluxe

And finally, we have Pacflower! Easily the design that diverges the most from the original Pacto, I do like this guy a lot, It’s a very clever take on Pacto, they’re a flower now! Their body being two distinct petals, like a closed rose! The nubs are now replaced by several leaves surrounding their base, which also makes them look like a strawberry! What a charming little shape! Their eyes have a yellow sclera with pink pupils, which is a very rare eye color to see and I’m all in for it! 

And this is not all! They went in the extra mile with the flower imagery! When they open their mouths, they reveal two small tongues that resemble the Stamen of a flower! Isn’t that delightful? They look like a Hibiscus now :)

Pacflower’s hunting strategy relies on hiding among shrubbery, so their plant-like appearance makes complete sense evolutionarily speaking, it’s mimicry!

Very sneaky…

Pactos come in all shapes and sizes and every single one of them fills my heart with joy, I hope they have the same effect on you readers! Thanks for taking time to appreciate these wonderful creatures!

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