Professor Curio
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Professor Curio (also referred to as Mr. Curio or just Curio) is an elderly Cappy and resident of Cappy Town who serves as the town's archaeologist, paleontologist, and historian. He has a deep love and passion for his work, and is arguably the most academically accredited individual in Dream Land, but due to the general lack of interest from the other Cappies in his pursuits, he is left in a poor financial state to look after his fragile relics in a cluttered "shop" which doubles as his own home. Curio is a regular supporting character in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, though his appearances are usually incidental, with his only two major roles being in Curio's Curious Discovery and Mumbies Madness.
Characteristics and Role[edit]
Professor Curio is a medium-height and medium-girth Cappy whose most distinguishable features are his dark olive overcoat, red bowtie, and bushy gray facial hair which covers his mouth. He also possesses a ring of short spiky hair around the top of his head — highlighting his bald scalp — and thick eyebrows. Aside from these features, Professor Curio is also often seen carrying various implements or wearing additional articles of clothing as is appropriate for whatever role he is filling.
Professor Curio is one of the town's elder citizens, but unlike Mayor Len Blustergas and Chief Bookem, he is unmarried (a point made many times in the Japanese version of the show), and not particularly sociable. Due to this, along with his choice of occupation and study precluding a largely solitary lifestyle, Curio is socially awkward and tends to speak in an encyclopedic manner when not stammering from discomfort. Despite this insecurity, Curio usually has little issue socializing with other villagers, and throughout the show, he develops a tutor and pupil relationship with Tiff, who looks to him as a role model and also helps him when he is in trouble.
Professor Curio runs an antique collection on the outer edge of Cappy Town which he insists is not a museum, though it is still open for individual visitors to come in and have a look. One of the regular running gags of the show involves the relics in the shop getting ruined by some unfortunate calamity or other happenstance, though things will always be put back together in time for the next episode. Due to the general lack of interest in his work by the other villagers, Curio is relatively poor, relying solely on his academic work to scrape together a meager income. This state of affairs leads him to be tempted by King Dedede to forge archaeological discoveries that exonerate Dedede in exchange for a bribe in Curio's Curious Discovery, though Curio later reneges on this deal for the sake of his personal honor. In Mumbies Madness, Professor Curio is tricked by King Dedede into releasing and harboring the monster Mumbies, though Curio later comes to his senses and tries to seal the monster away in a macabre-looking ritual, which leads to a misunderstanding between him and Tiff and Tuff, who accidentally stop him and allow Mumbies to escape again, where it is eventually destroyed by Kirby. In the final episodes of the show, Professor Curio is not among those who join Meta Knight aboard the Halberd, though he does play a crucial role in repairing the Monster Delivery System in Castle Dedede in time for the Halberd crew to return safely home.
Filmography[edit]
- Main article: Professor Curio/filmography
Professor Curio appears in a majority of episodes in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, though his role is usually incidental. For a full list of Curio's episode appearances along with details of his role in each one, see his filmography page.
Gallery[edit]
Curio's museum in the episode Curio's Curious Discovery
Curio and the kids at the excavation site
Curio in his home
Curio smuggling artifacts from his collection
Curio engaging in forgery
Curio attacking Dedede Stone with his pickaxe
Curio overseeing an excavation by the Waddle Dees
Curio under the influence of Mumbies
Curio attempting to seal Mumbies away using a special concoction
Curio presenting his thoroughly unoriginal cartoon idea
Professor Curio fixing the Monster Delivery System in the nick of time
Animator sheet comparing heights of principal characters (Kirby alongside Cappy Town villagers and the Animal Friends)
