He stared into the abyss, and the abyss said “Poyo”

Kibby is an anti-eldritch being, instead of being complex beyond mortal understanding he is the the opposite, so simple it could drive a mortal mad by trying to understand it.

"Kirby doesn't _need_ a dark backstory or logical rationale." (looks at star allies) _who's going to break it to him_

Kirby is the living equivalent of anything divided by zero

So it's not "BDG Unravels Kirby", it's just "BDG Unravels"?

We should not have been asking, “What is Kirby?” Instead, we should have accepted, “Kirby is.”

The reason those cosmic horrors fear Kirby is the same reason you fear him. They do not understand him. They can't. Kirby is an existence beyond comprehension who could erase the entirety of reality, and yet he chooses to live a simple life.

*"Kirby isn't meant to be understood, he just is."* --Winston Chruchill, Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Kirby: *is infant form of a void god* Brian: WHAT ARE YOU?! Kirby: Poyo!

The thing about Kirby is, you know how every action has an equal and opposite reaction? Well, Kirby is the equalizer when it comes to all cosmic horrors. If there's a sliding bar for cosmic beings, you can take it all the way to the "evil" side and get something like Void Termina or Yog-Sothoth, but if you take that same slider the same distance in the "good" direction, you'll get Kirby. He's basically the thing that sets the limit for just how much destruction an eldritch abomination is allowed to cause before the universe says "that's enough." You can't make sense of him 'cause he's just as incomprehensible as the otherworldly beings that he fights, as he is of the same nature. Whereas Cthulhu is maddeningly hideous to gaze upon because he's chaos and evil incarnate, Kirby is disarmingly adorable because he's happiness and innocence incarnate. Whereas Azathoth is so complex and bizarre that simply looking at him will shatter your mind, Kirby is as simple as he can be in appearance. Where as the myriad Elder Evils from beyond the void plot and scheme grand designs that play out over millenia, Kirby doesn't plan or want much, just to eat, sleep and enjoy life, not troubling himself with anything too complicated. It's two sides of the same coin. Two polar opposites. We're just so used to one extreme that when we see the other we don't recognize it for what it is. Kirby represents hope in a universe that would otherwise be hopeless, and joy in a universe that would otherwise be miserable. Simplicity in a universe full of complexity and stress. He's a lesson that reminds us that if we take the time to appreciate the little things, then maybe even the scariest things we worry about might not seem so scary anymore. Either that or he's.... You know, just a little pink placeholder sprite that got way too popular by mistake...

There are exactly two Kirby facts that matter 1) Kirby has enemies who are sad and need friends 2) Kirby is shaped like a friend I'll allow you to do the math yourself, but Kirby already knows the answer

Kirby is the abyss that stares back. The void the consumes men. Kirby is hunger, Kirby is content. Kirby is god

Alternate title: watch a grown man get utterly destroyed by the mere idea of kirby

The more I see this series, the more I realize "Unraveled" doesn't quite refer to the exploration of various video game topics as much as it refers to the unravelling of Brian David Gilbert's sanity as a person.

The things kirby swallows are not technically "gone," they just go into a pocket universe inside of kirby.

I love how Brian never once actually mentions any of the important lore like Kirby being one of the many reincarnations of a god

while kirby has low emotional intelligence, i wouldn’t say he has none at all. in kirby super star (and its remake) he fights dyna blade, a giant armored bird who has been destroying crops on dreamland. but after he defeats her, he finds a nest with chicks, and realizes she wasn’t destroying crops, and was in fact just trying to feed her babies. to make up for this, he takes care of the chicks while dyna blade recovers, bringing her babies apples to eat and teaching them to fly. by the time she’s well again, her babies are full fledged birds, and they fly away together into the sunset while kirby watches them go and waves goodbye. kirby not only understands right from wrong, but he is also capable of empathy. he deviates from his normal life of fulfilling his basic needs, sleep and consumption, probably for quite a while, for the sake of others, specifically to help someone he wronged. and he went beyond the bare minimum. he didn’t just make sure the chicks survive until dyna blade was better, he became a surrogate mother to them, making sure their wellbeing and development didn’t suffer as a result of his actions. kirby isn’t just shaped like a friend. somewhere in that bottomless pit of a gullet of his is a moral code that he lives his simplistic life by.

Wait, was this whole episode Brian coming to terms with the fact that "it just be like that sometimes"

Unraveled Brian coming up with "the bookman's bluff" idea is even funnier when you remember that BDG is a creative writing major

For those wondering, Kirby was named taht after John Kirby, a lawyer who won a lawsuit where Warner Bros. sued Nintendo by saing that Donkey Kong was ripped of of King Kong. You might find this sweet, but in actuality, this is devastating, because we could have had Kirby just be named John.

I really love Jenna's response to "I'm gonna find Kirby" is just "Goodluck buddy" like Brian does this every other tuesday

This whole Unraveled was just an excuse for BDG to demonstrate his ability to cry on cue so that Nintendo picks him up for that psychological drama Waluigi movie

Knowing that Jenna and Pat were behind the cameras makes me wonder even more how BDG ever could possibly manage to get a good take without laughing

Kirby is made out of the same thing of the cosmic horror villains, but encarnated into pure friendship and happiness. He's literally the god of friendship

Reminder that whilst creating this he was also in the process of reading every Halo book. He filmed Half of this video then went home and read a YA book about cyborg teenagers that was tangentially related to Halo to clear his mind

“How do I get outside?” -Brian, August 2019 Proof that Brian has been trapped in that room for years, with only a printer and changing bottles of nail polish.

The fact that Kirby, a 8-inch tall kickball, regularly tackles with cosmic horrors is probably the greatest running gag of all time.

“I’m going to find Kirby.” “Ok. Good luck, buddy.” Supportive friendship/coworkership at its finest

"Are we gonna ride on the train to coney island like this?" "Yea maybe"

Ah, yes. The seven deadly sins: wrath, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, envy, and capitalism.

I always assumed that Kirby was simply the primitive young version of a cosmic horror. I also assumed that there was another dimension that was holding all the things Kirby ate, and when it got to universe size he would ascend to his next form

This video is my favorite thing that Polygon has ever done, hands down, no argument. I never get tired of it. The spiel about the cosmic horrors, ending with the phrase "a barely living kickball" kills me every time.

Unraveled is like an Avant-garde, mature version of Game Theory.

It's all in the song. "First you draw a circle." A line wrapped around a Central point. Ending where it began. Alpha meets Omega. Infinite length constrained to two dimensions. Infinite potential housed within the finite construct of reality. Yet nothing can contain the infinite and so "nothing" it must be. And so the shape of it, a circle, rhymes with zero, null, nothing, another circle. o "Then you dot the eyes." It sees. It knows. It observes. But what can observe other than a mind? So a mind it must contain. A soul. A subjective experience. A person. A life. "Add a great big smile" Joy, beauty, happiness, love, excitement. Unconditional acceptance. Its point of view and its understanding of everything. The very nature that transforms an empty shape of infinity from circle to friend. "And presto! It's Kirby!" Presto, it's Kirby. Your wonderful friend who loves you just the way you are.

Kirby represents the guileless, yet utterly boundless imagination of children. It’s so simple, yet so complex. The genuine, bright, vivid and innocent things that go on in the heads of children, untampered by the darkness and iniquity of the world. Such simplicity and purity, yet it is quite conversely juxtaposed to infinite power to which the entire world bends. Those are, unequivocally and indisputably, qualities Kirby shares with the mind of a child. Quite fitting, given he’s from a game that was made for children.

Kirby is Nintendo's SCP-999. A blob of pure goodness with no ulterior intentions or motives, who stops evil with kindness and brings happiness to those around him.

This was the weirdest Bernie Sanders ad campaign yet

“Kirby only cares about eating and sleeping, and yet, he gains no energy nor pleasure from consuming these things.” Well if that’s not relatable I don’t know what is

Kirby is the positive incarnation of an elder god. The final boss of every kirby game is made of hatred and anger, and kirby is the opposite, made entirely of positive energy. He's literally a god

it's implied in Kirby star allies that Kirby is the opposite of dark matter, where dark matter is a being born of negative emotions, kirby is one born of positive emotions. both are born from the entity known as void.

Kirby both is a god and can kill god and bdg desperately cares that there is a difference.

I love the implications of the "how do I get outside??" like they just sort of keep Brian in a room and let him get his video game screaming out, then they send Jenna in every once in a while to check on him like a zookeeper. BDG is just in a tank somewhere knowing a whole bunch of weird info like Abe Sapien.

"Kirby is a metaphor for man's hubris" Well Brian, hit the nail on the head quite hard there

"This can only be accomplished by gifted tweens grappling with psycho-sexual ennui" Has to be the most under-rated line of all time XD

“Kirby is a metaphor for capitalism!” I’m going to bed.

Is it just me or is Unraveled getting more and more existential these days

16:11 The worst part is that according to the trailer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the beginning of the game is the literal foil for this scene. The developers at Hal Laboratories are some sly rascals and I LOVE it.

I love how every single time skip comes with a new hairstyle and he fucking rocks all of them

Actually, there is information on Kirby's origin: Kirby is implied to be made of the same thing as Void in Kirby Star Allies, the ultimate personification of evil in the Kirby universe (Zero, 02, all of the Dark/Dark Matter bosses except for one, and every form of Void (Void Termina, Void Soul, and Void) are incarnations of Void). However, while Void Termina is made up of evil emotions, Kirby is made up of kindness and love. That's how he is so strong. He is literally pure good. Also, if Kirby was summoned by the same process as Void, that means that Kirby was summoned by a cult ritual involving collecting pure good hearts as a sacrifice.

i love how after 3+ years of living in nature brian still has nail polish on. _what a legend._

Brian: I fear no man but that.......thing..... Kirby: poyo Brian: *it scares me.*

You referring to Kirby as a "barely-living kickball" just gets me.

Unraveled season 3 is literally just Brian going through a mid life crisis where he realises games and real life aren't the same

“I am become Kirby” - A man who has lost his mind 2020

One could never create this dialectic between Kirby’s power and what he is without succumbing to madness

If you think about it. Sleeping and eating whenever he wants with no care of others and the danger around him is apex

"...gifted teens grappling with psychosexual ennui." The best way I've ever heard Evangelion summarized lol

Embodies captalism, shaped like a friend, circles, eternal. Kirby is Disney.

I love this video because it can be explained because "It is a children's character and this applies to like all of them because children like power", but the "first you draw a circle" quote drives him to insanity

i love how every single unraveled follows just 3 things and everything else is just pure madness: 1. general overanalyzing of an interesting topic 2. descent into madness, overexaggerating, and comedy 3. punchline and its always hilarious

"Communicates only using grunts and body movement. Even toddlers are more communicative." I give you...the hero of Hyrule.

I'm so glad they opened with a date for filming so that we aren't confused about the canon of BDG's mustache.

Petition for Brian to make a continuation of this video now that we know a little more about him, yknow with void astral birth, and other stuff

16:10 Predicted the new kirby games opening PERFECTLY

You went through an entire character arc during this episode.

The various descriptions of Kirby in this video are all gold. "Pink puffball" "This vacuous pastel marshmallow" "A barely living kickball" "A circle" "This sentient garbage bag" "This dumb fucking orb" "This dipshit sphere" "The rosy nightmare" "A wheel" *"A METAPHOR FOR CAPITALISM"* wait no hold on... "This horrifying bolus" "This bulbous boy" "An extremely strong circle"

Kirby is a kid! He's total potential personified, that's why he seems like everything and nothing at once.

Kirby is the physical manifestation of good feelings isn't he?

"This can only be accomplished by gifted teens with psycho-sexual ennui." This may be the best line on Unraveled history.

Everyone asks “What is Kirby” But no one asks “How is Kirby”...

Simplicity and power are not at all mutually exclusive. The most powerful things are usually the simplest. And yes, eating when you're hungry and sleeping when you're tired sounds exactly like an apex predator.

I like idea of kirby being an all knowing being but since he has no need for more knowledge he just lives for pleasure. He doesnt need to speak because he know what everyone will say. He harbers no ill will towards his enemys as he knows they will never be able to beat him. He has advanced so far past everyone he reverts back to the most basic pleasures.

Kirby is a metaphor for both the innocence and infinite potential of children.

Alternative title: "Man tries to understand an eldritch cosmic god, almost loses his sanity in the process"

Or is Kirby just a metaphor for the friends we made along the way

Kirby is canonically the culmination of pure positive energy

- eats when he is hungry, sleeps when he is tired - little to no capacity for or knowledge of spoken language - no emotional intelligence i am forced to assume that i am kirby

Unraveled is such an addictive series but I feel like we are being protected from the raw chaos it excudes by a limited upload.

Yknow I feel that "completely absorbs everything eaten" doesn't mean "obliterates it" nor "gets no enjoyment from it". It simply means that kirby uses every single bit of the food with 100% efficiency, and no by-products

Kirby is a metaphor for loving sleds obviously

Sometimes I wonder if BDG was actually hired by Polygon or if he just sneaks in and records and posts videos on their account like the goblin he is

Life hack: don’t have the same name as Kirby or it’ll sound like he’s talking about you the whole time

I like how quickly the topic of Kirby turned into quantum physics. Nothing and everything at the same time

"Let me give you Kirby's Origin story. *Shows an empty board.*" Well someone didn't read the lore

I remember the anime mentioning something about Kirby being in a stage of infancy, that he was technically a baby form of whatever his "species" is. _Which means he isn't even at his most powerful form yet...._

This man: Extremely in-depth, detailed analysis with evidence Also this man: “If anime is to be believed- and *I believe anime-”*

This series is magnificent and I'm sad to discover that it is already over

I wish this show never stopped

Kirby is the number zero. He is everything and nothing at the same time, his mouth divides the world into his endless stomach and the endless outside universe. Also, the shape. Think about it Brian

"Sakurai woke up in a crop circle with the name kirby carved in his arm." Is definitely going into a BDG without context video

After all these years I am still keeping Brian's papers and push pins safe. One day, he will return

is nobody going to talk about how unironically amazing that monologue at the end was?

Good for him that he didn't saw the "Kirby is a benevolent reincarnation of an elder god" implication in Star Allies.

Or, simpler: Kirby has achieved ultimate power, and has nothing left to aspire to. So, instead of working towards that which is beneath him, he lives happily in the moment only taking what he needs to survive and defend those he loves. A hero we can aspire to.

I actually have always thought about the celestial powers Kirby faces and why he does so. Like why would a demon of pure chaos be scared of a pinky tubby ball

I miss this series so much. Brian's new work is lovely but this was equally as funny as it was unhinged and I will always love it for that.

Unraveled has gone through different phases: It all started with gamer analyst Brian, describing Zelda, Skyrim, Castlevania, Sonic and Megaman. Then Brian reached his professional maturity and became the greatest beurocrat of KZfaq. Smash Osha violations, Bowser military hierarchy (best of all time in my humble opinion) and Game of the year. Needing some respite from his technocratic life Brian then explored different aspects of everyday life, a simpler phase but one that carried much meaning. Hobbies like calculating your pet HP, relationships in mortal kombat best kuddlers, cooking with zelda recipes, all culminating in Brian looking at his life as a whole in the sims episode. Then came this new phase, with the acceptance of his everyday life, Brian has now turned to his inner self, to unravel the philosophical realities that fight inside him and out in the world. The Luigi episode was a darker look at his fears and insecurities. Kirby reflects the eternal curse of having an insatiable thirst for understanding a world that cannot be understood. Where will you bring us next philosopher Brian? What dark corners of your mind will you unravel next? I will always love beurocrat Brian for his applying irl society standards to videogames, but I welcome you and praise you still

are none of us gonna talk about how when her friend legitimately said he wants to find kirby, jenna just goes “ok, good luck”...... *what a homie*

The reason Kirby is so powerful is because he is literally the reincarnation of a god, Kirby lore is wild.

0:07 kirby *video ends*