Tiff

Tiff is the daughter of Sir Ebrum and Lady Like, and the older sister of Tuff. She is a character who appears in the anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. She lives with her family in King Dedede's castle. Tiff is known to be the most intelligent inhabitant of Dream Land besides Meta Knight. Tiff is the only one who has the ability to call upon the Warp Star when needed, because she is the one who cares about Kirby the most. She is the deuteragonist of the show.

In the anime, she is voiced by Sayuri Yoshida, and in the English dub by Kerry Williams.

Physical Appearance
Tiff is a young girl living with her family in Cappy Town. She is about twice Kirby's height. Her skin is pale yellow, as is her long hair which she keeps in an ornate ponytail held by purple and orange clasps. She always wears a one-piece outfit which is pink on the top and green on the bottom, separated by a zigzag. She has orange shoes and large, expressive green eyes.

Neither Tiff nor her family are Cappies. The only similarity between them is the yellow skin color. Other than that, the design of their heads, eyes, and limbs are different.

Personality
Tiff is best known for her intelligence and short temper. She loves to read, learn, and teach. Her favorite subject is marine biology, and she has a large collection of seashells. She also enjoys archeology, and often joins Professor Curio in his research. Unlike the other children in the series, Tiff is not always seen to act very playful or childish. She is also portrayed as a very independent character.

However, Tiff is a very high-strung individual who gets angry easily, and is sometimes quick to resort to violence (though she's not always happy to do so). Despite her intelligence, she tends to be very naïve and idealistic, reflecting her youth and inexperience. She can be very stubborn and this leads to her occasionally forcing her ossified values and ideals onto others.

She's very passionate about protecting the environment and nothing annoys her more than when others, often King Dedede, try to ruin it and its inhabitants.

Relationships


Tiff is the first person that Kirby meets after crashing on Planet Popstar. She had hoped that Kirby would be a tall, dashing knight when she had first heard about him, and was disappointed and even slightly put-out at first to find that he was merely a little pink creature. She became Kirby's strongest supporter, however, and is the only person who can summon his Warp Star from Kabu because the Warp Star is only able to be summoned by someone who truly loves and cares for Kirby, according to Meta Knight.

They have a relationship somewhat like a mother and child or older and younger siblings. Tiff tends to be protective of him, and is one of the few characters who tries to keep in mind that while he is a powerful Star Warrior he's also still just a baby. Even when she and her brother began to suspect that he was the monster after Cappy Town's sheep, Tiff still offered to help Kirby if he told her the truth. Sometimes, Tiff gets annoyed with Kirby at times too, but still cares about him. Despite Kirby's one-track mind for food, Kirby will do anything he can to keep Tiff out of harm's way, proving how important Tiff is to Kirby as well.

Her father is the Cabinet Minister, Sir Ebrum, and her mother Lady Like is his wife. Her parents aren't nearly as bright as their daughter, and often go along with what Dedede wants, much to her chagrin.

Her younger brother, Tuff, is basically her polar opposite. He's mischievous, rambunctious, and not all that bright. They do get along, however, and will team up to investigate Dedede's schemes and cheer Kirby on during fights. She gets annoyed with Tuff at times, but still cares deeply for his wellbeing.

Tiff's least favorite person in the world is probably King Dedede, her father's employer. She knows perfectly well that most of what Dedede does are schemes to get Kirby or to harm the environment of Dream Land, and blames him if something unexpected happens or something goes wrong despite having no proof. Dedede also knows that there is little that Tiff can do to stop him most of the time, and so he regularly taunts and teases her.

Since Dedede will do anything to keep Kirby away from having an advantage, he periodically captures Tiff like he does to Dyna Chick, and threatens to turn her into a monster if she doesn't tell him information that connects to Kirby. Throughout the course of the series though, despite the twos mutual disdain for each other, Dedede does not appreciate the idea of hurting her or actually carrying out any one of his threats while she is in captivity. Demon Bonkers, MT2, and the Pengy are several of the other villains that have captured her before.

Meta Knight is a friend and mentor to her. They get along due to their intelligence and mutual dislike of Dedede, but Tiff gets annoyed with Meta Knight's somewhat cold-hearted way of handling things. (Such as the time when he lets Kirby get beat up in order for him to push past his limits.) In addition, Meta Knight tends to be very laid back about things in contrast to her quick temper. He often helps Tiff when she needs advice, but usually he will only give her hints to allow her to figure things out on her own. She and Meta Knight are the two people who watch over Kirby, though she tends to worry about his well being far more than Meta Knight.

Kine is shown to have a major crush on her (despite being a completely different species), and usually asks about her whenever given the opportunity. He always calls her 'Fumu-san' (Miss Fumu) in the Japanese version and "Tiffy" in the dub.

The villagers respect Tiff's opinion, including the adults, but they don't always listen when she warns them about Dedede's schemes.

Concept
While it isn't confirmed, it is suggested that the yellow-skinned female character in the Kirby of the Stars Pilot is an early design of Tiff. As they have the same color of skin and basic body design, as well as being a friend of Kirby, it's a strong possibility. She also has a quick temper like Tiff.

The early design doesn't seem to wear any clothes, besides the tiara. Her entire body is yellow, making her look more like a Cappy in Kirby: Right Back At Ya!. Her hair is in two pigtails with red bows. Her eyes are just black ovals with no sclera, and she wears a rather ornate tiara. She also has the ability to fly.

She is the first person Kirby encounters in the pilot. Despite rumors, she has no known official name or status. However, it appears that she was a princess of Dream Land, and presumably King Dedede's daughter due to him being jealous of her friendship with Kirby.

Quotes
""My parents work for the King, and we live in the castle. In case you were wondering, my name's Tiff.""

- Tiff

""It's gotta be impossible, but your name wouldn't happen to be 'Kirby'?!""

- Tiff

""WE USED TO HAVE LIVES BEFORE TELEVISION!!!!""

- Tiff

""Why don't you suck it up!? *tastes the custard* UUUUUGGGHHH!!!""

- Tiff

"(Replying to Meta Knight about Masher being a real heavyweight) "You said it!""

- Tiff

""You brought Kirby here because this is where you make nightmares! But he's not afraid of you and your tricks!""

- Tiff

""And so Kirby saved the universe and proved himself to be the greatest Star Warrior of all... and life in Dream Land went back to normal. But I suppose that with Kirby around, life will always be an adventure. Isn't that right, Kirby?""

- Tiff

Trivia

 * Tiff voices her dislike for violence when seeing Tuff, Sir Ebrum, and Lady Like watching a show of a robotic King Dedede beating up another enemy robot (probably parodying the Transformers series) on Channel DDD. This shows her somewhat hypocritical side, as she herself sometimes resorts to impulsive violence the first chance she gets, like beating up Escargoon when she saw him poking Kirby with a pencil instead of pointing this out to Mr. Chip in Teacher's Threat.
 * In the Japanese version of the anime, Tiff announces the title of every episode on an outer space background between the opening and the rest of the episode, with the shape of a Warp Star closing in, then opening up to segue to the episode.
 * In the Japanese version of Tooned Out, Tiff is shown in a more anime-like appearance; her eyes are larger and have more eyelashes, her one-piece outfit turned into a leotard and even unnaturally large breasts. This scene was cut out of the 4Kids dub because the exaggeration of breasts was deemed inappropriate for children, but the scenes without her breasts were still shown.
 * Her appearances in the Stephen Squirrelsky and Friends' Movie Spoof Travels are Hoodwinked!, Hoodwinked!, Beauty and the Grizzly Bear, The Rescuers, Nikki's Adventures of Sing Along Songs Episode 4, The Rescuers Down Under, The Secret of NIMH, Nikki's Adventures of Sing Along Episode 6, The Little Mer-Lioness 2: Return to the Sea, Skunkules, Home on the Range, Kermit's Winter Wonderland, and The Little Jungle Boy and will even be in more movie spoof travels.

Gallery
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