Tiki Tak Tribe / Characters - TV Tropes (2024)

• Artifact Mook: Screaming Pillars return in Tropical Freeze despite the non-involvement of the Tiki Tak Tribe in the game.
• Giant Mook:
  • Tiki Torks are larger versions of Tiki Buzzes.
  • Tiki Zings also have giant-sized variants.
  • Screaming Pillars are already huge, but the levels "Canopy Cannons" and "Crushin Columns" (the latter 3DS-exclusive) feature even larger ones.
• Interface Spoiler: Losing a life will briefly show the silhouette of the Tiki who controls the boss of the world you died in, even if you haven't met them yet. Subverted with the final boss, however: the silhouette for the final world starts off as a giant question mark until you've fought Tiki Tong at least once, after which it becomes a proper image.
• Invincible Minor Minion: The fiery Tiki Zings can't be beaten at all. The others can be destroyed by Rambi.
• No Ontological Inertia: After Tiki Tong is defeated, his followers are destroyed, and the hypnotized animals are restored to normal.
• Outside-Context Problem: Members of the Tiki Tak Tribe kinda show up from nowhere, from an ancient Tiki statue that rose from the local volcano. Why they've waited this long to act is a mystery.
• Power Floats: Tiki Tong and his generals are all capable of levitating, which is not the case with most of the Tiki Mooks.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When the player is right in front of a Screaming Pillar, it screams and falls flat at them.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: They were apparently "hibernating" in the volcano on DK Island, and were awakened by it erupting.
• The Spiny: Tiki Zings and their giant counterparts are covered in blades.
• Technicolor Fire: Tiki Bombers are covered in blue flames, and can launch fireballs of the same color.
• Terrifying Tiki: They're the main antagonists of Donkey Kong Country Returns, so "terrifying" is part of their job description.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their heinous actions, which include mind control, slavery and stealing, are driven by a need to preserve their tribe.

Tiki Tong

World: Volcano (World 8)

The evil, bongo-shaped supreme leader of the Tiki Tak Tribe who resides in DK Island's volcano, waiting for Donkey Kong's arrival.

• Alliterative Name: Tiki Tong.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: His battle takes place inside the giant Tiki statue he resides in, which somehow looks like a completely different dimension.
• Attack Its Weak Point: The red spots on his hands and head.
• Background Boss: Initially. By the final phase, he has no option but to avert this.
• Big Bad: Leader of the Tiki Tak Tribe.
• The Faceless: His Game Over silhouette face is replaced by a question mark if you lose a life in the Volcano before you meet him.
• Flunky Boss: Tiki Tong can summon Flaming Tiki Buzzes.
• Flying Face: Tiki Tong is a big bongo head. He doesn't even have natural arms like most of his instrument-shaped generals.
• Genius Bruiser: This Tiki is much bigger and stronger than his generals, and even forces the Kongs to outsmart him. The "genius" part is subtle, but he offers hearts set on fire, or in his hands, to lure less cautious players, and also can bluff the easiest attack to counter.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: Tiki Tong's goals don't appear to be anything more than just expanding his forces and taking over DK Island.
• Giant Hands of Doom: Tiki Tong transforms his main followers into a pair.
• King Mook: Tiki Tong, for all intents and purposes, is just a supersized bongo tiki, which most of his troops already are.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Eyelight version.
• Roar Before Beating: Does this before the final battle, which the Kongs return by bashing their chests. Also when he gets hit.
• Schmuck Bait: Subverted in the first battle sequence with him, as he'll occasionally supply you with hearts during battle sitting on the palms of his hands. If you touch his hand trying to get the hearts, he'll grab, squeeze, and toss you, making that heart entirely worthless.
• Shockwave Stomp: Performed by him in the second sequence of his battle.
• Turns Red: Like every other boss.

All nine generals of the Tiki Tak Tribe; Krazy Kalimba (center), the Maraca Gang (upper left), Wacky Pipes (center left), Banjo Bottom (buttom left), Gong-Oh (buttom right), Cordian (center right) & Xylobone (upper right)

Tiki Tong's highest-ranked subordinates. They hypnotize the various bosses in the game.

• Become Your Weapon: For the final battle, they actually become Tiki Tong's hands.
• Co-Dragons: They directly serve under their leader, Tiki Tong, and are in-charge of the operations of stealing the bananas to use for resources for the tribe to bolster their ranks.
• Demonic Possession: The generals possess creatures, which act as bosses.
• Dirty Coward: Banjo Bottom's first reaction when noticing the Kongs is to signal to Max and his Mole Miner crew to immediately get on the train and floor it with some bananas from Donkey Kong's banana hoard.
• Flat Character: Their lack of screentime prevents them from having too much of a personality.
• Leitmotif: They use their musical instrument leitmotif to hypnotize the animals.
• Meaningful Name: All of them are named after musical instruments they are based on.
• Mind-Control Music: The main servants of Tiki Tong play themselves as instruments to hypnotize the animals, complete with Hypnotic Eyes.
• No Name Given: At least initially, as they had no concept art of their own in the game. This was averted in the 4th Super Smash Bros., where they are apparently named after the instruments they are based on. In order: Krazy Kalimba, the Maraca Gang, Gong-Oh, Banjo Bottom, Wacky Pipes, Xylobone, and Cordian.
• Oh, Crap!: The expression given by leaders of the Tiki Tak Tribe before being made A Twinkle in the Sky by DK.
• Too Dumb to Live: Kalimba, the first Tiki that Donkey Kong encounters, tries repeatedly to hypnotize him, even though it's pretty clear that he's immune to the Tiki's mind-controlling music. He’s eventually beaten up and forced to retreat to Mugly’s lair.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: If the Kongs defeat the boss but don't go in for the final beatdown, the Tikis will eventually recover from dizziness and escape by flying towards the screen.
• Would Hurt a Child: As heavily implied by Gong-Oh and Stu's boss fight, the Tiki Tak Tribe are not above hypnotizing babies/children in order to meet their goals.

Mugly/Thugly

World: Jungle (World 1)/Cliff (World 6)

Mugly is an ugly... thing that looks like an oversized spiky frog. The first boss of Returns, fought in the Jungle and possessed by Kalimba.

Thugly is a stronger form of Mugly that inhabits the Cliff instead. It's possessed by Xylobone.

• Big Eater: Both creatures are very gluttonous.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Thugly sports quite an impressive pair.
• Boss-Altering Consequence: Normally, Mugly/Thugly only exposes his weak spot after ramming into a wall or after leaping into the air. However, if you’re playing as Diddy in multiplayer, you can shoot peanuts into his open mouth, distracting him long enough for the other player to stomp on his weak spot.
• Breath Weapon: Thugly can breathe fire.
• The Cameo: Mugly appears frozen under the diorama of Donkey Kong Island during Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Sorta. Thugly can attack with fire, and both creatures resemble dinosaurs to an extent.
• Ground Pound: Mugly can do this with his belly. After he Turns Red, he upgrades to a Shockwave Stomp. Thugly's version of the attack is strong enough to break clear through the floor!
• Heavily Armored Mook: Thugly is a boss example, with an iron-plated shell that can be retracted.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: Mugly doesn't really resemble any sort of real animal, being more of a mish-mash of reptilian and amphibian traits. Thugly is even weirder, resembling a cross between Mugly, a rhinoceros, and an armadillo.
• Playing with Fire: Thugly demonstrates the ability to breathe fire, superheat the armadillo-like armor plating on his back, and spew flaming meteors over the course of his boss fight.
• Purple Is Powerful: Thugly is a giant purple monster, at least before he changes color as the fight continues.
• Recursive Ammo: The meteors Thugly spits in the final phase of his boss battle can explode into three smaller fireballs.
• Red Is Violent: Both Mugly and Thugly gain a deep red color scheme during the final phase of their respective fights. Fittingly, this is them at their most aggressive.
• The Spiny: Mugly has a set of retractable spikes on his back, which protect one of his weak spots. Thugly has an armor instead, which is similar in practice as he can light it on fire.
• Turns Red: Literally. Each time Mugly and Thugly take too much damage, they'll roar with rage and change color. They go from yellow/purple to orange and then red.
• Underground Monkey: Thugly is not only a Palette Swap of Mugly, but is also armored and can breath fire.
• Upgraded Boss: Thugly is this to Mugly, a more aggressive variant fought at the end of the sixth level that boasts an all-new set of fire attacks.

The Scurvy Crew

World: Beach (World 2)

A crew of pirate crabs, led by Cap'n Greenbeard. Second bossses of Returns, fought in the Beach and possessed by the Maraca Gang.

• Captain Colorbeard: Cap'n Greenbeard, natch.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Greenbeard himself is red, with his subordinates being blue and yellow.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Downplayed. They're bigger than real crabs, but not by much.
• Hook Hand: Greenbeard himself. His cohorts also have prosthesis, but they're a sword and a fork.
• King Mook: They're just like the pirate crab enemies DK finds all around the Beach, although they're way tougher.
• No Name Given: The blue and yellow crabs.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: a no dialogue version. After defeating them, the first two crabs falls defeated over one another, and when Greenbeard appears, he rise atop the fallen pile to command to keep attacking, until he also falls defeated due to exhaustion.

Stu

World: Ruins (World 3)

A bird of indeterminate species who hatches from an egg into an ancient cauldron filled with bombs. Third boss of Returns, fought in the Ruins and possessed by Gong-Oh.

• Acrofatic: Stu is actually quite fat behind that heavy-looking cauldron and his wings are disproportionally small, but he flies around just fine.
• Cartoon Bomb: The type of bomb Stu tosses.
• Cool Crown: He sports a golden, jeweled, Mayan-looking headdress.
• Enfant Terrible: Well, considering he just hatched out of an egg...
• Giant Flyer: Definitely bigger than your average bird, even though his wings are relatively very small, ironically enough.
• Feathered Fiend: A mind-controlled, bomb-throwing bird.
• Mad Bomber: A deranged-looking bird that fights with bombs and missiles, oh my!
• Tactical Suicide Boss: Stu can only be damaged at all because he keeps tossing slow-detonating bombs at DK, who can easily pick up and toss them back.
• Tyke Bomb: It was brainwashed by Gong-oh's music the moment it hatched.

Mole Miner Max

World: Cave (World 4)

Leader of the Mole Miners that work in the Caves, he fights in the Mole Train. Fourth boss of Returns and possessed by Banjo Bottom.

• Alliterative Name: Mole Miner Max.
• Large and in Charge: The largest Mole Miner, and thus the leader.
• Minecart Madness: Multiple phases of the fight consists of chasing Max's train while riding a minecart.
• Mole Miner: It's right there in the name.
• Powerful Pick: His main attack consists of throwing pickaxes.
• Traintop Battle: The fight proper actually happens in the minecart wagons, but the effect is still the same.

Mangoruby

World: Forest (World 5)

A weird plant-worm creature that inhabits the Forest. The fifth boss of Returns and possessed by Wacky Pipes.

• Big Creepy-Crawlies: It does look vaguely insectoid, and it's definitely bigger than your average bug.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: It's even weirder than Mugly!
• Planimal: It looks like some sort of giant caterpillar with several plant-like features.
• Puzzle Boss: Requires the most strategy of all the bosses.
• Shock and Awe: It is able to electrify itself.
• Weakened by the Light: Activating the light by hitting all the necessary switches weakens Mangoruby enough to dispel its electric body defense mechanism.

Colonel Pluck and the Stompybot 3000

World: Factory (World 7)

A rooster piloting a giant egg-chicken mecha, which he uses to mash bananas so that the resulting mass becomes fuel for the creation of more Tikis. The seventh boss of Returns, inhabiting the Factory. Possessed by Cordian.

• Chicken Walker: A literal example.
• Feathered Fiend: The name of his level, even.
• Flunky Boss: He sends a few robot chickens (not that one) to annoy DK in his last phase.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Pluck wears a pair of goggles, which are somewhat redundant considering that he is already inside a glass-covered co*ckpit. They become useful when the Stompybot is in saucer mode, as the glass covering is ejected.
• Groin Attack: To destroy the Stompybot, DK must repeatedly punch the area between its legs.
• Mini-Mecha: The Stompybot 3000. The co*ckpit can also turn into a flying saucer.