Prinny

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For "Prinny" as a historical nickname, see George IV of the United Kingdom.

Prinny
A Prinny as seen in the Disgaea series
Game series	Disgaea
First game	Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Voiced by (English)	Grant George
Voiced by (Japanese)	Junji Majima

Prinnies (プリニー, Purini^?) are a fictional race of creatures in Nippon Ichi's video games. First appearing in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, they have appeared in all later titles by the company, as well as on various merchandise such as hats and plush toys. With a few notable exceptions, they are voiced by Junji Majima in Japanese releases and Grant George in the English releases.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Prinny characters 3 In video games 4 Cultural impact 4.1 Promotion and other media 4.2 Critical reception 5 References

[edit] Characteristics

A prinny is a small, usually blue, pouch-wearing penguin-like creature with disproportionately small bat wings and two peg legs where feet would normally be. When thrown, they explode on impact.^[1] A common trait of prinnies is their upbeat attitude and frequent use of the word "dood" as an interjection. They constantly end their sentences with "-ssu" in the Japanese game versions' dialogue. Prinnies stand roughly three feet, three inches (100 cm) tall, though the weight can vary.^[2]

Prinnies attack with knives, bombs, and occasionally other weapons stored in their bags (the bag itself serving as a 4th dimensional space).^[2] They can also summon a gigantic energy beam known as the "Pringer Beam". In the anime series Makai Senki Disgaea, based on Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, the prinnies' weaponry is reduced to fish. While rarely mentioned in the game, prinnies have been known to dispense a beverage known as prinny juice, which according to a Nippon Ichi Software America interview is produced from "the most flavorful and delicious parts of our fresh, vine-grown Prinnies".^[3]

In Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, humans who have led a worthless life, such a thieves or murderers, or have committed a mortal sin such as suicide, have their souls sewn into the body of a prinny upon their death. For an unknown reason,^[4] regular prinnies will explode when they hit something with great force, such as when thrown.^[2] However, Prinny suits filled with demon souls, as seen in Makai Kingdom or in the case of recurring boss Baal, will not. After being reborn, the newly created prinny will serve as a soldier, slave, or servant in the Netherworld or Celestia. The prinny remains until it has earned reincarnation by redemption through good deeds or earning enough money, and leaves its servitude in a ritual involving the Red Moon. In Celestia, prinnies mostly act as maids and domestic servants. The good deeds they perform there lead to their reincarnation. In the Netherworld, depending on the lord they serve, they spend their difficult after-lives doing excessively hard labor for very little pay, and are often thrown around just for the amusement of their lords. The pittance of money they earn in the Netherworld goes towards their reincarnation.

Some prinnies live in Prinny Land, their own world in which prinnies do not explode when thrown. Some prinnies flee there to escape their lives in the Netherworld, and some may have rebelled or have been banished there. Another place prinnies can be found is the Land of Carnage. These prinnies live for battle and look down on newcomers. While prinnies manage all shops and such, an old friend can be found here too. Prinny Kurtis makes a comeback as a Land of Carnage only character. The player can summon Kurtis with cell phones and pass some bills from the Earth Defense Forces to aid him, it is not needed to gain access to Kurtis. In the Land of Carnage, the prinnies call warriors who fight hundreds of thousands of battles "Shura." Rumor has it, there is a prinny who has lived in the Land of Carnage longer than anyone else and is the master of the land.

[edit] Prinny characters

There are many different variations of prinnies. Some are just different colors to show their ranks, while others are humans or demons that had enough will to keep some of their physical characteristics. There are five basic ranks of prinnies. The ranks are similar to a hierarchy starting with Privates, and continuing onto Captains, Generals, Kings, and Gods. Each is a different color. The Prinny God also acts as the leader of Prinny land.

The Prinny Squad is a group of prinnies under Etna's command in Disgaea and Disgaea 2; they serve her purely out of fear. During their service they are constantly tortured, and even used as chairs. When Etna loses all of her levels, Disgaea's rating of character power, during a summoning accident, the prinnies leave since they no longer fear her. The prinnies hope that their years of experience will help them find a higher paying job with a kinder employer. Later, when Etna chases down the prinnies, they reveal that they now have a Big Brother who not only gathered all the prinnies together under his command but actually shaped them into a decent fighting force, far surpassing what they were when they were under Etna's command who only used fear as a motivation tactic. It was later found out that this Big Brother, who looked like a light blue prinny was actually a ninja master named Fubuki in diguise.

Big Sis Prinny is a large pink Prinny that stands out in Etna's group in Disgaea. She seems significantly different, lacking the mannerisms of speech that normal Prinnies have. Instead, she speaks in a soft, motherly voice. She gives advice to Flonne and soothes Laharl into letting his servants go into their proper lives being reincarnated at the red moon. She reveals that the sin in life which doomed her to prinnihood was that she took her own life. Laharl realizes that she was his mother after seeing her human form.

Kurtis becomes a prinny after sacrificing himself. As a prinny, he becomes green to match his previous hair color, and retains some of his cybernetic parts, allowing him to use most of his abilities. His face shows more emotion than a regular prinny. His eyes are given an angry expression while his beak is slightly longer to match his human form's elongated nose. At the end of Disgaea, he was shown to pass on at the Red Moon, but in Disgaea 2, he was shown to still be acting out his duties as a defender of Earth in his prinny form.

Uber Prinny (プリニー 魔王 バール, Purinii Mao Baaru, Prinny Demon King Baal) is the form that Baal takes after dying, much stronger than a regular prinny. He retains his evil growl from his original incarnation and creates explosions with each strike of his knives. All of Baal's equipment is max leveled as well as all of his prinny moves. His moves have more range than normal prinny moves. As an example, Prinny Barrage has a five target cross patern instead of a single target attack range.

Pringer X is a very strong robotic prinny. It was first shown to be an imaginary being shown in Etna's false chapter previews in Disgaea with a mention of its reincarnation. The real thing showed up in Phantom Brave after the defeat of Baal. It is a robotic looking black prinny with two antennae sticking out of its head, glowing red eyes, a marking on its stomach and a cape.It is unconfirmed but he is thought to be laharl in his prinny form. In Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, if the player opts to abandon their mission (Which in effect restarts the game while keeping achievements earned), the escapee prinnies are attacked by a pair of Pringer Xs (which rather than being giant, are small, Prinny sized robots with a rocket bottom). They are in effect, destroyed by the Pringer Xs. or if the player complete certain objective, prinny would be able to fight Pringer Xs along with Etna.

[edit] In video games

Prinnies have appeared in almost every major Nippon Ichi video game, their first appearance was in the game Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Prinnies follow a ranking system, starting at Private Prinny and moving up to Prinny God. The "Uber Prinny", which is the prinny form of Baal, cannot be utilized by players. Prinnies are usually under Etna's control. In Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories they lead the Dark Court and are responsible for judging the party's crimes, of which a guilty verdict will always be passed. In general the felonies applied by the Dark Court are to the player's benefit but if one wants to remove them from a character for various reasons then the character must reincarnate as a prinny to atone for their sins.^[5] Unlike most other incarnations, prinny gods do not have immunity to status effects. Prinnies star in their own game Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? for the PSP handheld console.^[6]

In Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome, prinnies are said to possess the soul of a demon, rather than that of a human. Their bodies are manufactured in Ruskan factories, located in another dimension, by inventor demons. In order to create Prinny units in Makai Kingdom, the player must first make a wish to create Prinnies in The Sacred Tome. Then the first Prinny class will become available to create. The weaponry available to a prinny is expanded to include expertise with shovels and wrenches. The Prinnies do not explode when thrown. Prinnies appear in Phantom Brave, which does not use a subclass system, and are able to use all weapon types, but have a smaller role in the game's plot. Pringer X serves as the final challenge of the bonus storyline. Phantom Brave's Prinnies cause explosions upon being summoned or unsummoned, these explosions do not injure the Prinny itself. Airborne prinnies make an appearance in Tori no Hoshi: Aerial Planet, a game similar to Pilot Wings, used to add a "Nippon Ichi flavor" to the title.^[7] The crossover role playing game Cross Edge features a prinny and Etna.^[8]

[edit] Cultural impact

[edit] Promotion and other media

Prinnies are regarded as mascots for the Disgaea series,^[6] featuring strongly in Nippon Ichi's marketing such as the annual Tipsy Prinny press events.^[9] The third event, held in the Zebulon Bar San Francisco on June 5 2008, featured green prinnies suspended from every bannister and light fitting.^[10] Nippon Ichi Software's online store sells various merchandise such as several different Prinny plushies,^[11][12] and in Japan Nippon Ichi has released several pieces of Prinny merchandise and has used the characters in cosplay to promote the release of Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? in Akihabara.^[13][14] Additionally four Prinny avatars for the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Home were also released for sale, modeled after the different unique Prinnies in the original Disgaea.^[15]

Prinnies have an expanded role in the storylines of the Anime "Makai Senki Disgaea" as compared to their role in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.

[edit] Critical reception

Prinnies have been described as one of the most notable characters in the Disgaea series.^[16] In a preview of the upcoming game starting the character in PlayStation: The Official Magazine, Chris Hudak asked "What better sign that you've warmed the cold hearts of videogamers worldwide than to have your own beloved, signature character?", additionally comparing in great detail the Prinny to fellow video game mascots Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Dragon Quest's Slime.^[17] PSX Extreme described them as "one of the most recognizable – and curiously lovable – characters" in the Disgaea series.^[18] Webcomic Penny Arcade featured a Prinny in their comic to mark the release of Disgaea 2,^[19] adding in the commentary "You've probably heard that penguins are great fathers or whatever, you saw that Goddamn penguin movie and you bought into their whole thing. When faced with one of these hideous creatures, there is only one recourse: be stern for two panels, and then give in."^[20]

[edit] References

v • d • e Disgaea series Main series games Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness  · Disgaea DS)  · Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days)  · Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice Spin-off games Mugen Keitai Disgaea · Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? Anime adaptation Makai Senki Disgaea Related articles Characters · Prinny