Hopus Pocus
"...and PRESTO!! The cup has completely disappeared."
—Hopus Pocus, Death Screen
Hopus Pocus is a mini boss that appears in the boss fight for King Dice when landing on Space 5.
Description
Appearance
Hopus is a white rabbit dressed in a blue tuxedo and wears a red bow tie and white gloves. He has large yellow eyes with blue irises. He hides in a top hat and wields a magic wand.
Personality
Hopus Pocus is a stage magician, although he also seems crazed, which is shown by his eyes (which can be cross-eyed), body languages (with him spinning his wand and having a scary smile aimed at the camera in his Death Screen) and giggles.
In the novel series, he is portrayed as a stereotypical carny who prefers to stay focused on his performances to the point where he does not listen to any volunteers' personal problems when he asks for one, instead insincerely brushing it off with backhanded positive remarks.
Intro
Before his battle begins, Hopus is concealed within his hat. King Dice lightly grabs Hopus Pocus by his ears and lets half of Hopus' body be exposed from the hat.
Battle
Hopus Pocus enters the fight by being pulled out of a top hat by King Dice, as children are heard cheering briefly. Hopus has two known attacks that he charges by raising his arms and which are released by him jabbing them forwards:
- His first attack involves him conjuring up a ring of rabbit skulls that revolves around the players before closing in to damage them. This attack is avoidable by escaping through the opening of the ring or ducking. The time between them revolving and them moving in seems to be random. This is his primary attack. In Expert mode, the rabbit skulls close in with increased speed.
- The second attack involves a row of card suits which appears either ascending from below or descending from above to damage the players. The rows are unavoidable unless players parry one of the two pink heart suits to escape or manage to do a frame-perfect dash with the smoke bomb. In Expert mode, there will only be one pink heart suit.
In Expert Mode, Hopus attack more rapidly and has much less telegraph time.
During the fight, a card is displayed in the middle of the screen, acting as a stationary platform. This platform is also the only option to evade Hopus Pocus' rabbit skull attack, since the player can see the opening, if not having the smoke bomb equipped.
When Hopus is defeated, he will be strangled by his own bow tie. Hitpoints = 700/850
Attack Projectiles
| Name | Phase | Parried |
|---|---|---|
 |
N/A | No |
| Cards Suits | N/A | Yes (heart) |
Gallery
Hopus Pocus knocked out.
Hopus Pocus about to attack.
Hopus Pocus attacking.
Hocus Pocus in the middle of his attack
The card platform.
Pencil test of Hopus Pocus' idle.
Trivia
- It is noted that his bow tie has a conscious, most likely because it's magic.
- There is a bug in Expert mode that allows the player to avoid the Rabbit Skulls attack by simply ducking.
- Hopus is unique in that he is the only one of King Dice's minions that doesn't reference a game of chance or a vice. A Las Vegas-style casino like the type Inkwell Hell is designed to emulate might indeed feature a magic show for entertainment, but it's not a form of gambling.
- In the unused Simple Mode, he seems to have two floating cards instead of one, but due to Simple Mode being scrapped for Inkwell Hell, he didn't get properly programmed and he won't spawn, leading to a soft lock. In later version like 1.1.3, the Simple Mode differences have been removed and would play like Regular Mode instead. His pre-1.1.3 health in the scrapped Simple Mode was also unknown.
Inspirations and similarities
- Hopus Pocus' name is a pun on "hocus pocus", a magical phrase which often said by magicians when they perform a trick, and the word "hop", which all alludes to him being both a rabbit and a magician.
- Hopus could also be a reference to entertainment performed during gambling events.
- Hopus is probably how rabbits are popular animals for magic shows, given how in his entrance his ears are grabbed and he gets tugged out.
- Hopus Pocus closely resembles the prototype of Bugs Bunny that appears in the Merrie Melodies cartoon Prest-O Change-O.
- Hopus also could bear a quite resemblance to Roger Rabbit from the live-action/animated hybrid film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
- He may be a reference to the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
- The ring of skulls that Hopus summons/conjures up may be a reference to Super Mario's Circling Boo Buddies [1], as they are both undead and appear in a circle/ring with a noticeable getaway.
External Links
- Hopus Pocus - Antagonists Wiki
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