Kamek

Kamek is an old, yet powerful Magikoopa and apparent advisor to Bowser (or at least a high-ranking member in the Koopa Troop), and the arch-enemy of Yoshi. He serves as one of the secondary antagonists in the Mario franchise, alongside Bowser Jr., and is one of the two main villains of the Yoshi franchise, alongside Baby Bowser.

He is also Baby Bowser's caretaker, and continues to look after Bowser, even in the present day. Because of this, he is generally considered to be Bowser's stepfather or at least his primary parental figure. Kamek's name comes from the name for the Magikoopa species in Japanese: Kamekku, which is derived from kame, the Japanese word for "turtle."

In the Unlikely Heroes Chronicles fics, Kamek debuted in Chapter 15.

Appearance
In his most recent appearances, Kamek is depicted as being entirely identical to the generic Magikoopas. This means that in most of his appearances, he wears a pair of round spectacles and a set of blue robes, complete with a blue wizard's hat. Both the brim of his hat and the edges of his sleeves are white, though in earlier appearances the former was also blue. He is always seen with his scepter, a golden stick with a red jewel at the end; he is also usually seen with his broom, which is a stereotypical straw-colored broom with no particular quirks about its appearance. He is shown to have legs in Super Mario Galaxy, a feature not seen in any other game.

Kamek's skin, like all Magikoopas and most other Koopa species, is yellow. Despite being very old, he shows no physical signs of his age, looking very similar in the present as he did in the past. However he appeared somewhat smaller in his past appearance in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

Personality
From Mario Party DS, it would seem that Kamek is academic, as the board that he owns is a library. This is reinforced that Kamek can build complicated machines.

It is hinted that Kamek likes to act feminine.

Abilities
Kamek displays powers commonly associated with Magikoopas, including teleportation, creating beings from inanimate objects, pyrokinesis, firing magical blasts from his scepter, summoning enemies and the ability to create multiple copies of himself. These are assumed to be much more powerful than those of a regular Magikoopa, because of his top rank. The evidence of this is in Mario and Luigi: Dream Team where Kamek created an army of Dry Bones surrounding Mario, creates different colored clones of himself with unique properties, and being able to fire a gigantic magic blast with other Magikoopas at a Giant Dreamy Luigi during the battle against Giant Bowser, despite being fatigued from previous battles with Mario and Dreamy Luigi. Kamek is also capable of flying on a broomstick, being the first ever Magikoopa to display such an ability.

Aside from the aforementioned powers inherent to all Magikoopas, Kamek is portrayed as having powers unique to himself, the most prominent of which is his ability to shrink and grow other creatures (including himself) to extreme proportions. Kamek is also capable of psychic powers, such as divination, brainwashing, foreseeing events in the future, and manipulating objects with his mind. These he does without using his scepter, although he does utilize a crystal ball for precognition and divination. He also has the ability to Paperize.

Kamek also displays some expertise at mechanics, supposedly building the apparent time travel device he and Bowser utilize in Yoshi's Island DS; Kamek's ingenuity at mechanics remains in the Club Nintendo comics, with one story even having him create a vacuum cleaner-like device which can absorb color and emotions. Kamek is also a master at various types of games, pertaining such skills at them that he has been given the coveted title of Game Mage.

Although not usually shown in his appearances, Kamek has been shown to have superhuman strength. This is revealed in Yoshi's New Island, as for many times throughout the game, Kamek has been able to lift and use a giant magical hammer many times his size to power the game's bosses with little to no effort. He also has been shown to have significant levels of durability and is capable of enduring lethal situations as he survived being knocked into lava by Giant Bowser in New Super Mario Bros Wii and Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, even after being weakened in the latter game, and appearing in the ending of Paper Mario: Sticker Star after being dissolved into ashes.

Trivia

 * Official artwork for Yoshi Touch & Go depicts Kamek with five fingers, whereas he only has four in every other appearance.
 * The New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U Prima game guides and the official trading card description call Kamek his species name, "Magikoopa".
 * In New Super Mario Bros. U, Kamek has a new laugh that he does before powering up Boom Boom or the Sumo Bro., but when he is about to be fought in his tower, he laughs the same way he did in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
 * According to the official website for Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Kamek's nickname is Fang.