and design The King of All Cosmos is created by Keita Takahashi for the Katamari franchise's originating work, Katamari Damacy. The character's hammer-shaped head, like that of other recurring series characters, is derived from unused design work by Takahashi for a cancelled game called Action Drive, where the hammer heads are meant to stun human targets who are driving by, and steering wheels would be attached to the top of the humans’ heads after they have been hacked. Takahashi decided to repurpose the visual element for Katamari Damacy after production on Action Drive was discontinued. Takahashi based the character's face and flamboyant personality on British musician Freddie Mercury, and his body is modeled after that of the Japanese ballet dancer Tetsuya Kumakawa. The King's obsession with the notion that an amalgamation of little things makes up for big mistakes reflects the style of humour used in the Katamari series. For Takahashi, the clear subtext behind the narrative of the Katamari series is about the mass consumption and excess of non-essential products in modern culture; the humorous elements of his games are deliberately used as a "sugar coating" for the "deep and extreme" messages his works may attempt to convey, as he did not intend for players to be fully aware of the subtext. Appearances In Katamari Damacy, the King wakes up one day to find that he has accidentally destroyed all the stars in the cosmos after a night of drunken revelry. The only speaking character in the original game, he directed his son, the Prince, and his son's cousins to roll up any and all objects on Earth so that they could be turned into stars and repair the damage caused by the incident. We Love Katamari gives further insight into the life of the King of All Cosmos prior to the events of Katamari Damacy. During this game, the King of All Cosmos seeks to fulfill the desires of the fans on Earth that he gained during the events of Katamari Damacy, again through directing his son, the Prince, and his cousins to complete each task. In Me and My Katamari, the royal family takes a vacation. While playing in the ocean, the King accidentally causes a tsunami and wipes out all of the animal inhabited islands in the sea. He shortly sends out the Prince to clean up after him. Other appearances A Katamari webcomic, which follows