Part 2: Squid kid? More like... khalamari kid. (I'm sorry for including your lil hobo in this mess lol )

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Another clear example is Khalamari Kid -> King Squid -> Khalamari. The first and last in this chain both originated in VIII, and have a shared name for a reason. Khalamari very clearly takes inspiration from King Squid, so I think it makes sense to consider it a "middle stage".

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