Trickmaster

The Trickmaster is a Heartless boss that is found in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts coded, and their remakes. It is one of the bosses at Wonderland. It has the ability to change size at will.

Kingdom Hearts
Throughout most of the adventure in Wonderland, the Trickmaster is referred to as the shadows or the darkness (especially by the Cheshire Cat).

After defeating the Queen of Heart's guards, Sora and his party are shocked to find Alice has gone missing. They rush off to find her and after searching all throughout Wonderland, Sora returns to the normal Bizarre Room. The sneaky Cheshire Cat appears and directs Sora's attention to the roof of the room, from which the Trickmaster drops and attacks. Once the Heartless has been defeated, Sora discovers Wonderland's keyhole and seals it.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Trickmaster is seen in Castle Oblivion as a figment of Sora's memory in his memories of Wonderland. It steals the Queen's memory, and she accuses Alice of this crime. After escaping from the Queen with Alice, he battles the Trickmaster, and defeats the creature of darkness.

The Trickmaster also appears to Riku, as a figment of his memory and a representation of the darkness within him.

Kingdom Hearts coded
The Trickmaster is a source of Bug Blox in the Data-Wonderland. It also steals the memories of all the living beings in its world.

Design
A Trickmaster is a bizarre Heartless with spindly legs resembling, arms that appear and sound like they're made of paper, and a head that is made of several segments balanced on top of each other. Each of these segments sports its own face—though all of the faces have the same glowing yellow eyes and jagged mouths—and they alternate in color from red to black. Its arms are black and it often juggles clubs with zig-zagging, purple and lavender stripes on them. It wears black armor with large, red shoulder pads, a black codpiece, and has a very thin and small red body. The upper halves of its legs are red, while their lower halves are black. Its feet are black, flat, and curl at the tips. Much of its upper body and head sport gold highlights.

In Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, the red sections of the Trickmaster's body becomes magenta, the black sections become lavender, save for its arms, which become a dark shade of steel blue. Its clubs becomes striped with black and white, and its feet and the gold tinges on its body and head both become yellow with a slight green tint.

The Trickmaster's name and design reflect the confusing, deceptive nature of Wonderland. Its name may also reference the Heartless's skill in juggling and performing other "tricks".

Kingdom Hearts
In battle, the Trickmaster uses its juggling batons and its size to attack opponents. It can also light them on fire to increase attack power or blow fireballs from them. On a lesser note, it has been shown to be an expert acrobat and juggler, as it can perform somersaults with ease and constantly juggles throughout its battles.

This Heartless can only be fought while Sora's party are small, and its immense size is the only advantage it needs. Physical damage is the way to go in this fight, hop onto the table and attack its head for best results. The Trickmaster lights its juggling sticks at the stove and damage from a lit stick is doubled. Using the Fire spell on it also causes them to light. If Sora has obtained Blizzard, aim at the tips of the batons and cast Blizzard for the fire on the batons to go out.

The Trickmaster's weak spot is located high on its chest, and it can only be hit with aerial combos or from an elevated position. Occasionally, it will collapse, which is the perfect opportunity for some quick combos. It will also drop HP orbs that can be useful. Get as many hits in as possible, as it will soon regain its height.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The Trickmaster will initially begin by juggling its batons, regaining HP as it does so. It is recommended that Sora uses Magic. The only other attack that Trickmaster has in this stage is slamming its batons onto the ground, creating a small circle that erupts in flames. It will then continue to jaunt around the room.

After depleting the blue bar of its health, the Trickmaster will initiate another attack, which launches a fireball at Sora. This attack can be easily dodged by jumping up. During each card break, the Trickmaster will slump forward, dropping it batons and exposing itself for attacks.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
One of the best ways to beat the Trickmaster is to have plenty of Fire cards in the deck. It is helpful if they are high numbers, therefore making them successful without a combo. However, it is not imperative to have them so. When the battle begins, Sora will start on the table so make use of it. Jump and attack the Trickmaster either with a high attack card or combination of lower attack cards.

It is likely that the first card in the combo will not hit him, so make sure the last two cards are pretty high, so they will be successful hits. Don't worry about jumping if Sora happens to be on the ground, lock on, and Sora will automatically try to get up there, and as he does that, he swings, skipping the first card. Make sure not to use the combos too often, as Sora will run out of cards. Sleights won't be really helpful since they take place on the ground, so be sure not to use any.

After a while, the table will disappear. This is not a problem as it's actually easier to avoid some of its fire attacks on the ground. The only attack to be wary of is the area-wide ground attack, as the Trickmaster throws its batons in the air and brings them down again. In order to avoid this attack, try jumping. Now, unload the fire cards, stock them in sets of three, to activate Firaga, or two, in which case make the last card a magic refill card. This does major damage, and as long as Sora is locked on, the fire will track it down, dealing massive damage. Activate the Red Nocturne card to boost Fire's power.

Make sure to balance out combos with the Fire cards. Try using individual attack cards as well. Shortcutting the Cure card will always be helpful, but remember to look at the Trickmaster's card to be sure Sora's Cure card is higher than his. Jumping on the table is somewhat hard, but it is a good time to Cure and replenish the deck, especially when it executes the big ground attack. Sora avoids it automatically if he is on the table.

Reverse/Rebirth
If Riku chooses Wonderland for Basement five and above, this battle will be very difficult: no matter how much AP Riku has, he is reduced to seventeen cards—namely the enemy cards and Soul Eater cards numbered one to five. The occasional six to zero cards will only appear in the form of a King Mickey friend card, so he will have a difficult time breaking the Trickmaster's attacks. For this, Riku is recommended to be at level 50 or above. Unlike the first Kingdom Hearts, its batons are automatically lit, and will remain lit throughout the battle, so be on guard.

The best way to get around this is by several Card Duels. Note that most Duel Sleights involve breaking cards numbered three, four and five (particularly Impulse). If Riku successfully transforms into Dark Mode, dodge the Trickmaster as much as possible. If Riku doesn't have enough cards to parry the Trickmaster's attacks, do not stand on the table. If the Halloween Town episode was finished before Wonderland, save the Oogie Boogie card for emergencies only.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Some of the Trickmaster's moves can be determined by the glow of his batons:
 * Attacks
 * Red: The Trickmaster shoots fireballs at Sora, shoots out a line of fire, or sends out spinning balls of flame.
 * Purple: The Trickmaster summon obstacles.
 * Light Purple, with a Red core: The Trickmaster will jump and flip the scenery.
 * The Trickmaster will make himself catch on fire, and throw flaming rocks that home in on Sora. This can be avoided with Dodge Roll.

First battle
In the first battle, Sora only needs to dodge its fire attacks or guard. When it sends out a collection of fireballs, quickly dodge roll to the side or guard. It may send a single fireball once or twice which can be guarded or avoided by Dodge Rolling. Make sure to follow it around the battle area and keep shooting the orbs of energy, or use lock-on to fire five at one time that can't miss. In no time it'll fall.

Second battle
In the second battle, Sora will be fighting it along with the damage blocks it summons. They may include prize blocks as well, make sure to use these. In this part, it'll use a new move: it'll summon balls of fire energy that will bounce and eventually break, Sora can shoot these with the orbs of energy to break much faster. It will also use the moves in the first battle. Its attackes can be predicted by the glow of its batons. If they glow red, it's going to use the fire attacks. If they glow purple, it'll summon obstacles. However, most of this battle is avoiding the obstacles it sends out, so Sora will be able to finish it quickly.

Third battle
In the third and final battle, it will use all of its moves from both the first and second battle. Make sure to avoid its attacks as well, and be on guard for it might change the screen direction. Its attacks can still be predicted by the glow of its batons. If they glow red, it's going to use the fire attacks, either sending out a fireball, shooting out a line of fire, or sending out spinning balls of flame. If they glow purple, it'll summon obstacles and if it glows a lighter shade of purple, with a red core, it means it's going to jump and flip the scenery. The Trickmaster may also make himself catch on fire, and throw flaming rocks that home in on Sora, but he can dodge them with Dodge Roll.