Dastardos

Dastardos
Dastardos
When things go badly for an animal, they get sick. Dastardos has invented a cheerful song to help him through the day and make Piñatas calm while he "fixes" them...
Role	Piñata Reaper
Relationships	Jardiniero (Father) Mother (Mother) Leafos (Sister) Storkos (Sister) Seedos (Brother)
Voiced by	Unknown

Dastardos (formerly Stardos) is a ghostly witch doctor who destroys sick piñatas.

Dastardos plays the role of Viva Piñata's "grim reaper", claiming the lives of any piñatas who have been sick for too long. He will float into your garden, humming a haunting tune to himself as he does his work.

While never directly confirmed, he is heavily implied to be Stardos, the missing eldest child of Jardiniero. None of his family members seem aware of his fate.

Biography

Appearance

Dastardos is a short man, with gray hair poking out from behind a disfigured mask. The mask is lopsided, with a sideways mouth and mismatched eyes.

He wears shabby clothes, with a long green scarf. He is constantly floating, with the scarf being the only thing to ever touch the ground. He holds a multicolored stick, like those you would use to break open a real piñata. This is exactly what he uses it for.

Lore

Stardos as seen in the Storybook

Stardos was the first child born to Jardiniero and Mother. He would live with both of his parents, until his mother left for the sea again when he was 2.

Jardiniero would set about teaching Stardos everything he knew about gardening, which the boy picked up on quickly. In the meantime, Jardiniero had hired a helper to help him in the garden while Stardos was being trained. His name was Lester, and Jardiniero had found him to be more trouble than he was worth.

This all came to a head when Jardiniero stumbled on Lester messing with piñata candy, causing Jardiniero to fire his helper on the spot. The young Stardos would take his place, being more than capable despite his young age. Lester would leave, humiliated and furious.

Lester would not appear again until years later, gifting Jardiniero with a map that would lead him to the legendary Dragonache. Both of his parents would leave for the trip, leaving Stardos in charge of the garden until they returned.

After the parents had gone, Lester would approach Stardos, offering to help him in their absence. He would explain that he had created a new type of sweet, one that could attract any piñata to the garden. Stardos agreed to try them, following him to his lair in the jungle. Stardos would never be seen again.

What happened in the jungle is unknown, but eventually Dastardos would appear in the garden. Now twisted beyond recognition, Dastardos is known by his family as creepy but familiar. He now plays the role of the piñata grim reaper, putting sick piñatas out of their misery and taking their candy.

Gameplay

Dastardos does not begin appearing in the garden until level 10. When a piñata becomes sick—such as by eating poisonous food, losing fights, or becoming stuck—the player is given a limited amount of time (approximately two minutes) to cure it before Dastardos appears.

Once he appears, Dastardos slowly floats into the garden, moving directly toward the affected piñata while singing an ominous tune. He is able to pass through any obstacles that would normally block access. Upon reaching the piñata, Dastardos smashes it open and removes its Life Sweet, though generic Piñata Sweets are left behind.

If another piñata becomes sick while Dastardos is already present in the garden, he will not target it. Only piñatas that have remained sick for the full required time are destroyed. Dastardos will also appear for wild piñatas that become sick while in the player’s garden.

Dastardos cannot be stopped through normal means. Unlike Pester and the Ruffians, he cannot be bribed, does not react to watering, and is unaffected by most shovels. Neither water nor obstacles impede his movement.

Tips

The best way to deal with Dastardos is to simply not let him show up in the first place. Breaking sour candy immediately, keeping weeds under control, and stopping fights are tactics to prevent piñatas from getting sick, but if and when they do get sick, quickly calling Patch will prevent the reaper from ever haunting the garden.

If Dastardos does appear to threaten any piñatas, there are still some methods to deal with him, albeit only available after making significant progress.

• The Dastardos Scarer increases the time before Dastardos spawns to approximately 10 minutes.
• A tamed Sherbat or Crowla can be directed to him. Both will do a dance, distracting him and making him temporarily stop his advance. In the first game, these actions are each tied to their own achievement.
• Obtaining the Dastardos Shovelhead upgrade from either Ivor (classic) or Lottie (TIP) will finally grant the option to wallop him with the shovel. Doing so will momentarily stun him (about 5 seconds).

Mini-Games

Dastardos in The P Factor

Dastardos can participate in the mini-games added in Trouble in Paradise, The Great Piñata Paperchase and The P Factor.

As a competitor, he will use a Vulchurro.

As a judge in The P Factor, Dastardos prefers piñata that haven't been sick before. This is the opposite of Doc Patchingo, who prefers piñatas that have been sick many times.

Leafos Gossip

• "There's something familiar about Dastardos, but I cannot put my finger on it."
• "I don't like to talk about people, but I think Dastardos is some kind of friend of Professor Pester."
• "Dastardos is so single minded. What we need to do is find a way to distract him so Patch can get here in time."
• "I often wonder what happened to my long lost brother Stardos. Sigh."

Quotes

• "I've broken open a precious little piñata [species]. Easy come, easy go, heh heh heh...

Trivia

• Despite being an antagonist corruptee by Professor Pester, Dastardos does not share the same design language as the Ruffians or Sours (green eyes, tribal tattoos, etc.). He has no special interactions with any of these characters, leaving his relation to them unclear.
• In Trouble in Paradise, if Dastardos is visiting while Seedos is planting weed seeds in your garden, he will point and laugh every time a weed is planted.
• In Viva Piñata, all sour piñatas spawn from Dastardos' house.
• Dastardos displays multiple ghost-like abilities, such as floating, being able to phase through obstacles or shovels, and his scarf moving on it's own. Due to this, some fans have speculated he may be some sort of undead being; however, this is not confirmed.

Gallery

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  Dastardos' icon

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  Concept art for Dastardos