Puffstool

The **Puffstool** is an enemy in Pikmin and Pikmin 4 and the main antagonist in the Trooper Village Stories episode The Day Trooper Village Stood Still. It is a hostile creature from The Planet of the Pikmin that has the ability to control Pikmin through its spores. In 2016, a Puffstool nicknamed "Toad" infiltrated Trooper Village and took control of most of the villagers via its spores, but was eventually killed by Ringo Starr.

## Abilities

A Puffstool has the ability to release deadly spores to infect any Pikmin nearby, focusing them to do its bidding. Unique to the Puffstool in Trooper Village Stories, however, is his ability to not only infect Pikmin with his spores, but any other lifeforms as well. Anyone infected by the spores often made references to pieces of media, such as Neon Genesis Evangelion.

## History

### Trooper Village Stories

During the events of The Enemy Saddened, the Puffstool infected several Pikmin in Trooper Village. After Mayor R Bulborb finds out that the Puffstool is responsible for the Pikmin being infected, he decides that it must die. However, before Mayor R Bulborb could kill the Puffstool, it released its spores, turning Blue, Red, and Yellow into Mushroom Pikmin.

Mayor R Bulborb initially thought that the spores only effected Pikmin and had no effect on other lifeforms such as Bulborbs, but eventually realises it can effect Bulborbs after he showed signs of infection. Kirby Bulborb and Spike are later effected as well. The spores from the Puffstool increased Mayor R Bulborb's love of Minako Aino to obsessive levels, reaching the point where Mayor R Bulborb was shown talking to a picture of Minako and asking it to marry him, something which Mayor R Bulborb would not have done normally. After taking over Mayor R Bulborb via the spores, The Puffstool continued to effect several citizens of Trooper Village, such as Gruffalo Dawson and Doc Kermit Frogglegg. The Puffstool's life was eventually brought to an end by Ringo Starr, who told him that nothing would be signed, and vigorously tossed him, which freed all the citizens of Trooper Village of the spores.

### Pikmin Series

The Puffstool is an enemy in *Pikmin* and *Pikmin 4* that appears to be a huge walking fungus, strongly resembling a red-capped bolete. It has twin antennae, a red-capped mushroom head, and a tender yellow torso which is vulnerable to swarming. Only minimal details of the creature's biology are supplied in-game.

The Puffstool will try to run when attacked, but due to its stumpy legs clearly not being made for sprinting, it trips easily, landing on its head with its feet in the air. Since the cap is invulnerable to Pikmin attacks (but not Olimar's punch), one must throw the Pikmin onto its undersection once it's on the ground. After a few seconds, the Puffstool will right itself up and blow out a purplish cloud of spores which cause a strange change in nearby Pikmin, which the Puffstool acts as a leader for.

In the original *Pikmin*, affected Pikmin turn purple, grow small brown mushroom caps on their stalks, and become aggressive. In *Pikmin 4*, while the Puffstool cannot affect Pikmin in the same way as before, it can still confuse Pikmin with its spores and cause them to jump around aimlessly (similar to the effects of the chemicals expelled by the Groovy Long Legs).

In *Pikmin 4*, a poisonous relative to the Puffstool named the Toxstool was introduced that, while possessing some differences in its coloration and behavior, mostly shares the same general physical characteristics and behavior to that of the Puffstool.

## Trivia

* The Puffstool featured in The Enemy Saddened resembles a Toad from the Mario series. The reason why a Toad was used as a Puffstool in Trooper Village Stories is because it was the closest thing to a Puffstool that Peter Tagg had at the time.
* The voice clips of Toad saying "Here we go!" and "Ow" were taken from Mario Kart 64.