Stapler (boss)

"Hey! That's the thing! That's the thing that turned me into...this! Mario...you GOTTA win this one!"

- Bowser

Stapler, The Fanged Fastener, is a member of the Legion of Stationery and the penultimate boss in Paper Mario: The Origami King. It is an oversized black stapler with King Olly's insignia on its side. Unlike the other members, it does not guard any of the streamers, but is instead fought in Origami Castle as King Olly's last line of defense. It appears to have a dog-like personality, frequently emitting dog sounds throughout its battle, and is the only Legion of Stationery member to not have any dialogue.

The Stapler's shadow is seen at the beginning of the game in Peach's Castle, where it transforms Bowser's minions into Folded Soldiers, ensuring that they cannot unfold themselves. Prior, it was also the one who kept Bowser stuck in his folded form.

Later, in Origami Castle, as Mario, Olivia and Bowser corner King Olly, he sets the Stapler on them. After Mario defeats the Stapler, the staple keeping Bowser folded is destroyed, allowing Mario to Hammer him, causing him to unfold and return to his normal self.

The Stapler appears to resemble the Stapler Thing from Paper Mario: Sticker Star, but it is black rather than gray.

Battle
"You'd think I'd be used to facing art and office supplies by now...but this one is SUPER scary! The barking! The biting! Those sharp, sharp staples! Hey, wait! Those staples must be why all of our folded friends can't unfold themselves... This thing must've bit them! It locked them into angry origami forms! BAD dog! Stay strong, Mario. This overgrown guard dog may be in the Legion of Stationery, but we can teach it to roll over!"

- Olivia

Stapler has three colors of staples: gray, red, and gold, each doing more damage than the last. When it reloads, provided it is not already on gold staples, it upgrades staple types, being equipped with thirty staples of its current type.

When Stapler attacks, if Mario is close, it will use Dog Tag, attacking Mario twice, dealing 7-9 damage and using a staple per hit, and, if not blocked, pins him down, wasting his next turn, allowing it to use Untag Wag, dealing 22 damage and freeing Mario. If Mario is farther away, it will instead use Staple Gun, firing eight staples at Mario for 6-8 damage per staple.

After one attack, Stapler will charge up Bite Barrage to attack Mario 16 times for 6-8 damage per hit, each hit using a staple (should it run out of staples during the attack, the remaining hit will do no damage), then use Staple Gun to fire the rest of its staples. After using Bite Barrage, as Stapler is out of staples it needs to one turn to reload its staples, leaving it vulnerable to another attack.

Every time Stapler is hit, one staple is wasted. Thus, it is better to use Jump attacks over Hammer attacks, as Jumps hit four times, while Hammers hit only once. Using a rush attack with the 1,000-Fold Arms is even better, having the capacity to waste more than half of its staples.

When Mario rushes Stapler with the 1,000-Fold Arms and it gets to 1 HP, Mario is prompted to open its "mouth" so wide that it smashes open, defeating it.