Wiggler Segment



The Wiggler Segments are the four sentient parts of Wiggler in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. They are four separate pieces that can live on their own, which Wiggler constantly refers to as his "children". The segments are shown to be highly energetic, as they run all over World 3 to the point that Mario and Kersti must defeat them to tire them out.

History
The Wiggler Segments were, at first, attached to Wiggler like all other normal Wigglers. However, Kamek realized that Wiggler could walk over poison and reach the poisoned island off the coast of Whitecap Beach, so he went to find Wiggler at his treehouse. However, Wiggler was off at Leaflitter Path eating leaves, so Kamek ordered Gooper Blooper to capture him. Using dark magic, Kamek separated the four segments and commanded the Poison Bloopers to scatter them.

When Mario and Kersti went up Wiggler's Tree House, they found an unhappy Wiggler separated. Wiggler explains what happened to him, and asks Mario to find his segments and reunite them. Kersti, angry at Kamek, suggests that they should go and do it.

The first Wiggler segment is spotted at the nearby Strike Lake. The first segment constantly dashes away from Mario and eventually tries to camouflage in a tree. He must be knocked out to make him flee. It then runs across the poisoned lake until it hides in another tree. The Wiggler segment is chased back to the beginning of the course until it hides behind a bush. When the bush is knocked down, the segment is cornered and joins Mario.

Unfortunately, the segment runs away as soon as the level is cleared. Mario must make haste to Loop Loop River to catch it. As Mario searches the lake, the Wiggler rests at a bush with a few butterflies near the goal. Mario catches it by surprise and scares it. The Wiggler segment quickly battles Mario. After the Wiggler Segment is defeated, it flops down and feels sad. The Wiggler segment truly joins Mario that time. The segment is taken back to the treehouse, where the tree stump from Loop Loop River can be pasted in, and Rustle Burrow becomes available.

The next segment is found stuck in a spider web at the beginning of Rustle Burrow. As Mario approaches it, the spider web accidentally breaks and everyone falls down into the Scuttlebug-infested cave, making Mario lose all of his stickers, Kersti, and his hammer. The Scuttlebugs capture the segment and Kersti and imprison them in spider webs.

The Wiggler Segment is imprisoned behind a spider web by the Big Scuttlebug. It is found by Mario, but he cannot break the web because he lost his hammer. After Kersti and the hammer are retrieved, the Wiggler segment is set free. However, the Wiggler segment runs away and makes haste into Tree Branch Trail.

The segment gets stuck in a spider web, where it is immobilized until Mario breaks the web and frees him. The naughty segment battles with Mario. After it is defeated, the segment, like the last, flops and joins Mario. The segment is safely returned to the treehouse, and the other tree stump is pasted on, causing the Gauntlet Pond to reveal itself.

The next Wiggler segment is found riding a log platform. Kersti complains how the Wiggler segments love playing in death traps, and the Wiggler segment quickly flees afterwords. It rushes through a poison goop pond, and runs to a node of moving logs. The segment gets stuck on a floating log, and Mario must retrieve it. The segment runs away to Stump Glade, and strangely disappears. When Mario and Kersti jump down the glade's hole, they find themselves in the middle of the Snifit or Whiffit stage. The Snifit host reveals that the segment is being held hostage as the prize for winning the show, and Mario must win the quiz show to save it. The Wiggler Segment happily joins Mario, and, if Mario participates in the quiz show again, the Wiggler Segment watches in the audience.

However, the energetic Wiggler flees to The Bafflewood, where it must be chased after into the garden full of stickers. The Wiggler Segment, calmly resting by a bush, wakes up with a start and crashes into a fence. The segment quickly battles Mario, aided by two Piranha Plants. The knocked-down fence can later be explored to find the Bowling Ball item.

The subdued Wiggler segment is led back to the treehouse, and Holey Thicket is unlocked. When Mario enters the course, he finds a patch of bushes. Going behind the bushes reveals the Wiggler segment. Before he can do anything, however, he is carried off by two Poison Bloopers to Whitecap Beach. The Wiggler segment is drenched in poison and battles Mario at the shore.



After it is subdued, the Wiggler segment stares off into the poison island and gets extremely aggravated. The segment runs off in anger to Surfshine Harbor to get there via boat. The ship's captain blatantly refuses, and the segment becomes angry and tries to fight the Toad. After being refused again, the Wiggler segment decides to run back to Wiggler's Tree House.

There, the four segments and Wiggler's head are reunited. Mario and Kersti arrive, and Wiggler tries to reunite, but fails thanks to a strong spell on him. Kersti decides to Paperize the segments back together, and it succeeds. A now reunited Wiggler takes Mario to the island, where Gooper Blooper is defeated and the forest is cleansed.

Powers and Abilities
All four segments are shown to be extremely agile, and each segment avoids specific attacks that Mario attempts. However, all are vulnerable to POW Blocks and thrown projectiles. They are also the first Wiggler segments ever shown to be sentient, and are very energetic for that matter.

Like Wiggler himself, the segments sometimes dodge in battle in the same manner as if Ninjis are hammered or jumped on at the wrong time and if Paragoombas are hammered without the Hurlhammer Sticker. Mario may also fall on his face if he chooses a Jump or hammer sticker when the Wiggler Segment dodges these attacks and also instead of the words "Attack misses", it says "Attack dodged". The Wiggler Segments can even outsmart Mario's line jump sticker attack and his Shell sticker attack. It is also much like the poison hurts aim status effect from the Poison Bloopers and the 50% percent chance status since Mario's attacks may miss or dodge. If the Wiggler Segment dodges too many times it will act like a normal enemy but they can still dodge whenever they like to. Their defense is at 2 so Hopslippers will not damage them, and if the player chooses the wrong sticker over and over, The Wiggler Segments will dodge Mario's attacks at least 2 to 5 times. The Wiggler Segments are able to walk across poison with ease, and use this to their advantage once reunited with the host body. They are shown to be resistant to poison altogether, as when one segment is drenched in poison by Bloopers, it is physically shown to be unfazed.

They are also superb jumpers, for they can leap into the air and crash down with relative ease, unlike other Wigglers that are shown to pace back and forth.

Personality
All four segments are shown to have a childish personality which is why Wiggler refers to them as his "children". The segments are revealed later to keep a diary, which entries are inspired by events that can optionally happen when the segments are still following Mario.

They apparently enjoy rushing around the forest, and this occasionally gets them into mishaps - for example, one section gets stuck in a Scuttlebug web twice and another is held hostage as a prize for Snifit or Whiffit. Strangely, they seem relatively unfazed by such events, but an explanation could be the fact that they cannot talk, unlike the head itself.

One of the segments, however, was shown to be completely enraged at the poison, to the extent that it intended to get to the island one way or another, and felt even more furious when it was unable to go to the island to stop the pollution.

Trivia

 * In an early screenshot of the game, Wiggler is shown to have many more segments than just four, suggesting that the segment subplot never existed in early versions of the game.