Bristle

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo! You're gonna be coleslaw, kid! And that ain't good!"

- Bristle

Bristles are spiked monsters made of rock and are found in the game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Similar to Clefts, Bristles have spiked tops, high defense, an immunity to fire attacks, and can be flipped over by an earthquake or an explosion. Unlike Clefts, Bristles do not lose their top-spiked defense when flipped and are also immune to close-range attacks like Gulp and Mario's Hammer, as their large spears pop out to protect against approachers. Bristles won't pop out their spears if asleep, frozen, immobilized, dizzy, or confused, but they are still immune to direct contact moves such as Ms. Mowz's Kiss Thief like with Pokeys. Or even with they not asleep, frozen, immobilized, dizzy, or confused Koops can use one on his stronger moves like Power Shell and Shell Slam to hurt them. Or at least you Admiral Bobbery's Bomb Squad, Or Mini-Yoshi's Mini-Egg attack, only by the power of the Gold Star or the Power Punch.

Despite their copious defenses, Bristles have very low HP and are easily taken out with POW Blocks, Earth Quakes, Superguard, or Earth Tremor. Mario is also capable of simply hammering them should he have the Spike Shield badge equipped, though without Power Smash, Piercing Blow, or the Ultra Hammer it will do no damage.

Although Bristles have made no appearances outside of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, they are mentioned in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Before the Mario Bros. learn the Bros. Ball move, Toadsworth the Younger tells his older self that he "looks like he has a Bristle in his britches".

Notable Bristles

 * The Poker Faces - Two Bristles that compete in the Major League division at the Glitz Pit.

Related species

 * Dark Bristle

Trivia

 * Bristles are the only enemy in the game to have higher defense than HP, as well as the only enemy whose highest stat is defense.

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