Whimp

Not to be confused with Thwimps.

Whimps are miniature Whomps that appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2. They only appear at Throwback Galaxy in the mission "Return of the Whomp King". They help the Whomp King in his battle against the player. In the second and third phase of the Whomp King battle, the king will stomp a foot to make three (five in the third battle phase) Whimps break off from the ground. After that, the Whimps will instantly start chasing after Mario or Luigi. There names come from the word wimp. Once they get close enough, they jump and land face-flat, attempting to crush Mario or Luigi. Luckily, unlike other Whomps, they only take a point of Mario's health, instead of taking all of it. Also, they are more fragile than regular Whomps, and crumble as soon as they attack. Therefore, to defeat them, all one of the plumbers has to do is just simply get the Whimps to attack. The Bros. can also knock back a Whimp by doing a Star Spin or defeat them with a jump or ground pound. They disappear when the Whomp King tries to crush Mario or Luigi.

Trivia

 * Whimp may be a pun on "wimp" (someone or something considered weak).
 * The name is more likely a pun on the Thwimps; as Whimps are smaller versions of Whomps, Thwimps may have been the inspiration for them.