Grubba

"GREAT-GALLOPIN' GULPITS!"

- Grubba

Grubba is a pale blue Clubba from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He plays the role of the manager of the Glitz Pit during Chapter 3. Grubba was once a champion of the Glitz Pit, but eventually became the manager of the wrestling business. Grubba speaks with a stereotypical southern accent, though it is unknown which region of the Mushroom World he originates from.

Background
Long ago, Grubba entered the Glitz Pit as a minor leaguer, just as everyone else does. He was considered a mediocre wrestler for quite some time, when he suddenly starting learning more professional, stylish moves. The reason Grubba's skills increased so greatly so quickly was that he had collected an extremely powerful object &mdash; a Crystal Star. Grubba quickly climbed up the ranks, becoming the champion of the Glitz Pit before long. Grubba's secret to success was never revealed, but he became such an aggressive fighter than the managerial staff of the Glitz Pit at that time had to make some of his moves illegal.

Grubba was clearly a long-running champion of the Glitz Pit, likely winning many tournaments during his reign, (as he had many trophies in his office after becoming manager of the Glitz Pit). However, his secret was eventually discovered by Prince Mush, the original champion of the Glitz Pit. Before Prince Mush had a chance to spread the word, Grubba quickly silenced Prince Mush; Grubba had brought forth his power-sucking machine and drained Prince Mush of all his power. Prince Mush soon thereafter vanished without a trace.

As time went on, Grubba aged, becoming less athletic and requiring more power from wrestlers in order to survive the brutal sport of wrestling. How much additional time passed between Grubba's days as champion until he became manager of the Glitz Pit is unknown, though judging by the amount of trophies in his office, it may have been quite some time.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
As Grubba became middle-aged, he was granted managerial power over the Glitz Pit. He hired a young female Toad, known as Jolene to assist him in managing the Pit. As time went on, contestants would join the Glitz Pit, while others would leave. Rawk Hawk eventually became champion, and Grubba instantly spoiled him with all he could. Grubba decked out the Champ's Room with soft carpet, a fluffy bed, a sink, gifts, and even a picture of Rawk Hawk himself hanging above the bed. Grubba encouraged Rawk Hawk with every fight he endured. Rawk Hawk even started to fight dirty and bent the rules to the best of his capabilities in order for him to win matches. Though Grubba gave his major-leaguers clean locker rooms, he seemed to show no care for any of its competitors; his minor-leaguers received even less attention, as their locker rooms were worn down and filthy.

Eventually, the next champion of the Glitz Pit would arrive in Grubba's office dressed in a red shirt and blue overalls. Mario barged into Grubba's office during the events of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, prepared to sign up and fight. Grubba was quite adamant about getting Mario to sign up, talking about the many luxuries he would find in becoming the champion &mdash; fame and fortune were among that which he mentioned. After showing Mario the Champion's Room and the Major League Locker Room, Mario immediately signed up to fight. Grubba, excited over a potential champion, called in Jolene to take Mario to the Minor League Locker Room and give him a rundown of the Glitz Pit's rules. Though Grubba was excited over Mario's arrival, the plumber would soon get in the way of Grubba's secret.

As Mario began to fight his way up the ranks in the minor league, Grubba treated him like any normal wrestler, giving him orders to follow while in a match. Mario was rising up the ranks quickly, trying to make it up to the title match so he could get the Champ's Belt, which held the Gold Star sturdily in its center. During Mario's short time in the minor league, two of his fellow wrestlers went missing without a trace &mdash; King K and Bandy Andy. Where they went, Mario did not know; he was much to preoccupied with various e-mails he was receiving from an anonymous "X", as well as a threatening letter saying that Mario would be "D-E-A-D M-E-A-T" if he didn't stop snooping around the Glitz Pit.

Before long, Mario was ranked eleventh in the Glitz Pit &mdash; he was ready to fight his way into the major league. Grubba showed excitement over Mario already being prepared for this match; he gave him orders as usual for the fight. Though Mario failed the fight against the Armored Harriers in his first bout with them, he easily beat them the second time around after gaining a new partner. Grubba was enthusiastic over Mario's arrival to the major league. He invited Mario to his office for a little chat. After talking to Mario about his potential future, Grubba gave Mario a gift for unknown reasons &mdash; thirty coins. Though Grubba was excited over Mario's success, he was beginning to become paranoid that his secret was being discovered by Mario.

While in the Major League, Mario discovered that the Crystal Star found on the Champ's Belt was a fake; he had no idea where to go next, so he continued to fight his way up the ranks, all the while receiving various anonymous e-mails by "X". Grubba continued to give Mario wrestling orders and monitor his matches. He saw that Mario was indeed a fierce fighter, as he was even able to take on fights by the Armored Harriers and Bowser, even immediately after fighting his assigned match in the Glitz Pit. Mario was climbing up the ranks fast; but the problem that worried Grubba is that Mario's persistent e-mails from "X" were getting him closer and closer to the secret Grubba was hiding. Grubba knew he had to act fast, but he didn't know what it was he should do.

Things were becoming stressful for Grubba as Mario made his way to the top. Two of the "missing" fighters &mdash; King K. and Bandy Andy &mdash; had been found by Mario. Jolene was constantly disappearing at random intervals, particularly around times when a mysterious event would take place, especially when Mario would discover yet another clue leading to Grubba's secret. One day, while Jolene was in Grubba's Office, he asked her if she knew anything about an object called a "Crystal Star". Though surprised at this accusation, Jolene responded negatively. Despite Jolene's statement, Grubba was still not at ease with his surroundings. Mario had become the new champion of the Glitz Pit, knocking Rawk Hawk down into the major league. Mario was stationed in the Champ's Room that day, right next to Grubba's office. While he was in the Champ's Room, Mario could here a voice muttering something on the other end of the ventilator shaft. After receiving one last e-mail from "X", Mario was instructed to find the voice in the Champ's Room. He hammered down the entrance to the ventilation shaft and began to walk through it. As he neared the center of the shaft, he realized the voice he heard was Grubba's. Mario quickly hammered down Grubba's side of the ventilation shaft, only to find that he was no longer in his office. Mario began to snoop around Grubba's office, searching for some clue to the Crystal Star, when he found Grubba's secret. Inside Grubba's desk resided the blueprints to his power-sucking machine. The blueprints explained that the Crystal Star was powering the machine, and that Grubba was using it to restore his youth; it also explained that he needed the power of the Glitz Pit's wrestlers in order to fully activate the machine. Grubba marched in his office only to find that Mario had discovered his secret. Grubba quickly ran to the empty wrestling ring; Mario chased after him.

After Mario approached Grubba in the ring, Grubba slowly lowered into the center of the ring. After a short tremor, a massive glowing cage ejected from the depths of the Glitz Pit; inside the cage resided Grubba. It was at this moment that Mario realized this was Grubba's power-sucking machine, as it was powered by the Gold Star at the top. After going through a massive transformation, Grubba had turned into an enormous orange being that was prepared to battle Mario. Between the power of the Gold Star and the power of the wrestlers who had fell victim to Grubba, he was surging with an incredible amount of power. For the first time, Mario had seen what a Crystal Star was capable of doing.

Grubba and Mario engaged in an epic battle to the finish. As Mario would trounce Grubba and smash him with his hammer, Grubba would quickly return an attack. Grubba was able to use various types of power-ups to tip the scales of the battle to his side; he would attack Mario and his partner multiple times in one turn, and he would even use the illegal moves he had learned from his days as a wrestler. As time had passed, Grubba began to become weak from battle; before long, Grubba had succumbed to Mario. Grubba immediately shrank in size, returning to his normal middle-aged form.

After defeat, Jolene entered the ring and thanked Mario for taking Grubba down. She had explained that she had come there to find her brother, Prince Mush. As she walked over to Grubba and began to question him about the whereabouts of Prince Mush, Grubba responded by saying "he ain't around here no more". Jolene felt a wave of sorrow, but she had expected that was the answer she would receive. At that moment, Prince Mush was tossed out of the power-sucking machine by the power of the Gold Star. He was in perfect health because the Gold Star had restored his power. Mario was given the Gold Star for his heroic actions.

What happened to Grubba after his defeat is unknown. When he was last seen, he was still alive, as he was twitching very mildly. Grubba was never seen again after the end of Chapter 3. He lost his position as manager of the Glitz Pit, being succeeded by Jolene. None of the fighters ever mentioned the whereabouts of Grubba after Chapter 3, nor did any of Glitzville's residents. Even Jolene, who had been secretly undercover beyond Grubba's whereabouts for so long never spoke of Grubba. It was as if Grubba had never been there in the first place.

Powers and Abilities
While Grubba has no known powers in his normal state, he has many special abilities in his Macho Grubba form. After being powered up by the Gold Star, Grubba has the ability to tilt the scales in battle to his favor. His first ability that is seen in the game is his ability to attack twice in one turn. By doing this, he can inflict more damage on Mario and his partner in one turn, or even upgrade his status to a more powerful state during this time. Another ability Macho Grubba has is to increase his attack power as well as his defense. With an increased attack power, Grubba's attack power will go up by three, bringing his overall attack to seven. Should he increase his attack power more than once, he can bring his attack up to ten, and even thirteen. Depending on which attack Grubba uses at the time, he can inflict damage on both Mario and his partner, doubling the effects of his upgrade. By increasing his defense, his defense will go up by two. This makes it more difficult for Mario and his partner to damage Grubba. Grubba can also increase his defense multiple times, bringing his defense up to four, and even five &mdash; which is the highest numerical defense in the game. In addition to being able to increase his attack, he can also charge up his attack by four. Should his attack be at thirteen, and then be increased by four, his attack will be brought to a devastating seventeen, the highest possible attack Grubba can have. When low on health, Grubba will also make himself dodgy, making it much more difficult for Mario and his partner to inflict damage on Grubba, if at all.

In addition to his ability to upgrade his status effects, Grubba also can perform many different styles of wrestling moves. While he uses three main attacks, he has a total of six different attacks that he can use. The following is a list of the attacks he can use:

Personality
Upon first meeting him, Grubba seemed friendly. He seemed to love his job, was very enthusiastic about new fighters arriving, as well as the entire competition in general. He's given Mario and his partners advice on how to succeed, saying that if they "dream big, they get big", and has even claimed that he "cares about his fighters". He was the type of person that no one in a million years, would have suspeced to be the one behind everything. However, Grubba was much more sinister than he appeared to be. Unlike most villains, Grubba had no interest in world domination, but simply wanted to make himself younger.

Grubba apparently hated the old age, and would do anything in his power to make himself appear younger than he actually was. This of course, led into him to using his power-sucking machine to drain energy from the fighters, keeping his body forever young. He was very desperate to keep that a secret, and wanted to make sure that no one knew anything about it. Despite being "friendly" on most occasions, if anyone knew even the slightest bit of information concerning his secret, then he would do anything in his power to make sure that they weren't around to tell about it. He did, however, send Mario anonymous e-mails trying to get him to stop his search for the Crystal Star, threatening him by saying he would be "D-E-A-D-M-E-A-T".

Despite the fact that what he did was wrong, Grubba didn't seem to feel any regret or remorse for his actions. For example, Mario's partners told him how despicable he was for doing such a thing, and Grubba responded by saying that he could use "his" Crystal Star "however [he] dang please[s]". Going by that, it's safe to assume that Grubba didn't care about anyone but himself. However, Grubba did seem to have a lot of respect for Mario as a fighter, since he would constantly compliment him, and talk about how much of a good fighter he was. As a former arena fighter, himself, Grubba seemed to have good sportsmanship, as well. For example, after he was defeated by Mario and his partners, he congratulated them, by saying, "great fight".

Quotes

 * Please see here for a full list of quotes.

Trivia

 * Grubba's name is a combination of the words "Clubba" and "Grubber".
 * Grubba's exact age is never revealed, but according to Bandy Andy, he is over sixty years old.
 * According to himself, King K was the fifth fighter to disappear from the Glitz Pit that year, (with Prince Mush possibly being the fourth, since Bandy Andy disappeared sometime after King K). Whoever the other three missing fighters were is unknown. So therefore, it is also unknown whether or not they returned after Grubba was defeated.
 * Like Slim, Grubba speaks with a stereotypical country/Southern accent.