Popple

"I'll be taking that, see?"

- Popple

Popple is one of the main characters in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Popple or the "Shadow Thief" as he calls himself, is a wannabe super thief who dreams of getting rich quick. The Mario Bros. first ran into Popple and his accomplice, Rookie (who was really an amnesiac Bowser) in the Chucklehuck Brewery where they were after the secret of the brewery's world famous drink. Engaging the bros. in battle Mario and Luigi managed to beat Popple and the blank-minded Bowser. The two showed up again when Mario and Luigi solved the puzzles of Chucklehuck Woods, but they ended up being blasted into the sky by the Chuckolator.

The bros. encountered Rookie and Popple again in the basement of Woohoo Hooniversity, where they were trying to steal the Beanstar. The two groups ended up fighting again and even when using their own bros. move Popple and Rookie still lost. Suddenly after the battle the head of a Peach robot fell through the ceiling and it's voice irritated the Beanstar so much it burst through the ceiling, taking Mario, Luigi, Rookie and Popple with it. The Beanstar then divided into four pieces flinging all it's passengers off.

Popple appeared again in Chucklehuck Woods trying to get a piece of the Beanstar off a statue. The Mario Bros. fought him again, but this time without Bowser, making Popple a piece of cake. Popple again appeared again having made a base in Teehee Valley. After finding an unconscious Luigi in the desert he took him as a prisoner to lure Mario to his base. After Mario freed Luigi, Popple attacked and introduced his new Rookie, Birdo, who had fallen hopelessly in love with him. After losing in battle Popple blamed his defeat on Birdo and called her useless, Birdo, heart-broken knocked him through the wall. When last seen Popple had supposedly lost his memory the same way Bowser did. Popple was then sentenced to community service in Little Fungitown where, ironically, his supervisor calls him Rookie.

Battle Strategy
In the first battle against the wannabe theif, Popple is accompanied by his loyal servant, Rookie. Whenever Popple is attacked, Rookie spams each brother with a hammer. Which goes faster than normal. Because of that many people decide to kill Rookie first which is a bad idea as Popple than wuss out and runs causing the player to lose a valuable 50 expirence points and 30 coins. So the best thing is to kill Popple first. All Popple does is either do a simple ram into the opponent, or steal their Mushroom and healing someone the next turn. This is can be determined by seeing if he grins or not, if he does its to Luigi, if not its to the other. The second time they fight him, he does the same exact moves until Rookie gets hurt about halfway. Then they start doing "Bros. Attacks" which alway has Popple getting hurt. The first one is Rookie tosses Popple in the air then he jumps and grabs Popple then Rookie does a head dunk causing shockwaves that need the brothers to both jump. The second one is Rookie lights Popple on fire then swings him to a brother who has to counter with the hammer. The third time he is alone, and he only has two more attacks: One he grabs a money bag and starts throwing random stuff. Most of the time it is a coin and a mushroom. But occasionally, he will throw out a Poison Mushroom and a wierd bird like thing. The second new move is a little more dangerous. He turns around then seems has either the grin on it or normal mad face, then trys to steal the brother's hammer. This ironically can also be countered with the hammer, but if they don't block correctly, Popple steals it and uses it against them, and now that brother can't block with the hammer! Also that brother can't attack with the hammer either except for Fire Bros. and Thunder Bros. when advanced. Later he fights with Birdo by his side with all of the moves that he had by himself.

Trivia

 * In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, a reference to Popple is made when Bowser visits Poshley Sanctum to steal the Garnet Star. When Pennington asks him who he is, one of the answers is "The Shadow Thief". If the player selects this, Bowser will say "I'll be taking this, thanks!", a reference to Popple's "I'll be takin' this, see?".
 * Popple resembles Croco from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, as both are recurring thieves from RPG games who are completely unrelated to the main antagonist. Like Popple who has a accomplice, Rookie, Croco had a trio of followers, the Crooks. Unlike Popple, however, Croco in the end allied to Mario, selling items to him, while Popple continued being an minor villain and even managed to get a new Rookie, Birdo.
 * Popple's theme plays during the battle against Fawful at Bowser's Castle.