Blorbs
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- “THE BLORBS! Mushroom Kingdom Marred by Mystery Malady! The Blorbs! It comes without warning! First, you balloon to blimp size! Then the rolling! You roll away! Oh, the horror of the blorbs! As of press time, the cause and cure are unknown... Day by day, the number of blorbed Toads swells... Seeing how grave the situation is, Princess Peach convenes an emergency meeting at her castle...”
- —In-game narration, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
The blorbs is a mysterious disease that appears in the events of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In the game, the disease spreads all over the Mushroom Kingdom and infects the Toads, causing them to grow large and round and rendering them mostly immobile, though they apparently can roll uncontrollably. It is caused by Blorb Mushrooms that Fawful sold to several Toads, similar to how he sells the Vacuum Shroom to Bowser. The entire case of the blorbs is wiped out by the Miracle Cure, which is created after Mario and Luigi find and merge all three Star Cures.
Before the Miracle Cure eliminated the disease, blorbed Toads block several areas in Toad Town. Once the disease is cured, these areas are opened up to the player. A large percent of the infected Toads, including the one seen in the cutscene at the beginning of the game, are kept in one of the rooms of Toadley Clinic. After they are cured, one of the Toads still appears to have the blorbs, though speaking with him reveals that this is how he normally looks. This was likely done due to the "blorbed" Toad being one of the hiding places used by the Toad kid during the hide-and-seek side quest.
In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, some Goombas are also infected with the blorbs. It was also implied in the original game that Bowser's part of the kingdom may have been affected to some degree, as Bowser claimed that he "had every right" to participate in the meeting instead of being excluded from it. Thus, his intrusion was originally for the good of his followers instead of his single-minded desire for Peach. A cure is presented by the Best Fitness Friends via a chemical compound known as Skeletone Formula:D. Bowser Jr. sets off to find the ingredients for this compound after the last one has been used in a demonstration to cure a "blorbed" Goomba. Toward the end of the game, Bowser Jr. acquires enough Skeletone Formula:D to rescue his minions, as well as Bowser. Bowser however, despite the warning from his son to not drink too much, ingests too much of the formula and loses most of his body mass.
Gallery
The prologue showing the rapid infections of the blorbs on the Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom
Some Toads infected by the blorbs
Sprite of a blorbed Toad from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Screenshot of a blorbed Toad in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
Sprite of a blorbed Toad from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | メタコロ病 Metakoro byō |
Meta likely from metabo, which is a slang for "overweight" in Japanese. Koro is likely derived from "korokoro," meaning "rolling." "Byō" simply means disease. |
| German | Metabowlie |
From the Japanese name; also a possible pun on "Bowlingkugel" (means "bowling ball"); Metabolismus means metabolism in German |
| Italian | Gravitombolite |
From "gravità" ("gravity"), "capitombolo" ("wacky falling down") and the suffix -ite ("-itis") |
| Korean | 뚱뚱데굴병 Ttung'Ttung Degulbyeong |
"Fat-rolling" Disease; from "뚱뚱하다" (ttungttung'hada; fat), "데굴데굴" (deguldegul; rolling sound) and "병" (byeong; disease). |
| Russian | Блорбс Blorbs |
Blorbs |
| Spanish (NOA) | Globus |
Literal translation of blorbs |
| Spanish (NOE) | Redonditis |
Pun of redondo (round, circular) and the suffix -itis with is used for diseases. |
Trivia
- The disease's English name is possibly a portmanteau of the words "blow" and "orb", given the fact that it causes those infected to blow to blimp size, and the victim ends up looking round, like an orb.
- Several of the Toads with the blorbs include the word "blorb" in their sentences, often with multiple "O"s being used.
- The Toad that gets the blorbs at the beginning of the game appears much bigger than the other blorbed Toads seen throughout the game. However, when he later appears in the clinic, he is the same size as the other blorbed Toads in the room, potentially meaning that they initially bloat up larger than how they stay, or it could be simply a story inconsistency.
