Gray Bowser Statues (or Bowser Statues) are statues that look a lot like the Koopa King and first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3. There are Golden Bowser Statues aswell. The Gray Bowser Statue appears in some levels as a stone bust of Bowser, with its mouth open. It mainly acts as a physically inanimate object, usually for decorative purposes in levels. But occasionally, they fire projectiles at Mario, and are usually indestructible.
History
Super Mario series
Super Mario Bros. 3
In Super Mario Bros. 3, the Gray Bowser Statue will often appear in castles, and acts as an enemy. Normally, the Gray Bowser Statue stays inactive when it is not disturbed. When Mario approaches the statue, it will activate and begin to shoot damaging laser beams at Mario. The statue cannot be defeated in this game, and may only be avoided.
Super Mario World
The Gray Bowser Statue also appeared in Super Mario World. These were hunched over compared to the standing ones in the previous game. These statues shot fireballs in a straight line in lieu of the laser beams. This game's Gray Bowser Statues were also indestructible.
New Super Mario Bros.
In New Super Mario Bros., the Gray Bowser Statue only appears as a decoration in the background of some castles. Also, in the Danger, Bob-omb! Danger! minigame, the Gray Bowser Statue makes a cameo as the primary obstacle. This statue moves around, shooting fire in an attempt to burn a Bob-omb. Using the Stylus, the player must help the Bob-omb escape from the fire.
Super Mario Galaxy
In Super Mario Galaxy, they appear in the Ghostly Galaxy and Bowser's Galaxy Reactor as inanimate objects (although destroying them brings out an item or helps a player proceed through a level). In the Ghostly Galaxy, there are a few in the mission "Beware of Bouldergeist". In this mission, a Gray Bowser Statue covers the fireplace with a Launch Star inside. In Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, one makes an appearance on the Starting Planet, and several make an appearance inside the Tower Planet. When these are destroyed by a Bullet Bill, they will release one coin each.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
The Gray Bowser statues appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2 in Bowser's Lava Lair and Bowser's Galaxy Generator. The ones in Bowser's Lava Lair can rotate to face Mario, and will create a damaging Electric Fence that Mario must jump over. The one in Bowser's Galaxy Generator is found on the Galaxy Generator Door Planet, and though considerably larger than the previous ones, does nothing but look menacing. They also appear in other galaxies but, as in the previous game, are inanimate. Gray Bowser Jr. statues also appear in the Boo Moon Galaxy and Bowser Jr.'s Fearsome Fleet but merely act as decoration.
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Bowser Statues reappear in New Super Mario Bros. 2. They appear in World 6 as well as the Bowser and Dry Bowser battles.
Super Mario World television series
Gray Bowser Statues, though never named, appeared occasionally in the Super Mario World animated series. Gray Bowser Statues first appeared in the episode "Send in the Clown", where one attacks Mario by shooting a fireball at him while he is traveling through Neon Castle. Later in the episode, Mario accidentally stumbles upon another Gray Bowser Statue, which proceeds to spit a fireball at him; Mario manages to narrowly avoid this fireball, which hits his Koopa Football Player pursuers. In a later episode, entitled "Mama Luigi", two Gray Bowser Statues are shown to act as guards to the entrance of Neon Castle; additionally, a Gray Bowser Statue is also found in the basement of Neon Castle. This Gray Bowser Statue is eventually shut-down by Yoshi, who eats one of its spat fireballs and blasts the Gray Bowser Statue with flames.
Mario Kart series
In the Mario Kart series it has appeared in Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Wii in the Bowser Castle courses. In Mario Kart 64, the Bowser Statue would just stand there shooting fire that could not hit the racers. However in Mario Kart: Double Dash it could move, and it would shoot fire that could hit the racers. In Mario Kart Wii, it is stationary but shoots a stream of fire onto the course where it can harm the racers.
Mario Party series
They also appeared in Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 8. In both games they appear in minigames where they need to get hit. They are also non-living. In Mario Party 6, several immobile Gray Bowser Statues appear in the Bowser minigame, "Dizzy Rotisserie"; if a character doesn't complete this minigame in time, these Gray Bowser Statue will spring to life and fill the arena in fire, roasting any characters that didn't make it to the finish.
Super Princess Peach
Gray Bowser Statues also appeared in Super Princess Peach as inanimate objects, where they decorated the course where the initial fight with Bowser took place. They only appeared in that battle, where they could be crushed by Bowser's misused charge attack, resulting in a Vibe Crystal for Peach to collect.