Name: Plungelo
Debut: Super Mario Sunshine
Whadda hell. Plungelo. This thing is so wacky! It feels like a weird mishmosh of unrelated parts and that’s wonderful! A red orb with enormous unmoving eyespots, a weird lip-like beak, toilet plunger feet, and a sprout on its head like in Among Us! But is Plungelo the impostor?
By that I mean, is it a real creature, or simply made by Bowser Jr.’s goop, like many of the Sunshine enemies are said to be? I don’t know! But I don’t think it matters. I never much liked the “Sunshine enemies are created by the paintbrush” idea. Like, where are all of Isle Delfino’s native creatures, in that case? Cataquacks seem to be native, but they turn into goop when defeated. And why do even the Yoshis disintegrate in water here? Maybe some or even most of the enemies are made by Bowser Jr., but I like to think they depict real creatures. I want them to be real! I understand if Goobles are Goop Exclusive but the others should be real!
So, I believe Plungelo is a Real Animal. A real animal with a sprout on its head so that it may mutualistically gain energy through photosynthesis! Why would a real animal evolve plungers for feet? Why, for walking on flat glass, of course! Or maybe for plunging burrowing prey out of holes in the sand? Plungelo loooves to walk on glass, it loves it so bad. It’s literally the only context they are found in! They are causing a scene by walking on the Gelato Beach mirrors, preventing them from incubating the legendary Sand Bird egg!
But it’s not just them. They’re in cahoots with the Wiggler sleeping on the egg, it seems, since both appear at the same time, both messing with the egg! And we GOTTA talk about this Wiggler because it is so important to whatever the heck is going on here.
The more common Wigglers found in the Mushroom Kingdom, Dinosaur Land, and other places are yellow, and the spots on their segments are rather irregularly placed. THIS one, though! The spots on EVERY segment are right on the sides!
Just like the eyes (?) of Plungelo and its cousin Cataquack! Fittingly, both of their Japanese names include “hana”, from Wiggler’s Japanese name! There is clearly a connection between these wacky creatures and this Wiggler. What is it?
This particular Wiggler is able to fall apart into segments unharmed! Could this be the origin of Plungelo and Cataquack? Maybe all the same species, and different points of the same life cycle! Maybe this Wiggler is the beginning, and then, like a strobilating cnidarian, this individual gives rise to many genetically identical individuals- the Cataquacks! As Cataquacks develop, the previously-dormant symbiotic plant on their head sprouts, which will someday become the Wiggler’s flower!
Cataquack’s long beak shrinks into a smaller mouth, which will aid it in its new ecological niche as a Plungelo: its newly developed suction cup feet allow it to climb certain surfaces, where it tries to stay high up so that its sprout gets constant sun! They are particularly drawn to reflective surfaces like mirrors and windows, so they can get as much light as possible. Plungelo, after having eaten a large amount, as well as having nurtured its sprout until it bloomed, will now have enough energy in reserve to hibernate! As it does, its final transformation into Wiggler occurs, and it begins growing a chain of segments that will be the next generation.
But then why is it so green? And why do these segments lack mouths and tails? Maybe this one was “undercooked”! It had not been sleeping there very long before Mario got involved. It’s mad, because it was SO close to finally completing its life cycle!
When defeated, this Wiggler turns into sand. It was made of sand all along? Surely there’s a good explanation for that, right? It’s too bad this post is getting oh so long! Goodbye!
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So I saw your ask about Emulator on Efficiency's blog about Emulator finding Cluster before its brought back by the other higher-ups, and I got curious!
What exactly does Emulator do to Cluster? Obviously, she isn't going to go easy on it since Cluster messed with her grandkitten so badly. But does she 'play' with Cluster physically, mentally, or more of a mix of both? Sorry if this ask is a bit strange, but I got really curious, lol!
Honestly I figured the details would be left up to the audience's imagination, since whatever could possibly be shown/written wouldn't be nearly as cathartically horrifying as whatever people come up with to fill in the gap.
That said, based on what would be left of Cluster when she finally handed it over to the higher-ups, definitely a mix of both. It's still alive and relatively unbroken afterwards(gotta be aware enough to face The Consequences, after all), but is a bit of a heavily injured jibbering mess.
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