Pipegunk

"You're gonna learn about power from THIS thing... It's taken in plenty of Spite Bulbs! Go, Pipegunk!"

—Shun when the Pipegunk prepares to fight, Mario & Luigi: Brothership

The Pipegunk is an antagonistic character from Mario & Luigi: Brothership. It is a semi-sentient blob of goo that is encountered as a boss, fought in the Great Lighthouse of the Brrning Sea.

Profile

Physical Appearance

The Pipegunk has four forms it can shift between. In its base form, the Pipegunk looks like a purple mound of goo with pipes sticking out of its body. When Shun uses his remote to switch the battlefield's location to a lava chamber, the creature's colour changes and its head is set on fire. When Luigi uses his Luigi Logic to steal Shun's remote and move the arena to the ice chamber, the Pipegunk's body collapses, causing it to assume a third form that looks like its base form, but flatter. Its fourth form is an icy version of its strong form.

Combat

Phase 1

The Pipegunk can attack by bouncing throughout its arena; this must be avoided with a jump. It can also charge at the Bros., who must smash its face with a hammer strike. It can also throw poison balls that must be jumped over.

Phase 2

When the Pipegunk's health bar is dropped to 75% HP, Shun uses his remote to shift the arena to a magma chamber, and the boss advances to its stronger form. In this state, it gains access to a strafing fire stream which must be jumped over and shooting fireballs out of the pipes on its head. The fireballs launched from the creature's head cannons must be repelled with a hammer strike. When Shun appears in the background, Luigi must use his Luigi Logic to steal the remote and throw Shun into the Lava. Afterwards, Luigi can use the remote to shift the arena. If he switches to the ice chamber, the Pipegunk will take damage and collapse into its weakened form, being unable to attack. However, it will recover and absorb the icy energy, changing to an alternate strong form based on ice. In this state, the monster attacks by spitting icicles as darts. It can also perform a variant of its cannon attack, but with icicles instead of fireballs. It also retains its charge attack from its normal form, but the screen will be obscured, forcing Mario and Luigi to time the counterattack. As with the fiery form, Luigi can use his Luigi Logic to weaken the Pipegunk by mugging Shun for his remote; however, weakening the monster requires moving the arena to the magma chamber. As before, its body will eventually acclimate, at which point it will assume its fiery strong form.

If Luigi switches to the Normal Area once and attempts a Luigi Logic

While it is in its strong forms, the Pipegunk cannot be stomped on without damaging the attacker. However, its normal and weakened forms can be stomped on safely.

The Pipegunk is a Level 27 monster with 4,500 hit points, an attack power of 129, a defense of 83, and a speed of 285. When destroyed, it gives 6,600 experience, and its loot drop consists of 900 coins and the Pipegunk Boots.

Glohm Pipegunk

A Glohm-contaminated version of the Pipegunk can later be found in the same location. Known as "Glohm Pipegunk," it is black with red eyes, but looks the same otherwise. The Glohm Pipegunk has the same attacks performed by its regular counterpart, but can also launch a counterattack in its powered-up forms. The Glohm Pipegunk's stats are higher compared to the original Pipegunk, with a level of 43, 10800 hit points, an attack power of 288, a defense of 214, and a speed of 237, with its destruction netting 5000 experience, 1700 coins, and the Rainbow Medallion.

Strangely, after the Bros. defeat the Glohm Pipegunk, Dewey Fightem refers to it with masculine pronouns. ("Wait. Glohm Pipegunk... Did you beat him?!")