Blunt force
Blunt force is a non-elemental hazard in the Pikmin series, consisted of two physical forces: crushing and stabbing. Rock Pikmin can withstand blunt force attacks, although Winged Pikmin are also mostly immune to being crushed.
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Crushing[edit]
Pikmin have weak bodies that cannot resist most forms of crushing forces, except for Rock Pikmin. Once a Pikmin is crushed, it becomes flat in whatever direction it was crushed, then disappears with a spirit, with no way to save it. However, Rock Pikmin merely become partially buried in the ground and unharmed, and must be left to unearth themselves automatically after some seconds. The time it takes for them to unearth does not depend on their maturity and is random between six and eleven seconds.
Leaders are not immune to crushing either. If a leader is crushed, they will become flat for a second, and slowly return to their original size. Being crushed normally causes considerable damage, and the prolonged damage animation may allow the leader to be hit by a different attack while they are unable to react.
Interestingly however, Winged Pikmin can't get crushed by anything but the crystal cubes from the Plasm Wraith: these attacks will just push Winged Pikmin away, even if they are grounded.
In Pikmin and Pikmin 2, crushing can be identified by the distinct sound Pikmin make when killed. In Pikmin 3, any attack that a Rock Pikmin can survive by becoming buried counts as a crushing attack.
Ways to get crushed[edit]
Boulder – large rocks that fall from the sky, which can crush Pikmin.
Iron ball – iron balls roll down slopes, and can crush things in their path.
Arachnorbs – members of this spider-like family that have large feet can stamp on Pikmin and leaders.
Lithopods – lithopods can spit out rocks that crush everything in their path.
Amphitubers – these frog-like enemies jump into the air and later fall down, crushing prey below them.
Calcified Crushblat – an enemy that can jump up and crush Pikmin with its large body.
Emperor Bulblax – the Emperor Bulblax's jumping attack can crush Pikmin below it.
Empress Bulblax – the Empress Bulblax's main attack involves rolling around the arena, crushing prey.
Skutterchuck – the crystal nodules that they fling damage Pikmin via crushing.
Waterwraith – the Waterwraith runs around on rollers, which can crush creatures.
Plasm Wraith – the final boss in Pikmin 3 can spit out Elemental Plasms that shape into crystal blocks, capable of crushing Pikmin.
Although the Mamuta crushes Pikmin into the ground with its hands, this does not count as a crushing hazard, as this is actually beneficial to the Pikmin. It's still harmful to leaders, however. In addition, the Quaggled Mireclops has some attacks that trample Pikmin, killing them in the process, but this is a fatal attack that not even Rock Pikmin can survive.
Stabbing[edit]
Stabbing is a force similar to crushing, in that Rock Pikmin are immune to it. Whereas most Pikmin would get skewered, Rock Pikmin are simply knocked back from stabbing attacks.
The following enemies have stabbing attacks that Rock Pikmin are immune to:
Joustmite and 
Flighty Joustmite – these enemies stick their proboscis out to stab Pikmin with.- Plasm Wraith – the Plasm Wraith's normal attack involves a series of stabbing movements.
In the same vein as the Joustmites, it is assumed that Cloaking Burrow-nits in Pikmin 2 also have an attack that counts as a "stabbing" hazard, although this force is not distinctly recognized as being a hazard by any game mechanic or explanation.
Rock Pikmin[edit]
The rough exterior of Rock Pikmin gives them the ability to survive blunt force attacks, making them quite valuable when fighting enemies that pose a crushing or stabbing hazard. However, Rock Pikmin won't completely ignore blunt force attacks like other Pikmin types ignore attacks of the hazard they are invulnerable to: crushing attacks temporarily and partially bury them, and stabbing attacks knock them down. Because Rock Pikmin have such a solid body, their attacks could almost be considered blunt force in and of themselves. When attacking enemies, they do not latch on and pummel, but rather cause damage solely with the impact. This even has a special effect on some enemies, like instantly grounding minor flying enemies such as Swooping Snitchbugs, or instantly crushing Skutterchucks (whereas other Pikmin types will simply latch onto the Skutterchuck if it's vulnerable, and take more time to kill it).
Crushing glitch[edit]
There is a glitch in the first two Pikmin games where an enemy or a certain object will crush a Pikmin abnormally, when it isn't even meant to crush in the first place. Very rarely, an object on top of a Pikmin will make said Pikmin vanish.
Yellow Wollywog corpse crushing[edit]
As seen in a trailer for Pikmin, it appears that in a development version of the game, Yellow Wollywogs could crush Captain Olimar's army during their death animation, where they tense up and fall to the side. In the final game, this does not happen, except unintentionally, with the aforementioned glitch.
Gallery[edit]
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Some Rock Pikmin showing their resistance to crushing.
The Plasm Wraith using its stabbing attack.
The Calcified Crushblat crushing some Yellow Pikmin.
Some Winged Pikmin thrown backwards by a rock.
Captain Charlie crushed by a rock.
Some Winged Pikmin being crushed by an elemental plasm.
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See also[edit]
| Hazards | ||||||||
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 Blunt force •  Explosion •  Enemy •  Pit •  Sunset
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