Grubchucker

The Grubchucker is an enemy in. It is a particularly tall enemy compared to most, with even Yellow Pikmin struggling to reach its height. It hunts Pikmin by seizing them with its claws and placing them into the fleshy mouth on top of its body, swallowing and killing them after a few seconds if not interrupted. It typically inhabits, and is encountered within, shallow waters and pools of mud.

Behavior
The Grubchucker does not demonstrate any agression towards lone captains, but will attack Pikmin within reach. The Grubchucker attacks with a double swipe, grabbing at most a single Pikmin per claw and two Pikmin per attacking cycle. Any seized Pikmin are thrown into the mouth on top of its head, and the Grubchucker needs to be knocked down in order to free the trapped Pikmin.

Grubchuckers become aggressive towards Pikmin in a radius approximately twice their width. They pursue Pikmin slowly, but the range within which they continue pursuit is much larger than the initial aggro radius.

Pikmin sent to attack the Grubchucker will climb their legs if they can't reach the body on the initial throw. Yellow Pikmin have a high enough arc when thrown to latch directly on to the Grubchucker, and Winged Pikmin will fly towards and latch on to the enemy if thrown towards it as well. The front and sides of the Grubchucker are immune to direct damage and stunning from Oatchi's charge, but the back of their legs/ankles are vulnerable to a charge and will bowl the creature over.

The Grubchucker will fall to the ground and become entirely vulnerable to attack if enough Pikmin latch on to it or if Oatchi charges it from behind.

Appearance
The Grubchucker is a large, tall and lanky bipedal arthropod. Its legs have a knock-kneed posture and bend backwards compared to a traditional biped, and its feet have three toes (two in the front and one in the back). It has a soft, round body and a fleshy mouth running front to back on top of it. It has small compound eyes on the bottom of its body and four antennae.

The Grubchucker's appearance is evocative of decapod crustaceans. Its eyes are similar in shape and presentation to fiddler crabs or hermit crabs. Its arms resemble those of, and its forearms are sparsely covered in beige. Although its limbs have a rigid exoskeleton, its thorax does not, and appears fleshy and soft like a.

The Grubchucker's body is mostly deep blue. The bottom of its thorax and the undersides of its limbs are beige. Its claws and toes are proximally blue and distally pink. The lips of its mouth are a light blue and the interior is a deep red.

Its bell-shaped body is subtly segmented radially, and has a large, fleshy mouth running front to back on it somewhat similar in appearance to the mouth of a. Grubchuckers have and use typical crustacean mouthparts earlier in their life cycle, and the pseudo-mouth stays closed until adulthood. Adult Grubchuckers no longer use the mouthparts below their body and feed entirely with the large mouth-basket.

It makes little noise when idle, but growls and bellows when being attacked by Pikmin.

Locations

 * Primordial Thicket
 * Subterranean Swarm
 * Serene Shores (Olimar's Shipwreck Tale only)

Strategy
The Grubchucker is not particularly dangerous. It has an imposing stature but is relatively frail once engaged.

Grubchuckers cannot immediately kill Pikmin, cannot grab a particularly large amount of Pikmin at a time and need a few uninterrupted seconds to swallow and kill them. Charging the Grubchucker with Oatchi and a squad of Pikmin will launch the Pikmin either directly on to its body or send them climbing up its legs. The Grubchucker will fall over, release any captured Pikmin and become completely vulnerable after being attacked sufficiently.

An Oatchi charge to the back of its legs will immediately knock it to the ground, but with a squad of Pikmin attached to Oatchi a charge will still do significant damage regardless of what angle you attack it from.

If charging with the dog isn't an option, send Pikmin up its legs like you would a Baldy Long Legs. Winged Pikmin will fly directly into its weak point if sent with the Charging Horn.