Toady Bloyster

Toady Bloysters are slug-like creatures found in, , and. They creep along the ground in search of food, and upon discovering Pikmin, they emit a loud call reminiscent to that of a cow calf, then lash out their pseudopodia-like tentacles. Any Pikmin hit by the tentacles stick, and are ingested if the Bloyster is not killed before it can finish "chewing." As slow as they may be, a Bloyster is capable of causing a very large and sudden drop in the number of Pikmin a leader has at their disposal, should the player be careless enough to allow the Bloyster the chance.

Its weak spot is a gill-like organ on its back. Although its body can be attacked for lesser damage in Pikmin 3, in the previous game, only the bulb can be attacked (even though it's possible to attack the body using Purple Pikmin). When it receives heavy damage, it shakes its tail and throws away any Pikmin hanging on to it in Pikmin 2, but merely ejects ink in Pikmin 3. This ink can temporarily and non-fatally choke any nearby Pikmin, but those hanging on the bulb will not be affected. In Pikmin 2, it has seven distinct tentacles, whereas in the sequel, it has one that splits into six.

In Pikmin 2, a single Toady Bloyster spawns in the Perplexing Pool, and tends to rove around the shallows near the entrance to the Shower Room. When defeated, it typically drops two 10-Pellets in addition to the gill-like organ on its back, which is worth 25 Pikmin at any Onion. Entering any of the caves in the Perplexing Pool will trigger a respawn, making this Bloyster a particularly low-risk method of spawning large amounts of Pikmin in a short amount of time, potentially 45 Pikmin per Bloyster defeated. In Challenge Mode, a Toady Bloyster holds The Key on the first sublevel in The Giant's Bath. In Pikmin 3's Story Mode, one appears in the Garden of Hope, and one in the Twilight River.

Pikmin 2
The best method of taking down a Toady Bloyster is simple: approach it from the back and latch as many Pikmin as possible onto the gill-like organ protruding from its back. If you are feeling bold, you may instead decide to simply barrage the Bloyster in question with Purple Pikmin. Petrifying the Bloyster is a foolish task, as it shares the highest bitter-Spray damage resistance in the game with the Ranging Bloyster. Toady Bloysters do not actively seek out Pikmin, but they will not pass up the opportunity to eat Pikmin standing in front of them. While they have slow reaction time, their shake has a deceptively large hitbox, and Pikmin are shaken off when the Bloyster finishes its tongue lash animation. Caution must be taken to not let it attack while on low health, as it will not stop its attack animation when it reaches zero health, and it cannot be petrified when it reaches zero health as well.

Pikmin 3
The Toady Bloyster can be attacked by throwing Pikmin onto its bare, fleshy back instead of the gill-like protrusion on its back. If the Bloyster releases ink, just whistle the affected Pikmin back to you and continue the assault, and if you don't, they will not die and just become idle. Using an ultra-spicy spray proves to be effective as well. Throwing Pikmin at the gill organ, as stated before, will prevent them from being sprayed with ink, allowing just a few Pikmin to kill it in seconds. This is a helpful strategy, especially for Mission Mode.

It can be noted that the Toady Bloyster found in at least Silver Lake and Shaded Garden on Battle enemies! mode are significantly weaker than the average one.

Pikmin 4
Toady Bloysters can be dealt with in much the same way as in Pikmin 3. Simply throw Pikmin on its tail-based gill organ and they won't be affected by the ink that the bloyster sprays out. It can still be defeated through attacking the main body but the tail method is generally considered the fastest and easiest way to beat them. The Toady Bloyster may be quite slow in terms of movement and eating, but it's tentacle-like tounge can grab many Pikmin at once. As such, it is usually a very bad idea to charge the bloyster from the front.

Technical information
Internally, in Pikmin 2, the Toady Bloyster is just a Ranging Bloyster, but some of the properties provide specific differences, and the hard-coded ability to be entranced by leaders is removed.

Trivia

 * Toady Bloysters are based on s, which are sea slugs that are very similar in appearance. Like nudibranchs, Toady Bloysters evolved from a shelled ancestor species to a soft-bodied state.
 * In Pikmin 2, Toady Bloysters are one of three enemies not to appear in the Wistful Wild, the others being the Giant Breadbug and the Waterwraith. Curiously, all three reside in the Perplexing Pool.
 * In Pikmin 3, leaders can climb on top of Toady Bloysters by walking onto them from their backs.
 * In both Pikmin 2 and Pikmin 3, when a Toady Bloyster dies, its main body shrinks while the bulb stays the same size. Even though the body becomes very small, it's still possible to see in-game, using the closest zoom settings or the KopPad's camera. The same happens with the Ranging Bloyster, Burrowing Snagret (only in Pikmin 2), and Pileated Snagret.