Grubchucker

Grubchucker
Appears in	Pikmin 4
Scientific name	Carabea vescora
Family	Crablipps
Areas	Serene Shores (Olimar's Shipwreck Tale), Primordial Thicket
Caves	Subterranean Swarm
Dandori Challenge stages	None
Dandori Battle stages	None
Attacks	Seizing pikmin and throwing them into its head

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The Grubchucker (ナゲクライ^?, lit.: "Throwing Devourer") is an enemy in Pikmin 4. 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.

Stats

Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health
12	24	15	× 12	5000

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 freshwater prawn, and its forearms are sparsely covered in beige Seta setae. Although its limbs have a rigid exoskeleton, its thorax does not, and appears fleshy and soft like a freshly-molted crab.

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 giant clam. 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

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides.
The strategies shown are just suggestions.

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.

Notes

Dalmo's Notes

“The mouth on top of its head is somehow chic and ostentatious at the same time. Combined with the way it carries its claws like it's ready to give you a trim, this cutie looks like the charismatic beautician of the creature world. Though the way it tosses its food in the air shows rather poor ettiquette.”

Olimar's Notes

“This bipedal creature walks upright, so its motion is noticeably slow, but the long reach of its pincers is useful for catching prey and tossing it into the wide mouth on top of its head.

When young, this mouth stays closed, and the Grubchucker lives on things like shellfish, nuts, and fruits, eating using the small trophi located behind the feelers below its eyes. As it grows, its sincipital mouth opens, and it can start eating larger quantities of food.

It has few natural enemies, primarily due to its height. However, it's often found in dimmer wetlands or underground to protect the soft top of its shell from the sun's rays.”

Louie's Notes

“Pluck off the lips, and serve with lemon and salt as an appetizer. Coat the arms and legs with plenty of miso for a full-course dinner in a shell!”

Naming

See more: Crablipps family#Naming.

Common name: Grubchucker. Its name describes its primary action of "chucking" its "grub" (food) into the large mouth on the top of its head.
Japanese nickname: ナゲクライ^?, lit.: "Throwing Devourer". 投げ^? means "throw", referring to how the Grubchucker throws its food into the mouth on its head. 喰らう^? means "devour", and it turns into 喰らい^? for person who devours.
Japanese name: タカアシガマグチガニ^?, lit.: "Long-legged Coin Purse Crab". It is also a play on タカアシガニ^?, the Japanese name of the Japanese spider crab.
Scientific name: Carabea vescora. "Vescor" is Latin for eating or feeding upon.
Internal names: THROWEATER. It refers to how it throws Pikmin into its mouth to eat them.
Prerelease: None.

Names in other languages

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Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ナゲクライ^? Nage Kurai	Throwing Devourer
Dutch	Losklauwige krablipper	Looseclawed crablipper
French	Jongloproie	From "jongler" (juggle) and "proie" (prey)
German	Scherenschmetter	Scissor Smash
Italian	Predoliere
Korean	던져먹기 Deonjyeo-Meokgi	Throwing Devourer
Portuguese	Pinça-caçador	Claw-hunter
Spanish	Pinzaronte lanzador	From "pinza" (claw) and possibly "brifonte" (something that is two-faced), and lanzador (thrower)