Editing Popple

{{character infobox

'''Popple''' is a supporting antagonist in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', [[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions|its Nintendo 3DS remake]], and a minor character in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]]''. Popple, or the "Shadow Thief", as he calls himself, dreams of becoming a super thief and being rich beyond belief. He has a tendency of saying "see?" at the end of most sentences, a common verbal tic for stereotypical thugs and mobsters.

[[File:MALSS Popple And Rookie 2.png|200px|thumb|Popple with [[Rookie]] for the second time, alerting him of the Bros.' presence.]]

Popple appears again in Chucklehuck Woods, trying to get a piece of the Beanstar off of a statue. He is then fought again, this time without the help of Rookie. After losing, he swears revenge upon the two and spins himself into the ground to escape. Popple once again appears in [[Teehee Valley]], after having made a base there. After finding an unconscious Luigi in the desert, he takes him as a prisoner to lure Mario to his base. Mario frees Luigi, but Popple soon arrives and introduces his new Rookie, [[Birdo]], who had fallen hopelessly in love with him. Despite the efforts of his new teammate, they still lose in battle, and Popple blames his defeat on a heartbroken Birdo, who responds by knocking him through the wall. Later on, Popple is arrested offscreen and is then sentenced to community service in [[Little Fungitown]], where he is last seen with his supervisor ironically calling him Rookie.

Popple returns in the game's [[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions|remake]], where in the main story, he has the same role as the original game. Popple also appears in the ''Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser'' mode, where more of his backstory is revealed. It is shown that Popple trips on Bowser while stealing food in [[Hoohoo Village]], causing the unconscious Koopa King to wake up and follow him. Soon after, Popple makes the amnesiac Bowser his Rookie. In Chucklehuck Woods, Popple momentarily loses sight of Rookie, and asks a group of [[Bowser's Minions]], led by [[Captain Goomba (Mario & Luigi series)|Captain Goomba]], where his partner went off to. However, the minions intimidate Popple into a fight and he ends up losing. Rookie appears soon after, and despite Captain Goomba's attempts to bring his master back [[Bowser's Castle|home]], Rookie does not recognize his minions and burns Captain Goomba with his [[Fire Breath|fire breath]]. The minions then leave.  

Popple is later encountered again, now looking for a replacement for the missing Rookie (following the events with Mario and Luigi in Woohoo Hooniversity). Candidates for Rookie's replacement include Birdo, a [[Fighter Fly]], a [[Beanie]], a [[Paratroopea]], and a [[Tanoomba]]. He sees Bowser's minions again and fights them, but is again defeated. Birdo, the only potential Rookie left, then takes him away. Popple seems to be known among criminals, when several enemies line up to see who can be his new partner after his previous [[Rookie]] goes missing.

[[File:PoppleEncounter1M&LDT.png|thumb|Popple's first encounter with the Bros. in ''Mario & Luigi: Dream Team''.]]

Popple reappears in ''[[Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]]''. In this game, Popple is first met outside of [[Pi'illoper]]'s house. After a failed robbery of his house, Popple runs into the Bros., whom he does not remember, and drops his loot. However, he begins vaguely recalling his unfortunate encounters with them in the [[Beanbean Kingdom]] (while unaware that it was specifically ''them'' he had in mind). He is later seen on two tours, at [[Driftwood Shore]] and [[Mount Pajamaja]], the former of which he abandons due to a lack of potential treasure, and the latter of which he is kicked out of by the Massif Bros., who explain there is no room for him. Popple later attempts to burgle Pi'lloper's collection room again, this time from the back entrance, accessible through the northern ruins. On the way, he misinterprets a [[Wiggler#Mario & Luigi: Dream Team|Wiggler]] (who aspires to build a garden in the Pi'illo ruins) for a security guard, and meets Mario and Luigi, whom he still does not quite remember. If the Bros. come here before finding all the parts of the [[Ultibed]], Popple will tell them to "find more loot" first.

Later, he starts calling them his "rookies", just like he did with Bowser and Birdo in ''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga''. He then forces Mario and Luigi into a battle against Wiggler by enraging him with insults. Once the Bros. beat Wiggler, Popple suddenly turns against them, aiming to claim Pi'illoper's treasure for himself, but is quickly beaten by the Mario Bros. Afterwards, he realizes Wiggler was not a security guard and continues to insult Wiggler and his aspirations, angered that he fought over a "stupid flower garden". A furious Wiggler goes after him for insulting the flowers, and Popple declares he has had enough of [[Pi'illo Island|this "stupid island"]]. He is not seen again for the rest of the game.

In the fourth and final battle, he fights with [[Birdo]] by his side with all of the moves that he previously used. Strangely enough, during this battle, when Popple steals Mario or Luigi's [[Ultra Hammer]], it shows he has a [[Super Hammer]] instead. The remake ''[[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions]]'' properly shows him with an Ultra Hammer.

[[File:Wiggly Chase.jpg|thumb|[[Wiggler#Mario & Luigi: Dream Team|Wiggler]] chasing Popple, Mario, and Luigi]]

He can attack by running up to either Mario or Luigi and attempt to steal one of their hammers, which can be prevented if the target Bro. promptly smacks Popple with their hammer. If Popple is successful, he will start hitting them with it afterwards, an attack he used in ''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga''. Starting with the Bro. he got the hammer from, Popple will continuously smash Mario and Luigi until the Bro. with a hammer strikes back first when approached. Occasionally, he might also try stealing a mushroom instead and heal himself on the spot. This is shown when he does not swing his arm beforehand, unlike when he is about to steal a hammer.

Popple may also go off-screen and return with his burlap sack, from which he throws out three or five objects before him in a row. The objects can be soccer balls, Mushrooms, Coins, or [[Brick Block]]s. Popple will stand before each item (starting from the southernmost one), rear back his foot, and kick whatever it is at the Bros. If he faces up, he is aiming for Mario, and facing straight ahead means that he is aiming for Luigi.

Getting hit by the soccer balls will result in the targeted Bro taking damage, and must be smashed back with the hammer to counter-attack. Getting hit by the coins will not produce any negative effects, and smashing them back will result in Popple getting them back, also not having any negative effects. Getting hit by a Mushroom will heal the hit Bro. by 30 HP, and smashing it back will heal Popple by 30 HP instead. Should Popple kick a Brick Block, he will shatter it open and hurt his toe, revealing one of the other three items mentioned inside. Popple will quickly recover and kick the item at his target, essentially hiding how the player should counter the attack until it happens.

Popple, like most Beanish, has green skin and a bean shaped head. The upper portion of his face is concealed by a purple mask and a grey beret with a green tuft sticking out of the top, while the lower portion shows him to have an unusually large mouth, usually in a large, toothy grin. He wears a long sleeved shirt with purple and grey stripes, white gloves, and a pair of dark grey pants that are oversized at the waist, and his shoes seem to blend in with his pants sleeves. He seems to be just a bit shorter than Mario, and almost always stands with his knees bent and slightly leaning backwards while hunching forwards.

Popple has a violent temper, often shouting and becoming angry when encountering someone in the way of his plans. He is also shown to hold grudges over previous fights, becoming enraged when seeing Mario and Luigi show up when he finds the [[Beanstar]], frequently getting into arguments with other characters, and picking a fight with Bowser's minions despite them apologizing for attacking him earlier.

Popple is very greedy, often seeking treasure and riches to sell for financial gain. In ''Mario and Luigi: Dream Team'', he is shown to be manipulative, using Mario and Luigi to fight Wiggler for him, and being extremely unhelpful during the fight, sometimes even cowering behind the brothers, before eventually trying to take the two out so he could take the rewards for himself.

Popple also has a large ego, referring to himself as a legend that "swiped treasures from every corner of the world" giving himself titles such as "The Shadow Thief" and "The Baron of Burgle" and boasting that only he could have had the luck to have treasure land right at his feet.

*"''The Shadow Thief knows a thief when he sees one!''"

*"''Bring it on, ya wannabe moth! These two <small><small>and I</small></small> will cream you!''"

|JapM=Possibly from Chinese term「扒窃」(''páqiè'', "to steal") and Italian word ''ghigno'' ("grin")

|Chi=帕纽

|ChiR=Pàniǔ

|ChiM=Japanese name

|ItaM=Reference to how "Popple" is a "champ" while [[Rookie]] is a "rookie"

|KorM=From his Japanese name

|Rus=Щепачёв

|RusR=Schepachyov

|RusM=The word ''щипать'' (''schipat'', a Russian slang word for "to steal", having the root ''щип''/''щеп'' (''schip''/''schep'')) transformed into the Russian name

|Spa=Panyo

|SpaM=Japanese name

[[Category:Playable characters]]

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