Professor Frankly

Professor Frankly
Artwork from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
Species	Goomba
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)

“Are all of you ready? And you there! In front of the screen! You listen up, too!”

—Professor Frankly, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)

Professor Frankly advising Mario and Goombella about enemy Goombas

Professor Frankly is Goombella's and Kolorado's old teacher at U Goom in the game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He is an elderly Goomba with grayish brown puffs of hair and eyebrows and wears thick glasses (as indicated by the circular pattern drawn in their lenses, a common motif in Japanese media). Professor Frankly is one of two known Goombas to have square teeth rather than pointed teeth, the other being Goombario. Frankly's name is derived from the qualifier "frankly", a word used to signify blunt honesty.

History

Professor Frankly opening up the gate to Rogueport Sewers.

Mario first meets Professor Frankly after he rescues Goombella from a gang of X-Nauts who are attacking her. When Mario and Goombella arrive at the professor's house, Goombella tells him that they need his help to study the legendary treasure of Rogueport. After learning that Mario possesses the Magical Map, he takes the pair to the Thousand-Year Door. When the group leaves his house, the professor removes a rotten piece of a fence blocking a green Warp Pipe leading to Rogueport Underground. Before they enter, the professor asks Mario if they know about the battle system and the Action Commands, where the player has the option to learn about them in a tutorial.

When Mario, Goombella, and Frankly visit the Thousand-Year Door for the first time, the Magical Map in Mario's hands indicate the location of the first Crystal Star inside Hooktail Castle in Petal Meadows. Frankly mentioned that he met Princess Peach, when she was on a journey of her own and he also mentions another "strange group" is doing the same. Each of Mario and his partners' subsequent visit to the Thousand-Year Door to use the Crystal Star they collected to uncover the location of the next Crystal Star is immediately followed by their visit to the professor and study it out. Before Goombella and Mario starts their quest, Frankly gives him the Power Smash badge and a tutorial on how to equip and use badges on the pause menu. During each visit, Frankly, who is making progress in his research about the ancient city that preceded Rogueport as well as an ancient demon that plunged that city into darkness, talks about the latest email from Princess Peach (that Mario receives after each chapter) and tells Mario and his partners the exact location of the Crystal Star they must collect next. In addition, tattle log entries that the player may have missed can be found in Frankly's trash bin. On the back shelf of his house, a miniature version of the head-shaped rocks at the entrance to Pirate's Grotto can be seen, as well as spherical objects bearing the Sun, Moon, Star and Puni designs seen in the Great Tree.

After Mario and co. obtain the final Crystal Star from the X-Naut Fortress on the Moon, the Three Shadows abduct Frankly, knock him unconscious, and then locked him up in a closet. Doopliss takes the guise of the professor in order to trick Mario into opening the Thousand-Year Door so Grodus can enter the Palace of Shadow. Frankly later escapes and gives chase into the palace. After the Shadow Queen is awakened and possesses Princess Peach, the real Frankly is seen in one of the palace's darkened rooms, distressed at the thought of her revival. Following the Shadow Queen's defeat, he reunites with Mario and co. and reveals his discovery of a large treasure chest containing the true treasure. When Mario visits him post-game, Frankly reveals the contents of this chest to be a seemingly insignificant Dried Mushroom; however, Frankly is excited nonetheless by it, as it proves that residents of the ancient city ate Mushrooms.

Emails

E-mail (GCN) / About email (Switch)

An attached image of Frankly in his email to Mario (GCN)

Attached image in his first email to Mario (Switch)

Hello Mario! Working hard? Professor Frankly here, in e-form! (GCN)
Hello, Mario! Working hard? Professor Frankly here, in e-form! (Switch)

It’s highly likely you’ll receive emails like this one while you’re on your journey, so check your mail often!

I actually have nothing more to say than that so I hope all goes well for you, and I look forward to getting more information on those Crystal Stars! (GCN)
I actually have nothing more to say than that, so I hope all goes well for you, and I look forward to getting more information on those Crystal Stars! (Switch)

Professor Frankly (GCN)
-Professor Frankly (Switch)

Useful Buttons (remake exclusive)

Hello, Mario! Still working hard? Professor Frankly here, in e-form! Again! I do have more to say, as it turns out.

Goombella was eager to join your side, and she won't be the last! I'm sure you'll gain a bunch of additional partners as you explore the world and progress through your harrowing adventure.

If you do, there's a quick way to swap which partner is walking alongside you. Just hold down to access a doodad called the Partner Ring!

Say you find yourself stuck in a rut, unable to progress, aimless and panic-stricken. First, calm down. Then swap pals with the Partner Ring, explore a bit more, and see if anything clicks into place in that noble noggin o' yours.

One other thing! I'm betting you usually pop into the menu by pressing or , but did you know you can open it to specific tabs by pressing ?

for Gear
for Partner
for Badges
for Journal

Convenient, right? Keep that in mind to save yourself some precious time.

Stay safe...and good luck out there!

-Professor Frankly

A must-have badge (remake exclusive)

Hello, Mario! Still working hard? Professor Frankly here, in e-form again!

There's something I forgot to tell you! I highly recommend that you look into obtaining a certain badge.

It's called First Attack. If you have that badge equipped, you can take care of weak foes with a First Strike instead of fully battling it out!

The badge shop in Rogueport has it available for purchase. You can get there by exiting the second floor of the inn. So...stop reading this and go get yourself a First Attack badge!

From, Professor Frankly

Tattle

• "That's Professor Frankly, head of the archaeology department at U Goom. He's researching the legendary treasure here. I totally respect him. You know the famous Professor Kolorado? He was a student of Frankly's!"

Gallery

• 

  Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

• 

  Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)

• 

  Concept artwork

• 

  Professor Frankly on the Nintendo Magazine for summer 2024, showing a relationship chart featuring many characters from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	フランクリ[?] Furankuri	Pun on「クリボー」(Kuribo, "Goomba") and possibly the male name "Franklin"
	フランクリ先生[?] Furankuri sensei	Teacher Frankly
Chinese	富朗克栗教授 Fùlǎngkèlì Jiàoshòu	Professor Frankly, while 「栗」 is also derived from 「栗寶寶」 (Lìbǎobao, "Goomba")
Dutch	Professor Defranck	From the expression de frank is gevallen ("the franc has dropped"). It is the Belgian equivalent of the English expression "the penny has dropped" (someone finally understanding something).
French	Professeur Goomstein[?]	Pun on "Goomba" and "Einstein"
German	Professor Gumbarth[?]	From Gumba ("Goomba") and male name "Bartholomäus"
Italian	Professor Goombastein[?]	Pun on "Goomba" and "Einstein"
Korean	프랭굼바[?] Peuraeng-gumba	Frangoomba; Portmanteau of 'Frankly' and 'Goomba'
Spanish	Profesor Goomez[?]	Pun on "Goomba" and the Spanish last name "Gómez" + "professor"

Trivia

Artwork of Frankly, from a Nintendo Power subscription leaflet bundled with some late GameCube games.

• Professor Frankly breaks the fourth wall just before Chapter 5 by telling the player, the "person in front of the TV" (in the original game) or "screen" (in the remake) to listen carefully about what he has to say about the Thousand-Year Door. Mario's current partner then comments about that, but Frankly tells them to disregard it. Lord Crump (under the alias of Four Eyes) also breaks the Fourth Wall during this chapter.
• In Super Paper Mario, one of the items listed on Francis's to-buy list is a radio-controlled Professor Frankly.
• Likely due to an oversight, if the player uses the phone booth in Glitzville after Professor Frankly is abducted, it is still possible to receive a call, supposedly from Frankly himself, warning Mario to be careful in his travels.