Blorbs

Artwork of a Toad with three blorbed Toads

“THE BLORBS! Mushroom Kingdom Marred by Mystery Malady! The Blorbs! It comes without warning! First, you balloon to blimp size! Then the rolling! You roll away! Oh, the horror of the blorbs! As of press time, the cause and cure are unknown... Day by day, the number of blorbed Toads swells... Seeing how grave the situation is, Princess Peach convenes an emergency meeting at her castle...”

—In-game narration, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

The blorbs are a mysterious disease that appears in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In the game, the disease spreads all over the Mushroom Kingdom and infects the Toads, causing them to grow large and round and rendering them mostly immobile, though they apparently can roll uncontrollably. It is caused by Blorb Mushrooms that Fawful sold to several Toads, similar to how he sells the Vacuum Shroom to Bowser. The entire case of the blorbs is wiped out by the Miracle Cure, which is created after Mario and Luigi find and merge all three Star Cures.

Before the Miracle Cure eliminates the disease, blorbed Toads block several areas in Toad Town. Once the disease is cured, these areas are opened to the player. A large percent of the infected Toads, including the one seen in the cutscene at the beginning of the game, are kept in one of the rooms of the Toadley Clinic. After they are cured, one of the Toads still appears to have the blorbs, though speaking with him reveals that this is how he normally looks. This was likely done due to the "blorbed" Toad being one of the hiding places used by the Toad child during the hide-and-seek sidequest.

The blorbs also appear in Super Mario-kun in volume 41.

In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, some Goombas are also infected with the blorbs. It was also implied in the original game that Bowser's part of the kingdom may have been affected to some degree, as Bowser claimed that he "had every right" to participate in the meeting instead of being excluded from it. Thus, his intrusion was originally for the good of his followers instead of his single-minded desire for Peach. A cure is presented by the Best Fitness Friends via a chemical compound known as Skeletone Formula:D. Bowser Jr. sets off to find the ingredients for this compound after the last one has been used in a demonstration to cure a "blorbed" Goomba. Toward the end of the game, Bowser Jr. acquires enough Skeletone Formula:D to rescue his minions, as well as Bowser. Bowser, however, despite the warning from Bowser Jr. not to consume too much of the formula, does so anyway and loses most of his body mass.

The disease's English name is possibly a portmanteau of the words "blow" and "orb," given the fact that it causes one infected to blow to blimp size, and the victim ends up looking round, like an orb.

Gallery

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  The prologue showing the rapid infections of the blorbs on the Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom

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  Some Toads infected by the blorbs

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  Sprite of a blorbed Toad from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

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  Screenshot of a blorbed Toad in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

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  Sprite of a blorbed Toad from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

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  A blorbed Goomba from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

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  Blorbed Toads from Super Mario-kun

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	メタコロ病[?] Metakoro Byō	Portmanteau of「メタボ」(metabo, metabolic syndrome and also slang for "overweight") and「ころころ」(korokoro, onomatopoeia for rolling) +「病」(byō, disease)
French (NOA)	Bloubb[?]	Adaptation of English name
French (NOE)	Rouliboulite[?]	From "rouler" (to roll) and "boule" (ball) with the suffix "-ite" (a suffix used for diseases)
German	Metabowlie[?]	From the Japanese name; also possibly from "bowlingkugel" (bowling ball) and "metabolismus" (metabolism)
Italian	Gravitombolite[?]	From "gravità" (gravity) and "capitombolo" (wacky falling down); with the suffix "-ite" (a suffix used for diseases)
Korean	뚱뚱데굴병[?] Ttungttungdegul Byeong	From "뚱뚱하다" (ttungttunghada, fat) and "데굴데굴" (deguldegul; onomatopoeia for rolling) + "병" (byeong; disease)
Spanish (NOA)	Globus[?]	Pun of "globo" (balloon) and "virus"
Spanish (NOE)	Redonditis[?]	From "redondo" (round) and "-itis" (a suffix used for diseases)

Trivia

• Several of the Toads with the blorbs include the word "blorb" in their sentences, often with multiple O's being used.
• The Toad that gets the blorbs at the beginning of the game appears much bigger than the other blorbed Toads seen throughout the game. However, when he later appears in the clinic, he is the same size as the other blorbed Toads in the room, potentially meaning that they initially bloat up larger than how they stay, or it could be simply a story inconsistency.