Grubba

Grubba appeared in 2004 video game called Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Grubba is a Spike wrestling manager and fight promoter at the Glitz Pit and a major character in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. A champion wrestler and martial artist in his younger days, Grubba retired as a fighter to become Glitzville's famous fight promoter when he meets Mario; he claims to be past his prime, yet Bandy Andy observes him to be in good shape in spite of his years. Initially presented as an uninvolved third party in Mario's battle with the X-Nauts for the Crystal Stars, Mario eventually discovers that Grubba possesses the Gold Star, and had been using it to drain other fighters of their strength. Grubba is then revealed as a callous egotist underneath, and Mario fights his enhanced alter-ego, Macho Grubba, as the boss of the game's third chapter.

Though he is a Spike, Grubba does not have all of the normal physical features of one; rather, he bears a slight resemblance to Tubba Blubba from the original Paper Mario. Unlike most Spikes, whose skin is green, Grubba has a pale blue shade of skin. His shell is orchid in color, with a yellow rim and is hair is a fiery orange color; these features too are unlike Clubbas, which bears whitish-colored hair and different colored shells. Grubba's lips are very large and orange in color. He is also the only Spike ever seen to wear clothes.

Grubba creates a good-natured facade to mask and distract his concealed motivations that benefit himself at the expense of others. While on public and promoting the Glitz Pit, Grubba shows his public image: friendly and passionate about his life's work. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door hints that Grubba's obsession with his image develops as a result of his fame. Originally, he has not cared about glitz and glamour, though later in life, Grubba feels nostalgic about what he once was and wants to relive those days, despite the costs. Despite this emotional transformation, Grubba retains an air of good sportsmanship throughout his life. Grubba encourages his fighters and did not mask his excitement for rising stars such as Mario. Even as he lay defeated, he commends Mario for a good fight. Due to the unethical use of the power-draining machine, this causes Grubba to keep the usage a secret and he uses the machine to his advantage to continue keeping it concealed. As Goombella realizes as soon as she met Grubba, he is a "super-greasy smooth talker" and not necessarily trustworthy, even while he maintains his facade. The text in the dialogue box hints at his possessing a heavy southern accent.

Grubba also has a tendency to gossip or possibly make trash talking comments that he attributes to other fighters even if they never actually said such a thing.

Powers and Abilities
When he was younger, Grubba claimed to have had many powerful moves, some of which were made illegal after he used them. However, by the time he encounters Mario, Grubba has lost his ability to fight without the aid of his machine. To fight his enemies, Grubba is forced to use the machine to transform into Macho Grubba. In that form, he has many attacks.