| “ | You'd think I'd be used to facing art and office supplies by now...but this one is SUPER scary! The barking! The biting! Those sharp, sharp staples! Hey, wait! Those staples must be why all of our folded friends can't unfold themselves... This thing must've bit them! It locked them into angry origami forms! BAD dog! Stay strong, Mario. This overgrown guard dog may be in the Legion of Stationery, but we can teach it to roll over! | „ |
| ~ Olivia theorizing that Stapler might be why the Folded Soldiers can't revert to their former selves. |
Stapler, also known as the Fanged Fastener, is the secondary antagonist of the 2020 role-playing game Paper Mario: The Origami King.
It is a member of King Olly's Legion of Stationery and the sixth and final member to battle Mario. It is a sentient black stapler that guards the Origami Castle as Olly's last line of defense, similarly to a guard dog.
Stapler has a black metallic body with staples in its mouth, allowing it to bind its victims with its "bite".
Biography[]
Stapler was once a regular stapler used by the Origami Craftman to make his origami. It and the rest of the Legion of Stationary were granted life by King Olly to serve as his minions.
Stapler is only briefly seen before its boss fight. At the beginning of the game, Stapler can be seen turning the Koopa Troop into Folded Soldiers in the basement of Peach's Castle, stapling them so they could not unfold themselves back to normal. Stapler also stapled Bowser into his weak folded form with its bite.
Near the end of the game when Mario and his friends raid the Origami Castle in their quest to confront and stop King Olly, he calls Stapler to deal with them in the room before his throne. Stapler attacks Mario using its staples, biting him twice to the ground. If not blocked, Mario is pinned down for an extra turn. Stapler can also charge an attack that makes it rapidly bite Mario, or shoot all of its remaining staples at him if further away, although it leaves him vulnerable for an extra turn as the guard dog needs to refill its staples. Stapler starts out with regular gray staples, making him deal mediocre damage, before shifting to red and later gold as it loses a third of its health, each dealing more damage than before.
Once he weakens Stapler enough, Mario can perform the 1,000 Fold-Arms technique to destroy Stapler by splitting its mouth wide enough to break. Upon Stapler's death, the staple restricting Bowser is destroyed, allowing him to unfold back to his normal form.
After Olivia's wish reverts her brother's actions, Stapler turns back into a regular stapler.
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Trivia[]
- In the cutscene following the battle, Stapler has its mouth fixed, regardless if Mario finishes it off by splitting its mouth with the 1,000 Fold-Arms technique.
- Stapler is the only member of the Legion of Stationery to not be guarding an origami streamer. It is also the only one that does not speak, instead having a dog-like personality.
- Stapler has one of the most violent deaths of any Super Mario character, being snapped in half (akin to being ripped in half).
- However, given it is a sentient stapler and not a living being like Bowser, this is softened somewhat, but it is still a brutal death regardless.
- Stapler resembles the Stapler Thing from Paper Mario: Sticker Star, although it is black instead of gray.
