Armored Mawdad

The Armored Mawdad is a massive, centipede-like beast with a multitude of small gecko-like legs, a large head, yellow eyes, a bluish-green underbelly, a gaping mouth, and large curved mandibles. The boss crawls about, trying to dodge attacks, and is able to climb up the sides of walls as a means of fleeing.

As its name implies, the Armored Mawdad cannot be damaged by most attacks. Its crystalline shell protects it from all attackers, and only Rock Pikmin can be used to destroy this shell. Each segment of the creature's body has its own piece of shell, and the pieces' ease of breaking corresponds to their size; the tail breaks fastest, and the head breaks slowest. When threatened, the Armored Mawdad will shake any attacking Pikmin from it and attempt to scurry up nearby walls.

Despite the Armored Mawdad's threatening size and appearance, its attacks are simple and easy to counter. The creature will charge and then snap its mandibles shut, trapping any Pikmin in front of it. It will consume its victims at a slow rate and can be stopped from eating any at all if enough Rock Pikmin are thrown at its shell, causing it to flinch. Moreover, its attacks can be made much easier to avoid if the Armored Mawdad's crystal mandibles are destroyed by Rock Pikmin.

Alph's comments

 * "Structural flaw: flesh beneath shell / Weight: 20 / It takes a small army of Rock Pikmin to make a dent in its reinforced crystal shell. Destroying the shell completely is slow going, since it burrows into the ground every time it comes down from the walls. It's too bad we didn't have the tools to adapt the pieces of its shell into armor for the S.S. Drake!"

Brittany's comments

 * "The crystal all over its body is one of the most beautiful things I've seen on this planet. How people would stare if I could make a space suit out of it! Though maybe they'd only be staring because I'd be in a translucent suit."

Charlie's comments

 * "I'm so proud of my crew for managing to take this beast down without me! It's especially impressive because they did it without my combat training or steely fists. It's good to know I set such an example for them to live up to!"

Louie's comments

 * "Best enjoyed fresh. If the legs aren't twitching when you put it on the grill, don't bother."

Olimar's comments

 * "It makes its home inside the hollow stumps of enormous trees. The name is derived from the hard shell covering its entire body. As it grows, it can only molt its shell by slamming into rock walls to shatter it before forming a new one. It has a voracious appetite and doesn't hesitate to eat anything that it sees. The contents of its stomach are often a surprise."

=In fanon games=

In Armored Mawdad Game
The player plays as an Armored Mawdad in Armored Mawdad Game.

In Pikmin 5: Adventure Awaits
In Pikmin 5: Adventure Awaits, the Armored Mawdad returns as a cyborg because, after the events of, the Armored Mawdad suffered a traumatic injury that result in a massive portion of his head missing. Some pieces of the creatures were irretrievable, so those parts had to be replaced with mechanical components.

In Pikmin E
The Armored Mawdad returns as the Shielded Mawdad in Pikmin E. It has the same attack patterns, minus dropping from the ceiling. It appears as a miniboss on the Distant Tundra's bonus day, and is fought to collect a white 100-pellet. It yields the name Shielded Mawdad due to having lost most of its protecting covering.

In Pikmin Reloaded
In Pikmin Reloaded, the Armored Mawdad is without its mechanical parts and is ready to fight again. The first Dark Pikmin controls it.

In Pikmin: Wide World
The Armored Mawdad appears in Pikmin: Wide World as the boss of Forgotten Mine, a cave located in Balmy Highlands. It is fought on the seventh and final sublevel. Once the Armored Mawdad's chamber is entered, a cutscene will begin. It shows, from the perspective of the chamber's center, Olimar, Shacho, Marie, and also Louie if he was saved from the Frosted Arcticlops, and their Pikmin walking into its chamber and looking around cautiously. A roar is then heard, and the camera pans out to show the Armored Mawdad on the wall above them. The leaders and their Pikmin scurry further into the arena, the Armored Mawdad dropping from the wall, blocking the room's only exit, and stopping just short of the group, which is now on the other side of the chamber, to roar again to further intimidate them. The battle then begins. The Armored Mawdad has the ability to crawl up the walls of its chamber to either flee from its attackers or find another position to attack from. Should its mandibles be intact, it may also trap Pikmin to more effectively eat them. While it climbs the walls of its arena, its position is indicated by the debris falling from above, although its movements can also be directly watched using the HocoPad's camera function. Periodically, the Armored Mawdad will charge at leaders and Pikmin, trapping them if its mandibles are intact, and slowly feeding on them if it is not interrupted from doing so by damaging it or its armor segments. Leaders the Armored Mawdad bites into will be chewed up, and then spat out alongside any Pikmin in its mouth at the time.

The creature itself is a large, long, centipede-like creature with multiple pairs of legs. Its body is primarily blue and bumpy, but its underside is smooth and yellow. Its head is the largest part of its body. Connected to the Armored Mawdad's head is a pair of curved crystal mandibles that open and close at the creature's will, and can trap those they close around. Covering its body are crystal plates that are gray, transparent, and destructible, much like its mandibles. The Armored Mawdad has a pair of thin, orange lips, two rows of small jagged teeth on either of its jaws, a red mouth, and a large, flat, pink, forked tongue. Its somewhat large eyes have round, black pupils, orange irises, and yellow sclerae. Interestingly, the armor covering its tail is very elaborate, but its tail is flat and circular.

Because of the Armored Mawdad's crystal armor, using Rock Pikmin, Purple Pikmin, rocks, or normal bomb rocks is necessary to reach the tender flesh underneath and inflict damage to the creature. Rock Pikmin and rocks can simply be thrown at the Armored Mawdad to either crack and break its armor or harm it directly, but rocks will instantly shatter a portion of its crystal armor plating in one hit. Purple Pikmin can be thrown directly over the creature to pound on its body, inflicting damage as well as cracking or destroying any pieces of armor the Pikmin may have struck on impact. The use of normal bomb rocks is arguably the most devastating, as just one bomb rock can damage or destroy several sections of its armor and inflict considerable damage to the Armored Mawdad itself. Using Pikmin that can cling onto what they are hitting, such as Red Pikmin, is recommended, as they will continue harming the Armored Mawdad's exposed flesh even while the creature climbs around the walls of its arena. Although its eyes are somewhat large, throwing Pikmin at them will have no effect besides further aggravating the creature, regardless of if the eyes are squinted or wide open. Upon death, the Armored Mawdad will yield. Its body can be taken to the Lander Pod to either gain or be stored to later gain forty Pikmin seeds from the Master Onion, but only if the cave is exited using an escape geyser.

Olimar's notes

 * "It has adhesive pads under its feet that allow it to scale walls with ease, although it is unable to maneuver across ceilings without falling off. It protects itself by exuding a substance that eventually hardens into a crystalline solid. These shells cannot easily be shed, and so, an armored mawdad must somehow shatter portions of its armor plating to be able to molt and grow comfortably. Any creature smaller than itself that wanders into its secluded territory will be ambushed and then promptly, and usually messily, devoured. Its curved, yet destructible, mandibles ensure there will be no escape for weak prey."

Shacho's notes

 * "The hide covering this beast's body could be good for a fancy blue leather couch. Something could also be made of the crystal covering its body..."

Marie's notes

 * "Even after befriending an armored mawdad, there's still a high probability of it eating you. I wouldn't recommend having one as a pet. Licks from its tongue leave everything coated in gross slobber... Not to mention, its sheer size prevents it from getting necessary exercise in a typical Hocotation home."

Louie's notes

 * "I said it in my other notes for this beast, and I'll say it again: it's best enjoyed fresh. Slay and get cooking, because those legs won't twitch forever."

Dolphin Lander's notes

 * "By what I've seen of the armored mawdad's behavior, it doesn't seem as ferocious as it makes itself out to be. It flees when harmed and only seems to attack to defend itself or its territory. Really, it seems to prefer being left alone."