Pennington
| Pennington | |
|---|---|
 Sprite fromPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) | |
| Species | Bumpty |
| First appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004) |
| Latest appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024) |
- “Now,Luigi! We will reduce this case to rudimentary facts and deduce the truth!”
- —Pennington,Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pennington (or, as he prefers to be called,The Penguin With the Improbably Large Brain) is apenguin detective fromPoshley Heights inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.Mario first meets Pennington on theExcess Express, where he takes Mario (whom he mistakenly refers to asLuigi) under his wing. Pennington and Mario must solve the many mysteries that occur on the train. Of course, Mario solves all the mysteries with no help from Pennington, who often takes the credit for solving them and treats Mario as an apprentice. Appearing on the Express, he assumes a role in Chapter 6 which parallels that ofHercule Poirot, a famous Belgian detective and main character from the English novelMurder on the Orient Express. His mannerisms, however, are more reflective ofSherlock Holmes. His catchphrase, "Rudimentary," is a nod to Holmes's "Elementary." Pennington is likely an amalgamation of the two.
He is similar to thepenguin patrol fromPaper Mario.
History[edit]
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[edit]
During the ride on the Excess Express, if Mario talks to Pennington before warning the conductor about the sticky yummy threat, he says that he is on his way back home. After the Stew Pot is stolen, Pennington gathers the train passengers to find the thief, and assumes that Mario was the suspect. Pennington then has Mario find the real thief to prove his innocence, which turns out to beHeff T. who stole it because he was hungry. Pennington congratulates Mario, and begins to work with him to find out who left the threat about a sticky yummy doom.
On the second day, the culprit is revealed to be aZip Toad imposter, whom Pennington takes into custody. However, after escorting him off the train atRiverside Station, the imposter is revealed to beDoopliss who reverts back to his normal form and escapes from Pennington.
On the third day, Pennington is among the passengers who are absorbed into a hoard ofSmorgs that attack the train. He is eventually freed when Mario defeats the Smorgs, causing them to blow away in the wind. After the Excess Express arrives in Poshley Heights, Mario heads toPoshley Sanctum for theGarnet Star. However, the sanctum curator is unavailable and the entrance is locked. Though this is to Mario's dismay, Pennington soon arrives and unlocks the door, revealing that his real profession is being the manager of the sanctum, and being a detective is just his hobby.
Although he is the curator of the sanctum, he does not know where the Garnet Star is located. The only item on display is a replica of the Garnet Star (which Pennington calls a "red herring"), probably to protect the real star from falling into the wrong hands. This red herring is taken by theThree Shadows, although after Mario retrieves the real Garnet Star, Pennington allows him to take it and puts another fake on display. Upon talking to him afterward, he privately says "so that's where it's located" and then promptly cover himself by saying he was doing thinking games, implying that while he knew the Garnet Star was hidden within the sanctum, even he was unaware of its precise location.
WhenBowser andKammy Koopa go to the Poshley Sanctum to steal the Garnet Star, Pennington catches them and informs them that what they have is a red herring, and that he gave the real one to "Luigi". After Bowser and Kammy depart to ambush Mario in thePalace of Shadow, Pennington commends Mario for his efforts.
When everybody is cheering Mario on when he is fighting theShadow Queen,Goldbob, his family, andToodles are shown cheering him on, and they call him both "Gonzales" (Mario'sGlitz Pit pseudonym that some of them knew him exclusively by) and his actual name, which causes Pennington to be surprised and ask if it is Mario or Gonzales, and if it is not Luigi. When he cheers Mario on, he says, "Go Luigi...err...Mario?". Even after Mario beats the Shadow Queen and returns to Poshley Sanctum, he first calls Mario "Luigi" again but quickly corrects himself.
In the original game's end creditsparade, Pennington's silhouette can be seen with the Poshley Heights characters. In the remake,Toodles,Chef Shimi, theExcess Express waitress,Zip Toad,Heff T., and thebusinessman follow behind Pennington as he investigates the stage.Ghost T. then appears and scares them, resulting in them all fleeing in horror as Ghost T. ascends into a bright light.
Super Paper Mario[edit]
InSuper Paper Mario, a plush doll of Pennington appears insideFort Francis.
Super Mario-kun[edit]
This section is astub. Please considerexpanding it to include any missing information.Specifics: Summary of what he does
Pennington appears in volume 34 ofSuper Mario-kun on the Excess Express.
Tattle[edit]
- Excess Express
- "That's Pennington, a train passenger. He SAYS he's a detective, but I don't know... I mean, why do detective types ALWAYS show up when something goes wrong, huh?"
- Riverside Station
- "That's Pennington, a train passenger. He SAYS he's a detective, but I don't know... Not to be, y'know, totally catty, but what kind of detective LOSES a suspect?"
- Poshley Heights/Poshley Sanctum
- "That's Pennington. I guess sleuthing is just his hobby. He's the sanctum-keeper. I knew that detective bit was fishy... but I guess a little sleuthing on the side is OK..."
- In the Nintendo Switch version, "sanctum-keeper" is spelled as "sanctum keeper".
Gallery[edit]
Original sprite
Concept art of theExcess Express passengers
Names in other languages[edit]
Pennington[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ポワン[1] Powan | Derived from "Hercule Poirot" (transcribed into Japanese as「ポアロ」or「ポワロ」) and possibly "penguin" | |
| Chinese | 布旺[?] Bùwàng | Transliteration of the Japanese name | |
| Dutch | Quinpin[?] | Derived frompinguïn ("penguin") and Dutch given name "Quinten" | |
| French | Pingrot[?] | Comes frompingouin ("penguin") and "Poirot" | |
| German | Inspektor Ping[?] | First syllable ofpinguin ("penguin") | |
| Italian | Holmut[?] | Pun on "Holmes" and possibly "Poirot" or "Helmut" | |
| Korean | 포완[?] Powan | From the Japanese name | |
| Spanish | Holmot[?] | Possibly a portmanteau of Holmes (fromSherlock Holmes) and Poirot (from Hercule Poirot) |
The Penguin with The Improbably Large Brain[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ピンク Pinku-iro no Zunō o Motsu Otoko | The Man with the Pink Brain | |
| Chinese(Simplified) | 拥有粉红色头脑的男人[?] Yǒngyǒu Fěnhóng sè Tóunǎo de Nánrén | The Man with the Pink Brain | |
| Chinese(Traditional) | 擁有粉紅色頭腦的男人[?] Yǒngyǒu Fěnhóng sè Tóunǎo de Nánrén | The Man with the Pink Brain | |
| Dutch | De IJskoude Detective[?] | The Ice Cold Detective | |
| French | Pingouin à la cervelle rose[?] | Penguin with a pink brain | |
| German | Mann mit dem Superhirn[?] | Man with the Superbrain | |
| Italian | L'uomo dalle piccole cellule rosa[?] | The man with the little pink brain cells | original |
| Il pinguino dalle piccole cellule rosa[?] | The penguin with the little pink brain cells | remake | |
| Korean | 분홍색 뇌세포를 가진 사나이[?] Bunhongsaeg Noesepoleul gajin Sanai | The Man with Pink Brain Cells | |
| Spanish | Detective de las pequeñas células rosas[?] | Detective with the little pink brain cells |
Notes[edit]
- In languages other than English, German, and Dutch, Pennington's name is a pun on Hercule Poirot, reflecting his parallels to the detective and his role inMurder on the Orient Express. Pennington's title in these languages refers to his "pink brain" or "little pink brain cells", which is a joke on how Poirot often refers to his "little grey cells", orgrey matter.
- Whenever Pennington says the word "Luigi," it appears in green text, as previously seen in theMario & Luigi series, where Luigi's andBaby Luigi's names and nicknames are almost always written in green. In the Nintendo Switch remake, a voice clip from Luigi is heard when Pennington first identifies Mario as Luigi.
- A test enemy in the code of the originalPaper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is named "Pennington," though its graphic uses aToad's body with aNibbles on the head, which has no apparent relation to Pennington.[2]
References[edit]
- ^Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door From Japanese to English.The Mushroom Kingdom. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
- ^PistonMiner (May 20, 2024).Paper Mario: TTYD - "Pennington".YouTube. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
