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Wriggle Nightbug
リグル・ナイトバグ
(♫) Wriggle Nightbug | |
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Wriggle Nightbug in Imperishable Night A Bug of Light Wriggling in the DarkMore Character Titles | |
Species |
Firefly Youkai |
Abilities |
Manipulation of insects |
Music Themes | |
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Appearances | |
Official Games | |
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Print Works | |
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Wriggle Nightbug (リグル・ナイトバグ Riguru Naitobagu) is a firefly with the ability to control other insects. He likes using his ability to direct concerted performances for his own amusement, as well as to attack humans who underestimate his significance or the importance of insects in general.
General Information
Wriggle is classified as a firefly youkai, and he is one of the few male characters of the game; and his explained as having more survivability because humans are less likely to kill them. However, like other insects, she is weak to fire, cold, fumigation, and insect repellent. As an insect, he forgets about information that's no longer needed. He normally sticks around bushes, clumps of grass, and other places insects normally thrive.
Personality
Wriggle is quick to anger, and seems to take it personally when someone offends insects in any way. He is concerned about the decrease in the amount of insects lately, especially due to insecticide.
Occupation
At one point, Wriggle was in charge of an insect delivery service. However, during the span of time between Aya's article and her interview, she stopped, and forgot all about it.
Ability
- Ability to control insects
Wriggle's main talent is the ability to control insects. It's unclear if this power is limited to only certain insects, however. She is seen manipulating various types of fireflies, as well as moths (which her spellcard calls "butterflies"). When he gets serious, he's also able to summon a swarm of harvest mites that can cause deadly fever in humans. In Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, Akyu also describes her as being able to control caterpillars, spiders, crickets, and other insects, so it is likely the type of insect doesn't matter.
Character Design
Name
"Wriggle" comes from the English word, which is commonly used to refer to bugs moving along the ground. "Nightbug" is a portmanteau of "night" and "bug"; the meaning is clear, as she is a firefly.
Design
Wriggle has blue eyes, teal hair, and bug-like antennae. He wears a white shirt with stylized short sleeves, a black cape with red lining, which is shaped to resemble insect wings, and baggy blue knee-length shorts.
According to Hieda no Akyuu, her childlike appearance is a testament to the fact that insect youkai are no longer equal to oni and tengu in terms of inspiring fear.
Story
Games
During the events of Imperishable Night, Wriggle attacks the player characters, thinking they'd be easy targets. However, the pair fights Wriggle off without breaking a sweat.
Literature
Wriggle used his manipulation of insects in order to start an "Insects' News Service," which would send large numbers of bugs to make announcements and deliver messages for clients if they supplied plans and a specific time in advance. Wriggle organized the service with the intent of improving the social status of bugs, but soon got tired of it and stopped providing it.
When interviewed later, Wriggle does not remember the service, because insects discard information that is no longer in use.
Additional Information
- Wriggle's cape and infamous kick appear to reference sentai heroes such as Kamen Rider, who has an insect motif (a trait shared by many of his successors)
- According to an interview with ZUN, Wriggle could have made an appearance in Touhou Hisoutensoku, however, he was eliminated from consideration due to time constraints.[1]
Fandom
- Wriggle's appearance and name are both quite androgynous compared to other characters, so it used to be a point of some contention whether Wriggle was a male or female character before the release of full version, his wearing shorts certainly didn't help either.
- The full version's official profile declared that he is, in fact, female. However, with lack of male presence in the series he is sometimes portrayed as male in R-rated fan material, with both writer and readers being fully aware that he is officially a girl. Additionally, he is often made fun of in fan comics by being depicted as a crossdresser--either as a girl that dresses like a boy or actually being a boy who's just pretending to be a girl.
- Due to insects being near the very bottom of the food chain, Wriggle is sometimes portrayed as "food" in some fan comics. In particular, he is portrayed as food for Yamame Kurodani, a spider youkai, or for Mystia Lorelei, a night sparrow (who in turn is food for Yuyuko Saigyouji, a glutton).
- In fan works, he is often seen with other lower level, childish characters such as Cirno, Rumia, and Mystia.
- he is occasionally called or labelled as "G" (short for gokiburi, or cockroach). Another common nickname for Wriggle is 「りぐるん」 (Rigurin), or "Wrigglin", similar in style to "Yukarin" for "Yukari".
- Pairings of his with Yuuka have become common. This could be because bugs pollinate flowers, they have similar hairstyles, or maybe ANGELTYPE is to blame.
- The pairing's dynamic is either loving or S&M-based with Yuuka being the S.
- A few fan materials occasionally use a mother/daughter relationship, but this isn't too common compared to above, though he's rarely shown to be a mother figure for "Team 9" (a nickname for the Cirno, Rumia, Mystia and Wriggle group)
- In Imperishable Night, the player can go up to the top of the screen and focus to collect items without being at full power (the Magic Team doesn't even have to focus to do this). Inexperienced players are sometimes caught off guard in the middle of stage 1 while trying to collect point items, and lose a life when Wriggle makes his entrance from the top of the screen, colliding with the player. This sudden fly-in from Wriggle is sometimes referred to as the "Wriggle Kick" in the fandom, and is parodied in fanart and fangames such as Touhou Soccer and Touhoumon.
- In the multiplayer game "League of Legends," there is an item called "Wriggle's Lantern," which is named after Wriggle Nightbug. [2]
- On Pixiv, June 4 appears to be designated Wriggle day.
Spell Cards
Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Stage | ||
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Total: 11 | ||||||
蛍符「地上の流星」 | Firefly Sign "Meteors on Earth" | IN GoM |
St. 1: H — | |||
蛍符「地上の彗星」 | Firefly Sign "Comets on Earth" | IN | St. 1: L | |||
灯符「ファイアフライフェノメノン」 | Lamp Sign "Firefly Phenomenon" | IN | St. 1: E/N/H/L | |||
蠢符「リトルバグ」 | Wriggle Sign "Little Bug" | IN | St. 1: E | |||
蠢符「リトルバグストーム」 | Wriggle Sign "Little Bug Storm" | IN GoM |
St. 1: N — | |||
蠢符「ナイトバグストーム」 | Wriggle Sign "Night Bug Storm" | IN | St. 1: H | |||
蠢符「ナイトバグトルネード」 | Wriggle Sign "Nightbug Tornado" | IN | St. 1: L | |||
隠蟲「永夜蟄居」 | Hidden Bug "Endless Night Seclusion" | IN GoM |
St. 1: N/H/L — | |||
「季節外れのバタフライストーム」 | "Unseasonal Butterfly Storm" | IN | LW | |||
蛍符「地上の恒星」 | Firefly Sign "Fixed Stars on Earth" | StB | St. 1 | |||
蝶符「バタフライストーム」 | Butterfly Sign "Butterfly Storm" | StB | St. 1 |
Official Profiles
○1面ボス 闇に蠢く光の蟲 リグル・ナイトバグ 種族:妖蟲 1面ボスである。 彼女の周りには多くの虫が集まる。蛍は大量に集まっても明滅のタイミングがピッタリ揃うが、これは実は彼女の様な命令中枢が中に居るからである。 たかが虫、と思っていると大量の虫に襲われ、ひとたまりも無い。特に彼女を怒らせ本気を出させてしまうと、大量の恙虫を召喚され、人間は高熱を出して死ぬ。
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Stage 1 Boss, a Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark
Species: Youkai Insect Stage 1 Boss. Insects gather around her. Fireflies can perform their flashing with timed synchronization even in huge swarms, but that is actually because there is a commander like her within them. Those who carelessly regard her as a mere insect will be easy victims to the swarm of insects. When Wriggle is upset and serious, she summons a swarm of harvest mites which can cause deadly fever to humans.
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Official Sources
- 2004/04/18 Imperishable Night Demo - Stage 1 dialogue; おまけ.txt (pre-official profile)
- 2004/08/15 Imperishable Night - Stage 1 dialogue; キャラ設定.txt (official profile)
- 2005/08/11 Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red - Article and Interview: Wriggle
- 2005/12/30 Shoot the Bullet - Stage 1 Spell Card comments
- 2006/12/27 Perfect Memento in Strict Sense - A Bug of Light Wriggling in the Dark: Wriggle Nightbug
- 2008/08/22 Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth - Chapter 15
- 2009/07/28 The Grimoire of Marisa - Wriggle Nightbug's Spell Cards
- 2009/08/26 Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 4
- 2010/12/25 Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 12
References
- ↑ Nae Radio (September, 2009). "Interview on Nae Radio (September 2009)". Retrieved 2 September, 2011. Check date values in:
|accessdate=, |date=
(help) - ↑ http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Wriggle's_Lantern
This page is part of Project Characters, a Touhou Wiki project that aims to write proper descriptions for all official characters of Touhou Project. Please keep the character page guidelines in mind when contributing. |