Cactaur

The name Cactuar is the western localization of the original Japanese Sabotender, a portmanteau of "Saboten Pretender", "saboten" meaning "cactus" in Japanese.

Description

The Cactuar are a race of creatures that physically resemble cacti and are typically depicted in a distinct running pose with stiff arms and legs, three black dots on their faces (representing two eyes and an oblong mouth) and three yellow quills at the top of their heads. There is sometimes a giant variety of Cactuar, the "jumbo" cactaur, that displays a characteristic mustache.They bear a resemblance to Japanese clay figures called "Haniwa", a type of clay figures made for ritual and funerary uses.

Attack
Cactuar is known for its characteristic "1,000 Needles" attack, which is able to bypass an opponent's defense stat and always deals exactly 1,000 points of damage. Cactuars are usually worth a substantial amount of currency, experience points, ability points (there are a lot of variations) or a special item and have generally low HP, but their high evasion and defense stats and tendency to flee make them difficult prey.

"Jumbo Cactuars" as they are called also have a "10,000 Needles" attack which has the effect of causing instant death being one point higher than a character's maximum possible Hit Points.

Another variant of the attack is basically "1000 Needles" ten times consecutively, to multiple targets. This variant is especially deadly, as it can decimate an already weakened party, and, when done effectively, can even take out fairly high level party members.

A special thanks to wikipedia, the makers of final fantasy, and to RyoRyo of Deviantart for this great image!

This entry is ridiculously short--please help contribute interesting facts such as what cactuars like to do, what they eat, etc.