Squirm

Stats

Extraction Speed

5

Hearts

Heart

Movement Speed

3

Skill Check

3

Stamina

2

Stealth

2

Active Ability

Hold down your ability to eat books, gaining 100% extraction speed for 10 seconds. Proximity to a bookshelf makes this Toon's cooldown recover twice as fast. Cooldown of 80.

Unlock

50% Research on; Own 3+ Titles; 3000 Ichor

Appearance

Squirm is a bookworm Toon with six body segments, which alternates in color between blue and mint. He features antennae on top of his head, which are also colored mint. The second segment of his body is shaped like a dewlap, while the third, fourth, and fifth segments of his body have a pair of limbs. His limbs are a greenish-yellowish color, the same color as the heart shaped part of his face. He also has three dark green freckles on his cheeks and droopy eyes, often with a squiggly frown on his face. His design is very caterpillar like, which leads him to believing he is one himself.

Personality

Squirm can be described as pessimistic, anxious, and openly self-deprecating. He can be seen as immature, though in a much more saddening way, compared to most other Toons' spirited or composed attitudes. He has persistent anxiety which can go as far to the point of even screaming and/or crying if he gets very emotional, expressed by his tendency to sniffle a lot during his elevator interactions with other Toons and his own dialogues when descending to another Floor. He's also known to get awkward at moments, like when he gets a hug from, or invited to scrapbook with. As seen by his interaction with, Squirm describes himself as "useless", nearing tears most of the time when he gets even slightly upset and even agrees with in their dialogue together when Shrimpo berates him. It's also notable that he has an appetite for books, which could be the reason he is banned from 's book club (mentioned in their dialogue), and also that eating books is his coping mechanism. Squirm is also extremely sensitive, especially to inadvertent insults; shown in his conversation with. Aside from the surface, he appears to have a crisis involving his identity, as seen in his interaction with and 's Gossip about him. He sees himself as a caterpillar, with Flutter being implied to agree with this (likely due to her also being an insect from the order), however he was assigned as a bookworm by, believing that a "bookworm" is a type of worm rather than larvae. Shrimpo additionally insults him for not looking like a worm, which seems to only amplify his identity conflict.

Requirement Strategies

For the first requirement, you need to walk under and get caught by him to obtain Research. Playing as also helps getting it faster because of his Passive Ability. This will be easier if Twisted Squirm is on the Daily Twisted Board. For the second requirement, you will need to complete 3 Achievements and redeem its Medal in order to get its Title. It is recommended to get 3 of any Bronze Achievements as they are the easiest to get. For the third requirement, focus on picking up Research Capsules and extracting Machines. The Machine and Capsule count increases the further you descend, so you can earn more.

Strategies

Squirm is considerably one of the best non- and non-Event extractors in the game, having 5 Extraction Speed alongside an average 3 Star in Skill Check. With his Active Ability, Squirm can be considered the best extractor in the game. His Ability significantly increases the speed he completes a Machine (doubling his Extraction Speed), making the usual 23.68 second of Machine completion time go down to 19.69. While this makes him the fastest extractor in the game, do note it has a cooldown, hence why a Squirm player should likely stay close to bookshelves around the map, as they make his cooldown deplete twice as fast. This also means he has advantages in certain maps, specifically the Library Floor or Rainbow Rooms. However, maps with less bookshelves, especially the Diner Floors and Sprout's Floor (which have none), can be less beneficial for Squirm. However, do not waste your time finding and idling next to bookshelves if you don't see the need to do so. By default you’d have to idle by a bookshelf for 40 seconds to fully reduce his cooldown, with one/both cooldown reducing cards you’d have to idle for 37.5/35 seconds respectively. Thus, try to stick by bookshelves for only a fraction of that time, unless all other Machines are currently being extracted. Generally, only idle by bookshelves if you are sure your team has a Machine left for you, and even so, Squirm's normal Extraction Speed is still more than fine.

Patch history

The word Squirm means to wriggle the body side-to-side, referencing Squirm being a worm-like animal. Additionally, in some definitions, the wriggling comes from nervousness, discomfort, or mostly any negative emotions, something that likely references Squirm's distressed personality. The word 'Worm' could be heard when pronouncing Squirm, something that, again, parallels with Squirm being a book worm. Squirm is the first Toon to be released in 2026. Squirm is the first Toon to cry in his dialogues, and the first character to do so overall. Although Dazzle appears to be crying, it is more than likely either makeup or a natural part of his appearance. Despite looking like a caterpillar, which is a part of a 's life cycle, Squirm is in fact a book worm, not related to and, and is an adult. Interestingly, his Twisted counterpart can be seen inside of a cocoon, which is the third stage of a lepidoptera's life cycle. The term "book worm" is a metaphor/umbrella term for insects or larva that eat/damage books (or less commonly, wood in general), including certain moth caterpillars. Thus, it is possible that he is in fact a caterpillar, or of a moth specifically. In his interaction with Flutter and 's Gossip about him, it might be implied Squirm is actually a caterpillar or just believes that he is one, despite being told by Arthur that he is a book worm, meaning he's probably one in name only. Squirm is the first Toon to receive their first Stickers that were not made by Qwel, instead made by Ramblesnake.