Hobart Grapplehammer

Hobart Grapplehammer is a famous goblin inventor of the Bilgewater Cartel.

History
He is first seen in the KTC Headquarters on Kezan experimenting with new products. When the place is destroyed by the volcano he escapes with the rest of the survivors to the Lost Isles and then is later found at the Southern Rocketway Terminus in Azshara.

He will not offer his quests until the player has completed Befriending Giants and is eligible for Azsharite Experiment Number One. He will then solicit the player's help. Hobart is also one of the dozens of past NPC's encountered by adventurers to assist in killing the elementals at Sethria's Roost.

During the Burning Legion's third invasion, he traveled to Dalaran where he sold engineering supplies. To fight the demons, he made a lot of guns. However, since Azeroth's heroes were finding artifacts all over the world, his weapons become useless, so he decided to get rid of them. As such, he supplied Fargo Flintlocke with guns and ammo. Later, he tried to turn guns into useful tools, creating a gun that shot bandages. He continued working with Fargo, sending him to Stormheim for some materials for his new type of wormhole generator.

Later, Hobart sent Fargo to test his new gunshoes and gunpacks to Azsuna. The dwarf wasn't very satisfied with the inventions as they kept exploding. Subsequently, he requested the Runestone of Vitality from Odyn and used its power on a pile of gun parts. He intended to mass-market the gun parts as toys for children.

Battle for Azeroth
During the Fourth War, Hobart was a part of the Horde's forces in Drustvar. After Krazzlefrazz Outpost was established, Hobart joined the Horde adventurer's team as an engineer. He accompanied the Horde into the Great Sea on the Banshee's Wail, and provided the Speaker of the Horde with a diving helmet to withstand the water pressure, instructions to use the said helmet, and communicate with them as they carried out their mission to acquire the body of Marshal M. Valentine. However, the Banshee's Wail was infiltrated by the Alliance champion, forcing Hobart to put on his mechanical suit, ready to knock the invader off the ship. Subsequently, WIldhammer Gryphon Riders were seen throwing lightning hammers at him.

Unaware of the Alliance attack, the Speaker killed the wildlife to help charge the communication network within the helmet, and while the Alliance was driven back. With communication secured, Hobart ordered the Speaker to kill the undead dragon Daenistrasz in order to claim Valentine's body. With the dragon slain, Hobart ordered the Speaker to return to the Banshee's Wail with Valentine's body and anything else of value. Thus, the Speaker discovered and brought the body of Derek Proudmoore to the ship as well.

After this, Hobart appeared in Plunder Harbor in Tiragarde Sound with his flying machine. He can also be seen in the Motherlode.

Unlike his fellow champion Rexxar, Hobart sat out the conflict between Varok Saurfang and Sylvanas Windrunner.

Goblins exalted with the Bilgewater Cartel were later sent to deliver a Mysterious Package to Hobart Grapplehammer only to discover that Trade Prince Gallywix has not only used forgery to get Hobart under contract but has managed to buy all of Crapopolis within the Motherlode. Upon discovering that Hobart had no intention of giving him the X-52 Personnel Armor, Gallywix and Hired Scoundrels attacked Hobart's workshop only to be driven back. Despite this minor setback, Gallywix returned with greater numbers and took Hobart prisoner, with the intention of claiming the armor as his own. However, Hobart stubbornly refused to yield to Gallywix to the point of giving the X-52 Personnel Armor to Gallywix's old rival. The resulting fight between old rivals ended with Gallywix trapped his own armor and forced to renegotiate his contract with Hobart, whose shacking him down actually impressed the Trade Prince.

By the time of the formation of the Horde Council, Gallywix had left the Horde and the Bilgewater Cartel, and it is unknown how this affected Hobart's contract with him.

Inventions
Hobart Grapplehammer claims to be the genius behind many products brought to the Kajaro Trading Company, such as Kaja'Cola, the Poultryizer, Town-In-A-Box, Lab-In-A-Box, the Ingenious Cap of Mook Foolery, KTC Train-a-Tron Deluxe, the Amazing G-Ray, Never-Deflating Pool Ponies, The Big Ones, Warrior-Matic NX-01, and the gilgoblins.

Before the eruption of Mount Kajaro, Hobart was working on two new projects, the Micro Mechachicken and Subject Nine. While on the Lost Isles he designed and built the greatest fighting submersible of all time, the Mechashark X-Steam.

Along with Jastor Gallywix, Hobart developed a massive bomb out of azsharite that would later be used on Thal'darah Grove in Stonetalon Mountains. In Drustvar he created the Wolfercycle, though it quickly crashed.

Other items belonging to Hobard include Hobart's Ingenious Cap of Mook Foolery, Hobart's Prototype Gunshoes, and Hobart's Spare Hubcap.

Veracity of his inventions
He's been advised not to claim he created the gilgoblins by his counsel, due to a negligence case brought up over them. It was also later revealed by Lenu Gillbrack that Hobart's claims of inventing them was a lie. In fact, it seems he may not have been forthright about his "inventions" and is possible he didn't create some of them.

Abilities

 * Great Sea

Sells

 * In the Motherlode

Quests



 * The Lost Isles
 * Hobart Needs You
 * Cluster Cluck
 * Invasion Imminent!
 * The Biggest Egg Ever (quest)
 * Who's Top of the Food Chain Now?
 * A Goblin in Shark's Clothing
 * Rocket Boot Boost
 * Children of a Turtle God
 * Volcanoth!
 * Escape Velocity


 * Azshara
 * The Terrible Tinkers of the Ruined Reaches
 * A Hello to Arms


 * Dalaran
 * Aww Scrap!
 * Resupplying the Line
 * Fire and Forget
 * It's Not Rocket Science
 * Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey
 * 'Locke, Stock and Barrel
 * 'Locke and Load
 * Halls of Valor: Trigger Happy
 * Court of Stars: Revamping the Recoil
 * Time for a Recharge
 * Boon of the Builder (quest)
 * A Harsh Mistress

Quotes

 * Kezan
 * Good to see you, !
 * I just wanted to make sure that you appreciate all of the products that my genius has brought to the Kajaro Trading Company?
 * These include, but are not limited to: Kaja'Cola, the Poultryizer, Town-In-A-Box, my Ingenious Cap of Mook Foolery, KTC Train-a-Tron Deluxe, the Amazing G-Ray, Never-Deflating Pool Ponies, the Big Ones, Warrior-Matic NX-01, and gilgoblins. No strike that last one. Under advice of counsel, I had nothing to do with them.
 * Anyway, I'm working on a few more things here that I think you'll find interesting, such as the Micro Mechachicken and a little something I like to call Subject Nine.


 * Kezan, experimenting on the Micro Mechachicken event
 * yell
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * emote
 * say
 * say
 * emote
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * emote
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * The micro mechachicken begins to grow and Greely starts sneaking away from the machine.
 * say
 * say
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * The micro mechachicken quickly shrinks back to normal.
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * The micro mechachicken flies off into the air and explodes.
 * say
 * emote
 * say
 * say
 * say


 * Kezan, while the volcano is erupting
 * ?! What are you still doing here?
 * You have to get off of the island, or better yet, into one of my Town-In-A-Boxes!
 * Don't wait too long, my ! The Cataclysm is upon us!

These exhanges happen in random order.
 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * yell
 * say


 * After completing The Biggest Egg Ever (quest)
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * The Poultryizer explodes.
 * yell


 * Town-In-A-Box
 * My genius cannot be contained within a box!
 * Wait, this isn't Azshara?! What is this place? That's a dormant volcano!
 * I have half a mind to join the Trade Prince! The other half of my mind is considering the possible weaponization of the clucker eggs!


 * Azshara
 * say

For dialog with Assistant Greely before takeoff to Twilight Skies, look here.

Legion

 * Gossip
 * I notice you're not wearing any earrings. Could I interest you in a pair of bolt-action carbine hoops?  They're not very rusty!
 * This Oshenko fella' is always using "screwdrivers" on his screws. Hasn't he ever heard of a hammer?
 * I haven't exploded anybody yet today. It's a good day!
 * Hmm... you didn't see any nuclear bombs on your way in, did you? No?  Alright, I'll keep looking.




 * Entering the shop
 * say
 * say


 * Argus appears
 * say
 * say
 * say

Battle for Azeroth
Anything worth having is worth fitting inside of a box.
 * The Banshee's Wail

Except people, of course! Can't put in a box, right?



Anyway, I'm just making a few adjustments here. I'll get this suit back up and running in no time... with a few explosive improvements!

Oh, hey. What's shakin'?
 * Great Sea

Visions of N'Zoth

 * Greetings
 * A new assistant! Excellent!
 * Do you have a question?
 * Speak up!
 * Yes, what is it?


 * Farewell
 * Ambition is the mother of invention.
 * Back to the drawing board!
 * Run along now.
 * We have field tests to conduct!

In Hearthstone
Hobart appears as HS Hobart Grapplehammer (a legendary card) for the warrior class in the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan for Hearthstone. In Hearthstone lore, he has apparently joined up with the Grimy Goons to serve as a weapon inventor and supplier. His flavor text reads: "Grapplehammer is the horrible mind behind the Automatic HS Piranha Launcher (banned in 7 districts)!"

Trivia

 * He was originally planned to appear in Warlords of Draenor.
 * In the Battle for Azeroth beta, Gazlowe was a champion, but he was replaced with Hobart in a later build.
 * Hobart's appearance has changed several times over the years:
 * When first added in Cataclysm, Hobart wore a distinctive blue and white outfit with a cloak and simple goggles, an appearance he retained in Legion.
 * Hobart's Hearthstone art does not resemble the aforementioned model at all, with mutton chops, a different hair color and style, different colored goggles, no nose ring, and different clothes.
 * Hobart's Battle for Azeroth appearances initially depicted him with a different outfit in the form of brown leather armor and slightly different goggles, but still retained the same physical appearance as his previous World of Warcraft model.
 * With the launch of patch 8.3, all of Hobart's existing appearances were replaced with a new model more closely resembling his Hearthstone art. His outfit was replaced with a simple tuxedo and more elaborate goggles, and most of his physical features were changed as well: his hair style, hair color, skin color, and nose and ear shape were all altered, and his nose ring was removed.
 * Hobart might be a reference to American theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "Father of the Atomic Bomb". Hobart shares a similar name and deals with large doomsday bombs.