Line #65 Headscratchers/Mother3


1	* Oh, an empty Mother 3 page... Well, something that bugs me in this game... Claus. Not Claus as in, "himself", but the ''OTHER'' [[DummiedOut Claus(es).]] He just... bugs me. [[NightmareFuel ...In my sleep, too!]] Will we ever find out what he was really supposed to do in the game?
2	** I'm assuming you're talking about the Claus backgrounds. A good theory out there is they're supposed to represent Claus' [and Lucas's] current mood in the fight. Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbvvbgVC1U
3
4	* How do you pronounce Claus, anyway? Chuggaaconroy says it Cl-ow-s, but the handbook makes a pun - Claus for concern.
5	** You can pronounce it either the German way (Cl-ow-s) or the French way (Clow), whichever tickles your fancy. Both are canon. Same with Lucas' name, you can leave off the s if you want.
6	** Nintendo spelled his name as Klaus in Lucas' Brawl trophy so it could be "claws."
7	** The original Japanese is クラウス, which is pronounced like Chuggaaconroy does.
8
9	* Why did Locria (or Fassad) help the Pigmasks get the needles? He should have known he would have faded away if his needle was pulled like the other Magypsies. So did he have a death wish?
10	** "If I'm going to disappear, I'm [[TakingYouWithMe taking the world with me]]."
11	** The other Magypsies aren't troubled at all by the prospect of fading away. Why would Locria be any different?
12	** We don't know the reason for his FaceHeelTurn, but it's entirely possible that it made him want to ruin and destroy the world. Perhaps he's a StrawNihilist who thinks the world is so awful that it doesn't deserve to exist. Either way, he's plainly willing to die to achieve his goals.
13
14	* If the Masked Man pulled more Needles than Lucas, NOTHING. WOULD HAVE. HAPPENED! When Ionia was explaining the story to Lucas, s/he said that legend told that if someone with a heart of evil pulled the needles, the heart would be passed on to the Dragon to satisfy wicked ambition. But, as Ionia pointed out in the very same scene, the one who pulled the Needle HAD NO HEART AT ALL.
15	** Pretty sure the implication was that if the Masked Man pulled more needles, his lack of soul would be reflected in the dragon, meaning that the dragon, and with it the world, would blip out of existence. A heart of good or evil could control the dragon and make it do their bidding, but no heart at all would create a destructive void that may very well take the universe with it. [[spoiler: Porky knew this, and that's why he set up the unique conditions of making the Masked Man in the first place]]
16	*** Yes, WordOfGod confirmed this.
17	*** This troper wonders...Claus obviously still had a heart, otherwise Mother 3 would have ended with Lucas getting killed by the Masked Man. Perhaps the Dragon would be able to sense the heart that the others couldn't?
18	*** ''Claus'' had a heart. The Masked Man didn't. They aren't saying the Masked Man literally has no heart, he's just been brain washed into being Porky's slave without any free will of his own. He was literally just a robot that used to be Human. And since Claus in this state had his original personality completely pushed down and nearly erased, Claus's heart/soul would be undetectable by the dragon, and the lack of soul would be reflected in the Dragon and result in the destruction of the world. Between [[spoiler:Lucas and Hinawa's ghost's efforts, he regained lucidity and killed himself; it could've been because his break from mind control wasn't temporary or because he felt the guilt of his actions, or even because he wanted to join Hinawa in death. Regardless, he made it so Lucas was the only one who could pull it at that point, instead of someone like him he had lost his own sense of self for years.]]
19
20	* How old is Kumatora again? No-one I know seems to agree, with the only estimate being 'somewhere between Lucas and Duster'.
21	** The debug mode lists her as a kid (Pre-Timeskip) and adolescent (Post-Timeskip). So she's not an adult.
22	** Well, if she's an adolescent, then how is it that she gets to work at Club Titiboo, but Lucas can't get in because he's "Underage"?
23	** She could be just barely of age.
24	** She's about Adolescent Lucas's height even when she's a "Kid" pre-timeskip, so it's safe to say she's at least 12 or older if we can assume Lucas post time skip is around the same age as Ness and Ninten in their games. And given that she could just barely be of age to work at Club Titiboo, it's likely that Pre-Timeskip she was 14, and Post-Timeskip she's 17. Would definitely fit pretty well in the age gap between Lucas and Duster, given Duster seems to be at least in his 20s.
25	*** Girls have a habit of developing more extremely than boys within the same overall age range. And there's nothing saying that Kuma couldn't have just lied a bit about her age if the club had the limit for employment at say 15 ([[https://www.quora.com/How-old-do-you-have-to-be-to-work-as-a-hostess-in-Japan which is the minimum for Japanese law to be employed]]). Japanese hostess bars follow the rule of not allowing employment unless you're at least 18, but considering how NPC's shown as a Crapsack World (meaning the club might not have such a rule nor enforce it strongly) and Kumatora coming off as a Bratty Teenage Daughter to the Magypsies she can certainly be no older than 15 post-timeskip with Lucas 12/13.
26
27	* Why oh why did the good people of Tazmily feel the need to bury Hinawa IMMEDIATELY, while Flint was in jail? I mean, how long was he going to be in there- two, three days tops? They just couldn't ''possibly'' put it off long enough for the poor guy to attend his own wife's funeral?
28	** Because the sooner they got it out of the way, [[StepfordSuburbia the sooner they could return to their "perfectly normal" lifestyle.]] As someone mentioned in the Main page, it's also why they act so cold towards Lucas when he's grieving.
29	** There's also the fact that because they've been mind-wiped so that everything is innocent and idyllic, the people in Tazmily are strongly implied to not know how to cope with truly bad situations. It's one of the reasons why, when Hinawa dies, Flint gets the news in such a bad way. They simply don't know how to effectively deal with something outside of their utopia anymore.
30	** Also, they're clearly living with a pre-industrial-age level of technology, so a dead body would not last long ''at all'' with the stuff they got. They had no choice but to bury her immediately, just for the sake of sanitation and keeping her body recognizable. (And given the size of an adult Drago and the fact she died by being bitten by one, it's safe to say her body wouldn't be too easy to recognize as it was.
31
32	* Why didn't Lucas just use Lifeup on Flint after the Masked Man hit him with PK Love?
33	** Because when you revive your other party members, the Masked Man uses a powerful attack (granted, it's usually PK Thunder). The same thing would probably happen if Flint was revived.
34	** Not to mention, you know, considering Lucas can attack Masked Man without hesitation right after he knocks out Flint, it's safe to say [[BerserkerTears healing his dad was the least of his worries at the time.]]
35
36	* If you use Boney's Sniff command on the Masked Man, the game says "But he didn't smell anything." However, at the end of the final battle, we get the line "Lucas remembered Claus's scent." How come Lucas, a human, can remember a scent better than Boney, a dog?
37	** Claus had taken his mask off? Or, you know, to remember something and to actually do it are quite different things.
38	** Alternatively, Boney may have been closer to Lucas than to Claus.
39	** Also probably a case of StoryAndGameplaySegregation. Alot of bosses usually say "But [Boney] didn't smell anything." because they don't have a clear cut weakness, and that's what Masked Man had. Plus, the game already has a ton of foreshadowing with the plot twist of the Masked Man's identity, adding in another one isn't really needed if the rest of the foreshadowing can't clue people in.
40	** Alternatively to that, it's a different dog. Claus goes missing before the time skip, after all.
41	** Read between the lines; dogs can smell anything at anytime in real life. Thus, it's more likely the message means "He couldn't smell anything ''important''". You know, smells that could be useful in battle. In that sense, he probably could smell Claus but there was no point in communicating that because it doesn't help in defeating him. As for Lucas remembering Claus' scent, it was an emotional response to his brother hugging him, which Boney probably wouldn't comprehend because he's a dog (even if he's a smart one).
42
43	* How is Dr. Andonuts still alive? I mean, does this mean that the events of ''Mother 3'' really take place only a few years or so after ''Videogame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}''? But Porky said he traveled through centuries to get to when ''Mother 3'' takes place. I always assumed that Dr. Andonuts used a time machine because he's a scientist, but I can't ignore the possible InferredHolocaust of everyone and everything we know and love from ''Videogame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}''.
44	** [[KidnappedScientist Who said he time traveled voluntarily?]]
45	** He definitely did not come of his own accord. Porky kidnapped him to make the chimeras and design the safety capsule, which he sabotaged in payback. As for the timeframe, while Andonuts indirectly references ''[=EarthBound=]'''s events and says "but that was a few years ago", it doesn't mean anything. Porky has been travelling for hundreds of years and the implied level of technology in ''Mother 3'' seems at the very least decades ahead of ''[=EarthBound=]'' as well. It's quite likely that the events of ''Mother 3'' did not happen until well beyond Ness and co's lifetimes.
46	** Last time we saw Porky was in the final sequence of ''[=EarthBound=]'', which happens in the past, no? So he possibly took the long way home from then, and kidnapped Andonuts a while after the events of ''[=EarthBound=]''.
47	** [[WMG/MOTHER3 There've been theories that the Dr. Andonuts we see here is actually Jeff from the previous game]]. They share the same last name after all, being family.
48	* I've always wondered this ever since I found the FF.Net section for ''[=EarthBound=]''. Why, oh WHY does everyone pair up Lucas with Ness?! They don't even EXIST WITHIN THE SAME TIME PERIOD! And, the only time they saw eachother was in Brawl, and on the movie screen at NPC. Now, you might be saying, "Oh! There was Ho Yay with them in the Ruined Zoo!", which I don't believe at all. They were friends, but not lovers, and besides, if a boy just randomly came to save your life, and when you saw him get shot down you ran like a coward, wouldn't you feel guilty and disappointed with yourself that you couldn't find him and repay his kindness?
49	** Shippers gonna ship, dude. It's best to leave it be.
50	** This question applies to ''any'' fandom. And maybe it hasn't occured to you, but when it comes to most shipping, logic is ignored. Just browse the fanfiction archive in the Super Smash Bros category, and you'd be surprised at how much Samus/Solid Snake, Link/Pit, Kirby/Pikachu ([[GottaShipEmAll any crossover combination in the character roster counts, really]]) there is. Why is that, you say? The answer is very simple: shippers don't care that the characters are from completely different universes or hate each other's guts, as long as they think they look hot/cute together, that's enough of a reason they need. Ness and Lucas account for that rule as well. Simple as that. If you get confused and maybe even angry at this revelation, then maybe the shipping community isn't up your alley.
51
52	* This might be a touchy subject, but why didn't Lucas just use PK Healing after Claus/The Masked Man dies?
53	** If we don't go the StoryAndGameplaySegregation route, it says that characters "got hurt and collapsed" if they lose all their HP in battle, so they're probably not dying, just falling unconscious or whatever. So PK Healing just returns them to consciousness, rather than outright bringing them back from the dead. Alternatively, Lucas knew that he couldn't truly resurrect his brother - he'd just be bringing back the Masked Man, who would continue killing them all and then pull the last needle. Alternatively alternatively, Lucas did plan on resurrecting his brother, but he pulled the needle first, and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt well...]]
54	** Claus was mostly machine at that point. You can't "heal" a machine in the human sense. There was nothing Lucas could do with his PSI.
55	** Same reason you could ask why didn't Cloud from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' use Phoenix Down to revive Aerith before she died. And like one of the answers above mentioned, in battle, your party members are only KO'ed when they've lost all their HP, and considering they can still walk around on the map with only a fatigue look on their faces and slouching body stance show that they're not dead at all (although in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'' your party members are shown as ghosts) and the game over screens seem to be a dream-like sequence where your character is shown having collsaped, but press "yes" and they get back up, looking determined. When characters go down in battle, they are only wounded, but not mortally wounded unless all characters go down and no one can revive them. I like to think that PK Healing can heal physical wounds or scars, but not actually revive someone back from the dead. I think Phoenix Down works in much the same way. And like another answer mentioned, Claus was no longer human at that point, so he couldn't be brought back the way a completely biological human could, he was damaged like a machine that can no longer function or work properly.
56	* During the MushroomSamba sequence, Lucas and the gang and soak in a hot springs to rejuvenate the, but Boney opts not to. When you snap out of it, you can go back there... and you find out that the exact spot of that "hot springs" is, in reality, a toxic waste pool.
57	** ...but you still get healed from it during your acid trip.
58	*** Placebo effect.
59
60	* When the Barrier Trio is defeated, Lucas has an opportunity to pull out the Needle. Until the Pigmasks and Masked Man show up. But even when they DO show up, it takes them about 26 seconds to land, five seconds to get into position, they even pull out the red carpet (literally) for the Masked Man, and he stands around for four seconds. It takes him ten seconds to strike them down. All in all, that's ''46 seconds''-- nearly a minute. '''It takes SIX SECONDS to pull out a Needle.''' What the hell was Lucas doing? Wouldn't the first thing to come to mind when he heard the anthem be, "Oh shit, the Pigmasks are coming-- I better pull out this Needle, and fast!" instead of just going "...daKoTa..." for nearly a minute?
61	** Well, it certainally MIGHT have been possible to pull the needle in that time, but there are some factors that are in play here. One being that Lucas and co had just survived a possibly difficult battle with the trio. Another thing is that while the Pigmasks were putting on a show, they, as well as their certainly nearby commander hovering somewhere overhead for his entrance, could throw off with the fancy reintroduction and cut to the beating-the-heros-senseless part. The party would probably be a little at a loss of what to do, and certainly a tad bit dazed from the sudden appearance of the Pigmasks.
62	*** Not to mention traumatized from the trip on the island. Which probably got a hell of a lot more traumatizing once Claus ''actually'' showed up.
63	** Never mind Lucas. You're the Masked Man, you know the needle score is three on three, you've reached the final needle before Lucas does and you know he's on his way. What the fuck are you waiting for?
64	** I like to think of the reason for Masked Man just waiting at the Final Needle is because some small remnant of whatever was left of [[spoiler: Claus inside of Masked Man]] kept him waiting for Lucas, perhaps as one last small part of him hoping for Lucas to come and stop him, and pull the needle first. Sure, it's not likely due to how he was Brainwashed as well as likely Memory Wiped, but considering how [[spoiler: Hinawa was able to snap Claus out of his brainwashing and get him to remember who he was]], that definitely means that [[spoiler: Claus had to have still been in there deep down for Hinawa to reach him to begin with]], so it's not impossible that part of him was keeping Masked Man there and preventing him from pulling the needle.
65	*** The other possibility is that Porky told Masked Man to wait there on his orders to await Lucas and company in the chance that he somehow failed to stop them, and since Porky definitely knew the true identity of Masked Man, it's possible he left him there to fight the party in order to [[spoiler: torture Lucas by having him fighting his own brother to save the world.]]
66
67	* Why doesn't the Masked Man know PK Love Omega when you fight him at the end of Chapter 7? He must have known Alpha before pulling the first needle, and he's pulled three needles at this point, so he should have learned Beta, Gamma, and Omega. Why is the highest level of PK Love he uses Gamma?
68	** StoryAndGameplaySegregation is all I can think of. That or he was going easy on you.
69	** Who says he knew Alpha? Aeolia just gave him "a powerful PSI technique," she didn't say which one, and if it was Alpha she'd probably be a lot more impressed.
70
71	* How did Flint survive the Masked Man's onslaught against him as he defended Lucas, if Claus couldn't withstand the lightning that he summoned to reflect back at him from Lucas's Franklin Badge?
72	** Same reason Darth Vader was killed by the Emperor's Force lightning, I imagine: It fried his machine parts, which were keeping him alive.
73	** Claus "only" hit Flint with PK Love Omega. Maybe the massive bolt of lightning was way more powerful.
74
75	* Why would Fassad be so much nicer to a mouse that got involved with him offscreen than he was to Salsa? Considering ''how'' he lost Salsa, I very much doubt he'd regret the way he treated him.
76	** Maybe he was friends with the mouse before his FaceHeelTurn?
77
78	* Why, exactly, do fanartists always draw Claus with green eyes? Is that ever canonically confirmed? It because one of his eyes flashes green when he's [[spoiler: the Masked Man?]] Because I'm pretty sure that was part of his cyborg upgrade.
79	** Probably because he's a [[SignificantGreenEyedRedhead redhead]].
80
81	* Is anybody going to talk about the fact that The Masked Man isn't wearing a mask? He's wearing a helmet. With a visor covering most of his face, but a helmet nonetheless. What was he called in the original Japanese version, if anything different?
82	** Being masked doesn't necessarily require that you have a literal mask; anything that blocks the face from view even partially is masking it. In fact, it's helping that he's using a helmet too since [[spoiler: Claus' orange hair would be a dead giveaway.]]
83
84	* How can Dr. Andonuts possibly make the Absolutly Safe Capsule absolutely safe? Nothing is absolutely safe!
85	** Well, it's absolutely safe in the regard that it's impossible to enter or damage. Andonuts suggests a double-meaning though, that in sealing away Porky for eternity it made the ''rest of the world'' "Absolutely Safe (from Porky)"
86	** I'm refering to the notion that it's impossible to damage. Nothing made by mortals is absolutely invincible! How does Dr. Andonuts know for sure that his Absolutely Safe Capsule is incapable of being destroyed by the Dark Dragon if he never even saw it's power!?!
87	** He can build an absolutely safe capsule for the same reason he can build a time machine or transplant the party's brain waves into robots: He's Dr. Andonuts.
88
89	* How do Flint and Alec find each of Claus's shoes without finding Claus himself? Even though he's supposedly dead, who would have removed his shoes, and why? I'm pretty sure that he himself didn't remove them to help Flint find him. Lucas already objected to him setting out to avenging Hinawa, and putting two and two together, he would've known that Flint would also have stopped him.
90	** I think he just happened to lose them while climbing the mountain. What was pretty much a relatively casual stroll for the player probably would have been a lot more grueling in-universe, especially for a small child.
91	** Alternatively, removing one's shoes before committing suicide is common in some cultures, maybe Claus planned on joining his mother as well as avenging her.
92
93	* Salsa's Monkey Mimic ability allows him to copy any enemy move. Including PSI and firing a cannon. ''How?''
94	** Because monkeys. Don't question it.
95	** (During the fight with the Pork Tank) "The Pigmask threw a cannonball!" (cannonball hits Salsa, Salsa screeches) "The Pigmask threw a cannonball!" (cannonball hits Pork Tank)
96
97	* How can Duster possibly kick enemies if he limps while walking?
98	** It may be that he uses his bad leg to kick, which opens up another question. Also, why can he fall a painful height and [[ThreePointLanding land perfectly]] without excruciating pain shooting straight up his leg?
99	** It's possible that since his leg is already lame, he probably no longer feels pain in his leg, hence why he can kick with it. Also, having a limp doesn't stop a person from fighting if they need to. There's plenty of people in our world who can fight well despite their injury, which could be because of the andrenaline rushing not causing them to feel anything at the moment.
100
101	* Why the fuck is [[spoiler: Saturn Valley]] here, considering [[spoiler:''[=EarthBound=]'' didn't take place on the Nowhere Islands]]? Come to think of it, why are [[spoiler: the Mr. Saturns]] here at all? Why couldn't [[spoiler: Dr. Andonuts]] make all the necessary stuff himself, or the other researchers?
102	** No one said it was the same [[spoiler: Saturn Valley]], or that the Pigmasks used the [[spoiler: Mr. Saturns]] to make technology. They only needed them to tell them where the [[spoiler: Needle]] is.
103	** Not quite -- [[spoiler: Porky]] says that they helped make the [[spoiler: Absolutely Safe Capsule]] in the end of the game.
104
105	* Can of worms time: Why is Fassad Arab? These are the Nowhere Islands, there's no Middle East, there's no Scaraba, just a desert unreachable from any point in the game that smacks of a last-minute disconnected design area, [[spoiler: and given that Fassad is a Magypsy he can't be one of the people Porky imported in.]] It's not the pun -- that was the localization, his original name was Yokuba. His being [[spoiler: Locria]] doesn't clear anything up -- some people have suggested that it's a reference to [[spoiler: the Locrian mode]] being considered Middle Eastern, but it's not -- that's [[spoiler: the Phrygian mode]]. The only explanation left is that he's supposed to play upon the trope of the suspicious if not downright evil foreign peddler coming into a village and corrupting it, which has, to say the least, UnfortunateImplications.
106	** The Doylist answer is unfortunately probably the unfortunate implications. The Watsonian answer, though, could just be that Porky designed his costume.
107
108	* Is Kumatora a girl? I know most people use 'her' and 'she', but thing is... she's raised by the Magypsies. And her design does looks a bit gender neutral.
109	** Being raised by the Magypsies is [[FridgeBrilliance likely the very reason she looks so gender-neutral]].
110	** Well, several characters like the little girl in Tazmily did mistake Kumatora for a man in appearance, so... I don't know. Otherwise, I'm pretty she's female, albeit an androgynous one. She certainly doesn't act flamboyant or feminine as the Magypsies, although she pulls it off impressively when disguised as Violet at Club Titiboo. I wonder, is it possible for her to grow facial hair?
111	** Given that she was raised by the Magypsies, and given that a few people mistake her for a man, it's entirely possible that she's trans, but there's no real indication one way or the other. She does at least seem to present as female, especially when working as Violet, but since she was raised by the Magysies it's reasonable to assume they taught her enough to let her present as whatever gender she wants (or neither.) It's also possible that she's just gender-noncomforming on account of being raised by the Magypsies.
112
113	* After Lucas goes on his journey, how did Flint not realize that Lucas was gone and went looking for him? Lucas had to be gone for days, maybe even weeks. Was Flint THAT neglectful?
114	** Flint was just that distraught after [[spoiler: his wife died]] and now his other son Claus went missing. Flint knows Lucas is alive and well but doesn't know if Claus is still out there or not. The fact he had a lead on Claus sent him into a searching frenzy for years trying to look for him. Flint already lost someone he loves, he wasn't about to lose another. Even if it meant looking for Claus for years and neglecting his own other son.
115
116	* If Giegue/Giygas isn't around to plague humanity anymore, then how come there are still a bunch of AnthropomorphicObjects everywhere?
117	** Maybe the Pigmasks created them? 90% of the enemies in the game are created by them after all (being mainly Chimeras). Even then, [[spoiler: Pokey]] certainly is around and [[spoiler: considering he actually worked with Giygas, maybe some of that evil energy is still around him. He definitely is still a giant douche who could care less what happens to others or even the entire world.]]
118	** It could be that they're alien things that were brought by Giygas and reproduced somehow up until the present day, so they're now basically just invasive species on earth.
119
120	* You would think that the Egg of Light would have made a good Deus Ex Machina with [[spoiler:Claus, but of course the Egg is never actually mentioned or used once the party gets it from a rubbish tip of all places.]] That said, it is possible that even if they remembered to use it, it probably wouldn't work under the assumption it can only return memories it has taken and not restored memories period.
121
122	* Okay, here's something I've been wondering... If Duster had forgotten his memory due to the Egg of Light and becoming Lucky, how is it that he can remember to fight efficiently in battle as he did as Duster if he has no idea who he was before and only vaguely remembers he had to protect and hide the egg? Shouldn't he be confused on where these thief tools he's carrying came from or have trouble fighting considering as Lucky his talent was being a good bassist? Or did it come instinctively to him that he HAD to fight with these tools the same way he knew he no longer knew why he was holding the Egg of Light but automatically knew he had to hide it somewhere safe? As a matter of fact, is it possible some of the Tazmilians vaguely remember some of the events from the previous world, too?
123
124	* What the heck was Lucas doing those three past years up until the events of Chapter 4? Why didn't he, Flint or Wess try to do anything to stop Fassad before he could modernize Tazmily more than it had already become? And why did it take three years for someone to finally do something about it?
125	** Grief is a hell of a thing.

Context Headscratchers / Mother3