Line #41 Headscratchers/StarFox


1	* What animal is Andross? I think an orangutan?
2	** He's confirmed to be some form of ape. His appearance seems to be based of Dr. Zaius from Planet Of The Apes, so yeah, he probably is an orangutan.
3	* So Andross does some unethical experiments that get him exiled from Corneria to Venom. A few years later he has a massive army and is poised to take over the entire Lylat system. Where did he get the army? I'm not just talking about the ships and stuff, he needs pilots for those things and there are all those bosses you fought. Where did they come from?
4	** At least in the 1992 comics, Andross wasn't exiled directly to Venom; he found his way there afterwards. The army are Venom's lizard and monkey natives and foreign mercenaries such as Star Wolf. Venom was probably industrialized enough by the time Andross established himself as some kind of [[Literature/HeartOfDarkness Mr. Kurtz]] among them.
5	** That statement is accurate, except for the part about there being monkeys in the army. And there was no Star Wolf in the 1992 comics.
6	* Who is Andrew's mother/father? The game says he is Andross's nephew, which means that Andross had to have at least one sibling, who was Andrew's parent. And why wasn't that sibling helping out his/her brother Andross on Venom?
7	** In the comic Books, it is revealed that Andross gave Andrew to a family of pigs to raise. Until he was 12. Then he joined Star Wolf. This is how he obtained the last name 'Oinkonny', not 'Andross'.
8	*** There were actually no comic books dealing with Andrew Oikonny's past specifically. The comics mentioned are probably the Nintendo Power serials. In those comics, Andross, as a child, was apparently adopted by pigs, and there is no mention of him having a nephew. That having been said, it is likely that this particular background story is now considered non-canon since those comics were based off the original SNES Star Fox game. That Star Fox game is not the same canon (read: continuity) as all the other Star Fox games, from Star Fox 64 and on.
9	** I will admit I'm not too familiar with the background, but since Andross was exiled, why exactly would his sister (See next point) feel the need to go with him? She wasn't the one conducting amoral research, now, was she? She probably was horrified by his actions, or perhaps unwilling to leave everything just to support her brother. She tried to raise a normal family, but Andrew was enamoured by Uncle Andross's actions. Thus, he caught a ship to Venom and offered his assistance. And the sister part comes from last names. Admittedly, we don't know how marriage rites go in the Lylat system, but we can assume that women tend to take the husband's last names, unless it's shown otherwise...
10	*** Just thought I'd point out that we don't know what Andross's last name is.
11	*** It hasn't been stated in the games, but the official Nintendo Star Fox 64 players' guide gives Andross's surname as "Oikonny." If this is correct, then that would mean that, since Andross and Andrew have the same surname, Andrew is most likely the son of Andross's brother.
12	*** I have the Official Star Fox 64 Nintendo Player's Guide in front of me right now: Andross is referred to as "Dr. Andross", which would imply that it is actually his surname.
13	** Command makes this more confusing, as Andross has a grandson named Dash '''Bowman'''. So, we'll probably never know Andross's last name.
14	*** How's that confusing? Andross has a [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter daughter]] and she married a guy named Bowman. It could have worked the same way as the hypothetical scenario with the sister staying behind when he was exiled - his daughter was taken from his custody or chose to remain behind (the latter if she was old enough to be considered an adult).
15	* So how did Wolf and Co. survive the events of ''Star Fox 64''? Hell, was Fox fighting Star Wolf even canon (Encountering Star Wolf is optional)?
16	** Hard to say if it was canon or not, but most likely if it was, they bailed before their ships blew (if I remember correctly, the final battle with Star Fox and Star Wolf took place on Venom, so it's not like they would've been left stranded in the vacuum of space (of course, Venom's atmosphere from what I've heard is supposed to be toxic, but then again, how would Andross raise an army there, if it was?). What I'd like to know, though, is how they survived being blown up inside a ''warp tunnel in space'' in ''Star Fox Assault''.
17	*** Same here; they clearly return in ''Star Fox Command'', but I've never heard any explanation as to how or why; it's like they're counting ''Assault'' as canon, but are conveniently forgetting that Star Wolf ''sacrificed themselves to help stop the Aparoid invasion''.
18	*** ''Assault'' ends with Fox outright stating that Star Wolf survived. No evidence, though. [[GutFeeling He just knew it.]]
19	*** Gut Feeling doesn't cut it, I'm afraid; no in-game explanation for how they survived was given, and as such, they merely reappear out of nowhere in ''Command''. You'd think that a mercenary group with as high a bounty on their heads as ''Star Wolf'' just showing back up after ''disappearing from battle after helping stop an alien invasion'' would bring ''some'' interest from the Cornerian brass as to ''how'' they made it back...
20	*** Perhaps they found or made an alternate escape route? The Aparoid Queen's control of the planet must have gone screwy as she was being defeated in the second stage...
21	*** According to Dash's ending in Star Fox Command, people do live there around the time the game happens. Granted, I don't think it was stated how long those people were living there.
22	*** Team Star Wolf just has a screwy Main/StayingAlive system. If you fight them on Fortunato, anyone who dies will stay dead on Bolse, but everyone is always alive for Venom II.
23	*** That could be chalked up to the ships. On Venom 2, they were given the new Wolfen-II, whereas Bolse has them still using the Wolfen. It's possible that the ones downed prior can't sortie due to the ships being repaired/totaled
24	*** It seems more like that you just don't die in the Starfox verse. Everyone but Andross reappears in ''Command'', even Pigma and Andrew, both of which got blasted ''onscreen'' in Assault.
25	*** Even Andross appeared as a ghost in certain ''Command'' levels.
26	** Encountering Star Wolf is ''not'' optional. You either fight them on Bolse, or you fight them on Venom II.
27	*** Technically, you don't have to kill him: The Bolse mission ends once you destroy the reactor core. I guess any surviving members of Team Star Wolf just leave.
28	*** Presumably, defending the station was the contract, and once it's gone, they have no reason to keep fighting you.
29	** If Star Wolf survived getting blown to pieces once, when you defused that bomb, they could do it again.
30	** It seems fighting Star Wolf twice is canon, as Wolf is bandaged up in Venom, which presumably could only come from injuries suffered from their defeat in Fortuna.
31	*** But if you didn't go to Fortuna, this could be taken as an implication that Starfox took them down recently before the events of the game. One path that wouldn't make sense is if you lost to them on Fortuna and still see them injured on Venom.
32	** I would guess that the ending in which you go to Venom "hard side" is canon, since [[spoiler:Andross is never actually fought in the other ending]].
33	* Why are there foods like bacon and sausage (requiring pork) if there is a fully developed race of pigs?
34	** Given the advanced science we see, it's entirely possible that the "bacon" and "sausage" are synthetic, lab-created simulacra. Like we're approaching nowadays
35	* How did Star Wolf meet Panther Caroso? We don't know diddly about his past prior to his joining of the team, and no mention of how or why he joined.
36	** BadGuyBar, perhaps?
37	*** If so, he was probably just there to pick up chicks. Or kittens.
38	*** AllThereInTheManual says that's how Wolf met Leon.
39	* Okay, it's been heavily rumored by both fans and hinted by the game itself that Leon is a merciless killer with a penchant for torture. So... why is his bounty so low? I read somewhere that Leon's bounty is the lowest out of all the individual Star Wolf members, even lower than that of newcomer Panther. If he's such a danger to society, you'd think that they'd bump up the reward on his head...
40	** Maybe the military would grant the captor (or killer) of Leon a free favor to be frank.
41	** Maybe he's just not that ''good'' at it?
42	*** Perhaps the inverse, he is so good at it they can't prove he actually did it.
43	** The size of the bounty on someone's head isn't necessarily linearly proportional to the horrific-ness of their crimes. Perhaps all of the other Star Wolf members managed to wrong-do organizations which could front bigger bounties, and Leon kept most of his atrocities on a somewhat more one-on-one basis.
44	** It could be because Leon and Wolf are almost always together, so it's assumed by the military that if you want to kill/capture Wolf, you would have to go through Leon first, meaning putting more money on Leon would be the same as putting more money on Wolf. So they chose to add to Wolf's bounty instead.
45	** In one ending of Command, Star Wolf is saving the day. Leon is excited about them getting parades and flowers.
46	* Did Krystal learn English? Or does the whole team still use a translator to understand her?
47	** I figure that she's ''always'' been able to speak English ([[TranslationConvention or whatever language it is that is spoken in the Lylat System]]), but she never did until the end because up until that point, she thought she was speaking with Dinosaurs.
48	*** That's one of the better headcanons I've heard for this so far. Thanks!
49	** Secondary theory. She IS stated to be an empath. Perhaps she picked up Lylatian common from that, when she met Fox. Something like how Starfire in Teen Titans picks up languages.
50	* Who the hell is Fox's dad! Seriously, the only exposition we ever get is in Star Fox 64, about how he died in battle after Pigma betrayed and shot him. All we know about his character is from Peppy, who says what a great guy he was. And we know his name, James. WHO IS HE?! If he comes back so much to help Fox in tight spots, WHY HASN'T RARE/NINTENDO GIVEN MORE BACK STORY FOR THIS GUY?!
51	** Sometimes, keeping it a mystery is for the best.
52	*** Apparently being the original commander and creator of the Star Fox team isn't good enough for some people as far as backstory goes. Also when Nintendo (or whoever they outsourced the story to) keeps playing the "is he really dead" card it tends to get confusing.
53	* What's with names like "Fox", "Falco(n)", "Wolf", and "Panther"? Their first name is the same as their species. It's like calling yourself "Human"!
54	** Who knows, maybe if we were just one of numerous sentient species then we'd follow that naming convention, too.
55	** If I recall correctly the various characters' species have never actually been mentioned, so perhaps intelligent space creatures have different names for their own species? And then long ago they crash in the Garden of Eden and upon meeting Adam and Eve inspired the namings of the species we are familiar with today? Ergh, now I feel dirty.
56	** And if it's not their first name, it's their last.
57	** I always figured it wasn't the equivalent to naming them "Human," it's more like naming them "Guy." It doubles as a generic term, but also works just fine as a name (if an uncommon one). As for last names, again, that could be equivalent to "Smith" or "Johnson" to them. Generic but not unusual.
58	** Wolf is a proper first name, need I remind you that a certain 18th century [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart pianist]] went by it? As for Falco(n), odd but not unheard of to have a surname be applied to one's given name. There was a very famous [[VideoGame/FZero captain]] named "Falcon". Fox is obviously not his given name, rather an official nickname he received for he is cunning like a fox. As for Panther - His parents didn't love him enough to give him a proper name.
59	*** Actually, while it may fall into another example All There in the Manual for this series, the IS some mention on the English official website for Assault the species for the members of Star Wolf. Wolf, for example, is listed as being a Canis, and Panther is listed as a Felinidea (Both names references to the genus that the real world animals they are based off originate from). While a personal theory, I assumed physical differences between, say Fox and Wolf, are just be the in-universe equivalent to humans having a variety of skin tones. And Fox IS his given name.
60	** Maybe the whole series takes place in the distant past, and at some point in the future these particular characters wind up on Earth, inspiring the human names for the Earth species that happen to look like them!
61	* Wolf is a wolf. Pigma is a pigma. Leon seems to be a frog/lizard. What is Andrew supposed to be?
62	** He's obviously a monkey. Just because his name doesn't match his species doesn't mean anything. Krystal, General Pepper, James, etc. have nothing in their names to distinguish what animal they are either.
63	** Also, Leon is a Chameleon.
64	*** Andrew-Mandrill, maybe? Or else he and Andross have the 'andro' prefix for being humanlike..
65	*** Your thinking 'anthro', where as 'andro' refers to man, as in the gender.
66	** Andrew and his uncle Andross are both Apes. That's why the Star Fox team (Falco in particular) call Andross's soldiers "Monkeys." I read somewhere that the reason Andross has Oikenny as his last name is because he was adopted by pigs, but don't recall the source. I think a comic that was released somewhere...
67	** [[http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/7887/255555-andrew_oikonny1_large.jpg Take one look at his picture]]. Tell me what you think ''that'' looks like?
68	* If you look at the maps of Star Fox 1, Star Fox 2, Star Fox 64, and Star Fox Command, the distances between locations are all fixed which implies that the Lylat System ''does not have Planetary Orbits''. The only aversion to this is the planetary system where Sauria is located since it has day-night cycles to confirm that it's rotating around a sun. Wouldn't the developer's decision to ignore the concept of Planetary Orbits have very, very dire consequences on the Lylat System and its inhabitants?
69	** Unless the maps are just representative of the team's mission queue. If they displayed the planets on a realistic scale or positioning, they'd take up a lot more space. Don't forget they explicitly state Corneria is the 4th planet of the Lylat System (in both the SNES and N64 continuities), if that's relative to Solar (which is ostensibly a planet in some appearances), then the maps are woefully misleading, if it's relative to an as-of-yet unvisited star called Lylat, then there is no frame of reference to it's position. In the SNES continuity, they explicitly state the order of the planets in the manual, but the map is broken down into sections representing each. I think we can safely assume Star Fox 64 just dropped the frame and kept the planets at a non-relative position to each other.
70	* Throughout the series, Peppy is easily the most experienced pilot of the bunch. He's been through hell and back defeating Andross the first time around while the others were still in diapers, and in ''64'' he's the only one with any substantial flight experience. So why isn't he the flight lead?
71	** Old age? Defference to the son of the old leader? Letting the younger generation gain experience? Since Star Fox is a paramillitary group they can pretty much do what they want.
72	** Possibly some combination of recognizing his own waning skills, wanting to groom up the young ones so that when he isn't around, the team doesn't fall to pieces, and realizing that Fox is a prodigious pilot and field tactician, and voluntarily stepping aside for that reason
73	*** Gaining experience is great and all, but there's a reason the guys who've just gotten their wings aren't immediately posted to any command role. They need to gain flight hours and actual combat experience under the leadership of someone who already knows what he's doing in order to know how to command their wing properly. Of course, Star Fox is free to do whatever they want, but that doesn't make it a good idea.
74	*** In this case, I think it's equal parts deference (Falco and Slippy are both longtime friends of Fox, and Falco in particular chafes under most forms of authority, but at least MOSTLY listens to Fox), grooming the team for his inevitable retirement, and the fact that he's far more suited to a support and observational role over direct leadership.
75	* What exactly is Slippy's contribution to the team? How does he rate against the average Cornerian or Venomian pilot? If Slippy's forte is more in being a scientist/analyst/technician than a combat pilot, then shouldn't he be sitting back on the Great Fox while someone else like Bill or Katt flies his Arwing?
76	** In theory, yes. He's more a techie than a combat pilot, but he's still a relatively competent flier. He's also the type who probably wants to directly FEEL the performance of the crew's ships, rather than rely on cam-feeds and telemetry. I'd put Slippy in the top 10% of pilots in either faction (mind you, just barely, but still). He's a skilled pilot, but also still overconfident and with a penchant for somewhat amateur mistakes.
77	* What is with Andross's "you know that I control the galaxy" line? Isn't the scale of the conflict limited to the Lylat System, or did we all miss something? Just how much of the galaxy in the Star Fox universe is explored and settled anyway? And if Andross really did control the entire galaxy outside of the Lylat system, how could he have had any difficulty at all in crushing puny Corneria?
78	** Villainous ego, presumably. Much like how many villains in comics and such will claim that "the world is now MINE".
79	** Probably just a case of the writers [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale confusing "solar system" and "galaxy"]], which unfortunately ''very'' common in both fiction and RealLife.
80	* Let's look at the Arwing (and just the original Arwing, mind you) from a technical standpoint: It's default weapon is a single blaster in the nose section. But when it gets upgraded, the blasters located below the wing roots of the Arwing are activated... and the blaster in the nose section is deactivated. That makes no sense (and definitely so in ''Star Fox 1'') because the Arwing actually has ''THREE'' blasters but will only use one of them without an upgrade and then only two of them after being upgraded. Starting in ''Star Fox 2'' and ''Star Fox 64'', even though the nose blaster is "deactivated" after picking up a blaster upgrade, it is still used to fire charge shots. But in the comic ''Farewell, Falco'', Fox shoots a ''pair of Charge Shots'' at Falco which explicitly shows that the wing blasters are also capable of firing charge shots. Because of that, the Arwing is theoretically, but WITHOUT A DOUBT, capable of using all three of its blasters for rapid fire AND firing a ''triple volley'' of charge shots which would be the true and maximum capacity of its blaster armament. So WHY then is the firepower of the Arwing not being used to its full potential like this???
81	** Could be a matter of power supply. Perhaps even with the increase in power from an external source, using all three guns or firing dual charge shots taxes the power systems, which could either result in severe damage (internal components frying, or possibly even blowing up), or the system overheating/overloading (either resulting in total destruction of the Arwing or a failsafe forcing it down). Since most missions are prolonged engagements in hostile airspace, any of those outcomes could be fatal. Thus, Star Fox won't use them except in dire straits.
82	** Out-of-universe answer: [[TwoWordsAddedEmphasis Two Words]]: [[GameBreaker Game. Breaker.]] Already bad enough for upgraded Twin lasers being fired close enough together that they hit everything in front anyway, a third one would just run up the [=DPS=] and players would complain, "ItsEasySoItSucks"

Context Headscratchers / StarFox