History Fridge / Pikmin

** The fact that the Man-at-Legs is only moderately larger than a real spider (remember, the Pikmin and captains are ''tiny'') means that it wouldn't do much more than inflict minor gravel wounds on humans, though. Unless those bullets are laced with some sort of poison...
** Pikmin 4 has several Man-At-Legs and during the retelling of Olimar's journey, a Man-At-Legs is found inside an abandoned Human House and is up on a counter top island. This gives a more firm comparison of how large the Man-At-Legs actually is and it shows to be larger than a dinner plate, which is larger than even a Goliath Bird Eating tarantula, and what's more, it's FAST for it's size. This leaves the implication of what damage it could do to a human much higher than previously thought, especially if more than one happened to be active in any specific area.

* The Man-At-Legs in the second game. It's a [[BodyHorror robotic four-legged spider with a]] [[CoolGuns freaking MACHINE GUN!]] And the fleshy bits can still be seen through parts of its metal armour. And you find in a rusted labyrinth way, way, ''way'' under the ground.

** Actually, [[AllThereInTheManual in the back story provided in the original manual for the first game]], Olimar had his ship set to auto-pilot and was getting some tea while that was happening. It was also implied that Olimar had traveled that path many times before, so it could be presumed that Olimar was so use to traveling that path that he didn't expect a random meteorite to hit him, and thus when it was about to happen, it caught him by surprise and he didn't have enough time to activate the Nova Blaster.
* There's a cool little theory. In Pikmin 1, Olimar crashes to PNF-404 when a meteor crashes into him, and his Guard Satellite didn't detect it. At the Impact Site, a few days later, he discovers the Goolix, a gelatinous creature. When it dies, it doesn't leave behind a corpse. It just kind of disappears. The final boss of ''Pikmin'', the Emperor Bulblax, disappears when it dies too, more on this later. In ''Pikmin 2'', the Water Wraith is another gelatinous creature, whom disappears when defeated. No corpse, or ghost. By the end of ''Pikmin 2'', we find that Louie had been abducted by the Titan Dweevil, and guess who disappears into a blue mist as they are defeated too? Yes, the Titan Dweevil leaves behind no ghost, nor a corpse. Just Louie and some assimilated weapons. That leaves ''Pikmin 3'', where Olimar has been abducted by the Plasm Wraith, another gelatinous creature, who had a strange fondness for Olimar. We see it survives its encounter with our beloved captains, as well. Ever heard of the Umibōzu? It's an old Japanese folk lore creature, that capsizes ships, and kills the captains. There are even some stories about the captains loving treasure, and the Umibōzu stealing that away. They can shapeshift as well. It is also said that if a captain survives the encounter, the Umibozu will hunt him down and kill him another day. The theory is essentially that the Amibouzu, which is what the Waterwraith AND Plasm Wraith are named in Japanese, crashed Olimar's ship, and captures him, because Olimar got away the first two times. I believe there's more to it as well, but that would require a little more study...

** However, it's unable to get it off his person. It may have actually attempted to kill Olimar shortly after, but before it could, it starts to sense the Koppai crew feveriously searching for Olimar, holding him in such high importance because he has the drive key that the Umibōzu starts to consider him as a 'treasure' in regards to the Koppaites, and thus starts to treat him as such. After all, Olimar was apparently still searching around the planet while the Koppai crew was, since he planted some upgrades there shortly after Charlie landed, so we don't know the exact time Olimar got captured, which might have gave the Plasm Wraith enough time to reconsider killing him.

** Or that's how the Water Wraith became the Plasma Wraith...
* At first, fear of night seems silly since the predators at the end of the day are the same ones you have been dragging to the onions already. More Bulborbs are awake, but ''Pikmin 2'' shows the stronger Buborb types do not sleep during the day anyway [[FridgeLogic and likely would be going to sleep right now]]. But then, Pikmin 3 introduces the Vehemoth Phosbat, which is practically invincible in the dark and shown to have [[MonsterIsAMommy a large brood]]. Now all the sudden nighttime seems more dangerous.

* In Pikmin 2, some players felt bad sending Pikmin to their death over something that wasn't a life-or-death matter like last game, where Olimar had to get off Earth before his Life-Support gave out. But, later in the game you get e-mails from your boss about how he's on the run from the AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks. If repaying the debt wasn't a matter of life and death before it certainly is at that point!

* Why do the Koppaites wear space suits in ''Pikmin 3'' despite their ability to breathe oxygen? Well, according to Brittany, the planet of the Pikmin has 3 times as much oxygen as planet Koppai, implying that breathing too much oxygen at a time is actually dangerous for a Koppaite. Thus, they still have to wear space suites while on Koppai in order to not get poisoned from too much oxygen. This can also theoretically explain why Louie can breathe without his space suit in S.S. Drake despite the apparent atmosphere difference - the oxygen in the ship's too little to have lasting effects on him.

** So why are the Captains so small? Well, more gravity means things get smaller. They probably live on a very high-gravity planet where they weigh as much as a human (probably how in Pikmin 3 the captains can actually throw ''each other.'' )

* At the start of ''Pikmin 2'', when the ship analyzes the bottle cap Olimar brought back home, it declares it to be worth 100 Pokos, which is "more than a year's salary". Assuming this isn't meant as a joke about Hocotate Freight paying its employees poorly and 100 Pokos is a genuinely enormous amount, why would the creatures you kill in caves be worth a couple Pokos individually (which would be roughly equivalent to a couple hundred dollars)? Simple - worthless as they seem, they're still alien specimens from likely dangerous species'. Certainly their remains can be sold back on Hocotate to someone for research purposes, even if they can't be marketed like the actual treasures.

* How all the treasure fits in a ship's hold was answered by Collin in Pikmin 4; the beam is a special light ray that minimizes objects during collection.
* On the Titan Dweevil, Olimar mentions that it takes a fixation to shiny objects in particular. Looking at everything the Titan Dweevil carries, this tracks; the Shock Therapist has glass, the Flare Cannon and Monster Pump are made of a shiny metal, and the Comedy Bomb's shell is reflective. However, there's also the matter of Louie... Who has a glass helmet, a reflective spacesuit, and a ''glowing beacon antenna on his helmet.'' It's no wonder Louie got kidnapped by the Titan Dweevil in that case; he was the shiniest, most reflective thing in the room!

* If there had been much more oxygen on this planet we had been healthier, and... the insects bigger. Now imagine that, even though the Koppaites can breathe some of it, too much makes them grow rapidly probably too...
** ...If they were to try and inhabit the planet as oxygen doesn't cause growth in real time, and only in generations.

* ''Pikmin'' is already unnerving on its own, but then let it sink in that the Pikmin planet is strongly implied to be, and most likely is, Earth in the future. Now take into account that when you don't collect the necessary ship parts in the first game, Olimar dies, but is turned into a Pikmin by the other Pikmin. Considering that, and the fact that there are some very recognizable items that can be found on the planet, it makes you wonder if the first Pikmin in existence might really have been some form of reincarnated human beings...

* In the first game, the fact that if all your Pikmin die, then they become extinct strongly suggests that the Single Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin you find are the last, in not a few of the last of their kind.
** Made worse if it happens in-game, since the extinction of a Pikmin color in-game will cause the onion to sprout a new seed the next day. The Pikmin actually WERE extinct until Olimar reactivated the onions.

* In the first game, Dwarf Bulbears only appear on day 16 and afterwards. At first, it apparently means it would be a good idea to kill as many Spotty Bulbears as possible before then... but then the very likely possibility that they are ''pregnant'' hits home.
* Not matter what you do, at the start of every sequel, you find that the Pikmin are back down to the bottom of the food chain; most onions only have one seed and in the case of ''Pikmin 3'' you have to save several onions after they've been stuck. It's possible that they've become over reliant on space-travelers telling them what to do to survive.

* PNF-404 is Earth millions of years later. The only remnants of civilization left are items from early 2000 or so, like batteries, globes and pieces from Nintendo controllers. Which means that whatever caused the humans to go extinct happened ''very recently'' today. This FridgeHorror is "fixed" in ''Pikmin 3'' as the planet's redesigned so that it resembles a possible future version of Earth, as well as making a lot of the remaining human technology look like they are either heavily deteriorated or heavily rusted.
** Then ''Pikmin 4'' brings this Fridge Horror back in full force by having PNF-404 look like it's only recently been abandoned, with fully-functioning "ancient" technology like Game Boys, digital clocks, and even an entire ''house'' that look like they've been out of use for only a few weeks rather than presumably thousands of years. If we assume that the catastrophe happened later on (since ''Pikmin 4'' takes place in an AlternateContinuity), it raises the question...''what the hell happened to humanity?'' Did they simply [[HumanitysWake vanish into thin air]]?
* So you just spent a long time collecting all 66 pieces of fruit in Pikmin 3 and got your cosmic drive key back. Great! Now we can go back to Koppai, plant those seeds and save a starving planet... except that we know that Koppai's environment (particularly its atmosphere) is very different from PNF-404's, which means that the likelihood of the fruit actually cultivating is slim. Your entire journey was likely *cough* [[{{Pun}} fruitless]].

* Some of Louie's notes state that the flora and fauna of PNF-404 are inedible. Ignoring the 'how does he know that' horror, some of the more RuleOfFunny symptoms include enthusiastic dishwashing, strokes of brilliance, impromptu break-dancing, and actually being delicious. Don't some of those sound suspiciously like epilepsy, delusions, and/or drugs? Louie might just be misinterpreting some more horrible toxins in those foods (especially since one of them is an LED) as more comical symptoms... again, this is PlayedForLaughs.
* The Man-At-Legs in the second game. It's a [[BodyHorror robotic four-legged spider with a]] [[CoolGuns freaking MACHINE GUN!]] And the fleshy bits can still be seen through parts of its metal armour. And you find in a rusted labyrinth way way WAY under the ground.
** Wouldn't that mean that some messed up human scientists were combining insects with robots? And with the intent of mass producing them for mini armies? The fact that the Man-At-Legs is [[SealedEvilInACan found deep underground may imply it is the living proof of humans realizing their mistakes.]] Only, you and the Pikmin [[OhCrap come along, and reawaken its senses...]]
* In the third game, one of the dropped reports has Olimar mention that he's been trying to contact the President, but there has been no reply, assuming the President is taking a long, relaxing vacation. However, the secret files reveal that after ''Pikmin 2'' the President took out a whole slew of new loans for a new business venture (presumably Treasure Hunting) and that it went south very fast, putting the freight company in even greater debt than before. Judging from what happened last time in the second game with the loan sharks hunting the President down with increasing urgency, the fact that in the third game the President is not responding at all could mean he's in a position where's he's unable to reply ... maybe even dead.
** Given Olimar has a better S.S. Dolphin in "Hey Pikmin!", that doesn't seem plausible. Besides, its unlikely the president would make the same mistake of asking the loan sharks for money again. Given how chill he was when he thought the loan came from "Happy Hocotate Savings and Loans", he probably has time to pay off the debt. And its doubtful his wife would let make a huge screw up like that or would have a solution handy.

** Deluxe also has a data file in the Tropical Wilds(don't know if its in the Wii version) from the President concerning Olimar's lack of reports sent lately.

* Purple and White Pikmin are noticeably absent from the ending of the second game. Now keep in mind that the two are stored in the ship since they don't have onions. This means Olimar and the President may have actually brought them to Hocotate with them. And since the Pikmin are part-plant and Hocotate completely lacks oxygen...
** Worse, even if the Purple and White Pikmin survived the trip, the ship is later knocked offline and broken by the Quaggled Mireclops. Meaning either A. They were all killed by ''that'', or B. They were stuck inside the ship with no way to get out, and the Koppaites have no idea the two types even exist. Now consider that Purple and White Pikmin are completely absent from story mode in the third game...
* Louie's motivation in ''4'' is that he wishes to stay on PNF-404 for good, having become attached to the planet as a sort of playground where he can run free without anyone to tell him what to do. Keep in mind that, since he and Olimar work for the same company, they likely have the same type of spacesuit, [[YourDaysAreNumbered which can only last 15 days before its life support runs out]]. No amount of [[ExtremeOmnivore cooking and eating nearly every creature he can get his hands on]] would've saved Louie from a CruelAndUnusualDeath by oxygen poisoning had he been allowed to stay behind...and since he's been regularly drinking glow sap, not even the Onion would be able to save him when the inevitable happens.

'''Unmarked spoilers below.'''
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* If the Pikmin are really capable of all the things that they do, don't you think that they would have taken over the entire planet by now? Why aren't they the dominant species? [[spoiler:Who got them to do what they do in the first place? If you try to judge Olimar, it would look like he was abusing and sending Pikmin to die for his own survival. But then think about what they became. When you first find Pikmin, they were underground. This is because they are the prey of EVERYTHING, and without the ability to fight back, they had almost gone extinct (which is why there is only ONE Pikmin in every Onion). But then Olimar came along and changed everything. He showed them that through numbers and hard work, they could accomplish anything. That is why in the ending, they are seen fighting off the Bulborb. They finally learned HOW to beat them.]]
** [[spoiler:Fridge Horror: As of that ending: Olimar has helped the Pikmin to reach the top of the food chain? Hooray! The natural order has been completely screwed up! Imagine the devastation to the environment if prey suddenly became predators in real life.]]
*** [[spoiler:They did: they are called humans. Although Pikmin were near extinction when Olimar found them, it was implied that they were intelligent. Although it's not sure what would happen with them becoming the "superior race" of the planet, it is completely possible it could be something similar to what happened with humans.]]
*** Except the Pikmin aren't really at the top of the food chain, at least not while on their own. Most of the tactics that Olimar uses involve throwing the Pikmin. Without him around, they would have to use inferior tactics, like swarming. Swarming is effective on some enemies, especially in large enough numbers, but is nearly suicidal against other enemies. This could explain why in ''Pikmin 2'', the Onions are found with five Pikmin. It's more than the one that each of them were found with in the first game, but it's not the potentially hundred or more that you left them with.

* There's a cool little theory. In Pikmin 1, Olimar crashes to PNF-404 when a meteor crashes into him, and his Guard Satellite didn't detect it. At the Impact Site, a few days later, he discovers the Goolix, a gelatinous creature. When it dies, it doesn't leave behind a corpse. It just kind of disappears. [[spoiler:The final boss of ''Pikmin'', the Emperor Bulblax, disappears when it dies too, more on this later.]] In ''Pikmin 2'', the Water Wraith is another gelatinous creature, whom disappears when defeated. No corpse, or ghost. [[spoiler:By the end of ''Pikmin 2'', we find that Louie had been abducted by the Titan Dweevil, and guess who disappears into a blue mist as they are defeated too? Yes, the Titan Dweevil leaves behind no ghost, nor a corpse. Just Louie and some assimilated weapons.]] That leaves ''Pikmin 3'', [[spoiler:where Olimar has been abducted by the Plasm Wraith, another gelatinous creature, who had a strange fondness for Olimar. We see it survives its encounter with our beloved captains, as well.]] Ever heard of the Umibōzu? It's an old Japanese folk lore creature, that capsizes ships, and kills the captains. There are even some stories about the captains loving treasure, and the Umibōzu stealing that away. They can shapeshift as well. [[spoiler:It is also said that if a captain survives the encounter, the Umibozu will hunt him down and kill him another day. The theory is essentially that the Amibouzu, which is what the Waterwraith AND Plasm Wraith are named in Japanese, crashed Olimar's ship, and captures him, because Olimar got away the first two times. I believe there's more to it as well, but that would require a little more study...]]
** One problem with this theory that made it a bit hard to believe: as stated, the Umibozu [[spoiler:will track down the captains and kill them if they get away in the first encounter]]. If this is the case, then why is it that [[spoiler:the Plasma Wraith is shown ''caring'' for Olimar instead of killing him when it had the chance?]] However, though that is one major contradiction to this theory, I did come up with my own explaination for why it does this instead of [[spoiler:killing Olimar]].
** At the start of the game, it's mentioned that something went wrong that caused the Drake's crash. Even in the ending cutscene, it's still left up to the imagination as to why it happened or what caused it. Maybe the [[spoiler:Umibōzu caused it to crash like it did Olimar's ship]], and tried to take the Cosmic Key Drive because it was the most precious 'treasure' the Koppai crew had, as it allowed them to return to their home planet. However, [[spoiler:Olimar]] ended up getting to it first, and because of that, the [[spoiler:Plasm Wraith captures him]].
** However, it's unable to get it off his person. It may have actually attempted [[spoiler:to kill Olimar shortly after,]] but before it could, it starts to sense the Koppai crew feveriously searching [[spoiler:for Olimar, holding him in such high importance because he has the drive key that the Umibōzu starts to consider him as a 'treasure' in regards to the Koppaites, and thus starts to treat him as such.]] After all, [[spoiler:Olimar was apparently still searching around the planet while the Koppai crew was, since he planted some upgrades there shortly after Charlie landed]], so we don't know the exact time [[spoiler:Olimar got captured]], which might have gave [[spoiler:the Plasm Wraith enough time to reconsider killing him]].

** [[spoiler:Not to mention you have to get Louie back after you repaid the debt.]]

** However, this goes straight back to fridge horror when [[spoiler:Olimar returns back to his planet after paying off the debt, Purple and White Pikmin in toll aboard the ship's hull]]. If we're to assume that it's actually carbon dioxide Hocotatians breathe...
* ''Pikmin'' is already unnerving on its own, but then let it sink in that the Pikmin planet is strongly implied to be, and most likely is, [[spoiler:Earth in the future]]. Now take into account that when you don't collect the necessary ship parts in the first game, Olimar [[spoiler:dies, but is turned into a Pikmin by the other Pikmin]]. Considering that, and the fact that there are some very recognizable items that can be found on the planet, it makes you wonder if the first Pikmin in existence might really have been [[spoiler:some form of reincarnated human beings...]]
** [[spoiler:Humans are mostly carbon and water. When humans die, this material gets recycled into other things. So yes, some Pikmin probably are "reincarnated" humans. Since they have something resembling a bone structure, some of the calcium in the human body might end up in theirs too. But this isn't anything to fear, all material on Earth eventually becomes something else.]]

* ''Fridge/Pikmin4

[[folder:Fridge Logic]]
* If Dwarf Bulborbs are actually just Breadbug mimics, then why do the larger bulborbs protect and defend them? Are they like cuckoos, which eat the Bulborbs's actual young and take their place? How come they aren't eaten themselves by the big bulborbs?
* When you find all 66 pieces of fruit in Pikmin 3 and talk with the crew before the next day, Alph says that they have found every piece of fruit on the planet. Wait, what? There's no way they've looked through the ''whole planet'' for fruit. The areas are likely only a few square feet out of each continent, and we don't even see half the globe!
** And then you think about it a bit more and the FridgeHorror creeps in as the question changes from "What about the fruit in the other hemisphere?" to "''Why'' is there no fruit -- no fruit ''at all'' -- on an entire half of the planet?"
*** They do specify that they're looking for ''seed-bearing'' fruits a couple times throughout the game, since they're intending to bring the seeds back to create a more permanent solution to the food shortage on Koppai. It's possible that there ''are'' other fruits on the planet that they could gather, but that they don't have seeds that could be successfully cultivated on Koppai.
* Why in the name of God do Olimar and Louie's spacesuits have an "auto-sleep" function? What the hell kind of purpose is that supposed to serve? If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have needed rescuing so much!
** My guess? Poorly implemented stasis. It saves energy so they can get through dangerous situations, like a monster's digestive system, without starving to death, etc. In practice... it doesn't turn out so well, as is the habit of Hocotatian technology.
** They are an interstellar counterpart to truck drivers. Truck drivers are notorious for ignoring their mandatory break periods and driving while severely sleep-deprived.
** The auto-sleep function could have a few practical uses, like making sure they get the proper amount of rest (as suggested above) or as a way of conserving energy and resources on particularly long trips through space when you have an auto-pilot or someone else to drive while you sleep. A better example of FridgeLogic with the auto-sleep isn't the fact that it exists at all, but the fact that it can be activated by another person/creature or, as Charlie mentions, extreme stress, both situations where suddenly passing out is a very bad thing. That's a feature that only the person wearing the suit should be able to activate, or if it absolutely must have an automatic trigger, it should be something like the wearer starting to show signs of severe sleep deprivation.
* Koppaites breathe oxygen. Hocotatians breathe something else and are killed by oxygen. When Louie is in the Drake, his helmet is off. Why is he not dead?
** May creep into FridgeHorror, especially after the implications of the final boss of the second game: just how Hocotatian is he anymore...?
** Koppaites can tolerate oxygen, but is it ever stated they ''need'' it?
** Oxygen is harmful to Koppaites too. A talking segment before you start the day has Alph warning Charlie not to take off his helmet while on PNF-404 because its oxygen levels are higher than that of Koppai.
* Why do all the returning enemies in ''Pikmin 3'' keep their names? Alph, Brittany, and Charlie don't meet Olimar or Louie until long after they meet these old enemies, and I highly doubt that Alph, Brittany, and Charlie would have come up with the same names (the Bulborb is named after Olimar's dog), especially since most new names sound different to old ones.
** The Koppaites were picking up numerous data logs left by Olimar. This is how they learned what the Pikmin and Onions are called. Presumably, among the logs they picked up were Olimar's notes on native wildlife.
* Why can't Winged Pikmin just fly away during the night? I mean, if you leave them behind, they stay LOW ON GROUND LEVEL instead of flying just above the creatures. Yeah, it's to make them not to so cheap as to be invincible during the night, but still...
** Because there are still flying enemies, presumably airborne predators that we don’t see, or they get tired (given how it’s night and they’re plants) and hence still take cover in the onion.
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* Louie's motivation in ''4'' is that he wishes to stay on PNF-404 for good, having become attached to the planet as a sort of playground where he can run free without anyone to tell him what to do. Keep in mind that, since he and Olimar work for the same company, they likely have the same type of spacesuit, [[YourDaysAreNumbered which can only last 15 days before its life support runs out]]. No amount of [[ExtremeOmnivore cooking and eating nearly every creature he can get his hands on]] would've saved Louie from a CruelAndUnusualDeath by oxygen poisoning had he been allowed to stay behind...

** Then ''Pikmin 4'' brings this Fridge Horror back in full force by having PNF-404 look like it's only recently been abandoned, with fully-functioning "ancient" technology like Game Boys, digital clocks, and even an entire ''house'' that look like they've been out of use for only a few weeks rather than presumably thousands of years. If we assume that the catastrophe happened later on (since ''Pikmin 4'' takes place in an AlternateContinuity) and the events of ''Pikmin 2'' and ''3'' are all but stated to not have occurred yet, it raises the question...''what the hell happened to humanity?''

* The Geiger counter in the first game, as Olimar notes even though he doesn't know the significance, is that the needle spends the entire time going haywire. Geiger counters are meant to monitor radiation levels, which means that ''whatever'' happened to the planet, it was Nuclear. With the outright confirmation in later games this is a post-humanity Earth, it's very likely their end was to a nuclear apocalypse.
** It could also be that we have failed to protect those who came after us, ''Fanfic/TheWritingOnTheWall'' style. Our nuclear waste could very well outlive us for a very long time...

* When you find the Hocotate ship in ''Pikmin 3'', the gold plating is gone. As you may know, Hocotate Frieght is in debt once again. So why is the gold plating gone? Because Shacho sold the gold plating to pay off part of the debt!