Headscratchers / Oddworld

• I know the Glukkons are greedy, but honestly, there's one more can of Gabbiar eggs left, apparently fertile, and all they can think to do with it is gobble it straight off the bat. Don't they even think to make more Gabbits and thus more Gabbiar? And thus more Gabbits to make more Gabbiar? I mean, most egg-based species only take a month or two to hatch...
  • Look a few headscratchers down the page for a possible answer. If the Gabbiar can were unfertilized eggs and the Glukkons believed that there were no more male Gabbits alive, eating it would be the only possible thing left to do. But the existence of Munch changes everything, if the Gabbits have some form of external fertilization like fishes and frogs, he could transform them into little Gabbits so the species would't die out.
  • Glukkons are also established as being extremely short-sighted in their business endeavours. They killed off the Meeches and most of the Scrabs and Paramites through over-hunting, which was why they wanted to use their workforce to replace them in the first place. The idea of fertilizing the eggs probably didn't even occur to them.
  • For all we know, that's exactly what somebody wanted to do with the eggs. It's just that in the bad ending, he was outbid by an idiot who didn't think of that and mindlessly ate them.
• Why does Sekto call that lizard guy after the Stranger talks to him about getting a Steef head? He offered Sekto one for 20 grand, but Sekto offered the same to the lizard guy, so it wouldn't save any money. So what was the point?
  • Perhaps Sekto trusted the lizard guy (De Caste Raider is his name, apparently), and was worried that the Stranger would try to raise his price down the line.
  • Or he just contacted both so he'd have multiple people out for it.
  • This troper's interpretation of the scene is that Sekto was surprised that Stranger claimed he can find a Steef to collect on the bounty. Sekto killed enough of them to think the species extinct, as evidenced by his huge trophy gallery in his office. Having some random bounty hunter stating that he can find a fresh one perked his interest; then Sekto just called De Caste to get his own people on the hunt, not caring how the outlaw handled it as long as it resulted in another head for his wall.
  • Another guess is that he didn't want to give out that sort of sum to a complete unknown that wasn't on his payroll.
• Why didn't anyone recognize Stranger as a Steef? It's not like he bothered to disguise his face.
  • Steef were more well known for their horns and four legs. Many of the outlaw bosses comment on this, with Blisterz Booty (or his brother) saying "...whatever the hell you is." in the jail in Gizzard Gulch.
  • Oddworld has thousands of different and bizarre species. Maybe more then one kind of creature on Oddworld has a furry face.
  • It was mentioned somewhere that Steefs normally cannot speak. Stranger's speech is slow and simple, but it would probably throw off suspicion.
• For the first half of the game, Stranger had his hind legs and rear bound up against his forelegs. This seems incredibly painful — walking with the entirety of his lower body folded double against him. Mark it down to Bizarre Alien Biology. Or sheer badassery. Or mark it down to a metaphor about the extent that real life people are forced to painfully change themselves in order to conform to society's expectations.
• Why did Abe and Munch go through the trouble of possessing Lulu and increasing his fortune when they just as easily could have had Munch take over one of the higher ranking Glukkons and use him to accomplish their goals?
  • First point, Munch couldn't, because he doesn't have the power of psychic possession. Clarification made, second point: it seems to be some sort of ideological thing. Make one completely socially dysfunctional Glukkon arise in society is some sort of Take That! in the Glukkons faces. And, third and most important point: if you want to make things quick and swift, Munch could've controled a Buzzer, and break into wherever the can of Gabbiar was. Default answer: Plot Induced Stupidity.
  • Besides, in the process of making Lulu rich they bankrupted several glukkon businesses that were damaging the environment. Probably Big Raisin made up this plan to trick Munch into aiding Abe to close the glukkon facilities.
    • Also, they probably didn't know where the Gabbiar was stored.
    • The real reason is that Lulu is a particularly stupid Glukkon who didn't bring guards, letting Abe and Munch steal the Gabbiar from him after winning the auction.
    • Another thing that probably influenced this plan, among all the previous points raised, is how high the auction was going to go. Abe could have went with some high-ranking Glukkon and hoped for the best, but the other Glockstar at the event was willing to pay 2,500,000 moolah for the can. Nobody else at the gathering could have competed. Abe and Munch had to make a Glockstar from nothing just to make sure that nobody could take it. If they just invaded the winner's property for the can, nothing would have stopped the owner from eating the whole thing before being stopped.
• Why does the Outlaw that captures Stranger make a big deal of the fact that he was the one who captured Blisterz Booty? Wasn't Booty a small fry?
  • Blisterz had an ENORMOUS hideout. It's possible that his bounty didn't reflect how dangerous he was.
  • According to the second September 2011 edition of Dear Alf: "Blisterz Booty was once a member of D. Caste Raider’s clan [a.k.a. the unnamed-in-game Outlaw that captured Stranger], but became ambitious and badass enough to start his own gang. When he got taken out by Stranger, his remaining followers moved back in with Raider. Make sense now?"
• How is it that, although scrabs are depicted both in-game (although it's hard to tel) and in production art as having no eyes, that they can still see abe when he's invisible.
  • since the invisibility runs on magic, we don't know how it works: it's more likely just general concealement.
  • Or, scrabs could work the same way Xenomorphs do. Sense based on movement. Or they could have hyper-advanced sense of smell.
  • The Oddworld library says that "Scrabs are thought to see by echolocation".
  • This would explain why they hiss constantly.
• Why were the first several games about how evil Corrupt Corporations were? Which was followed by Oddworld agreeing to be X-box exclusive after a pay-off and then the entire staff being fired after a game was completed?
  • Because the Abe games didn't make enough money for Oddworld Inhabitants to survive without hitching onto one of said "corrupt corporations".
  • Also, the game's aesop is probably more environmentalist than anti-corporative. Rapture Farms extincted the Meeches, after all...
  • Incidentally, this was answered by one of the Alf's Rehab and Tea questions on the old Oddworld Site. It'd be kind of a bitch to find right now, since I'd have to look through severel months of questions to find the right one, but it basically boiled down to: "Let me just say this right now—Oddworld Inhabitants ain't anti-corporate. We need money to feed our families too, and making video games ain't cheap."
  • You may notice the Glukkons don't make video games... and their actions aren't even profitable in anything but the very short run, given that they don't seem to get the idea of farming and just hunt species to extinction (mind you, I'd like to see someone try to tame a Paramite or Scrab). Consider the kind of thoughtless plundering and cruelty in underdeveloped countries that you hear about; Oddworld is an exaggerated parody of such.
• How can Abe and the rest of the Mudokons talk with their mouths stitched?
  • Only Abe's lips are stitched, apparently because he wouldn't shut up back before the game started. Also, only the corners of Abe's mouth are stitched, not all the way across.
  • I thought it was because Abe's stitches became looser as he grew up, and they couldn't be asked to stitch him back up.
  • From what I remember, Abe's mom had to stitch his lips in order to keep him from being killed (He cried alot as a kid, which also explains why his skin is purple/blue.) When the stitches loosened, he kept them to remember his mom.
• Seeing Gabbiar is, basically, Gabbit's eggs(just as caviar is sturgeon's eggs) and that they're probably produced in captivity, how would those eggs inside the last can of Gabbiar hatch into new little Gabbits? I know it's sad, but let's face it... it doesn't make sense.
  • You're implying that a species of alien frog/fish hybrids most likely have eggs exactly like normal fish eggs?
  • Like Reality, Unless Noted, yes. Not only fish, but any other species that have external fecundation(frogs, for instance). Now that i think of it, though, Munch is a male, so... yeah.
    • Like Reality, Unless Noted, and it's just been noted. Fish reproduce by external fecundation. Gabbits are not fish. Gabbits are an alien lifeform, and it's unknown how they reproduce. Maybe two Gabbits did have to make love in order to produce the contents of that can.
    • Gabbits are amphybian, so it's not much of a stretch to assume they breed not unlike frogs and newts. It still could work, though, if the Gabbiar is fresh enough to be inoculated.
    • Thinking about it, maybe this could answer the very first question on this page. If the eggs were unfertilized and the Glukkons didn't know there was still a male Gabbit alive...
    • Some species of fish and amphibians can change their sex depending on environmental conditions. There's also the case of seahorses, where the males gestate eggs laid by the female until they hatch. Munch might be able to handle it himself.
• How do Glukkons manipulate the environment when they have no arms? They don't appear to use mechs or anything.
  • They pay other people to do it. And they have huge arms; that's what they walk on, with their tiny legs dangling.
  • In Abe's Exoddus at least, all the machines designed to be used by a Glukkon are voice-activated.
• How do the pre-MO Glukkons fit into MO's Glukkon hierarchy? Molluck dresses like a Big Cheese, but his factory employs more than even the Flub Fuels CEO's, who was a Glockstar. The Junior Executives in the Soulstorm Boardroom look like Wanna-Be's, but so does Aslik, who as the Vice President of FeeCo Depot is clearly above them in rank, though below Phleg and Dripik, who run their own operations. Phleg also dresses like a Big Cheese, but the game strongly implies, judging by Dripik's reaction to the possibility of Molluck returning, that Molluck is all three of Exoddus Big Bad Triumvirate's superior, which makes no sense if Molluck is a Big Cheese. The Brewmaster is even more confusing, as it's never made clear what his position is in the company, only that he dresses like a Wanna-Be. The Glukkons in the AO boardroom dress like Big Cheeses, as well. Also, Word of God has compared Molluck to the manager of a third world meat operation, which would imply more of a Wanna-Be status, and certainly makes one wonder why he would be tried by the Glukkon Queen herself.
  • The classes reflect wealth, not position.
• Also, what is the exchange rate of Moolah to any real world currency? 3,000,000 is apparently enough to get you into the top financial echelons, which would require billions in Real Life. On the other hand, presumably Tex got his Moolah through business savvy or political connections, rather than Lulu's Unwitting Pawn status, and is willing to spend 2,500,000 on fish. Glukkons may be somewhat stupid, but even they would surely not waste their life savings on a can of Gabbiar.
  • It's the last can of Gabbier. Ever. Once it's gone, there would be no more, not without Munch's help. So that one can would be extremely valuable. Also, Lulu probably had just enough to get the can, whereas all the other bidders would be fine after they got the can.
    • Nobody else had more money. That's why Lulu wasn't outbid when he put up three million moolah. However, everybody else actually had sources of income while Lulu was simply handed his. So for example, Tex probably had a company or otherwise large source of income. Let's assume all he has is three million, hence why he can't outbid Lulu. He wouldn't go bankrupt, but his company would be on a shoestring budget of 500,000. He sees this as an acceptable sacrifice for the the last can of Gabbiar there will ever be.
    • Like the last can of anchovies.
  • Also: "3,000,000 is apparently enough to get you into the top financial echelons, which would require billions in Real Life." As far as my rough knowledge of economy goes, the amount of money that's considered "top financial echelons" depends on how much money is there around(in print or credit form). So, sorry for the cluelessness of this comment, but it's not impossible that Moolah does convert to dollar on a rate of a few thousand.
• The Steef Ancestral armor has horns on its helmet(s). For a species that already has horns. Although, now that I think about it, it used to bother me that Stranger had no horns, not even the EVIDENCE of horns, until I realized that the female Clackerz sounded just like the males, and the female natives sounded just like that males... But there isn't a WMG page yet, so I'll just stick this here.
  • Considering that Stranger is getting an operation to make himself bipedal, it wouldn't be too far out there that he had a similar operation to remove the horns.
  • The helmet would cover the horns, so some artificial ornamentation would be needed. Also, feel free to start that WMG page... no, wait. I'll take care of that.
    • Got it. Thank you!
  • Speaking of the helmet, it completely covers the top half of the head so it doesn't look like a horned steef could wear the damn thing...
• The bad endings in Abe's Oddysee. Why are the mudokons so upset about Abe not rescuing the majority of them? As far as I can tell, no-one else has gone on a rescue mission, so why must Abe rescue at least 50% of them?
  • Cause he killed them instead?
  • Even on non-Black endings, Abe is supposed to be the messiah of Mudokons, meant to save all the mudokons. I bet you'd be salty if someone who was meant to save you from captivity just ignored you and left.
• The bad endings in any Oddworld game. It's not in Abe's character to kill anyone on purpose, so none of the bad endings make sense and make the mudokons look like real jerks, plus in all but Abe's Oddysee there's no reason for them to even occur — they require a major ass-pull since characters who are in all likelihood ALREADY DEAD are the ones who supposedly apply the bad karma. The bad endings are retribution suitable only for Black.
  • Abe is meant to be the saviour of all the mudokons. When he ends up leaving a load of them to die, even if he didn't intend to, he doesn't live up to his reputation as a saviour and the other mudokons are mad about that. I don't know if you've noticed, but most of them pretty much are real jerks.
    • Abe is also the seemingly the only Mudokon seen able to open bird portals and mind control enemies by himself via chanting. (While Munch can also do it, it seems to be the augment on their head that allows it (somehow)), Meaning he has the best means of actually getting them out of there safely. Think about how hard it is to get a small group of, say 3-5 Mudokons to one of those bird portals. Now think of trying to get multiple groups of them at once out of the hellhole that is the factory and all the way back to the nearest Mudokon settlement while losing as few Mudokons as possible. Abe leaving them to die/killing them(accidentally or otherwise) is, in their eyes, someone with massive power for change throwing that in the garbage, either to save their own skin, or they were simply too lazy to look any harder.
• Why does Abe drink Soulstorm Brew when he knows that it contains Mudokon bones and tears, and that he isn't as addicted to is as some of the others? Isn't that kind of undermining what he went to do?
  • That is a really good question. The best I can think, although it doesn't work in-story, is that O.I. needed an Applied Phlebotinum and figured it easiest to use the one already there. In-story, maybe this is what Abe thought..
  • Well, it could be the fact that Abe has no ability to tell the difference between fantasy and reality and has far more powerful chants than the average mudokon. Chances are he's 'different' in more ways than one. The second game even makes it look like his ability to resurrect is canon: in the bad ending he bursts into birds upon his death, something that doesn't occur in the first game's bad ending.
  • The bones etc. used to make the brew have already been put in, so it's not like he's causing any more Mudokon suffering by drinking. He didn't really have any option, anyway - he needed to drink it to get past security. Think of it more as the Glukkons being hoisted by their own petard, where the brew they produced is used to ultimately destroy the brewery itself.
• Why did D. Caste Raider and his gang hang Doc? They didn't have any apparent reason to do so.
  • I always assumed it was to both lure Stranger into an ambush and to get back at him for being a thorn in the side of outlaws everywhere. He believes Stranger knows where the Steef is, and he probably got word from somewhere that Stranger was seeking out Doc for something, so he probably killed Doc both to get information out of Stranger and send a message to him that you don't mess with outlaws.
  • Perhaps they're just speciesist against Vykkers. Vykkers don't really have a very good reputation at the best of times.
• Why don't the Glukkons use mechanical pants to free up their arms? Yes, their whole schtick is being too good to do any manual labor (even something as simple as lighting their own cigars), but it seems rather silly to give up the basic ability to grasp and manipulate objects.
  • As mentioned, they probably see themselves as above such things. Why go to the trouble of attaching and operating a set of greasy mechanical limbs when you've got a bunch of servants to do everything for you?
• So after going through Munch's Oddysee again recently, this troper came upon a revelation: Lulu (while possessed by Abe as seen in the newspaper) creates "Lulu's Funds" charity machines which are stationed in other Glukkon business buildings, yet from the tone of the newspapers since the charity started it doesn't seem like any-Glukkon will be putting a single penny into it. Why would Glukkons then have these charity machines placed in their businesses if no-one's going to use them? And while I could buy that they probably humoured him and put them there, why would they still not get rid of the machines after seeing signs of other Glukkons paying into Lulu's Funds? They clearly know that something is amiss, because as the game progresses you're told that they are boosting security measures to lessen the chance of this happening to them.
  • Firstly, I always get the feeling the Glukkons planned to donate probably a (relatively) small amount of money to it, probably for tax purposes or good PR, but Abe's intervention made them go over the top(alternatively, the machine is a special "donate to charity" machine for the aformentioned purposes, and Lulu's was just the most recent). Secondly, while they know something weird is happening to the Glukkons, they don't know that said weird something is Abe Mind Controlling them to spend all of their money, and the papers attribute the happenings to things like being under the influence or a strange ghost, thus they likely see these Glukkons as just being dumb schmucks not worthy of their Moolah.
• So, why did Stranger call up Sekto and tell him he could find him a Steef? He needs the money, yes, but we find out shortly afterwards that he is that Steef. Was he planning to turn himself in, somehow expect to be paid, then escape? Or does Stranger know of other Steefs out there and he was going to sell out his species for his own sake?
  • He may have just intended to rob someone who wanted him dead.
• What's the deal with the vending machines in Munch's Oddysey? The Health Up, Expresso, and arguably Bounce Vendos all make a bit of sense, but the ones only Munch can drink don't. Virtually none of the enemies in the game can even swim, so having a vending machine that makes your jumping in the water better is bizarre, and having a drink that only works with a thing installed on Munch just spells disaster.
  • Probably best to shrug it off as Gameplayand Story Segregation.
• With the retconning of the effects and dangers Soulstorm Brew has on Mudokons in Oddworld: Soulstorm. How is it that Abe hasn't suffered from the deadly withdrawal symptoms? Abe was implied to have drank Soulstorm Brew before and following the implication of time between New n' Tasty and Soulstorm, Abe should be long since dead by the start of Soulstorm. Even Molluck and his Slig Chauffeur are perplexed by this fact and although Alf smuggled over a hundred creates of the Brew out from Rupture Farms, Abe is never once shown to be drinking it unlike Alf and Toby who are seen with a bottle in hand.
  • Possibly something relating to Abe's as The Chosen One or something that will be explored in any future titles.
    • I wish that they'd explained something about it in Soulstorm, because unfortunately it just feels like Plot Armor when it's not elaborated on why Abe's somehow immune.
• Who are the Glukkons selling their products to? Are there lower class Glukkons that aren't heads of company? Mudokons and Sligs are slaves who wouldn't have money.
  • Possibly Vykers, Clackers, Oktigi and Wolvarks among many other sentient species that may inhabit Oddworld.
  • According to this interview from Lorne Lanning, Khanzumers are the buyers of their products. Mudokons and other species who live in the underground cities of Oddworld transform into a new "fat" and "powerful" species called Khanzumers.
• Lorne mentioned in an interview that Glukkons spit at each other instead of physical assault, since they don't have the use of their arms. So how did Molluck throw his Slig Chauffeur out of the airship, with his limbs stuck so tightly in that suit?
  • Maybe he kicked a door from underneath the Slig, like how the other Gluks operate phones with their "feet" (hands). Or he picked the Slig up with his teeth and committed Destination Defenestration?
  • Headbutted him?
• If the Mudokons can use magic to literally create lightning storms and strike their enemies, why do they rely on Abe to save everyone?
• Aren't the Gabbits doomed to die out even in the Good Ending of Munch's Odyssey? After all, even with Munch fertilizing the eggs from the can, this means that any Gabbits hatching/developing from said eggs are siblings/half-siblings depending on whether the can has eggs from a single Gabbit female or multiple. This will leave them to die out from recessive genetic diseases even if the Glukkons/Vykkers/whoever else don't get to them first.