About Slogs...
 

While looking through some of the concept art of AO, something popped up into my mind that I never thought of before. Slogs, are their tails cropped?

http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...O/CAAO0027.jpghttp://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...O/CAAO0028.jpg

I do know that hunting dogs and guard dogs have their tails cropped so they don't get in the way or get snagged by something while they're in pursuit, do they do the same for Slogs?

It doesn't seem like it. Slogs have got issues, though. They should have a huge, short tail as large as their head and torso for balance.

To make them aggressive...

No I have no idea, I just think the design looks perfect as it is now (basically a head full of teeth with legs) and a tail would be a bit too much

You raise a pretty good point. I think it would be cool if Native slogs (if there are such things) had longer tails.

I doubt this is the case. Wild Sleg's have short tails too.

I know slogs look fine the way they are. From purely a physics perspective, however, they can't stand up.

what part of the term "odd" isn't making sence here?

Odd != Improbable, BM is only saying the anatomy of a Slog stretches the willing sense of disbelief a tad too much.

Despite this they still chase Abe very well indeed. A pathetic stumbling slog would be quite hilarious though...

ABM

I think the balance was intended to be made by designing their long feet.... but the moment the center of balance moves off of the feet BAM flat on their face. A tail's counterbalance would be nice.

A tail is quite essential for their acrobatic talents,
They would not be so agile if they lacked its counterbalance.

Its morphology apes that of a theropod dinosaur. Their tails were not there for show: they were essential to keep the animal's centre of gravity over their legs. That's why their hind limbs were always positioned halfway down their length. If the slog's feet were bigger, or the legs were angled further forward, the problem diminishes, though the strength to hold the animal up would be great. The tendons would be astonishing.

It's the amazing design of the slog in its other respects that keeps it looking believable.

Futuristic Sex Robotz ftw.

BM if you don't stop being so clever I am afraid I will have to shank you.

ABM

For the sake of discussion:

Slogs could have most of their body mass in their torso and bottom, with a pretty light head it could be working.

I was thinking the other day that they might have hollow bones and a leaden pelvis. This raises its own problems, not least the fact that this could make the animal as a whole much heavier than it is now. A tail is far more likely adaptation.

Yes, I believe a tail is needed for the Slog's balance, that is essential for most animals with a similair build to a Slog .... IF Oddworld was real life. Seeing as how this is a fictional videogame, all of reality doesn't need to exist.

But I do find the theory of a hollow bones, or a light head, to be interesting.

Slogs evolved anti-gravity organs. Glukkons have huge Slog farms to provide these organs for use in machinery like Security Orbs, Zappers and Greeters.

I knew it.

That explains EVERYTHING.

This is why we keep you around.

How do they control the anti-gravityismness of the organs in security orbs(they can be controled, if I recall corectly) Did you think of that!

That's a good point. Obviously they require Borg regeneration technology from the 24th century. Absolute proof that Oddworld resides within the Delta Quadrant.

Or maybe helium for brains?

[/uneducated solution]

Maybe they don't have brains?

[/even more uneducated solution]

That's quite a ridiculous statement. So basically what you're saying is that if Slogs had bigger tails to balance out the weight, they wouldn't be odd? Mind you, it's not like we're giving them two more legs, eyes, and a smaller mouth, right? A Slog would still look odd even with a bigger tail, and I know that I'm late on the subject, but, just think about it.

I think it would make them "less odd"...

Look at this:


This is Macropinna microstoma, a deep-sea fish with barrel-shaped eyes in order to take best advantage of the dim light- they're more like telescopes than eyes. They swivel around on pivots, staring straight up or straight ahead. Those two bumps above its mouth are nostrils. What's more: these eyes are entirely within their own head. Their skull is transparent, a protective observatory to keep its eyes out of harm's way. This is a fish with a window for a head.

Weird? Yes. Odd? Certainly. Stranger than fiction? God damn. And yet it is perfectly believable and scientifically accurate because it is REAL. Plausibility need not and does not deny ultimate oddness.

Makes me wonder how resistant such a skull can be...

Anyway, the slogs' design is a ripoff from one of the films Farzad worked on before joining Oddworld, they suited the odd feel well but were not designed specially for Oddworld.

What would they be? I haven't found anything yet.

Tremors, possibly number 2, I'm searching it too :p

EDIT: here is what was on my mind
http://www.oddworldforums.net/showth...hlight=Tremors

Really? That's a body plan I see often in modern fantasy/science fiction. It's clearly based on ratite birds, which is far less obvious in the slog.

Heh, there is some similarities between this and a Slog:

http://www.oddworldforums.net/attach...7&d=1059296216

Except this shrieker has a "tail" :p
I agree it's a basic body plan, but I really think this is where the Slog's design came from.

I notice that the shrieker holds its torso beneath its hips, instead of in front of them like on a slog. The two legs of the shrieker seem analogous to the forelimbs of a quadruped, rather than the hind limbs as in the slog.

OFFTOPIC
do slogs have eyes?

and that fish is sweet!

Slogs have no visible eyes, like many Oddworld species (though less and less since Olds left OWI). How they navigate the world remains a mystery.

ah ok

Maybe slogs navigate useing heat sensory organs like Shreakers do. They sense the body heat of something else the rest is well obvieous.

There's no obvious organ for that. Snakes are the only species I'm aware of that can in reality, and they have noticeable sensory pits. I was under the impression Oddworld's creatures detected/noticed something else (maybe a form of echolocation...? The Scrab's large head would show it in particular is highly sensetive in that sense), considering at least Fleeches we could assume to be cold blooded, thus making them invisible/harder to detect. It could be an entirely new, alien sense to us. Maybe even an air form of electroreception (though whether that could work out of water [in the form we know in sharks] is unbeknownst to me. BM should know though)

The Slog's body is on a permanent downward angle, presumably easing stress on it's legs, it's upper jaw moving instead of the lower. At least, they're like this when sleeping/resting, which it may spend an amount of time doing more than otherwise due to supporting the odd structure. But would the fact it's body weight is forward leaning, thus mean that when it walks or, perhaps more runs, that weight helps give it forward inclined momentum/carry it forward? Since it is always like that, it could get used to what would otherwise make it off balance. That would, with the absence of the tail, at least theoretically increase it's acceleration, if not necessarily the top speed. Less effort might be required for that speed due to gravity, though. Thoughts?
The skull also would seem light, given that the head is a large part of it, and the inside of the mouth is deeply concave, noticeable in the main official art. Their feet also go forward right below the head, have a pretty wide spread (certainly much more than ordinary dog feet) and their legs (thighs mainly) seem more noticeabley muscled, though that may not mean much given muscles are obvious on many other species too.

Why the Slog anyway? I'd have thought Elum moreover had similar problems, magnified by it's size and less compact build. But Elum may help prove my theory of the heavy forward momentum (look at it running...). It also has pretty large feet.