News Slig is Abe's pal!
 

I'm probably the last one here to realise that the Newscaster is on the Mudokons' side and will probably be a hero in a future game.
Can anyone give me more info about him?

There is very little info about him. Oddworld.com says: "coming soon" for ages now. But a slig on the mudokons side? What could this reporter do? He doesn't have a gun!

He say at the end of the exoddus, "I go away from here", and Alf say: Slig are only evil for money, so a Slig don't must be evil with mudokons

My reason for thinking this is... well, just look at the Glukkon interviews/whatever! Especially with Dir. Phleg...

Notice in the opening, the NewsSlig is using his mic as a guitar, and what is he singing? I welcome other interpretations of his scrambled lyrics, but mine was:
"Bone production down, down, DOWN!"
later, in the interview, Dir. Phleg DOES report Bone production is down. However, for me, this Slig's tone of voice denotes more PLEASURE than GRIEF. After the Phleg scene closes, we can here the slig saying:
"Yeah, yeah. Blah blah blah blah."
This, I believe, is UNDENIABLE evidence that the slig is NOT in favor of the Glukkons.

And still! Look at all the other newscasts--glukkon department heads explode, and all NewsSlig can bring himself to say is a very SARCASTIC and PATHETIC "oh, the horror..."

Additionally, at the destruction of the SS Brewery, Slig says: "Magog Ontha March - New fer yer Blues!" consider this. He is not saying 'blues' meaning depression only--he's giving a public statement saying WHOM he percieves his audience to be, and to WHOM he wishes to give this *USEFULL* information: Mudokons, also called "Blues"....

The evidence is overwhelming. This Newscaster has not only shown favoritism to the Mudokons by directing inside knowledge to them, but he also has shown disrespect for the Glukkons by publicly belittleing their way of thinking. Note also that, in an interview where VP Aslik calls the Muds "You stinkin' slaves!" the slig has only called them "Mudokon Workers" ---apparently he does not like to think of them as slaves... something the rest of the Magog Cartel enjoy very much.

SO! Anyone else? I really think there is something behind this guy--
They at OWI have already warned us to pay attention because "Oddword is big - VERY big" and old characters who SEEMED unimportant may surprise you (see the back of Abe's Oddysee instruction manual for direct quotes).

Thank you all for reading and replying! I appreciate getting to post here at the forums. Bye for now...

you are quite the detective there...I do believe you are right. (the newscaster slig was my favorite character in AE *grin*)
I think this saying fits this topic...

"Things are not always what they seem..."

wow tybie! you are really good at this kinda stuff! i never thought of it that way before but i thought that guy was kinda fishy. you have just sloved the biggest mystery in the universe! all bow down to tybie!
*chanting*
hail typie! hail tybie! hail tybie!

That's a very good thought there. :) I love the Newscaster anyway, he makes me laugh.

Gee whiz! Thanks a ton, guys! You've inspired me to re-read my old notes and check them again. I took about one full page of notes on the Dir. Phleg one alone--and wrote in the margins! I'll try not to bore anyone, but there are some other specific points that I don't recall right now. I'll send them when I get the chance. Thanks again everybody!

i don't think things are as black and white as being either on the side of the glukks or the muds... the newscaster clearly has no fondness for the glukkons, but likewise many workers in the real world don't like their bosses much, they still don't want to overthrow them...

having said that, you make a good argument, i'm convinced...

you must keep in mind that at the end of a newscast the newscaster says "For more information, pull the lever to your right" And when you do you get squashed!

What the hell, maybe he dislikes BOTH sides....

Hahaha, the newscaster isn't saying anything, he's just singing. "Boom badaow bow!" You know, the usual guitar sounds.

I like his voice in Englich, but I prefer it in French, he's a Saddic: pull the lever on your rigt=> QuickSave before, of cource, than run away, I'm not stupid... :p

Yeah, I think that most Sligs don't like the Glukkons very much. You always see them sleeping and overindulging themselves beating Muds instead of guarding. I think the Newscaster uses his postistion as a way to publically display his dislike of glukkons. But you did raise some points to ponder. I bet there are Sligs who are even more nice to the Muds, but we never see them because of them not being a high enough status. But I don't think any slig would be a Quintology hero, mainly because Abe can posses a slig and get the same abilities...But it would be cool to have Newscaster in the backround giving the Quintology Heroes tips and missions he hears of...

Actually, I also thought he was singing "Bone production down", just in the style of 'the usual guitar sounds'.

i think that sligs who show overtly rebellious behavior [or, for that matter, any degree of intelligence or niceness] probably tend to 'disappear', so these days sligs tend to keep their intelligence, nice nature, and hatred for their bosses hidden behind a cloak of cruelty...

it thought he was saying that too! the first time i saw that video, ifigured it was a subtler way to announce the news.

Thanks all o' ya. This is an interesting topic, i think! I love hearing all the different feedback! Rettick, thank you for pointing out that sligs (or anything for that matter) are not either black or white, but usually some shade of gray. I totally think this News Slig is not all good--but i do think he is more good than bad. But his bad parts, his Slig nature... that'll be half the fun! And FuzzyFuzzle: think of how much more fun it would be if no one could tell that you were possessed and what if you had access to even higher security areas?

I know that the Lever part seems very anti-Mudokon, but I'm working on a web page now to give step-by-step analyzations of my theory. I'll post the URL here as soon as it's up.

Also, I really do believe that the Slig's singing does contain the words "Bone production down", and I am convinced by his tone of voice that he's happy about it.

Thank you all! I hope we get some more thoughts and perspectives on this. It's real fun talking about! There are so many other points I want to share with you all, and hear your individual opinions of! The URL will be up very soon.

One particular detail that anyone seemed to mention is that the video devices, where you can watch the newscaster show, is intended to be used by mudokons, in an attempt to keep them motivated to work, and to recieve distorted messages (like the many references to Abe as a terrorist mastermind, not a savior).

In other words, the newscaster slig knows that he is actually addressing mudokons, so if he wanted to, he could add subliminar messages without being perceived by the Glukkon censorship.

*sigh* If only the ITV news could be like this.... ;) :D

Sounds fun. :D I need someone to procrastinate with... Heh, who remembers the "Sligs-as-tree-wolves" topic? ;)

*tries to imagine the newscaster in the ITV news studio...*

hey! hey! let me procrastinate, too!

i've been converted to the idea of arboreal trees, but i'm still convinced that sligs are and were omnivorous, since they lack predatory features - they have no claws [and could have no useful claws anyway since they run on both limbs] and their teeth are hidden behind their feeding tentacles...

but then, you're the biologist... :D

Personaly, I don't support the arboreal slig theory. To me, sligs are aquatic creatures. Their tail seems to work better to swim than to grab branches of tress. And the fact that they use masks with tubes can be an evidence that they can't breath normal air.

have to disagree with you there Lamp. If sligs were water based beings they would have some sort of webbing between their fingers...and they dont have that. Also for their tails...they would be have to be much longer and flatter, unless you're thinking along the lines of a sea horse, but they would still need some type of webbing or fins.
As for the tubing? I think those are electric cables that run power to the mask for things like nightvision and such. Or they are a link between neural sensors in the mask and a motor that move the legs of their pants.

ah geez i think you reopened the slig debate Teal...

Uh... *scratches head* Oopsie?

Well, certain types of sea-slug are carnivorous, and they don't have claws... *shrugs* I see where you're coming from, though. I'd always thought they were omnivores until someone from OI said they were carnivores in one of the Oddchats (I'd find the transcript, but I don't have time right now).

*beats head on wall* Ack, shut up, shut up, shut up!

[ October 12, 2001: Message edited by: Teal ]

What about Munch? He lives in the water and does not have webbed feet or hands. (this has always puzzled me about munch. I really cannot figure out how he can swim very fast at all based on what he looks like. No fins and only one big foot that doesn't have webbing).

[ October 12, 2001: Message edited by: RoN_Rancor ]

can i just ask - how do you know they don't have webbing between their fingers? i honestly don't think we've ever seen a slig in such detail as to be able to see...

Eewie Ron, you faces are throwing up and I can't finish my potatoe chip soda!

But the newscaster is funny, he's not really going to do squat just, report the news.

Hm. I think Munch's feet are kind-of like a coot's foot (You know, the little black water-birds with the white beaks) - they don't specifically have webbing like a ducks foot, they've got little almost bulbous bits sticking out... I'll see if I can find a picture...

As for webs between slig fingers, I've had a lok at all the pictures I can find and I can't see that they do have webbing... but then, you can get oceangoing snakes, and they just kind of flatten their bodies to swim... I think it's unlikely that they are aquatic, as we now have Munch, but hey. *shrugs* I could be wrong, it has been known to happen... ;)

It's possible that Sligs are both aquatic and arboreal; just as humans once were.
The vast majority of primates are tree-dwelling, and that explains our opposable thumbs; and the fact that we can throw spears and javelins, an action which uses the same muscles as brachiation.
Some human biologists reckon that humans also have a partly aquatic background, because we are one of the few creatures whose nostrils point downwards; a feature which stops us getting water up our noses. And, according to the same people, the reason why we have such weird-looking ears is because all the folds trap air bubbles, and thus stop water going up our ears as well. And we certainly don't have webbed digits (not as adults anyway; in our embryonic states we do in fact possess webbing on the hands and feet... occasionally people are born with the webbing still intact and have to have it surgically removed).

I think it's certainly plausible that Sligs originated as tree creatures, then developed some aquatic skills as well. Personally, though, I think they look more like tree-dwellers; especially since their tails arnd tentacles are prehensile, which would make up for the fact that they only possess two limbs.