Oddworld Questions and Answers Vα

[Slaveless]

Two questions about your theory, Zerox. Why does the tail of a Slig look like a tail, and not merged legs? The tail was probably there in the first place, to help Sligs move along in the water, since it probably needed it to swim before it developed arms. Besides, if they had legs to start with, what is their use? They could swim a lot better with a tail and not legs.

[Zerox]

I own the 10 years of Oddworld art book. Looking closely at Slig design pictures, I notice evident joints, such as a 'foot' and 'knees'. My best guess is that, since they are said to have come from a swampy environment, they originally lived in a relatively open environemnt. Then their surroundings changed, and so walking through the turgid swamp was very difficult, and they eventually turned to dragging themselves along on their arms. So, their legs eventually shrunk, and merged together.
I was trying to find the picture on TOGG, but TOGG appears not to be working. All the links there just stay at the homepage. And we don't have a scanner right now as my sister broke it. Plus I'd be paranoid of lawsuits etc. anyway, even if I did have one.

[Cullen Heath]

Oh, yeah, don't scan anything in.
Are you talking about page 66?

[Bullet Magnet]

Firstly, I always thought of it as a tail, not leg remains. Secondly, who says that sligs evolved from tetrapods at all?

[Munch's Master]

I too thuoght it was a tail, and I thought the opular theory regarding Slligs was that they were tree-dwellers in the past, and used their tails and tentacles as 3rd and 4th hands to help them swing through trees without having legs get in the way?

[Cullen Heath]

I have never heard of Sligs evolving from tree dwellers. I think you may be thinking of Vykkers.

Two questions about your theory, Zerox. Why does the tail of a Slig look like a tail, and not merged legs? The tail was probably there in the first place, to help Sligs move along in the water, since it probably needed it to swim before it developed arms. Besides, if they had legs to start with, what is their use? They could swim a lot better with a tail and not legs.

I am going to have to go with Slaveless on this one.

[Wil]

I remember the arborial Slig theory. ’Tis age‐old but, while interesting, has little basis.

[Zerox]

Oh, yeah, don't scan anything in.
Are you talking about page 66?

Yes, top left corner.
Also in the 'official' crawling Slig pic in the AE manual, I can see the little foot bit sticking up, and the knee bend touching the ground.
Thinking about Slig evolution raises a question: Why is their middle finger shorter than the outer fingers?

[Slaveless]

I think the key term of what Sligs look like in the concept art is that it is concept art. In concept art, Glukkons had hair. And, in concept art, Abe had a long amount of hair. In concept art, Intern's didn't need clothing. In concept art, Vykkers had two fingers on each hand. Now, I think the joints you see are joints simply to move the tail around, not distincint remains of legs. Another thing, would there possibly be a remain of a hip bone on the Slig?

On the official Crawling Slig, that was probably there to show the Slig's ability to move the tail. It is probably in that position to rest the tail muscle, since the tail is used to support the Slig in all types of ways already, and it needs rest for future use.

[Wil]

Regarding the apparent joint in a Slig’s tail, it isn’t necessarily indicative of conjoined legs; it could simply be a joint in the tail. The shortened middle finger is interesting, though.

Here’s a nice blueprint showing the tail joint and the shortened middle finger on a Big Bro Slig:

[Cullen Heath]

Uhh, I think that you forgot to attach it, Max

[Wil]

I wasn’t actually attaching it, but it should display. All the code is there for it to. Hmmm.

/me is disgruntled.

p.s. Fixed it. I mucked the URI up.

[Zerox]

What I find weird about Big Bro's is that they have massive heads for some reason.
That is a much better picture of what I meant. Thsi also show's how Sligs have an 'internal jaw' along there.
Even though it's not visible on masked Sligs, there appears to be a small mouth openeing, and the large internal jaw for chewing food.
That picture ows, by the way.
Oh, and about the 'concept art' thing. Well, to me, those pictures look pretty finalised.

[Munch's Master]

The tails could have once been legs. I think it's possible that the tail was origially a single leg designed for them to hop on (ala Gabbits and Meeps) but as they evolved they couldn't bear their bodies' weight on the leg so it became more atrophied and turned into a tail. I still like the tree dwellers theory, but if they do come from trees I doubt Vykkers do as the 2 species would most likely have fought each other.

[Wil]

1. If they did fight, why would that be a throwback to the theory? It doesn’t mean either one of them would have been wiped out.
2. They might have filled quite separate niches that didn’t come into direct conflict.
3. They might have inhabited different areas, e.g. Sligs in a swamped forest, Vykkers in a deciduous forest.

But I’m still not fond of the arborial Slig hypothesis.

I think it's possible that the tail was origially a single leg designed for them to hop on (ala Gabbits and Meeps) but as they evolved they couldn't bear their bodies' weight on the leg so it became more atrophied and turned into a tail.

If Sligs’ weight was becoming too much for their leg, it’s much more likely that they would have stopped evolving heavier bodies. It also begs the question of why they were evolving larger bodies in the first place.

[Bullet Magnet]

I heard that they came from swamps. Their bodies do seem like post-aquatic forms in some ways.

[Zerox]

In what ways are they adapted to swimming? They bloomin' well can't.
If their bodies were becoming heavier, it is almost impossible for the leg to shrink. Because if it started to shrink, but was still quite large, then the arms would not have enough strength to pull a large body and a large, useless tail thing.
Perhaps both ended up shrinking at the same time, as a freak occurence?
...and what is the aboreal Slig thesis? Never really heard of it.

[Wil]

Sligs can’t swim if a) they’ve been raised on land and haven’t been taught how to swim and/or b) they are wearing metal legs that double their weight (and more to the point, increase their mean density).

The arboreal Slig hypothesis (I don’t think anyone actually wrote a thesis on the matter) was essentially a wild speculation that because a Slig’s tail is prehensile, it could have used its arms, tail and facial fingers to navigate trees.

[Zerox]

It's tail isn't like that...and it's far too small to be prehensile and support the Slig's weight in any way.
I don't think Sligs could taught to swim well at all...they have no Leg's or anything, and since they're not fully bipedal, regardless of legs, it would be much more difficult for them to hold their heads above water.

[Wil]

So if they can’t swim and can’t climb trees, where in the swamps do you propose they lived?

[Slaveless]

If the Slig's tail couldn't support their body, then how does Walking Sligs stand in their pants?

Actually, the Slig's tail is probably small since it is squeezed into small spaces all the time. So, it could their arms could dog paddle through water, or the same way they crawl.

[Cullen Heath]

Plus, when a Slig goes to dispense a pair of pants, it puts some of the weight on the tail, in order to use one hand to push the button.

since it is squeezed into small spaces all the time.

Umm, like when?

[Slaveless]

Sorry, poor wording. I meant that the Slig has to push their tail into the pants all the time, resulting that the tail is rather non muscular, since it can't grow very large.

[Cullen Heath]

Ahh, gotcha. Thanks

[Slaveless]

You are welcome.

Anyway, I have a question. Is there a reason why Ball Carts don't seem to reappear in AE or MO? I can understand MO, but why AE? Was it due to the fact that they did not want AE to hog all of their precious time on their future work on MO?

[Bullet Magnet]

There were trains in AE

What I was saying about the swamp slig hypothesis was that they could have had swampy ancestors. Obviously they don't swim now, they're terrestrial. I was kind of assuming that you might have fit evolution in there yourselves.

post-aquatic

As in after aquatic. Not aquatic anymore.

[Nate]

Well the factories in AE were much smaller than Rupture farms so would not have needed internal transport systems.

As for swampy sligs; I always imagined them crawling around in the shallow mud rather than swimming.

[Zerox]

They still couldn't hold their heads above water well to breathe well.
The train sequences in AE going to Slig Barracks and the like are like ball carts in the same sense, no? Except the ball carts weren't used for product transportation at the same time.

[Nate]

No, because the trains were travelling long distances between factories whereas the ballcars were travelling a short distance within a factory. Inter vs Intra, so to speak.

As for the sligs, if you watch their pantsless gait in AE, their heads poke quite high up - more than high enough for it to be above shoulder-height water.

[Zerox]

That's beacause they're lifting their bodies high above the ground at the full extent of their arms. Swimming and keeping that pose, and without legs, is no easy matter by comparison, no? It's not the actual neck being held up.