Odd Piece of the Week — Molluck's Vault

[kjjcarpenter]

For this edition of “Odd Piece of the Week”, I think it would be fun to investigate and speculate about Molluck’s Vault. Recently, OWI released a few pieces of conceptual art that appear to originate from the original iteration of Munch’s Oddysee, as evidenced by the appearance of Munch in a wheelchair.

The art appears to depict Molluck’s Vault in RuptureFarms, a secret location from the original Abe’s Oddysee, that was also revisited in New ’n’ Tasty. This would explain why there appears to be an inaccessable doorway and catwork leading to the vault, and why an alarm siren blares incessently once you start causing havoc in the area.

For a long time it had been understood that one of the original story threads dropped from Munch’s Oddysee was a return to RuptureFarms. However, for the longest time, it was unknown why Abe would have needed to return to the derelict and defunct meat processing plant. With the release of this concept art, indicating that Molluck held his deep reservoir of funds in a personal vault secured in the heart of his factory, it appears that perhaps this cache would have been used to help in Lulu’s venture of becoming a wealthy and exploitable glukkon.

Besides a lot of moolah, what do you think would have been inside the vault? What are some of Molluck’s most treasured possessions? How much moolah do you think Molluck was worth? How pissed do you think Molluck would have been once he discovered that Abe, the terrorist mastermind who single-handedly rendered both of his franchises inert, had also robbed him blind?

[Manco]

I think the concept of Molluck’s Vault, along with Molluck himself surviving the destruction of Rupturefarms and fleeing, plus the cut plans to include Molluck’s trial in Munch’s Oddysee, certainly raises questions about how important Molluck is meant to be in the larger story of Oddworld. Every game bar SW includes Molluck or his influence in some way, or was planned to do so; even now there’s speculation on his possible appearance in Soulstorm.

Using the contents of the vault to fund Lulu would certainly have been more welcome than spending half the game traipsing around smalltime Magog businesses to scrape together the moolah. Perhaps when the larger planned story had to be cut, the vault was replaced in order to pad out the remaining gameplay?

[Michael]

Interesting, I wonder why Molluck wouldn't take the contents of his vault before going into hiding though?

I'd have thought the Cartel would appoint someone else to RF in the wake of the destruction, to claim the spoils/attempt to recover whatever might be of value from the wreckage. Especially if they're looking for Molluck prior to his trial- first port of call would be to search the remains of RF to confirm he's still alive?

[kjjcarpenter]

Interesting, I wonder why Molluck wouldn't take the contents of his vault before going into hiding though?

I'd have thought the Cartel would appoint someone else to RF in the wake of the destruction, to claim the spoils/attempt to recover whatever might be of value from the wreckage. Especially if they're looking for Molluck prior to his trial- first port of call would be to search the remains of RF to confirm he's still alive?

For all we know, Molluck might be hiding in the vault. It would seem like a very glukkon thing to do.

Every game bar SW includes Molluck or his influence in some way, or was planned to do so; even now there’s speculation on his possible appearance in Soulstorm.

I think we've all, at one point of another, considered the concept of Molluck being the fifth and final member of the QuintoBros.

[Sybil Ant]

Strange times make for stranger bedfellows.

[Xavier]

Here's a thought... what if the Vault actually contained a can of Gabbiar? Molluck seems like the kind of Gluckkon that could have snatched a can a few years back and stacked it away for later.

Of course this would make Lulu and the "make Lulu rich" plot useless, which in my opinion wouldn't be a bad thing.

[kjjcarpenter]

Here's a thought... what if the Vault actually contained a can of Gabbiar? Molluck seems like the kind of Gluckkon that could have snatched a can a few years back and stacked it away for later.

Of course this would make Lulu and the "make Lulu rich" plot useless, which in my opinion wouldn't be a bad thing.

Was obtaining a can of Gabbier in the original idea for Munch's Oddysee?

Honestly, I like this idea. I imagine it playing out a bit differently, however. Abe, Munch and the Mudokon Resistance sneak into the defunct RuptureFarms and raid Molluck's Vault. All of the wealth is used to fund Lulu's ventures, while the rest is taken by the Resistance and stockpiled. When it comes time for the auction, it turns out Lulu wasn't as successful as they had hoped, and Tex wins the auction, forfeiting the entire wealth of Flubb Fuels. Full of dread and despair, Abe and Munch return home, only to discover a can of Gabbier in Molluck's possessions. How's that for a good ending? They found a can of gabbit eggs and rendered another industry inert! Plus they have a pretty damn rich glukkon at their disposal, which could be their key into Nolybab.

Pure fan-fiction, but it's fun to think about.

[JayDee]

Here's a thought... what if the Vault actually contained a can of Gabbiar? Molluck seems like the kind of Gluckkon that could have snatched a can a few years back and stacked it away for later.

Of course this would make Lulu and the "make Lulu rich" plot useless, which in my opinion wouldn't be a bad thing.

This honestly seems like how the original plot of Munch's Odysee was planned to go down. I shudder to think at the idea of having Molluck as a member of the quintology since in every game taking control of a Glukkon's body has been bearable at best.

I believe that since Molluck's Trial was intended to play a larger role in Munch's Oddysee that the actual plot of the game would've been more focused on Abe and Munch's journey to Ma' Spa with the can of Gabbiar and rescuing Sam from Vykker's Labs, rather than filling the majority of the game with copy/paste missions to get Lulu's Funds up to scratch.

Raid Molluck's Vault for Moolah -> Use Lulu to bid for Gabbiar -> Rescue Sam whilst at Vykker's Labs ->Return Gabbiar to Ma'Spa

Potentially we could see the results of Molluck's Trial leaving him penniless, with the last can of Gabbiar being confiscated with the majority of his funds and put up for auction with the rest of his repossesed property. Abe and Munch venture to Rupturefarms only to find his secret vault which they then use to win the can of Gabbiar.

[Vlam]

Besides a lot of moolah, what do you think would have been inside the vault? What are some of Molluck’s most treasured possessions? How much moolah do you think Molluck was worth?

By the way, there was a rumour that Molluck belonged to the "Oddworld Mafia".

I shudder to think at the idea of having Molluck as a member of the quintology since in every game taking control of a Glukkon's body has been bearable at best.

Obviously you weren't going to play as a "regular" Glukkon (because what would be the point?). Glukkons were once a spiritual species. In other words, Molluck will have some sort of "psychic abilities" (like the Gloktigi).

[Manco]

I shudder to think at the idea of having Molluck as a member of the quintology since in every game taking control of a Glukkon's body has been bearable at best.

I like to imagine how a Glukkon could play if he threw aside his commitment to the Industrial way of life – when there’s no need for restricting suits, all of a sudden those big long arms could allow for some very good mobility.

If Molluck got his own game, it would allow us a good look at the state of Oddworld from the other side and potentially explore the history of the Glukkons too – perhaps Molluck would go on his own oddysee to rediscover his species’ less insidious roots.

[kjjcarpenter]

If Molluck got his own game, it would allow us a good look at the state of Oddworld from the other side and potentially explore the history of the Glukkons too – perhaps Molluck would go on his own oddysee to rediscover his species’ less insidious roots.

Obviously you weren't going to play as a "regular" Glukkon (because what would be the point?). Glukkons were once a spiritual species. In other words, Molluck will have some sort of "psychic abilities" (like the Gloktigi).

I immensly enjoy both of these ideas. It would be like Goku and Vegeta eventually teaming up to fight Frieza!

(... if Vegeta once tried to eat Goku.)

By the way, there was a rumour that Molluck belonged to the "Oddworld Mafia".

I haven't heard of this theory, but I love the idea of Molluck having contraband in his vault. Stuff that could get him in a lot of trouble with mummy Margaret.

[TheParamitePie]

I like to imagine how a Glukkon could play if he threw aside his commitment to the Industrial way of life – when there’s no need for restricting suits, all of a sudden those big long arms could allow for some very good mobility.

If Molluck got his own game, it would allow us a good look at the state of Oddworld from the other side and potentially explore the history of the Glukkons too – perhaps Molluck would go on his own oddysee to rediscover his species’ less insidious roots.

Hey this would be awesome. Maybe even the most evil of Glukkon's can have a change of heart!

[Michael]

Wasn't there a quote from Lorne saying that as the Quintology unfolded, characters who you thought weren't that important might be far more significant in the greater scheme?

Not that Molluck isn't important as it is, but perhaps the Molluck = eventual Oddworld hero theory is in the right direction

If he's ditching the industrial customs like the restricting suit, personal embarrassment wouldn't be an issue for him. Why not go the whole hog and get some awesome robo-legs while he's at it? Playing as a psychic cyborg (psyborg? Can I coin that term? ) Glukkon turning his back on the Cartel sounds pretty awesome!

[Lord Vhazen]

I like to imagine how a Glukkon could play if he threw aside his commitment to the Industrial way of life – when there’s no need for restricting suits, all of a sudden those big long arms could allow for some very good mobility.

If Molluck got his own game, it would allow us a good look at the state of Oddworld from the other side and potentially explore the history of the Glukkons too – perhaps Molluck would go on his own oddysee to rediscover his species’ less insidious roots.

To be honest, I love the idea of exploring the past of the Glukkon race and possibly having a Glukkon hero being the head of his own game. But I think Mullock should always be the evil antagonist type. He just fits it so well - he's basically an Adolf Hitler cross with the most brutal of mafia godfather business men. Although one the other hand, the idea of the most evil one of them all having to be guided through a new way of life in his own adventure, and one day coming to terms and even making up for his past with the Mudokons has potential to be one of the greatest villain reformation stories ever told. It would be VERY hard to do right though as it would take AN ABSOLUTELY HUGE amount of time and effort to make something like that work while still feeling natural.

You gotta remember just how big of a deal Mullock was... It's really hard to take someone like that and pull a Grinch Stole Christmas kind of deal with him. He did more than make use of a system of slavery already normal in his world - he knowingly enforced brutality towards his workforce, and you get the impression that if you said the wrong thing in his presence he'd have you killed the next morning. More than that - he was also the former CEO of the whole Soulstorm brew deal wasn't he? That'd mean that in some way or another, he was behind the systematic torture of Mudokons to harvest their f-ing tears to make a drink out of it. It'd be really hard to take a character like that and make him likable.

Maybe if they ever did a Glukkon hero story of some kind, it'd be best to start us off with someone different - some less evil business gluk who's more relatable. Maybe he'd be a bit below other glukkons in power - like a struggling young business gluk who's trying to figure out how to climb the economic ladder. Maybe your adventure would be about how you choose to go about that... The evil way to play would be you slowly turning into someone like Mullock, while the hero way to play would involve you rising to become the world's first progressive environmentalist Glukkon, and you'd use your power to inspire an entirely new era of equality. You could have good relations with the Mudokon tribes, and maybe even help them in their raids against evil corporations or something. You could risk your life to expose what places like Soulstorm Brewery or Rupture Farms were doing and create a media-storm that encourages people to actually give a shit about what the industrial gluks were doing. Like imagine yourself as some kind of Martin Glukkon King... A political hero who has the potential to change the world forever.

And if they ever really did do a Mullock game, I think it should be entirely different from the good-gluk game. A Mullock game would work better as a kind of anti-hero story, where you're just seeing his backstory and how he rose to power in the evil gluk mafia or whatever and eventually it ends with you getting to the point where Abe's story begins. That'd be cool too. Actually if anything, I think that'd work better as some kind of movie... Maybe they could make a story like that in the form of some some kind of web-series?

Regardless of all that... I'm still waiting for Sligstorm

[Vlam]

Except that Lanning would disagree, Lord Vhazen:

Molluck the Glukkon—​he’s just a chump in the scheme of things. Sure, he seems like a big guy out here running the third world meat plant but then we come out here and look at DuPont or Proctor and Gamble. Now, you’re going to be an executive at Proctor and Gamble and you’re going to say ‘Very good, welcome aboard! We’re sending you off to… the middle of the Sahara Desert to run our gas line.’ So Molluck is a guy who got shafted out to the third world to manage this factory and he’s just out there until he can afford his house in Lake Como, so to speak. His mother is Lady Margaret, who is a member of the Magog Cartel.

Now, one of the things The X‐Files did beautifully was that as you got closer to what you thought was the core, these people you thought were all‐powerful were just pawns in a game. And I believe that’s how life works. It’s always ‘Follow the money, follow the money.’ Every time you really want to know what’s going on in the world you’ve got to just follow the money. So in Oddworld, I wanted to have more of that invisible transparency, that you just go up and up and up and you think this guy is king and he’s getting browbeaten by the guys that really employ him. Then you find out they’re not at the top of the game, someone has employed them because the world is very mysterious that way in that it hides who’s really in control.

http://oddworldlibrary.net/oddblog/s..._Lorne_Lanning

Nathan: (from forum member Nowtun) You’ve touched on this before, but how has your vision of Oddworld changed since 1994 and how do you think it might change in the future?

Lorne: In ’94, I was convinced that… I would call it a more intellectually elite perspective. That is, Man is flawed and there’s not really Good and Evil, as much as there is good and evil behaviour and that the failings of man manifest as greed and corporations and all that stuff. So a big part of my momentum then was trying to get away from this concept of the perfect good guy and the perfectly bad guy; like this fucking Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker thing. Life’s just not like that; it’s way more complicated. Everything is more blurry. It’s not presented to you as evil; it’s presented to you as good and then you have to dig to find out it’s evil.

So, what’s changed to this time is that I’ve learned that there’s more Good and Evil in the world than I would have thought. And I’m going to embed that in to the deeper Oddworld. So where I believed that it’s not about Good and Evil and fuck this Lord of the Rings ‘The Evil guys are gonna…’ crap; you know what, the Glukkons, if you could sit down and have a conversation with one, you’d like the guy. That’s how I wanted to do it then. But then, ultimately, I want to show who everyone’s masters are. And eventually those masters go down. There are scenes in the film I want to do where Mullock, after he fucked up and he’s being taken to the boss and he passes his mom who says “You blew it,” and he has to go down and meet the investors. They live underground; like how I said about how the world is separated. He takes an elevator ride down 1700 storeys and a little midget guys picks you up as an escort, but as you go down and the temperature increases, they’re getting bigger and bigger, while the security guards from up above are dying and sweltering from the heat. So there’s this more mythical idea of what might be pulling the strings. And I want to embrace that in a sort of left-handed, literal way.

http://oddworldlibrary.net/blog/nath...lanning-again/

In a nutshell, Molluck is/was just a pawn.

[Lord Vhazen]

Except that Lanning would disagree, Lord Vhazen:


http://oddworldlibrary.net/oddblog/s..._Lorne_Lanning

http://oddworldlibrary.net/blog/nath...lanning-again/

In a nutshell, Molluck is/was just a pawn.

Oh my god... that bit about X-Files... I remember reading that years ago! :O

I love X-Files... The thought of Mullock basically being the Smoking Cigarette Man is an interesting prospect.

[Nate]

I'm vaguely sad that everyone is now seriously talking about Molluck being a Quintology here. There was a hell of a long time that I was the only person suggesting that.

I asked Lorne about it and he meaningfully didn't answer the question.

[Varrok]

I can't say, the 1994 vision appeals to me much more than whatever it seems to have degraded into now.

[Xavier]

I can't say, the 1994 vision appeals to me much more than whatever it seems to have degraded into now.

Well I don't know, Soulstorm seems to be the perfect opportunity to move Oddworld in a very interesting direction.

To be fair I doubt OWI and Lorne are going to throw away all the cool ideas they had in 1994, they are just reworking them with today's sensibilities.

[Varrok]

I might have got a wrong impression, but the quote sounded more like he's leaning towards making the characters less gray. Figuratively!

[Vlam]

I'm vaguely sad that everyone is now seriously talking about Molluck being a Quintology here. There was a hell of a long time that I was the only person suggesting that.

I asked Lorne about it and he meaningfully didn't answer the question.

I know because you keep repeating it over and over. To be fair, you weren't the only person suggesting that: what about Wil? Moreover, some people were disappointed because it was predictable.

[kjjcarpenter]

I think it would be interesting for Abe and co, the apparant "good guys", having to go up against the really dark and dangerous side of Oddworld by using questionable and belligerent means. Kind of like fighting fire with fire. It'd be great to see the actions of Abe, which have every good intention, cause far more desctruction, mayhem and death than ever intended.

Wasn't that the whole idea of Maggie's grandmother? She's a leader from a completely different age, as if a Pharoah waking up in the 21st Century and asked to deal with Isis. Her solutions to falling stock prices and a mudokon insurrection would be to rain hellfire down across Mudos, disregarding any consequences.

[Michael]

I don't see why those two concepts from Lorne need to be mutually exclusive. The Glukkons run businesses and appeal to the Khanzumers, so some degree of saving face must occur.

There was a quote from the leaked DNC emails this past election that said (paraphrasing) 'when it comes to policy you need to have a public face and a private face'.

This is exactly how I imagine the Glukkons being. Evil as sin in private, and yet still, if an unassuming guy from the streets spoke to them, or they were on a tv interview, the masses would probably believe the bullshit fronts and like them. They'd hide their true intentions as long as doing so means more profit.

That said, does anyone remember that concept art for the 'guess that torture' game show? That to me would imply that the general consumers are aware of, and complicit in, the atrocities committed by the Glukkons. This would change the whole dynamic in my opinion. I personally prefer the idea that it's all happening in the shadows, and the general population are being misinformed and kept in the dark about the true nature of Oddworld, to pacify them.

[Vlam]

I don't see why those two concepts from Lorne need to be mutually exclusive. The Glukkons run businesses and appeal to the Khanzumers, so some degree of saving face must occur.

There was a quote from the leaked DNC emails this past election that said (paraphrasing) 'when it comes to policy you need to have a public face and a private face'.

This is exactly how I imagine the Glukkons being. Evil as sin in private, and yet still, if an unassuming guy from the streets spoke to them, or they were on a tv interview, the masses would probably believe the bullshit fronts and like them. They'd hide their true intentions as long as doing so means more profit.

That said, does anyone remember that concept art for the 'guess that torture' game show? That to me would imply that the general consumers are aware of, and complicit in, the atrocities committed by the Glukkons. This would change the whole dynamic in my opinion. I personally prefer the idea that it's all happening in the shadows, and the general population are being misinformed and kept in the dark about the true nature of Oddworld, to pacify them.

Frankly, I see no "duplicity" in AO, NnT, AE and MO (the Glukkons seem genuine). Here's another quote from Lanning:

Today, Moolah is the Glukkon faith. The Moolah motto is, ‘Power, Profit, Wealth’. It mirrors the Modokon faith in Spooce, which has the motto, ’Harmony, Humility, Health’.
Long ago, the Glukkons were a superstitious race that dabbled a lot in sorcery and occultism. But eventually things got bad for them and they had a sort of supernatural meltdown (something like dark ages in earth’s history). This event destroyed their ancient culture and nearly wiped them out. As a result they abandoned and outlawed any sort of mystical beliefs and instead they became a very practical and logical minded race. They became pure purveyors of profit. They believed that they’d make Oddworld a better place by providing civilized jobs to the native savages, while in the meantime they’d provide all of the other races with cheaper consumer goods. So ultimately, the Glukkons believe that they are good. They just believe that they are amoungst the few that clearly perceive the harsh realities of nature.

http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...How's_this...

[Lord Vhazen]

Frankly, I see no "duplicity" in AO, NnT, AE and MO (the Glukkons seem genuine). Here's another quote from Lanning:


http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...How's_this...

That's my favorite kind of antagonists - the kind that are written realistically. There's no such thing as the Disney kind of evil, all people are capable of evil. But actually doing the evil deeds is what makes you evil, and though there are always serial killers and sadists, the best villains are the kinds written to believe in their motives. They need to be relatable, as in, they do what they do because they think their vision of the world would work.

[Michael]

True, it's always about perspective. When I say 'evil behind the scenes', I mean in the sense that the Glukkons may know people wouldn't be supportive if they were open about their motives, but just believe them to be wrong and themselves to be in the right regardless. To the Glukkons, Abe is considered a terrorist after all.

But if there's no duplicity, would this mean that pretty much the entire population of Oddworld is supportive of the Glukkons' world view? Or are they just oppressed to the point where barely anybody speaks out? Or, perhaps, completely apathetic?

What of the high up Magog occult ritual sacrifices to predict the stock market etc? Would these things be committed openly, and known to be standard practice by the general populace? I always got the impression that the remnants of Glukkon spirituality were a closely guarded secret by those highest in the Cartel.

[TheParamitePie]

True, it's always about perspective. When I say 'evil behind the scenes', I mean in the sense that the Glukkons may know people wouldn't be supportive if they were open about their motives, but just believe them to be wrong and themselves to be in the right regardless. To the Glukkons, Abe is considered a terrorist after all.

But if there's no duplicity, would this mean that pretty much the entire population of Oddworld is supportive of the Glukkons' world view? Or are they just oppressed to the point where barely anybody speaks out? Or, perhaps, completely apathetic?

What of the high up Magog occult ritual sacrifices to predict the stock market etc? Would these things be committed openly, and known to be standard practice by the general populace? I always got the impression that the remnants of Glukkon spirituality were a closely guarded secret by those highest in the Cartel.

I'd say most of Oddworld are supportive of the Glukkon's. Sure at the start of AO Abe says that he thought he had a good job, probably meaning he thought what Rupture Farms were doing was a good thing. He was pretty much blinder until be discovered he was next on the menu.

[kjjcarpenter]

I'd say most of Oddworld are supportive of the Glukkon's. Sure at the start of AO Abe says that he thought he had a good job, probably meaning he thought what Rupture Farms were doing was a good thing. He was pretty much blinder until be discovered he was next on the menu.

Consider the khamzumers like us. We like eating food, and we like it when that food is cheap. We don't care how that food gets to out plate, except when a current affairs program highlights some malpractice or animal cruelty, then we all act mortified. I'm sure most khamzumers would be empathetic to the state of the native species that RuptureFarms has harvested to extinction, but they're not seeing the immediate effects.

Lorne Lanning himself recommended a great video about this subject that actually has a few neat little Oddworld references:

[Gunnr]

Wow that was a great vid 0.0

[kjjcarpenter]

I'm going to shift the topic back now.

It looks like Molluck was quite a wealthy gluk, but what's the purpose of a secret vault? Surely Oddworld has banks, considering it's a consumer-driven society. If we're led to believe that this is Molluck's secret stash, i.e. moolah he didn't want the Cartel to know about, it almost seems to me like he was preparing for some cataclysmic event, especially considering the protective design of the vault.

I wonder if he was anticipating for RuptureFarms to fail prior to his New 'n' Tasty concept? Perhaps this fund is what he was going to use to flee Mudos and buy a little seaside home in the Oddworld-equivalent of the Bahamas once the debt collectors came knocking on the factory's door?