Stranger's Wrath Species Classification

[Angalok]

I sent these questions to Dear Alf, but as I believe the Inhabitants are taking a much-deserved vacation, I'll post them here as well for my fellow fans to speculate over.

It's obvious that the Outlaws come in at least four distinct types: the bulldog-joweled brutes like Blisterz Booty, the hunchbacked little suckers like Filthy Hands Floyd, the hulking horned bruisers like Joe Mamma, and the upside-down-eared blokes like D. Caste Raider. Are they each separate species (in which case the folks at Oddworld have not named them), or are they castes or races of the Outlaw species?

Also, in the previous games it's been easy to classify the creatures of Oddworld as Industrial, Native, or Wildlife (the Universe section of the official website is even set up with these classifications). How do the Outlaws and Clakkerz fit into this scheme? The Clakkerz use laptops and telephones, but don't seem to be particularly despoiling the land. Could they be one of the consumer races? The Outlaws have all the nastiness of the Industrialists, but certainly aren't working in the interests of legitimate business.

[Dipstikk]

On the species thing:
I had asked a similar question way back when about Booty, and these guys all thought I was nuts to say that Blisterz was related to the tan, bulldog-joweled, horned guy from the concept art.

I'm not just going to accept that the entire ring og baddies in Stranger are called "outlaws." They need to have some kind of familiar classification. SPecies aren't defined by what they do in their lives (i.e. the Outlaws plundering above the law). They're charicterized by physical traits and similarities. I mean, at least give them race names!

[Volsung]

You've raised a good point, especially about where the Clakkerz and Outlaws fit in to the industrialization theme. I can only speculate, but I think that if we were forced to place them in the three existing categories they would have to be considered industrial.

The Clakkerz and outlaws don't have the know-how to truly despoil the land, but they are a kind of "First wave". They're settlers, and they move in and push native hunters and gatherers aside to make way for themselves. Over time their cities build up and their desire for progress (which the Clakkerz fixing the farm are so pleased about) leads to increased urbanization. I'm not sure if the Clakkerz are the frontiersman of Oddworld and are always pushing the margins of the industrial world, or if they would settle down in a true city to make a living.

The Outlaws may have bad ethical practices, but they aren't doing anything that Sekto didn't do to make the dam. They saw something that could make money and they took it. The only difference is that the Clakkerz are "civilized" and that means they owned what the outlaws took. The Grubbz didn't own the river, so its perfectly legal for Sekto to take it. Therefore his actions to exterminate Steef and kill trespassing Grubbz is backed by law: he's just protecting what's his. If the outlaws could hold on long enough, or kill whoever was griping, I imagine they would become like the mob. Meaning they might eventually be considered "businessmen" instead of outlaws.

But to sum up the post quickly: I think Clakkerz are a subset of industrialism we would call Consumers--but they aren't the khanzumer species; Outlaws are dyed-in-the-wool industrialists, only they don't concern themselves with who owns what.

[_GrubHunter_]

The D.Cast Raider is "Big Bro" version of Volwarks

[Angalok]

I agree, Dripikk, the Outlaw types just don't seem similar enough to me to be of one species (if you look at their size, leg shapes, nostril positions, whether or not they have ears). I know that ants and termites have castes that vary widely in size and structure, but the Outlaws don't seem unified enough to have that type of ecology. The Inhabitants were always meticulous in naming every creature before now, I'm now sure why they glossed over Stranger's Wrath's zoology.

Then again, I just had a thought: in the sewer level, the little hunchbacked Outlaw Minions are talking about Joe Mama as being their own mother, and she's definitely a separate type (with horns and the big theropod legs, like Elbowz Freely). Perhaps this is proof that they're the same species?

Volsung, that's an interesting take. The Industrialists are described as being "at war with themselves", and the Outlaws certainly could be members of that group who simply don't obey the Glukkon laws. Plus, the fact that they built such complicated machines as Packrat Palooka's force field means that they must have some technical knowledge. As for the Clakkerz, they really don't fit in snugly into either group; as I see it, they represent the first of Oddworld's middle class that we've seen in a game. They probably don't want to plunder the beauty of Oddworld for quick profit, but they give the Industrialists tacit approval to do so by purchasing their goods.

GrubbHunter, I had actually noticed that D. Caste Raider, the Lootin' Duke, and Fatty McBoomBoom looked like big Wolvarks, and that's a definite possibility.

[Dipstikk]

I agree, Dripikk, the Outlaw types just don't seem similar enough to me to be of one species

Now, read my name carefully...
Dip...Stikk.


Or Matt. Whichever.

[Volsung]

I'm not convinced that the laws made by Glukkons are the ones being broken. We don't see any glukkons, and its up in the air as to whether Sekto is part of the Magog cartel or not. I think the Outlaws break the laws the Clakkerz make, and the Clakkerz don't really have any worthwhile enforcement. Sekto won't bother to protect them, because he's got an arrangement with the Outlaws, or at least D. CasteRaider. And neither the Outlaws nor Sekto want to kill the Clakkerz, because the Clakkerz are easy to extort. Hence the existance of a store devoted to bounties. They can't take care of the problem, but they'll give Moolah to whoever can.

I've somewhat altered my definition of industrialists to imperialists. That's why I would consider clakkerz part of a sub-category. Though it would be easier if there was a consumer category, it would be, to some degree, redundant. As Angalok stated, the Clakkerz have given their tacit approval to the industrialists by taking advantage of land and resources stolen from the natives. They can't be considered native or wildlife (even though they consider Stranger Wildlife) because their lifestyle furthers the expansion of the Industrialists sphere of influence. They don't have a neutral effect on the environment.

The big Wolvarks sounds like a workable theory, and I really do hope that "Outlaw" isn't an umbrella species name. But they could still be of the same species, and each could be a different "race". In humans, a racial distinction is so miniscule as to be nonexistant, but in other animals, like cats and gorillas, there can be profound differences between one race and another. The outlaws were based on warthogs, and I see no reason they can't all be the same species. I don't know if I prefer that or not, but I do know I'd prefer for them not to be named Outlaws.

[Angalok]

I suppose I just assumed that the Glukkons and Octigi were members of the same society, given that the one concept drawing implies that they're related. Plus, judging that the Queen Glukkon is a thousand feet long in the concept art, I believe she would be the dominant lifeform of her society. Though we don't really have any information as to Oddworld's political arena; who controls what territory, what powers are competing against one another, etc. I believe the Glukkon Queen was going to be a big part of Munch's Oddysee (judging from concept art and the deleted scenes on the movies dvd), but that she was cut for the Xbox launch rush. That would have answered a lot of questions, pity.

I think imperialists is a good expanded definition. They can't all be working in factories, after all. What is funny about Oddworld is that every social niche is occupied by a different species. We've yet to see a Mudokon factory owner or a Glukkon substinance farmer.

Oh, and sorry to get your name wrong, DipLikk (wink).

[Niteowl]

On the species thing:
I had asked a similar question way back when about Booty, and these guys all thought I was nuts to say that Blisterz was related to the tan, bulldog-joweled, horned guy from the concept art.

I'm not just going to accept that the entire ring og baddies in Stranger are called "outlaws." They need to have some kind of familiar classification. SPecies aren't defined by what they do in their lives (i.e. the Outlaws plundering above the law). They're charicterized by physical traits and similarities. I mean, at least give them race names!

I agree. Maybe they ran out of ideas and just slapped the name 'outlaw' on them so the game wouldn't be held up..After all, we have the Clakkers, Grubbs and Wolvarks.
Maybe they could've even have a contest to give them race names...
I look at those humpbacked guys with the Cat-in-the-Hat headgear and think of something gutteral like Gurks or Grocks- What do you think?

[Shell Man]

Maybe it doesn't matter what species each outlaw is. I think it wasn't meant to be important, and we'll probably never be given a classification of each one. The reason being that there's nothing particularly special about each type of outlaw, they're just variations of the same bipedal 'family.'

[mudling]

maybe as i said before, something is teaching them to go against crime and also maybe they are all the same speacies as in a picture i once saw ( it's in the art book and TOGG) D. caste. raider has a belt with a marking in the shape of one of blizertz bootie's type/speacies. doesn't that mean that all outlaws are the smae speacies?

[Wil]

No, what proves they are all the same species is that Meagly McGraw's son is a completely different ‘breed𔄩 of Outlaw, and the same is true of Jo' Mamma's sons.

[Viroxide]

On the species thing:
I had asked a similar question way back when about Booty, and these guys all thought I was nuts to say that Blisterz was related to the tan, bulldog-joweled, horned guy from the concept art.

I'm not just going to accept that the entire ring og baddies in Stranger are called "outlaws." They need to have some kind of familiar classification. SPecies aren't defined by what they do in their lives (i.e. the Outlaws plundering above the law). They're charicterized by physical traits and similarities. I mean, at least give them race names!

Dipstikk you are a champ, you are right on my brainwave kinda thing, i totally agree. This was the first question i asked when joining this forum, and was dissapointed when people told me they were all the same species, i lost alot of the respect i had for OWI creativness.
Regardless of what the cards say, i truely cant believe that Blisterz Booty is the same species as Jo'Mama, or D Caster Raider.