#Io being like 'man! look at this handful of planets that actually matter! wow!' 😂

[puppet-limbo]

Right???

Can you imagine how different of a game Pikmin 4 could've been if we actually got to dive into all the implications and mysterious aspects of it all??

If we got a peek at a bit of a darker game if rescuing people wasn't just "Ah! Here's another sleeping person! Unharmed and safe! These Leaflings are just sleeping now, don't worry about it! We have spare helmets for later and we dont have to worry about what the person went through before becoming a Leafling because they don't remember! No rush here! Everyone is very chill about being stuck on this planet"

On one hand, leaving things ambiguous and open ended can make for a lot of fun fan theories, speculation, and various interpretations that can be so fun! But on the other hand, I wanna know!! 😭 I wanna know what the deal is and what's really happening!

Maybe Pikmin 5 will give us answers...

Like, if each castaway can have different hair colour depending on what order you saved them in and other things are determined by what order you complete them in, what if by not saving someone in time, there's actual consequences? Or not curing a Leafling in time means similar things to what Io experiences like having biological changes to yourself and lasting effects??

I know that'd make for a stressful experience but it's fun to think of the "What ifs" 😅😂 especially when it comes to the Leaflings! Give me Bernard with root patterns in his skin or a tail or Olimar with a scar pattern on his head due to being connected to the Leafling part of him for so long (I think it was at least a month or so he was stuck on PNF-404, maybe not a Leafling that long but still!), or cool coloured parts on people's bodies where sure the leaves are gone but the bright colours remained!

Like you're telling me glow sap fixes everything perfectly no matter how long someone has been a Leafling??? I do not believe it 😤

I'm also curious about the Sage Leaf! I get the feeling that even if the others had tried to cure him, nothing would've happened. I just get the feeling he's been there for many years (despite the fact his space suit does look like every other castaway's. Would've been cool if it looked different if he indeed has been stuck on this world for years or so 👀 like an older model of previous space suits. Maybe even back when space exploration was new to the star folk!)

I'm also stumped on the nods and mentions to Pikmin 2 and other Pikmin games 🤔 I've heard theories that maybe Pikmin 1 & 4 are now merged, and that Pikmin 2 & 3 happen in an alternate timeline?? Something to think about for sure

Guess we'll see what they do with the next game and what direction this series will be taken in! Cuz you can just feel that there's all kinds of mysterious things going on with PNF-404 itself, the Pikmin, why everything is the way it is such as perfectly in tact houses and food items, etc. Etc.

As for Olimar saying Pikmin 2 was a dream, I think that log was made before he became a Leafling 🤔 but then again I'm not 100% solid on the timeline of events. So I'm unsure if his memory would be affected before he's transformed. But it is odd that he even knows Louie in this game to behin with! As I believe he only met him for the first time in Pikmin 2, but I've only played 4 and just started 3 so I could be wrong 😅

Either way it's still odd to poke at the other games when we the audience are unclear what's actually happening or will happen canonically; what is your aim, Nintendo? 👁👁

And yeah! Io is such a fun character and I love seeing her story and such whenever you post about her! ^.^

Seeing you and others in the Pikmin fandom post about their pikmin personas/OCs has helped me build up some courage to maybe post about my own one day! It could be fun!

At the very least I have some self indulgent yet fun AU ideas for the Rescue Corps XD plus I'm determined to theorize about the planet and how it all works!

Poor Collin 😅😂 "Excuse me?! Easy?!?! Darling that was the worst thing I've ever gone through!"

@puppet-limbo

I....... SCREENSHOTTED THIS SOOOO FAST!!! saved it... and now its in my computer (and my heart) forever....

INHALLLESSSS

BECAUSE RIGHT!!!

It's so mysterious because...the game really doesn't delve into more of these implications than just to say, oh!! They're rescued now! It has me... pondering... like, only if Pikmin 4 increased the demand, the urgency, such as timing... as they had it in Pikmin 1. By chance, there could've been a heightened sense of... oh no, this characters gonna die... how would this change the trajectory of the game, the story line... and all, by posing intrigue!!!

What will the "death" of this character reveal to me? Will this force me to the beginning of the game depending on its significance? Does this make me care more about my mission?

MAYBE... That'd make it convoluted -

and hopefully not as superfluous as that planetary list, but i didn't say anything

being that there's quite a handful of castaways to rescue... but... not all of them are leaflings. If there was just a little more push... a different motivation, such as to say, "Come on, recruit!!! Lives are counting on you!"

BECAUSE!!! You're in the Rescue Corps! It's no longer solely in Olimar's perspective! So, perhaps a...setback... to the mystery of leaflings was the application of the "collecting" role/formula of gameplay, (i.e, the sparklium, ship parts, and pokos)....so... with a little less "collecting" and a little more story-telling and focus on castaways, it would've allowed more room for an expansion of leaflings! With this, they could've confirmed whether it was, as you said, parasitic or DNA integration - or, at the very least, come closer to a definitive answer rather than just... ope... everything's okay now because of glow sap!

I'm so stumped too, that, in one of Olimar's logs, he reflects of the circumstances of Pikmin 2 to be a "bad dream"...

But!! Could this just be his memory loss? A side effect of being a leafling for as long as he was? BAH! A girl can dream, it just seems Pikmin 4 tossed the concepts of Pikmin 2 not to mention the obliteration of Pikmin 3 for some reason seeing that they changed the whole purpose to why Louie is on PNF-404 to begin with... or... unless... Louie forgot too...............

but that's just a theory..........

ALSO!!! AWWW thank you so so so much! I'm so flattered that you feel that way about Io and her story!! ;w; CUS SDLJHSFKJ OH GOSH, I'm confident Collin would.... do his little sad face.... like...

"Io..."

and Io's like, "It's too easy!" ... to be fair, her time as a leafling is most likely a HUGE blur! So... he's like...

"Easy?!" LKJSDFLKJSFD