#as for pikmin.... the lore.. GOSHH i hope it doesnt disappoint in your search!! dESPITE.... what weve talked about LOLOL

[pikkissis]

i am... SO SORRY to respond so late!! got so bizzy

HONESTTTT! Ohhh, it has me... yearning... daydreaming about ways the game could've elaborated on these concepts - and it's so ARGHH painful LKSDFJLFD

BUT LITERALLY! AGH you're so right!! they're all just !! too chill about it? The mention of extra helmets EXACTLY, no concern of the RATIONS that even Shepherd warns Collin about - nope, they are SET and capable of handling 50 castaways - no serious, or considerable, consequential elements here... no... just keep, piling up these Leaflings recruit! We'll get to them when we get to them! 😭😭😭

I absolutely agree on... the ambiguous...ness... TRULY, because, AGHH yessss it's wonderful for a game to encourage fan imagination - such as with Louie, we can all just... wonder why he's so WEIRD - but they do give us plenty of stuff to work off of with continuity of his character without giving us an answer!

Pikmin 5!!! OH GOSHHH, please, and hopefully within this lifetime!

NOO I like that though!! They definitely had the means (and heart) to pour into the game these kind of details - that's why I fear they were following sale patterns... such as other games that were considerably more popular and all!! For example, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet... with its customizable player feature -

(YAP INTERCESSION oghhh... my heart BREAKS for Lisa/ Pom... I would've loved to have met a new officer to join Olimar and co..... which i feel the customization robbed us from getting to know our new officer!)

and to make the story more digestible with bits of nostalgia for returning players - I don't know if they cut corners exactly, because it still shines as a passion project... but... aghhh, I've only heard a little bit about how much Miyamoto pours into it and... well, business is business unfortunately... so I can't be too mad and juggle all these theories... BUT I DIGRESS!! I would've been GEEKING OUT if they followed through with design changes such as that! The scar on Olimar especially?? PLEASEE reveal marks of his adventures - a sign of what he's suffered through! not just... ope... I didn't die (or i did but cant 'member) ... that was fun, time to see my familllyyy . * ❀ /// - O - /// ❀ * . (bless his heart)

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!)

YOU SAID THIS....... YOU... YOU GENIUUSSSS! The older model of previous SPACE SUITS? to tie into the HISTORY of when these civilizations first entered space EXPLORATION... I'm... I'M IN HEAVENNN GAHH

With a quick comparison to Koppaite uniforms - since they've been proven to be WAY more advanced in technology- the SAGE LEAF is such a mystery!! I went for something bulkier (inspired by older space suits in their... simply bulky nature)! If only there were more... in detail... rather than just Sage being in a regular "castaway" uniform... because, he has potential to reveal signs of wear...tear... HISTORY... because they've already delved into history with Captain Shepherd's records!!! Why not reveal more through Sage!!!

But! Absolutely! I truly hope they didn't merge the stories... because, they already established so much prior to - to change, I don't know what would come of it??? ;_;; I guess I shouldn't be too pessimistic, because... as you've mentioned, they have been consistent with PNF-404, the Pikmin, in all their mystery... so absolutely! I'll keep my hopes up!

AND... YOU'RE right! I think I remembered Olimar's logs out of order... WHOOPS - but regarding him knowing Louie, you're right! Like... that's where Nintendo lost me... perhaps these are implications that they've worked together, so Olimar is aware of how... aloof he is... but in a way, he still has this similar perception of him - apologizing for his actions to other officers as he does in Pikmin 3 AND Pikmin 4! So Nintendo isn't entirely throwing everything away? It...seems... ??

AHHH!! My heart! Thank you so much! Reading that definitely inspires me to continue with her story ;w;;; and I'm thrilled to see that it's encouraged you to post your own! Please, whatever theories (especially the planetary one's I'll geek out!!) or fun Rescue Corps AU ideas - I'm so hype to see what you come up with!! (And.. well, I love to doodle friend OC's so... watch out *_*)

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

INHALES.... I had to doodle to this!!! To think, Leaflings with tails that resemble their hair... (whether they do this on their own time or they're just... naturally that way, either is funny to me LOL... with Collin, I wouldn't be surprised if he included his tail on his hair routine!)

@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