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[thekoppologist]

Spiffing Sniffers

Okay, so you know how Brittany likes mentioning the fact she smells the fruit? (Examples: Insect Condo, Disguised Delicacy, Seed Hive and Alph dislikes the smell of the Portable Sunset) But, have you also noticed she has no nostrils, and we've never actually seen any of the Koppaites sniff anything in-game?

Here's my explanation: Koppaites don't smell things via sniffing them in the traditional sense, rather via inhaling deeply around what they want to smell, basically sniffing with their mouths. It also explains why they always seem to have their mouths open a little bit.

There are a few implications of this, such as the fact when Charlie got out of the Phosbat, Alph and Brittany just had to grin and bear the stink since there was no other way they could breathe, Koppaites being incapable of sneezing and Brittany violently inhaling in the presence of fruit.

So, what's their nose even for? Well, I believe it's more akin to feelers than a regular nose, used for investigating objects of interest further and social interaction, perhaps they would give something a little tap with their noses before properly investigating it, or maybe shoving it into soft things because it feels nice.

[thekoppologist]

Heheheeee I see where you got the inspo for this

I like looking at people trying to make sense of the hocotatians/koppaites/etc unique traits, especially their more cartoony ones. It goes with the spirit of the games really trying to sell a weird and unrecognisable, but still functional ecosystem with species not totally separated from reality (in most cases *eyes the gatling groink*)

On the other hand though i equally like that the koppaites funny cartoon-logic eyes are just kind of unexplainable in earthly terms. They contrast with the realistic natural scenery in a way that really tickles me and they even look different to a lot of the species of the planet, and thats with some creatures like the bulborbs still not obeying 100% realism logic in their designs either. With bulborbs its ultimately like okay i will believe this is a fucked up animal in the distant future when our planets atmosphere and environment turned so hostile to our native fauna that everyone turned fucked up looking in response. And STILL the koppaites look like they definitely did not evolve in the same conditions as the bulborbs

[thekoppologist]

What makes Alph's hair blue?

Okay, so you know one of the main parts of Alph's design, his hair? You may be thinking that it's just normal pigmentation, but the vast, vast majority of vertebrates aren't true blue, nevermind mammals. Only two vertebrates are actually blue, in fact.

Alph's hair is almost definitely structural coloration, nanostructures in his hair change how the light bounces off of it, causing it to seem like it's blue. His actual hair color is likely quite drab, perhaps a greyish-brown considering the true color of many blue feathers.

[thekoppologist]

The Koppeyes

Okay, so you look at them, and what is the biggest difference between them and Hocotatians?

That's right, those eyes. Compared to most vertebrate eyes, they are very unique, which is why I decided to cover them first. No irises yet they can still dilate and constrict, seem to be completely immovable and rather large. What could be the purpose of such kooky peepers?

Part 1: Irises

As we discussed, they appear to have no irises. However, they would have to have irises, as they can still dilate and constrict, and in most animals the irises do that. As for examples of their eyes doing that? Take this comedic image of Alph.

As you can see, compared to the images above, Alph's eyes are constricted, presumably from shock after scrolling on r/pikmin for a nanosecond.

Now, if Koppaites can constrict their eyes without irises... How? Actually, the white of their eye is not their sclera. THAT'S the iris. I believe their eyes are structured more similarly to that of dogs than humans, very large irises with normally non-visible sclerae.

Part 2: Immovability

If you watch some cutscenes and pay enough attention, you may be able to see that they don't move their eyes, rather they tilt their head around in order to look around. Hocotatians can indeed move their eyes, as you can see from Louie freakishly glancing around in the Pikmin 2 intro cinematic.

If you look at them in the above images, their eyes bulge out which leads me to believe they indeed have eyeballs instead of eye tubes like owls, an example of animal with mostly immovable eyes. However, owls can move their eyes at least a little bit, while Koppaites cannot at all.

As a result, I believe their eyes are just stuck in their skulls via being incredibly large, ocular muscles being vestigial from disuse. Alph's eyelids are not obvious due to the fact Alph keeps his eyes wide open thus his eyelids tucked behind his eye, the same applying for Brittany, while Charlie's eyelids do not due to his eyes not bulging as much as the rest of the gang.

However, there is an aspect that makes them even more freaky with their peepers.

Part 3: Eyemotions

This one makes them seem even more messed up... You see, their eyes, uhhh...

This is most disturbing.

Is their pupil actually through their whole eye and the iris is more a covering that can push back, thus creating this? Very, very weird, as you can tell from these images. I saw a similar situation with the Bloons monkeys, but at least that's a more cartoony artstyle. Pikmin 3 being the least cartoonishly stylised game in the series, this certainly has freaky implications.

RANDOM BONUS I FORGOT BEFORE OOPS

During the Voyage Logs, Alph and Charlie's eyes kind of light up through the window. The reason why is that their irises are reflective, the light bouncing off of them strongly, possibly to keep tabs on each other's positions in the dark.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my first real biology post here on this blog, it was a real blast to analyse ingame footage to find all I can, speculate about the different aspects of them and put this post together!

[thekoppologist]

rundown of stuff

This is my first blog, probably not gonna post too much but when you do see stuff, expect it to be biology of Koppaites from Pikmin. All my speculation and ideas are too much to put into one, and if you wanna ask questions about Koppaite biology, then you're welcome :D

Expect:

Theories & speculation, art, dossiers, headcanon creation, Q&As, occasional non-Koppaite spacefolk speculation and concepts to how they may live in Koppai's environment as well as Koppai itself.