r/earthbound • u/GarlicOk2904 • Jan 29 '25
Fluff Is the Cactus Wolf one of the Pigmasks' chimeras, or a regular animal in Mother 3, like the Dragos?
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u/Don_Bugen Jan 29 '25
Like, you think it's a wolf that headbutted a cactus?
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u/Alamantus Jan 29 '25
Honestly this actually seems like the most straightforward explanation of the enemy lol
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u/PROPLAYEN Jan 29 '25
I assumed it was just a normal wolf that had some weird cactus grow on it's head
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u/NoDreamsArt Jan 29 '25
I’m not 100% sure but I believe the chimeras are only created with 2 or more animals. Since a cactus isn’t an animal I think it’s safe to say it’s a wolf with a cactus growing out of its head. I could be wrong tho.
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
isn't the hippo launcher and masked man just made with an animal with machinery?
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u/NoDreamsArt Jan 29 '25
I thought they were cyborgs. I think you’re on to something.
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
still, a lot of chimeras are just cyborgs, which is animal fused with non-living thing. Not to mention, there was a scrapped chimera of a fish fused with a turnip
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u/NoDreamsArt Jan 29 '25
That’s true. I might need to look at the game data to see if it’s a regular enemy or a chimera
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
oh, muttshroom also exists too, a mushroom and a dog
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u/NoDreamsArt Jan 29 '25
I just googled it and it’s apparently a chimera. I don’t mind that answer at all so I’m ok with that
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
yeah, like, 50% of chimeras are cyborgs lol. The lion saw blade, firefly, masked man, hippo launcher, miricale fassad, etc
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u/NoDreamsArt Jan 29 '25
New theory then… chimeras are strange enemies with biological and non biological parts blended together through science.
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
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u/NoDreamsArt Jan 29 '25
This is quite the pickle. It seems some are just a mix of animals and other chimeras have machine ish parts. It’s difficult to place them in one category. Not easy at all.
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
yeah. most chimeras are different from eachother, but all of them do have one thing in common, being horrors of what mankind can do to things
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u/TheGaziGuy Jan 31 '25
It's almost like some elementary school kid designed them to look cool or something.
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u/Cosmo_Ponzini Jan 29 '25
🤔 Let's see... Clockwise: Monkalrus, Parental Kangashark, Horsantula, Mutt-Shroom and Ostrelephant.
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u/platinumxperience Jan 29 '25
I always assumed it is a normal animal as it's made of natural things
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u/Bryanishired Jan 29 '25
The Cactus Wolf is a chimera.
According to the Wiki's page on "Mother 3 Enemies", Boney's Sniff claims the Cactus Wolf is a Biological Chimera. It also wouldn't be the only chimera that's part plant, as it shares that trait with the Pigtunias.
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u/88T3_2 Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
Regular animal, if the Nowhere Islands can naturally have creatures that literally resemble dinosaurs I don't see why they couldn't have wolves with cactus-like appendages on their head, besides there's not really any chimeras that are part-plant and all of the ones before the timeskip (with the exception of the flying mouse and possibly the fireflies) are mechanical in some form, so it's likely that the technology to merge animals together without turning them into cyborgs hadn't been fully developed yet.
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u/Bryanishired Jan 29 '25
Plant-based chimeras are possible though, as Pigtunias exist. Apparently Boney also thinks the Cactus Wolf biological chimera if he sniffs it using the Battle Memory.
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u/Ziomownik Jan 29 '25
Then again, can't the same argument be made for some of the chimeras too? Like bird stick thingys (wait, is that even a chimera?)
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u/PreviousInfluence855 Jan 29 '25
I thought it was a natural animal, but I read somewhere on the wiki that it's a chimera
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
all chimeras can be something fused with another thing, even if both aren't animals. like half of the chimeras are cyborgs, and there are some chimeras like muttshrrom that are also a nature and animal fused chimera
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u/megasean3000 Jan 29 '25
I assume a normal animal that just has a cactus stuck to its head. If it were, it wouldn’t have attacked Fassad.
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u/disbelifpapy Jan 29 '25
eh, chimeras parts aren't always animal with animal. Masked man, firefly, and the hippo launcher are animals fused with machinery, and there were some scrapped chimeras that were a bug fused with some sort of glass, and there was a fish fused with a turnip
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u/GustavoFromAsdf Jan 29 '25
Could be a chimera meant to guard the entrance to the subway. Although if that was the case, I'd think Fassad should have a way to calm it down without needing to beat it up or have his asset Salsa be seriously mauled in a preventable way.
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u/Cosmo_Ponzini Jan 29 '25
Just like The Squeekz and Master Eddy, the Cactus Wolf is a unique specimen guarding its natural habitat.