WILD 9: THE GAME LORE
This is a lore collection for the 1990s video game Wild 9, primarily taking account of information from three sources for completeness:
1. The Wild 9 Official Website:
(https://web.archive.org/web/19990502024101/http://www.wild9.com)
Accessed through The Wayback Machine.
2. The Press Release Kit
https://archive.org/details/redump-id-65629
Accessed through the software archive on Archive.org.
3. The Wild 9 Game Manual.
https://www.videogamemanual.com/ps1/Wild%209%20(USA).pdf
The intention of this page is to have story/lore information all in one place, cross-referencing by subject rather than by source, for the sake of completeness.
Authorship:
Wild 9 was the teamwide collaboration of Shiny Entertainment, under the creative direction of:
Tom Tanaka
Kevin Munroe
David Perry
Artworks on this specific page were created and animated by this team.
PLOT SUMMARY
Imagine if...
George Lucas co-wrote ‘Star Wars’ with Lewis Carroll.
And imagine if George Lucas then co-directed it with Tex Avery.
This is the story of the Wild 9; a non-stop thrill ride bursting with action and adventure, and filled to the brim with wild humor.
Join Wex Major, a teenager lost in another galaxy, as he is brought together with a motley group of 8 alien, teenage orphans with whom he bands to lead them as the ‘Wild 9’.
Wex Major reluctantly discovers that he is rumored to be the ‘Great Champion’ who will operate the magical ‘Rig and Glove’ weapon and liberate the billions of inhabitants of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Together the Wild 9 embark upon a ‘David vs. Goliath’ battle against ‘Karn’ - a 376-year-old enormous ‘face’ who has the power of a god, yet the temperament of a toddler. Karn has set his sights on harnessing the ultimate power of The Glove and Rig, as well as the only being capable of using it; Wex Major.
Welcome to a world where evil black sheep walk upright and wield chainsaws, where a psychotic with 176 separate personalities can be considered a ‘good guy’, where a heroine can draw her power from a magical tartan superhero outfit, and where a normal teenage boy can be the savior of an entire galaxy.
Welcome to Wild 9.
Expanded:
This is the story of Wex Major, a 21st Century adventurous teenager, who is lost in the middle of a foreign galaxy, caught in the middle of galactic turmoil. Fate brings this cocky teenager together with a riffraff group of 8 alien ‘teenagers’, all of whom have been orphaned by our story’s main antagonist, Karn.
It seems that once upon a time, in an attempt to rid the galaxy of all evil and anger, mankind magically extracted these hurtful emotions, placed them in a mystical container, and shot the receptacle into space. Over the course of thousands of years, this “evil” became self-aware, and eventually took physical form. That physical form was Karn; the physical embodiment of pure evil.
Karn, now an enormous chunk of flesh the size of two football fields with two glowing red eyes, is stranded in isolation, permanently attached to the ceiling of his palatial throne room. Karn’s main purpose is now to bio-genetically engineer the perfect warrior body in which to manifest his pure evil. The result of these failed experiments is the Andromeda Cluster; a mosaic of billions of interconnected planets inhabited by a plethora of different alien races and slapped-together species. These quirky races vary from unsuspecting human ‘bombs’, to electrified 500 lb. frogs, and even to chainsaw-wielding, psychopathic, drooling, upright-walking black sheep.
Having failed so far at creating an intellectually and physically superior being, Karn is now systematically destroying all the planets inhabited by these living failed experiments.
Wex’s fellow Wild 9 ‘s have all had their homes and families destroyed by this god-like being, and plead with our reluctant hero to lead this band of ragtag aliens in saving the galaxy from total annihilation. To complete this task, Wex will rely heavily on his charm, skill and the galaxy’s most powerful weapon (The Glove and Rig) which he alone can mystically wield.
The Wild 9 remain the sole hope of freeing the Andromeda Cluster from Karn’s tyrannical rule. Traveling from world to world, they protect innocent civilizations from Karn’s troops, which are lead by the vicious Commander Mantis. In the course of these fast-paced, hilarious adventures, Wex will have to elude not only Mantis and his Shocktroopers, but also the vastly inhuman, rogue Bounty Hunters hired to eliminate The Wild 9 by a mysterious figure acting to complete a darker agenda.
The Wild 9 will have to band together, despite their quirky limitations and mutual animosities, uniting into a well-oiled fighting machine to prevail against the most ferocious military force in the known (and unknown) universe.
They stand alone between a billion innocent lives and total extinction.
The story thus far…...
The Wild Nines is the story of Wex, a 21st Century Earthling, lost in the Annapolis Cluster in the midst of a galactic war. Fate has brought him together with eight ragtag teenagers whose families have been destroyed by Karn and his tyrannical organization known as ‘Domination.’
Our tale takes place in the Annapolis Cluster; a spherical entity composed of thousands of inter-connected planets, with six suns in full rotation. The Cluster (as it is known to its inhabitants) has played host to a galactic war between Karn and anyone foolish enough to stand in his way. Karn can be best described as an enormous 376-year old face (measuring the size of two football fields) mounted on the ceiling of his palace headquarters, on the outer perimeter of the Cluster.
Cyberkinetically connected to Karn is monstrous gun known as the Zero Cannon, which is shooting everything within a 500-mile radius of the palace. This, in effect, has created a large crater in the Cluster that is lined with an array of space debris shot out of the sky.
As if this weren’t bad enough, Karn’s army, lead by Colonel Curtz has been slowly and systematically destroying the Cluster; "charring" planets and leaving them in ruins.
The eight teenagers allied with Wex have all had their homes and families obliterated by Karn’s iron-fisted rule. They all managed to escape this destruction and have eventually found each other. They have asked Wex to lead them in their quest to defend the rest of the Cluster against the tyranny of Karn and Domination. Wex hesitantly agreed, but did so based solely on the condition that once he could find a way back to Earth, he would leave them...
WEX'S BACKSTORY
So what is a hot-shot, speed demon like Wex doing in a nasty place like this anyway? Well....
The year is 2072. The World Aeronautic Space Alliance (WASA) has lead Earth in conquering all nine (...no pun intended) planets in the known universe. WASA’s chief exploratory astronaut, Major John Major, has been chosen to take his family, composed of his wife Jane and their teenage son Wex, on a 25-year fact finding mission in search of life beyond the Milky Way.
When the Majors’ vessel had reached the end of the galaxy, they were hurdled into a world unknown to them. Suddenly, and without warning, their ship was under brutal attack by what appeared to be uniformed alien creatures. To save their son, John Major pushed Wex into an escape vessel, and then hit the "eject" button. Wex slid away screaming, with the vision of his mother and father being attacked to haunt him for the rest of his life...
WELCOME TO "THE CLUSTER"
Wex looked around only to see a terrain that can be described as "dead"; filled with charred space junk and a devastated geology. Instead of a sky overhead, there was a multitude of various sized planets, all connected with cylindrical pieces of land to each other.
Wex had no choice but to explore the surface to find safety and hopefully a way back to Earth.
Hidden in the middle of all the space junk covering the planet surface, Wex came across an odd shaped device with a metallic Glove lying next to it. Curious, he tried on the glove and pointed at a nearby rock... BLAM!!!!!
A blast came from the metal Rig on the ground, blowing the rock into tiny pieces. Cool! Wex began leaping about, firing at all that surrounded him.
During this, Wex realized that if he used different hand positions, various types of blasts would come from the Rig, including light beams, rapid fire shots, energy beams etc...
Wex awkwardly placed the Rig on his right shoulder and put both hands together, creating the biggest blast of all. Wex was knocked back ten feet, and when he landed a small creature named B’Angus (with a silent "B") emerged from the rig, coughing and sputtering.
Wex asked the bat-dog creature what he was doing in the Rig, and the mute B’Angus mimed the story of how he was being pursued by the notorious Black Sheep, who mistakenly held B’Angus responsible for his ship being shot out of the sky. It turned out that the only safe refuge in the world for B’Angus was this indestructible Rig, now worn by Wex. A mutually beneficial relationship and lifelong friendship was created.
ENTER THE WILD NINES
In his travels with B’Angus, Wex came across a hut-like building embedded in a mountain with explosions and screams emanating from inside.
The two went for a closer look. When they got to a window, they witnessed a battle between eight teenage "aliens" and a far larger group of soldiers greatly resembling the ones that had attacked his ship months before.
Wex, out of sheer revenge, pole vaulted through a window and into the middle of the building. He immediately began using the Glove and Rig to blow all of the soldiers away.
The eight had found their leader. Thus the creation of a team of nine renegade teenagers wild enough to take on an entire galactic army.....
THE WILD NINES.
Sega Saturn Info Capture:
Wild 9, known at the beginning as WildNines, was announced in the 1996 ECTS for PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
The protagonist is Wex, a young human from the end of the 21st century who was part of the first plans of space colonization by the Earth, led by the WASA (World Aeronautic Space Alliance). Wex is the son of the prestigious captain John Mayor, and with his mother Jane they accompany him on a journey to find life beyond the solar system. When they reached the limits of the known galaxy, the human ship is attacked by an organized legion of alien creatures ready to end everything they find. In desperation, Captain John saves his son from certain death by sending him into space in a rescue capsule, with the young man traumatized for life for having lost his parents in such tragic events.
Wex lands on a planet that is part of the Annapolis Cluster conglomerate, a huge spherical entity composed of thousands of planets interconnected by cylindrical shapes and spread across six solar systems. Many of these planets have been razed by a tyrannical organization led "Domination" at the orders of the monstrous Karn, leaving them in a completely ruinous and devastated state. Abandoned to his fate, Wex begins to look for the means that will allow him to return to his planet, and on the way he runs into a huge metallic peripheral in the form of a shoulder and glove that unconsciously tests, causing bursts of energy that may well serve as a weapon. That's when he also meets B'Angus, a small whitish creature that looks like a dog with wings and that had been hiding inside this weapon of a being known as the "Black Sheep". This meeting marks the beginning of a joint adventure of both.
Wex's weapon is one of the main attractions of the game. Known as "rig", this technological equipment that combines shoulder strap with metallic glove, has multiple shooting functions depending on the position adopted by the hand, including burst of energy, conventional shots, and even an electric loop.
The latter is by far the most unique and differentiated of them all due to its advanced use and its level of interaction with both enemies and objects. Following the slogan "torture your enemies", this electrical extension can annoy and cause suffering to the enemies to a greater extent than conventional weapons do, being hooked to the beam by electrocution and being susceptible to receiving blows against other surfaces from the stage at the will of the player, You can also throw them directly into ravines and other dangerous areas.
But its use is not strictly limited to combat, since many other objects can also be grabbed and moved with this malleable "rig" feature, which adds an intelligent use function that will be necessary to advance in certain sections of the levels.
Eventually, Wex meets other young people who share their tragic past, along with which they will form the group of "nine savages".
The homes and families of all of them have been entirely annihilated by the "Domination" destruction squads commanded by Karn, Wex finding out the fact that his ship and his family were also destroyed by these same forces.
A varied squad of characters that are not directly controllable by the player but that assist him with specific functions and skills throughout the levels comes into play, and it is also determined that the main purpose of the nine young people is to undertake revenge by ending the "Domination" and its tyrannical and gigantic leader.
Wex Major
Wex Major is a normal teenager from the early 21st Century. When his parents were selected for the Mars research colony, he convinced them to let him join, mostly because he craved the adventure. Now stranded in The Andromeda Cluster, Wex has got more adventure than he knows what to do with.
Wex’s main personal asset is his charm, which he used in spades to get his parents to allow him to join them on their journey to Mars. That charisma serves him well as the leader of the Wild Nines; he’s the glue that binds the team together, and keeps its various members from busting open each others’ heads.
The charming and quick-witted leader of the Wild 9, Wex Major uses both of these assets to hold his ragtag team together. He possesses ‘the Rig’ weapon system, and much to his amazement, he is the only person capable of operating this powerful weapon. As a result, Wex Major is rumored to be ‘The Great Champion’; the mystical folk hero believed to lead the oppressed people of the Andromeda Galaxy to defeat Karn and his forces.
Wex Major has reluctantly agreed to lead this motley crew upon the condition that once he finds his kidnapped parents in this enormous galaxy, he will leave and return back to Earth.
The charming and quick-witted leader of the Wild 9, Wex Major uses both of these assets to hold his ragtag team together.
He is the possessor of ‘the glove and rig’ weapon system, and much to his amazement, he is the only person capable of operating this most powerful weapon. As a result, Wex Major is rumored to be ‘The Great Champion’; the mystical folk hero believed to lead the oppressed people of the Andromeda Galaxy to defeat Karn and his forces.
Wex Major reluctantly agrees to lead this motley crew upon the condition that once his finds his kidnapped parents in this enormous galaxy, that he will leave to return back to Earth.
Wex is the only born and bred Earthling human in the Wild Nines. He has a typical male teenage attitude that provides for the combination of confidence bordering on arrogance. He has inherited the “need for speed” from his world class pilot and astronaut father, Major John Major of the World Aeronautic Space Alliance (WASA).
Wex is the leader of the Wild Nines, however is doing so until he can find a way back to Earth….so he thinks.
He never really confesses his admiration for Boomer McTwist, however the viewer will always note the mutual attraction.
Wex and B’Angus have an Aladdin/Abu relationship (i.e. best of friends, and Wex will always depend on B’Angus to get him out of a jam).
Wex is unknowingly driven by all those things that make great leaders; however he consciously drives himself to lead the Nines knowing that Domination took his parents away…
He also leads the “wild trio” composed of himself, Sampson, and Mac Sheen.
Throughout the series and game, Wex is constantly discovering a new capability of the Glove and Rig
Wex doesn’t always save the day in the most graceful way, but every now and then when it all comes together, he looks like the hero we all know he is.
The Rig
The Rig is a devastating piece of equipment that can either be used to lift and throw objects, or swing from items which requires strength that the user doesn't possess. Using either Anti-Gravity or type of tractor beam technology, the Rig helps Wex throughout his quest.
The machine itself; is worn as a backpack that somehow interacts with a worn component on the arm, the movement and trajectory of the users arm movements is copied and applied to the movement and speed of the object picked up with the beam the Rig sends out. Turning off, The Rig just drops the object where it is.
Energy for The Rig is collected by the destruction of Karn’s troopers, and if enough energy is collected, the beam becomes red and more powerful, slowly scorching whatever is picked up.
B'Angus is known to hide inside the Rig, as it is said to be indestructible, occasionally giving wise words to Wex.
G’B’Angus (With a silent ‘B’)
B’Angus, the pesky critter often perched on Wex’s shoulder, is the person closest to him - at least in physical proximity. B’Angus hates when people try to come between him and Wex. He’s like that person who won’t let others stand between them and the most powerful person in the room. Although he doesn’t believe that Wex is necessarily The Great Champion, B’Angus is drawn by Wex’s charisma. And, of course, to the protective shell he uses as a home in The Rig!
B’Angus is the pesky critter that permanently resides in Wex’s Rig. B’Angus is a refugee of sorts; hiding for dear life from his arch-nemesis, ‘The Black Sheep’, in the only indestructible container in the entire galaxy… The Rig.
His loyalty to Wex and the Wild 9 is second to none… too bad his cowardice is greater.
In terms of personality and vocal rhythms, think Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas.
B’Angus is actually an important link between the Wild 9 and the assortment of crazed bounty hunters chasing them. What is it that B’Angus did to bring this wrath upon his teammates? Stay tuned.
B’ANGUS (with a silent “B”) - It’s pronounced “a-n-g-u-s”, can’t you tell it’s a silent “B”?!
B’Angus’ is Wex’s best friend and eyes in the back of his head.
B’Angus is quite an easy going fellow, but flies into a rage when you call him b-a-n-g-u-s- (which everyone always does); apparently it is a derogatory term from his homeland of Ca’amrufia - no greater insult could be placed on a man.
B’Angus is the typical scene stealer, and will always bet on his cuteness and charm to get himself out of any situation.
One of B’Angus’ goals in life is to unite the two unaware lovers; Wex and Boomer. This doesn’t mean that he sets them up on dates, but seems to be the only one who notices the love glances each gives the other when the other isn’t looking (phew!).
-speaking of driving forces, another driving force of B’Angus is “self-preservation”. By this we mean that the notorious BLACK SHEEP, who is hellbent on avenging himself against B’Angus for apparently blowing him out of aerospace.
Oddly enough, B’Angus is the only character who has to deal directly with The Black Sheep. All other characters simply have to deal with the disarray caused by B’Angus’ panic from an encounter with The Black Sheep… besides, who would believe seeing an upright psychotic sheep, wielding a running chainsaw anyway?…
B’Angus lives inside the Rig which isn’t too bad of a gig, but his only pet peeve is when Wex does a double-grip blast, which sets the Rig smoking and sparks flying.
B’Angus is rarely seen more than 5-10 feet away from Wex and the Rig.
Boomer McTwist
Boomer is a spirited, brawling Highlander lass. She wants to free The Cluster the old fashioned way… with her fists. Boomer is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. But her temper can rise in an instant. If crossed, she can go from zero to witch in a heartbreak. A word to the wise: don’t mess with her. Ever.
This spunky, Scottish redhead of the Wild 9 is no stranger to action. This seemingly innocent young lady is the daughter of the now-deceased, famed Scottish superhero, ‘The Tartan Spartan’. Boomer now carries her father’s tartan superhero outfit in a sling on her belt. When things get harried, look out! In one fell swoop, Boomer throws the tartan, enabling her to possess the superhuman strength that was once her father’s. Her devotion to the Wild 9’s cause is absolute… if she doesn’t kill B’Angus first.
Favorite Color: Plaid
Truth is, the amazing warrior Boomer is another discarded-experiment of Karn’s in ‘memory implants’. Now, Karn’s folly is the Wild 9’s fortune.
Her devotion to the Wild 9’s cause is absolute... if she doesn’t kill B’Angus first.
Spunky and naïve, Boomer is a cheerleader of sorts for Wex and all of his plans; rousting support and convincing the few stragglers.
Boomer is always hesitant to act (when it comes down to it) but always eager up until that point. The only time that she leaps before she looks is to follow Wex.
One important note is that she is NOT blindly infatuated with Wex.
Has a slight, very sexy Scottish accent. Boomer is of Scottish descent, with her father being the passed-away Scottish Superhero ‘The Tartan Spartan’.
Because of Boomer’s superhero genetics, and after her father passed on, the 4-year old Boomer was chosen to be a part of a top secret WASA project in which a superb earthling human was to orbit a bordering unexplored galaxy. When Boomer’s shuttle reached the precipice of the Milky Way, (like Wex’s family) she disappeared into the Annapolis Cluster, unable to be retrieved.
Once on the Cluster, Boomer was raised on an aristocratic planet owned and reigned over by the Family of Twist.
Boomer was only later informed of her heritage, and was given the only other article found in her Shuttle; her father’s former Tartan superhero outfit.
Upon the destruction of her home and family by Karn and Domination, the teenage Boomer struck out on her own, combining her two heritages, as Boomer McTwist, with her father’s tartan slung on her waist as a weapon.
She is sexy, but we all wonder whether or not she knows it.
THE TARTAN SPARTAN
World famous Scottish superhero, and father to Boomer McTwist. (his wife died giving birth to Boomer).
A rogue, Scottish warrior mixed with the drill sargent from “Full Metal Jacket”, and the phys ed teacher from hell...
The T.S. was killed in a now famous battle/ambush by his arch enemies Famous Haimus, the Plaid Lad and the Blue Haggus.
He is now Obi-Wan to Boomer’s Leia, and appears in a cloud ring when called upon.
At the beginning of his advice, he advocates peace and sensibility, however as the lecture wears on, his true colors shine through. At the end, The Spartan has escalated his advice to advocating sheer violence and has completely destroyed the interior of the cloud ring, leaving him hunched over and wheezing in the middle...
The Tartan Spartan only appears to Boomer and no one else, and each time he does, it’s the same schtick..
MacSheen
A cyborg with an ever-shifting robotic body and the mind of a nineteen year old party animal, Mac digs his life of adventure. Party on!
HT: 5’11”
WT: 275 (Hey, he is metal!)
Middle names: Careful, Quiet, Stealth, etc...
This highly self-assured mechanical kid can be likened to a 16-year-old who just received his driver’s license... and a brand new Ferrari!
Mac can often be found hitting on Boomer or boldly posturing about his prowess in just about any activity. “’Careful? Careful’s my middle name!’”
Mac acts a ‘living’ battery system, complete with hundreds of possible attachments, enabling him to transform into anything the team needs at the time; radar dish, vehicle or even a huge gattling gun for Volstagg to use. (Mac doesn’t dig that last one all that much, even though he and Stagg are great buddies.)
Mac is actually a “robot” with a human face stretched over his own metal head.
He’s a Data of sorts, in that he has inhuman reactions and tendencies in certain situations.
Mac was actually created by Karn and Domination in order to penetrate a small group of seven teenagers camped in Death Crater (the charred area filled with space debris surrounding Karn’s palace).
Mac’s orders were to penetrate the group as a survivor of a Domination attack, and then terminate the entire group.
Having penetrated the seven “teenagers” gathering, Mac tried to fit in by consuming a liquid beverage; this short circuited his entire system, completely destroying his mission encodement, and leaving in its place a “blank slate” of a robot/person.
Mac is the group’s fix-it character; if you need anything fixed, just ask Mac.
The interesting aspect is that Mac Sheen actually becomes his invention, acting as a sort of “battery” for the creation. Thus the presence of the multitude of plug-ins and attachment portals on his body.
Mac is the second part of the “wild trio”.
Mac desperately wants to not only be human, but be a cool human. Therefore he is constantly taking “cool” lessons from Wex, and in the background we occasionally catch Mac emulating Wex’s slick cool moves.
Mac wears his “9” on the back of his yellow leather vest on a sort of “biker patch”, with red denim jeans and cool black leather boots. This fits his personality in that everything he’s wearing is intrinsically cool, but a yellow vest? Red jeans? Close. But no cigar, Mac….
Mac's body can shift in dozens of ways. his arms can sprout into M-60's, and his legs change into turbo-jets, enabling him to fly at Mach-2. his eyes can spring into telephotolens. Titanium coils can project from his arms, ensnaring an opponent (or, for instance, an irate B'Angus!). And his computer-enhanced mind provides him with pinpoint targeting capabilities: when firing short-range missiles from his forearm-rocket launchers, he has unerrring aim. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Along with his physical abilities, Mac can project an interface-spike from his wrist, allowing him to jack into computer systems (a la Robocop). He and Henry (The Aquatic Biped) shared this ability, although Mac lacks Henry's hi-tech expertise.
But for all of his abilities, he is still a nineteen old guy. As you can well imagine, this makes for a volatile combination: Mac is as cocky as a kid who just got a driver's license..and a '97 Ferrari! Confidence? that's his middle name! (Actually, Mac has dozens of "middle names", including Stealth, Careful, and Gentle. He gives himself a new one in every episode.)
Mac Sheen provides camaraderie for Wex. When Wex, Mac, and Volstagg are together it's like watching three high-school buddies. Wex needs this companionship to help deal with the stress he is under, what with trying to find his parents and saving countless civilizations in The Andromeda Cluster. Mac provides Wex with someone with whom he can blow off steam.
Mac is cocky and arrogant, strutting and posturing like Tom Cruise in The Color of Money. he is always the one goading Wex into action often prematurely. (It is to Wex's credit that he will listen to Crystal's sagely advice and consider both sides of an issue rather than following Mac's overly enthusiastic lead.)
Mac and Volstagg are total buddies, always playing off one another to comic effect. They are a powerful combination, between Mac's robotic ammunition and Volstagg's beastly abilities. And when Mac rocks into the sky, volstagg often hitches a ride on his back.
Mac is a shameless flirt, always hitting on Boomer and Crystal. Whereas Boomer responds to his verbal advances with colorful threats of physical violence, the ever-stoic Crystal resorts merely to a quick and cutting remark. Yet both Boomer and Crystal know that Mac is totally harmless: in terms of physical affection, the robotic Mac literally doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Ironically, Mac actually does have feelings for Boomer. But since he isn't human, he feels he cannot really approach her. He also thinks Wex and Boomer have something going on (they don't); he misinterprets their mutual emotional support as blossoming love. If Mac is hurt by this "budding romance", he hides it with good natured humor.
Volstagg
Volstagg (or ‘Stagg"‘) is an amalgamation of several different species from his homeworld. He has been genetically altered by Karn’s bio-engineering specialists for survival in a variety of different terrains, including mountains, deserts, and glaciers. Stagg is swift as a gazelle, agile as a silverback gorilla (and thrice as strong), and as fleet-of-foot as a mountain goat. Like any animal, he has hyperkeen senses: hearing, night vision, and particularly smell. Volstagg is the most physical of our heroes. And the most jovial.
The final piece of the ‘wild trio’ (composed of Wex Major, Stagg, and Mac), Volstagg is the strong man of the Wild 9.
Volstagg was once a normal-looking prince and heir to an entire kingdom. A young man in search of adventure, Stagg left his castle one day only to be kidnapped by a group of Karn bio-geneticists. Their experiments left Volstagg in the physical shape he is now, with the strength of three silverback gorillas and the agility of a gazelle. He returned back to his home to find it in ruins, destroyed by Karn’s army. He’s big. He’s bad. And now he’s got a major bone to pick with Karn.
HT: 7’7” (8’2” with antlers)
WT: 395
Species: Your guess is as good as mine!
The final piece of the ‘wild trio’ (composed of Wex Major, Stagg, and Mac), Volstagg is the strong man of the Wild 9.
Volstagg was once a normal looking prince and heir to an entire kingdom. A young man in search of adventure, Stagg left his castle one day only to be kidnapped by a group of Karn bio-geneticists. Their experiments left Volstagg in the physical shape he is now, with the strength of three silverback gorillas and the agility of a gazelle. He returned back to his home to find it in ruins, destroyed by Karn’s army.
He’s big. He’s bad. And now he’s got a major bone to pick with Karn.
The bouncer, strong guy of the group.
One of these guys who’ll kick your ass, but women say is just a big teddy bear.
As a child Volstagg was actually best friends with Ramzig, the Cluster’s most feared bounty hunter.
During the horrible Domination invasion of his home planet, Volstagg’s family were hunted down in a twisted game of ‘recreational’ hunting, where all but Volstagg were killed.
Standing among hundreds of bodies, a young Volstagg was approached by a Domination soldier and ‘tagged’ (just like animal societies do) on his right antler to remind him that if the soldier wanted to, he could have killed him…
Now, the 9’6”, 650 lb. Volstagg keeps the tag as a grim reminder of what he has to do to avenge his dead ancestors and himself.
Mounted on each of his thighs is a ‘cannon’ resembling the snout of a wild boar (in keeping with the ‘natural’ theme surrounding Volstagg) These cannons are each on a swivel, and are simply raised by means of their handles.
When the Nines are in a jam, Volstagg secretly loves to grab Mac and painfully transform his robot buddy into a huge gun, with the barrel protruding out of Mac’s extended mouth. This aggravates Mac to no end, however he fully realizes that this is being done in the interest of the whole (a Wild Nine moral).
Volstagg has little awareness of his weight and strength, and occasionally walks through doorways and breaks whatever he is sitting on.
Crystal
Pure living crystal. Crystal is, by far, the team’s most intelligent member, and as a result, often acts as the 9’s chief science officer. She has absolutely no emotion on her physical body, but there is something much more unique about her… she has a head of living hair!!
The hair is boisterous, and basically is the outlet that expresses all of Crystal’s emotions. In a fight, Crystal moves with unerring accuracy, while her hair belts out wild battle-cries.
But mostly the hair just pigs out and snores and drools, erm… eats and sleeps. Crystal is solar-powered through the gem she houses in her midsection.
When removed from the light source for too long, she crystalizes and becomes immobile.
She is the tactical and analytical support for her leader Wex Major.
Crystal is the least emotional of our gang. She is cool and sardonic, like Mr. Spock, but what she lacks in attitude is more than made up by her hair, which has a life of its own! Crystal learns over time that she is, in fact, living crystal. She is an experiment, the only one of her kind. Her crystalline genetic matrix allows her to deflect light (and thus, laser beams) like a prism, and create crystal spheres with which to imprison people.
HT: 1.635248 meters (1.987368823 m with hair)
WT: 145 lbs. (if her hair will stop eating!!)
IQ: Let’s just say it’s ALOT more than her weight.
Mr. Spock with Boobs....
Crystal is the most imperically attractive of the Wild Nines, however has no concept of her beauty, and the subtle things that drives the men around her crazy.
She is the most intelligent of all the group, and would rather spend her time planning missions, doing time-efficiency charts and doing anal stuff like that, instead of engaging in typical teenage activities.
Floating around her neck are 6 pearls called “The Pearls of Oblonia”, which behave similar to the magic bullets in “Roger Rabbit”, each having personalities.
They can be used as weapons, beads, boomerang style weapon....they have not been completely defined as of yet.
In addition to the precious gems around her belt, she has a huge crystal embedded in her stomach, which besides food, is a “refueling” source for her physical energy. (a sort of combatant to Seasonal Affective Disorder....i.e. she needs solar energy).
The most interesting thing about Crystal is her living hair, which oddly enough has more personality than she does.
Her hair acts as a guardian to anyone making passes at Crystal, and basically is a rottweiler for hair.
Pokkit has a secret crush on Crystal and every time he works up the courage to approach her, Crystal’s hair scares him off again...
Pokkit
The diminutive Pokkit would be the most powerful member of The Wild Nines if only he possessed enough self-confidence to use his power effectively. He doesn't.
Pokkit is an experiment in biowarp-technology. He wears a jacket filled with countless pockets. When he pulls one open and reaches in, he can produce... anything he wants. The only problem is, he doesn't have the mental discipline to produce what he needs. So when they need him to pull out a bazooka, Pokkit reaches in and yanks out: a jelly donut?!
And, of course, when a jelly donut would be nice (say, when they're all starving in the desert), Pokkit will then pull out the bazooka ("Oooo, I knew that was in here somewhere!")
Pokkit is our Eeyore, an eternal Sad Sack; respect is the one thing he will never find in any of his pockets. He'd love to be Wex's Second-In-Command, but lacks the confidence to comment on the weather without a dozen qualifications.
The funny thing about Pokkit is that when nobody's looking, he can always pull out just the right thing. But when anybody is looking, he becomes flustered, producing everything but what he needs. His personal conflict is between his desire to be a star and crippling stage fright.
HT: 3’4” (6’2” with flag attachment)
WT: ? (if he can pull a nuclear silo out of one of his pockets - I don’t WANT to know his weight!)
If he went to High School: “Most Likely to Die Sad and Alone”
This pitiful little guy so desperately wants to be accepted by his teammates. The big-hearted Pokkit even goes to such lengths as to tie a bike flag to his 3’4” body, so that his presence can be noticed at even 6’.
Pokkit is an experiment in ‘bio-warping’ technology. He wears a jacket covered in pockets, from which he ideally can produce any object he needs. Too bad it doesn’t work out that way.
When they need to get out a jam, Pokkit will reach in and produce a doughnut. And when the 9 are starving in a desert, you can be certain that Pokkit will produce a bazooka. Now do you know why Karn got rid of this experiment?!
This walking junkdrawer is Pilfer’s whipping boy. The usually-sour hair of Crystal has the biggest of crushes on Pokkit. And the rest, well they just normally don’t even notice him.
Poor Pokkit.
The one always last picked for a mission, and while being the smallest in stature, no doubt has the biggest heart, and more loyalty than any other Wild Nine.
His 4x too large shirt is entirely covered with pockets, making Pokkit a walking kitchen junk drawer, littered with useless crap
Whenever Pilfer needs a key, or Mac needs a bolt, Pokkit can be found with a pocket outstretched and yelling into the hole; “I KNOW IT’S IN HERE SOMEWHERE…”
Pokkit has an enormous amount of facts containing the number “9” which is one of his subconscious ploys to get the rest of the group to notice him
In another attempt for recognition, Pokkit carries a bicycle flag with a big red “9” raising his presence to almost 6’!
One of Pokkit’s pet hobbies is working on a gun 3 times larger than he is called the “superhyperkineticphotonblastergun”, and is always tweaking it.
The typical Pokkit scene would be him sneaking aboard a Nines mission, and when the Nines were about to meet their demise, Pokkit would leap to the forefront and haul out the S-gun. With a vengeful “HA-HA!” he would pull the trigger and….click. The gun thuds to the ground, and Pokkit walks off-screen with everyone’s jaws hanging open.
Pokkit's jacket is not his power - the pockets are merely a visual manifestation of the warp field produced by his peculiar bio-energy. Thus, any efforts by the villains to steal his jacket will come to naught - the pockets aren't the source of his power, he is.
Pokkit is generally part of the Support Crew rather than the Away Team. To his eternal chagrin, he gets left behind in the Trawler with Pilfer while the others are off on dangerous missions. Pokkit acts as Pilfer's assistant, fetching tools while Pilfer is busy repairing the team's ever-broken mobile-HQ. When Pilfer is barking orders at him (in one of his many multiple personalities), Pokkit becomes flustered and always produces the wrong tools, creating ever-escalating comedic conflict between them.
While Pilfer pilots the Trawler, Pokkit can always be seen running around dealing with small malfunctions, pulling levers, kicking stubborn machinery, and yanking out tools.
Enigmatically, whereas Crystal barely acknowledges Pokkit's existence, her hair thinks he is just the cutest thing around, purring and cooing at him, and petting him when he is close enough. Of course, Pokkit loves the attention.
Pilfer
Pilfer is the 9’s resident psychopath. He’s nuts - a walking catalog of manias and phobias. Totally minute, he can be a huddling agoraphobic, afraid to leave the confines of the Trawler, and, in the next instant, he’s the Cluster’s most disgruntled Postal Worker, going for some enemy’s throat. There isn’t anything wrong with Pilfer that a good frontal lobotomy couldn’t cure.
He’s a lunatic. He’s insane. He’s a Karn experiment in multiple personalities; 167 to be exact. HE’S THE CAPTAIN OF THE WILD 9 SHIP!?!?!?!?!?
He is the one and only Pilfer.
Often found in the corner holding loud and obnoxious conversations with himself, Pilfer pilots the hunk-of-junk that is the Wild 9’s mobile home base. His support staff are Henry and Pokkit, the latter of which, he incessantly badgers… mostly for fun.
Pilfer has a pet gecko lizard whom he fervently believes is the most brilliant psychiatric mind in the universe; “Dr Rasponovich”. Truth is, is that this poor lizard is just a lizard, and is often terrified when clutched by Pilfer and shoved close to the psycho’s ear awaiting advice.
For the most part, Pilfer is bound in his straightjacket (things tend to go missing when his hands are free) with a huge padlock on the back. Oh, and he has a ‘9’ carved into his forehead… now THAT’S team spirit!
HT: 4’8”
WT: 750 (with ball and chain, and padlock)
Personalities: 167
For the most part, Pilfer is bound in his straightjacket (things tend to go missing when his hands are free) with a huge padlock on the back.
This Wild Nine is a good guy, simply because he knows he doesn’t want to be a bad guy.
Pilfer is the resident psychopath, and all around criminal.
Need a lock picked? How about a ship jumpstarted? Need that essential Break and Enter? Then Pilfer is your man…
Pilfer comes from a penal colony that was destroyed by Domination.
He has lots of jerky movements, facial twitches and speech stutters (in a politically correct manner).
Pilfer is permanently attached at the knees to a 3-ton titanium ball by an indestructible cable, which he desperately tries to break with every new technology the Nines encounter.
Pilfer has his Nine displayed on two locations; one is a huge red 9 splattered on his prison ball, and the other, in true psychotic form, is carved into his forehead.
Pilfer is bad…..and he wants everyone to know it, so he has it written on his yellow straightjacket with big red letters.
Pilfer is always in a straightjacket and has a huge padlock clasping it. In order to escape from it, he has to ask another Nine to undo it.
The only problem is that when he is released (for however short a time) 20 things mysteriously disappear - including B’Angus!
Pilfer is a master pickpocket, and has also trained himself to use his feet to be as agile as his hands.
Pilfer is motivated by greed (think Daffy Fuck in Ali Baba’s Gold-Filled cave) and self-interest.
While in prison, as in most prison movies, Pilfer befriended a “mouse” of sorts. His name is Dr. Rasponovich ….
Dr. Rasponovich is a 4” high reptilian creature that Pilfer found and befriended in the Ssissaugan Maximum Security Prison.
Despite his small stature, Dr. Rasponovich is capable of lifting the 3 ton ball of Pilfer and with enough mustered strength, is able to carry it behind his best friend Pilfer.
While Dr. Rasponovich is not out to impress Pilfer, there is definitely an admiration between the two of them.
We’re supposed to feel sorry for Dr. Rasponovich who hold himself like a tired 90-year-old man, shuffling along, who occasionally gets a chuckle out of something happening to Pilfer.
HENRY
Henry is at once the most and least human of the Wild 9’s. He is a fluid creature, like the pseudopods in The Abyss, who can live in any liquid. His watery mass is encased within a squat, robotic shell, which waddles on stubby legs and projects camera probes on long tendrils.
The actual character of Henry is a body of morphing water encased in a very awkwardly constructed eco-suit.
He has a curious and awestruck outlook on life, and humans in general; Henry can’t get over the fact that we have thumbs! He has a short attention span, and will often change thoughts mid-sentence.
He interfaces with the ship and acts as the team’s chief science officer and mobile recon unit. He formerly manned a bio-genetic ship for Karn, however broke free and eventually met up with the Wild 9.
HT: 6’6” (eco-suit)
WT: 8936 oz.
Sex: Male... just don’t ask how we know.
Nitro: The Living Bomb
Seeking to destroy The Wild 9, Karn forced his bio-engineers to create the most destructive being in all of the Andromeda Cluster.
Poor Nitro is the result of that experiment. Encased within a protective suit, Nitro is sealed off from everything in his environment.
Why? Because he is allergic to everything. Cat hair. Cotton wear. Cotton fibres. Cotton candy. Cantaloupes. Antelopes. Rainwater. Salt water. Salt water taffy. Moonlight. Gaslight. Neon. Freon.
Whole milk. Low fat milk. Non fat milk. Raw vegetables. Cooked vegetables. Any food that starts with the letter “c” (except for chocolate. He’s really really allergic to that!)
All this is just the tip of the iceberg! (But don’t say that in front of Nitro… even mentioning ice gives him the sniffles!)
Q: How do Nitro’s allergies manifest themselves?
A: HE EXPLODES!!! Hmmmmm… could be a powerful weapon, if you were smart enough.
HT: 5’1” (6’8” in protective suit)
WT: 98lbs
Favorite number: 9
Number of Allergies: 1,235,564,239
Nitro is basically a clinging ‘groupie’ who has set his sights on his heroes, the Wild 9.
Nitro was found by the gathering group of teenagers, huddled and shivering like a wet puppy in the corner of an abandoned crashed space ship on the planet surface of Charr (with Karn).
Just remember that cousin you had who was allergic to EVERYTHING when you were growing up…..that’s Nitro; this frail being cannot hear any loud noises, see any excessively bright lights, or be touched too hard.
If any of the above should occur, then…..BOOM!!
All that is in a 100-300 yard radius is blinded with an explosive flash, then a split second later, everyone and everything in sight has been destroyed. A yellow and red underwear-clad Nitro is in the middle of the room/area, gasping and wheezing for air, as if he’s just sprinted up Mt. Fuji.
He then collapses from exhaustion for approximately 15 minutes, in which time the Nines must reassemble Nitro’s suit.
The only way to observe this phenomenon is to video tape it and watch it in super slow-mo; this reveals a super-strong Nitro zipping around the room, manually knocking everyone out!
Nitro’s suit is composed of padding from crash-landed space ship seats, padded and cabled prosthetic hands, a domed indestructible glass helmet, a huge red beacon mounted on his back, extended padded feet attached to springs and shock absorbers, and a high-tech radius, decibel and proximity-measuring monitor hanging around his neck
All of Nitro’s costume greatly resembles how we used to look as a 4-year old after Mom dressed you to go out in the snow….even with cables attached to the fake hands, looking like mitten strings.
Low-tech suit, high tech monitor.
Nitro has unclipped toe and finger nails because he simply can’t stand the pain.
No one really knows Nitro’s past yet, because no one can whisper quietly enough to have a conversation with him!
THE BLACK SHEEP
He's wild! He's woolly! He's an experiment in biowarp-technology gone horribly, horribly wrong!
The Black Sheep is predictable only in his propensity toward violence, and in his unrelenting hatred of B'Angus.
Yet another member of the Bounty Hunter and Assassin's Guild, the Black Sheep differs from his Comrades-In-Mayhem in two very fundamental ways:
The first distinguishing factor is his power. The Black Sheep's biowarp-enveloping DNA-matrix enables him to reach into his fur and produce anything.
A chainsaw. A thermonuclear warhead. A tube of Brillcream. Anything. Unlike Pokkit, the Black Sheep always pulls out exactly what he wants. And trust me, ain't nothing scarier than a pissed-off sheep wielding a chainsaw.
The second thing that sets him apart from the normal (yeah, right) Bounty Hunters is his Raison d'Guerre — we will ultimately learn that they have not been hired to hunt down Wex and The Nines... but B'Angus! And the person who hired them? His jilted fiancée. And the reason that the Black Sheep is working so hard to fulfill this contract?
Not money, folks. Love.
The Black Sheep is deeply in love with the fair Phfilamina Of The Bodoni Plains. And he is jealous to the point of rage that she is so in love with B'Angus that she is willing to put such a price on his head. Oh, when will someone feel such passion for him?
The embodiment of pure evil.
The Black Sheep is a volatile fellow who has tunnel vision set for destroying B’Angus, whom he believes shot him out of the sky for no apparent reason
The Black Sheep carries a full arsenal of weapons within his wool, and in true animated form can reach inside and pull out any weapon at anytime...
The black sheep doesn’t speak.
He has a feel of the typical dressed-in-black rogue cowboy who strolls into town, identity unknown.
There is always a string of drool hanging off his lip, and always psychotic-looking eyes.
Mantis
Mantis is the massive wall of muscle and viciousness serving as Field commander in Karn's Insectoid Strike Force.
His main goal is to prove himself truly worthy of Karn. For all of his hulking strength and muscles, his main asset is his mind. And that's because...
Mantis is really nothing but a glob of amorphous matter, a puddle of malevolent goo that has been placed inside a tremendous exoskeleton-insectoid frame. Karn provides Mantis with this body because of the leadership ability he provides Karn's Insectoid Strike Force.
Mantis knows that as long as he continues to prove his worthiness to Karn, Karn will continue providing him with continually improved, more powerful bodies. No matter how different each new body is, his head and face always remain the same.
Mantis's body is frequently destroyed in battle. When Mantis goes, the skirmishing Insectoids are left without anyone to follow, resulting in death-of-the-queen-bee chaos. This means a solid victory for The Wild Nines. But for Mantis, it means that his gooey life-force must once again slime its way free from its smoldering exo-shell, squish its way back to Karn, and beg His Grand Malevolence to provide him with another (or perhaps even a better..?) shell.
Mantis's pleading for a new body, as opposed to, say, utter annihilation for yet another failure, will be a continuing source of humor during our series. Yet we will be careful not to undercut Karn or Mantis. They are the centers of all evil in this program, and will remain eerie and outright scary throughout. Thus these scenes will play darkly funny.
The single scariest thing about Mantis is that, for all of his commanding stature and frightening presence, he still bows before the dark majesty that is Karn. It is through the huge and terrifying Mantis that we get our sense of scale on Karn, showing us just how powerful and menacing our central villain truly is. I mean, if even Mantis bows before him...
Colonel Kragg
Colonel Kragg is walking bundle of manic energy, a windup toy wound too tight for its tortured mainspring. He's like the Drill Sergeant from Full Metal Jacket... on a gallon of high octane Espresso.
When Wex is first stranded on the Cluster, Colonel Kragg captures him and detains him in Prison Trawler 0009. When Wex and the other Nines "liberate" the Trawler, taking it as their own mobile HQ, Kragg is stranded without a command, humiliated beyond belief, and left in utter disgrace.
He has but two choices: either report back to Karn and face Karn's single punishment for failure, or... reacquire the Trawler, all of its former prisoners (who now rank among the Wild Nines) and most of all, Wex, who led the revolt and who left him so entirely disgraced.
And if he succeeds, he will also be able to return to Karn bearing the mightiest weapon in all of the Cluster... Wex's all-powerful Rig and Glove.
Left without his command, Colonel Kragg is completely AWOL, operating entirely without orders or any decent restraint. He is traveling alone, with but a single companion... Tank!
Tank
Tank is Kragg's Geigeresque attack dog, a snarling mass of metallic muscle that serves as Kragg's chief enforcer on the Prison Trawler. Now Tank is all that remains of Kragg's lost command.
Whenever Kragg ambushes our guys, he does so with Tank by his side. The scary part is: between the two of them, Tank has the sunnier disposition!
A guided missile with titanium teeth, Tank is known for running right through redwood trees, boulders, and steel walls rather than going around them. He is unstoppable and entirely mindless, answering only to Kragg.
Whatever you do, don't offer him a biscuit.
Tank is the second (Mac Sheen was the first) invention of Domination’s “Research and Destruction Division”.
He is a killing machine who hunts totally by sonar.
Instead of the typical thermal screen (a la Terminator), Tank sees sonar blips, which can even detect heartbeats.
When the source is detected, Tank makes a straight line through walls, floors, and doors to get to his prey.
On his attack run, he tears up the metal floor underneath him, creating some scary moments, and growing scraping and scratching from the viewpoint of the intended victims.
Remember: Tank is only the 2nd invention of Domination’s R&D Division, so anything can go wrong...
Ramzig
Charter Member of the Bounty Hunter and Assassins Guild, Ramzig is by far the most articulate of the bunch.
He is a renegade from Volstagg's homeworld. They were both friends, each from a different kingdom. But after a falling out they became mortal enemies.
His hatred for Volstagg is so absolute that, even when he has B'Angus well within his sights, Ramzig will drop everything to go after his former friend.
When Volstagg returns to his homeworld, to the civil wars tearing apart its people and the responsibilities he left behind, Ramzig is there to sow the seeds of distrust and fan the flames of war.
There isn't a nice bone in his body. And his whole goal, aside from collecting the price on B'Angus's head, is to break every bone in Volstagg's body.
The top and most feared bounty hunter in all the Annapolis Galaxy.
Was once the childhood friend of Sampson, but was abducted by Domination soldiers (a la Conan the Barbarian) as a child and forced to become a freelance bounty hunter.
To begin a hunt, Ramzig will run to the highest peak and scream an animalistic howl.
Ramzig has a little creature with a big helmet riding his back, whom he tries to buck off like a bare backed bronco.
The creature is constantly spurring the sides of Ramzig, much to Ramzig’s discomfort.
FILBERT
Another member of the Bounty Hunter & Assassins Guild, Filbert has the single worst disposition.
Filbert is hooked up to a huge wet-cell battery, which delivers voltage powering his body. By increasing the voltage, he can increase his physical abilities, providing him with incredible strength and remarkable leaping ability.
When the cables are disconnected, or the battery runs out of juice, Filbert shrinks into a normal, and somewhat confused, frog. Ribbit! This can be real liability in battle. And it's one The Wild Nines are more than happy to exploit.
Filbert is cunning and evil, yet he has this unfortunate tendency to be distracted by the various tasty insects that fly around at the worst possible moments ("Surrender, mammal! Resistance is futil — Oooo, fruitfly!").
When Filbert is especially hungry, even the Insectoid Shocktroopers start looking tasty. Halfway through our series, about the time Henry goes bad and defects to Karn's side, Filbert decides to quit being a Bounty Hunter, and joins The Wild Nines.
Filbert allies himself with his former enemies in the hopes that they can help him find a way to retain his massive form without the need of that cumbersome battery. Thus the roster changes while our number Nine remains intact.
A slobbering, slurping, belching amphibian, Filbert lacks even the most remedial social graces. He and Boomer fight like Han Solo and Princess Leia — only without the underlying affection. These two only bicker. Also, he has this habit of trying to stick his head into Pokkit's pockets looking for beetle-grubs or a succulent cock-a-roach-ah! When he does this, Crystal's hair tends to want to take a chunk out of him, making him snap back at "in self defense". He's not a pretty picture.
In fact, Filbert likes to push everybody's buttons, annoying and challenging people a la X-Men's Wolverine. But he's a good fighter, and the cunning he provides is a huge asset to the team.
The Nines are willing to put up with him... for now.
Filbert runs off of electricity.
Filbert began as a dead frog in a school science experiment. Because of this failed experiment, he is now a hulking 9’ muscular frog with a huge 9 volt battery still strapped on his back, with attached probes jabbed into his shoulders.
Filbert’s achilles heel is that he is forced to come up with new ways to regenerate his electricity (with his piece of shag carpet, balloon, tongue in a socket etc...).
He also has a long muscular tongue that can reach distances of up to 10 feet!
His weapons of choice are two maces.
HAPPY
Bounty hunter.
Don't ask, just run.
Don't look behind you, he's still there.
For pity sake, man, just keep running!
HAPPY (and Askum) - Happy has an IQ of 3
When he was a child, he had beaten so many things with his hands, that he had to get a prosthetic right hand, but instead created a projectile system that can not only shoot regular hands, but perhaps other devices created by Domination’s R&D Division.
Not many kids liked Happy very much as a child, so he made a “happy” mask hoping that people would then find him more likable (ooh ahh, look at the ‘psychological mask’ similarities here...).
Happy’s best friend in the whole world is his pet flea “askum” (“what’s his name? Askum. What’s your name little fella?....”)(groan!)
Askum simply idolizes Happy, and does all the pet flea things like juggling and acrobatics to impress the idiot savage, and even goes as far as wearing his own ‘happy’ mask.
Happy keeps Askum in his left clenched hand, and will go so far as to put himself in danger to protect his favorite flea.
Happy is hunting for Wex because in a back-door deal with Karn, Karn promised to release Happy’s mother from a nearby prison (she’s serving back-to-back life sentences for murder).
Happy is easily confused (duh! he has an IQ of 3) and the Nines exploit this whenever they can.
Don’t forget though, that Happy, as all the bounty hunters, are extremely kickass and tough, commanding a lot of respect.
Darwin & The Bird
Darwin and The Bird are yet another experiment-gone-wrong from Karn's bio-engineering department.
The Bird is a supergenius whose head is aswirl with the most brilliant and creative concepts in creature design. Darwin is a bizarre lizard-like creature with the unique ability to project bio-genetically enhancing plasma and mutate the creatures around him.
Karn got the idea that by fusing these two together he would have the ultimate organic creature manufacturer at his disposal.
It worked. Sort of.
The problem is that Darwin and the Bird each have massive egos and are the most uncooperative creative team in the galaxy. Each is absolutely convinced that the other is not only wrong, but completely unnecessary to the process. They can agree on nothing.
The result is a harrowing series of "creatures by committee": Fire-breathing, umbrella-headed platypuses with thirteen legs, nine noses and no eyes. Oh, and peacock's plumage.
Don't forget the peacock's plumage. Darwin and the Bird's creatures only succeeded in destroying Karn's Insectoid Shocktroopers and wrecking havoc on his Cyber Lab. Naturally, each blamed the other for their continuing failures. It didn't take long for Karn to send these two to the furthest outpost of the Cluster.
What drives these two is ego and the stubborn insistence that they can "get it right". Just give them one more chance. Thus Darwin and the Bird are most dangerous when they try to help our heroes.
Having come from Karn's labs, they have information on the last known whereabouts of Wex's parents. Knowing that they have this information, and actually being able to extract it, are two entirely different things, as Wex and The Wild Nines soon discover...
This character is inspired by the joke where a guy walks into a doctor’s office with a frog on his head. Doctor said ‘what’s wrong with you?”. And the frog said “it started with a bump on my ass”.
In the beginning, there was only the Bird. He was on his way to join the Wild Nines in their fight against “Domination” and Karn.
He took a shortcut through the Bodoni Swamps and dipped into a nearby waterpond. He mistakenly dipped into some toxic slime, which permanently attached itself to his right foot. Over the period of the next 3 days, the puss-oozing, slime-ridden creature known as “Darwin” grew under his foot. Now the two make up the coolest permanently attached Odd Couple in the Annapolis Cluster; one is a Domination bounty hunter, while the other is an avid Wild Nines fan.
Darwin is a superintelligent bio-geneticist, who is constantly trying to genetically recreate himself without the damn Bird attached to the side of his head!
Darwin is constantly oozing and erupting slime at all the wrong times.
One of his bio-genetic inventions was the “fodder-gun” which looks like a regular gun with an attached jar full of tadpoles, which when shot, recreates small slimy Darwinian fodder able to do Darwin’s bidding.
Darwin has a very foreboding and strong presence (and we’re not just talking about smell, either!)
Karn
Karn is the uncontested ruler of The Cluster. He has the power of a god... and the temper of four year-old.
Karn was created countless millennia ago when an ancient race sought to banish all aggression and evil from their society. Combining magic and technology, they were able to project these base inclinations into the deep recesses of space. The unforeseen result of this experiment was the creation an evil cloud swirling in the vastness of space. Over eons, it congealed and became self-aware, evolving into the being called Karn.
Boiling with unbridled malice, Karn returned to his homeworld to exact vengeance upon his creators. When they tried to confront him, they did so without any hatred, aggression, or evil... it was all within Karn. Facing naked hate with love — they fell like wobbly ten pins.
Karn destroyed his creators and seized their planet as his homeworld. But no single world could sate the hunger of such a ravenous god; he wanted more.
He began using his planet as the center of a galactic gravitational pool, pulling inhabited plants from nearby star systems, collecting them into a gigantic mass. When the nearby worlds were absorbed, Karn began opening wormholes in space to collect distant worlds from all over the galaxy. Over thousands of years, he cultivated this mass into a vast sphere, worlds upon worlds, all connected by crisscrossing, intertwining bridges, each remaining whole while being absorbed onto Karn's boundless collection. And thus was born The Andromeda Cluster!
But still he was not satisfied.
A roiling cloud of hatred and evil, Karn still had no physical form. His sole desire was for a body to house his immortal soul.
But not just any body. Karn sought the most powerful body in the known universe.
Toward that end he concocted (or had concocted for him) all manner of strange hybrids: people made from machines, pure muscle, crystal, amalgamations of animals and humans... just to see which warrior-body will have the greatest capacity for survival under the harshest of circumstances.
While driven by this evil desire, Karn has no scientific knowledge of his own. He has thus collected all of the great scientific minds from throughout the Cluster, holding them in vast suspended-animation chamber called THE THINK TANK.
Karn probes the minds of the Think Tank for all the stored knowledge in the universe, then puts it to use in his immense CYBER-LAB - a nightmarish amalgam of endless waldoes, servos, cyber probes, circuitry and bio-mechanics spanning many levels high, many football fields long. The machinery grinds along like a thousand thousand Q's (James Bond's Q, not Captain Picard's), all working full steam to implement Karn's latest bio-engineered masterpieces.
Having filled The Cluster with such diverse beings, Karn now seeks to use it as his own Darwinian Proving Grounds upon which he can determine which beings have the greatest survival potential.
He is thus inciting wars and conflicts, so that only the strongest will survive. And from this endless firestorm, the ultimate lifeform will emerge. And when it does, Karn will at last possess that for which he has longed throughout his entire existence... a worthy body. At that point he will not only be all-powerful... but also, finally truly alive!
Until such a worthy host can be discovered, Karn will remain invulnerable, if maddeningly incorporeal. Karn is like the ultimate vampire. To replenish his ravenous life-force, Karn is destroying the planets within The Cluster that have outlived their usefulness. Vaporizing them, he is converting their matter into energy and using this energy to sustain his own life.
The epitome of evil, Karn fears nothing and no one -- with one possible exception. As Karn discovers, Wex's Rig and Glove are the sole remaining relic of the ancient civilization that created him. Within it may lie the key to accomplishments of science and sorcery entirely unknown to even the collective genius of the Think Tank. The key to Karn's eternal life - or perhaps his ultimate destruction.
And the truly maddening part for Karn -- for reasons unknown, a puny Earthling named Wex is the only being in existence with the ability to access this weapon.
Karn is a 346-year-old hunk of flesh hanging on a ceiling of his palace.
He is the typical megalomaniac hellbent on destroying the entire cluster for reasons yet unknown.
When he yells and screams, it can be heard throughout the entire Cluster.
Karn will always be shrouded by shadow, with only his logo/breather and piercing eyes highlighted by the holographic map on his floor (he will never, I repeat NEVER be shown as just a face stuck on a ceiling).
Karn will also never be beaten; this villain is unable to be defeated.
Level Descriptions:
Bombopolis: Wex Major must fight his way through Karn's flying fortress. This huge structure is suspended in the atmosphere by a massive network of propellers. Points of interest include powerful turbine fans as well as heavy grinding machinery. Fun for the whole family!
Gulag: To save Nitro, Wex Major must break into the toughest prison in the galaxy. Getting in seems all too easy, but getting out will require some creativity on Wex Major's part. Karn has set some dangerous traps for Wex Major along the way including seemingly impassible spike barriers.
LightArmada: On the way to the next world, Wex Major will have to travel through Light Armada and deal with Karn's armored forces. Dealing with this Shock Trooper should be made easier through the use of Wex Major's speeder bike.
Craterscape: Looks like Karn got here before Wex Major did. In order to save Pokkit, Wex Major will have to carefully thread his way through this city under siege. Shouldn't be too difficult…then again, what's with that towering mechanical chap off in the distance…
OutpostAnom: In a further attempt to crush the Resistance, Karn has set up Rapid Troop Deployment tubes. Wex Major can use these RTD tubes to travel from one world to the next, but the Shock Troopers in transit surely won't be thrilled to see Wex Major crashing their party.
QuagmireRun: Blech…racing through swamps definitely isn't in the job description. Wex Major must make his way through this quagmire and take out Ramzig. Karn must be getting nervous…he's sending his Bounty Hunters now.
Drench: Just when the Rig was drying out from the last mission, Wex Major ended up in Drench…the name says it all, doesn't it? If B'Angus would quit complaining about his wet fur, maybe he could appreciate the beautiful foliage, like that huge carnivorous plant. I wonder what would happen if we tossed a Shock Trooper in there?
BeastEngine: This secret Karn base is a breeding ground for Karn's armies. This world kind of reminds one of running through a giant's innards. Beast Engine presents a really tough fight, but perhaps Wex Major might have an advantage if he rescued that trapped critter over there with the foaming mouth…
BeastRide: Good thing that maniacal brute took a liking to Wex Major in the last world, he'll be a great ally as Wex Major begins the hunt for Colonel Kragg. In order to tip the scales in his favor, Kragg has donned a special attack suit which should make life difficult for Wex Major. Missiles won't work here…what is Kragg's weakness?
Crystal Mine: Crystal was last seen trying to sabotage Karn's mining facility. Believed to be captured, Wex Major must find Crystal and help her escape by empowering her with light energy. Just when Wex Major was getting used to taking out Shock Troopers, he now will have to be on the offense and defense if Crystal is to make it out safely.
OutpostBalor: Karn's second Rapid Troop Deployment tube is even more sinister than the first. More obstructions, more traps, more enemies…must be getting close to Karn now.
Mantis: Time to face Karn's right hand man, Mantis. Serving as Field commander in Karn's Insectoid Strike Force, Mantis will make sure that this is no walk in the park. If this confrontation is overcome successfully, a meeting with Mantiss' boss is surely in the cards.
Palace Karn: Karn's palace is built over a giant lake of unrefined Little Evil Green Men goo. This will undoubtedly be the most terrifying mission of them all. Now the big question remains; what is going to get all those Little Evil Green Men explosion stains out of Wex's clothes?
Shocktroopers, or ‘grunts’ are the footsoldiers in Karn’s army, appearing to be bio-engineered, part insect and part robot. There are different designs of them on each planet.
LEGM, or ‘Little Evil Green Men’, are a big part of the Wild 9 game plotline. They are the latest bio-engineered technology Karn is exploring in his quest to create the perfect body. They appear frequently in the game and its art, serving as mascots for the project.
Unused Characters:
Pellas - Two ‘vixen’ characters who were partly revived in the spirit of the propeller-wielding kaiser shocktroopers.
Prince - A being wiith a detached crystal ball for a head. Perhaps he auditioned for the Nines, and didn’t make the cut.
THE AFTERMATH
The ground was still covered with wispy layers of smoke, clearing slightly in the aftermath of the battle that had taken place that morning. Ash, green slime, and burnt metal covered the ground for hundreds of yards.
In the near distance, the trawler - home to the Wild 9 - lay in near ruins...
"WEX! WEX, WAKE UP! SOMEBODY GET A DOCTOR! SOMEBODY GET ME A MED-KIT AND A SANDWICH... 0O0H, I KNOW THE OTHERS ARE GONNA BLAME ME FOR THIS..."
Wex Major awoke with a start. "Wha... oww! Feel like I've been blindsided by a Munroian Canuk! B'Angus, what happened?"
"I'M FINE, THANKS FOR ASKING! SURE, I RISK LIFE AND LIMB TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING INTO THE SHOCKTROOPERS HANDS, AND YOU DON'T EVEN CARE IF I'M OK!"
"Shocktroopers! I was sleepin', felt something like a meteor hit the trawler, and then nothing... what happened?" Wex asked. Quickly adding a, "Thanks for saving me, buddy" before B'Angus again started ranting.
"Well, somehow Karn found out where we were, and sent a transport of his elite Shocktroopers in to take us by surprise. From where I found you, it looks like you got thrown out of the trawler by the first blast. Man, you were a mess, I mean, not that you don't look lousy now, but jeez, I've never seen you look that bad, unless you count that time when you ate all those berries on Cyleop 5 and had that allergic reaction. Boy, I thought we'd lost you there. You looked really awful then... oh, and there was that one other time when you nearly killed yourse..."
"B'ANGUS! Back to this morning please."
"Oh, yeah, well... anyway, most of the team was pretty stunned by the first blast. They recovered quickly, and I took charge of the situation since you were out of commission."
Wex groaned at hearing that.
"Hey, you ok, kiddo? Think something inside is broken? I can get a med-kit?" After a second of no response from Wex, B'Angus continued, "So... I send Volstagg around to try and flank 'em on the right, Boomer around to the left, Crystal and Pokkit - who, by the way, broke his own record of uselessness by producing over 37 different items before grabbing a weapon, and that was a slingshot, I might add - hit 'em with Nitro over and over. It looked like the tide was turning in our favor. My master strategy was working!
“Well, leave it to the other half of the diminutive dynamic duo to mess it up..."
Wex almost didn't want to ask, but found himself asking, "What'd Pilfer do this time...?"
"You shoulda seen it. Champ, if you were there, he wouldn'tve even thought about it. But would he listen to me? Nooooo!" B'Angus was becoming more agitated with each word that passed over his lips. "Why, that lunatic gets the big idea in his head to try and run the Shocktroopers down with the trawler! Apparently, it was on the advice of 'Dr. Rasponovich'!"
Wex groaned again. Pilfer was a true lunatic, not a sane bone in his body. Dr. Rasponovich was a lizard that Pilfer carried everywhere with him and according to Pilfer, the doctor constantly gave him advice.
"So," Wex tentatively began, "what happened?"
"Oh, it was ugly kid... Really ugly. THE HORROR. THE HORROR. With the damage to the trawler's controls and all the smoke, Pilfer cut off Ramzig, who couldn't see in the smoke and ran into the side of trawler - effectively knocking him out. Pilfer then managed to get two Shocktroopers on the way to practically shattering Crystal and turning MacSheen into a hunk of scrap metal. I was lucky enough to get out of the way before he could flatten me like he did Boomer... oh, the humanity of it all," B'Angus stopped to catch his breath.
"What happened to Boomer!" Wex asked a bit hurriedly. His feelings toward Boomer were well known by all the team, and especially B'Angus. Nobody would come between Wex and B'Angus, if B'Angus could help it.
"Oh, she's fine... I suppose. I mean, she was wrapped up in that silly tartan of hers, screaming and swinging that tree trunk she calls a staff. Well, Pilfer managed to miss her with the trawler... mostly. He clipped her in the back of the head with one of the rear guns as he tried to run over another Shocktrooper. To add insult to injury, he missed the trooper. She's probably got a nasty headache right about now...
“So her staff goes flying through the air and cracks Henry, meanwhile, Nitro's totally worn out from exploding over and over, and is basically useless. With just Pilfer - in now totally inoperative trawler - and me against all the Shocktroopers, it made sense to take advantage of all the confusion and hide you and figure out what to do. The troopers just left about a half hour ago, assuming that you were blown to bits in the initial attack. That pretty much sums up my morning, how was yours?"
Wex couldn't believe it. After months of evading Karn's forces, eluding traps that lay everywhere for the Wild 9, it was all crumbling around him. He felt the sting of defeat for the first time, and it didn't feel too good. "So, where's everyone?" he asked.
"Well, the troopers took everyone else. They had these little weird green guys with 'em, too. Weird, I tell you! Weird! These pipsqueaks were all over the place, blowin' up on contact with just about anything - sorta like Nitro, only green, really, really small, leave a huge slime puddle, and they don't recover from the blast... but otherwise they're just like Nitro. Well, I mean, they explode like Nitro, but that's really the only resemblance. But still, there were hundreds of these things bouncing all over the place! Oh, the humanity!" B'Angus cried. "That's the right phrase, isn't it," asked, "oh, the humanity?" he asked.
Wex nodded, "yeah, that's the right expression..."
"Anyway," B'Angus went on, "just me and the bumbling idiot are all that got away. Pilfer's already replaced the 'Wild 9' with 'Kind of Loud 3' on the side of the trawler. He's working on repairs, but it's going to take some time. The others, well, they're probably strewn throughout the cluster by now. Karn isn't stupid enough to lock 'em up together. It'd make a rescue or breakout too tempting... looks like it's just the three of us. Whaddya say we dump 'psycho' and strike out on our own? I know this cluster like the back of my wing. We'll still look for your parents," he added, "just in a more... quiet sort of way. The ridge up there..."
"Where's the nearest place that the troopers would have taken one of the 9's?", Wex interrupted. "Is the jetbike still functioning?"
"Yeah, the jetbike wasn't damaged at all. Well, any more than the last time you took it out... remember how you almost killed yourself landing back on th..." B'Angus stopped himself for once, cocked his head to the side, and studied Wex' face. "You aren't thinking of trying to rescue everyone single-handedly, are you? Look, babe, you're the best I've ever seen, but you'd get creamed!" B'Angus started fidgeting around his home in the Rig like he always did when he was nervous, his voice rising into shrill, excited tones, "We gotta get out of here. The troopers are bound to come back soon to reclaim the trawler, and they're probably not going to be too happy about you still being alive!"
"No," Wex said as he got on his feet, "I'm going after them. All of 'em. They put their faith in me, and now it's time for me to show them it wasn't a mistake... You stay here with Pilfer and get the trawler repaired."
"What? Are you sure you aren't suffering delusions!? You starting to buy into the 'Chosen One' stuff? You'll never free the others without my help! The Black Sheep himself couldn't keep me from going with you, well, maybe he could... Somebody's got to watch your back, and who better than me?" B'Angus put on his best fighting face.
That was almost too easy, Wex thought. "All right, I will need some help. And you the best, so I guess it's up to us. Where to first?"
"Bombopolis. Gotta be. It's close. Heavily secured. Gotta be there." B'Angus was now pacing back and forth like a general plotting an attack. "It'll be tough. But as we head further from here, towards the center of the cluster, towards Karn's palace, it'll just get tougher and tougher." He was starting to worry himself now, thinking about the dangers that lay ahead, brow becoming more tightly knit with every step he took. Wex flexed his right hand, and the Rig clicked and hummed to life.
B'Angus stopped pacing and looked at Wex. With a simple flick of the wrist, an enormous energy bolt leapt from the Rig on Wex's shoulder to a nearby boulder. A slight turn of the wrist, and the beam picked up the boulder with ease, held it there and then slammed it into the ground. Nothing but dust was left.
The Rig's humming slowly faded, "Karn," Wex spoke up to the sky, "you'd better pray that none of my friends have been harmed or you'll curse the day you were created..."
An audible 'ulp' came from B'Angus. He had never before seen Wex so angry, had he realized how easy it was for Wex to destroy something as massive as the boulder. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Boy, would I hate to be one of Karn's Shocktroopers now..." he thought as Wex headed toward the damaged trawler to get the jetbike.
"Little exploding green men?" Wex mumbled again and again as he approached the trawler. What could they be? What did they mean?