Oddworld/Resaurus

Concept art for action figures based on Abe, the Slogs & Sligs, an Elum, and Mullock

## Product Information

### Year(s)

1999

Around the late 1990's-early 2000's, Resaurus wanted to do a toyline based on a platform video game published by GT Interactive and developed by Oddworld Inhabitants. The toyline went beyond standard action figures as it would've also included roleplay items, though did not justify enough financial interest to stock it on store shelves.

## **Summary**

*Oddworld* is a media franchise and fictional universe, created by developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. The series has been released on various platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Game Boy, Windows and Wii U. Throughout games set in the Oddworld universe, the player's character goes on a quest to defend Oddworld's ecosystem from endangerment by industrial corporations.  The first game, *Oddworld: Abey's Oddysee*, was released in 1997 for the Playstation and MS-DOS computers; centering on the titular Abe, a meek Mudokon slave at the RuptureFarms meat processing factory. When he discovers that he and his fellow Mudokons are to be slaughtered, Abe decides to escape and liberate as many enslaved Mudokons as he can. The player assumes the role of Abe as he attempts a perilous quest to emancipate his downtrodden people. *Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee* was widely acclaimed for having innovative gameplay, good art direction and engaging cutscenes; however, its steep learning curve and system of only saving at checkpoints received criticism. At least four direct sequels were released in the years that followed and a remake of the game, *Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!*, was developed by Just Add Water and released in 2014.

It was first reported in 2000 by Collecting Channel that Resaurus was working on a line of products based off the *Oddworld* franchise,  though the company's CEO named Doug Sapp also addressed a question asked by user Andrew McGee, as part of an online Q&A session on Raving Toy Maniac; where he said that Resaurus acquiring the license was just a "rumor."  All of the employees at Resaurus, some of them freelancers, got to work on pitching products for the *Oddworld* toyline that would've met Oddworld Inhabitants and GT Interactive's approval. Obviously, an action figure of Abe had to be included as several prototypes were cast in resin and fully painted by lead designer Ken Lilly. Though some of the more peculiar offerings they cooked up include a latex mask using the likeness of Molluck the Glukkon, the series' villain; and a hand puppet of a creature called the Paramite. Both prototype models were painted and finished by either Jay or Chris Borman as Ken took photos of their development, which he would post on his Blogspot website known as "Blogzilly." Unfortunately, the original photos are gone, even in the Wayback Archive backup of his now deleted post "Chronolillogy III: A Spaced Oddysee;" though magog-on-the-march, a Tumblr user devoted to all things *Oddworld*, uploaded an archived version of the pictures on a post to his/her account.  There were also plans to include action figures of *Oddworld* enemies like the Slogs, Sligs, an Elum and Mullock, though it looks like they only ever made it to concept art as no images of their presumable prototypes have ever emerged

## **Final Verdict**

As you would've guessed, Resaurus never got to release their *Oddworld* action figures and the reason why is despite all the love and care they put into their pitch kit, the game's owners/publishers pined that any product or merchandising would've cheapened the brand of their IP. According to Jay Borman in an interview with *littleplasticmen*; an online quarterly toy magazine, this decision is what led to Resaurus nabbing the *Duke Nukem* license as GT Interactive, who released DN3D in 1996, had much more marketing faith in that series over *Oddworld*. Neither of the prototypes built for the Abe figures, the Mullock mask or Paramite puppet have ever resurfaced and the other action figures; like I already mentioned, never reached it past the initial sketches. Whether they're in the hands of a former Resaurus employee or destroyed forever, this case will remain: **LOST**.

## **Gallery**

An employee named Steve working on some of the finished models of the Abe prototypeA Resaurus employee testing both the Mullock latex mask and the Paramite hand puppet
## **External Links**

* ReSaurus on the Oddworld Library
* An archive of Blogzilly's experience on the *Oddworld* figures by Resaurus
* A Resaurus retrospective on Nintendo Player

## **Sources**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oddworld
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oddworld:\_Abe%27s\_Oddysee
3. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20020331143753/http://collectingchannel.com/cdsDetArt.asp?CID=12&PID=1429
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000824133940/http://www.toymania.com/20Q/20q\_sapp.shtml
5. ↑ https://magog-on-the-march.tumblr.com/post/103484210570/resaurus-pulled-out-all-the-stops-to-put