Kintos

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Sketch by Farzad Varahramyan

Kintos are a race of Oddworld creatures that was intended to make its début appearance in Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee as a mindless slave race, but was not included in the final version of the game.

Physiology

In nature, Kintos live on mountains and are agile climbers. They walk on two forelimbs that are incredibly muscular and powerful. Each ends in a single powerful toe that Kintos can jam into any crack in the rocks to scale any rock surface. Their lower legs are completely absent, so their torso end with their pelvis and is suspended above the ground.[1] Kintos’ back muscles must be permanently flexed.[2] Their skin is sienna in colour.[1][3]

Kintos have lost any discernible neck, their head simply being the top of their body.[1] Their skull is flat and wide, blurring the distinction between their head and body, and is split along the sagittal and coronal planes into four parts that must be held together by muscle that wraps around it. Their shoulder joints are formed by the clavicle, the acromion process, and long, thin extensions of the skull.[2] These extensions also form the upper lip of the mouth, a Kinto’s only real facial feature. Their skeletons show eye sockets,2 but there are no eyes visible on the creature, only two bulbous protrusions where they should be.[1]

History

Kintos were a peaceful race of agile mountain dwellers with a strange fear of anything being above their head, whether a tree branch, shelter or hat. The Glukkons then enslaved the Kintos for their muscle power and began forcing them to work indoors carrying heavy loads on their backs and heads.[1]

One particular function of Kinto slaves is to carry the Glukkon Queen, Lady Margaret, in her sedan chair. Each of about twelve Kintos holds an arm of Maggie’s sedan in the groove between their eye bulges, chained to it by their lower lip so they can’t put the chair down.[4] They literally carry the rich on their backs.

According to Alf, the Glukkons gave up on their first attempt to enslave Kintos because of the effort it would take to overcome the creatures’ extreme paranoia of anything being above their heads. He adds that this fear makes it hard to tell whether Kintos are intelligent or not, although it’s more likely enslavement that has turned them into utterly mindless brutes.[5]

Production design

Kintos were designed with the idea in mind of body builders that concentrate one part of their body and end up exaggerating it and making their body disproportionate.[6]

References

  1. a b c d e Varahramyan, Farzad (23 March 1999). ‘Kinto Slaves’ concept sketch. In Paul O’Connor (19 April 2000). ‘Better Boffo’. Entry 7 in Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee Designer Diary. Videogames.com. Also in Cathy Johnson & Daniel Wade (eds) (15 September 2004). ‘Kinto Slaves’, ‘Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee’, p. 229. The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994–2004. Mylor: Ballistic Publishing.
  2. a b Varahramyan, Farzad (26 May 1999). ‘Kinto Slaves (Carriers): Skeleton and Muscle Structure’ character views. In Cathy Johnson & Daniel Wade (eds) (15 September 2004). ‘Kinto Slaves’, ‘Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee’, p. 228. The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994–2004. Mylor: Ballistic Publishing.
  3. Alf (1 May 2003). Alf May 2003, q. 11. Alf’s Rehab & Tea. Official Oddworld website.
  4. Varahramyan, Farzad (18 March 1999). ‘Munch: Maggie on he sedan chair flanked by her personal guard, about to deal with Mullock’. In Cathy Johnson & Daniel Wade (eds) (15 September 2004). ‘Kinto Slaves’, ‘Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee’, p. 228. The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994–2004. Mylor: Ballistic Publishing.
  5. Alf (1 July 2002). Alf 20, q. 1. Alf’s Rehab & Tea. Oddworld.com.
  6. Johnson, Cathy & Daniel Wade (eds) (15 September 2004). ‘Kinto Slaves’, ‘Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee’, p. 228. The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994–2004. Mylor: Ballistic Publishing.