The purpose of MALCO.

May 25, 2013 at 7:39 PM
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What exactly is MALCO built for? Why does he try to kill you at first, and then help afterwards. Why is he there?

What we know:
- MALCO is a robot who does not leave the power room in the game
- MALCO activates with the grasstown fans, and wants to destroy intruders (you)
- he has a soft side after you pull him from his broken rubble
- he knows how to make bombs BUT he does not have the materials to make them
- he can somewhat activate "spare robots"
- HE CAN'T TURN OFF CAPS LOCK.

My theory is that he is a security robot made to prevent anyone from activating the fans... But then again, what could he do? He can't make a bomb right there...
 
May 25, 2013 at 7:45 PM
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Well I was pretty sure that it's actually the inverse- He's there to keep anyone from turning the fans off. After all, what good could he do offline? While online, he could have had time to make bombs to keep intruders out. However, he did get shut off by someone or something. My guesses are either Misery, under instruction from a crown bearer, or by a sqaud of Killer Robots, to shut off power to what could have been a critical location in the war. Either of those could easily have overcome MALCO.
 
May 25, 2013 at 7:47 PM
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MALCO's only purpose is that of a plot device, nothing more, nothing less
 
May 25, 2013 at 8:07 PM
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That inverse idea makes more sense, Keeping people from deactivating the fans.

And pretty much any theory can be disregarded as "pixel just made it that way, it's a plot device."

Here's another question: who made MALCO? The creator of the island? Someone trying to populate the grass town/bush lands and wanting him to prevent a power shutdown?

Another theory I have is that when balrog crushed his head, the section that made him aggressive was malfunctioning. Making him be a overly good person instead of "COMMENCE DESTRUCTION!"
 
May 25, 2013 at 8:11 PM
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The one's who created MALCO were the humans who came to Grasstown for research. They made the fan system so they could get around Grasstown without messing with the natural enviroment too much. MALCO is bascially a security drone that Balrog caused to malfunction.

Why they connected MALCO's power with the fans power, is beyond me
 
May 25, 2013 at 8:53 PM
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The credits describe Malco as a "power room watcher". So I sense his only immediate purpose he was built for was to watch over the power room, and make explosives when needed to. And of course, he did appear to have some protocol for fending off intruders. I'm thinking that he'd normally be pretty good at distinguishing between threats and allies under most circumstances, but he probably initially interpreted Quote as an intruder since he was quite suddenly woken up and faced with another being.


Dunc2403 said:
...he did get shut off by someone or something. My guesses are either Misery, under instruction from a crown bearer, or by a sqaud of Killer Robots, to shut off power to what could have been a critical location in the war. Either of those could easily have overcome MALCO.
I do agree with the premise that something of that nature shut him off, but I'm not so sure that a small squad of killer robots could have shut him off. If it weren't for Balrog, I think Malco would have put up a fairly decent fight against Quote. Sure that was quite easy how quickly Balrog took him out by unexpectedly pouncing on him, but Quote was subdued as well when Balrog did the same in the Sand Zone. I think Malco had a decent combat mechanism that could have been put to good use. I suppose I can't prove this true any more than you can prove your belief right, but that's a slightly opposing view of mine.

I like to base one's combat skill on how advanced they are, and I suppose one indicator of how advanced said robot is is based on how synthetically they talk. Curly is the closest to human robot there is in the game, and is almost as good as Quote. The barely still alive robot in the Core room had a synthetic voice like Malco's (as indicated by that all caps text), but did not come across as the very conversational sort, unlike Malco. Therefore I am led to believe that Malco is more advanced than a lot of surface robots, and would thus be able to hold them off. Then again, there are those blue robots that talk more conversationally and with a more real sounding voice (indicated by the lack of caps) and looking more advanced, but they don't look like they're bred for combat, judging by how they don't fight at all, and that one of them was very quickly killed by a Gaudi.

I'm not necessarily saying that a squad of killer robots couldn't have shut Malco down, but I think he would have put up a fight. But for all we know, the power room and Malco could have been built by the people who sent the robots to the island (like SpiritHunterElite said), in which case Malco would have had no quarrel with the killer robots. But then that leads you to ask why he's so kind. Perhaps he was originally unfriendly but then someone changed his heart...
EnlightenedOne said:
Another theory I have is that when balrog crushed his head, the section that made him aggressive was malfunctioning. Making him be a overly good person instead of "COMMENCE DESTRUCTION!"
You know what? That's a very interesting theory, I never thought of that. That is entirely plausible.
 
May 25, 2013 at 11:49 PM
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MALCO's purpose is to guard the Power Room from danger, perhaps an intruder? However, a robot is odd security, which makes me believe that the Power Room is supposed to be hidden. Also, look at its placement...
cs248.png
Does it not look like it was meant to be hidden? I'm sure most adults wouldn't be able to fit through such a tight squeeze.
 
May 26, 2013 at 5:41 AM
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That does look hidden, and hard to find for someone who can't see the area in a 2D map. I still find it far-fetched that Malco's attack is making bombs out of something he doesn't have himself. Unless there was some other purpose or attack strategy, or whoever got past him took all the materials for their own purposes. Doesn't the screen fade out when he "makes" the bomb. That would suggest it takes quite some time to make each one... though maybe he had a stockpile already made just to be stolen later.
 
May 26, 2013 at 12:15 PM
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Maybe Malco Made Bombs as fast as a Turbo Charged Machine Gun refills every Hour or 2, then he kicks bombs at any intruders in the Power Supply Room. But it is possible that when the owner of Malco Died, the Power Turned off along with Malco, and Quote would Then Turn the power on, restoring Malco's Duty
 
May 27, 2013 at 10:03 PM
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It's already been mentioned in bits but :
I always thought MALCO was built for the human researchers from before the ten year ago war. What was his purpose? Maybe to generally assist the humans and Mimigas living in Grasstown/bushlands.

The blue robots seem to be better built (probably from the surface), but more harmless; while MALCO might have been retro-fitted to be able to put up a fight, though his frame is a little simplie. He however, does have knowledge to put together explosives, so I am saddened to not have seen MALCO's battle potential :p

Maybe he shoots LASERS from his eyes..... MOUTH!

Anyway, I always believed both scientists and Mimigas lived together in that zone. And the execution chamber and bomb materials... That might be evidence that, that area was one of the battlezones during the struggle for the Demon Crown. The place was probably abandonded, though there is actually one frenzied mimiga that might be evidence of a struggle. (Or a survivor who returned to their village after it was over...)
If the mimigas went frenzied, I imagine the humans living there would have packed up and left; and maybe they buried the Power Room, or shut it down and camouflaged it...

At some point most scientists would probably have abandonded the Mimigas, to save their own lives. Though I am sure they offered to have some Mimigas escape with them...
 
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