Vulpimancers are an extraterrestrial species of blind mammals from the garbage planet Vulpin.[1]
Biology
Anatomy
Vulpimancers resemble large canines with no eyes, ears, nose, or tail with an ape-like dog posture and movements. Their teeth are very defined and stick out of their mouths. The various porcupine quill-like spines found all across their bodies are not fur. Rather, they are something akin to whiskers with tactile sensing.[2]
As they grow older, Vulpimancers grow tails and become more feline-like. Male Vulpimancers sometimes have stripes on their backs to distinguish themselves from females.
Although they traditionally have orange fur, Vulpimancers can come in other colors. For example, Vulpimancers from Dimension 23 have dark orange fur while Vulpimancers living in the Null Void have light blue or red fur.
Powers and abilities
Vulpimancers have incredible athletic strength, being able to carry Humans and Florauna on their backs, pin down an Aerophibian, and fight on par with Merlinisapiens, Buglizards, and even other Vulpimancers.
Vulpimancers heightened senses of smell, hearing, and taste. Unlike most mammals, a Vulpimancer relies on two sets of gills, each on a side of their neck, to smell the world around them.
A Vulpimancer's running speed allows them to dodge and evade effortlessly with the help of their senses. Technically speaking, their speed exceeds that of a cheetah.[3]
Vulpimancers have considerable reflexes, being able to counterattack speed-based species such as Kinecelerans, Citrakayahs, and Skidmarx's Species.
Vulpimancers are highly acrobatic and gymnastic, with such movements being similar to that of an ape.
The spines on a Vulpimancer's backs serve as finely-tuned sense receptors that can sense movements, heat signatures, and perhaps even fear, thereby "seeing" in ways most other creatures cannot, similarly to pit vipers.
Once their prey is located, the Vulpimancer can roll themselves into a spiked ball to attack its enemies. After they have reached adulthood, the quills on their backs can be fired off like projectiles.[4]
Vulpimancers can make powerful leaps, enough to tackle an Aerophibian in mid-air. They developed this ability from chasing prey up steep cavern walls.[5]
Because of how they do not see in the conventional sense, Vulpimancers are not afraid of Toepick's Species.[6]
Vulpimancers can survive in hazardous environments with sub-zero temperatures.[7][8]
Weaknesses
Because they rely on their senses of smell and hearing to see, Vulpimancers are vulnerable to strong smells and loud noise.
Having no eyes means that Vulpimancers have some trouble with finer movement. Consequently, a select few enemies have ways of getting close to them undetected or can get the drop on them fairly easily.
There is a limit to a Vulpimancer's durability, as they can be incapacitated after being lifted and thrown by a species with as much strength as a Tetramand.
If they are infected with an Earth cold, Vulpimancers are rendered helpless because their nostrils are clogged. This essentially causes them to become "blind".
Vulpimancers rely only on canine vocalizations such as snarls and barking, which makes communicating with humans very difficult.
Vulpimancers are sensitive to any sources of heat such as fire.
Culture and society
Vulpimancers are bizarre and beastly beings that are far more animal than humanoid. Due to the dog-eat-dog nature of their home planet, they are not very friendly with their own kind. Of course, this is a common trait among animals that are not family.
Vulpimancers are very hostile and aggressive. They normally live for the moment by hunting down whatever they can find to eat before moving on to the next meal.
Vulpimancers can whine like dogs whenever they get scared or intimidated.
Certain Vulpimancers live in tight family groups from 10-20 individuals inside dark caves beneath the surface,[5] old starship wrecks, and derelict buildings. These more "civilized" Vulpimancers are known for collecting and recycling materials found on Vulpin, which they sell to off-world cities and companies.
Though they are not of notable intelligence, Vulpimancers are still considered sentient because sentience is "a pretty low bar to clear."[9]
Technology
Vulpimancer technology comes from different ships and devices that have been dumped on Vulpin by other races.
Language
Vulpimancers have the ability to easily learn most languages. Unfortunately, they lack the vocal anatomy to speak languages such as English.[6] To untrained ears, a Vulpimancer's words sound like nothing more than a bunch of growls and snarls.
The Vulpimancers' language is too difficult for most Universal Translators to translate. While there is a special translator for this language, it is not as portable.[10]
Notable members
- Wildmutt: An Omnitrix transformation used by Ben Tennyson.
- Dawg-Nabbit: An alternate version of Wildmutt used by the Ben Tennyson of Dimension 23.
- Wildmutt (Gweniverse): An alternate female version of Wildmutt used by the Gweniverse Gwen 10.[6]
- Wildmutt (Race Against Time Timeline): An alternate version of Wildmutt used by the Ben Tennyson of the Race Against Time Timeline.
- Wildmutt (Ben 10,000 Timeline): An alternate adult version of Wildmutt used by the original Ben 10,000.
- Negative Wildmutt: An alternate version of Wildmutt used by Albedo.[6]
- Mad Wildmutt: An alternate version of Wildmutt used by Mad Ben.[6]
- Bad Wildmutt: An alternate version of Wildmutt used by Bad Ben.[6]
- Benzarro Wildmutt: An alternate, undead version of Wildmutt used by Benzarro.[6]
- Nega Wildmutt: An alternate version of Wildmutt used by Nega Ben.[6]
- Null Void Vulpimancers: Vulpimancers have been seen residing in the Null Void.
- Vulpimancer Prisoner: A Vulpin-type Vulpimancer that the Ben Tennyson of Dimension 27998.3 encountered while imprisoned in the Null Void.
Half-qualifiers
- Kevin Levin: The Prime Timeline's Kevin Levin transformed into a copy of Wildmutt off-screen using his Osmosian powers. He was later temporarily transformed into a Vulpimancer due to an Ultimatrix malfunction.
- Kevin 11/Devlin 11: 11-year-old Kevin Levin of the Prime Timeline transformed into an amalgamation of Ben Tennyson's first set of 10 aliens, including Wildmutt. Devlin Levin can transform into an identical amalgamation.
- Ultimate Kevin: 17-year-old Kevin Levin of the Prime Timeline transformed into an amalgamation of every alien available in the Ultimatrix prior to traveling to the Forge of Creation, including Wildmutt.
- Carl Tennyson: Carl was temporarily transformed into a Vulpimancer due to an Omnitrix malfunction.
- No Watch Ben: An alternate version of Ben Tennyson from a universe without an Omnitrix transformed into Wildmutt using the Prime Timeline Omnitrix.
History
Vulpin has long served as a dumping ground for hazardous materials far too dangerous for other worlds. This has resulted in the planet's ecosystem being corrupted beyond repair by dangerous pollution.
Due to this pollution, the Vulpimancers stopped using their eyes and eventually lost them. They also mutated to have heightened hearing and other senses, providing them with other means of "seeing".[7][8]
Gallery
Vulpin Vulpimancers
Null Void Vulpimancers
Notes
- The name Vulpimancer comes from the words "vulpine", which means fox; and "mancer", a Greek suffix meaning "to speak to"; it was first used on-screen by Max Tennyson in the original series episode "Truth".
- During the development of the original series, Wildmutt was envisioned as an orange muscular humanoid with digging abilities named Digger. At a later stage of production, Wildmutt was colored blue instead of orange.[2]
- Digger's digging abilities appear to be given to Ditto and Armodrillo.
- Plumbers such as Phil billings refer to Vulpimancers, at least those from the Null Void, as "Megamutts".
- One of the trophies seen on Khyber's ship is a Vulpimancer pelt. There is also a hat resembling the head of a Vulpimancer from Vulpin.
- In 2020, Derrick J. Wyatt released a full-color model of Dawg-Nabbit.
- Before making their debut in the reboot series, the presence of Vulpimancers was teased by concept artwork of Omnitrix DNA pods before it was eventually confirmed that the Omnitrix in that series contains Vulpimancer DNA.[3] Therefore, Wildmutt is one of the countless aliens whose DNA pod was glimpsed in the episode "Innervasion Part 5: High Override".
- This has been supported by the appearance of the Vulpimancer Prisoner in the film Ben 10 Versus the Universe. Wildmutt was among the aliens considered to physically appear in the reboot but was unable to make the cut because the crew wanted to avoid making him look humanoid.[3]
References
- ↑ According to Wildmutt's lenticular bio card from Bandai's Ben 10 toyline
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 According to Dave Johnson
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 According to Duncan Rouleau
- ↑ According to the trivia version of the episode "The Visitor"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 According to the trivia version of the episode "And Then There Were 10"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 According to Derrick J. Wyatt
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 According to Wildmutt's bio card from Bandai's Ben 10 toyline
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 According to the Nintendo DS version of the video game Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
- ↑ According to Matt Wayne
- ↑ According to Dwayne McDuffie