The Maw
The pinnacle of alien evolution, Maw is a cowardly fat blob concerned mostly with snacking and lounging. He can, however, absorb the traits of anything he eats, is virtually indestructible, and can grow to unlimited size. If he wasn't a danger to all life in the universe, he'd make the perfect pet.
An Xbox Live Arcade (and later Steam-released) platformer by Twisted Pixel, later creators of Splosion Man. It involves an alien boy, Frank, who gets kidnapped by Galactic Bounty Hunters and then befriends an amorphous blob known only as The Maw. After the ship crashes, he teams up with The Maw to find their way off the planet. By helping Maw eat... and eat... and eat...
The duo must work their way through a variety of levels taking advantage of The Maw's ability to grow in size with every meal and take on the unique attributes of some of the creatures he devours. Your typical everyday tale of a boy and his loving pet. If that boy was an alien and his pet an unstoppable eating machine.
- A Boy And His Maw
- All There in the Manual: Frank's race, the Teltarians, can cause emotional disturbances in different life forms with the stones on their head. This is why the Galactic Bounty Hunters captured him at the beginning of the game, as well as why the Maw doesn't eat him.
- Badass Adorable: Frank & The Maw.
- Big Eater: Maw.
- Cosmic Horror Story: Rare example of a C.H.S. that exists mainly in the subtext. The main reason why this game isn't absolutely terrifying is because the visuals are so cute.
- Downloadable Content: Aside from the game itself being DLC, three extra levels were made available for the game labelled "Deleted Scenes". However despite the name they are not infact removed or unfinished levels but original content specifically made for download. They are just labeled as such because the way the game ended made having the DLC take place between ceratin levels the only option.
- Eldritch Abomination: Perhaps the most lovable one next to Kirby.
- Emotion Control: Frank. See All There in the Manual for more information.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Maw. There's only a few things he won't eat.
- Faceless Goons: The Galactic Bounty Hunters.
- Holler Button: Press X to "Mawwww!"
- Inferred Holocaust The ending shows Maw devouring an entire planet. Not to mention the fact the galaxy at large now has a ever growing planet-eating monster on the loose.
- Killer Rabbit: The Maw is this, initially. Once it grows to the size of a house, though...
- Mega Manning: The Maw absorbs powers each level, only to lose it the next.
- Odd Friendship
- Planet Eater The Maw eventually becomes a hungry planet sized creature, that's still growing.
- Sugar Bowl: The planet that the game takes place on is a brightly colored place, filled with a variety of cutesy or silly creatures...
- Sugar Apocalypse:...Which just makes it all the more jarring when you go around eating every living thing on it.
- The Unintelligible: Everyone besides the main character, who only says "Maw!"
- Technical Pacifist: Frank is apparently a pacifist and technically he doesn't take anyones life during the game (at least not directly). But considering how many creatures Maw eats and how Frank uses that to his advantage, this may be more of an Informed Ability.
- In the final level, Franks is capable of single-handedly hijacking an aircraft, kicking the Bounty Hunters out the ship.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The trailer for the game ends with Maw eating a planet.
- Ugly Cute: Maw.
- Unexpected Shmup Level: Both the third DLC level and the final level are top-down shoot-em-ups.
- Unique Enemy: The Loofer in Level 5. Eating it enables you to Beam Spam your way through everything else in that level.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: On numerous occasions throughout the game, Frank and Maw will run into enemies that were a serious obstacle before, when The Maw was much smaller. In these latter levels, these enemies won't be any better armed than they were before (though there might be more of them), and the Maw will eat them like candy.
- X Meets Y: A Boy and His Blob meets Kirby.