Captain Charlie

Template:Infobox leader Captain Charlie (チャーリー, Chārī) is one of the three playable characters in the story mode of Pikmin 3. He wears a spacesuit with a green lapel and a star-shaped badge on its left side.

He has an average-sized nose, a dark brown mohawk and a tiny mustache, and like Alph, has eyes that are wide open at all times. His skin is also the most tan out of the three explorers. He, along with Brittany and Alph, come from the planet Koppai in search of a new food source for their planet, and serves as the captain of their space-faring vessel, the S.S. Drake. He also takes a rubber ducky with him on every mission for good luck..

Charlie is a retired space ranger and is revered as a hero on Koppai. Alph even describes him as "one of Koppai's greatest legends".

Gameplay

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Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

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Charlie is the first character to be played as, and is the farthest away from the ship. After encountering Yellow Pikmin, and introducing all the controls, he goes into a cave where he encounters the offspring of the Vehemoth Phosbat and defeats them, thereby angering the mother. Shortly after this encounter, he is attacked after a strange shadow is seen flying around him.

He is later recovered in the Distant Tundra by Alph and Brittany when they defeat the Phosbat. His crash site is found later in the game by Olimar, as suggested by a data file found in the area.

In game, Charlie plays the same as Alph and Brittany.

Personality

When Pikmin 3 was translated for European audiences, his personality had been kept mostly the same, but after the game was ported to America, Nintendo of America changed most of his personality for unknown reasons.

Charlie is shown as a very capable, level-headed leader and shows a lot of care and a sense of protection towards the people he loves and respects. In some reports it's revealed that he prefers to stay vigilant near the S.S. Drakes door to protect his crew-mates and greatly appreciates their presence, since he was often alone in space during his youth as a ranger. Charlie also shows great interest in the natural landscapes of PNF-404, as he considers the beauty of the plants and flowers to have moved him in a way that's difficult to describe.

Charlie also seems to have a really keen interest towards ducks, demonstrating a lot of knowledge about them, owning a Rubber Ducky as a lucky charm and having a pet duck named Elizabeth whom he describes as his soulmate. There are many parts in the game's story where Charlie tries to show his deep affection towards Brittany, only to be interrupted by some other, pressing matter. His crush on Brittany is further accentuated in several reports where he plans to collect a few flowers as a present for Brittany and where he describes that, if he has to throw a crew member, he would always choose Alph first because "You shouldn't throw away the things you love..."

In the North American release, however, Charlie's affection towards Brittany is removed, and instead, is replaced by him having a massive ego, giving self-praising, boastful statements. For example, in the European version, after being rescued from the Vehemoth Phosbat, he states something along the lines of, "To be honest, Brittany, there was only one life I thought about when I was trapped in there... yours. ". But in the American version, he states, "To be honest, Brittany, there was only one life I thought about when I was trapped in there... my own." The reasoning behind this was unknown, though one possibility might be the fact that Western audiences tend to be less accepting of romance in children's games.

Quotes

Non-Specific

Reaches target location "I've arrived at the destination!" "Sorry for the hold up!" "Arrived at the destination! Over!" "So this is where that signal is coming from... Pikmin are suffering "Curses! This is no good!" "Pikmin down! Pikmin down! Attacked by enemy "Cripes! This is bad!" "Things aren't looking good!" "We have a situation!" "Ack! Enemies!"

Scripted

Waking up from crash "Ugh... What happened?" "And where am I? Oh, right. PNF-404!" "This is Charlie speaking. Do you copy? I repeat, this is Charlie, your Captain. Come in!" "......" "No one's responding." "I seem to have come out unscathed, but I'm not sure about the rest of my crew." "For now, my immediate concern is to locate my two other crew members." Finds Yellow Pikmin "Huh? What's that?" "More of them!" "More here too..." "Uh-oh... I seem to have wandered into a strange neighborhood..." "What’s this? They came towards me!" "My whistle will scare them off." "I can sound it with ZR/B." "Aim at them with the pointer, and blow the whistle." "Stay back!" "I’m surrounded!" "Maybe I should throw them!" "I can’t let it end like this!" "I can throw them using A." "There you go!" "Argh, give me a break!" "They keep staring at me!" "They’re just glued to me!" "I’ll shake them all of at once!" "Oof!" "Well, they don't seem to be hostile. So let me get this straight..." "I can round these creatures up by pointing at them and pressing B/ZR, then I can throw them with A." "Finally, I can dismiss the whole group with (nunchuck shake)/B." "Maybe these fellows can be of some use..." Finds and clears Spotcaps "This planet’s mushrooms are huge…" "Right! That's how it's done!" "I should look around for my crew!" "Pressing Z/ZL will let me see what's in front of me." Finds more Yellow Pikmin "Look, there's even more of them!" Finds Kingcaps "What enormous mushrooms!" Exits crashing site "They're still following me..." Enters Vehemoth Phosbat's cave "Something's in here!" "Wow, it's bright!" "The light's scaring them off..."

Gallery

Charlie encountering the Yellow Pikmin for the very first time.

Charlie being followed by Brittany.

Charlie's final, horrified expression before being swallowed by the Vehemoth Phosbat.

Charlie after being rescued by Alph and Brittany.

Charlie using his KopPad to communicate with the S.S. Drake.

Charlie commanding three Pikmin.

Trivia

• Charlie's name is derived from the term used for the letter C in the phoenetic alphabet. This makes sense as Alph (Alpha) is also used for A in the phoenetic alphabet; the initial of his name is also the same letter of his prototype name (Character C), just like Alph and Brittany.
• Due to the fact that Charlie and Alph land in separate areas, Charlie meets Yellow Pikmin rather than red ones like Alph. However, he does not discover their Onion, so they are not formally introduced until later on.
• In the PAL version of the game, Charlie makes several flirtatious advances towards Brittany. However, most of these were changed in the NTSC version of the game, being replaced with self-praising, boastful statements.