Fluffies' Core Problem

A few of the consistent traits I see in most depictions of fluffies include poor eyesight, weakness, and extreme fragility. Many people have pointed out that some of these traits don’t make sense, particularly how a fluffy could be so weak and yet be fragile enough that they could injure one another. One explanation for why these traits are so prevalent is simply malnutrition.

Fluffies are often depicted as starving even when they have a large amount of body fat, which indicates to me that they aren’t starving in terms of calories, but in terms of other vital nutrients. Due to their hyper-accelerated cell division, they’d likely burn through much of their stored nutrients in a matter of days, causing them to suffer from lethal deficiencies in a short amount of time.

This problem could be compounded by their maladapted digestive system. Fluffies are often depicted as producing extremely large amounts of solid waste, so it can be assumed that their food is not being given nearly enough time to be properly digested, resulting in very few nutrients being extracted. This would result in fluffies being malnourished even on the most nutritious of diets, since they can’t take advantage of their nutrients.

Fluffies are sometimes depicted as being forced by their herds to consume the waste of other fluffies, yet they seem to be able to survive almost indefinitely in this manner. This indicates that there are still significant amounts of nutrients left in the waste, which in turn indicates poor digestion.

Taking into consideration some effects of chronic malnutrition, especially when said malnutrition is experienced prior to adulthood, many of the fluffy’s negative traits are present. Without nutrients to properly build bones, they likely have very little skeletal integrity, which causes them to be vulnerable to broken bones; something which is more often depicted than fluffy tissues being easily damaged. Eyesight and physical strength both suffer dramatically when vitamin deficiencies are present for significant lengths of time.

Essentially, fluffies could be considered to have a digestive system similar to that of a ruminant, but without the multiple stomachs necessary to support this system. In order to gain the nutrients they need from their food, they’d have to re-consume it a number of times. However, given their more human-like psyche, they are unwilling to do this. The result is chronic malnutrition, leading to a myriad of other issues.

I find this to be a more realistic scenario than fluffies having massive genetic flaws in every aspect of their DNA without these specimens immediately being scrapped (incinerated) as unusable for further development. How does everyone else explain the issues with fluffies’ health?

TL;DR: Many of the issues with fluffies from a physiological perspective can be at least partially explained by one of their most present issues, in that they’re feces factories that don’t actually have time to digest their food.

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You know what’s funny? This compliments something I wrote very nicely:

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That’s pretty much how my head cannon works - they have a mix of features that just don’t work all that well.

They eat like a ruminant but digest like a canine. They can’t process fats very efficiently so have very fatty waste, leading to lots of loose, runny stool. This also makes their waste even more unpleasant to humans.

This also drives issues with not absorbing fat soluble minerals.

They do much better on a diet of only high fiber vegetables, with little to no fruit or grain. But that’s not what they were designed to like.

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The way my headcanon works is that their digestive system is entirely pozzed and as such their diets are actually extremely limited. They have an enzyme in their gut that inefficiently breaks down food, and that makes all of their disturbing shit they make. They need a specific diet to be healthy and it has to be gluten free but as they eat anything they can put in their mouths
Think of it as a version of Fluffy Crohn’s disease but they’re born with it

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I share a lot of these opinions with the added benefit that, since their gut is so damn inefficient, their waste is full of nutrients and is a valuable fertilizer. Part of the reason their gut is inefficient is they only have large intestines. Hasbio designers hadn’t fully implemented the different tissue types yet.

A finished fluffy would have had a hindgut fermenter with extremely powerful stomach acids to eat anything a kid fed it. After all, who wouldn’t want to share their happy meal with their favorite friend?

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In my headcanon, the fluffies do have significant genetic defects due to being a mismatch of slapped together genetics from wildly different species that, by all accounts, should be in no way compatible with each other. But those are mostly internal organ issues.

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in my headcanon, since im not a fan of drawing poop and piss everywhere, the weaker digestive system was a genetic flaw from being undercooked by hasbio, yes, but 20 or so years later natural selection favored fluffys with stronger organs. it’s basically my copout way of making them closer to pets/animals than mutated pests

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What I’m going to say its based on my HC which diverts a little from “the standard” in that for example it wasn’t peta that got fluffies out but an industrial accident, here it goes

how a fluffy could be so weak and yet be fragile enough that they could injure one another.

Its by design, you can thank hasbio’s lawyers for this. Since fluffies are a synthetic lifeform not modified but made from scratch then hasbio would be legally liable for any harm fluffies create, and for a biotoy aimed to kids you can imagine the legal risks involved. So the geneticists made fluffies particularly weak because the boys upstairs would rather see fluffies break easily rather than one harming a kid and getting a lawsuit in the millions. In turn this “feature” also meant that hasbio got to sell more fluffies as replacements and fluffy “repair” services. Of course hasbio going bust after the accident at installation 04 put an end to this side business.

Fluffies are often depicted as starving even when they have a large amount of body fat

Never seen that, starved fluffies are always thin with ribs showing even through their thick (albeit useless) coats. In fact they don’t have much in terms of fat reserves for the simple reason that hasbio considered that a $10,000 biotoy would never ever lack food. Same reason why their ‘hoofs’ are so fragile: they were designed to be harmless, not to be able to walk miles in roads and dirt, after all fluffies were supposed to live indoor with their own rooms remember?

This problem could be compounded by their maladapted digestive system

Their digestive system is compromised by design, their intestinal tract was shortened so they could keep within the size limitations imposed by the marketing dept. Of course marketers dont know or care about biology, one of the many bad decisions that led to fluffies being like this.

yet they seem to be able to survive almost indefinitely in this manner. This indicates that there are still significant amounts of nutrients left in the waste

Can survive? sure, indefinitely? not quite, there are consequences. Some use fluffies as living bioreactors for methane production which is another unintended “feature”. These methane fluffies are force-feed liquefied waste to make gas. Of course they last but a fraction of their baseline lifespan, and fluffies being feed nothing but the waste of other fluffies have short lives too.

chronic malnutrition

Properly formulated fluffy feed is what makes the difference between a true fluffy and the average crappy looking feral or stray to the point that they look like different breeds. This is because hasbio cut corners so they had to compensate that with special feed and living arrangements (safe rooms, etc). Fluffies were never designed to forage for food let alone eat anything besides their specially kind of food. Not that it will kill them but the consequences of non-standard feed and care gives you the kind of subpar fluffy you see at the bargain bin or walking alone in the streets or wandering a forest.

I find this to be a more realistic scenario than fluffies having massive genetic flaws

Is not flaws but compromises, hasbio just couldn’t get fluffies to be living-mlp figurines, they had to resort to workarounds and cut corners. In my alternate HC were there was no industrial accident and hasbio retained full control fluffies were improved and many of these issues solved, tho other added for the sake of profit like making fluffies that can only be feed official hasbio food or else they die.

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the core problem of fluffies is that people want them to be functional animals when they are not animals they are a biological designed machine that is why they are a mix of contradictory features

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Need to ponder this take on things. It seems like it would be useful in stories. My reading implied kibble is generally more bioavailable for Fluffies due to the poor digestive system. Especially in regards to plant matter and those thick cellulose walls!

I had some notes on Japanese fluffies turning the food into a sort of DRM (dietary reproduction management) but never really made much headway into the concept. The story ideas were meant to focus more on industrial ideas, having things we’d take for granted taken away, etc. But I need to work on the deeper ideas besides the surface level ones.

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I’m surprised nobody has suggested this, as it’s the perfect compromise:

Hasbio wants a biotoy that is too weak to harm its owner, but also doesn’t want to pour too much money into redesigning a core genetic component of all animals, which is that strength is better than weakness. So their engineers cheat by making fluffies in the likeness of animals with a long digestion process, but lacking the proper digestive equipment and impulses to carry out that process.

In other words, fluffies are deliberately malnourished in a very specific way to keep them weak, and they’re supposed to be fed a very specific diet which keeps them alive but not “healthy”. They lack the specific signals to even know that they are malnourished. This is why eating fecal matter sustains fluffies and keeps them in a better condition than normal fluffy diets do.

Just a thought.

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