Occupational Hazards
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Occupational Hazards is the title of the third Pikmin Short Movie. It is 12:45 minutes in length, making it the longest of the three films. This movie is about Pikmin and Olimar in an old abandoned construction site, scavenging for nuts, bolts, and other sorts of treasure. During their adventure, they come across a Fiery Blowhog and a Red Bulborb, which they eventually defeat.
Plot
The story begins with the camera focused on a rusty bolt in a metal wall. As the bolt comes out, so do a Red and a Blue Pikmin, entangled into one another in a twirling pattern. After untwisting themselves, the Red Pikmin picks up the bolt and begins carrying it away. While doing so, the viewer gets a look at a large portion of the construction site, where dozens of Pikmin can be seen exploring about. The Red Pikmin can be seen heading towards a large backhoe.
The scene changes to two Blue Pikmin using their leaves as screwdrivers to unscrew two screws. As they twirl their stems, they themselves spin in the air to return to normal; a nearby Red Pikmin become dizzy just from watching them. In a different location, a Red Pikmin tosses grommets down a ledge, where a Red Pikmin down below catches them with its stem while a Yellow and a Blue watch nearby. After four grommets, a pile of them fall down on the Pikmin at once, crushing it. This doesn't kill it, however, as it continues to move around, scaring away the other two Pikmin. The Red Pikmin from above falls down on top of it, and plucks the Pikmin from the grommets' holes.
At ground level, elsewhere, a multitude of Pikmin are carrying several metallic objects, either by pushing them, carrying them, or rolling on top of them, with one Pikmin even serving as a wheelbarrow. A lug-nut tower made of Pikmin falls down soon after, as a White Pikmin observes nearby. The camera pans out, revealing hundreds of Pikmin around the area, all working on their tasks. Only one White and two Purple Pikmin can be seen in this scene.
As the action continues, a Red Pikmin is seen jumping from atop the backhoe as Captain Olimar watches its descent. Following this, Olimar whistles two Blue Pikmin to fall down, holding hands. Right afterwards, a Red Pikmin jumps up from below, carrying a bolt. Olimar turns back, and whistles the Pikmin, ordering it to bring the piece to a spot. Olimar issues two Yellow Pikmin to drop down, and again, another Pikmin comes back up, this time with a lug-nut.
A large pile of construction utilities, like bolts, nuts and screws lies under the Research Pod's beam. The Pod sucks up the objects, one by one, while noises used for the S.S. Drake in Pikmin 3. After some more parts, it stops. Nearby, a yellow helmet with a 任? (lit.: "Responsibility") appears, being carried by some Pikmin under it. The Research Pod flies away, and the camera reveals the top of the backhoe, covered in Pikmin.
The action returns to Olimar, and from a top-down view, a seesaw is seen on the ground below. Two Blue Pikmin jump down on one end, and the Red Pikmin lying on the other end gets flung up to Olimar's level. Two Yellows then jump down, and a Blue gets flung up, followed by two Reds jumping to get a Yellow Pikmin up. This Yellow Pikmin is carrying a crooked nail, which it then shows to Olimar. Disapprovingly, Olimar shakes his head, and the Yellow Pikmin tosses the nail down below, hitting a White Pikmin in the line for the seesaw, and enraging it in the process. Two Blue Pikmin fall from above, trying to toss the Purple Pikmin now on the seesaw, only to get flung off due to the Purple's weight. Annoyed, the White Pikmin shoves the Purple Pikmin aside and gets on the ramp, just as two Purple Pikmin fall on the other side of it. The immense weight of the Purples compared to the White is enough to shoot the Pikmin rocketing to the sky. The Pikmin disappears in a twinkle of light, and after some seconds, the horrified Pikmin on the backhoe return to their tasks.
Meanwhile, some Pikmin enter a crack at the back of the backhoe where the battery is. Two Yellow Pikmin approach and interact with a battery post, learning that it transmits electrical current. Delighted, they hold on to the post to feel the discharge through their bodies, and when doing so, their leafs evolve to buds, and begin blinking like a Christmas tree light set. A curious Blue Pikmin nearby attempts to do the same and touches one of the Yellows, electrocuting itself and dying, as evidenced by its spirit.
The scene changes to some Pikmin playing around on a pile of tubes, near a fence with 安 全? (lit.: "Safety") on it. As a Red Pikmin looks inside one of the tubes that are lying down, a Blue Pikmin behind it kicks it inside. The Red Pikmin slides all the way and comes out on the other end, along with some dust. Other Pikmin come out of tubes, also with dust and some treasures, including a mushroom similar to the one in the Mario series. Above them, a green tube begins shaking, and coins come out. The "pipe entered" sound from Super Mario Bros. plays, and a Red Pikmin with dust on its face comes out. The dust clouds make it look like Mario. The Mario Pikmin jumps out, accompanied with the jump sound and main theme from Super Mario Bros.
Nearby, some Pikmin investigate what appears to be a small red tube, but turns out to be the snout of a Fiery Blowhog, which soon after, shoots fire. The Yellow and Blue Pikmin in the group run away, but the Red Pikmin braves the fire and jumps on the Blowhog's head; a second Red Pikmin appears and joins the first one. The first Red grabs the enemy's snout, which sends it on a rampage. The other Pikmin try to run away from it and its fire as the Red Pikmin enjoy the ride. Eventually, the Blowhog trips on a rock and slides onto a puddle of mud, where the Pikmin ran off to. After a wave of mud, everybody stops, and the Pikmin stare at the enemy's snout, preparing to attack. Instead of fire, however, the creature cannot help but spit out some more mud onto the Pikmin. With the exhausted Blowhog immobile, the Pikmin frolic on the mud and play around its body. For some reason, a Red Pikmin emerges out of the mud and its leaf is quickly turned into a flower.
Back to Olimar, he keeps issuing Pikmin to fall on the ramp, and notices some Pikmin approaching with a large melted metal bolt, that used to belong to the backhoe's arm piston. Surprised, it quickly tells them to put it on the pile. At the top of the backhoe's crane, some Pikmin attempt to pry out a nut with their leaves, but fail. A White Pikmin approaches them, and spits acid at the screw keeping the nut in place. Two Pikmin hurry to bring the nut away, as the third Pikmin looks down upon the melted metal hole, which gives a clear view of the scene down below. Midway through carrying the nut, it disintegrates into a puddle of iron. The White Pikmin eventually moves to the base of a guard rail at the side of the vehicle, which is a U-shaped metal pole stuck to the machine. The White Pikmin melts down most of the bases of each end of the pole. It then kicks one of them, trying to make the guard rail fall, but is stopped by the other Pikmin nearby. After squirming under a Red Pikmin's grasp, it spits out some acid around itself, scaring away the others. During this, the rail eventually does fall down and off the backhoe.
While playing on the mud, a Yellow Pikmin notices a large dark tube with something shining inside. It hurries in and grabs the shiny screw, noticing a second one further inside. Some roadblocks behind it contain the words 安 心 安 全? (lit.: "Reassuring safety"). As the Pikmin kneels down to grab the second screw, it notices some normal-sized mushrooms and a gigantic mushroom-like bulb. It kicks it twice, and it is revealed that it is actually the hide of a Red Bulborb. The Pikmin drops the screws and runs away from the tube, screaming. The other Pikmin wonder why that was, until the Bulborb exits its dark den. At this point, one can hear the jingle that plays in a Pikmin 3 cutscene showing a suffering Pikmin for the first time.
The Pikmin all get out of the mud as the Bulborb gives chase. It eventually catches up to a Red and a Blue Pikmin, grabs them with is mouth, and swallows them. They do not die, however, as they eventually pop out out of its nostrils. In terror, they round around its forehead and grab its eye stalks, and later, its eyes. During this, the Bulborb runs past a sign saying what appears to be 通行止め 申し訳 ニさい ません?, and one saying ストップ! 進入禁止?, lit.: "Stop! Wrong way". While running, the Bulborb finds a worker glove standing upright, with its fingers in a "stop" gesture. Under the glove, one can see Pikmin feet. The glove then shows the index finger, shaking it negatively, points at the Bulborb, and starts spinning the finger in circles, hypnotizing the Bulborb. It then wildly shakes about, with the Bulborb quickly facing to the direction it points, and after pointing up, the Bulborb rapidly flips backwards and lands on its back. In this state, a thought bubble appears on the Bulborb, showing the glove, and highlighting the Pikmin feet under it. The enemy gives chase to the glove, and catches it, shooting away the Pikmin inside.
These Pikmin land on a nearby car tire rim and crawl inside its holes. The Bulborb looks around, and eventually a Blue Pikmin peeks out of its hole. Other Pikmin do the same, and pop back in almost straight afterwards. Enraged, the beast sticks on eye stalk down a hole, where a Red Pikmin kicks it. The Bulborb reels back in pain and violently kicks the rim. It doesn't move, and the creature just ends up hurting its foot instead, eventually putting it in its mouth after shrieking in pain. Meanwhile, Olimar climbs up to the top of the backhoe's crane, and looks down at the Bulborb down below, which is attempting to flip the rim over with its snout. It manages to toss it high into the air, as the Pikmin inside nervously try to hand on, except for a Blue Pikmin, which just walks along the rim's curve as it spins. The object lands, and the Pikmin scatter around. Seeing this, Olimar whistles everybody to his side. At this point, the boss theme from Pikmin 3 plays, on the section when the boss is attacking. The Bulborb then begins chasing after the running Pikmin.
On their way, they run into a stream of fire emitted by the Fiery Blowhog from before, now inside the vehicle's treads; it only manages to shoot some flames after it resumes spitting mud from its snout. The Bulborb eventually catches a Blue Pikmin, tosses it into the air, and swallows it. This Pikmin does die, as its spirit can be seen floating in the air. It also catches a Red Pikmin, which it chews before swallowing. Right after, it spits its stem and flower, which release the Pikmin's spirit. These spirits follow the Pikmin 3 look. The Bulborb and Pikmin continue running, with one Pikmin even crying, until they eventually reach a dead end on the backhoe's bucket.
At this point, a large number of Yellow Pikmin hold hands and enjoy the flow of electricity from the backhoe's battery, while emitting lights like before. Just as the Bulborb roars at its preys, one Yellow Pikmin hanging onto a jumper cable touches a Pikmin in the chain, closing a circuit in the process. There is a large spark from all the Pikmin, and the backhoe's engine begins working. The machine's arm rises up into the air, lifting the bucket and the creatures within. This raise makes Olimar lose his balance and fall down, eventually landing on one of the control sticks, turning it forward.
This curves the bucket, making the Pikmin and Bulborb fall off. While falling, the Pikmin's leaves turn into flowers, acting as parachutes. The scene stops, and the Bulborb imagines itself creating a parachute out of the red spotted part of its back. When it realizes that that's impossible, the thought bubble breaks, and, horrified, the creature continues falling to its doom. It lands on the floor and becomes unconscious. The Pikmin gently land on top of it, and while doing so, a descending Blue Pikmin bumps against a Red Pikmin that had already landed, causing the "Koopa shell kicked" sound from Super Mario Bros. to play. As Olimar approaches the Pikmin and Bulborb, a remix of The Final Trial plays. The Pikmin that came with Olimar all rush and swarm the Bulborb, bumping Olimar out of the way. As they attack it, Olimar faces the camera with a drop of sweat on his face.
Suddenly, a loud metal screeching noise is heard. The gears that held the backhoe's bucket in place begin to fall off and detach, followed by the same happening to the whole arm of the machine. In a panic, Olimar whistles the Pikmin several times to get out of the way. They look up at the incoming objects and rush out of the way. When they leave the Bulborb's carcass, it becomes censored with a pixelization pattern; the reason could be as a joke: the Bulborb is so badly beaten up that it becomes censored. The bucket falls down and traps the Bulborb in, but no Pikmin gets trapped under it, although they are tossed as if they were hit by a bomb rock explosion. The backhoe is seen falling apart in a huge cloud of dust.
The Research Pod returns at this point, and starts scanning the wreckage. Once it is done, it points at Olimar and displays some holographic text with the total value of the junk: 
× 100. After a second, another zero is added to the right, and then more and more. The real value of the backhoe's remains is × 1000000000000007, one quadrillion and seven Pokos, or over 37000000000 (thirty seven billion) times the total amount of treasures in Pikmin 2. Bewildered, Olimar spins around and poses as the Pikmin celebrate; the "general cutscene" theme from Pikmin 2 plays.
Ending
A cropped image of a forest appears, with a Blue, Red and Yellow Pikmin. Their buds pop to flowers as the letters "Fin" appear on top. Shortly after, the White Pikmin that got launched before appears from the sky and falls on the ground, followed by the bolt it was carrying, which bumps against its head, enraging it.
The credits sequence begins rolling, with the credits scrolling from bottom to top. The "challenge complete" theme from Pikmin plays, and miscellaneous shots from the short appear behind the credits. Some Pikmin doing poses and the Bulborb also appear at times, between the credits, and scroll along with them; the Red Pikmin at the start is even seen hanging on to the letters. They scene screenshots show, in order of appearance:
- The scene where several Pikmin carry objects, after the scene with the grommets.
- The scene where the Fiery Blowhog fails to spit fire, and instead, spits mud.
- The scene with the Mario Pikmin jumping.
- The scene where the Bulborb chases down Pikmin, before the rim.
- The scene where the Blue Pikmin gets electrocuted by touching its electrified Yellow friends.
- The scene where the Pikmin float down from the backhoe's arm, using their flowers.
- The scene where the glove stops the Bulborb.
- The scene where the Pikmin float down from the backhoe, but with the camera far away.
- The scene with Olimar posing after hearing of the wreckage's value.
Some more credits appear afterwards; these ones are the same as the Treasure in a Bottle credits sequence, including music and animation.
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To do: Check if any Pikmin get trapped under the backhoe's bucket when it falls. |
Trivia
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To do: Find a source for the 500 Pikmin statement, as it does exist. |
- On the scene where the Red and Blue Pikmin are running, before they get eaten, but not killed, a police siren can be heard, possibly referencing how police lights are generally red and blue.
- There are a total of 3 Pikmin deaths withing the short movies, all of which occur in Occupational Hazards. A Blue Pikmin gets electrocuted, and a Red and a Blue Pikmin get eaten by a Bulborb.
- After the Research Pod flies away, the line of Pikmin that jump off to hit the seesaw ends with 2 Blues, 2 Yellows, and 2 Purples. On the next camera shot, the line ends with 2 Blues, 2 Yellows, 2 Reds, and 2 Purples. Later on, the 2 Purples move in front of the 2 Yellows and 2 Reds, but this was likely Olimar's decision, so that they would line up with the would-be Purple Pikmin at ground level.
- As pointed out by Shigeru Miyamoto when unveiling the shorts, this movie features a total of 500 Pikmin on-screen at once, an impressive feat that is technically impossible in the contemporary games.
- On the license plate of the backhoe, "Dynamo" is written; it's a reference to the animation studio Dynamo Pictures, Inc.