| Bad Idea |
Note: Not to be confused with Bad Moods.
–Raz's notes
–Psychonauts 2 Project lead Zack McClendon
Bad ideas are an enemy introduced in Psychonauts 2. Broadly speaking these represent negative impulses and thought patterns of the hosts mind generated by itself or others on its surrounding. Their main ability consists of tossing explosive light bulbs at targets which by landing on the ground or walls they function as mines.
Description[]
The Bad Idea roughly resembles a blue rabbit with a near similar shape to a Memory Vault. It has glowing red eyes, orange cracks throughout its body, red shiny shards of glasses that work as sharp teeth, and red edison light bulbs sticking out of its back. It has three claws on each foot. At PSI King's Sensorium two bad ideas can be seen in Nose Mouth Shrine, showing a more pinkish color similar to the one of a watermelon, its eyes now having a 'Bright Neon Pink' color, features orange edison light bulbs this time and like the light bulbs, its teeth are orange.
Strategies[]
Due to its evasive nature with being able to outrun Raz even when the latter is using his levitation ball; Mental Connection is useful to drag the Bad Idea closer for close range attacks, such as PSI-Punch. Its lightbulb mines can also be grabbed with Telekinesis and thrown away to clear the field or back to sender. When being near the Bad idea one must not hesitate at attacking or said Bad Idea while bite Razputin, pushing him back and dealing at least 1 hit of damage.
If Raz is far from one of the Bad Ideas they’ll head towards one of the light bulb mines they spit and will swallow it back. These light bulbs also work for very specific objects too, like the mental blockage seen at the head of the Lady Luctopus or the "source" of the Bad Mood, which, with these explosives it will only resists 2 TK throws.
Trivia[]
- They bear a slight resemblance to the memory vaults.
- Lightbulbs often symbolize ideas, and the color red often symbolizes something dangerous. The red lightbulbs on their backs literally symbolize a bad idea.
- The bad idea is referred to as "Bertha" in the game's filename system.
- Using Clairvoyance on a Bad Idea reveals Raz as a light socket.
- Since Personal Demons don't make an appearance in Psychonauts 2, one can assume that the Bad Ideas serve as the spiritual successor of the aforementioned enemy due to their explosive attacks.
- These are one of the few enemies besides Censors that has a reskin or change in appearance in other mental worlds.
- The others being Judge in Compton's Cookoff and Regrets in PSI King's Sensorium