Coach Oleander

This article features content that will be introduced or featured in Psychonauts 2 announced for release in 2019. As such, this may refer to content that may be changed or removed in the to be released version of the game.

Warning! This article or section contains spoilers for Psychonauts and/or its sequels. Read with caution!

“The Human Mind: 600 miles of synaptic fiber, five and a half ounces of cranial fluid, 1500 grams of complex neural matter... a three-pound pile of dreams. But I'll tell you what it really is. It is the ultimate battlefield--and, the ultimate weapon. The wars of this modern age--The Psychic Age--are fought somewhere between these damp, curvaceous undulations. From this day forward, you are all psychic soldiers. Paranormal paratroopers! Mental marines who are about to ship out on the adventure of their lives! This is our beachhead! And this is your landing craft. You shall engage the enemy in his own mentality--you shall chase his dreams, you shall fight his demons, you shall live his nightmares! And those of you who fight well, you will find yourselves on the path to becoming international secret agents-- in other words... Psychonauts!! The rest of you... will die!”

–Coach Oleander's speech; the opening line of Psychonauts

Coach Morceau "Morry" Oleander is a Psychonaut and the Head Coach of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. He serves as a secondary antagonist in Psychonauts.

Background Edit

“The camp's Head Coach. A pint-sized Patton. He believes that the mind is a muscle, meant to be exercised. Sees it as his duty to toughen up the young minds that come to camp and turn them into fighting machines. The coach is very, very short.”

–Character blurb from the original Psychonauts website

As a child, Morceau loved rabbits, and had a field full of rabbit hutches. He took a particular shine to a small rabbit in one of his hutches, and brought it out to play with it. However, he was the son of a butcher, who apparently disapproved of his son's preferences. Morceau's father told him animals were good for nothing but food, and emphasized this by taking the rabbit Morceau was playing with, and killing it right in front of him. This experience proved to be incredibly traumatic for Morceau, and has haunted him for years. When he was rejected from the military due to not being tall enough, Morceau's already scarred mental state was damaged further, driving him to devise a plan for global domination. He claims he is a former soldier, but was in reality never allowed into the Army, Navy, or Air Force because of his height. To reinforce this falsehood, he puts a fabricated Memory Vault titled "Oleander's Pride" in his mind where children can easily reach it.

StoryEdit

Coach Oleander is first seen in the intro cinematic, delivering his open monologue to the campers around a fire. He is responsible for writing the pamphlet that inspired Razputin to run away from the circus for Whispering Rock. He is asleep for a large portion of the game, and can be heard grumbling in his sleep from the intercoms around the camp.

It is revealed that Oleander has a plot to take over the world with tanks controlled by the brains of psychics. Oleander worked with Loboto to capture the children of the camp and extract their brains.

Camp oly — A slide in one of Oleander's Memory Vaults.

Oleander also had Loboto put an implant into Linda, who mutated and became the Hulking Lungfish of Lake Oblongata, and the Lungfish's mind to turn into the technicolor metropolis known as Lungfishopolis wherein a projection of Oleander into Linda's mind has apparently taken over all of Lungfishopolis via a radio tower (which could be a representation of the implant) and must be defeated. The projection is known as "Kochamara", a superhero to the Lungfish, dressed head-to-toe in a blue and orange suit. Kochamara's body and voice are similar enough to the Coach, and after beating him, he claims he "no longer needs this freaky toad" and that he has "the brain of a little girl" in his lab strong enough to power an army of Psychoblaster Death Tanks.

Nearing the end of the game, Ford Cruller (outfitted with some Psitanium to keep his mind in check) blows a handful of the sneezing power into the Coach's face, leading to his brain being removed. Said brain makes its way into a Psychoblaster Death Tank, and blasts Raz's party unconscious, leaving only Raz to fight. After the tank is destroyed, Raz also sneezes his brain out. His brain uses Telekinesis to throw itself into the tank with the Coach's brain, leading to the final level of Psychonauts, the Meat Circus.

Oleander's MindEdit

Main article: Coach Oleander's Basic Braining

Oleander's mind is a battlefield, where he trains the campers. His warzone of a mind is full of bombs, land mines, and cannons. When Razputin's and Morceau's minds are mixed together, Razputin's childhood memories of the circus where he grew up mixed with Morceau's memories of his father's butcher shop, creating the Meat Circus. Oleander reverts to his childhood state, thus creating a giant version of his father.

Psychic AbilitiesEdit

Telekinesis
Shield: Used it in the fight against the other camp staff. When the player obtains Shield in Lungfishopolis, it is stated that it was stolen from Kochamara, meaning it might have been Oleander's power.
Marksmanship: His Psi Blast color is green.

TriviaEdit

He can't swim because of his stumpy legs, and in Rhombus of Ruin, is so overjoyed to receive the fish tail that allowed him to float that Sasha chose not to remove it when returning him to the ship.
Oleander is voiced by Nick Jameson, who also provides the voices for Kochamara, Dr. Loboto and Mr. Pokeylope.
When Oleander is confused in the beginning of the game he says, "Mr. Bun? Where you going?" which reveals his personality shown in the final level of the game.
In Oleander's first mind vault when you find, being "Oleander's Pride", he depicts himself as much taller than he is, but in the other vault, "Oleander's Shame", he was not drafted at all solely because of his height. Both vaults, as well as both of the instances you fight him (as Kochamara, he is gigantic, and the Brain Tank is much bigger than Raz) reinforce his jealousy of tall people.
"Morceau" is a French word that refers to a morsel of meat. It can also mean "a short literary or musical composition", which could be a subtle reference to his height.
"Oleander" may be in reference to Nerium oleander, a common garden plant with pink flowers. It is toxic in all its parts. Ingestion of this plant can affect the gastrointestinal system, the heart, and the central nervous system.
In Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin, we learn that he is a fan of the boys band called All Paul, telling that their music has a high energy with a positive message and that it is perfect for his workout. Later, he sings one of their songs called "Drag Me Down".
According to Dr. Caligosto Loboto, he has halitosis.
Both Sheegor and Dr. Caligosto Loboto call him "Little Army Man".