Ford's Follicles is a level in Psychonauts 2. It takes place inside of just one fragment of Ford Cruller's mental world, which is known as Ford's Fractured Mind. This fragment belongs to Ford's Barber aspect, and the memories it represents are the most recent of the three chronologically, compared to Strike City and Cruller's Correspondence.
Description[]
Ford's Follicles looks like the Grulovian countryside at night, and while right in the middle of being hit by enormous waves, though most of its landscape is made of hair and barber's tools. Its most notable feature is a sentient lighthouse with a barber's pole pattern that looks like Ford, inside of which lies one of the Mental Shards Razputin needs to gather to fix Ford's shattered mind.
This world is dark and gloomy, and populated in various places by Lice who slow Raz down and prevent him from jumping. To proceed, he needs to get rid of them using Hydrocide, a hair product that can be found in large vats here and there. The world also contains various papers, large pamphlets, and haircare product labels that can be read, all of which reference the war in Grulovia and its key players, such as Gzar Theodore Malik.
Ford's Follicles represents Ford's memories of the atrocities Maligula committed after the Grulovian war, as well as his inability to recognize Lucrecia in her and how he was powerless to make her stop or see reason. The Lice are stand-ins for the many people she drowned, representing how she had started thinking of them as pests.
Sub-Areas[]
- Barbershop Waiting Area: The area where Razputin starts out. It looks very similar to the inside of the real waiting area inside of Cruller's Cuts.
- Top of the Windmill: The top of a large, damaged windmill made of hair and with razors for blades. There is another small room here that looks just like Cruller's Cuts, with a barber's chair and mirror.
- Town Outskirts: This area is a memory of a small Grulovian town made of hair. Until Raz smashed it to kill a group of Lice with the Hydrocide contained within, the town's plaza featured a statue of Maligula.
- Base of Lighthouse: The lower part of the Ford-shaped lighthouse. The lighthouse contains several barrels labeled as "Hair oil" and large combs. Raz can go up its stairs to loop back to its outside, from where he can walk on its outside walls, which are cloaked in storm clouds, to reach the top of the lighthouse, where the Mental Shard is.
- Ford's Inner Head: A small area that distinguish itself by contrasting a lot to the rest of the landscape. This small area is the literal representation of Ford's inside skull, containing facial muscles, his teeth, tongue and even the inside of his eyes; there's also a set of platforms resembling a lot like bone marrows which leads to a small brain with the Mental Shard embedded.
In Psychonauts 2[]
Razputin approaches Barber Ford in his hair salon, Cruller's Cuts, under Truman Zanotto's orders, in an attempt to fix Ford's mind so the Psychonauts might stand a chance when faced with the return of Maligula. Barber Ford is one of three aspects of Cruller Razputin needs to sort out, and he's vaguely annoyed by Razputin's presence while he's working. He agrees to let the boy inspect inside his mind so long as it gets him out of his hair.
Inside, Raz starts in a ruined version of the Cruller's Cuts waiting room, and as he walks out, is immediately spotted by the Ford Lighthouse, who tells him he could use a haircut, and that he'd come out looking "like a whole new person"—just to be careful not to go too far lest your friends don't recognize you anymore. Raz sets off through the dark landscape made of hair to reach the lighthouse, convinced that it holds the key to restoring this portion of Ford's mind.
On his way, Raz comes across Lice, first at the top of a windmill, which he has to blow away with an enormous hair dryer, then in some other locations. The Lice are frustrating to deal with, crawling all over Raz when he gets near and preventing him from jumping. Lighthouse Ford, meanwhile, remarks that they "keep coming back" and later that "they live here, you're just a visitor". When he sees a vat of Hydrocide in a precarious position over a big group of Lice, Raz topples it, killing them. Raz sees this as great problem-solving, but Lighthouse Ford nervously calls it an unfortunate accident.
Raz keeps going, learning more about the Grulovian war from papers and ads along the way, until he reaches a small plaza in a town made of hair. Once again, a group of Lice is blocking his path, but the center of the plaza features a statue of Maligula standing on another vat of Hydrocide. Raz smashes it, once again killing the Lice. This time, Lighthouse Ford is horrified, calling the Lice "peaceful protestors" and mistaking Raz for Lucrecia.
Finally, Raz reaches the lighthouse, which gets overtaken by a thunderstorm. Raz must walk up its walls, avoiding the thunderclouds covering it, to reach its top. Inside, Raz finds a room that looks like the inside of Ford's skull, complete with tongue and facial muscles. He makes his way to the brain at its center and pulls out a Shard of Agent Cruller's mirror, as Lighthouse Ford threatens him in protest. Barber Ford, inside the mirror shard, hands over a bottle of Hydrocide to Agent Cruller as the two get a moment to talk. Then, Raz, back in the exploded cabin portion of Ford's mind, puts the mirror shard back in its place and leaves the Hydrocide on a shelf at the cabin.
If all three aspects of Ford have been completed at this point, the game will automatically move on to the next level, Tomb of the Sharkophagus.
Collectibles[]
See also Ford's Fractured Mind, for the collectibles across all parts of Ford's Mind.
Figments[]
Ford's Follicles contains 43 figments, most of which are themed around Grulovia and things found in a barbershop.
Emotional Baggage[]
- Steamer Trunk
- Bag: Located at the Base of the Lighthouse next to a bottle of Victory Shampoo.
- Tag: After encountering Censors for the first time in this mind in the Town Outskirts area on the right on top of some steps.
Memory Vaults[]
- Psychonauts Summoned: In the Town Outskirts section after the short tunnel, in front of the "Did you know there's a war going on?" poster.
Half-A-Minds[]
- In the Town Outskirts section after the short tunnel to the left of the "Did you know there's a war going on?" poster, on top of a ledge.
Nuggets of Wisdom[]
The Nuggets of Wisdom in all of Ford's mental worlds are shaped like pieces of bacon.
- At the beginning of this mind, turn to the right to see a button with a spiral pattern. Shoot the button with PSI Blast and ride the updraft towards the Nugget.
Enemies[]
- Censors
- Heavy Censors (Mid-Boss Fight)
- Stamping Censors
- Doubts
- Regrets
Trivia[]
- The "International Hairald" paper seen in this level references the International Herald Tribune, the European version of the New York Herald Tribune. The "Tides turn in Grulovia" issue is directly based on the New York Herald Tribune of May 8th, 1945, when the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II was announced. The sub-heading "Eyewitness tells of Berlin Ruins" is still quite clearly legible.
- The regular Censors in Ford's Follicles all have enormous hairstyles, and are dressed in red Grulovian military uniforms. The Heavy Censors look normal, however.
- Using the "plucky" pin in Ford's Follicles has Raz pick up a stone bust with no face.
- Originally, Ford's Follicles had a more brighter theming to it and much different gameplay, being more action and platform-based as mentioned in "Dev Chat: Composing Ford's Follicles (Before and After!)". Eventually, the level was revamped with the tone of the level being changed completely to a much more darker tone, and a new theme had to be composed for the level's music as the original theme no longer fit the tone. Due to limited resources, the budget for music creation was rather low at this point, so the new music theme for Ford's Follicles was created from heavily-modified samples of other tracks already in the game, including the original theme, and then remastered.
- The original theme for Ford's Follicles was then reused as radio music in Cruller's Cuts instead.
- The very first trailer for Psychonauts 2 showcases a level not present in the final game taking place in a bright blue cloudy sky with giant twisty barber poles in the background. Because of the barber poles, it's possible that this was a preview of an earlier version of Ford's Follicles, before the level was revamped to become much darker in tone.