Puro (普罗 Pǔluó) is the deuteragonist of Changed. He is a Dark Latex wolf creature, capable of speech and helps the protagonist throughout the game. In the Special Edition he's more useful and charismatic than the Puro of the original Changed.
Appearance
Puro is a latex wolf-like creature with dark, dense, soft 'fur'. He appears to wear a white mask, somewhat resembling the mask of a female dark latex, but he has been confirmed to be male. He has white pupils, and when compared to other dark latex creatures, he is somewhat taller and has a larger tail. In the Betrayal ending, he tells us that we can't survive outside the tower and neither can he, so he absorbs us and we become a dual body with Puro. When this happens, Puro has white and blue eyes (Colin's), showing how we are now part of Puro.
Personality
Standard Edition
Unlike the other more instinctual monsters Puro exhibits higher sapience than the rest of his species; he is a studious, curious, and compassionate being that humbles himself in wanting to become a better and better exemplar of his species. Though wary of humans, he is fascinated by them and even wishes to become friends with one. As a dark latex beast, he is also a natural enemy of light latex monsters.
Puro points out in the Aquatic Area he is unable to swim, as his body's cellular density is too great. Since he doesn't need to breathe underwater however, it's of little concern besides getting his tail wet.
A low relationship with Puro sees the Betrayal ending playing out. After reaching the end of the Aquatic Area, he'll give up hope of escaping the building alive, as without a host body, he doesn't have long to live before regeneration destroys his newfound sapience. He devastatedly reveals he always doubted Colin could survive with the world outside. Hoping to spare his friend and himself from dying ignoble and lonely deaths, he opts to "transfur" Colin personally, trapping him in a hallway with no escape. The latter has been running from barely sentient monsters, and should know how utterly screwed he is at this point. The worst possible outcome is Puro fully assimilating Colin into himself. The second worst has him instead turn the latter into a blue-eyed version of himself, referring to him as an extension of his being under his control. Only the power of friendship and playing on Normal mode can avert this.
Special Edition
This article will only cover the demo currently available on Steam.
He once read a very long-winded book on psychology to understand human relationships better. His notes for a time became nonsensical to Colin, in fact it messed him up so bad, he vowed to never read it again. Puro's a bookworm, so it must've been an horrendous publication.
Puro seems to be slightly more instinctual in the Special Edition. During a cutscene where the human is searching for a key card among some books, he approaches the protagonist from behind, talking to himself quietly, resisting the urge to transfur the human. When the latter turns around, Puro mentions the scent of the human's hindquarters- telling him that his pants smell strangely familiar. This is in reference to the fact that the apparel is made of benign latex, which can be activated by Doctor K's lasers.
Puro is found sweeping the library after the second tail chase. Puro greets the human, surprised that he did not see him come in. Dr. K then begins pressuring Puro over the library speakers to transfur the human. Puro refuses, confessing that he did plan to assimilate the protagonist in the beginning, but now only wants to accompany him. Puro asks the human if he trusts him, to which the latter is only able to affirm. Puro is surprised and excited by this response.
In this version, Puro also peeks over the human constantly when they're separated, and even warns him to watch out every so often, afraid of any harm that may happen upon him.
And in the Vent Rooms, if encountered a Dark Latex Cub, he will shoo them away, saying that the cubs have to follow what the older being says.
After the human returns to the library after finding out that latex is blocking the door Puro will say that he intended to save him so he could earn his trust, but there was not much danger and he did not want to be a burden on his human friend.
Lore
Standard Edition
Growing up, Puro was different from the rest of his pack. He grew dissatisfied with his life as latex beast and desired more from his species. Eventually, Puro would discover the Library. There, Puro took an interest in the library's books, attempting to read the 'strange symbols and pictures' filled within them. Somehow, contrary his species' genetic predisposition, Puro learnt how to perceive non-moving objects[1]. Because of this, Puro was able to recognize patterns in the books he read and notice repeating words and labeled pictures. With difficulty and time, Puro eventually taught himself how to read, write, and even talk. Since he became interested in humans, he isolated himself from the rest of his species. When he met the human (Colin), he wanted to assimilate him, but he thought "if I assimilate him, I'm going to feel just as alone, and if I become my friend?".
He became enthralled in human language and culture. Puro spent a lot of time studying books in the library; he learnt about the Pale Virus and the Riot that freed all the latex creatures in the Facility. After learning about his species' history, Puro vehemently strives to better himself as well as his species, citing that he doesn't want his kind to be doomed to failure and extinction[2]. He initially tried to get his species to learn to read by gifting his friends books, but it failed[3].
After realizing he's the only one of his kind that has any desire to learn[4], Puro grew disheartened that nobody could understand his desires. He eventually separated himself from the dark latex creatures and becoming persona non-grata to them, citing that even if he lost his sentience they would not welcome him back.
After his voluntary exile, Puro discovers the Protagonist in cryogenic stasis. Seeing that there's still a human alive in the facility, Puro plots a way to escape. Puro sets up various clues in the form of notes he wrote around the facility to lure the human to the library where he planned to fully assimilate the human and absorb their energy once they woke up. Puro hoped that the human would be strong and muscular so that, when absorbed, he would have the necessary strength to escape on his own.
By the start of the game, Puro has waited a long time for the human. When the player finally meets Puro after the Dragon King boss fight, he is greatly disappointed in Colin's stature and build. Indeed, in the Standard Edition, Puro practically berates Colin for his scrawniness, saying that Colin wouldn't be worth assimilating and that it's a miracle he even got that far. Instead of assimilating him, Puro attempts to befriend Colin and help the two escape.
Special Edition
Note: Changed Special is currently in early-access development; concepts may be added or removed.
Puro's backstory in the Special Edition of Changed is generally the same with a few minor tweaks.
Instead of Colin's scrawniness being the main reason why Standard Edition Puro chooses not to assimilate the human, Special Edition Puro cites his change in mindset following prolonged isolation and loneliness while waiting for the human to exit cryogenic stasis as the main reason why. Puro admits while talking to Colin that he doesn't want to necessarily escape the facility but rather to escape the loneliness he feels, going as far as to admit that it's what haunts him day and night. He realizes that if he were to escape by assimilating the human that he would be just as lonely as he already is as he'd have no one to confide with. Puro thus abandoned his early goal to assimilate the human to instead befriend him so that he'll have a partner who he can communicate and accompany with.
Other Special Edition traits
There are two props that Puro provides at the start of the game. Both of these are completely optional to use but using them will make the game easier. As the Special Edition is incomplete, it is unknown whether using these will lead to a better or worse ending. It can be inferred that it is good, as Puro seems happy to hear that the props were used.
The first prop is a cardboard cutout of a black latex creature. It is used by pulling on a string in the Ming Cat's room, labeled with a yellow paper. It will scare the cat, allowing the protagonist to move forward a bit without being chased. This is also useful for reading the papers on the walls.
The other prop is a black latex costume, made from Dr. K's curtains. This will allow the human to pass through a room of the black latex territory without having to sneak. Using this will trick the black latex into thinking the human is one of them. Dr. K will attempt to call him out using a broadcast, but the latex creatures will remain fooled.
Trivia
- Aside from the dark latex cubs, Puro is the only dark latex monster that won't immediately assimilate the human upon sight and contact.
- As some of his drawings suggest, Puro had a hypothetical scenario where the sealed human would be muscular and powerful, so he could assimilate them and get stronger, prior to meeting the protagonist. After checking those drawings, Puro mentions that he is "so mortified, [he] could die".
- If one looks closely at Puro after being transfurred near the end of the game, he can be seen crying.
- By interacting with a hatch in the vents while the snow leopard is chasing the Human, Puro can be seen inside telling the former to ignore him and run, though by the time he says this the protagonist is already at risk of being absorbed by his attacker.
- Puro mentions to the Human not to fall on his body or else he would face consequences.
- If encountering a White Vent Latex when Puro is nearby in the Vent Room, he is scene trying to force it back in the vent, before eating it up like a "helpless Chinese Rice Cake".
- He also says that after eating the Latex, he feels quite full. Which suspects that Puro only eats one white latex to satisfy his hunger.
- Despite being an ordinary dark-latex wolf, he displays characteristics of both genders. His mask is shaped like a female dark-latex wolf's and he possesses the fluffy tail and hair fur that females do, but he has no visible mammaries and claims to be male.
- After assimilating Colin to be his new friend in one of the Special Edition bad endings, Puro becomes a doting older brother-like figure for the non-verbal Colin, giving him words of encouragement when drawing pictures, and feeding him canned food in his den.
- All latex creatures are driven by impulse and instinct on a cellular-level to swallow up any human on sight. Puro mostly resists this, though warns Colin to never suddenly jump on, or accidentally bump into him, otherwise he'll absorb him instantly and involuntarily.
- In Special's No Trust ending he resigns himself to failure, for not being able to imitate or befriend humans before looking to return to his kind. Puro only aborts when he comes across what was once Colin in the vents.
- The word "puro" translates to "Pure/To Purify." in many different languages. It is also the Japanese word for "professional". It could also be a corruption of kuro, the Japanese word for the color black.
- Puro saw Colin using "waves" as "very cute."
- Puro's Chinese prompts are demonstrated as containing many typos (e.g. "图书馆" becoming "图书管")
- DragonSnow once sold 2 types of dolls, they were Puro dolls and Tiger Shark dolls
- DragonSnow once sold a Puro mask on Taobao for 9999RMB.
Sprites
.png "*auauahhhhh* (Puro suprised).png (27 KB)")
.png "*gooh* (puro eating white latex).png (131 KB)")
Merchandise
Official Artwork
Animated Avatars
Post-Transfur Screen
Endings
Room
Miscellaneous
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