A group of BOBs as they appear in Marathon 2: Durandal.
A BOB, or a "Born On Board," is, as the name implies, someone who was born on board a vessel. In the Marathon series, all of the encountered human characters, besides the Cyborg, are BOBs.
The evolution of BOBs
BOBs wear different-colored suits, but, due to technical limitations, they all have the same face in-game. In Marathon, most are harmless and generally ignore the player, as well as occasionally announcing "They're everywhere!" In Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity, they carry weapons and fight for Durandal with the player. If the player attacks them often enough, they will consider him a traitor and eventually return fire. The BOBs of Marathon 2 carry the .44 Magnum Mega Class pistol, while those of Infinity wear vaccuum-enabled armor, and are armed with Zeus Class Fusion Pistols.
Pfhor-constructed imitation of the BOBs, simulacrums (sometimes referred to as "assimilated BOBs" or "sim-BOBs") are actually android bombs. Upon seeing the player's character, they will run directly towards him, usually shouting things like "I'm out of ammo!", "Thank God it's you!", or the infamous "Frog Blast the Vent Core!" When close enough (less than 3 meters [1]) they will explode and inflict severe damage to anyone nearby. This is especially a problem on levels where a certain number of BOBs must be protected to succeed.
There are other differences between human Bobs and Simulacrums: apparently the assimilated Bobs have red eyes, only two toes, no genitalia and malformed teeth, but these differences also do not appear in-game.[2] Assimilated Bobs also run directly towards the player, whereas humans will move somewhat erratically. Assimilated Bobs also never fire actually their weapons, and bleed yellow instead of red when shot. Another point worth noting is that all Simulacrums wear green suits, which amusingly led to some of the green-suit-wearing human BOBs to take their clothes off and be naked to avoid being mistaken for Simulacrums and being shot by their own side, according to an in-game terminal.
Quotes
"The original crew of the Marathon consisted of 50 senior staff, 1150 officers and 24,000 civilians all of whom were citizens of the Mars colony or Earth. Some individuals were placed in stasis for the interstellar journey, but most civilians lived and worked on the ship and raised families there. As the crew aged, a new generation of humans were born and raised on the Marathon. By some, these children were looked down upon and called "Bob," short for born on board. These citizens grew to run the ship... It is your sworn duty as a security officer to protect Bob."
- from Marathon manual
Sources
- ↑ Marathon - Level 12: Shake Before Using... second terminal
- ↑ Marathon 2: Durandal, Level 28: All Roads Lead To Sol..., second terminal