Mogwai
Species type	Chinese goblins (unofficial name)
Height	About 20 to 25 centimetres
Abilities:	Spawning new mogwais, Metamorphosis
First Apperance:	Gremlins
Last Apperance:	Gremlins 2: The New Batch

"You do with Mogwai what your society has done with all of nature's gifts!  You do not understand.  You are not ready.  Perhaps someday, you may be ready.  Until then, Mogwai will be waiting."

- Mr. Wing

A Mogwai is the first stage of the Gremlin life cycle. The Mogwai were, originally, peace-loving creatures created by the scientist, Mogturmen. The most famous, and well known Mogwai is Gizmo.

Contents 1 History and Biography 2 Cocoon 3 Behind the scenes 4 Popular Culture 5 Trivia

History and Biography Edit

According to the novel based on the first film, the mogwai were created on an extraterrestrial planet by a placid scientist named Mogturmen, as the ultimate organism, docile, loveable little powder puffs, intended to promote peace and good will throughout the galaxy as ambassadors for harmony. The mogwai were created to be able to survive in almost every environment and also to reproduce very easily. The mogwai were then sent out to three planets, Klm-6 in the Porasti Range, Clinpf-A of the Beehive Pollux, and the third planet of MinorSun#67672, the earth. Due to several of Mogturmen's miscalculation, though, and only a few Mogwai turned out good and affectionate, most others turned out more malicious and evil. They burned into the legends and folklore of our ancestors, as the pixies and goblins, of fables goneby.

The Mogwais are small, furry, rodent-like creatures with big ears and three stubby fingers and toes. Their fur color usually is the color of the mogwai it spawns from. For example, in the first movie, when Gizmo got wet, the Mogwai are brown and white, but there is a chance that they can have other fur colors as well, such as black or even orange. Sometimes they even have certain peculiar features, like small mohawks or different shaped ears. It's usually seen that the leader of the Mogwai is the one with the mohawk. The leader has few more features then the others, for instance, not only do they possess a mohawk for a hairstyle, but they are also the only ones with fangs and are by far the smartest of the group. It was also heard in the commentary of the first film that they could roll into balls, although it's never seen. If watched closely you can see if you push a Mogwai too far it will seek its revenge, for example, Gizmo and Stripe, Earl and Roy, and Gizmo and Mohawk.

If a mogwai gets wet, it spawns new mogwais from it's back; small balls of fur that are approximately the size of a marble, pops out from the wet mogwai's back and then the furballs start to grow in size before unfolding themselves into new and fully grown mogwais. This process does not take much time but it still usually takes about a minute. According to the novel, the creator of the species wanted the mogwai to be able to easily reproduce (this shows mogwais have asexual reproduction). The cocoon and gremlin stage, are unwanted defects from when the mogwai species was created. It turned out that all the positive attributes are recessive.

The mogwai known as Gizmo is a perfect mogwai since he's well-meaning and sweet, he eventually found his way to earth and was found by Mr. Wing outside the village the said person was living in. In the first film, Mr. Wing's grandson revealed that there are three very important rules that anyone who is gonna take care of a mogwai should know:

1. Don't put it near light, especially sunlight, it can kill them.

2. Don't let it get wet with water nor give it any water to drink nor bathe it.

3. No matter how much it cries or begs, NEVER feed it after midnight.

These rules were obeyed until Billy Peltzer's friend Pete Fountaine accidently knocked over a pencil holder that contained water, allowing Gizmo to multiply, quickly spawning five new mogwai, among them Stripe who was the leader of the batch. The new mogwais tricked Billy into feeding them after midnight, and all except Gizmo who was clever and didn't take the food Billy offered him transformed into cocoons.

Cocoon Edit

The cocoons made by a mogwai they are large, gray-brown objects that resemble a moth's cocoon. They are made after the mogwai eats after midnight. After a few hours, the mogwai has transformed into a scaly gremlin which hatches from the cocoon. What happens with the cocoon is unknown but it is possible that the hatched cocoon just stays where it is like with insects that hatch from cocoons.

Behind the scenes Edit

Like with the Gremlins, the mogwais were portrayed with the usage of puppetry. Most of them were voiced by voice actors as well, such as Gizmo, who was voiced by Howie Mandel.

Popular CultureEdit

Several have claimed that the Hasbro toyline Furby has plagarized the design on Mogwai. Rumor says that Warner Brothers Studios planned a lawsuit, but hasbro compromised for an unknown amount and relesed a special Gizmo Edition furby.

TriviaEdit

There were several other prototype mogwai made during the production of Gremlins 2: the New Batch. These include: a pure white one, one with many black stripes covering it's body, one with that was similar to Gizmo but had lighter brown colors and one with brown and black stripes on it's face.