Cactus Manky

The Cactus Manky is one of the many Manky subspecies, and is a mass production unit utilized for a variety of purposes. The most numerous Manky subspecies, Cactus Mankies are used for a wide variety of roles including food rations, explosive ordnance, medicinal supply, and bioweapon material.

Originally one of Scrungus' failed subspecies, the Manky Collective quickly found use for the plant-like Mankies, and soon set up large-scale agriculture operations in order to field Cactus Mankies across the Collective's empire, and Cactus Mankies are now a valuable resource to the Collective's military might.

Anatomy & physiology
The Cactus Manky, as the name implies, holds a rather cactus-like physiology in comparison to it's more robotic and mammalian brethren. It's body is roughly similar to that of a typical Manky footsoldier, albeit lacking the tail, eyes, nose, or mouth. It's body consists of a cactus-like orb, and it's "spaghetti legs" are generally much weaker than that of other Mankies, and a normal Cactus Manky cannot support it's own weight. As a result, most Cactus Mankies have their legs amputated before they're shipped off from the farms.

The inner meat of a Cactus Manky is a nutritious if foul-smelling food source, and is used as the Collective's main food supply. The taste of Cactus Manky meat is roughly described as having a similar taste to "...the kind of slop you'd get if you melted down sour candy, rubber, and lead, and mixed all that shit into a single... thing", and Cactus Manky meat has been reported to burn or in some cases even melt off the tongues of those who consume it. The Cactus Manky is renowned for the lethal poison in it's many spines; these spines are always removed from Cactus Mankies before shipping, both to make the meat-extraction process easier and safer, as well as for the military resources the spines offer. Cactus Manky poison is a valuable weapon for use in weapons such as gas grenades and large-scale gassing operations, as well as for use in medical equipment and treatments in the field.

A remarkable part of Cactus Manky physiology is their high flammability, and their curious trait of exploding like bombs whenever set ablaze. This was first discovered by Manky farmers who would accidentally set their crops on fire whilst lighting tobacco products, leaving many Cactus Manky farms as smoldering ruins. This trait was soon exploited by the Collective, and Space Mankies are now routinely equipped with bomb hangars, and Cactus Mankies are stuffed inside their bays, ready to be dropped at a moment's notices. Cactus Mankies selected to be used as explosive ordnance have special harnesses strapped to them, which - upon impact with a surface - light themselves on fire, thus setting the Cactus Manky on fire by extension, and forcing it to explode.

History
The Cactus Manky was one of Scrungus' last attempts to formulate an ultimate Meme, before eventually giving up and settling for the Manky instead. The original Cactus Manky remained locked away in an unspecified Memesmith facility for several years, until the Manky Collective - after having rebelled against Scrungus and driving him and Spicoceles out to the fringes of the galaxy - located them. Seeing a potential food source in such an easily-grown Meme, the Manky Warlords ordered agriculture operations to be set up, and after the course of several more years the Cactus Manky became one of many staples that signified the Manky Collective's crushing grip on any planet they owned.

Localized incidents of spontaneously-exploding Cactus Mankies went under the radar for quite some time, until the Explosive Cactus Epidemic began. Struggling to contain the situation, the Collective eventually got the Cactus Manky farms under control, and imposed strict restrictions on what was allowed around Cactus Mankies in general. After the epidemic, the Warlords saw the potential in the Cactus Mankies as weapons of war, and thus the Cactus Mankies became a staple of the Manky Collective's military might, and are often used today to produce gas weapons, medicinal equipment, and are themselves used as high-class explosive ordnance.