Pod

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The Pod's exterior in mainline titles on the PlayStation 3.

“	Your Pod is a cross between your bedroom and your first shed. It's the place you chill out in-between adventures and excursions, and you can have it exactly the way you want it.	„
— The Narrator, LittleBigPlanet

The Pod is a hub, menu area, and the main mode of travel around the Imagisphere. It serves as an intermediate level where other players can join a game or hang out and can be freely customized using stickers and decorations. Despite the Pod's functionality varying across entries, it is unanimous among the LittleBigPlanet series.

Overview

The Pod as it appears in LittleBigPlanet 2.

Main series

The Pod was first introduced in the original LittleBigPlanet, where it is accessible upon finishing the introduction in a new profile. The mainline trilogy of LittleBigPlanet games, as well as the handheld spinoff LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, use this Pod design. This Pod appears as a cardboard-craft rocket ship with a large interior room consisting of three layers; despite later series titles expanding the layer count, the Pod went unchanged in this regard. The top of the Pod's interior contains a tube that players spawn through when spawning in a game session. The center area holds the Pod computer, a PlayStation controller with a design based on the system the game is played on.

The Pod functions as a level, allowing for players to move mostly unrestricted around the interior and access their Popit menus as if in play mode.

Other appearances

The Pod made its second appearance in LittleBigPlanet PSP, where its functionality was reduced due to technical limitations of the handheld console. The Pod's interior can be accessed by pressing the My Sack person option in the main menu, where it consists of an entrance, two layer room, and a button to return to the main menu. The Pod received a minor redesign exclusive to this title, being elongated with four windows.

In LittleBigPlanet Karting, the Pod's interior can not be explored directly, as players' karts sit stationary; the popit menu can be accessed as usual.

The Pod returned in Sackboy: A Big Adventure, albeit solely as a means of traveling between different areas around Craftworld. The Pod's design is drastically different from its appearances in the mainline and spin-off games, with a smaller and substantially more detailed build and exterior. The shell of the Pod now sports wires, lights, and multi-colored cardboard decorations. The interior is decorated with an array of different gadgets, including a steering wheel and a screen. As the player has no means of directly interacting with the Pod, none of the personalization options from previous titles are included here.

History

Development

During development for LittleBigPlanet, the Pod's function as a player hub and means of accessing the game's various features remained the same. However, multiple design revisions were made before the Pod's look and gameplay were finalized. One of the earliest known revisions featured the Pod as a wooden Fabergé egg. Menus could be accessed from a wooden contraption near the front of the Pod, with players spawning in from a tube in the ground. Levels would appear on a lower level of the Pod through a dynamically changing Level Badge in the wall.^[1]