While the backstories of Murdoc Niccals, Stuart Pot aka 2-D and Russell Hobbs are all well known, little is known regarding the backstory of The Gorillaz's youngest member, Noodle. The most we do know is that she popped out of a 10' tall crate as a 3' Japanese girl, banged out some wildly awesome riffs on the Les Paul guitar which came with her, made several high-kicks and then, with a bow, said the only English word she knew at the time...noodle. As cute, truly adorable and awesome as that intro was, the question for me has always been, well...
What happened BEFORE all of that?
The details remain somewhat sketchy. Most that we've learned since was that she was born as part of a top-secret Japanese eugenics experiment to create an army of super-soldiers and that once word reached the Emperor, he had the entire project scrapped and the Japanese military then stormed in and executed all of the child test subjects, save for one that the lead scientist had considered special. This particular subject had her memory wiped with the phrase "Ocean Bacon", then shipped off to points unknown in a crate. That subject became who we now know as Noodle, however, she's never been specific about the details beyond that.
Myself being of a rather curious nature and desiring to hopefully learn more about my personal favorite of the band, decided to attempt to seek out Ms. Noodle and find out for myself what her experiences were from that time, if she would be kind enough to share. With their last known whereabouts being somewhere out in Hollywood following some particularly troubling happenings around the famous Hollywood sign, I set out to see if I could track her down.
Thankfully, the trek turned out to not be all that difficult once I spotted a familiar looking Ford pickup parked outside a local Starbucks. Yep, there she was...I would recognize her pink permed hair in a heartbeat...not to mention she still had that rather cute habit of stealing hats from her "older brother" 2-D. Yep...black Mickey Mouse looking hat on her head as she sipped a latte and enjoyed the fresh air. I did my level best to stifle my usual awkwardness and decided to introduce myself.
"*ahem* H-Hi...ummm...forgive me, miss, ummm, for the ehhhh in-intrusion. You...are...N-Noodle, a-a-am I uhhhh correct?"
Okay, granted, I didn't stifle it all that well...damn my nerves!
Still, she put her hand up to her mouth as she stifled her usual cute giggle and smiled as she lowered her hand once more, then reached out to shake mine as she replied in the affirmative.
"*giggle* Yes, you are correct in your assumption. Might I have your name though?"
I instantly relaxed at that moment and soon after having properly introduced myself, sat down across from her, ordered an iced caramel latte (no whip, it gets in the way) and soon after it had arrived, began to engage in the most fulfilling of conversations...all the while trying to keep my inner fan-boy in check.
"So, I do have to admit that I've been quite the Gorillaz fan ever since you released your first album, the one I refer to as Gorillaz Debut. The first song I heard of yours was 19-2000, I actually saw the video first and your particular line of 'Get the cool, get the cool shoeshine' still brings a smile to my face to this day. However, I do have to admit that I don't know that much about you, not near as much as has been learned regarding your fellow band mates..." She stopped me there with a smile and clarified "I prefer to think of us as a family, you know?" I nodded in agreement "Of
course, no one goes through everything you've all gone through unless there is that familiar connection. If you could pardon my curiosity, would you be so kind as to enlighten me a bit and perhaps give some details as to how you arrived at Kong Studios, those 20 some odd years ago?"
To that, Noodle agreed...although, she did warn me that I may find the details somewhat disturbing. I assured her that I've followed the adventures of the Gorillaz rather closely as a fan and if seeing her nearly die in the "El Manana" video, then fight through literal hell to then discover her "brother" being held hostage by Murdoc on an island of literal garbage...the Plastic Beach, as it were, hadn't disturbed me, then I felt I could take whatever she had to give me.
What follows is Noodle's story, as best as I can relay it as possible...at the very least, from her viewpoint anyway. Note that some of the details have been based upon information she learned of later and may not be entirely from her point of view.
And thus, without further ado...
