Hello, and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have competed in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to cruise on over to the Valiant Violets, a team that blends in with the history of the Hubelino Tournament. Read on to learn how this team has uprooted the competition!
The story of the Valiant Violets begins in an unexpected place: science. The four members of the Valiant Violets, Lantana, Madeira, Salvia, and Vivid, were all well renowned in the sphere of medicine. The group met at the Marblearth Athletics Convention in 2012 as botanists hoping to study new plants that could make a difference in medicine and recovery. What they found was much more than that.
All four of them ran an individual panel at the convention, and, as fate would have it, they each saw one another’s presentations. According to Vivid, “Lantana came up to me after my panel and we got to talking. Eventually, we ran into Salvia and Madeira, who had apparently met earlier that day, and the rest is history!” They got along well and exchanged contact information.
By the end of the convention, the four found that they all lived in the same area of Marblearth, a southern coastal city named Viola del Marb. They got together often for research and experiments but never could have dreamed that four years later they’d be at the top of the marble sports scene. It took them about three years to develop even the slightest interest in actually participating in athletics. Their opinions changed when they were invited to work as stunt aids in a movie, a blockbuster film titled The Foresters Awaken. Vivid and Salvia had worked as stunt doubles in the past due to their knowledge of athletic safety and while doing so had met and worked with a future member of the Bluefastics named Dory. The three had remained in intermittent contact, but they would soon meet again on the scene of The Foresters Awaken in 2015. Their friend and teammate Lantana, who had always written the best papers of the four, shared scriptwriting duties with another future Bluefastic, Gonzo. The two teams became terrific friends and would hang out for screenings of their favorite movies.
(Photo Credit: Pesky)
Back in Viola del Marb, the Violets remained hard-working scientists, committed to making advancements in their field. However, after learning of the incredible world of marble sports and how versatile it was, the Violets found themselves signing up for the local competition known as the Viola Cup. They were immediate standouts, having earned two medals in the first three events, and eventually making it seven out of eight by season’s end. With two golds, a bronze, and four silvers, they grabbed the championship with relative ease. The Violets were the newcomers, but they sure didn’t act like it. Local and regional news outlets had begun to notice the unlikely success story and were intent on getting the inside scoop on their meteoric rise. They were never brought on to a live broadcast, presumably because they refused to, but in the few articles they agreed to appear in, they claimed that their plans were to remain “…scientists first, athletes second,” and that the possibilities of them going pro were, “…very, VERY, slim.”
Their response changed, however, less than one year later when they were contacted by Jelle Bakker, who was beginning to run major professional competitions in Knikkegen, after seeing their impressive hometown performances. Jelle had plans to revive a competition of teams across Marblearth. They were looking for teams to fill spots in his competition called the Hubelino Tournament. Originally the Violets had negative opinions about the invite; they didn’t want to become famous for athletics and lose their scientific callings. However, they found out that their friends the Bluefastics had received the same invite. The two teams got to chatting about the possibility of competing together, and, after a period of consideration, the Violets finally caved and responded to the invite with a simple “Yes.”
Not long after, the news broke that the local team of scientists was trying their hand at the professional circuit. One news segment was even entitled “The Valiant Violets.” When asked about it, Madeira remarked, “None of us cared about the naming aspect. We had never even expected to be athletes. But when we saw that in the paper we all looked at each other and just knew that it was the perfect name.”
The Violets would continue to train for the upcoming Hubelino Tournament out of reach from the media. They stayed undercover as long as they could as they worked on their scientific studies and athletic ambitions. This is when they began using the pseudonyms we know by today. They answered no questions from the paparazzi and did their best to stay out of public. They were prepared to put on a show on the big screen, but they had no desire of revealing that they weren’t simply athletes, and their work stayed out of the way of their athletics for a very long time. This changed the day of their trip to the competition site. The team’s ability to compete was on shaky ground when they learned of some great news. Two of the team members had been selected to receive a Marbel Prize for their works in the scientific community! This was a huge honor that they simply could not turn down, but the two who had earned the prestigious award encouraged the remaining members to move forward with the Hubelino Tournament dream. It is still unknown which members received the prize.
“They were trying times,” said an anonymous team member, “We were so stoked for them, but on the other hand we needed two marbles to fill in fast.” After about a week of non-stop searching, the team found Rezzy and Rizzy, members of the Raspberry Racers, who agreed to join the team. They agreed to race under the nicknames of the two missing competitors and were accepted as honorary Violets. They had limited time to form chemistry, but they were determined to persevere through the competition.
It didn’t take long for the Violets to realize that they were sorely underprepared for the competition. They were competing in a new city with a vastly different climate than they were used to. That combined with the lack of half of their team meant that they were in far deeper than they had expected. The crew did surprisingly well to open the season, finishing fourth in Funnel Spinning, just behind the Golden Wisps. The team was feeling great going into the Catwalk event, but unfortunately for them, their confidence was misplaced. An abysmal run sent them spiraling into last in the event and dropped them to sixth overall.
They started the Halfpipe Crash with an overwhelming victory against the early leaders, the Golden Wisps. Unfortunately, the Minty Maniacs sent them into the Third Place match with a comfortable win in the semifinals. An awful run in the bronze medal round meant that once again they just missed out on a podium. The Elimination Race followed, where the team tied with their friends, the Bluefastics, for sixth. There was a sizable gap in the lead, but the Violets remained optimistic. A fifth-place finish in the Elimination Maze kept them in sixth place, but the gold medal from Team Phoenix in the Quartet Jump combined with their continued mediocre finishes dropped them to seventh going into the Pursuit Slalom.
After dispatching the Minty Maniacs, the Violets finally got to face their buddies. The Bluefastics took out the Golden Wisps to reach the semi-finals, and they didn’t stop there. The Violets didn’t take it easy on their companions, but in the end, they were no match for the eventual gold winners. After the event, a Violets member remarked, “I genuinely couldn’t be happier for them. They earned that medal and I want nothing more than to share the celebration.” Unfortunately for them, another bronze medal match went awry, and they were dropped to last place overall. Up next was the Swing Wave, where they got knocked out in their group and finished fifth. While only one point back of the next team, they had fallen far behind everyone else. A DNF in the Combination event didn’t help their case at all. The competition was put on hold after this for an even more grand event that Jelle had been planning, the 2017 Marble League. The team was in attendance for the spectacle and gathered some valuable information.
Unfortunately, their decline in form continued into the Halfpipe Dash, where they finished last again. Entering the relay course they were bottom overall; twelve points behind Team Phoenix. However, the Valiant Violets had yet to give up hope. They had “Valiant” in their name for a reason. They rolled into the relay with something to prove, and they did just that. After winning their first-round race via a Golden Wisps DNF, they won the semifinal race by six-hundredths of a second! They had finally made the gold medal race, and they weren’t going to stop at second. The Violets faced steep competition, but they managed to beat their bottom table counterparts Team Phoenix in a nail-biting race to take their first-ever medal, and it was gold!
“I’m so proud of the team, this victory was a long time coming!” said one member after the medal ceremony.
The Violets would go on to score another disappointing last in Block Pushing, but bounced back once more with a silver medal in Ball Battle, making it to the final but failing to repeat the group stage win as they fell in a tiebreaker to the eventual champions, the Green Gang, to finish the season. This result was insufficient to take the team out of last place in the 2016 Hubelino Tournament.
Soon after, the Violets, alongside all other participant teams, were invited by Jelle to attempt qualification for the 2018 Marble League. But with such short notice to prepare for the winter events, Rezzy and Rizzy leaving on good terms to rejoin the Raspberry Racers, and the original team just coming back together with a new friend named Vivia joining the squad on standby, they preferred to decline the invite, aiming for a more sensible opportunity and their own improvement. The reformed group was confident that, with more time to plan and train, they would be ready for anything the competition could throw at them.
Meanwhile, the team members turned their attention back to scientific research during the offseason, until being approached by JMR to officially announce the 2018 Hubelino Tournament. The team was ecstatic with the news and looked forward to proving that they were better than their last-place finish in 2016. They opened the season with a less-than-ideal finish in the Swing Wave, being eliminated in their group and finishing seventh. They improved in the Catwalk event, but still couldn’t do much, placing sixth and once again being eliminated in the group round. But, just when they seemed destined for another bleak season, they showed up to the Funnel Race with fire in their eyes. An impressive run sent them into the third position, securing their first medal as a unit! When asked about the performance, Lantana answered, “This feels so good. You know, to finally be all together with all we’ve been through as friends. To finally take a medal as a group. It’s special.”
The Violets would go on to finish in the bottom half in the next four events, leaving them in last overall and officially knocking them out of medal contention. However, the Violets were determined to leave on a good note. After taking second in their group race, the Violets charged on, and in what was one of the tightest finishes the Tournament had seen, they took the bronze medal, barely missing out on silver to the Ruby Rollers. In the end, they only managed seventh with 27 points, just one position better than their previous season. After the Closing Ceremonies, Madeira was asked about the overall performance, “Well, I can’t say it’s exactly what we’d hoped for,” they replied, “but it is an improvement, and that’s what we want.”
They remained hopeful that they could put together more strong performances in the future, but their hopes were derailed by the news that the Hubelino Tournament would not be returning. Without a championship to play for in the foreseeable future, the Valiant Violets considered pursuing a spot in the Marble League but, in the end, decided against the move.
The team would be absent from sports until late 2020 when they took part in a friendly tournament that brought back together all former Hubelino teams, the Herbotamia Reunion. Although results from the Reunion, realized behind closed doors, are unknown, the team’s presence sparked rumors of a comeback to official competition, all of which were denied at the time. “It’s all just for having fun with our friends”, Salvia, on behalf of the squad, was quick to clear up.
After that special occasion, that was it, or so they believed at the time. Come April 2021, the Violets received a message, sent directly from the Minty Maniacs and written by Minty Flav. The Herbotamia Invitational represented a new era of marble sports in the region, and also brought to the table a grand prize for the top two teams, which would be revealed only at the closing ceremony. There was hesitation among the five, who felt that taking the spot signaled a return that was never on their horizon. However, the letter mentioned that a growing number of fans were curious to see how the Violets would fare in an official tournament. “We found it weird that Flav mentioned our ‘uncommon’ colors as an argument for our invitation. But after some discussion between ourselves, we’ve decided to join, even as a way to evaluate restarting our sports career. We considered all aspects of the offer, and we also didn’t want to let the Maniacs down, they were great, always helpful friends throughout our Hubelino time.”
In the same week, the Violets were back at Pepper Field, this time for the Invitational. The team was out to a poor start, failing to score any points in the first two events. “We were just heating up, but it’s a short one-day series, there was no time to heat up”, said Lantana, who would take the zero out of the board with a fifth in the Sprint. The top two had already fallen out of reach, but they were valiant, still looking for a strong performance, which came in Collision. In the first round, they beat Team Plasma in what was deemed as “the upset of the tournament”; in the semifinal, they were no match for the Gliding Glaciers; but they would bounce back and win the bronze medal over the rookie sensation, the Solar Flares, by the minimal advantage. Unfortunately, it all came crashing down for Salvia, who was bumped off the high-speed banking of the Minty Mania circuit. With another scoreless event, the Herbotamia Invitational ended in a similar fashion to previous experiences, with the Violets finishing 7th place overall, only above the Balls of Flame.
After the closing ceremony, Salvia, checked and cleared by the medical team, talked about their campaign: “Not the way we’d like to end it, but I’m fine, happy to be here with the Maniacs and the surprise by Jelle, excited to see the Glaciers and the Flares in the Marble League. We couldn’t keep up with them, but, regardless, I’m proud of my team. We were here primarily to test ourselves, I think we still have the grit.” Eventually, the Violets decided to call it and not pursue the route of athletics, but have never run out of passion, looking back at their roots through sporadic appearances in the Viola Cup, and creating sustainable sports drinks, a business they have invested in since their first hiatus. They have provided multiple major teams with their product, dubbed “Vial of Violet”, including their old friends and Marble League winners, the Raspberry Racers, and fellow Hubelino Tournament team, the Minty Maniacs.
In RetRollSpective, the Valiant Violets are a team of life changers. While they didn’t have the most stellar performances, they left their hearts on display in all of their competitions, and their impression within marble sports remains as rooted as their dedication to science. Best of luck to the Valiant Violets in the future, keep on rolling!
Credits
- Writers: Edu G.J., Mystic
- Editors: Smacg13, Stynth
- Graphic Designers: Fouc, Jelle’s Marble Runs, MightyCucumber, Pim Leurs, Stynth
- Photographers: Jelle’s Marble Runs, Pesky
- Release: 15/09/2022
Project Marblearth 