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 focus on Team Momary, a team that formed and competed in Marble League 2018. Read on to find out how this team transformed the competition!
The official logo for Team Momary, designed by Hershy926.
Of course, the origin of Team Momary is inseparable from the origins of two established JMR teams: Team Momo and Team Primary.
Mo, Momo, and Mimo hail from the villages around Om, one of the oldest cities in the world. After meeting at Temple of Om, a popular restaurant established inside the Om Temple in the city center, Mo and Momo began training for the Ramen Bowl with their two other friends from the city, Momomo and Momomomo, as Team Momo. In three appearances, the team earned two Golden Noodles and one Bronze Noodle, demonstrating exemplary success in the team division of the Bowl. The year of their second championship, Mimo joined the Momo franchise as an individual competitor and won consecutive Golden Noodles in 2015 and 2016. When Team Momo needed a reserve following the Fidget Spinner Collision in the 2017 Marble League, they recruited Mimo, who accepted and hastily withdrew from their third season competing in the Ramen Bowl.
Prim and Mary, siblings, grew up in the city center of Van Gotterdam, a city renowned as the “art capital” of Marblearth. Their parents were art connoisseurs and trained them to do the same, sending them to the Van Gotterdam Academy of Art. Both Prim and Mary graduated with Bachelors of Science in Art Restoration, and have carried out major projects such as the restoration of Colina Umerun, Om Temple, and the Acrollpolis in Sotsevsa. They were inspired to practice the art of marble sports after the featurette on Jelle Bakker’s Knikkegen Marble League went viral:
“Until then, we’d only learned to appreciate and get excited about art. But the more we watched it, the more that Prim and I saw that there was an art to marble sports,” Mary admitted. “It was an art that inspired marbles to push themselves, to become the best versions of themselves.”
“We wanted to be a part of that,” Prim concluded.
Prim and Mary entered the 2014 Knikkegen Marble League with no training, but quickly befriended Rima and Imar, two veterans of the tournament, to form Team Primary. The first year they competed, they placed seventh, and the next year, they dominated throughout the season to win their first KML title.
In mid-2015, both Team Primary and Team Momo were invited to compete in the Marble League because of their exemplary performances in regional tournaments. Both teams accepted and faced off against each other in competition for the first time on 05 August 2016. Momo, though, claims that the teams’ paths have crossed before – several times.
Team Momo and Team Primary face off in 2016’s Collision. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“There was construction going on for a while at Temple of Om when the four of us met for the first time,” recalled Momo. “I don’t remember what it was for, but it did look like the workers were restoring some of the statues and mosaics.”
“We carried out our project in Om in…the early 10’s? It’s certainly possible,” mused Prim. “We don’t have access to the files anymore, though. Our sibling Rose is in charge of the company now.”
Team Momo and Team Primary were seldom close in the standings throughout the 2016 Marble League – Momo was always ahead – but the team developed a close friendship from the beginning, one that other teams were confused to watch unfold.
The first podium that Momo and Primary shared as separate teams was in 2016’s High Jump. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“I looked over after the High Jump, and I saw Imar and Momomomo laughing with their medals,” noted Swifty. “I thought to myself, ‘is it a competition if you’re even competing?’ Then again, I certainly didn’t compete in that event.”
Neither team cared about what others thought. As Team Momo finished just off the podium in fourth overall, other teams were quick to praise them for a very hard-fought season. Team Primary did not receive that same recognition, but they also lacked the same experience. It became clear to them that they needed more training to compete—and to stay in the league. In the end, Team Primary would be able to do so with a commanding Qualifiers performance of second overall. Mary followed that up with their first gold medal in Funnel Spinning, which was also their team’s first gold medal.
Mary earned Team Primary’s first gold medal in a career-high performance in 2017’s Funnel Spinning. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“I did not doubt that Mary could shine in the main tournament with Funnel Spinning. Mary is my better half, after all,” said Prim, following their last-place finish in the event during Qualifiers.
Team Momo, on the other hand, experienced a demoralizing start to their 2017 season. Although Momomo did well in Funnel Spinning, placing fifth, Mo placed last in the Long Jump, sending the team tumbling down the standings. Following that, of course, was the now-infamous Fidget Spinner Collision event. As Momomomo received the worst injury that any Marble League athlete has experienced to date, Team Primary performed well, following their bronze from the previous year’s Collision with another bronze. The team returned to the top of the standings, looking invincible, while Team Momo could not have looked much more vulnerable.
“We felt destroyed,” Imar confessed. “Whatever you’d imagine a team to be thinking at the top of the standings—we weren’t thinking about any of it. We truly felt terrible for Team Momo.”
Team Primary was at its peak when Team Momo was at its lowest point during 2017’s infamous Fidget Spinner Collision. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The team was one of the first to reach out to Team Momo after the event, and, after learning of the costs of Momomomo’s surgery, looked for ways to fundraise money. Prim and Mary contacted their parents and organized an art auction, the proceeds of which they donated to Momomomo, who shared it with the rest of the team.
“To say that we’re grateful is an understatement. Team Primary, the Midnight Wisps, and so many other teams that supported us are the reason we’ve still been able to compete. We didn’t ask for the generosity, but we appreciate it beyond comprehension. Thank you,” Momomomo released in a press statement following the 2017 Marble League.
Both teams were able to carry on throughout the rest of the season, albeit not as strong as they had in 2016. Even with a three-medal streak in Relay, Block Pushing, and High Jump, Team Momo (with Mimo filling in as the Marble League’s first reserve!) was not consistent enough through the rest of the events and placed ninth overall. Team Primary finished in the top half of an event only once more during the remaining nine events and finished fourteenth overall after the tournament.
Momomomo descended the stands to join Team Momo at the foot of the podium in celebrating Mimo’s first bronze medal after 2017’s High Jump. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
It was during the 2017 season that Team Primary began to experience internal issues with team members, especially following Imar’s disqualification from the Relay. Without a defined team captain, these issues spiraled into a conflict of leadership during training for the 2018 Marble League Qualifiers. Team Primary got into a fight with the Balls of Chaos at the end of Qualifiers after both teams had faced off in the Halfpipe:
“I wasn’t trying ‘to knock Tumult out of the way’. I was trying to control myself on the halfpipe, but their momentum pushed me forward. I didn’t like that accusation, so I got angry,” said Prim.
“If you look at the bottom of the picture where both teams were fighting—that was me,” Rima revealed. “I didn’t want any part of that fight. It wasn’t worth it, and to see the fans get angry too was not something I wanted. Even if we had failed to qualify.”
Team Primary and the Balls of Chaos fight on the stage of Marble League 2018 Qualifiers. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Momomomo, who had become friendly with the Balls of Chaos when they were watching the 2017 Marble League from the stands, declined to comment on the situation along with the rest of their team. But they looked particularly disappointed as they took the stage to celebrate their qualification.
With healthy donations from across the fanbase, Momomomo was able to afford the medical care they needed to recover from their injury. While Momomomo recovered, the team regularly checked on them while training Mimo as an official new member of the team.
“Just because they have an ‘I’ in their name doesn’t mean they aren’t for the team. Mimo has been a truly fresh addition to Team Momo and always inspires Momo, Momomo, and myself to be the best we can be,” stated Mo, with pride. “We have no intention of benching them, nor will they ever replace Momomomo: Mimo’s not only a great team member, but they’ve also strengthened the bond of our family.”
Team Momo’s insistence to keep Mimo on the team inspired a new rule from JMR, allowing one reserve for every team to compete if desired or needed. As Team Momo entered the stage for the Draw, they would find every team, including those joining the League for the first time, with a reserve.
The three groups that resulted from the picks of the Marble League 2018 Draw. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“It’s humbling, honestly,” said Mimo. “It means a lot to have been the first reserve, and means even more to have inspired a new group of athletes to shine. I’m looking forward to competing with them!”
Team Momo faced an uphill battle during Qualifiers, as they were unable to match the surprising dominance of the Oceanics in Curling and the surprising dominance of the Pinkies in general. Two podiums in the Snow Rally and the 5 Meter Ice Dash helped the team qualify for their third Marble League. And after the season they’d experienced in 2017, they were both relieved and ecstatic for what was to come, even if they would be competing without Team Primary qualifying for the first time.
What followed for Team Momo in the 2018 Marble League was their worst start to a season yet. After placing thirteenth in the first two events, they sat in last place overall for the first time in their career. Although they made up ground in the third event, placing ninth, the fourth event, Bobsled, forever changed the team.
Disaster struck for Team Momo when they came to a stop on the course, caused by a track defect. As the IMC ruled that Team Momo was eligible for a retry, Momomo withdrew from the event due to altitude sickness and was replaced with Mimo in the retry. During their second run, Momomomo was knocked into a corner and was incapacitated for the rest of the ride. The team finished twelfth in the event, remaining second-to-last overall, but they were now without not one but two of their main team members. Doctors assisted Momomo and Momomomo following the event, concluding that they would be okay, but not fit to compete in the rest of the 2018 Marble League.
Team Momo, slowing to a stop on the Bobsled course on Snowflake Slope. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“We reached out to everyone we knew – individual competitors from the Ramen Bowl, teams we’d competed against in the past. We nearly secured a deal with the Green Gang, who had just won the Hubelino Tournament, but they opted to complete their victory tour instead,” Mo recalled. “Then, Rima reached out to us.”
Subject: Team Momo Incident
21st February 2018
Team Momo and Team Primary are merging temporarily. In terms of points, they will start with the same number of points and medals as Team Momo gained before the injuries. Prim and Rima are the only marbles who will be joining Team Momo and will compete in the team events. Mimo will remain an alternate for the time being. Team Momo was given the option to keep their name and logo but decided to create a new one for the temporary merged team. Therefore, the team with Mo, Momo, Prim, Rima, and Mimo will be known as Team Momary, and use a new logo. Prim and Rima will be eligible to compete in individual events for Team Momary if the team wishes.
An official statement from the International Marble Committee at the time, informing fans of the Team Momary merger.
“Prima initially denied it, saying that a green team like Jungle Jumpers would be better suited to help them,” explained Rima. “They eventually realized that this would be an opportunity for us to compete and redeem ourselves after last season. Prim and I were the chosen marble athletes to form Team Momary, but the fans wanted Mary to join.”
Rima’s expression fell. “So Mary joined. And I was denied the chance to compete.”
Team Momary formally merges in the arena to rousing applause. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
When asked about the merger, Mary shrugged it off. “It made sense for me to compete. My name is a part of ‘Momary’, so. It’s only fair.”
As the main team members got acclimated to working together for the remaining team events, Mimo was the first to represent Momary in the fifth event, Speed Skating. Their debut in the 2018 season was, unfortunately, less successful than the year prior, placing fifteenth against Cosmo from Team Galactic, who placed ninth.
“I felt bad going up against Mimo after everything they’d been through this season, but someone had to compete against them,” Cosmo remarked in a postseason interview. “I reached out to them after the event, but they weren’t responsive. I hope they’re doing okay.”
Team Momary’s first group appearance was in the sixth event, Team Pursuit, where the team advanced past the heats, just edging ahead of the Pinkies, but placed eighth after losing the quarterfinals to the Raspberry Racers. Team Momary fell to last in the standings despite placing in the top half of an event for the first time in the season.
Following the event, the Raspberry Racers visited Team Momary’s training facility at the Arctic Circle. Although the exact details of their meeting have not been disclosed, Razzy confirmed its occurrence in a comment to MSPN:
“As one team with merger experience to another, we thought we’d reach out to Momary. Initially, they weren’t so receptive, but by the end of our meeting they seemed very grateful that we were in touch.”
Curiously, not one of the five members of Team Momary has corroborated this story.
Seen by many as the event that prevented the Savage Speeders from winning the 2018 Marble League, Momo sees the 2018 Snow Rally as the event that renewed their confidence as an athlete. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Momary earned their first gold medal in an individual event – the Snow Rally. In an event that scored athletes by their number of “Snow Points” (one point per placement) after two races, Momo and Whizzy both placed first and sixth twice, necessitating a tiebreaker between the two athletes that measured the average finish in seconds between the two races. Momo’s gold medal was decided by not even a quarter of a second, and they ascended to the top step of the podium, earning 25 points for their team.
Following Momo’s gold, Mary became the first member from Team Primary to compete individually in the eighth event, the Snowboard Cross. They placed thirteenth, a disappointing finish for an athlete that, like Mimo, also had a strong debut in 2017.
“I’m as upset with that result as everyone else is, but we have the rest of the season ahead of us. That’s our focus,” Mary promised.
Team Momary proved their abilities as a team in Curling, fending off the Balls of Chaos, Mellow Yellow, and Raspberry Racers to advance to the finals. Although the Oceanics dominated over them, landing on the button in the last run of the event, Team Momary rolled away with a silver medal: their first and only team medal of the season.
Team Momary’s first and only medal in a team event. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Razzy remarked after the event, “It was heartwarming to see Momary take the silver, even if their win blocked us from reaching the finals. We’ve felt like a lot of the veteran teams don’t remember what it’s like when they came together to form a team. It’s in both our nature and Momary’s, and it’s made both of our teams stronger.”
The team placed ninth in the Biathlon and was statistically eliminated from the podium in the penultimate event, Ice Hockey, following a quarterfinal loss to the Midnight Wisps. In just the next event, the Wisps would claim the 2018 Marble League championship in a historic upset over the Savage Speeders, Oceanics, and arguably the rest of the teams. Mo’s fifteenth place finish in that event, the Sand Mogul Race, didn’t matter much, anchoring the team in twelfth overall after the 2018 Marble League, with a total of 90 points earned.
When asked about their opinion of the season, Rima was understandably disappointed. “Imar, Aryp, and I weren’t impressed, to say the least. And we made that known to Prim and Mary.”
Team Momary finished twelfth in the 2018 Marble League, a remarkable finish considering the team’s difficulties. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Momo and Team Primary amicably split the merger following the 2018 Marble League, as both Momomo and Momomomo’s conditions had improved to a significant enough degree. Although the teams remain friends to this day, the fallout from the merger heightened internal tensions within Team Primary:
“We were fighting. A lot. There was an obvious rift between the three of us and Prim and Mary, and they didn’t even try to fix it,” Imar explained.
“At times, it felt like I wasn’t training to compete on a team, but to do the best out of anyone else on the team,” confessed Aryp. “I thought it was normal for a while, but when I visited Thorston to watch the new Thunderbolts roster train for Qualifiers, I realized how bad things were on my team. I can’t say that I didn’t question leaving before I’d even competed in an event.”
Thunder, who competed with Aryp in the Tour de Vellis before joining the Thunderbolts, agreed. “We were shocked to hear about what was going on with Team Primary. We weren’t shocked that they didn’t qualify the following year.”
Team Momo only grew closer in the 2018 offseason, training with Momomo and Momomomo even when the two athletes were progressing through the later stages of rehab. That summer, they placed well in both offseason events, with Mimo finishing ninth in the 100 Meter Water Race and the team placing eighth in the Amazing Maze Marble Race. By comparison, Team Primary finished fourteenth and tenth in those events respectively, finishing decently enough but leaving enough to be desired.
“We invited [Team Momo] to Helarve after our victory tour, and after Momomo and Momomomo had recovered,” revealed Wispy. “The timing didn’t end up working out with the offseason competitions, but they appreciated the gesture.” Marble sports coverage later reported that Team Momo and the Midnight Wisps finally gathered after the 2019 Marble League Friendly Round.
Mo and Aryp finished the final event of the 2019 Marble League Qualifiers side-by-side, both out of contention for a qualifying spot in the main tournament. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Neither Team Momo nor Team Primary qualified for the 2019 Marble League, with Momo finishing fourteenth and Primary finishing twentieth, last overall in the group of 20 competitors. Team Primary’s appearance in Qualifiers was marred by a DNF in the Relay, where Mary failed to finish the race after being pushed by Imar.
“Imar hit the block, but I couldn’t move,” Mary explained. “I felt something underneath of me, and it blocked me from coming off the block. It killed all of my momenta—and just like that, we got zero points from that event.”
Prim and Mary appealed to the referee, and in a rare moment of teamwork, were joined by Rima, Imar, and Aryp, but the referees adamantly denied their requests. After a fight broke out in the stands, Coach Prima joined the team but was escorted away shortly after by security, along with the rest of the team. The fight in the stands, which Team Primary fans started against Raspberry Racers fans, caused security to get directly involved, breaking up the fight and banning Team Primary fans from the stadium.
“We checked around the block, inside of the plate, and we did not find any debris,” a referee stated. “The Limers fans were still throwing the debris into the blue area, but it did not interfere with the relay course. We did the best we could to ensure that the race was fairly conducted, and we saw no reason to change the outcome.”
A disappointing moment for the Marble League and marble sports worldwide. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Primary refused to apologize to the Racers for the fight in the stands, as Primary briefly dissolved following Qualifiers. To their surprise, the Racers received funds from Team Momo for any fans that needed medical attention. The donation included a cheeky note that read, We believe in good mojo at Team Momo. Feel better, Racers fans! After they received the donation, Team Momo was invited to Tumbletown to visit the Racers, which they did after visiting the Wisps in Helarve and before visiting Prim and Mary in Van Gotterdam in their garden, The Palette.
During their stay in Van Gotterdam, Team Momo and Team Primary completed an exclusive interview with me about Team Momary, the contents of which I am authorized to detail in this article for the first time…
Team Momary – A “Primo” Moment
conducted 20 February 2019
Stynth: Let’s get rolling. How did you come up with the name “Team Momary”? I recall a lot of fans asking for “Team Primo” or just “Team Momo” to remain the name.
Mo: It wouldn’t have been fair to call the merger “Team Momo”, because we’re not that team without two of our team members. We thought it was important to represent both of our legacies in this unique circumstance, and with that, we came to a new name.
Prim: It wouldn’t have made sense for our part of the name to be first, since we weren’t the team that qualified. We thought “Momary” was the most natural fit – you wouldn’t have wanted “Team Moprimo”, “Team Morima”, “Team Momimar”, or “Team Momaryp” to compete instead, right?
Stynth: Haha. I guess not. Who originally reached out about the merger in the first place, anyway? I understand Rima might be a better marble to answer this question.
Mary: No, that’s alright. Rima discussed it enough to make the merger happen, but I brought it up to them at the beginning. You wouldn’t hear that from Rima, though.
Momo: We were very gracious to hear from the entire team about their enthusiasm to help us. We’ve gotten along as friends for years, so we knew it would be as natural of a fit as it possibly could be. The merger contract took only a few hours to write and sign by both of our teams.
Stynth: Were Momomo and Momomomo involved in the signing?
Momomo: We were not. To be blunt, I was bedridden with altitude sickness, and Momomomo was fading in and out of consciousness. When we were made aware of the merger, we had no doubt it was only temporary until we made a full recovery.
Stynth: During the season, did any of you involved find that you wanted the merger to extend beyond the contract?
Mimo: I did not. As much as I enjoyed working with Team Primary, it was an adjustment that never felt like it had settled. We could have all donned the same uniforms, adopted new nicknames, and even changed our branding, and it still wouldn’t have felt as good as competing with Team Momo.
Prim: There are some things I miss – like competing in the Marble League and having the opportunity to grow even closer with a team that I respect so much. That said, I can’t see Team Momary existing now, nor can I see the team reforming in the future.
Mo: It was something both of our teams needed at that momoment. That’s passed, and we need to be Team Momo and Team Primary now.
Mary: I’ll always wish that Team Primary had the same charisma as Team Momary. It was a true pleasure to be on the same team as Mo, Momo, and Mimo.
Momo: I don’t regret that it happened, and I’ll treasure our achievements. It’s for the best that we all move on and focus on ourselves this season, seeing as we now have a year until we’re competing again.
The next day, the 2019 Marble League Showdown was announced, and Team Momo left Van Gotterdam to train for the tournament in Om. Team Primary reformed within the week and entered counseling sessions together, beginning to work on resolving their internal turmoil with their new coach, Secondary.
Both Team Momo and Team Primary are still actively competing in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs to this day, with Team Momo returning to the Marble League in 2020 and 2021 and both teams appearing in Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of Marbula One. Team Momary remains inactive but is remembered for being the first and so far only merger team in Marble League history.
In RetRollSpective, Team Momary represents a unique moment in the history of Jelle’s Marble Runs. The degree of their success in the 2018 Marble League can be debated, but as an institution, Team Momary represented far more than a simple merger: they were one where two teams came together to push through adversity and did just that. Best of luck to Team Momo and Team Primary in the future, keep on rolling!
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 focus on the Golden Orbs, a team that blends in with the history of the Hubelino Tournament. Read on to find out how this team has dazzled the competition!
The official logo for the Golden Orbs, designed by Tim Ritz and MightyCucumber.
The Golden Orbs’story starts in a place where gold and other precious metals aren’t rare to find: Spirit Jewelry. As the name suggests, this jewelry shop, located in the Rockbrite District, known as the brightest area in downtown Chlorotopia, is owned by one of the original team members, Spirit, who built a friendship with Willo, the sales representative, over a few months of working together.
It didn’t take long to realize they had another common interest: sports. On the weekends, Spirit and Willo used to practice together at the Herbotamia Recreational and Sports Club (HRSC), which helped them to further strengthen their relationship. “We were often approached by other club members who said we had something special and could even become successful athletes. I didn’t take it very seriously at the time”, said Spirit. Willo continued: “[Entering a tournament] wasn’t on our radar, we just played for fun and to stay fit. But another marble changed our minds.”
Fairy, a regular presence in the individual “turf tournaments”, was looking to move up and was searching for teammates. “Somebody told me there were good marbles who worked in that jewelers, so I decided to pay them a visit and make them an offer.” Willo was initially taken aback that someone would approach them about competing in marble sports. Willo called Spirit to inform them of the exciting opportunity and the duo agreed to call Fairy back later that day after they had finished working.
After multiple hours of discussion, Fairy convinced the two friends to form a new team, which they promptly named the Golden Wisps. Fairy’s sibling, Pixie, was also interested and was chosen to complete the original roster. “I paid attention to the conversation and reminded my sibling of the Minty Maniacs, who wanted to have a more consistent rival for future tournaments”, mentioned Pixie.
The team name is the combination of two different ideas. The Golden came from the jewels sold by Spirit and Willo, which also represent glory; the Wisps was a suggestion from Fairy, a fellow mythology aficionado, inspired by the Willow Wisps from Harva.
A week later, the Golden Wisps and the Minty Maniacs faced each other for the first time in a turf tournament. Fairy tells us about that initial experience: “Minty Fresh gave us a warm welcome, although it helped that I had already known them for a while. We could only think of how we would come out of that event. As for the results, it wasn’t even close, but we were newbies, while they had been together for a long time.”
At least once a month for the rest of 2009, the Wisps and the Maniacs would face each other on public roads, parks, or whatever they could use to design an event. Occasionally other teams joined them, but never permanently. At the time they didn’t worry about having a tournament structure for the matchups; each day was a one-off event.
A small number of observers often appeared. One of those, a group who stopped a casual roll to watch the duel, was intrigued and approached the teams to ask about the games and possibly participate in a future match. They were professional card players who would later be known as the Black Jacks.
A meeting between the Black Jacks and the Golden Wisps. (Photo Credit: Vector)
“After we finished the match that day, we discussed letting another team compete with us, and we agreed that it could be an extra incentive to improve ourselves and allow us to find new opportunities,” explained Spirit. In 2010 the Black Jacks were introduced, setting the foundation for a tournament that grew in ways nobody could have imagined back then.
The expanded friendly competition still took place in various open spaces, but for the first time, the results of each event added to a cumulative overall score. The Minty Maniacs won the inaugural edition of this format by a comfortable margin, with the Golden Wisps coming in second and the Black Jacks in third. About the small first tournament, Willo said: “I still have the notebook I used to keep track of the results. But the most exciting memory I have is the Catwalk win. The Maniacs were still a better group, so beating them gave us a sense of improvement, that we were heading in the right direction as athletes.”
The “turf tournaments” became a more frequent subject in discussions between fellow amateur athletes, with some of them forming their own teams, and this rising interest eventually led to another expansion. “Minty Flav messaged me and Heart to tell us about a potential new squad they came across during a street race, and they wanted to give these marbles a chance to join us. We didn’t object, and that’s how we got Team Phoenix for 2011,” explained Spirit.
The second season saw another overall win for the Minty Maniacs, but this time the Golden Wisps were beaten out by the Black Jacks in a close battle for second, while Team Phoenix didn’t impress in their debut. “It was a fun race, even though we lost the runner-up place at the last moment. But this is what makes sports so cool.”
Pixie’s words about that decider in an improvised Halfpipe Dash were followed by the team’s worries about the growth during the past few years: “We realized our tournament was getting serious as the stakes kept on rising. Having expanded to four teams, we believed it wasn’t ideal to keep a totally amateur setting—we had to seek a solution for this changing reality.” Spirit and Willo still visited the HRSC during their free time, and with the support of their fellow athletes, they booked a meeting with the directors of the club to propose the creation of a new regional cup that could offer a platform to evolve the local sports scenario. After a week of discussion, both parties reached an agreement and began planning for the series.
The five teams that composed the first official Herbotamia Tournament. (Photo Credit: SuperJackJack)
2012 saw the launch of the new era, and what started as friendly duels for fun officially became the Herbotamia Tournament. Fairy explains how it was organized: “[The HRSC] offered us the structure, such as courts, locker rooms, equipment, referees, medical and other staff, but they didn’t directly bring money to the table. We had no grandstands to keep the costs low. The athletes still had to take care of some costs, and we split the responsibilities according to what each marble could offer. For example, Spirit sponsored the medals for each event and the champions trophy. That’s how we operated during these four years of collaboration with the club.” Despite the inclusion of the Ruby Rollers and mild media coverage, the tournament continued to be relatively low-profile. Pixie added on their sibling’s thoughts: “Although 2012 was the first year as an official championship, we like to think of it as a continuation of the previous two years.”
In this first year of the tournament as a professional competition, the results were surprising as the Black Jacks won the title over the Minty Maniacs, and the Wisps missed the podium, with third place going to Team Phoenix. The rookie Ruby Rollers had to settle for last. The team’s thoughts about the new phase: “We spent some time helping the organization to ensure the events were conducted smoothly, but that meant we couldn’t really focus on competing. While we did great behind the scenes to execute a successful season, it was also a distraction that held us back. Anyway, it’s amazing what we, the athletes, achieved that year, for how much it represents to local marble sports.”
The Golden Wisps continued on to the 2013 Herbotamia Tournament hoping that the best has yet to come. With fewer worries about external factors, the Wisps had more time to train and prepare for the championship. This additional training routine paid off right from the start, as they won gold in the Relay and silver in the Maze! The team got only a fourth in the Halfpipe Crash but was in a good position to fight for the overall title at the midway point.
After that event, a reporter got in touch with the athletes, asking permission to show the action in a TV featurette, but the general consensus was to decline the invite. “We weren’t sure of how beneficial it would be to have more media presence in our tournament; we cared more about challenging ourselves than anything else. So we let it pass,” says Spirit.
The Wisps continued to impress and podiumed in all the remaining events, leading them to be the 2013 Herbotamia Tournament champions! “We amazed ourselves with how we performed. Five podiums in six events, we couldn’t believe it. It was a true statement of what we could achieve when competing was our main goal! Gold is for glory, and we finally could enjoy some of it”, said Willo. “The trophy is displayed in the jewelers to this day, so anybody who passes in front of the shop can see it.”
The Golden Wisps pose with their 2013 Herbotamia Tournament trophy. (Art Credit: Phoenix)
The night after their championship win, the Wisps decided to have a celebratory dinner at a restaurant. While the players waited for the pizza, a special report appeared on the TV screens and got all the marbles talking: it was the same featurette they chose to not take part in. “It was cool to see the sports we love getting media attention and bringing new fans in, but we realized the uncertainty in ourselves had made us miss a big opportunity”, Fairy revealed.
The 2014 season saw the Wisps settling for second and the Maniacs back on the top spot for the first time in the professional era. “That was a fun battle, like in the early days. Even the smallest of differences could affect the results. I’m sure any of the Minties would agree if you ask them.”
After an old-fashioned battle on the course, the Golden Wisps and the Minty Maniacs get together for a friendly meeting. (Photo Credit: Pesky)
2015 was an atypical year that saw the original trio losing ground as the Ruby Rollers won it all and Team Phoenix finished second. But the final standings weren’t the main reason why this season was unusual, as Spirit tells us: “The administrative board of the HRSC organized a meeting to announce that the club could no longer fund the tournament and that we had to bring in sponsors to make the 2015 season happen. My shop didn’t profit enough to comfortably back it, but I thought of a solution: what if we hold a raffle?” And that’s what they did: Spirit’s shop raffled a necklace to obtain funds for that year’s Herbotamia Tournament, and the idea paid off. All tickets sold out in two weeks, securing one more season.
Unfortunately, with the Minty Maniacs disbanding, it seemed to be the end of the road for the regional competition they loved, after six years of development. Spirit continued as they touched on the situation: “A pensive [Minty] Swirl approached me to say it wasn’t worth it to continue if there’s nothing on the horizon. I told them to hold on, that we can find ways to keep going. But their eventual decision was to dissolve, and I can’t blame them. No overall podium for the first time [in Maniacs history] didn’t help either.”
The Wisps understood it didn’t feel right to continue without their original rivals, and eventually decided to pause their sporting activities. But by the end of 2016, the gold would see another chance to shine, and Fairy brought the good news once again: “I was cooking lunch at home when my phone rang. I answered the call, and [Minty] Flav reached out to tell me that a renowned event organizer from the Knikkegen area was interested in rebuilding the Herbotamia Tournament. I made sure to relay the news to all my colleagues, we all needed to know more about this possibility.”
In a group chat, the athletes analyzed the proposal by Jelle Bakker, who was looking to run a regional competition after the Marble League expanded to become an international series. “We knew their tournaments were making waves and entering the mainstream since they ‘stole the show’ back in 2013,” Spirit said, with a slight grin. After looking for advice from various competitors, including Phoenix, who took part in the original broadcasted Marble Rally, the Maniacs were convinced to return and all teams agreed that they couldn’t let this chance pass.
The logo for the 2016 Hubelino Tournament. (Design Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Jelle and the five teams signed a deal that consisted of a pioneering video broadcast and a sponsorship that would provide all track parts in exchange for the naming rights for the series. The 2016 Hubelino Tournament was confirmed, expanding to eight teams and preserving some of the original vibes by having no crowd during the events. The reformed championship would also serve as a testbed to experiment with different, usually simpler formats, and new events, some of which would eventually be introduced to the Marble League.
The Wisps resumed training in preparation for the new chapter of their careers, and to represent this moment, the team developed a logo. “In the same notebook I used to record the results, I drew a quick draft [of the logo]. It was just a small exercise at the time, but once we decided to have a ‘brand’ for this new era with JMR, we brought that to life with some professional help”, Willo mentioned. “It was never displayed in a video, but it was still a cool detail to have.”
The logo used by the Golden Wisps for Hubelino Tournament 2016. (Design Credit: Hershy926)
Soon, November arrived, bringing the opening event, Funnel Spinning. Things looked good for the team who led the race in a tight battle against their classic rivals, but Pixie slipped from the ninth funnel and finished in third. However, it didn’t take long for a win, which came with two finishers and an outstanding 38 points in the Catwalk. The Wisps jumped to the lead in the standings just like they shot out of the balancing beam in their gold performance.
The team led the tournament after winning the Catwalk. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Looking to stay strong, the team hit a slump, tying for seventh in the Halfpipe Crash and just missing out on the podium in the Elimination Maze in a heartbreak that saw Willo stalling from the lead. But the team soon recovered with a score of 22 points in the Quartet Jump, a good result despite a toppled tower, thanks to Fairy holding on to the limit to add five points. Although Team Phoenix executed a stunning final run to win gold, the silver put the Wisps back in the chase for the title, residing in second overall.
Confidence was high after this event, and the team hoped to take the second championship in their history. Willo was heard sending a message to their teammates: “The championship is wide open, and the momentum is ours. We need to keep building on it.”
Fairy scores 5 points by the smallest of margins. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
In the Pursuit Slalom, the team was knocked out early by the Bluefastics, but salvaged a fifth-place to stay one point behind the leader. However, the team’s momentum faded and the Golden Wisps fell apart in the remaining two events. They were eliminated in the first round of the Swing Wave and lost ground in the final maze of the Combination, finishing seventh in both events and dropping to fifth by the end of the initially scheduled tournament. “Saying we were disappointed was an understatement. The way I fumbled in the Combination race was really painful”, mentioned Spirit. “However, not long after the eighth event, Jelle announced that the Hubelino Tournament would be extended by four more events—four more chances to show what we were capable of. We viewed this as an opportunity for redemption.”
And the Wisps did redeem themselves in the Halfpipe Dash. Willo showed speed down the track, missing out on a win by a slim margin against the Green Gang, who was also bumped by Team Phoenix. The team stumbled again after failing to finish the Relay Course in the first round.
The Golden Wisps were fourth in points before the intermission for Marble League 2017. All Hubelino Tournament teams traveled to watch the elite competition at the Bakker Bowl, gladly accepting Jelle’s invite.
The Golden Wisps watch Marble League 2017 begin from the stands. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“We had an awesome opportunity to sit in the grandstands for the Marble League and discover what makes a successful championship with a worldwide reach. Being there really changed our perspective and gave us a feeling of the heights marble sports has reached”, Spirit said about the experience. “It was very special to see some of the events we liked and knew, such as Funnel Spinning, being introduced to the world’s most elite marble sports series.”
Back to Herbotamia, the Wisps showed strength throughout the Block Push event, overcoming the championship leaders, the Ruby Rollers, and the Green Gang, and winning another gold over Team Phoenix by 0.4 points. The win took them to third overall and theoretically kept them in the runnings of winning the competition outright, although the probability of overall victory was very low.
The tiny margin that decided the Block Push in favor of the Wisps. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Unfortunately, the team could not capitalize on this tiny flicker of opportunity, performing poorly in the Ball Battle, and getting knocked out in the group stage with a last-place finish. However, the Golden Wisps held on to their overall third-place, scoring 71 points. As they left the arena, the team reflected on a successful Hubelino Tournament as well as their future.
“Well, we wanted to show that we could challenge for another win, but we lacked the consistency to actually take it all. Our season was very up and down, especially on the season’s backstretch”, explained Pixie. Fairy added: “But looking at the organizational standpoint, the partnership with Jelle proved to be excellent for everybody, it crowned years of effort to keep our small tournament going.”
The Golden Wisps finish Hubelino Tournament 2016 on the podium. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The said partnership brought an exciting new possibility: the Hubelino Tournament teams could now enter the main stage of the Marble League by joining the qualifiers for the winter edition of 2018. The Golden Wisps were eager to accept their invites, but the four original members were concerned that it could be too big of a step for them. They eventually decided to not participate by themselves. Spirit expands about the decision: “I needed more time to take care of the business and the family. I met my colleagues to explain the situation, and I realized there was a feeling that we weren’t bred for a high-end competition such as the Marble League.”
Alongside their choice to retire, they also had a plan to continue Golden representation in future tournaments. After returning from Knikkegen, Spirit and Willo visited the HRSC, where they found a group of five youngsters who represented the club in regional athletics events.
Spirit took the time to observe their training, and during a pause, talked to one of the athletes. “Firstly, their workouts were intense—they put more thought and effort into their workout than what I could imagine for me or the original team. I had a conversation with Orby, who certainly was the loudest, most outspoken of the batch. They were constantly talking to the coach and the teammates, passing instructions to the other marbles, and were also very excited to share about their careers and achievements. I could feel the passion for sports, which was fundamental to choosing them.” Orby, on the other hand, said: “When Spirit brought up the proposal to represent them in the Marble League, I was overjoyed. I had the chance to reach the dream of most, if not every athlete: the chance to partake in the world’s largest marble sports championship! Well, not everybody; I heard the Green Gang say ‘no, thanks’. Anyway, my colleagues and I were on-board from the beginning.”
The now-retiring original formation worked alongside the new members for a transition that had been orchestrated since September, passing tips and instructions on to the fledgling team. Why the early planning? Willo lets us know: “It wasn’t reasonable to execute the transition in a time crunch, it wouldn’t work properly in the short space between Hubelino and the Marble League. Thankfully, it was a smooth process, because these youngsters cooperated very well, props to them.”
In a conversation with the club’s directors, they concluded that recruiting these athletes would check off both parties’ needs: for the HRSC, an opportunity of sending their locally developed talents to international competition; for the Golden Wisps, a renovated roster to carry their colors and an imminent rebranding to further differentiate them from the Midnight Wisps.
Some fans could argue that since the Golden Wisps were part of a JMR series since 2016, they had the right to keep their name. But Fairy thought the other way: “While I was away for Marble League 2017, I chatted with Wispy for a few minutes about our teams and experiences as athletes. Once they learned we took some inspiration from a legend of Harva, they were joyful and congratulated me. But it’s something from the culture of their land, and they already were part of the big league. We felt it was best to see them carry the namesake for the future.”
As December started, the team, now renamed the Golden Orbs, arrived at Hailfern with its new members: Orby, Glorby, Gorby, Goldby, and the reserve Glordby. Spirit followed the team during the trip, mentoring them in the final preparations for the qualifiers. According to them, the atmosphere was of happiness, excitement, and astonishment, but not without some stress from the nearing debut.
The Golden Orbs in their official photoshoot for Marble League 2018. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Goldby was the first to talk to the media, in an interview for a special feature about all newcomers by a local newspaper. “I would be lying if I said we aren’t a bit nervous. But I know and trust my teammates, I’m confident we can do a great job against anybody.” Days before the first qualifying event, Curling, the team worked to better understand and adapt to the cold climate and the wide variety of events they were about to face. They expected to surprise by using the novelty of a winter edition in their favor.
It was time to get the feel of the competition, but their first duty at the Arctic Circle wasn’t to compete. Nominated to represent the Golden Orbs in the draw, Glordby rolled down a familiar Hubelino track, accompanied by familiar Hubelino teams, the Minty Maniacs and the Black Jacks, in pot 7 of the qualifying draw. They were the second to drop down the funnel, consequently being placed in Group B. The Orbs would face traditional opponents such as Oceanics, Team Momo, and – what a coincidence – the Midnight Wisps. “Yeah, we had a fun chat after the draw, especially Spirit, who they’ve met before. Neither of us expected to face each other off so early”, said Glordby about this outcome. The team reserved the last days before the qualifiers to study the events and train to get ready for the conditions they would face.
The newly rebranded Golden Orbs get sorted into Group B during the Marble League 2018 Draw. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The event that kicked it off was a precision challenge, Curling, an event so long each group had a full day of competing, and the Group B teams were the second to go on 17 December. Precision was, unfortunately, lacking from Glorby, who pushed Sea into the house and helped the Oceanics build a lead in the second half. The Orbs still had the hammer, and it was up to Goldby to take a risk to make them go through: “It was all or nothing, I had to remove an Oceanic to keep us alive.” They attempted to take out Sea, but missed the shot and quickly turned their attention to control the damage, settling on the two points zone, a move that put the debutants ahead of the other eliminated teams by point differential. After the match, Orby was heard incentivizing their teammates: “Well, it happens. But we can’t let this knock us down, there’s still a lot of game ahead. It’s all open.”
Up next, the Snow Race, for which Goldby was chosen: “Coldest race I’ve ever done”. The course was short, straight, but still very tricky, thanks to the bad weather. Although a storm was approaching the venue, all teams decided to go ahead with the event. The Golden Orb had a slow start out of the gate, but found a speed boost down the second half of the course, gaining positions from errors of Glidy and Wuspy, closing the gap to the top three but couldn’t find a way around Hop and Momo. “That was a great race from Goldby. It looked simple, but the circumstances weren’t. Just see what happened right after in Group C,” said Orby, with a slight chuckle.
Another racing event came up right after, the 5 Meter Ice Dash, a sprint with no lanes and a low grip surface. Glorby would have their chance for redemption after Curling, which they took with a 4.91, the second-fastest time in the group. “I felt like I was floating down that track,” said the athlete, who actually got airborne after hitting one of the seams. They also were the only racer to successfully stay off the walls in the heat, a key for any Ice Dash success: “I just focused on going straight and fast, and my instinct was right at that moment.”
Glorby gets some air time while leading the field in the 2018 Qualifiers’ Ice Dash. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Orbs were now second in Group B with 15 points, tied with the Midnight Wisps. The team had a qualification in their sights, which would be an amazing feat for their debut season. However, they still needed to get past one more challenge to clinch it: the Halfpipe. “All we needed to do was to stay consistent,” mumbled Spirit, the team’s mentor. An endurance event, where the goal is to stay on the field the longest they can. Only one run for all teams, and in such a close group, there was no room for error.
Golden Orbs and Team Momo face off in the Halfpipe. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The pressure was on, since their closest rivals, the Oceanics and the Pinkies, were first (with the record) and third, respectively. Orby, right before their go, could be heard shouting: “This is the time, we must give it our all!” The Orbs were set to face Team Momo in the final heat to seal their fate. Neither team had a good run, but the Orbs lost the heat due to a costly misunderstanding: Orby was the first to reach the top of the track, but didn’t control their speed in the descent and went past two Momo marbles. “I had the image of a Hubelino-styled halfpipe event, which usually is built for speed. I watched the original [Orbs] formation take on those tracks. But I forgot things work differently in the Marble League, at the worst time possible.” 35.47 seconds, the worst time of the group, a result that knocked the Golden Orbs down to sixth overall, out of the qualification zone.
A usually joyful Orby was sad in the locker room, apologizing for their rookie mistake. Spirit and the teammates responded with supportive words. Wispy, on behalf of the Midnight Wisps, also left a message for them in front of their hotel room door: “Don’t let this knock you down, take this as an opportunity to learn and keep working to pursue your dreams. Y’all have a great future ahead, and we wish to meet you once again.” Orby made sure to turn this support into an incentive going forward: “We still have unfinished business.”
Among these other teams, the Golden Orbs failed to qualify for Marble League 2018. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Hey, it’s not all doom and gloom. We still got to watch the League from really good seats,” mentioned Glordby. “We were shocked to see Momo suffering from injuries again and later merging with Primary. We celebrated the Maniacs’ silver medal in Ice Hockey, and all of us carried a big smile seeing Herbotamia representation on the podium. We moved to Knikkegen for the final event after a long wait, due to the collapse of the Arctic Circle. And we were so pumped to witness the monumental comeback the Wisps pulled off, we couldn’t be happier to see them winning it all! We missed qualification, but it was still an amazing experience to be so close to the emotions of that season.”
Soon after the closing ceremony, the teams that failed to qualify were contacted by JMR to take part in the Marble League 2018 Consolation Race. The Golden Orbs sent Orby to the event, which was run alongside the Marble Rally 2018 Qualifiers. “Yeah, it was cool to see these racers out there, especially Phoenix. I cheered the win of somebody who has a connection to Herbotamia and our history.” Orby had a solid run, holding a top-five position during most of the race, but dropped down to eighth after hitting a bump on the track while chasing Hop.
Glorby on the inferior side of the starting gate for the 100 Meter Water Race. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
About a month later, Glorby took part in the 100 Meter Water Race, another friendly race that featured all teams, except the Chocolatiers. Starting from the far right side of the second lane, they struggled off the line, establishing themselves in the back of the pack. “Early on, I fought too much against the environment. Looking at it again, seventeenth down that water stream isn’t that bad.” Goldby added on: “Yeah, I know from experience that a racer needs to understand the conditions, control their impulsiveness and play smart with what appears on the way.”
The Hubelino Tournament was set to return for its second season in late 2018. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Later in May, exciting news arrived: thanks to popular demand, Jelle began planning the second season of the Hubelino Tournament. They organized a meeting with all teams to confirm their interest and set a target date of August 2018. Team Phoenix, focused on Phoenix’s campaign in that year’s Marble Rally, turned down the offer and their spot was taken by the Bumblebees.
A few days before, the Orbs also had their private meeting to take care of details regarding the transition back to Hubelino. The original roster denied a comeback due to other commitments, as explained by Willo: “Spirit and I were doing fine with the jewelers. Fairy and Pixie had also established their regular lives, so we didn’t feel like returning to competition. But we gave full support to the new team to go there and defend our colors.” Orby complemented: “We would stay off the Marble League path for a while, but at the time, we felt a step back would give us experience and make us stronger for the future. Also, it simply wouldn’t feel right to say no to the marbles who gave us the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Alongside the Minty Maniacs and the Black Jacks, the Golden Orbs agreed to withdraw from the Marble League competition and turn their attention to the 2018 Hubelino Tournament, justifying their absence from the Amazing Maze Marble Race, ironically, a Hubelino-based short series. Both the original four marbles and the current squad worked together during the next few months until the draw for the opening event which eventually took place on 03 October 2018.
Two days later, the season kicked off with the Swing Wave. The Orbs dominated Group B, winning all matches and achieving a tournament record of 39 points against the Valiant Violets. “We were really going all out, looking for the maximum score”, said Glorby. The risks of this strategy proved to be too much in the knockout stages, losing to the Black Jacks in the semifinal and missing out on the bronze medal against the Bluefastics by just one point.
The Orbs’ 39 points run in Swing Wave, the record of the event. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The following event was the Catwalk. It had the same format of a group stage and knockout rounds. Just like Event 1, the Orbs qualified from their group, lost in the semifinal, and again finished fourth place, falling down to more solid opponents in the Minty Maniacs and the Ruby Rollers.
“I have enough reasons to believe that our real weak link was the individual events”. This is the view of Gorby, who didn’t have many chances to run until the Funnel Race, in which they finished seventh. “It could have been a different story if I had managed to survive the battle in funnel three.” These individual battles were also Glorby’s demise in the Halfpipes. Another seventh-place finish and the Orbs sat in sixth overall halfway through.
After a tie for another fourth in Block Bumping, the Orbs had to come up with a breakout performance as soon as possible, which finally came in the Relay Race. Orby, on the more technical last leg, pulled out a spectacular recovery in the heat against the Bluefastics. This win signaled an outlook change for the team, elevating their confidence for the remainder of the event.
This stunning finish gave the Orbs a first-round win over the Bluefastics in the Relay Race. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
According to Orby, the fans mention that overtake as one of the greatest Hubelino Tournament moments ever. Moving on to the semifinals, the enchantment almost turned against them this time, as the Bumblebees almost caught up in the last leg. The Orbs managed to stay ahead by one-tenth of a second and advanced to the final. The Minty Maniacs proved to be too good to overcome in the gold medal match, but the silver was a huge relief and incentive going forward.
The Orbs’ only medal of Season 2: silver in the Relay Race. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Yeah, we pushed hard to get this result; we needed to recover our confidence with a podium. I can’t say we were flawless, we could’ve won with a better final transition. Regardless of that, we demanded a lot from ourselves for that silver. Tired and proud, that’s how we felt”, were Goldby’s thoughts about that day, backed by all their teammates.
Goldby was also the chosen one to build on the momentum in the Maze but was caught by misfortune, stalling on the fifth round. Glordby, who didn’t take part in the tournament due to the limit of four athletes, watched the events alongside the 2016 squad and described the reaction of another podium near miss: “I recall Willo shouting ‘oh, not again!’ when Goldby stopped and Swax avoided touching them.”
The Orbs were left disappointed as Goldby got stuck in the maze. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Golden Orbs were officially out of contention for the overall podium going into the closing event, the Big Tower. It was up to Orby to bow out in the best way possible, but they couldn’t pull it off in the highly competitive Group B, finishing behind the Bluefastics and the Bumblebees.
The Golden Orbs finished sixth in the overall standings, with only a silver medal and 38 points. Willo didn’t miss the opportunity to clear something up about their performance: “This result doesn’t show the biggest improvement these youngsters have shown over our first season: their consistency.” Pixie complemented: “Consistency on the short side of the stick, unfortunately. They weren’t bad, they fought for their best moments. But why couldn’t they podium more often after being in a position to achieve it so many times? What was missing for them, who are full-time athletes, unlike us, who played mostly for fun? Neither of us can explain this.”
The closing ceremony of the 2018 Hubelino Tournament. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The general consensus in the team was of unexplored potential to chase wins and titles. After taking the rest of 2018 as a vacation, the Golden Orbs restarted training, aiming for another Hubelino Tournament season. According to Glorby, they wanted to invest more time to get fully prepared, also dismissing a possible Marble League 2019 Qualifiers spot after the retirement of Team Plasma. “We really wanted to bring home this title, but then, it simply didn’t happen.” Low viewership numbers and teams interrupting their activities, among other factors, meant it was no longer viable to keep the Hubelino Tournament up and running.
In February 2019, the Marble League Showdown was announced, and the top two of the Hubelino Tournament were invited to join. Fairy messaged Minty Flav about the news: “You earned this shot, go grab it and do your best to continue our legacy.” Unfortunately, a similar opportunity didn’t appear for the Orbs, and without a championship to participate in, they were forced into a hiatus.
The Golden Orbs reflect upon an uncertain future. (Photo Credit: Casen)
“Usually, the general public only cares about the big shows. In this world, big is what really catches the marbles’ attention. Honestly, it leaves a bit of a bitter taste to see the charm of the small things we used to do and our achievements getting drowned out by external factors. However, looking on the positive side, the relationships we created, the effort we put out to make things happen, the opportunities we had and we were able to offer, all of this made for a fun ride I won’t ever forget. It was an experience that really transformed our lives.” – Spirit’s overview of nearly a decade of involvement with marble sports.
Spirit, Willo, Fairy, and Pixie stepped down from sporting activities after their time overseeing the team from backstage. “It was completely understandable since it all came to a sudden stop and they had other commitments to take care of. However, they granted us full permission to carry the Golden Orbs’ name wherever we went. It’s the best gift we could ever get, after representing them in a Marble League,” a normally silent Gorby added to their thoughts.
“But we are pros, we couldn’t lose hope and let ourselves go a full year doing nothing”, Orby continued. Unable to find a series to run an entire 2019 season, the team members made sporadic appearances in local “turf tournaments” and the Herbotamia Rally. Fortunately, the Herbotamia Sports and Recreational Club noticed the Orbs’ difficulties and opened its facilities to bring all five talents they had trained back home.
Not much was heard of them until September 2020, when all former Hubelino teams decided to come back together for a private friendly tournament, the Herbotamia Reunion. Pixie explains how it came to fruition: “It got to that point when we were missing the thrill, the action. We did talk about this possibility with our former rivals for a while, so when the Minties came back from Polaria with an awesome third place, we agreed that this was the ideal moment to make it happen.” Both of the Golden Orbs rosters were present in the competition. Apart from a small number of invited spectators, specific details of the competition such as the results were kept secret. Spirit explained the reasoning behind the NDAs: “In the end, the goal was to throw back to our origins and replicate the atmosphere of the early days. No pressure, no stakes, just a day to reunite friends and have fun. It was a success, everybody who was there headed back home with a big smile.”
To not create expectations, certain details and results never left Pepper Field that day. However, fan support grew over these years of inactivity. “It’s fun to know of a few loud fans on social media, especially now from outside,” Orby mentioned about the reaction.
Over the course of 2021, the positive response to events such as the Herbotamia Invitational incentivized local businesses to sponsor a new regional tournament, the Herbotamia Marble Sports Cup. Goldby didn’t hide their excitement: “It’s the greatest news we have had in a while, we had a full season for the first time since 2018!” The Golden Orbs didn’t disappoint and won the inaugural season over the Firefighters of Spiceno and the Cyber Charge. Orby, now officially the captain of the team, was the most valuable marble of the tournament. “We didn’t touch on it that much, but the idea of returning to a Marble League stuck in our minds. We know we have to work hard for that to happen, even when the future seems empty for us. This is why we never stopped training, we kept looking for an opportunity like that. The new tournament and the title were the push we needed to prove we are still worthy.”
An opportunity to shine showed up for the Golden Orbs in the Herbotamia Regional Sports Cup. (Photo Credit: Casen)
Spirit, inspired by the Orbs’ regional championship, hasn’t ruled out returning to take a managerial position. “Their effort to get to this recent achievement convinced me to make myself available for whatever they need. If necessary, Willo has already been a co-manager of the jewelers for a while and I know they can do a great job alone. One thing is for sure, all of us will root for them, wherever they are.”
The team is currently looking forward to the second edition of the Herbotamia Marble Sports Cup, with their eyes set on a repeat title that may bring them closer to their ultimate dream, a return to the Marble League.
In RetRollSpective, the Golden Orbs are a team that blends in with the history of the Hubelino Tournament but also looks to shine beyond that. Best of luck to the Golden Orbs in the near future, keep on rolling!
Credits
Writer: Edu G.J.
Editors: ElrQ, Smacg13, Stynth
Artist: Phoenix
Graphic Designers: Hershy926, Jelle’s Marble Runs, Tim Ritz
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 focus on Team Plasma, the champions of the Marble League 2022 Showdown. Read on to see how this team has spooked their competition!
The official logo for Team Plasma, designed by Tim Ritz.
The marbles that made up Team Plasma never intended to be marble sports athletes. Before the team was established, Fearo, Ecto, Gloomo, Phanto, and Ghost spent their days working in a mine in Ionise, a small village on the outskirts of Fantum.
“We get up, go down into the mine, work hard, go home, repeat,” said Fearo. “It may not be the most glamorous of lives, but we love what we do. Spending lots of time underground in a small group binds a group of marbles together – we’re like family.”
When not down the mine, the five marbles spend their time doing their other passion: gardening.
“Our job keeps us underground for long periods, so when we’re not in the caverns we love to surround ourselves with the natural world. The peaceful beauty of a well-kept garden is just the contrast we need to the dark grime of the mine,” added Ecto.
“Every summer as a group we like to go on a trip to a different place of natural beauty. We’ve done lots of the major sites: the remote rainforests that surround Lewara, the more urban beauty of Team Primary’s garden, The Palette, and, of course, the beautiful hikes of Isle Hyu. Next on our bucket list is the unique flora of the Globular Archipelago – it can’t be found anywhere else on Marblearth!”
The members of Team Plasma. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Ionise mine is well-known in the local area for being haunted. When asked about the rumors, Gloomo said:
“I don’t believe in ghosts—apart from our very own Ghost. I think they might be partially to blame for the rumors. Ghost has always been quiet and more reserved than the rest of us, they like to keep themselves to themselves. This means that they can sneak around and we lose track of them. When we least expect it – Bam! Out Ghost pops, scaring the life out of us, as they go rolling off into the darkness, laughing down the tunnels.”
“Those tunnels do strange things to the sound” added Phanto. “The caverns can distort the sound as it echoes through the vast spaces. The friendly chatter of another mining team in a distant cavern can easily become a haunting groaning by the time it travels down the tunnels. I can’t imagine what Ghost’s cackling sounds like to them.”
“I blame our Marble of Music, Phanto. They like to practice their opera singing down in their underground chasm—now that is haunting.” Ghost retorted. You could see Phanto turn a slightly darker shade of red as Ghost rolled off into the morning mist, their chortles echoing around the mining complex.
“That was meant to be a secret,” muttered Phanto, wobbling slightly with embarrassment. “Anyway. Everyone around here goes along with the rumors mainly to keep tourists visiting. Although there was this one marble—I think they called themselves Blood Moon—they briefly used to work here. One day they rolled past me, and I heard them muttering to themselves about ghosts and marble-eating spiders, and I think they said something about a large dancing skeleton. They seemed to be a big believer in all things spooky. And then one day they just disappeared. That’s probably the weirdest thing that’s happened around here. I think our flower displays give the place a more festive feel.”
When down the mines, the members of Team Plasma would challenge each other to all kinds of feats of strength and skill such as racing each other through the tunnels, leaping over piles of rubble to see who could go the furthest, and sliding down natural water slides found in the caverns.
“It was all just a bit of fun really,” explained Fearo. “To be honest, before becoming a marble athlete I couldn’t have named many marble sports athletes myself. I knew Ghost Plasma as they are the local legend. I knew of the Savage Speeders, but I couldn’t name any of their members. We just weren’t that interested in marble sports and being down the mine all day means you can easily miss out on large sporting events. There was that one time, maybe back in 2016, when we were at a flower show and there was a sand marble race. One of Ghost’s classmates from when they were in school, Ouroboros, was competing and we stayed and watched that. That’s as close as we got to watching any form of marble sports.”
Ouroboros overtakes Germy in the final stretch of the Flower Power Sand Marble Race. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Leaping around the tunnels did have some consequences for the team members. Every so often they would collide with a wall and pick up a small scratch or chip. Gloomo excitedly told me about one of their more prominent dimples.
“This one I got when we were leaping into a natural pool of water. I went way too fast and overshot it, crashing into the wall. Each imperfection is a reminder of the good times we’ve had together and they make us each unique.”
The marbles had made a name for themselves in the local area for their gardening work, winning multiple awards through the years at the Fantum Flora Festival for their displays at the mine. They even managed to win Herbotamia in Bloom, the region’s largest gardening competition, in 2017 for their stunning piece detailing the history of Fantum in floral form.
In July of 2017, the Mayor of Fantum had organized for local Marble Rally athlete Ghost Plasma to visit the mine as part of the Herbotamia in Bloom celebrations during one of the breaks between races of Sand Marble Rally 2017. After their victory in Sand Marble Rally 2016, Ghost Plasma, at the advice of their team, had set their sights on expanding the Plasma franchise. They had heard that Jelle Bakker was interested in expanding the number of teams for Marble League 2018 and Ghost Plasma’s team had managed to get a promise from Jelle that if they could get together a marble sports team, they would be allowed to compete in the 2018 Marble League Qualifiers.
Ghost Plasma had not been expecting much from the mine trip. They were mainly there to get away from their poor start to Marble Rally 2017 and as a publicity opportunity for the Plasma brand. Fearo and the rest of the mining crew showed Ghost Plasma around the flower displays and then took them down the mine. While on the mine tour, Ghost Plasma noticed something about this group of marbles – they were physically strong from their job, they were competitive as seen by their racing through the tunnels, and their floral arrangements showed off their precision.
When Ghost Plasma got back to the surface, they excitedly rolled back to their manager – they had found the future Team Plasma.
After the prize-giving, Ghost Plasma called the miners to one side. They knew something big must have been happening as a lot of official marbles in Plasma branding were also present. Ghost Plasma explained to them that they had been looking for a group of marbles to form a Marble League team and that they were impressed by what they had seen that day and so was offering them the opportunity to become the official Team Plasma.
The five marbles huddled together. They loved their job in the mines and had never considered marble sports before. On the other hand, marble sports competitions would allow them to travel around Marblearth. Ghost seemed reluctant as they had never liked the spotlight, but ultimately were convinced to join as the reserve member. They rolled back to Ghost Plasma and told them they would do it. After the team signed a lot of paperwork, Ghost Plasma rolled back to the stage and declared:
“Marbles young and old, may I present to you the newest and best Marble League team: the Plasma Group’s very own Team Plasma!”
The next week the new members of Team Plasma arrived at the Plasma Franchise’s headquarters in the heart of Fantum, home to their state-of-the-art training facilities. Expecting to be met by Ghost Plasma and the board of directors of the Franchise, the team was surprised to see the main lobby fairly empty apart from a young, slightly nervous-looking marble named Cell.
“I had just finished a degree in statistics at the University of Fantum (Go Phantoms!) and managed to get a job with the Plasma Group” revealed Cell, who I managed to catch up with at Marble League 2018.
“I’d always dreamed of working in marble sports but was never much of an athlete. When I was in high school, one of my friends on the Collision team was rewatching old tapes of their matches when I noticed that certain formations led to better outcomes. I started to voraciously watch all matches from the past 25 years and came up with a statistical model for Collision formations which I gleefully presented to the coach. I successfully increased our team’s performance by 47% and won a scholarship to UoF for my work.
I got the job with the Plasma Group after a recommendation from my professor and was hired as more of a behind-the-scenes type person, analyzing the performances of Ghost Plasma and planning strategies for success in the Marble Rally. As I was settling into my desk on my first day, the managers of the franchise arrived at my desk—not something you want when you’ve just arrived!—and told me I was being put in charge of the new Team Plasma. This was unexpected, but I didn’t want to make a bad first impression so I accepted. What they failed to mention was there was no management team—it was just me! Plus they still expected me to work on the strategy for Ghost Plasma as well! I tried to give the fledgling team as much time as I could, but it was nowhere near what I would have liked.”
Despite the underwhelming arrival party, the new Team Plasma were astonished at the quality of the facility and had high hopes for the start of their training.
Unfortunately for them, the promised team of coaches never arrived with the Franchise more focused on trying to turn around Ghost Plasma’s Sand Marble Rally season than training the inexperienced team.
“We had these massive, modern training facilities to ourselves. It was amazing,” reminisced Ecto. “We were expecting someone there to help us train—we were miners, we had no idea how to prepare for a sporting competition—but most days we were left to ourselves. Cell did their best and we became good friends with them, but they were a statistician, not a coach. We made the most of it and had fun training for all sorts of events. I now understand why marbles land in the sand when jumping over objects rather than just crashing into the walls of a tunnel, it’s much softer!”
Over the next few months, the team tried their best to adequately prepare for the Qualifiers despite the lack of support from the Plasma Franchise.
“When we signed up, we didn’t realize it would be a Winter edition of the games, and everyone just assumed we knew! I guess we must have missed that announcement whilst in the mines. Three weeks before the Qualifiers, Cell managed to find a brief bit of time to visit us and asked us why we had not been training on the ice. The reality of the nature of the Qualifiers came crashing down on us at that moment. We tried our best to prepare for events on the ice in the few remaining weeks we had. It is warm down the mine so we hadn’t interacted much with ice. I didn’t even realize Curling was a sport! When Cell told me it was going to be in the Qualifiers, I assumed they were making up the sport as a joke!” Phanto exclaimed.
Despite their lack of formal training, Team Plasma arrived at the Arctic Circle as ready as they could be for the Qualifiers and the team was sorted into Group C.
Team Plasma loses to the Limers in Curling during the 2018 Qualifiers. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Qualifiers started as poorly as they could have for the new team. They were put against the Limers in the first match of Event 1, Curling. For the first half of the match, Team Plasma managed to match the Limers in points. Unfortunately for them, Gloomo failed to knock Slimelime out of the target. This was followed by Phanto overshooting the target, ending up behind it, and handing the match to the Limers. As they scored the fewest points out of the teams that lost their matches, Team Plasma finished the event in last place.
“We always knew Curling would be difficult as we had never experienced anything like it. It wasn’t the start we wanted, but we are a resilient team and we weren’t going to let one setback hold us back.”
The next event was the Snow Race. During Group A and B’s runs, the weather started to take a turn for the worse. By the time Fearo stepped out onto the starting line, it was somehow simultaneously snowing, raining, and hailing. An air of nervousness hung over even the most experienced competitors as visibility rapidly declined. Fearo somehow managed to stay near the front of the pack for the first part of the race, slipping and sliding their way into the lead. Then disaster struck.
“I was doing my best to get down the course, I’ve never been so cold in my life. Visibility was really poor due to the weather, but I kept pushing ahead. I was fairly certain I was in the lead as I think I passed Anarchy of the Balls of Chaos. And then next thing I know I had stopped, and I felt marbles collide into the back of me. I must have hit a hidden snowbank. Everyone seemed confused and slightly worried due to the worsening weather. Thankfully it didn’t take long for the officials to rescue us from the course and get us somewhere warm. After discussion among the officials, it was decided that they would not make us redo the race and points would be awarded based on the distance to the finish line meaning I had won. I felt slightly relieved – I’m not sure I could have held onto the lead if we’d kept going. Some of the other competitors grumbled a little, but all I wanted to do was get back to my team and get us focused for the next event, especially now we were in third overall.”
Group C comes to a halt in the 2018 Qualifiers’ Snow Rally, handing Team Plasma the victory. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Despite Fearo’s optimism, Team Plasma would continue to do poorly. A seventh-place finish in the 5 Meter Ice Dash for Ecto and a further last-place finish for the team in the Halfpipe sealed their fate of finishing seventh overall in Group C. Team Plasma would watch Marble League 2018 from the stands.
“Of course, we were disappointed,” said Gloomo dejectedly. “We knew we were unlikely to qualify, but we still had hope. At least it allowed us to explore the pine forests of the taiga. They’re so different to the forests around Fantum.”
The teams that did not qualify for Marble League 2018 watch from the stands. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Plasma returned for the Consolation Race, a Sand Rally course for those who had failed to qualify for the Marble League which was held at the same time as the Sand Marble Rally 2018 Qualifiers, allowing them to spend some time with their patron, Ghost Plasma. Despite their recently qualified patron watching on from the stands, Ecto could only manage a ninth-place finish. A month later Fearo competed in the 100 Meter Water Race and finished 12th out of 27.
“I felt better about that performance. Unlike the Marble League Winter events, a water race was something we had experience in. I think I managed to make our small number of fans proud.”
Unknown to them at the time, the team’s final performance together came in the final off-season event, the Amazing Maze Marble Race. They were placed in the same group as the newly crowned Marble League champions, the Midnight Wisps. Despite their best efforts, Team Plasma was eliminated in their heat.
No one heard much from the Plasma Franchise for the rest of 2018. Ghost Plasma had another difficult season in the Sand Marble Rally. Rumors started to swirl throughout the fanbase that Team Plasma would be retiring, opening a space in the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers, giving hope to rookie teams across Marblearth that were desperate for a shot at glory.
On 01 January 2019, it was officially announced that Team Plasma had retired and the Green Ducks would be taking their place in the upcoming Marble League 2019 Qualifiers. Team Plasma was seen quietly leaving the training facility in Fantum and returning to Ionise.
“Why did we leave marble sports? There were multiple reasons,” admitted Fearo. “Despite the promises and high profile of the Plasma Franchise, it was not run very well. I don’t blame Ghost Plasma or Cell, they supported us when they could and wanted us to do well; it was the management structure around them that was the problem. We came in after the massive success of Sand Marble Rally 2016. Unfortunately, Ghost Plasma struggled in 2017 and 18. The Franchise’s resources were channeled last minute into Marble Rally and we were bumped down near the bottom of the priority list. Our contact on the board of directors expected fans of marble sports to jump on board due to the success of Ghost Plasma’s previous season, putting little effort into any kind of publicity for us. I may be a sheltered miner, but even I know you need to do publicity if you want to get marbles on board with your vision.
There were also a lot of behind-the-scenes disagreements about the direction of the team. Our contact on the board continued to push forward their vision, despite others who had been invested in the franchise for much longer raising serious and legitimate concerns, even when Ghost Plasma themself raised concerns. Our contact would deride and insult those most passionate about the team who were trying to give constructive feedback, categorizing them as toxic haters rather than those who were passionately dedicated to making our team the best it could be. They surrounded themselves with yes-marbles, ignoring the few dedicated fans we had in favor of a vocal minority online. We found training difficult without support, especially when all the work we put in was not acknowledged and quickly dismissed by certain individuals.
Ultimately, I and the rest of the team lost morale and saw no way forward with management continuing to not address our concerns and so we unanimously decided to leave. We do wish Ghost Plasma all of the best, we are still in contact with them, but we couldn’t continue to work with them with management the way it was and change seeming less likely by the day.”
Following Team Plasma’s retirement, Ghost Plasma finished Season 4 of the Marble Rally as runner-up to repeat champion, Red Number 3. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Plasma settled back into their jobs down the mine, feeling much more relaxed with the stress of the Plasma Franchise behind them, happy to be out of the spotlight again and ready to tend to the garden at the mine as it had fallen into neglect while they were gone.
“I read some comments around the marblebase about how Team Plasma will never return, that we are just poor quality gardening marbles that weren’t perfectly round, that had no place in marble sports,” said Ecto, sounding slightly hurt. “Well, we’re proud of who we are. We may not be the epitome of sphericalness, but each imperfection tells a story of camaraderie between our team. You’ll never be able to please everyone. We all know who we are and what we love to do and that’s good enough for us. We tried our best at something new and that’s all we could do.”
“Plus I hear we’ve gained a bit of a cult following in the marblebase,” added Phanto. “Some are calling for us to return. We’re happy to be out of the limelight for now. We did enjoy our time in marble sports, nearly as much as a nice topiary, but I would now officially list it as something I enjoy. We may return if we feel ready. Plus, Ghost Plasma defied management and kindly let us keep the Team Plasma name so if we did return we wouldn’t have to rebrand.”
Team Plasma tending to their garden. (Photo Credit: Phoenix)
After over a year out of the gaze of the public, Team Plasma eventually returned to the world of marble sports. The team had been invited to compete in the Herbotamia Tournament Reunion at the Minty Maniacs’ Pepper Field in Chlorotopia, alongside all of the original Hubelino Tournament teams as well as the Yarble Yellers and the Grape Nuts. Their invitation was in line with the original spirit of the Herbotamia Tournament as a local competition as Fantum is fairly close to Herbotamia. The Reunion was a closed event, with only family, friends, and select journalists in attendance, all of whom signed an NDA before entering the stadium, so the results are unknown to all but a select few marbles.
I asked Ghost how the tournament had gone.
“It went well,” they said. “I enjoyed competing for the team rather than watching from the sidelines.” Ghost then promptly rolled away into the Chlorotopian night.
The five members of Team Plasma returned to Ionise, content with their lives, happy to have the stability of their regular job while also able to compete in marble sports when the opportunity arose. Their next opportunity to compete came sooner than expected when an invitation arrived from the Midnight Wisps.
“We had just finished the plan for the annual Halloween ghost tour of the mine when Ghost appeared out of nowhere, as they often do, with a letter” revealed Fearo. “It was for a new competition called Midnight Melee, hosted by the Midnight Wisps. It would be in Helarve and would be broadcast around the world on CMM.”
“As with all decisions, the five of us gathered together to discuss our options,” Phanto added. “We were still slightly jaded by our experience with the Franchise, and I know I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a public appearance. We’d had such a great time at the Herbotamia Reunion and had only agreed to go as it was behind closed doors and away from the public. After about an hour of discussion of the pros and cons, we decided that to fully move on we couldn’t let the baggage of the past hold us back and that a public appearance as an independent Team Plasma would help us to fully realize our identities as marble sports athletes.”
“Plus all the events will be held at night, and we love being in the dark.” chipped in Ghost.
There was one hurdle they had to overcome before being allowed to compete in Midnight Melee: they needed to have a coach. There was only one marble they trusted for the role.
“When Fearo called me up asking if I would return as the coach of the team, I was initially skeptical,” admitted Cell. “I hadn’t been able to be there for the team when the Plasma Group unexpectedly thrust the role upon me, but I was flattered the team wanted me to return, especially after their not-so-stellar performance in the Marble League 2018 Qualifiers. I also quit the Group around the same time as Team Plasma, for the same reasons a lot of marbles quit—ongoing unresolved management issues. I initially felt bad about quitting as I had invested so much of myself into the franchise, but it only took me a week or so to realize how much better I felt away from the toxic environment. I immediately got a new job applying my statistics knowledge to the social platforms of an online streamer and have never felt better. To make up for the lack of marble sports in my life, I helped to create the largest online fan-made encyclopedia on marble sports which I hear even Jelle themself visits. But being a coach for my friends a couple of times a year scratched the sporting itch more than a website ever could so I accepted.”
Team Plasma attending a photo shoot for their relaunch into the world of marble sports. (Photo Credit: Phoenix)
The five marbles and Cell arrived in Helarve, nervous about their first public sporting appearance since 2018. Waves of nerves and excitement swept through the team as they rolled into the Clock Coliseum as seas of fans clad in red chanted their name.
“The rumors online were true—we had somehow attracted a large cult following despite being hidden away underground, and they came out in droves to support us” revealed Ecto after the tournament, welling up at the thought of the dedication of strangers to their more obscure team.
Team Plasma had a strong start to the competition, with Gloomo winning the team’s first-ever public medal, a bronze, in Funnel Endurance; and the team was still in third overall at the end of the first night of competition. The team didn’t manage to win any further medals throughout their time in Helarve but continued to put together strong top-half performances throughout a range of different events, many new to the team such as a long-distance race at the Midnight Bay Circuit. During the competition, Ghost Plasma appeared as the guest of honor to test-run the first event of the third night: the Nature Run. After that night’s events, the whole team got to spend the rest of the evening catching up with the Marble Rally champion, who revealed that they too felt much better now they were competing as an independent marble, disbanding the Plasma Group after finally realizing how corrupted their brand had become by others.
Despite the range of new events, Team Plasma performed strongly enough throughout the competition to finish second behind the Midnight Wisps and ahead of the Pumpkin Patch. As Team Plasma ascended the podium, tears streamed from their eyes.
“If you told me five years ago I would have been on the podium of a marble sports tournament that was broadcast around the world, I would have asked if you’d not been wearing your hardhat and smacked your head on a low-hanging stalactite,” said Gloomo. “Despite our nerves at a return to the public sphere, we gave it our all and succeeded, even in the dreaded Ice Hockey. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Fearo as terrified as they were seeing ice again. We’re still going to keep marble sports as a hobby, but who knows—maybe this is the start of a new sporting era for us.”
The final standings for the Midnight Melee. (Design Credit: Laurent Rollon)
Once more Team Plasma returned to the known comfort of the mines and their garden, dreaming of their next chance to compete while also being grateful that they could do so on their terms. That opportunity came when a letter arrived at the Ionise Mine from the Minty Maniacs inviting them to return to the Herbotamia Tournament. Having enjoyed the previous year’s Reunion tournament so much, Team Plasma agreed to return for the 2021 Invitational edition, this time facing seven other teams: the Balls of Flame, the Black Jacks, the Gliding Glaciers, the Grape Nuts, the Solar Flares, the Valiant Violets, and the Yarble Yellers. This year the tournament opened back up to the public and had a mysterious hooded guest in attendance.
The first event was Balancing, an event the team knew they were good at thanks to their many times rolling across small ledges in caves. The unknown Solar Flares stunned everyone with an opening run of 423 cm. Team Plasma rolled their hardest, managing 380 cm, enough for second but well behind the Solar Flares.
“This is better than the ice events. We’re much more comfortable with events that don’t require frozen water. Bring on the funnels!” panted Gloomo as they rolled back from their Balancing run.
Gloomo swirled round and round as well as they could in the Funnels, finishing solidly in the middle of the pack, in fourth.
Fearo was chosen to compete for the team in the next event, the Sprint.
“I love sprinting. It’s much better than an Ice Dash. The lanes are like the tunnel walls and help me to focus on going in a straight line. I’ve beaten the others down the tunnels so many times, I know I can do well.”
Fearo easily cleared their heat, firing as straight as an arrow down their lane and into the final. They then lined up against the Solar Flares, the Gliding Glaciers, and the Yarble Yellers. As soon as the starting gun rang out across the stadium, Fearo was off. They zoomed past their competition, crossing the line in first and setting a new personal best, moving the team into third place overall.
“I’m starting to see why marbles love sports so much—it’s pure adrenaline. I feel much freer outside the constraints of the franchise when everything is on our terms.”
The team had high hopes for the fourth event, Collision. After all of their collisions with everything from rock faces to each other, they were sure they would do well. However, in the largest shock of the competition, Team Plasma lost to the Valiant Violets in the opening round, ending up in seventh place.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Ecto, sounding slightly dazed. “We crashed into them as hard as we could and the next thing I remember is smashing through a barrier onto the floor. Maybe the sport has moved on since Cell’s original model. I know we tried our best and that’s all we can do.”
The final event was a marathon-style event around Minty Mania. Phanto tried their best but didn’t have the stamina for long-distance racing. During the race they had a large collision with Salvia of the Valiant Violets, knocking them off the track as they went around the banked curve.
“I know I am fairly strong, but I did not expect them to go that far,” Phanto admitted rather sheepishly. “As soon as the race was over, I went to check in with them. They seemed a little bruised but were OK and happy to be competing at all.”
The final standings of the Herbotamia Invitational. (Design Credits: Fouc, Jelle’s Marble Runs, MightyCucumber, Stynth)
Phanto finished seventh in the race, putting Team Plasma in fourth overall. The five friends watched the Solar Flares, Gliding Glaciers, and Yarble Yellers ascend the podium when the mysterious disguised guest revealed themselves to be Jelle Bakker. Jelle offered a place in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers to the gold and silver medalists, the Solar Flares, and the Gliding Glaciers. All of Team Plasma were rolling around in joy and yelling at the announcement.
“We were so happy for them,” yelled Fearo. “We know what an honor it is to be allowed to compete in a Marble League and you could see from their faces how much it meant to them. I know that we’ll all be cheering for them from underground.”
The Return
an addendum by smacg13
“Come on Phanto, you’re going to be late. The press is turning up already, the CMM van has been here for nearly an hour, let’s roll! It’s time to celebrate our success!” yelled Fearo, newly appointed captain of Team Plasma.
“I’m nearly done with the Ghostlings, just need to get Electrode back to their parents,” replied Phanto.
It had been over a year for the team of miners. After finishing fourth in the Herbotamia Invitational, the team had returned to the Ionise mine re-enthused about the excitement of marble sports.
“Seeing the Gliding Glaciers and the Solar Flares get their opportunity to compete on the big stage got us reminiscing about our time in the spotlight, it seems like eons ago,” said Ecto, a warm smile spreading across their face. “After a week or so back at the mine, we had a team meeting, and it became obvious that we had all been thinking the same thing.”
“Sports isn’t just a fun pastime,” added Gloomo. “It’s a way to bring marbles from all backgrounds of life together, exemplifying teamwork and fair play. We all sensed that this was our next step – to inspire others to have a go no matter their life circumstances. We wanted to see marbles try their best and be secure in themselves, no matter the outcome, excelling in whatever they put their mind to. And we knew if we wanted marbles to catch our vision, we had to lead by example.”
The five marbles worked long into the night planning their next moves. The morning sun flooded through the windows of their meeting room, illuminating a room full of tired yet satisfied marbles. The whiteboard was covered in ideas, but three ideas stood out:
Keep training – you never know what opportunities may arise and role models are important.
Start a youth team – if we can get this far, so can any marble who puts their mind to it; supporting others is important.
Check-in with the Gliding Glaciers and Solar Flares – no matter how they do, they need to be supported and encouraged.
And so that’s what the team did. In between working for the mine and tending the garden (Herbotamia in Bloom was just around the corner) the team kept on training, using the underground caverns as a training hub. One day, as the team finished their most recent training set, Fearo looked out across the cavern and had an idea. As the team ascended to the surface, Fearo shared the idea, and the team was onboard. They rolled as fast as they could to the head of the mine, Ion, and burst into their office.
“We should turn part of the mine into Marblearth’s first underground training facility,” blurted out Ghost.
After the initial shock of five large marbles storming into their office subsided, Ion agreed and the team got to work, converting their favorite caverns into a professional training ground. As work progressed, Marble League 2021 began. The team celebrated the successes of the Gliding Glaciers and commiserated with the Solar Flares.
“We need to call them as soon as we can,” said Phanto. “We know how it feels to come into a competition with expectations and then have the fans turn on you when you don’t live up to them.”
“They should be the guests of honor at the opening of the training ground,” suggested Ghost before disappearing down a tunnel.
The day of the opening arrived, and the mine was looking the best it had done for years. Right at the entrance was a large flower display in the shape of the Solar Flares logo to welcome the guests of honor.
“That day was special,” recalled Flare, captain of the Solar Flares. “We had been feeling really low after our less than successful entrance to the Marble League. We were being slated in the press and online, marbles claiming we were a joke and a wasted place. Then out of the blue, we got a video call from Fearo and the team. They had been so supportive at the Herbotamia Invitational and they had called to check in with how we were doing. They all shared stories of how they had overcome hardship in their lives, it was really moving. And then out of nowhere Ghost piped up and asked us to open their new underground training facility. We were blown away! How could anyone want us to do something so important? Fearo claimed that we epitomized the idea of resilience, keeping going in the face of adversity and they wouldn’t want anyone else to represent a core value that they shared. After the call ended, we were all tearing up. Just then we started to believe their message ourselves.
We arrived at a sea of flowers and bunting, red and orange to represent both teams. A cheer erupted from the crowd as we stepped out of the coach and I couldn’t help but smile and wave. A line of adorable young marbles greeted us, all in red uniforms and mining helmets – these were the newly formed Ghostlings, a marble sports team for young marbles that Team Plasma had started for kids in the local area. We got through the opening ceremony, including the obligatory ribbon cutting with overly large scissors, before being shown around the underground facility by members of the Plasmoids, Team Plasma’s youth team that had just finished reasonably well in the Herbotamia Marble Sports Cup. The facility was impressive, I’ve never seen a training facility make use of the natural features of a cavern before, it was ground-breaking. At the end of the day, we couldn’t thank Team Plasma enough for all of their support this year and the honor of opening their facility. I really hope we can compete with them again in the near future.”
It was a normal, slightly misty day at the mine when the lives of Team Plasma would change once again. The regular pile of bills and fan mail arrived (there was one fan who would send the team a different type of fancy pie every month – the team always looked forward to pie day), but this time it contained an uninspiring-looking letter. Ecto sorted through the usual mail and tasted this month’s pie, strawberry and rhubarb, before getting to this letter. A piece of pie hung awkwardly in front of their mouth as if it had been forgotten as Ecto’s eyes widened at the news. They immediately rolled out of the mail room towards the mine, their piece of pie a distant memory.
“You took longer than normal, you better not have started that pie without us again,” yelled Gloomo as Ecto rolled into view.
“You’ve got to see this, now,” panted Ecto.
The team huddled together. Suddenly cries of excitement echoed about the caverns – Jelle was expanding the Marble League and wanted Team Plasma to return. They had seen what had happened in 2018 and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding their retirement and were impressed at how committed the team was to exemplary sportsmanship, most recently seen in their support of the Solar Flares, that they had decided to offer one of the expansion spots to the team.
“We have to accept; this is what we’ve been working towards – it’s still on the whiteboard,” said Phanto jubilantly. The team agreed, ecstatic that their small but dedicated fan base would get to celebrate with them.
“I’ve been working on these, I hope you like them. I thought it would be a nice treat to celebrate our recent accomplishments,” said Ghost, pulling out from who knows where five brand new uniforms, shimmering in the dim light of the cave.
“Did you make these, Ghost?” asked Fearo. “These are amazing. I love the transparency, so ethereal. I didn’t realize you knew how to sew! Ghost, you truly are the heart of this team. You really are myst—”
Fearo looked up to see that Ghost had vanished.
An official graphic announcing the return of Team Plasma to Jelle’s Marble Runs. (Design Credit: Minos Fylaktos & Tim Ritz)
The day the team had been waiting for had arrived. Last night JMR publicly announced their return. They had purposefully spent the day underground to avoid seeing the reactions of marbles across Marblearth. Phanto was finishing off the Ghostlings’ training session as the team in their brand-new uniforms rolled out to see hoards of media ready to go in front of the small stage that had been erected at the front of the mine. Angry clouds rolled across the skies, threatening to dampen their high spirits.
“This is more than I thought would be here,” thought Fearo, worried how the team would cope with so much attention. As the team rolled onto the stage, a sea of camera flashes erupted from the crowd.
And then it began.
“Rambutan, CMM. How does it feel to be back in the Marble League?”
“It’s great,” said Fearo, taking charge. “We are so happy to be back and we aim to do our best as always. We hope to prove ourselves as a worthy addition and make our fans proud.”
“Lapis, Brilliant Blue Corporation, Zuro’s number one news source. What do you think about the reaction to your team’s announcement?”
“To be honest, we’ve been working underground all day so we’ve been a bit out of the loop, but I’m sure we’ll take it in our stride.”
And then the avalanche began.
“Why did you agree to take a spot from a new team that deserved a chance to compete in the highest tier of marble sports?”
“What about the fan polls that showed they didn’t want you to return? Why should you get this opportunity and not the Quicksilvers or the Jawbreakers or a new team?”
“You’ve already had a chance and failed. Why do you deserve to come back?”
“We already have Ghost Plasma, why do we need you as well?”
“Why are you not letting the next generation compete?”
“Why do we need another red team?”
“Why are you letting your fans down by changing your uniform? Why not stick to the familiar classic look?”
“Why have you stolen the look of other teams like the Golden Orbs? Are you trying to deny them a chance to return by stealing their look?”
As the tsunami of sound and flashes rocked the stage, Fearo knew something wasn’t right. They could see their friends squirming, sweat beading on their brows. What should have been a celebration was quickly spinning out of control as a firehose of bitterness blasted the team. Fearo knew they had to stay strong for the team and could see the team trying their best. But Fearo was getting worried about Ghost. They had always been the type to stay out of the spotlight and had been worried about the press conference. Fearo had calmed their nerves, encouraging them to come on stage, assuming it would be a time to celebrate renewal, resilience, and redemption.
When Fearo heard the questions about the uniforms, they knew this had to end. Now.
But before a word could escape their mouth, Fearo heard a loud bang as a chair fell backward. They turned around to see Ghost sprinting offstage into the mist, tears streaming behind them.
“We’re done here. Come on, let’s roll,” yelled Fearo as they led the rest of the team offstage, leaving the cacophony of noise behind.
The four members searched high and low for their friend. A crumpled uniform was found outside the entrance to the mine as the rainwater started to discolor the exquisite design.
As the team entered the mine, they could hear muffled sobbing coming from the balcony overlooking their training facility. They found Ghost lying down, silently sobbing to themselves staring out at all they had worked on.
“Why bother? We’re clearly not wanted. We should return our invite and let a new team take our place. It’s what the fans want,” mumbled Ghost as tears rolled down their face.
“Hey, you don’t believe that, right?” said Fearo. “There will always be those who oppose you, no matter how much good you are bringing to the world. You can never please everyone. This is not how we thought our relaunch would go and I’m so proud of you for facing your fears and getting on that stage. We can’t let the opinions of others bring us down. We’re Team Plasma and we are not defined by others. We know who we are and will try our best despite the opinions of others.”
A loud crash interrupted the scene and the rest of Team Plasma turned around.
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” exclaimed Scorch as they burst through the doors, shadowed by the rest of the Solar Flares. “We came to surprise you on your big day. I’m so sorry they did that to you, what they did was not on. We love the new logo and the new uniform, they look so good!”
“But the fans aren’t happy,” whispered Ghost, who had rolled back upright.
“You may think that from those news marbles. But let me show you this,” Radiance said as they handed Ghost a massive card.
“Since the announcement we’ve been visiting other teams with this, have a look.”
Inside were messages for the team from the other Marble League teams.
“We’re so glad you’re returning. You amazed us at the Invitational and we’re sure you will do well in the Marble League!”
-Minty Maniacs
“We know what it’s like to go through adversity, don’t let the past hold you back.”
-Team Momo
“Don’t let the salt get you down!”
-Limers
“The opinions of fans can get you down, we know. But you have such a strong character that we know you will take everything in your stride. Roll on, Team Plasma!”
-Shining Swarm
“We’re glad such an inspirational team is joining at the same time as us. See you in the Showdown!”
-Wolfpack
“I am so glad you accepted my invitation. I know you will step up and prove to everyone you deserve to be here after the adverse events of last time. I believe in you and want you to be here. Plus, the new uniforms look great.”
-Jelle Bakker
“There’s also this,” said Flare as they dumped a large sack of fan mail, expressing similar sentiments of joy, all over the floor.
The front of Ghost’s face was re-flooded with tears, but this time of joy.
“I guess I should get my uniform again…I hope it’s not too damp,” said Ghost.
The five marbles huddled together.
“Let us not forget today. No matter what marbles say, we define our future and we are ready to compete. We will try our best and prove them wrong!” rallied Fearo.
“We are Team Plasma!” yelled the five marbles, the chant reverberating around the cavern.
“Oh, this may sound a bit strange but there are also 20 large pies at the front desk for you with a note that just says “PLASMAAAAAA!!!!” said Blaze, sounding slightly bemused.
In RetRollSpective, Team Plasma started as a short-lived experiment in franchising who never expected to be marble sports athletes. They gave it their all and were content with their effort, even though they lacked success. Despite their critics, they are confident in who they are and what they enjoy and are happy to keep moving forward as they continue competing in Jelle’s Marble Runs tournaments. Best of luck to Team Plasma in the near future, keep on rolling!
Team Plasma returned to Jelle’s Marble Runs and won Marble League Showdown 2022. (Design Credit: Fouc & Tim Ritz)
Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, however, we’re writing about a special Marblearth personality, a public figure for over four years – the Editor-in-Chief of Project Marblearth, Stynth.
It was the middle of 2017 when Stynth, a marble on an exchange program at the University of Rollence, discovered marble sports. Red Fox, one of Stynth’s roommates, showed them a clip of a Marble Rally organized by Jelle Bakker, where Comet raced to win against 32 other marbles.
Red Fox would bug Stynth about watching the 2017 Marble League together, and our blue marble needed little convincing. Sitting down for the live coverage of the penultimate event, the Underwater Race, Team Momo caught Stynth’s eyes. Learning about Momomomo’s injury in Fidget Spinner Collision that year tugged at Stynth’s heartstrings. They wrote in a journal: “My favorite team is Team Momo and I’m depressed that Momomomo got injured, but I wish the best for them and the team.”
First in line to buy tickets for the 2018 Marble League in Arctic Circle, Stynth drafted an article right after seeing Team Momo in action from the stands: a profile of Team Momo, the first “RetRollSpective.” It caught the eye of management at the Marble Sports Performance Network (MSPN), and they sent Stynth to cover breaking news: Team Momo’s double injury and their merger with Team Primary for the rest of the League.
Excerpt from Stynth’s first RetRollSpective, about Team Momo.
Having penned many articles by 2018’s end, Stynth received a new offer from Mellacus, a confidant of Jelle and marble sports connoisseur. Mellacus and Jelle had plans for a new committee in time for Marble League 2019, one who would assist the planning of each tournament and listen to the reception across Marblearth. As a member of the Jelle’s Marble Runs Committee (JMRC), Stynth would have personal contact with all the teams, profiling them and setting the narrative for new fans of marble sports.
Along the way, Stynth eventually wrote more RetRollSpectives, and soon enough, every one of the 28 teams would get their very own article detailing the history of the team and the stories behind them.
After Marble League 2020 was a massive success, it became clear that Jelle Bakker was the leading figure in marble sports; this also meant Jelle was bombarded first by dozens of cities wanting to host events, then by hundreds of teams across Marblearth wanting to enter the Marble League. The JMRC had a new role where they would check up on teams, scout new host sites, and publish team lore new sports fans were demanding.
Armed with a bigger budget, Stynth finished their recaps of Marble League 2020 and then went on a world tour. During the journey, they went first to the Showdown teams to see how they were preparing for the upcoming tournament. They would then visit all of the teams who were in the top flight Marble League and made many memories on tour, including a dance party with the Balls of Chaos and Pinkies, a private tournament with the Minty Maniacs, a trip to space with Team Galactic, and plenty of interviews with the marble athletes themselves.
Nonstop travel is a good way to see how vast Marblearth sports truly is, with hundreds of athletes, rally racers, and amateurs worth profiling. Stynth had so much to add, they did not know what to do with all of the recent developments. “Truth be told, I’m overwhelmed just by the thought of writing thousands of more words and I don’t want to burn myself out in the process,” they wrote in a journal.
(Art Credit: Betawolfs)
Stynth’s ingenious solution, though, came from their other experiences in 2020: being a staff editor for other publications like The Rollout and hearing article pitches from others, like Hornets Managers Spark and Thorax, and then from JMRC member Novawolf.
In February 2021, in the break between the Marble League Winter Special and Marbula One, the plan was revealed. Stynth would become the Editor-in-Chief of a “Canon initiative,” Project Marblearth. With Jelle’s backing, Stynth would lead a new collective of writers stationed across Marblearth’s continents, telling the stories they know in the best possible way.
By March, interviews were done and Stynth had their first team. The authors included Phoenix, Nordique, Orbit, Ramen, ElrQ, Edu, Roilan, Ghostly, Vector, and the Emperor. They also found Piney, Laurent, Phantasm, and BJV to help capture the moments for the teams. A later addition was Fouc from the JMRC, who joined without hesitation in reporting and administrative roles. Together they would form Project Marblearth.
Recruitment art for the Project Marblearth team. (Art Credit: Stynth)
Over the next few months, the authors each came up with extensions of articles that Stynth originally worked on to include the story of what happened to each team post-2019. The many articles were read by thousands in the community and also brought attention to other teams that had connections to the top-tier teams. By the start of Marble League 2021, Project Marblearth was the first media source to report on the return of two teams to the League, the Gliding Glaciers and Solar Flares. The Glaciers made further history by finishing in 3rd place that year, stunning the competition.
Despite all these achievements, the journey wasn’t always sweet, as the JMRC ended up being disbanded near the end of Marbula One Season 2. With one phase of their career at a close, Stynth rented out a new corner office in the city of Pastone. It would then be a fast summer for the Project Marblearth team, who went to Felynia and reported live at the Coliseum throughout Marble League 2021. Even Stynth’s a cappella group from their alma mater, Marbist College’s Time Check, got to perform at the Marble League and eventually created the chants for all of the teams.
What does all this have to do with Glassmas, you ask?
It’s a Marbleous Life
an addendum
Today was the day before Glassmas Eve, and Stynth wrapped up the finishing touches on the first phase of Project Marblearth. The Project team now completed a profile of every active Marble League team, and vacation down in Orlango for the Editor-in-Chief was soon in sight. Yet there was one last assignment that Stynth could not refuse: an invitation to cover a special ceremony in the city formerly named Knikkegen, where Jelle Bakker would be commemorated for their service to Marble Sports.
“It’s history in the making,” Stynth told their team. “It’ll just be me flying for a day to what’s now called Nijellen, and when I’m back we can plan a party for some of us too!”
After Stynth finished their meal, a huge blizzard came through and they had to drive out of Rollkeepsie in it. Stynth’s car skidded off the highway and crashed before they got to the airport, leaving Stynth with a small dent. Eventually, when they arrived, things got even worse. Due to the bad weather, every flight to and from LaMarblia Airport was canceled for the rest of the day. With the entirety of the Big Marble area in a blizzard warning, there was simply no way of getting around. The runways were no better than the roads, slippery like an ice rink.
The snow kept falling outside while Stynth channel surfed in their hotel room and settled on a hockey game between the Rubow Charging Rhinos and Vellis Chasers. By the second intermission of the match, though, something inside them snapped. They pushed their luggage out of the hotel and into the storm, all the while yelling: “Why did I even want to go? What’s the point of me covering this Nijellen thing, anyway? What’s the point of my writing at all?!”
But then Stynth realized they weren’t the only loud marble. Suddenly, falling down from the sky, was a bright marble with gold lines screaming their hearts out! Crashing right into a pile of plowed slow, the marble was still in a daze when Stynth rolled over to check on the marble that somehow did not have a scratch on them.
“You took quite the fall, are you alright?” Stynth asked the marble back in the hotel. “Ah I’ve had worse pain before, 200 years ago I once took part in an ancient Jousting tournament. You can probably guess how well that went.”
Thinking this marble was quite the prankster, Stynth asked who the marble really was. The marble said, “I’m Clarence Oddball, A2M”. “What does A2M mean?” Stynth asked Clarence, to which they replied “Angel, second-tier member”. The receptionist fainted upon hearing that.
“You see, Stynth, I’m your Guardian Angel,” said Clarence. “I saw you needed help, so I came down to save you.”
Stynth finds Clarence after the fall (Art Credit: Piney)
To Stynth’s question – “If you are an angel, aren’t you supposed to have wings?” – Clarence had an answer: “I have not earned mine yet, but perhaps you might help me help you.” Stynth scoffed: “I know one way you can help me. You don’t happen to own a plane?”
Clarence laughed and said: “No, we don’t fly that way where I’m from.” Making no progress in the conversation, Stynth sighed: “As if this day could not get weirder. Days like this make me wish I was never here.”
Clarence was angered at that comment “Oh, you shouldn’t say stuff like that… wait a minute, that’s a good idea. You have never been born, you don’t exist!”
A great gust of wind blew outside and going out of the hotel Stynth and Clarence were on the streets of Rollkeepsie again. But this was not the town Stynth stayed at this morning; also, the dent from their earlier injury was gone completely. What Stynth remembered as the town’s key features were nowhere to be found. Especially where the Project Marblearth office was as a nightclub was in the building.
“Hey, this is supposed to be where our office is!” Stynth shouted before Clarence interrupted. “Well since you were never here there is no Project Marblearth.” “Ah I must be seeing things, let’s go get some dumplings. Maybe that’s normal.”. The two went down the block to a restaurant, the one Stynth remembers as a Momo’s Dumplings.
To Stynth’s surprise, it was Nordique at the counter as a bartender; when not writing this marble usually covered sports abroad or performed at the restaurant. Nordique barked: “Who are you? I don’t recall seeing you come in ever.”
Neither Stynth nor Clarence felt at ease in their bar seats with the crowd of rowdy marbles. The two eventually placed their orders and settled in anyway and talked about what had happened. “Hey, so of all things, why would you jump from a tall building into a snowbank?” Stynth asked Clarence about the incident. “I jumped to save you” Nordiques register dinged interrupting Clarence. “Oh, some angel made it,” said Clarence. “Every time a bell rings, it means some angel just got their wings.” Stynth did not understand what Clarence meant but played along with them. They then asked Clarence about their life and why they came by. Clarence did not have a car, money, or a place to stay.
Nordique gave the two a strange glare. “OK, you two get out of my bar. You are starting to freak me out.” Just as the bartender was getting heated, a silver marble came in – Shiny of the Shining Swarm.
Stynth rolled up to Shiny, but the marble was chipped and unwilling to talk. “Shiny, what happened to you?” About to push all three marbles out, Nordique had one last thing to say: “You know, that’s another reason why I think you are off. The Shining Swarm retired after the Showdown in 2019.”
Thrown out of the bar, Stynth, Clarence and Shiny heard Nordique spamming the register bell and exclaiming: “Yo, I’m giving out wings!” mocking Clarence’s statement. Then, Stynth looked up to where the Momo’s Dumplings sign would’ve been and then noticed it actually said “Nordique’s”.
“First, without a backstory from you and any chance at the limelight, the Shining Swarm hit the bottom four in the Showdown and thought they did not belong in the Marble League,” Clarence told Stynth. “They also stopped performing as the MarBeats. As for Team Momo, their passion was lost after constantly getting injured and not having the fan base they had that you helped create for them. They still compete but they’re pretty forgettable.”
Stynth was angered: “Their start this past year was memorable! Momomomo even won a gold!” Clarence replied: “Well, you never wrote that article about their start…”
“Let’s get out of here. I just want to go home.” With Stynth rolling ahead and Clarence catching up, they boarded the train out of town and were quite surprised to see Orbit as the conductor. “Orbit? You remember me right? We worked on a few articles together!” Orbit was stumped and said: “I have never seen you before in my life.”
“We even worked on the Fruit Circuit reunion!” said Stynth. “Heck, you are part of the JMA! Don’t you remember any of this?” Orbit replied back “Fruit Circuit? Also, no one works for the Marble League so it’s clear to me you do not belong here.”
Orbit signaled to the Emperor, who was a security marble on the train; they dragged both Stynth and Clarence off the train at the next station and into a police car. In the back of the Emperor’s car, Clarence told Stynth the dark truth.
“Without reporting from the Marblearth team, there was no interest in reviving the Fruit Circuit, or any of them – the Surculo, Bug Circuit, Stardust Classic, Ramen Bowl, or Seven Seas Circuit. And there sure wasn’t interest in setting up Cranythm or the Midnight Melee. The Marble League’s the only game in town.”
“Wait! You did not mention Herbotamia! All the Hubelino teams came from there and even the Gliding Glaciers and Solar Flares came up from it to get to the Marble League this year.” The Emperor heard this, “The Gliding Glaciers? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. They have not been in the Marble League since the qualifiers of 2018.”
Stynth knew otherwise: “But they were just in the Marble League this year, and they finished third in it!” To that, Emperor just laughed: “I don’t know what Marble League you watched, because there were no marbles like them there.”
Tugging against Stynth, Clarence whispered: “Quick, I can get you out of here!” In a snap, the two of them vanished from the car. “Hey, where did they go?” Emp thought before alerting the department of two runaways.
Rolling through downtown again, Clarence and Stynth rolled by a mural, whose painters were still running around with brushes: designers Stynth recognized, like Piney, BJV, Laurent, and Phantasm. However, unlike the art Stynth was familiar with from each of them, this mural was all black and white, and did not look good at all. “What happened here? You were all great designers!” Stynth asked the designers.
BJV told Stynth: “Since when did we become professional artists?” Stynth tried to bring up some of the past graphics work, whether it was certain photos from articles, or in Piney’s case, the entire Raspberry Racers RetRollSpective. None of them knew any of this or what was going on, except for Piney who knew some of the Raspberry Racers. They told Stynth to go to Roilan’s they would explain everything.
Stynth met with Roilan at their place. There they talked about what happened in the past couple of years. “Marble League 2020 in the Andromedome was very dysfunctional, to say the least,” Roilan told Stynth recapping their memory of the past tournament. “Yeah, as a Raspberry Racers fan we didn’t do too well, but the way it happened was pretty chaotic compared to the previous four.”
Stynth interrupted: “There’s got to be a twist somewhere. Every marble I’ve talked to had something happen differently than I remembered.”
“Well, after Razzy couldn’t finish the Hurdles no one knew what to do. There was no rule about subbing a marble mid-event. So the team was disqualified and Razzy did not return for the rest of that season. In fact, Berry took their spot in Collision.”
“Without you, there was no real Committee who made calls on complicated situations like this one,” said Clarence. there was no clear-cut way to analyze the Marble League.” Stynth was surprised to hear no one supported Jelle on their mission to build a successful League.
There was a knock on Roilan’s door, and in came another writer Stynth knew: Phoenix, reporting on tournaments like the Cranthym Challenges. “Who are these two?” Phoenix asked as they grabbed a cup of cocoa.
“It’s a long story,” Roilan said. “These two were wondering what led to the downfall of Marble Sports.” To which Phoenix replied: “Have you got to Misty Mountain yet?” “Just getting there now,” said Roilan. “You want to tell them about this one?”
Phoenix obliged and stated: “Well, it was the tenth race of Marbula One Season 2 in which the Crazy Cat’s Eyes were bound to win. However, the race was delayed because no one knew where the Hazers were. By the time the race started, things went haywire. Clutter got trapped in the safety marble lane, Bumble was stuck after colliding with Cerulean, then the safety marble and the other marbles kept passing them, a red flag was issued.
“The race restarted late and eventually Hazy won at their home track. Though while the fans of the home team went crazy, fans of the other teams, namely the Balls of Chaos, Bumblebees, Kobalts, Midnight Wisps, and Team Momo were angered at the result and started throwing stuff onto the track and eventually rolled toward the podium. It was so painful to witness for Jelle that they suspended the season for a whole month.”
Stynth remembered this race as it was the one that eventually led to the JMRC resigning, but the way it was handled in this world was much worse.
Clarence then said, “There was no control among the fans 2020 onward and that moment ended up being a turning point in the era of Marble Sports.” Stynth could not take it anymore. They then asked the other marbles in the room “What happened to Jelle?”
The only one who could answer was Clarence, who told Stynth “You really do not want to know what happened to Jelle, or Marble League 2021, as a whole.”
Lights flashed before Stynth’s eyes again, and then they and Clarence were standing outside of Felynia Coliseum. The billboards flashed and declared the 2021 Marble League was underway.
“Maybe Rollkeepsie isn’t the same without me, but nothing’s changed in Felynia,” remarked Stynth. “That’s for the best, honestly.”
“Guess you have to find the truth for yourself,” replied Clarence. Nudging past fans of all colors, they found two seats in the stands just in time for the Opening Ceremony. What Stynth noticed right away, though, was the booing: each team would roll down the stadium grounds and a rival fan section would jeer and insult them.
“Without your work setting the standard for marble sports coverage,” said Clarence, “Nothing stopped Marblearth from descending into petty gossip and accusations about the athletes.”
The first event in this parallel Felynia was the 5 Meter Sprint, and controversy started right away. A photo finish was decided for the Speeders, and the crowd immediately booed with one coach petitioning to investigate if the starting gate was “rigged.” In the end, it was Swifty of the Savage Speeders who won by fifteen lengths: before the podium ceremony started, Stynth could see opposing fans start trickling out of the stands.
After the podium ceremony, Stynth at least saw two familiar faces: Fouc and Edu, writers they knew well, rolling down to the podium for an interview. However, Stynth would have never predicted their questions for Swifty: “Where’s the proof from your team that you’re not doping this Marble League? And will you clarify Rapidly’s insults towards Coach Berry?”
Stynth had to exclaim: “Fouc! Edu! You’re better than this! You can’t just accuse like that without evidence!” But if these two Raspberry Racers fans heard Stynth, they only glanced at the blue marble for a second before focusing on Swifty.
Clarence held on to Stynth and then they were jumping through time, past event after event. Every event in this Marble League, it seemed, would end in baseless drama.
In the High Jump, Momomomo slammed against the crossbars and the medics took five minutes to carry them off the field. Stynth was above the Team Momo fan section and heard one charismatic Momo fan giving a diatribe. Stynth recognized them as Marblearth writer Ramen Powder, but the words out of them were ugly: “I never liked the CCE and now we see what’s going on! They are so intimidated by our Marbula One performance that they plot to injure our team.” After the event ended, Vector rolled onto the field in protest of another dismal Limers performance by leaving a pile of trash and dumping it on Sublime before being taken away.
In the Triathlon, Blue Eye’s disqualification for contacting the Rojo Rollers led to CCE fans pushing Rojo fans out of the stands and onto the grounds. The fighting did not stop there, as the Turtle Sliders fan section next to the Cat’s Eyes started to block security guards trying to calm the situation. Stynth could make out one loud marble leading the push: Ghostly, writer and eternal Sliders fan, yelling “I fight for my friends!”
In Block Pushing, poor track design meant each heat of four teams had either blocks or individual marbles flying across lanes, hurting athletes and causing several team disqualifications. Reaching a boiling point, Stynth jumped out of the stands and onto the field, rolling over to the JMA office for an explanation. Suddenly, they were hit by a marble behind and then cornered by five more.
“Oh my gosh, was that a streaker?” announced Greg Woods. “I’m glad the security marbles got them this time.” Before Stynth could shout in anger, Clarence transported them to their next event.
Through every controversy and every botched event, our blue marble could hear other fans laughing along, or cheering at the drama. “These are just rowdy fans, right?” they asked Clarence. “The majority in Marblearth would not stand for this.”
“Let me just show you the end,” said Clarence, and the two were at the Final Event. It was a Marblocross race without suspense, as the Savage Speeders already clinched the title two events ahead. The stands were mostly empty, as opposing teams’ fans either left or were expelled after they stormed the grounds. With a final gold in the event, the Speeders celebrated on their own as Greg Woods announced in monotone: “It’s another championship for the Savage Speeders.”
No music was played during the closing ceremony, only hisses of “dopers” and “rigged” from remaining fans. One by one, the security marbles went up and carried the loudest fans out. Stynth and Clarence still watched from the nosebleeds as the Speeders rolled out the stadium.
“Now you know, Stynth, that this was a controversial Marble League,” said Clarence. “If you look at those VIPs gathering around their seats still, you can make out that they want their money back from the organizers.”
Stynth could see a few marbles being pushed left and right by the VIPs: Fouc in their raspberry uniform, Emperor with a flower to their side, Spex sporting a constellation of green. “This is so sad,” said Stynth. “It’s a travesty they have to deal with this!”
“It’s a real shift from the Marble Leagues you covered, isn’t it?” said Clarence. “You see, Stynth, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?”
Stynth, at the moment, noticed one marble missing from their usual seat. “Where’s Jelle, Clarence?” they asked. “Jelle, most of all, doesn’t deserve this!” When the Guardian Angel only looked down to the ground, our blue marble bolted out of the stands on their own.
Rolling out of the Felynia Coliseum, bumping between Cat’s Eyes and O’rangers fans, Stynth looked all around for that flower adorning Jelle Bakker. Not until Stynth rolled two blocks down into downtown Felynia did they spot it: an orange marble with those pedals of blue, rolling alone down the crosswalk.
“Jelle! I need to tell you something!” Stynth belted as hard as they could, but the Marble League organizer didn’t turn around – they couldn’t hear Stynth, or maybe they did not want to. A van pulled up beside Jelle and a security marble came out, uttering: “your plane to Knikkegen is ready, your honor.”
By the time Stynth rolled to that spot, the van was long gone. Clarence took a while to catch up as well, and they saw Stynth at a loss for words. Finally, Stynth whispered: “This is not how marble sports should be.”
“What marble sports are, Stynth, is what we decide on as a community,” mused Clarence. “Strange, isn’t it? Each marble’s life touches so many other lives. When they aren’t around they leave an awful hole, no?”
Tears streamed down Stynth’s face. “All I wanted to do, Clarence, was to give Jelle some encouragement after what we saw… That they still bring joy to Marblearth, that there is so much that is still possible because of them. Why is even that so hard?”
“Don’t you understand, Stynth? Without you, who exactly would say those words in this world?” asked Clarence. “If controversy is what we’re used to, who has the heart to say such things?”
With those words, Stynth darted off again; all Clarence could do was sigh and mutter: “There must be some easier way to get my wings.”
Rolling down Red Eye Boulevard, Stynth was crying out: “Help me, Clarence! Get me back!” exclaimed Stynth. “I don’t care what happens! I want to live again! Please, Clarence, I want to live again…”
“I want to live again…” Stynth was by themselves back outside the hotel. It was still the night before Glassmas Eve and what was a snowstorm was now just flurries. Still, in tears, they did not notice a cyan marble covered in red and green stripes rolling towards them.
“Hallo, Stynth!” said Mellacus, Stynth’s old JMRC partner. At first, Stynth screamed and jumped back, but then said: “Mell… you know me?”
“Know you? I’ve been looking all over for you. The airport said to find you here and, hey you have a dent on your side. Is everything alright?” That was the moment Stynth felt they were officially back. “I got a dent, what do you know about that!”
Mell then told Stynth, “I heard you’re in need of a flight to Nijellen and I thought you needed some help.” The two rolled down to LaMarblia Airport, ready to board a supersonic jet with two words emblazoned on the side: “MELLOSPACE INDUSTRIES”.
An hour later, on Mellacus’s private jet, Stynth was sitting side by side with them. Shouts and laughter filled the cabin: our blue marble had many tales of their travels to share, and Mellacus the pilot had their own stories about managing their company, sending them to the farthest corners of Marblearth.
“I’m just thinking back to all the stories I’ve heard and the places I visited, and it just makes me feel so alive!” To see a friend after Clarence’s vision, not to mention knowing they can see friends again, made Stynth happier than ever.
“You know, early into the year I thought it’s going to be a pretty rough ride,” said Mellacus while cutting their steak. “We were so invested in marble sports, but the very thing we both were so passionate about was just… taken away from us.
But look at us now, man…. We got through it. It gave us strength. We’re still going strong and following our dreams. I was so proud and happy for you when I heard you were directing choirs, moving to the city, and being a freaking media mogul. Never stop doing what you do and follow your heart.”
The last thing Clarence told them, as Stynth remembered, was about heart – the heart to stay determined, follow what’s right and build a vision that goes beyond Stynth themselves. “I don’t plan on writing forever, but whatever I do next I want to do with friends like you,” said our blue marble. “I really couldn’t have been luckier.”
“But whatever you do,” said Mellacus with their mouth full, “Remember the next round of ramen bowls is on you when I visit you next time!”
It was morning when Mellacus’s plane landed. Stynth had three or four hours, give or take, to make it to the big ceremony; despite Mellacus’s assurances, they were still on edge.
“Do not worry at all, my friend,” said Mellacus, “Because we’re on time and I have a plan to get you to the ceremony.” Stynth remained jittery: “Mell, I should’ve told you that I’m writing a profile about this event. I have to get my interviews in as well!”
“I would relax about it, just stay seated until we taxi to the gate,” said Mellacus. Stynth waited and waited, seeing the plane roll further from the terminal they’ve been through.
The plane came to a stop and Stynth darted out the door and down the exit ramp, only to find something extraordinary in front of them. A massive crowd of marbles was on the tarmac looking up at Stynth – every writer of Project Marblearth, tens of marble athletes, and many old faces from the JMRC.
The crowd yelled out: “SURPRISE!” Streamers flew in the air; Stynth’s writers rolled up to give them a hug, and our blue marble let out a big “WOW!”
For two weeks, some of Marblearth’s luminaries planned to surprise Stynth before this Nijellen ceremony, then invite them to a big afterparty to celebrate four years of service to marble sports. At the moment, marbles went up one by one to offer their good wishes for the Editor-in-Chief.
Nordique went up to Stynth feeling emotional. “There’s no one who has contributed more to the JMR community or put the fans first more than you, Stynth, with all the lore you have created in the last few years. Together, all of us here at the project will make sure the spirit of your stories will carry on forever. You have been a mentor for all of us on the project and have been a great leader in both the Marblebase and the Marblearth. Thanks for being here for everyone even in tough times. I am deeply grateful to be part of the project and to have a friend like you.”
“Today, we’re gathered here to celebrate your unmatched long-time commitment to make the marble sports world more alive. Without your effort to bring us the stories, origins, and experiences of each team, we wouldn’t have the inspiration that led us to be more involved with the developments of the events, nor have the opportunity to continue this great work to share the messages these athletes want to state for the fans”, said Edu G. J., a rising writer in Stynth’s project.
“I appreciate your commitment and your coverage, Stynth,” said Speedy of the Savage Speeders. “Our team is in debt to you for the time you spent with us.”
Phoenix rolled over, beaming. “Hey Stynth, you’ve always been an amazing friend. I’m so glad we can celebrate you here because you really deserve it! Incredible author and talented musician, but above all, someone who is always there for a word and who you can put so much trust into. Thanks so much for all you’ve done, and all you do. No matter where you go, being a good friend will always be enough for me.”
“It’s an honor that we were the story of your very first article.” Mimo of Team Momo said as they rolled over. “Thanks for being such a big fan of our team and we have been avid readers of the articles that you and the project have sent out.”
Fouc, writer and friend of Stynth’s, rolled up and said: “Heyo Stynth, thanks for taking me along this journey of yours.”
“Here’s to Stynth, the most clever of them all!” said Captain Shiny of the Shining Swarm. “Let’s make a promise right now, we’ll do a jam session at the afterparty.”
A note randomly appeared behind Stynth on the tree. When they read the note, it said “Remember, Stynth: no marble is broken who has friends. Thanks for the wings!-Clarence” The bell rang on the tree when Phoenix said “Look! Every time a bell rings an angel gets their wings!” Stynth remembered what Clarence said then acknowledged Phoenix. “That’s right! Well done Clarence!”
It was the last well-wisher that morning that rocked Stynth to their core: an orange marble with blue flowers, Jelle Bakker themselves.
“Greets, Stynth!” said Jelle. “I love your project, and I hope that this will be continued in future events. It is very important we talk about your plans before we leave.”
Stynth could not stop nodding before the Marble Master said they must catch their ride into Nijellen, but had one last request: “We must have more reporters attending the Marble Rallies, in order to increase interest and popularity. Can you make plans for this?”
“That’s what I’m here for!” gleamed Stynth. Once again they would roll into the Project Marblearth news truck, on their way to more breaking news. But on this special day, they were right next to all the writers working for their Project, the talent whose lives they touched over the years.
Glassmas Eve or not, our blue marble was set to write again. And in Nijellen later that night, at the end of Stynth’s journey, bells were ringing from the city hall in anticipation of the celebration ahead.
Stynth, the Project Marblearth team, plus Alpine, Mimo, and Shiny together for Glassmas Eve. Front row: Jelle, Stynth, Mell. Middle row (Left to right): Fouc, Edu, Ramen, Piney, Phoenix, ElrQ, Vector, Orbit, Ghostly, Roilan, Emp, Nordique. Back row left: Phantasm, Laurent, and BJV. (Art credit: BJV)
This comic was originally published on the Project Marblearth Blog as an addendum to “RetRollSpective – Raspberry Racers“. All writing and illustration were done by Piney.
Friday, 10 September 2021, 1:49 PM Felynia Standard Time
Fireworks are still setting off from the roof of Felynia Coliseum, dotting the dimming burnt sierra sky with pupils of color as I open my bag, searching for my press pass as I descend the stands towards the arena. A security officer, who I recognize as one of the marbles that apprehended the streaker in Football, opens the gate for me, recognizing my blue-and-white-striped notepad and Project Marblearth pinback button atop my Team Momo hat.
“We know who you are,” they say. “You have ten minutes.” When I try to reason with the officer that ten minutes wasn’t enough to interview the sixteen Marblocross athletes, 2021 Marble League medalists, 2022 Marble League hosts, and members of JMR, the officer sighs. “You have ten minutes.”
I race down the stairs into a sea of security officers, then construction workers, then VIP fans, and then, at last, staff and teams. As I travel deeper into the crowd, I hear broken phrases from different marbles stringing together into a cacophony of conversation: “They have ten minutes…can we at least start with the banners…the Limers are trash, aren’t they…wait, are you Stynth?”
An athlete in a Gliding Glaciers uniform approaches me, a captain’s pin adorning their iridescent patterning of white, blue, and bronze. “Name’s Alpine. Thanks for that RetRollSpective before the season; you and Emp helped us get the name out there.”
I smile warmly, not sure how to respond to Alpine’s flattery.
“Come on, I’m chilling with some of the others. Pun intended.”
Alpine rolls to the left of a crowd assembling around a group of uncontrollable VIP Limers fans, who are smashing one of the Marble League 2021 banners that construction workers had already dismantled. To the right, a group of security officers struggle to get through the piles of debris, discarded key lime pies, and salt.
On the other side is a much calmer and supportive group of marbles: Mimo, Rojo Dos, Sparkle, and Bolt. They are all sharing a large box of Momo’s Dumplings, and Sparkle extends one to me when they notice me come around the bend. I respectfully decline.
“If you don’t eat your dumplings, you can’t have any pudding,” Sparkle says, sighing. “How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your dumplings?”
“More for me, I guess,” replies Bolt, taking a green old-timer dumpling from the box with three dumplings already in their grasp. “What? Lightning won’t mind!”
“You mean mo’ for me,” corrects Rojo Dos. The five athletes chuckle, and so do I.
Alpine motions for Iceberg, Polar, Frost, and Sheet to join from across the way, and they roll over with their overall bronze medals in tow. “We know we fell hard after the Funnels, but we knew that if we kept working hard, we’d find a way to get back to contention.”
“We haven’t gotten a chance to show off our Ice Hockey skills in the Marble League. But we figured they would translate well to Football during our training, so we built on what we already knew,” Iceberg explains.
“And scored five goals in the entire event,” adds Mocha, rolling over from a photo op with their team. “Unbelievable.”
“No, your goal from the corner was unbelievable,” Iceberg responds. “That’s something I couldn’t have even pulled off.”
Mocha beams. They turn around to Mimo offering them a dessert dumpling – a chocolate-filled delicacy with bits of coffee toffee sticking outside of the sweet dough. As Mocha takes the treat, Mimo and Iceberg embrace.
“Our match could have gone either way, but I don’t hold it against the Glaciers for winning,” admits Mimo. “It’s an honor to know we faced off against the eventual event winners and tournament bronze medalists.”
“You still did amazing,” Alpine encourages. “Eight events leading the standings in a row…we didn’t get to lead the standings once.”
Mimo shrugs. “But it’s not about where you start, it’s where you finish, right?”
“It’s the journey as a whole that matters,” replies Alpine.
Can I get a Time Check? I think to myself, checking my watch. Six minutes to go. A lot can happen in six minutes…but probably not all of the interviews I need!
I bid a hasty farewell to Mimo, who hands me a dessert dumpling as I hustle to the back of the arena. As I scout the perimeter, I find Hazy and Misty trying to shoo away a group of distraught Hazers fans. There, I ran into two athletes, one decked out in fuschia, the other in the unmistakable orange of the O’rangers.
“Come on, let’s help them out,” says Rizzy, gesturing at the Hazers duo. I am surprised to see them yell in tandem with Kinnowin for security, who rushes over to the scene to clear the crowd. They seem entirely unfazed by their performance in the final event.
“OOOOOOOY, out of the way!” hollers Kinnowin, darting through the crowd to dispel it from the inside. Misty, still wearing a special medal that they were given for Most Valuable Marble after the ceremony, smiles warmly and shies away to the arena’s exit.
Hazy eyes the exit as well but moves through an opening in the crowd to approach me. “We’re unfortunately used to this with last events and closing ceremonies. The best thing we can do is hold our heads high and keep on rolling.” After a moment, they follow Misty out of the arena.
I am left with Rizzy and Kinnowin, the latter of which is calling to a Let It Roll correspondent in the stands about the reopening of the Blood O’ranger Gym. Rizzy turns to me, their demeanor completely changed. “I knew I wouldn’t break the Marbula curse, and I’ll never forget it. But I’ll do my best to forgive myself for that.”
Catching an orange thrown from the stands, Kinnowin adds, “If we could after choking away last year’s championship, then you will after barely missing this year’s. Give us a call if you need anything…like some freshly picked oranges!”
As my custom Time Check stopwatch approaches the two-minute mark, I’m sprinting across the arena of the Felynia Coliseum to interview everyone I can… (Art Credit: Stynth)
In the stands, the rogue fan is being approached by a security marble, one of many sky blue marbles in the detail that was starting to spread throughout the stadium.
Time Check, I remind myself, checking my watch. Two minutes. Not bad. But I haven’t found everyone yet…
I stop in front of Minty Fresh, who is posing with Speedy for a picture for Marbles Today. I awkwardly move to the left of Minty Fresh, catching a glare from Speedy to their right. Following the photo op, I congratulate Minty Fresh on their Marblocross victory and third career gold medal.
“Stynth! Thank you so much. This is anything but what we would have wanted our season to be…but honestly, we learned so much. And all things considered, there isn’t a better way to end a Marble League than winning the final event.”
“I should know,” Speedy adds, to the enjoyment of some of the marbles among us as they chuckle to themselves. “Although…I’m wondering if I should let someone else close next year for the Speeders. Maybe they’ll be a little more aware of the safety marble lane after a sand section and the conveyor belt.”
I drift away from the two, although I don’t have to roll very far to reach Billy, who is huddled with the rest of their team in a fitting V-formation.
“Ducks fly together,” Bombay remarks after their embrace with the team. “There were some close moments this year, let alone in this event. We lost, but we lost together, and we’ll make it through that.”
“I’m excited for next year. The moment we get to reset the Rafting record in Draklin…” teases Billy before being cut off by Mallard.
“We have a lot to focus on before then, Billy. How’s about we go to Greenstone next week? Try out the course again?”
“Sounds good to me!” Billy exclaims.
“Hey, Billy, great work out there,” says a voice to the side. Out rolls Diego, who Indie had mentioned a few nights prior as their team’s runner for Marblocross. “I wanted to catch up to you, but the slaloms got to me…”
Time Check. Thirty seconds??! Wait, Mellow Yellow is just a few lengths away. Let me see if I can ask them about their three-event medal streak…or about how Yellup is back…
A voice from behind me booms, “Time’s up.”
I jump suddenly, turning to find the security guard from earlier. Their stopwatch is beeping incessantly.
“Time to go,” they reiterate. “No excuses.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cleocatra gazing in my general direction, escorting Mellow Yellow in front of them to a special exit from the arena, before security guards and official stewards enforce control, outlining a path for remaining fans to exit. I comply, exiting Felynia Coliseum for the last time.
Friday, 10 September 2021, 6:41 PM FST
Nearly five hours later, I settle down in my hotel room and exhale deeply. I knew that I should have been relaxing that night, even if I wasn’t invited to either the official staff banquet or the athletes’ gala. But I was in the mood to work—so I begin unpacking my sets of notes on each team’s performance in the Marble League.
12. Savage Speeders – You couldn’t count out the Savage Speeders going into the final event, where Speedy had the opportunity to close the season with their third Marble League championship. But they crashed hard against the safety marble lane in Lap 16, sinking in the race order from sixth to the bottom four, and they couldn’t recover. It wasn’t an injury, but it was a hurdle that, for once, the GOAT couldn’t clear. They told Minty Fresh they’d own it if they lost to them in the Marblocross, but it’s unlikely Speedy predicted it would go this poorly for them. Now, their entire team has finished in its lowest position in any JMR tournament ever, and even with 2 golds, this was the Speeders’ year to lose. Now, it’s their loss to own.
I remember Speedy, earlier that afternoon, suggesting that another athlete close for the Speeders next year. The Savage Speeders’ RetRollSpective has yet to be republished on the Project Marblearth Blog, but I can’t help but think about how well this would fit into their existing article. And I can’t help but pity Speedy for falling so hard at the end of this season.
These thoughts and more go through my mind as Editor-In-Chief—as I wonder where every experience these athletes have gone through fits into their overall narrative. I wonder how the Minty Maniacs, with their redemptive gold medal in Marblocross, will find a way to give back to their home region of Herbotamia for their undying support. I wonder where the Jungle Jumpers, after a tumultuous year of development around their hometown of Lewara, will train for future competitions. I wonder if Dr. Crolley, that rogue paranormal investigator, will come out of hiding with some strange conspiracy about the Hazers doing terrible in final events. I wonder how Candy, former captain of the Jawbreakers, will carry on outside of Jelle’s Marble Runs.
As I wonder, I realize that it’s not all about sports – competition appearances and performance results only go so far. Medals and trophies are only physical representations of those moments of success, but they often don’t capture the big picture.
A vignette imagining the marble moments that will follow the 2021 Marble League. (Art Credit: Piney)
Casual fans may not think of Mellow Yellow as a championship team if they’ve only seen them compete in 2020, but today, they won convincingly in the closest Marble League to date. It’s difficult to understand why if you only look at their JMR performances…but the context of their victory in the Fruit Circuit Reunion, where Yellup executed a last-lap-overtake against the Watermelon Wanderers after spending most of the final race in the bottom of the racing order, says more. As Yellup said after the race:
“I thought of everything I had been through – my miserable tenure at a corporate job, months of struggling to make ends meet, and years where I’d been so close to winning, even when I’d fallen so short…and I realized that the act of winning isn’t what matters, but the journey to get there does. And I’m not making the most of that journey if I’m not fighting for it, even if the result ends up not so mellow.”
My experience as a student learning how to write taught me the same through the process of “identify, exemplify, justify”: state your point, back up your point, and explain why that point matters. At this moment, I realize that Yellup’s comments after their Fruit Circuit victory hold for their Marble League victory as well, and justify why it matters that you make the most of your journey.
If I can do that for all of these teams and athletes,I think to myself, if I can connect these stories from the community and have them mean something – I’ll have done my job. And I’ll be able to move forward from there.
My phone lights up about a minute later with a text from Fouc: “You’ll never believe who I saw at the bar.” I pick up the phone and give them a call.
Monday, 13 December 2021, 12:31 PM Pastone Standard Time
Good afternoon, Contributors!
…Today, I’m proud to officially announce that we have completed our initial Phase 1 goal of updating a RetRollSpective for every active team.
…I wanted to thank you all for being a part of this project. To be able to work on building a narrative universe is what I feel represents our community at its finest: when we’re creating together. Working with you has been a pleasure for me, and I hope it has been a pleasure for you all as well.
Our publication break will remain in place until at least mid-February, but we will begin working on our content for Phase 2 starting early January.
…Keep on rolling!
I hit ENTER on my keyboard, sending the above message to everyone in the community involved with working on Project Marblearth. After nearly a year of collaboration, it feels surreal to see the progress we have made in chronicling the events of the athletes competing in Jelle’s Marble Runs.
And even then, thanking them at this moment does not feel like enough for the time and effort they put in throughout a year of tumult—one that saw the dissolution of the Jelle’s Marble Runs Committee, and with that, the separation of Project Marblearth from affiliation with Jelle’s Marble Runs.
The uncertainty of the moment and successive frustrations with the staff nearly caused me to cancel the entire project, but it was our authors, consultants, co-editors, designers, and supporters–including Jelle themself–that inspired me to keep going. They inspired me as Editor-In-Chief to fulfill the promise I made to former JMR Team member, Novawolf: to give every team the same attention to detail in telling their stories. Today, we as the community achieved that.
As I schedule the publication dates for the final three RetRollSpective re-releases, I receive an email invitation from the Jelle’s Marble Association for a special ceremony in eleven days. Although I’m across the ocean from the event…I cannot pass up this opportunity.
Friday, 24 December 2021, 4:00 PM Nijellen Standard Time
Today marks a historic day, not only for Jelle’s Marble Runs and sports history but for all of marble society. The city of Knikkegen, where Jelle founded Jelle’s Marble Runs and hosted the Marble League, will be officially renamed to Nijellen in recognition of Jelle and their achievements.
I’m stationed in a press office on the second floor of a gelato shop in the city center. Below me is a densely packed city square, with fans from around the world, locals, athletes, and close confidants mingling in the square, which is, fittingly, actually shaped like a circle. In addition to the city rededication, I’m hearing this space will also be recognized as the “Bakkerbol” – honoring the sphere of influence that Jelle has had in developing the city’s interests in sports.
I’ve been invited to sit among the fans, and yet, I feel some hesitancy. I’m torn between my duty to report from a location where I can see the big picture of the celebration, and my desire to report from a location where I can be in the moment to celebrate with Jelle. In a way, I feel that this separation is exactly what I need to distance myself as I fulfill the final requirement of Phase 1 of Project Marblearth.
But ultimately, I know exactly what I want. I want to be with the community that I love being a part of, and I don’t want to let it go. So I’m donning my Team Momo hat, my Project Marblearth pinback button displayed atop with pride, and grabbing my blue-and-white-striped notepad as I race down the stairs…
“Greetings from Nijellen,” introduces the Marbula One Racer’s Champion, Red Eye. “It’s my honor to welcome you home – home to a vision that if you’re passionate about something and give it your all, you will achieve your goals and be the best that you can be. That vision finds its home here because of a marble that has realized it through their passion for runs, races, and sports. That vision finds its home here, in Nijellen, because of Jelle Bakker.”
Red Eye pauses, letting a stream of cheers that had permeated through their opening statement overflow into thunderous applause. They’re beaming onstage as they roll up to the microphone once more.
“As an athlete, I owe the success I’ve had in my career to Jelle. But more importantly, I owe the passion I’ve found in my career to Jelle and their vision. It’s the kind of focus that has guided me as an athlete, and I’m certain has guided so many others who I’ve competed with as they continue to achieve glorifying moments in their journeys.
To that end, this isn’t about me, and it never was. It was about you, and your truth that no matter what, we’d find a way to keep on rolling to the finish line. We’d do that together. And we did.
So now, it’s time to celebrate you, to thank you for everything, and promise you that we’ll keep supporting you and your vision. Because in the end, it’s our vision too.”
An Editor-In-Chief’s perspective of a new beginning for the community. (Art Credit: Betawolfs)
Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on the Jawbreakers, a team that originated in Marble League 2016 and went inactive in the spring of 2021. Read on to see how this team crushed its competition!
The official logo for the Jawbreakers, designed by Tim Ritz.
The Jawbreakers were involved in marble sports for many years. The original team, consisting of Candy, Tidbit, Mouthful, and Tongue Twister, were originally involved in professional wrestling and competed against each other in lucha marbre leagues such as the Extreme Lucha Marbre Championship. Candy, the only athlete who remained on the team since its inception, is from the city of Jawnair. While Candy was a wrestler, they were known as “Royal Candy, the Jawbreaker”.
Candy, Tidbit, Mouthful, and Tongue Twister were known as the “elite four” of the ELMC and were in a fierce rivalry for many years. All four of them expressed their past distaste for each other in interviews:
“Candy has always been as annoying as a toothache,” Mouthful complained, after a gut-wrenching loss in Jawnair. “I could never see myself getting along with them.”
“Candy consistently crushes the competition,” told Tongue Twister. “Whenever I beat them, it’s a sweet victory for me.”
“Look, there’s a reason they call me royalty. They all know that I’m the best,” asserted Candy. “And they all know that I’m the glue that keeps everyone together in this rivalry.”
Tidbit shuffled off to the side when interviewed. “Honestly…I don’t care about Candy. It’s just Mouthful and Tongue Twister…they’re so relentless about winning against Candy that it makes me want to fight them even more.”
The Jawbreakers, then fierce foes, wrestling in an Extreme Lucha Marbre Championship. (Art Credit: Betawolfs)
The Jawbreakers became individually famous as wrestlers but made headlines in 2010 when they decided to compete in an exhibition race as a part of the Surculo. The exhibition called for other sports leagues to participate in a short sand race down Colina Umerun to raise money for the preservation of Numerun Antigua. Thousands of fans petitioned the ELMC for what they thought was the impossible—an “elite four” team-up. After signing dozens of contracts and waivers, the Jawbreakers applied together, using Candy’s nickname as their team name, to compete in the race.
They finished third, a surprising feat for a team of professional wrestlers with no synergy between the four. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that a team of BASE jumpers, who nearly overslept after going out the night before, won the race. That team, the Jungle Jumpers, joined the Surculo the following year after retiring. The Jawbreakers followed in their footsteps not long after.
The original members of the Jawbreakers pose for a Marble League photoshoot. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Everything changed after that race. We realized that we have much more in common than we thought,” Tidbit remarked. “We became less motivated to tear each other apart because we had that experience together, and it wasn’t long before we realized we wanted more of that.”
“We became more motivated to tear apart the Jungle Jumpers, which we were finally able to do in the 2015 Surculo,” Candy asserted. “It took us a few years to get through to the elite tournament, but we did. The Rojo Rollers gave us a run for our money, but we were triumphant in the end.”
With the announcement of the 2016 Marble League, Greg Woods extended an invite to the leading teams of many regional marble sports tournaments. This included the top three teams of the 2015 Surculo, and the Jawbreakers were accepted as the top team in the tournament. The Jungle Jumpers declined so they could vie for the 2016 Surculo championship.
The Jawbreakers debuted in eleventh place but quickly turned their season around by earning two back-to-back silver medals in the Relay Race (qualifying for the final on the faulty track) and Collision. The team peaked after the third event at second in the overall standings but stayed in the top three after Candy finished fourth in the Sand Rally. That said, the Jawbreakers did not fare well during the rest of the season, earning just three points over the next eight events. They finished seventh overall, landing in the middle of the sixteen competitors.
The Jawbreakers’ silver medal in 2016 Collision. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
During the offseason leading into the 2017 Marble League, a major shakeup occurred in the team’s lineup, with every member leaving the team except Candy. When questioned about the changes, Candy was bitter:
“I was miserable last year [in 2016]. I don’t care how well we placed, you all treated me like I was a cough drop. Sugar, Sweet, and Taffy are all amazing teammates. They listen to me, and no matter what happens, at least we know we’re doing the right thing.”
Candy recruited Sugar, Sweet, and Taffy from Jawnair’s premier wrestling league, citing them as “some of the strongest, fairest” marbles they had ever known. Their decision seemed to pay off during the 2017 Marble League Qualifiers, where Sugar won the Sand Rally and put the Jawbreakers in the position to qualify in eleventh overall.
The Jawbreakers were optimistic about their performance in the main tournament, but they did not impress. The team did not make the podium once during the season, although they came close with Taffy’s 37.5-centimeter performance during the High Jump. With several finishes in the middle of the pack, the Jawbreakers finished the 2017 Marble League in thirteenth place.
Tidbit joined sometime before the 2018 Marble League Qualifiers as the Jawbreakers’ reserve, hoping to bring back some of the inaugural season’s successes. Sadly, the team was never within reach of qualifying in Group A, staying in fifth for three of the four events and dropping to sixth after the Halfpipe to finish there.
The unqualified teams of Marble League 2018. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“I apologized to Candy about our many arguments. Well, I didn’t participate in them. I mostly sided with Mouthful and Tongue Twister,” Tidbit explained. “So I guess I apologized to Candy for siding with them. Candy forgave me, and I was accepted onto the team as a reserve member.”
After witnessing the 2018 Marble League from the stands, the Jawbreakers competed in the Consolation Race, submitting Taffy, who placed eleventh. Sugar competed in the 100 Meter Water Race and was unable to finish the race, placing twenty-fifth. The four team members competed in the Amazing Maze Marble Race and placed tenth overall, blocked from advancing to the semifinals by the Savage Speeders and O’rangers’ advancements.
The team was not expected to qualify for the 2019 Marble League, but then again, neither were the Chocolatiers. The Jawbreakers did not place above twelfth in any of the four events, failing to qualify in seventeenth place.
“It’s pretty clear that the 2019 Jawbreakers team is not the 2016 Jawbreakers team,” Mouthful mused. “Maybe if Royal Candy hadn’t been so bossy, we would have done better. I wish nothing but the worst for them.”
The Jawbreakers’ first individual medal in the Marble League, claimed by “Royal” Candy in the 2019 Showdown’s Sand Rally. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Jawbreakers needed a breakout moment, and Candy, now appointed the team’s captain, needed reassurance more than anyone else on the team. After acquiring Gummy as the team’s coach, the Jawbreakers began training for the 2019 Marble League Showdown, a tournament that would define their placement in the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers. Candy’s debut in the first event, the Sand Rally, gave them the justification they had been seeking for three years when they won the race:
“I promise you that we’re doing the right thing. Look, it just worked. I—I mean, we—just got our first medal in over two years. I think that means we’re on the right track.”
Tidbit finally competed in their first event during Collision, where the team lost during the quarterfinals and placed eighth. The Jawbreakers kept the rest of their placements in the middle and finished the Showdown in fifth, advancing to the next season’s qualifiers.
Jawbroken
an addendum by Roilan Estates
The 2020 Marble League approached quickly as Candy was pushing the team to their limit in an attempt to make it back to the main show. Almost every daylight hour in Jawnair was dedicated to training, rain or shine, under one of the most intense training regimens in the Marble League. Gummy was around to monitor the team, but Candy served as almost a player-coach when the team trained.
“Candy has emphasized our improvement and has encouraged us to keep the form from last season’s Showdown. It’s been encouraging, but has come at the cost of a lot of sweat and tears,” Sugar explained when asked about the training routine, “I don’t even know who won the Marbula One championship because all my time has gone to training, eating, or sleeping.”
Determined as ever, the team entered the Andromedome for the Qualifiers. They had a slow start in Balancing as three of the four members fell off before 65 cm. Sweet did manage to make it to the end of the beam, but couldn’t navigate into the catch basin at the end, so the team left ten points on the board. Those ten points would not come into play, however, and the Jawbreakers finished the opening event in fourteenth place.
Sweet just missed the catch basin at the end of the beam in 2020 Qualifiers. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Candy got the team back on track in Funnel Endurance. Keeping cool in a chaotic event, Candy managed to stay out of many negative collisions, and they finished second in their heat and fourth overall. The sixteen points earned landed them in ninth overall, but after a rough performance in Block Pushing, they found themselves below the cutoff line with one event to go. Against Candy’s campaigning, Gummy sent Sweet out in the 5 Meter Sprint. Unfortunately, Sweet got a slow start out of the gate and could never recover. They finished last in their heat and seventeenth overall. As a result of poor results in the final two events, the Jawbreakers finished in eighteenth overall in the Qualifiers – destined for another year in the Showdown.
That off-season, Stynth got a chance to visit with the team:
“I received a tour of the wrestling gym where Candy had trained for the ELMC, which was attached to the Jawbreakers’ training facility. As I toured the facility, I ran into Tidbit, the team’s reserve.
‘Things have been a little tense since I recruited Mouthful to return to the team as our manager, but we needed this. Mouthful isn’t only putting Candy in their place, but holding the rest of us accountable for our actions,’ Tidbit explained. ‘The newer team members are having a rough time adjusting, but they’ll get there. We all will.’”
Outside of Stynth’s visit, the team stayed very quiet in the time between the Qualifiers and Showdown. The presence of Mouthful took the pressure off Candy to coach the team along with Gummy. Even so, the training didn’t lighten up. Each session was intense and Gummy was keen to continue pushing the team to their limit. Candy pushed themselves beyond the rest of the team and stayed upwards of three hours after practice was over, training by themselves. Determined to put themselves back into competition, the Jawbreakers arrived back in Polaria. Ahead of the Showdown, I caught up with a few of the members.
“Candy took the failure to qualify hard,” Taffy remarked ahead of the Showdown, “They had such high hopes to qualify, but we couldn’t come through for them. We didn’t see Candy for the first half of the Marble League until Stynth came to visit. According to them, they had been training, but not with the rest of the team. Gummy kept up our training routine, but only with the four of us, not Candy.”
The Jawbreakers attempt to prepare for the Showdown in the absence of their captain. (Photo Credit: The Emperor)
“In all honesty, Candy just cares a lot more than we do,” Sweet added. “Don’t get me wrong, we care, but Candy is on another level. We do this out of the love of marble sports. The ability to compete is satisfying enough for us, whereas Candy has a more ‘win or bust’ mindset.”
“Things just aren’t the same as they were in 2016, and who knows if they will ever be,” Tidbit remarked. “Candy may get along with Sugar, Sweet, and Taffy, but they don’t compete well as a team. There was something about the contrasting personalities of Candy, Mouthful, Tongue-Twister, and I that made us want to work harder for the gold.”
The 2020 Marble League Showdown began with the Relay, an event the Jawbreakers had struggled with since the member change. Trying to find some of their success from 2016, Tidbit was the lead leg—although they did well to get an early lead, the handoffs were poor, and they fell to third in their heat by the end. The Jawbreakers didn’t improve in the Halfpipe, where they placed eleventh and slipped to last overall.
The highlight of the Showdown was in the Black Hole Funnel, where Taffy and Tidbit just missed the podium in fourth, but they would still need a great performance in the final event to avoid relegation. Candy closed out the Jawbreakers’ season with an eleventh place finish in the Sand Moguls, dropping down to last in the overall standings. The Jawbreakers had hit rock bottom.
A slow third handoff drops the team out of a possible transfer to 2021 Qualifiers. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
That offseason was shrouded by rumors and changes. Early in the offseason, Taffy received an offer to come back to the ELMC. They consulted Gummy and Mouthful on what to do, but with another year in the Showdown looming, they decided to accept the offer and left the team. To replace Taffy, the Jawbreakers promoted Tidbit to the main team and added Caramel to the roster as the reserve. Caramel had competed briefly in the individual division of the Surculo, where they met the Jawbreakers. However, their time with the Jawbreakers was very brief.
Throughout the offseason, fans called for the Jawbreakers to be out of the league. With news that the Gliding Glaciers, who have similar uniforms to the Jawbreakers, were training for an invitational later in the offseason, tension rippled in the Jawbreakers camp.
“It’s hard to ignore,” Sweet disclosed, “Hearing the following give up on you and call for your retirement is discouraging. You see it all the time. You start as the hot new team with expectations, but as soon as you start to slip, they give up on you. It’s not easy to focus on training to be better knowing the majority of people have written you off.”
Towards the end of the offseason, the team sat down for a team meeting regarding their future. It became apparent that the team no longer enjoyed competing in the Marble League and wanted to pursue other career paths: Sugar wanted to follow in Greg Woods’ footsteps as a commentator and returned to the Surculo to provide commentary, Sweet had found an affinity to travel in their time in the Marble League and took a job at Atlas Marbura, Tidbit went back to the ELMC to coach the younger generation of wrestling, and Caramel took a job as the manager of the Chocolatiers.
“This isn’t the end of us,” Gummy assured, “Don’t think of it as a retirement, but maybe just a hiatus. Someday, the joy will spark again and we’ll come back as fierce as ever.”
All eight Jawbreakers offer a sweet goodbye to the Marble League, for now. (Art Credit: B.J.V. Dimafelix)
Candy, however, did not share the same feelings as the rest of the team and wanted to compete. For a second time since joining the Marble League, they were in search of new teammates but had serious trouble finding new marbles looking to compete. The members of the ELMC turned away the offer after watching the trouble of the marbles that had made the transfer before. Candy went back to the Surculo to try to recruit, but those marbles already had teams and were not going to leave. They were prepared to scour Marblearth looking for teammates.
They took to Felynia as a last-ditch effort to round up a group of marbles. It was there that they ran into Tongue Twister, who was in town on business for the ELMC. Candy begged Tongue Twister to come back to the team and help them out.
“I told Candy sometimes it’s best to just let a good thing end,” Tongue Twister later shared, “I’m sure that’s not what they wanted to hear, but it opened a conversation that they needed to have with themselves. Candy’s a perfectionist, but at some point that is damaging to their wellbeing.”
After talking with Tongue Twister, Candy was ready to accept the end. They officially announced that they were not entering the 2021 Qualifiers roughly two weeks ahead of the Herbotamia Invitational that eventually named the Gliding Glaciers as the team to replace them. Candy went back to Jawnair, and for the first time, wasn’t spending all their time training. Every so often, fans could spot Candy training around the streets of Jawnair, but the sunrise to sundown training was over.
A few weeks later, Mouthful approached with a note from Jelle. Written on it was an invitation for the Jawbreakers to have one last dance in the upcoming Practice Race. “The team all talked and decided there was only one option for who should compete,” Mouthful explained. Thus, Candy returned to Felynia, not as a marble desperate to find a way to stay in the Marble League, but instead as a veteran of the sport making one final appearance. It only amounted to eighteenth-place, but it was a sweet farewell for a historic team.
Candy crossing the finish line for the final time in the 2021 Practice Race. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
It was not gold, but Candy was content with that. For the first time in their professional career, they did not have to sacrifice everything to progress in their field. Instead, they met with the other members of the team, both old and new, to celebrate the careers they had. The team met with the Chocolatiers and traveled up to Lewara to a party thrown by the Jungle Jumpers.
Later in the year, I was able to get a candid interview with Candy to ask about their decision:
“I went to Tongue Twister for reassurance and help, and they gave me the exact opposite. I was so angry after that conversation, but they were completely correct. I got so caught up with my performance that I would value that over my health, beating myself up if I fell short of my expectations. Stepping away a bit will be beneficial for me even if it’s not what I might want… I like how Gummy put it; this isn’t the end of our team, merely an intermission.”
In RetRollSpective, the Jawbreakers had a host of issues over the past four years, and they could never make a notable breakthrough. Candy is the team’s most experienced athlete and cares the most about keeping the Jawbreakers going, but those aspirations are on hold for the foreseeable future. We hope they will someday experience their sweet victory one day, just as they did in lucha marbre competitions years ago. Best of luck to the Jawbreakers in the future, keep on rolling!
Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on the Hornets, a team that made their debut in Marble League Showdown 2019 and went inactive in the spring of 2021. Read on to see how this team stung the competition!
The official logo for the Hornets, designed by Tim Ritz.
The Hornets made their first bid for the Marble League championship during the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers. That said, the team is deeply rooted in other marble sports competitions, to the point where it has a fierce rivalry with another team: the Bumblebees. Their rivalry originated in the Bug Circuit, a regional tournament that began in 2011. The Hornets’ history as a team is slightly older: the team formed in 2010 in Buzzkill when Stinger brought its members together to race. Stinger and Wasp had known each other since they were young and came to know Vespa, Hive, and Yellowjacket through individual races. The team acquired its coach, Swarm, through Vespa’s parent, as they were a former athlete.
Each of the Hornets was such an important part of the whole of the team that without even one of them, the team would not have been successful in reaching the Marble League. Vespa, who was also chosen to compete in the first season of Marbula One, is known as the “Speed Queen” inside the Bug Marble community for their experience racing. As mentioned, Wasp had known Stinger for years before competing together, and as a result, was very loyal to them and the entire team. Their attitude may be aggressive at times, but it stemmed from their passion for marble sports and drive to never lose. Hive is an athlete that foiled Wasp perfectly: they were outgoing, funny, and friendly with other teams. They did not let poor results get to them, and they guided the team forward towards better results. Yellowjacket, the team’s only reserve, was the youngest member of the Hornets but never showed it through their energy and excellence competing with older marbles.
“I’m really lucky to be on such a hard-working team. We all push ourselves to be the best we can possibly be,” Stinger remarked.
Stinger was the glue that held the team together as its captain, but they also set an example for all marble athletes to follow. Apart from being one of the most decorated marble athletes, their self-control in times of pressure inspired Stinger’s teammates to remain hopeful and follow in their footsteps.
“We could not ask for a better captain,” declared Swarm. “In all honesty, I’m more of a mentor for the team. Stinger works so hard, and the team’s potential is so vast. I’m not afraid to push them to take it to the next level because I know they will do it. I have the best job in the world.”
The Hornets confronting a Bumblebee over their performance in a race. (Design Credit: Spark11A)
The rivalry between the Bumblebees and Hornets blossomed in 2011 when the Bumblebees hosted the Bug Circuit that year. The Hornets narrowly edged a victory over the hosts and clinched their first championship, with the Bumblebees in second and the Ladybugs in third. The next year, the Hornets finished third in the 2012 Bug Circuit hosted by the Centipedes, where the Ladybugs rose above them to win the tournament and the Scorpions followed in a comfortable margin. The latter team retired after that year, with pressure mounting from the Hornets. This pressure resulted in the Hornets finishing second the next year in the 2013 Bug Circuit, beating out the Moths (that year’s hosts) in third but falling to the Dragonflies in first.
The Bumblebees had not answered the Hornets’ call to a rivalry for three years, but 2014 was a different story. It was the first year ever that the Hornets did not make the podium, which allowed other teams to take the spotlight. The Bumblebees battled against the Cockroaches and the Grasshoppers in a snow-themed circuit, hosted by the Snails, to claim their first Bug Circuit title since the Hornets joined. As the Bumblebees rumbled with joy, the Hornets were abuzz with what next year would bring, for the team had been selected to host.
The Hornets brought the sting back to the Bumblebees and other Bug Circuit teams, dominating over the Ants and Tarantulas to win their own 2015 Bug Circuit—something they prevented the Bumblebees from doing in their own tournament. During one of the races, the Hornets’ famous “BZZZ” chant materialized when Stinger was doing poorly in the final third. Stinger managed to snatch the win, and the crowd, buzzing about Stinger’s impeccable comeback, created the chant we now recognize.
The Bumblebees answered the Hornets’ win by finishing third in the 2016 Bug Circuit, while the Hornets missed the podium for the second time in three years. The team redeemed itself in the 2017 Bug Circuit, winning its third championship in seven years. There seemed to be no question as to who was winning the rivalry.
The Hornets after winning a Bug Circuit. (Design Credit: Spark11A)
“No hard feelings towards the Bumblebees. I’m friends with Bea and Bumble,” said Hive. “Our rivalry is fun. It’s especially fun when you win most of the time.”
The Hornets, however, would not face off against the Bumblebees again in the Bug Circuit. In mid-2018, the Bumblebees announced that they were transferring to the 2018 Hubelino Tournament to replace Team Phoenix, who was retiring. The team was not the only team that had left the Bug Circuit: the Grasshoppers also left that season to train Grasshopper for the 2018 Sand Marble Rally, and the Tarantulas were in fact returning from helping Tarantula in the 2016 and 2017 Sand Marble Rallies. The Hornets remained in the 2018 Bug Circuit without someone to really compete against, and still finished in second overall—but felt something was missing.
“They were so distracted,” Swarm stated. “They did great, but not their best in 2018. They should have won so easily…and that’s when I realized that they could do so much more.”
“I have a lot of respect for the Bumblebees, and I knew they were going to excel in the Hubelino Tournament,” pledged Stinger. “They aren’t the best in speed events, but they play well to strategy. Their strategy to get into the Marble League from the Hubelino Tournament, for example, was ingenious.”
Upon learning that the 2019 Marble League Showdown would host a fan vote to determine the final two spots of the tournament, the Hornets applied. The team drew from their experiences in the Bug Circuit and their rivalry with the Bumblebees to rally support from the marblebase, and this, combined with a dominant social media presence, was more than enough to do so. The Hornets carried both rounds of the fan contest by two-thousand votes and were admitted as the eleventh spot in the Showdown.
The Hornets, much like the Green Ducks, earned a silver medal in their Marble League Showdown debut. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The team’s social media presence continued in the coming months, as the Hornets decided not to attend the 2019 Marble League itself and focus on training for the Showdown. The team trained with the Bumblebees for the first time ever, thanks to Hive’s networking and continued relations with the team, and also trained with other Showdown teams as the tournament drew closer. The Hornets arrived at the Seven Seas Stadium six weeks before the beginning of the Showdown and continued to train, right up until the night before the first event, the Sand Rally.
Vespa remained in the top four throughout the entire race, facing a challenge from Bea for second place until they briefly got stuck in the final quarter of the race. Bea was able to finish sixth and recover well, but Vespa kept steady, netting a silver medal and fifteen points towards advancing to the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.
The team earned another silver medal in Collision to rise to the top of the Showdown standings, five points ahead of the Rojo Rollers. The third event, Funnel Spinning, was the only event in which the Hornets did not make the podium and the only event where the Bumblebees placed higher than them—in fourth place to the Hornets in sixth. Nevertheless, the latter team already had enough points to advance to the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.
The Hornets finished the 2019 Marble League Showdown on the third step of the podium, with a bronze medal in Balancing. They ended in second place overall, with forty-eight points to their name. The Bumblebees also advanced to the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers in seventh place.
The Hornets finished the 2019 Showdown second overall. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
When asked about the Bumblebees’ advancement, Vespa shrugged. “I think they deserved to make it in. They’re a good team, but they need a lot of work to prove themselves in a few months. As for us, we’re prepared to #BringTheSting in 2020, and we’re really looking forward to it!” Yellowjacket buzzed with excitement beside them.
As they prepared for the upcoming Qualifiers, the Hornets received an official letter from the JMRC inviting them to compete in the first season of Marbula One, an honor considering that the team has yet to compete in its first Marble League main tournament. The team accepted the invitation and would be represented by Vespa, “The Queen”, and Hive, “The Foil”, during the tournament.
The promotional poster for the Hornets in Marbula One Season 1. (Art Credit: Jack Ironhide)
Buzzing Off
an addendum by EduGJ23 and Vector
Participating in a main JMR tournament for the first time ever, the Hornets wanted to consolidate themselves as the rookies to watch out for.
The team selected Vespa for their debut at the Savage Speedway, where they didn’t impress with a thirteenth place finish. A week later at the O’raceway, Hive had a solid performance with a result of ninth, scoring two points. Vespa couldn’t keep the momentum going in the third round, and missed the point zone by 0.02 seconds after starting from last.
Hive, who collected two points in their first outing, wanted to achieve more at home, the Hivedrive circuit. Their qualifying lap of 28 seconds flat was enough for thirteenth, which didn’t indicate an improvement over previous races.
The official track map for the Hivedrive GP. (Design Credit: Spex)
Things weren’t looking good after the start, either, as Hive fell down to last after a couple of hits in the first two turns. They did recover the lost ground after two laps, taking advantage of the distinctive feature of the track to stabilize near the tenth position for most of the race. But in the penultimate lap, the marble affectionately known as “The Foil” found an opportunity to gain more spots, which they swiftly acted upon, using the hive once again to finish in seventh. After the race, the home competitor said: “I’m happy to do such a solid race in front of our fans, this is a great incentive looking forward. And before anybody asks about it, no, that section of the track is not named after me.”
Unfortunately, the team would fail to earn another result in the top ten, earning no points during the rest of the season.
That said, the team as a whole was not deterred, and despite a close call in the Qualifiers, set their sights on a potentially prosperous 2020 Marble League. But how close was it? After a poor performance in Block Pushing, placing nineteenth, the pressure was all on Wasp into the fourth and final event, the 5 Meter Sprint. They ran in Heat 2, coming out in second after a photo finish against Indie, a difference of just four-thousandths of a second! The time of 5.292 secured an eighth overall position, and this slight edge allowed the Hornets to barely advance to the main tournament with 36 points, escaping the four-way tie for the two last spots by a single point. Without this margin, they would have missed out by medal countback.
The close finish that gave the Hornets a pass to Marble League 2020. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
According to Coach Swarm, the group considered the favorable retrospect in Marble League competition over their local rivals, the Bumblebees, as extra motivation into their first full league.
But it was not to be. During the first half of the 2020 Marble League, the squad collected subpar finishes, with the best results after seven events being two finishes in seventh in the Halfpipe and Hurdles, respectively. Despite a difficult debut so far, they worked to find a turning point, and hopefully, it would come with the captain, Stinger, who was set to race in the triathlon.
In the first heat of the event, Stinger won without threats, already positioning themselves as a candidate for the surprise of the day. The semifinal, against the previous champions, arrived, and the Hornets’ captain didn’t feel intimidated by theoretically stronger competition, as a bold move over Rapidly in the transition from the race track to the water put them in the second transfer spot to the final. Facing a big opportunity to raise up the podium, the underdog had a great start, leading on the sand and the circuit-style track, but this time, the water wasn’t their strong suit unlike during the stages before. Orangin, Momo, and Foggy passed by, and the final results were the inverse of each racer’s positions before entering the pool.
Stinger enters the water a second after overtaking Rapidly. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Sad to lose such a clear chance to get a medal, but looking at the positives, we hope to grow from here and keep proving we can compete against anybody at a high level,” said the exhausted captain at the media area. About their final run of 33.07 seconds, their slowest of the day, they added: “I gave my all today, and I didn’t stop despite running out of energy before crossing the finish line. We need to take risks to become serious contenders.”
Despite their high hopes and efforts, the team didn’t earn anything better in the second half, with only two top-eight results.
The Hornets not only failed to pick up a medal during the competition but also finished in dead last, despite only a late-season comeback from Mellow Yellow in the final event dropping them into the basement.
The Hornets finish last in the 2020 Marble League. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Well, we tried, and that’s what matters, right?” began a bittersweet Vespa. “I just know we can come back stronger.”
Little did they know at the time, but this would be the penultimate event that the Hornets would ever compete in.
After the teams selected to take part in the second season of Marbula One were confirmed, the public relations department issued the following press release: “We can’t say we are surprised by today’s news, because we didn’t perform well enough to secure another invitation for M1. We are sorry for disappointing our fans in the latest tournaments, but now, we look forward to the future and focus on the work to come back better and stronger in the 2022 season.”
However, Stynth visited the team in the offseason.
“When I arrived at their given address, I was quite confused: they had given me directions to a landfill, and there I was, gagging at the putrid stench of piles of trash. My first instinct was to call Coach Swarm.
“Oh…you accidentally went to 11 Hive Drive. The directions for our Hivedrive are 11 Hive Street.”
I checked my maps. Hive Street and Hive Drive intersected one another, bordering the landfill. I scrolled down. “Did you mean 11 Hive Avenue? That’s within the city center…it looks like there’s a stadium there—”
The phone line went dead.
I was on the verge of giving up, but I knew that wouldn’t be fair. I called an Uberry driver and headed into Buzzkill, getting off at 11 Hive Avenue. Though the streetlamps were dim, I could just make out a Gravitrax structure behind one of the buildings. The word “Hivedrive” adorned the side of the arena.
“You still came?” a voice asked behind me.
I turned around. Stinger, the captain of the Hornets, rolled across the street holding an umbrella. It wasn’t raining.
“The team…we…we’re pretty ashamed of how we’ve done over the past year,” Stinger admitted, looking with melancholy over the brim of their umbrella. “They didn’t want to show today.”
It made sense. I was disappointed—not even the Limers had turned me away in their most desperate hour. Nevertheless, I was there at that moment, and I heard Stinger out.“As their captain, I’m going to speak for them, even if they don’t want me to. We’re going to come back from this.””
from Stynth’s “Offseason Moments – ML2020 Part 1”
Stinger looks somberly towards the Hivedrive. (Art Credit: Betawolfs)
The following months brought further issues for the team both competitively and non-competitively. They weren’t considered to participate in the new Marble League Winter Special, debts were beginning to mount, and motivation was lacking. All that could be done at that point was to sell the Hornets brand and licensing off and hope that the new owners would be willing to allow them to still compete.
One team member decided to leave the sinking ship that was the Hornets entirely.
“I was against this whole ‘selling the team rights’ thing from day one,” said an unusually aggravated Hive. “That’s partly why I quit; I’ve also always wanted a firsthand experience of the bright lights of show business. I’m a comedian now. It’s just small gigs to start with, yeah, but I’ll work my way up soon enough.”
Meanwhile, the remaining members of the team had little success looking for new owners. Vespa elaborated on the team’s search.
“We were already feeling hopeless, but what made it worse was that nobody wanted us. There was some buzz about this cosmetics company buying us out, and they did approach us, but their demands were way too much. No matter what happens, we’ll always be the Hornets, not the Hornets Brought To You By L’Oróll.”
With nobody willing to buy them out, the Hornets turned to the one offer they initially refused to even consider.
The Bumblebees.
“Look, say what you will about the Hornets, they’re still marbles with lives and feelings. It’s tough to fall on hard times, heck, I started a youth marble training league that went bankrupt after half a year. I spoke to Queen, who also owns a small company designed to help us stay afloat, and they said they had actually thought about it themselves! That practically settled it,” finished Bumble.
“And we at BNT Sports can exclusively confirm a surprising outcome to the Hornets’ ownership woes. Beesports Ltd., a company set up by Bumblebees coach Queen, was created initially with the sole intention of owning the Bees themselves. But now, in a possible effort to expand the company, they have officially bought the Hornets out. They are to be absolved from all of their debts, however, the Hornets members will all be retiring before the 2021 Qualifiers, and will begin working for the Bumblebees as staff members and trainers. And now onto the latest Bug Circuit news, where the Moths have officially…”
-A news broadcast from Buzznya News Today, a relatively large news channel, was the first to receive news of the Hornets acquisition.
A graphic created to recognize the Hornets’ retirement. (Art Credit: B.J.V. Dimafelix)
It was official: the Hornets, as we knew them, were no more. They were now workingas trainers for the Bumblebees. Many people saw this as an exciting new chapter for the Bees, but not all fans were happy. A particularly vocal marble, who goes by the name of Thorax, a passionate fan who already worked for the team as the spokesmarble and social media manager, fundamental for marketing the Marble League entry bid campaign, was bitter after the Bumblebees’ takeover cost them a major opportunity. It’s not hard to understand that they always were against the idea of merging with their rivals.
“I was meant to be the manager of the Hornets,” Thorax lamented. “but of course because of the Bumblebees I only got to do the Sand Race. The Bumblebees ought to apologize for costing me my big chance.
Thorax would get a personal apology from team captain Bumble, plus a job offer as a member of the Bees’ backroom staff (which they promptly rejected). But with that minor incident out of the way, it was finally time to wrap up the Hornets’ story once and for all.
Writing for the Felynia Times, journalist Crimson Eye said “The Hornets were never a team worthy of glory; they squandered every chance they had, they never made amends and they failed to even recognize their precise shortcomings. Yet, even though they made all the wrong decisions, and even though I should be laughing at this utterly unprepared team finally getting their comeuppance, I can’t help but feel bad for them. The Hornets, terrible as they were, gave it their all. You can tell by their performances that they really cared about marble racing. They had history, and frankly, I don’t blame them for trying to make it to the Marble League, but at the end of the day, it could be argued that the Hornets are a cautionary tale. Not every team with a long history in marble sports goes on to succeed in the Marble League and likewise, you can have no experience at all and win the whole thing.”
Despite all the buzz, there was one remaining event on the calendar. The team’s usual choice for sand rallies, Vespa, offered themselves to roll down in the 2021 Practice Race and send off the Hornets brand. In the end, their unimpressive result of twenty-fifth really didn’t matter, as we could observe Vespa having a friendly chat with Bumble after the race.
Another friendly moment between the two once-rivals. (Photo Credit: Phoenix)
Later that day, Nectar and Beeline, the managers of the Bumblebees, were questioned about the implications of this acquisition to their group. They responded: “We have been following the reaction of the press and the fans regarding this news, and we honestly believe that some reporters were too harsh about the time of the Hornets’ members in JMR tournaments. Looking forward to the next seasons, we are sure they will be great assets for our organization and will help us to evolve.”
The remaining teammates quickly found their roles within the new structure. Thanks to their leadership skills, Stinger landed a spot in the management, preparing meetings and special events, and helping with all communications; Vespa mentors the Bees during training for racing events; Wasp is responsible for the fitness of the competitors, ensuring they’re always ready for each event; Yellowjacket and Swarm regularly follow youth leagues in the region, advising and scouting those who dream to become world-class athletes in the future.
The remaining athletes, now integrated into the Bumblebees’ staff, explore the Buzznya botanical park. (Photo Credit: Vector)
In RetRollSpective, the Hornets are a cautionary tale in the world of marble sports. After a very long reign as one of the Bug Circuit’s “Big Two”, they suddenly began to take a shortcut to success, coasting off of their social media presence to gather a following. After their initial success in the Showdown, they lost the plot, even more, scraping by the qualifiers and going on to end up dead last in the 2020 Marble League, both of which they barely trained for. The team began to become more humble, and look for ways to improve, but at the end of the day, it was too little too late. Best of luck to the Hornets in the future, keep on rolling!
Thank you to Spark11A for creating both the Hornets and the lore surrounding the team!
Credits
Writers: Edu G.J., Stynth, Vector
Additional Writing: Spark11A
Editors: Fouc, Smacg13
Artists: Betawolfs, B.J.V. Dimafelix, Jack Ironhide
Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on Mellow Yellow, the champions of Marble League 2021. Read on to find out how this team has kept the competition mellow!
The official logo for Mellow Yellow, designed by Tim Ritz.
Perhaps it comes as no surprise, given their name, but the team members of Mellow Yellow all met while working for The Non-Descript Soda Company in Amalanta. Yellow, Yellah, Yelley, and Yellup had all been working at the company for about ten years each, and they were taste-testing their Non-Descript Yellow Soda when they first met each other. After a long night of meetings and a lot of empty cans of soda, the four realized that they were miserable at their corporate jobs, and decided to quit.
The four left the city and headed out west, where taxes were much cheaper. They moved into an apartment in Marblopolis, a city renowned for individual marble racing, and tried to find new jobs. They struggled to make ends meet for months.
“To say that we were worried is an understatement,” Yellow recalled. “We all kept trying to convince ourselves that we had made the right decision. I guess we were, excuse the pun, trying to keep it mellow. We truly didn’t have any idea what was going on.”
“We always enjoyed seeing the racers come through for the Marblopolis 500, though,” said Yellup. “There was always so much excitement in the town. They made us feel like everything was going to get better, at least at the moment.”
“It was maybe eight months after we moved in. We were already starting to conserve electricity because we had to cut down the bills,” explained Yelley. “We got a knock on our door. The marble introduced themselves as Greg Woods, and they said that they heard that we enjoyed racing. We said, “Well, yeah, of course, we do.” And they asked us if we wanted to join the Fruit Circuit.”
The Fruit Circuit is a now-defunct series of untelevised marble races that was run by Greg Woods and held until 2016 when the Marble League first began. It featured fruit-related teams from around the world, including the O’rangers, Raspberry Racers, and the Limers. The four marbles caught Woods’ attention due to their experience working for The Non-Descript Soda Company, which Woods found similar enough to fruit.
“It was a tough situation. We needed more teams to get more funding, and thus, more racing. If those four marbles had declined us, I don’t think we would’ve been able to continue the Fruit Circuit,” Woods mused. “And with no explicit alternative, these marble athletes would’ve been stranded in their careers.” “But if you think that we had any experience in marble sports…” Yellah chuckled. “I used to play dodge-marble. That was an extreme sport. Then they changed it to prison-marble in middle school and it got boring.”
The four original members of the team, as photographed for an official photoshoot in 2017. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Fruit Circuit deal involved minimal training for the four marbles, who donned the team name “Mellow Yellow” to avoid copyright-related issues while staying true to their origin story. After training was completed, the team entered the fray in the Fruit Circuit. Races were once per week and had a cumulative score throughout multiple seasons.
“Yeah, we didn’t do well during the first few months,” Yellup said. “We couldn’t break the top twenty, let alone the top 25. The Yarble Yellers and the Strawberry Strudels had it in for us. But with every race we did, the stronger we got. It wasn’t long before we got past the Grape Nuts and started staring down the O’rangers.”
As the years passed, Mellow Yellow became a consistent force in the top ten, usually placing in the top five. When the Fruit Circuit shut down for good in 2016, due to a sufficient lack of funding, Mellow Yellow ended the competition in second place overall. With that came a new beginning for the team.
Mellow Yellow’s second medal of the 2016 season, in the Sand Rally. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mellow Yellow prequalified for the 2016 Marble League due to their second-place finish in the Fruit Circuit, joining the tournament with the Limers, O’rangers, and Greg Woods in tow to commentate. The team immediately started the season strong with a silver medal in Balancing and earned their first gold medal in the Sand Rally. They rose to the top of the standings, tied with Rojo Rollers in both points and medals.
Yellow finished third in the Water Race, netting their team a bronze medal, their third medal of the season, and the entire team earned a gold medal in the Quartet Diving event, putting the team in a three-way tie for second place, with just one event to go.
“We never expected to get as far as we did,” Yelley said. “Both in marble sports and the Marble League. We were just, excuse the pun, keeping it mellow, and going as far as we could to the finish line.”
Mellow Yellow was a second away from winning the final event, not even half a length behind the Savage Speeders in the grand final of Hurdles. Had they won the event, they would have won the entirety of the 2016 Marble League.
The now-iconic photo finish that defined the 2016 season, which Yellow lost to Speedy (incorrectly labeled here as “Speed”.) (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The team still secured an impressive second place with 41 points and a prequalification for the 2017 Marble League, but even the team was surprised at how close they were, between their finish in the final event and the fact that they were tied with the Thunderbolts in points. They were in a daze.
“I realized halfway down the course that I could do it. If I just pushed a little further and rolled quicker than I thought I could, I would win it all. I sped down the track, neck-and-neck with Speedy,” Yellup recounted. They shrugged. “I guess Speedy had a little more in them.”
The 2017 Marble League came up quickly for the team, but Mellow Yellow still earned a gold medal after a third of the events were complete, in the 5 Meter Sprint. This, combined with a fourth and fifth-place finish, put the team at the top of the standings.
Yellah’s record-setting performance in 2017’s High Jump. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mellow Yellow slipped in the standings until the eighth event, when Yellah earned a gold medal in the High Jump and set a new Marble League Record, reaching a height of 38 cm. The team rose into second place overall when they earned a silver medal in the next event, Steeplechase, but the team ultimately lost its focus, picking up just six points over the last three events. Thankfully for Mellow Yellow, their one-point lead over the Midnight Wisps in fourth place allowed the team to finish the 2017 Marble League in third place, and prequalify a second time for the next season.
The team acquired Yellim in time for the 2018 Marble League Friendly Round, which saw the four prequalified teams compete in an exhibition tournament before the 2018 Marble League championship. Mellow Yellow placed second in all three events and finished second overall. Things were looking good for the team in yellow.
The Mellow Yellow we saw in the 2018 Marble League was so jarring that it almost looked like a different team competing. The team earned no medals throughout the entire tournament, and the closest they came was in the final event when Yellow placed fourth in the Sand Mogul Race. The team began their season in ninth place and jumped up briefly to eighth after a sixth-place by Yellah in the Ski Jump before falling to ninth, then twelfth, then fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth.
Yes, Mellow Yellow was in sixteenth place at the end of the eighth event, having placed last in the Snowboard Cross as well as in Speed Skating three events earlier. The team began battling with the Minty Maniacs and the Pinkies to “stay out of the basement” of the standings, for at this point, the team had nary a path to victory. Luckily for Mellow Yellow, they secured double-digits in three of the four final events and finished the 2018 Marble League in fifteenth place, well above the Pinkies, and tied with the Limers in points, but behind them in medal count.
“A lot of fans attribute our bad performance to the ‘third place curse’, where the team that places third at the end of a Marble League tanks in the following season,” Yellah pondered. “It’s an interesting concept, and so far, there’s no evidence against it…other than the fact that there is no logic or physical evidence for it, either. Besides that, it’s not fair to the hard work that we athletes put in every year. You can’t always win.”
The city center of Amalanta, known as “The Squeeze” by locals. (Art Credit: Jack Ironhide)
Mellow Yellow had an extremely busy offseason, and much of it was spent rebuilding the team. The team returned home not to Marbopolis, but to Amalanta, where they visited their families and began working on a stadium and training facility in coordination with their new coach, Mellow.
“It was a change we needed,” Yellow confessed. “We finally had the money to return home, and we were welcomed not only by our families but by our fans. I’ve never seen a more yellow city in my life, and it made me so excuse the pun, mellow.”
The team was not entirely sure whether it could afford the time off from training to go to the two offseason practice events, but their coach insisted that they show their faces. Yellup finished fifteenth in the 100 Meter Water Race, an unfortunately familiar position for the team, but, a better finish, considering it was out of twenty-seven competitors. Mellow Yellow did not advance from their initial heat of the Amazing Maze Marble Race and returned home to Amalanta on the next flight out of Knikkegen. Additionally, the team had submitted a hosting bid for the next season, but its bid was denied in favor of the Oceanics’ Seven Seas Stadium.
Coach Mellow worked hard on restoring their team’s confidence, despite any bleak outlooks. This mindset was key in the 2019 Marble League Qualifiers, when Yellup placed dead last in the first event, Funnel Spinning. The team rose from their performance, earning eight points in Block Pushing and twenty points in the Relay Race with a second-place finish. Yellah maintained the team’s standing in eleventh place by placing tenth in the Underwater Race, and Mellow Yellow qualified for the 2019 Marble League in a decisive transfer position, with 38 points to their name. They would live to see another day after all.
The Mellow Yellow we saw from the beginning of 2019 was beginning to return to form, itching to reclaim relevance in a tournament that was looking to newer competitors to win. Mellow Yellow had one goal, and it was not to win: it was to earn the fans’ respect. Yellow, now the captain of the team, began the season by placing eleventh in the Underwater Race, but in each event the team improved, ticking further and further up the standings until it was Yellow’s turn again: this time in the 5 Meter Sprint.
A spark of hope for Mellow Yellow, winning their first medal since 2017 in 2019’s 5 Meter Sprint. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Yellow earned the team’s first Marble League medal in over a year, and it was a gold medal. The team rose to sixth in the standings and remained there during the next two events, including at the end of Block Pushing, when the team’s finish of 65.1 centimeters earned them a bronze medal. Mellow Yellow rose to fourth place in the standings after the Summer Biathlon, where Yelley placed seventh. They jumped ahead of the Savage Speeders for the first time in two years and, of the original Marble League teams competing, was only tracking Team Galactic in third. For the first time since the 2017 Marble League, Mellow Yellow was competing.
The Savage Speeders were admittedly more interested in tracking down the newer teams, such as the Raspberry Racers and the Green Ducks, but they, too, wanted to be the best of the 2016 crew. While the Savage Speeders medaled in the Hubelino Maze and barely placed fourth in the Dirt Race, Mellow Yellow began to fall behind, not finishing in the Dirt Race and placing fifteenth, and falling apart in Rafting by earning two penalty points for two teammates lost, placing fourteenth. With a quarter of the 2019 Marble League remaining, Mellow Yellow was doing enough to stay in the top eight—but it wasn’t doing enough for what they wanted out of the season.
“They earned their fans’ support back…but they had yet to earn their respect back,” Mellow noted. “And they knew that.”
“I don’t know what it felt like to be on Mellow Yellow two years ago,” Yellim stated. “I only know what it felt like last year. It felt terrible, and I didn’t want to be there,” they admitted. “I want to be here now, and maybe we won’t win, but I want to be the best we possibly can. At least then, I’ll be able to respect myself as an athlete.”
Mellow Yellow’s bronze in Collision gave them a window to, for the first time, finish above the Savage Speeders in the overall standings. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mellow Yellow began to rise in the standings again, coincidentally the same time as the Savage Speeders began to fall. The team’s most notable finishes were a fifth-place finish by Yelley in Surfing and another bronze medal by way of the third-place match in Collision, which put the team back in fourth place above the Savage Speeders. Every team but the top three—the Raspberry Racers, Green Ducks, and Hazers—were locked out of a podium finish, but Mellow Yellow, with a good enough finish in the final event, could remain where they were.
As it turned out, even with a fifth-place to Mellow Yellow’s ninth-place finish in the Sand Rally, the Savage Speeders were not going to surpass them. Mellow Yellow held on with 146 points and kept their fourth place after the 2019 Marble League. For the first time in the team’s history, after four long years, they had finally beaten the Savage Speeders by more than half a length, capping off one of the most impressive redemption seasons in Marble League history.
…and they did! (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Deep down, we knew we could always do it,” Yelley said. “Ever since I watched Yellup rush down the hurdles, and get so close…” They trailed off, beaming. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for four years. It’s just…so liberating.”
“We returned home and our logo was on graffiti, our favorite pizzeria had posters of us, we even had a headline in the Amalanta Press,” Yellah reminisced. “Years ago, we were miserable marbles, working jobs we never wanted, thinking that we’d never get anywhere in life. Now, we’re mellow as can be, we have the best jobs in the world, and we’re back home, but we love our lives. We’ve made it.”
Although the team’s hosting bid for the 2020 Marble League was turned down, Mellow Yellow was invited to compete in the first season of Marbula One in early 2020. The team accepted the invitation, and on 25 November 2019, they were confirmed as the eleventh team. On the same day, they announced that Yellow, “The Big Cheese”, and Yellup, “The Golden One”, would represent Mellow Yellow in the tournament.
The promotional poster for Mellow Yellow in Marbula One. (Art Credit: Jack Ironhide)
“Yellow is one of the most accomplished athletes in Marble League history,” Coach Mellow explained, “and has earned all of their medals in racing events. Yellup has also done well in racing events: especially the Hurdles event in 2016.”
Yellow debuted as a Marbula One racer in the Savage Speedway GP Qualifiers on 15 February 2020, where they set a time of 28.70 seconds and qualified in fourth. Yellow fell back during the race, still earning two points but finishing in ninth.
Yellup debuted as a Marbula One racer in the O’raceway GP Qualifiers on 22 February 2020, where they set a time of 32.07 seconds and qualified in eighth. During the race, Yellup was able to stay ahead of Orangin behind them but could not break into contention for the lead. Yellup finished in seventh, gaining six points.
Yellup’s Greenstone bronze justified Mellow Yellow’s invitation to Marbula One Season 1. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mellow Yellow did enough to stay in the top half during the first season of Marbula One. Yellup did well in the Hivedrive, qualifying in third and finishing in fifth after holding the lead for four laps. Yellup returned to race in the next Grand Prix at Greenstone, and after getting pole position, they earned a bronze medal in the race. Yellow held their own during the Short Circuit, qualifying in third and placing fifth in the race. Yellow had difficulty following through, however. Their penultimate finish at the Momotorway and tenth place at the Razzway brought down the team. At the end of the seventh race, Mellow Yellow was eliminated from championship contention.
This is not to say that Yellup could not have done more—Yellup certainly could have won any of the races they qualified strongly in. Regardless, Mellow Yellow still did well enough during their first season, even if they struggled with following through. The team finished in tenth overall after the Midnight Bay GP, where Yellup qualified in ninth and finished the race in a disheartening thirteenth place.
Not So Mellow
an addendum by ElrQ and Vector
After Marbula One concluded and Mellow Yellow got a decent tenth place, the team fully felt that their 2018 drudgery was behind them.
“I think 2020 is going to be our year,” Yellup hoped, the day before the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. “Our name may say we’re mellow, but we’ll be the opposite in the Marble League from now on.”
The Qualifiers proved to be another relatively decent performance, with a fifth-place overall finish and 46 points to boot. After the final event, Yellim was ecstatic. “I think we could pull it off this year, y’know. This is the Mellow Yellow I joined! I feel like we’re finally coming into our own.”
Mellow Yellow arranges their team in the shape of an M for Royal Stardust during the 2020 opening ceremony. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Sadly, Yellim’s and Yellup’s enthusiasm was wildly misplaced. The team finished last in the first event of the 2020 Marble League and then amassed only six points after four events. Luckily, things looked like picking up after Yelley got bronze in the Long Jump, moving the team off the bottom spot, but things fell apart again in the next three events, pushing Mellow Yellow down to the basement again at the halfway point.
“In hindsight, maybe we should’ve seen this coming,” Yellow said, regarding the league after it had finished. “We had been burnt out after M1, we had barely any training and we were overconfident. We can’t seem to find that sweet spot between overworking and underworking anymore.”
As the second half rolled on, Mellow Yellow consistently fluctuated in and out of last place, dueling with teams like the Hornets and the Green Ducks to stay out of the basement. A bronze in High Jump was impressive, and with a decent eighth in Collision, the team may not have been able to get anywhere near the podium but were still capable of climbing off 16th place.
Yellah’s bronze medal performance in 2020’s High Jump. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Marble League would draw to a close with the final event, the Marathon, and Mellow Yellow was still in the basement. Tensions were high, and every team was going to go full steam ahead.
“Alright folks, listen up! I know times have been tough, and we find ourselves at the bottom. But we cannot let this dampen our spirit!!! Yellup, I believe in you! Now go out there, and LET’S GET ROLLING!!!”
– Coach Mellow’s team talk, minutes before the start of Event 16.
Mellow’s pep talk paid off. Coming in fourth in the qualifying round and then getting a season-high of second in the overall Marathon, that one silver medal from Yellup moved the team over the Hornets and Balls of Chaos into fourteenth place. Mellow Yellow had escaped from the bottom spot once again.
Coach Mellow believed in Yellup, and Yellup delivered in 2020’s Marathon event. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“I was ecstatic, to say the least. 2020 was one of our worst years yet and being able to get the silver to keep us out of the basement lit a small fire in my heart of darkness.” Mellow Yellow fan Kozakk said when asked about the Marathon result.
The second season of Marbula One was upon us, and Mellow Yellow was not surprised to receive an invitation for the series.
When asked why they decided to accept despite their recent bad form, Yellow said “We had to go, otherwise we would’ve just slipped away into obscurity. We need to prove ourselves. We aren’t just a yo-yo team.”
The first race was to be hosted by the Minty Maniacs; Mellow Yellow had applied, and was selected, but was unable to get their track ready in time, and had to withdraw from hosting. Regardless, they still finished the race in a respectable seventh position, amassing eight points. Unfortunately, Mellow Yellow’s season would go downhill from there, with a tenth at the O’raceway and failure to pick up points at the Honeydome which led to the team dropping down to tenth place overall. But, unfortunately for the team’s fans, the worst was yet to come.
(Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“Oh, what happened there? Yellup is gone!”
-Greg Woods’ now infamous lines, after Yellup’s incident at the Aquamaring.
Yellup was lined up to race at the Aquamaring, but, unexpectedly, the athlete gained such air on the ramp, that they jumped off the track entirely.
“I still don’t know what happened. One minute I was riding high, the next everything was spinning, I was dizzy, in pain and I thought I had shattered. I’m lucky to still be able to race in the Arctic Circuit.
“I was shocked, sad, and angry. The fall due to a track defect cost us potential points and our dignity. It wasn’t only Yellup’s fault that it happened yet he’s still getting smack talk regarding it. I’m just glad the circuits have improved on making sure the teams are safe. I don’t wish to see any racer suffer the fate Yellup did ever again.” Kozakk said, speaking of course of the Aquamaring incident.
However, at the race, Mellow made sure Yellup’s injury did not go ignored.
“Well, I wanted to do something for Yellup, they’ve done so much for the team, so I passed around a get well soon card, and all of the racers from this week pitched in to buy ‘em a new car.”
“I appreciate the card,” Yellup said. “And especially the Rollvo, but what I want to do is get back to racing.”
Yellup was checked by the medics after their Aquamaring accident. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Yellow appeared for the Tumult Turnpike race but was once again unable to qualify. This, being the second time in a row Mellow Yellow failed to qualify, meant that the team was stuck in a desolate eighteenth place, having not scored a point for the last three races. The final race of the first half was at the Arctic Circuit, and Yellup, who was racing for the first time since their injury, was determined to end their scoring drought.
“I’m furious with our recent results. I mean, we’re below the Limers, for goodness sake! I’m back to full physical fitness though, and I’m sure I can pick up points this time. I don’t want a repeat of this year’s Marble League.”
Unfortunately, it was another mediocre outing, with Yellup only scoring two points in the race, and the team remained in eighteenth.
The first half of Marbula One was over, with Mellow Yellow third from bottom in the standings. But this did not mean there were no more JMR competitions to come during the break, as a special five-event invite-only Marble League Winter Special was commissioned.
“I mean, we are relatively confident that we’ll be selected. Sure, we haven’t been performing the best recently, but we’re a legacy team, in a way. We’ve been in every full-on Marble League, so why not this one?” Yelley said of the team’s chances.
Mellow Yellow was one of, if not the, most notable legacy teams left out of the Marble League Winter Special. (Design Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
However, it came as a shock to the team when they were not included in the invitations list.
“The deciding factor for us not including Mellow Yellow was their poor performance in the last Winter Marble League, and their recent bad results overall,” prominent JMRC member Mesp explained. “We were going to include the Limers and Mellow Yellow, but we decided to swap them out with the Chocolatiers and Balls of Chaos for various reasons.”
Yellup shed some light on the team’s mentality after not being selected.
“We were devastated, it was a huge wake-up call for us. That was when we realized that constant near misses with the basement just isn’t good enough. We needed to step up, and fast.”
The Limers were another team that had finished poorly in recent tournaments and were also not invited to the competition. However, the team had already been making plans of a different type.
“We were a bit upset after we didn’t receive an invitation to the Marble League Winter Special, but it also got us thinking,” said Goolime of the Limers. “We had not seen our pals from the Fruit Circuit in years. We had an idea, and we started working with fellow alumni, the Garden Peas, to set up a special one-off Fruit Circuit reunion series.”
The classic Fruit Circuit logo was revived for the one-off reunion in 2020. (Design Credit: Vector)
The Limers had won the Circuit in 2004, 2010, and the final edition in 2015, and were commonly considered one of the best teams in it, leading to many comparisons later on when they began having extremely bad performances in the Marble League.
“We wanted to do something nice for the team. They’ve had a rough year, and they’re really good sports.” Keylime explained. “And besides, I owe Yellup. I come from Marblopolis myself and, well, if it weren’t for an incident involving a collision between a few Marblopolis 500 racers, myself included, and a couple of Fruit Circuit teams back in ‘07, then I’d never have met Yellup, and if it weren’t for them I’d never have been introduced to the Fruit Circuit, and if it weren’t for the Fruit Circuit… well, you get the picture.”
Mellow Yellow was ready for the Fruit Circuit Reunion. This would be a five-event racing competition featuring sixteen teams, each of them Fruit Circuit alumni, all competing at different racetracks hosted by different competitors. Whilst at the event, Yellow discussed their experience.
“I’d be lying if I said that this wasn’t the greatest event of my life. So many old teams in one area! I know that I’m the captain and I’m supposed to be carrying the team’s pride on my shoulders or whatever, but I’m a bit of a Fruit Circuit nerd. You see, the Circuit was never televised but they always showed the highlights on the sports section of the news, and I was instantly drawn to it. All of these flashy teams racing against each other in the white knuckle, untamed courses designed to separate the wheat from the chaff. I had to keep my cool when we got invited, and I barely spoke to anybody there because I was so nervous. Seriously, how did the Limers of all teams manage to put this together? Look, over there, that’s the Watermelon Wanderers, they haven’t competed in the Fruit Circuit since its first season! And there, those guys are the Jalapeños and the Cayenne Calvary. They’re like the Limers-Racers rivalry turned up to eleven! Oh my goodness, this is a dream come true!”
Mellow Yellow and the Limers reunite in anticipation of upcoming races. (Photo credit: NordiqueWhaler)
Initially, it seemed as if Mellow Yellow would have yet another middle-of-the-road performance. They started up with a decent fourth on an overcast Tuesday afternoon in the twisting tunnels of the Cloudberry Colliders’ Cloud Caverns. But this was followed up with two decisively middle-of-the-road finishes, a seventh at the Seedway and an eighth at the Undergrowth, respectively. At this point in the league, they had managed to remain at a steady fourth place. However, it wasn’t over for them yet. After pulling off a shock gold medal performance at the Jalapeños’ Chilli Pepper Cross, Mellow Yellow was suddenly fired into second, exactly equal with the legendary Grape Nuts.
“Gosh, it felt good to get back to our best,” an exasperated Yellow said minutes after the conclusion of the race. “Maybe we can even go all the way!”
Everything rested on the final race.
It was to be held at the beautiful Rambutan Run, a marathon course taking the competitors across the Silver Lychees’ hometown of Lycinder, finishing at the town hall. Historically, there were never any stadiums in the small town, and thus the Lychees never once before hosted a Fruit Circuit season. Instead, they used a route made up of abandoned roads and streets, providing a racing experience like no other. Yellup would be the chosen marble for this race, giving them a golden opportunity to redeem themselves after their Aquamaring injury. They would, however, start the race in second-to-last, as per Circuit rules.
The lights were on. The fans were cheering. The marbles were ready. And off they went.
Sugar of the Jawbreakers, guest commentator at the Rambutan Run, interjected colorfully throughout the race:
“And here we go! Immediately, it’s the Banana Splits into the lead, with Banana Bread holding off Boysen at the top, and further down, Yellup doing very well for themselves so far, taking over Multeberry.”
Yellup started in good speed, immediately dropping Pistachio from the Grape Nuts, and pushing past the Cloudberry Colliders’ Multeberry before they had even reached Turn 1. The first sector of the track was made up of permanent road, a surface Yellup was more used to than most other marbles in the race. It was in this section where Yellup would make their way past the Strawberry Strudels and Zoomchinis before they entered the next section comprised of dirt roads—Yellup would closely follow the Watermelon Wanderers through here, but couldn’t get past. However, as the marbles were approaching the end of the lap and moving back onto the permanent asphalt section, Yellup had the chance to get Golden Delicious of the Apple Turnovers, who had been passed by the Watermelon Wanderers. It was at this point that the broadcast, which had been focusing on the race lead, moved their attention to the title fight, particularly on Yellup.
“Here’s Yellup of Mellow Yellow, looking to pass Golden Delicious, following closely through these turns but not- OH, a huge block laid down by Golden Delicious, Yellup loses loads of momentum and is sent backward!”
Yellup gets passed by the Strudels and the Zoomchinis. (Design Credit: Fouc; Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Yellup felt themselves slowly rolling backward, before getting passed by Shortcake of the Strawberry Strudels and getting hit by Courgette of the Zoomchinis. As Yellup started to get rolling again, trying to get to the ramp to start the next lap, they saw the purple marble of Pistachio passing them. But the ramp gave a few seconds for Yellup to think. Yellup had moved so quickly on the first lap, but one incident had led to them losing the positions they had gained. Doing that multiple times would not suffice, so Yellup would decide to be more patient.
“Now this is interesting… Yellup is now directly behind Pistachio! They’re following their every move!”
Rather than attempting to pass Pistachio, Yellup would attempt a strategy popularized by Boysen of the Boysenberry Ballers, which is to follow the line of another fast marble as they make their way through the field. It was not a strategy many marbles could pull off, but Yellup did brilliantly, following Pistachio up the order. With three laps to go, Pistachio and Yellup were in fourth and fifth.
“Yellup has sat behind Pistachio for quite a few laps now, looks like the move might come into this corner-yes it will! Yellup past Pistachio but Pistachio might come back at him, no Yellup blocks and receives a good push, and they might use this momentum to get past the Garden Peas by the end of the straight, yes they will, Yellup into third place.”
Yellup is gone, charging down the straight. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
As they came off the belt to start the penultimate lap, Yellup would make a pass on the Jalapeños, now in second. They could have let off and brought it home there, already maintaining a points lead over the Grape Nuts, but they wanted the win.
“We’re heading into the final section now, but look at Yellup! They speed past Honeydew, and it looks like it will be Yellup, with the win and the title!”
Yellup charged down Honeydew of the Watermelon Wanderers and made a move into the same turn where they had the incident on the first lap, claiming first place in the race and championship.
In a post-race interview, Yellup would remark, “I thought of everything I had been through – my miserable tenure at a corporate job, months of struggling to make ends meet, and years where I’d been so close to winning, even when I’d fallen so short…and I realized that the act of winning isn’t what matters, but the journey to get there does. And I’m not making the most of that journey if I’m not fighting for it, even if the result ends up not so mellow.”
The final standings of the Fruit Circuit Reunion. (Design Credit: Fouc)
Once the midseason break had finished, Yellup, fresh off their victory, was chosen to represent Mellow Yellow at the Raceforest. Yellup would qualify thirteenth again, but they would get a great start and finish a respectable sixth place after fighting in the top half the whole race.
Then came the Momotorway. Yellow ended up on pole after doing a great job defending from Yellow Eye in Q3. Yellow led many laps, but it wasn’t exactly a simple task to keep the previous year’s winner at this track, Clutter, and one of the best marbles in Marbula One, Yellow Eye, behind them, and they would slip down to third.
After the race, coach Mellow would speak, saying, “This is good, this is exactly what I wanted to happen. The Fruit Circuit Reunion was where we would get a chance to enjoy ourselves and get back to our roots, but a good result for us would put us in good spirits heading into the second half of Marbula One and maybe carry some momentum. I think that’s exactly what happened today, and I hope we can carry this momentum the rest of the season, maybe even into the Marble League. But of course, marble sports don’t always work like that.”
Yellow ascends the podium for a Season 2 Momotorway bronze. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mellow Yellow’s good run would continue at Palette Park, where Yellup would score pole position making Mellow Yellow the first team to earn back-to-back poles in Marbula One. However, their luck would run out in the race, with Yellup finishing eleventh.
The final three races would result in below-average finishes, with tenth at the chaotic Misty Mountain, twelfth at Savage Speedway, and twelfth at Midnight Bay. In the end, they finished fifteenth overall, with Yellow finishing 22nd and Yellup in 33rd in the individual standings.
After the disappointing finish, rather than returning home, Mellow Yellow would make their way to the outskirts of Knikkegen, where Marble Rally events usually take place.
“I proposed the idea of practicing sand racing at Marble Rally tracks to coach because of the number of sand events that the Marble League will have, and as a way to prepare for the practice race that I will compete in”, commented Yelley. “Besides, sand racing is real fun, and there’s also no point in going back home when the practice race is in two weeks.”
At the start of the Practice Race, held to the south in the outskirts of Felynia, Yelley jumped out to the lead, and led for the first part of the race, as they were challenged by Indie of the Indigo Stars. However, Yelley took the low line through converging paths, and Yelley held a somewhat comfortable lead.
“I was feeling pretty good at this point in the race,” noted Yelley. “This race was just a friendly, so I wasn’t pressured to do perfectly, and I found myself in the lead, so I was running fast but not completely focused, and that would end up costing me.”
Rather than hitting the outside wall and going straight over the bridge, Yelley went past the wall and straight off the bridge, losing spots quickly in the racing order. They kept going through the slower section, but the speed lost from going off cost them, as they got stuck. Eventually, they were hit by Rapidly and able to continue, but in the end, they finished 26th above Pinky Rosa and Bolt, setting low but not insurmountable expectations for Qualifiers.
Yelley and Indie battling for the lead during the 2021 Practice Race, before any incidents. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
In RetRollSpective, Mellow Yellow is not only a staple of the Marble League but one of its most decorated teams. The team placed in the top four of three of the five Marble Leagues leading up to 2021, earning fourteen medals overall. Of the teams that have suffered from the “third-place curse”, Mellow Yellow has had the most successful rebound from its “cursed” season, has earned the respect of not only its fans but of all Marble League fans—and “kept it mellow” through it all. Best of luck to Mellow Yellow in the near future, keep on rolling!
2016 Marble League Runners-up2017 Marble League 3rd Place2021 Marble League ChampionsThe medals earned by Mellow Yellow in the Marble League. Logos designed by Tim Ritz and tinted by Novawolf.
Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have appeared in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on Team Momo, a team that originated in 2016. Read on to find out how this team has persevered through the competition!
The official logo for Team Momo, designed by Tim Ritz.
Team Momo has never been a boring group of marbles. The team hails from the villages around Om, one of the oldest cities in the world. The four original members of the team first met in Temple of Om, one of the most popular restaurants in the city, where they talked about their passion for marble sports as they ordered plate after plate of dumplings. The four ordered so many dumplings that the restaurant ran out of them. When the four met early in the night, they were strangers, but when they left Temple of Om a few hours later, they seemed as if they were inseparable. A few days later, when they decided that they wanted to make their dreams of being in marble sports a reality, they named themselves “Team Momo” after the dumplings they had ordered the night they became friends.
Mo, Momo, Momomo, and Momomomo accumulated great interest in their early days not just because of their memorable names, but because of their talent in marble sports and optimistic charisma. Team Momo began training in 2011, and in early 2012, they began competing in the Ramen Bowl, a prestigious marble sports competition held in downtown Om. Within a year, they had risen to the Ramen Bowl’s championship league, and in late 2013, they won their first Golden Noodle. They won a Bronze Noodle at the end of 2014 and earned their second Golden Noodle at the end of 2015. As a result of their repeated successes in the Ramen Bowl, Team Momo was invited to participate in the first season of the Marble League and accepted without hesitation.
Team Momo has the distinction of being on the first Marble League podium in the tournament’s history. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The team’s unique names, coupled with a strong showing in the 2016 Marble League events, quickly made Team Momo one of the most popular in the competition. It seemed very hard to dislike a team that was quirky, yet charming at the same time. Team Momo had the honor of earning the first bronze medal in Marble League history in Balancing and went on to earn two more bronze medals in the Long Jump and the High Jump.
All four members of the team celebrated their first gold medal together in the Precision Slalom, which proved the team’s chemistry to be beneficial in competition. The team sat in fourth place leading into the final event, Hurdles, in which Momo reached the final race against the top three teams: Mellow Yellow, the Savage Speeders, and the Thunderbolts. Despite missing the podium, Momo maintained a marblous fourth place overall for the team, automatically qualifying them for the 2017 Marble League and securing their place as a team known and loved by fans across the marblebase.
“I kept surprising myself over and over again in the final event,” Momo recalled. “I kept thinking that I didn’t have the endurance to keep going, and then I got to the semifinals, and then I realized that if I went too fast, I might run off the track like Pinky Toe. When it came down to it, I just didn’t have the energy to get myself rolling in the final. But it was still a really good run for me, and most importantly, for the whole team.”
Team Momo’s best finish in a Marble League to date. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
However, where 2016 was perhaps one of the best years Team Momo could have hoped for, the 2017 Marble League brought one of the most difficult years that Team Momo could have imagined. The now infamous Fidget Spinner Collision event, which was inspired by the oversaturated trend of fidget spinners that year, completely changed Team Momo and the Marble League as we know it. As Team Momo faced against the Midnight Wisps, racing toward the battlefield, all Team Momo and the Midnight Wisps wanted to do was their own personal best, regardless of how many marbles were left on the arena or how much they fought against the fidget spinners. The two teams raced onto the battlefield, collided, spun out into the fidget spinners, collided again, and a shriek of shattered glass erupted from the center. Momomomo, unable to control themselves from the rapidly rotating blades of the fidget spinner, was knocked into Wispy so hard that a chunk of their glass broke away from them.
Momomomo later said, “It felt like my life, everything I had worked for, it was all flashing before my eyes while I could only look back at the piece of me left in the arena…everything that was happening at the present felt like it was in slo-momo.”
Momomomo, clutching to their crutches, joins their team in an embrace at the Bakker Bowl following 2017’s High Jump. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The event continued past the injury, but not for Team Momo, which had to withdraw immediately from the event as they cared for Momomomo. In the next event, Greg Woods announced that Momomomo would not be able to compete for the rest of the 2017 Marble League, and would be substituted with Mimo, the first alternate ever for a Marble League team. Mimo was one of the best athletes competing in the individual division of the Ramen Bowl, and their recruiting on Team Momo ultimately gave the team the momo-motivation they needed to continue pushing forward.
In the Relay Run, Mimo’s first event in the Marble League, Team Momo obtained their first silver medal in the Marble League. Momomomo reappeared in the stands to watch Team Momo get another silver in Block Pushing, and came down to the arena with crutches to congratulate their teammates on their bronze medal in the High Jump. Sadly, Team Momo’s mid-Marble League push proved futile to keep Team Momo in the top five, though the team remained in ninth place at the 2017 Marble League’s end.
Team Momo’s silver medal in Relay Run 2017. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The following offseason was, apart from training for 2018 Qualifiers, a time of deep concern and reflection for the team. Thankfully, with healthy donations from across the marblebase, including the Midnight Wisps, Momomomo was able to afford the medical care they needed to recover from their injury, which had seemed fatal at the time it happened. While Momomomo recovered, the team regularly checked on them while training Mimo as an official new member of the team.
Mo has said of Mimo, “Just because they have an ‘I’ in their name doesn’t mean they aren’t for the team. Mimo has been a truly fresh addition to Team Momo and always inspires Momo, Momomo, and myself to be the best we can be. We have no intention of benching them, nor will they ever replace Momomomo: Mimo’s not only a great team member, but they’ve also strengthened the bond of our family.”
Team Momo also received several complaints that their logo looked like a smelly green trash bag over the offseason. When asked about it after the 2018 season, Mo declined to comment.
Team Momo appeared in Group B of the qualifying events with Momomomo fully recovered, which the fans were overjoyed to hear after a nearly silent off-season from the team. They scored twenty points, just enough to qualify and get the marbles rolling for their appearance in the 2018 Marble League.
However, this season proved trying for Team Momo as well. The team placed thirteenth in the first two events and was dead last overall after the second event. Team Momo got ninth place in the third event, rising to fifteenth overall, but got twelfth in the fourth event and faced yet another series of injuries. Momomo was replaced with Mimo in the retry after Team Momo got stuck on the bobsled track due to altitude sickness, and Momomomo knocked into a corner while on the bobsled the second time, incapacitated for the rest of the ride. Doctors quickly assisted the two team members, concluding that they would be okay, but not fit to compete in the rest of the 2018 Marble League.
Team Momary becomes the first team merger in JMR history in mid-2018. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
When Team Momo was notified of this, they quickly reached out to several marble teams, even the Green Gang from the Hubelino Tournament. Ultimately, the team merged with their close friends, Team Primary, for the rest of the season, forming Team Momary. This caused controversy in the marblebase (especially among Balls of Chaos fans) because Team Primary did not qualify for the 2018 Marble League, but the IMC approved the merger and allowed Momary to compete. The full team, featuring Mo, Momo, Prim, and Mary, competed in Team Pursuit, getting eighth place, proving that the team was viable and had the potential to grow as the season continued, even as it sat in ninth place in the standings.
Team Momary got its first gold medal in the Snow Rally, as Momo narrowly defeated the Savage Speeders in two races. This rallied the marblebase around the team in hope that they would be able to rebound from their difficult start. Although Team Momary got a silver medal in Curling, the team struggled in the remaining events, landing in twelfth place overall at the 2018 Marble League conclusion.
Team Momary’s only individual medal in the 2018 Marble League; a gold by the winning dumpling, Momo. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
After Team Momo and Team Primary amicably split up, Team Momo was expecting to have another quiet offseason. On the contrary, the team appeared in both of the practice events with other Marble League teams, with Momomo and Momomomo back to compete. During the 100 Meter Water Race, the team placed in the top ten, and they reached the semifinals in the Amazing Maze Marble Race, proving that the team had recovered from its injuries.
Unfortunately, Team Momo was unable to qualify for the 2019 Marble League. After a successful first event, where Momomomo placed eighth in Funnel Spinning, the team was unable to keep its mo-momentum going and finished the Qualifiers eleven points away from securing a spot. When asked about how the team felt, Momomomo seemed hopeful:
“Being part of Team Momo has made me realize something: that I can’t quit when things don’t go my way. So we didn’t qualify this year. That’s not how I wanted things to go, but it’s not going to stop me. And it won’t stop our team from mo-moving forward.”
The team began their extended offseason by taking a vacation around the world, something they had not been able to do since 2015. They were visiting Prim and Mary in Van Gotterdam when news about the Marble League Showdown broke. The team returned to Om the next day to start training again.
Fan opinion of Team Momo was mixed going into the Showdown. Most expected that Team Momo would not win the Showdown, an expectation that the team itself shared. It was the fans that predicted that Team Momo would get injured—yet again—that bothered the team.
“The fans don’t need to tell us that we keep getting injured. We know,” Momomo said, disheartened. “Every day that something gets in the way of the five of us competing together, it hurts us too, e-mo-motionally. Momomomo and I have done a lot of rehab in the past year and a half to ensure that we’re best prepared for the conditions of the Marble League. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”
Team Momo competed in Collision for the first time since Momomomo’s injury in the 2019 Showdown. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Momo started the Showdown off strong with Momomomo’s fourth place in the Sand Rally, but experienced a downturn in Collision, placing seventh, and a further downturn in Funnel Spinning, placing eleventh. With one event to go, Team Momo sat in ninth place, barely in the bottom four spots. The last event, Balancing, was the first Marble League event they had ever participated in, and as such, their experience proved to be fruitful. Team Momo placed fourth with a score of 346, earning nine points and jumping up to sixth place. The Kobalts, their fellow veteran team from 2016, placed fifth with a score of 345, just one unit under. As a result, Team Momo qualified for the 2020 Marble League Qualifiers.
Coach Momomomomo revealed to the team over dinner at Temple of Om that they had received an official letter from the JMRC, which invited the team to compete in the first season of Marbula One. Team Momo accepted without hesitation and agreed for Momo, “Winning Dumpling”, and Mimo, “The First Reserve”, to represent them in the tournament. The team’s poster depicts the two athletes in one of the restaurant’s signature baskets of “racing dumplings”. Team Momo was also selected to host the third Grand Prix of the season at the team’s Momotorway on 29 February and 01 March 2020.
The promotional poster for Team Momo in Marbula One. (Art Credit: Jack Ironhide)
Mo-moving Forward
an addendum by Ramen Powder and Stynth
Momo and Mimo exchanged glances as they traveled to the Savage Speedway, where the inaugural Grand Prix would take place. They both knew that the team had a statement to make here: that they were worthy to compete with the best of the best in marble sports. Having not qualified for the Marble League in 2019 and tainted by injuries in the previous two leagues that they did participate in, this was a fresh start for Team Momo: a start that could drive their ascent back to their glory days.
Momo participated in the opening Grand Prix of the season, qualifying in P3–very respectable. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep pace with Clementin and Starry upfront and fell back after the ramp on the first lap. Momo couldn’t catch up at any point during the rest of the race and finished the first Grand Prix in twelfth, not scoring any points.
“This race showed me how much the level of competition has increased; after the first lap, I was left in the dust and never recovered!” Momo commented after the race.
Despite qualifying well, Momo could not maintain a good position at the start and fell to the bottom half for most of the Savage Speedway GP. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mimo would race in the next GP: the O’raceway. After qualifying in P11, they hoped to climb positions early, because they knew that this was a more technical course with an off-road element too. Sure enough, Mimo rose to as high as fifth in the first lap, before falling to seventh in the next few turns. The next lap was not as kind though; after hitting the second attenuator in the sand section, numerous marbles passed and Mimo found themselves in the bottom four. Then, they were put into the same situation Momo was in at the Speedway; a back position with little room to make up ground. After finishing the race in a measly eleventh place, Team Momo was one of two teams that had no points yet, much to the dismay of their fans.
The next race was a different ball game though; it would be held at the Momotorway. Momo would be racing once again, this time on their home course, and aspired to net a strong finish to kick-start their points haul in Marbula One. Qualifying didn’t go as planned, as it resulted in Momo starting from P13, but they were undeterred. They made up some ground in the first lap, only to lose it right away on the turns, and the next few laps saw nothing but disappointment as Momo continued to fall. By Lap 5, they were trailing in last. While Greg Woods commented on how close the photo finish was for the lead, Momo finished the race almost a second behind the rest of the field. It was devastating seeing Team Momo, with their best marbles, fail to perform competitively in marble sports. The team was the only one remaining with 0 points; symbolic of their status performance-wise at that moment.
Momo lagged behind the race leaders at the Momotorway; half a sector behind Yellow. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
With Mimo qualifying in dead last at the Hivedrive GP, it seemed that all was lost. There were no expectations for Team Momo to gain any points once again, but Mimo remained calm. Gaining several positions in Sector 1, Mimo finished the race in ninth. It wasn’t much, but it was a placement high enough to kick-start their pursuit of points and to reinstate hope. Momo qualified at the Greenstone GP in P4 and stayed in the top four for quite a bit, but a late pit-lane entrance cost them. Still, it resulted in a sixth-place finish– the best Team Momo had seen. Mimo also qualified in P4 at the next GP, the Short Circuit, and translated it to a seventh-place finish, even racing in second at one point. The previous two GPs got the team out of the bottom spot, and while Team Momo wasn’t in championship contention, they had directed their momentum forward; something they valued much more.
Three days before the Razzway GP, Coach Momomomomo called Momo and Mimo in for a meeting. Neither of the racers knew what was in store for them, but the coach seemed firm about this.
“Mimo, let’s have you race again at Razzway. The course design is one that I feel suits you better, while Momo excels at the elements of the final course, at Midnight Bay.”
Mimo and Momo were unsure about the proposition at first, but Coach Momomomomo insisted that they trust them. When the day of qualifying rolled around, Mimo got ready to qualify for the Razzway GP. Their target was a time of 29.80 seconds, set by Vespa of the Hornets. As this was the only qualifying lap set before Mimo’s turn, there was no knowing what sort of time would spell well for the team.
Mimo began their descent through the opening chicanes of the Razzway’s first sector, going high on the first curb but avoiding the second. Despite missing the speed boost going into Turn 6, their first sector time was eight-hundredths clear of Vespa’s. They kept it smooth in the hairpin, maintaining control before the attenuator, and drew left, to prevent any unwanted contact and slowing. This maneuver set them up perfectly for Turns 9 and 10 – losing minimal speed throughout. Mimo transitioned into the third sector, their margin ballooning to 1.62 seconds. The fans were getting audibly on edge, and once Mimo crossed the line, the tension became cheers of exuberance. Mimo set a time of 28.72 seconds – 1.08 seconds clear of Vespa’s time – and had the provisional pole position.
Mimo held pole position for the first time in their Marbula One career at the Razzway. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The Raspberry Racers, with Razzy, were the next to set a qualifying time and faced a notably difficult challenge in the second sector: the attenuator. Trying to steer clear of it, they hung left just a little bit, but that led to their downfall – riding the split for an onerous distance. They could not recover from there and qualified under Mimo. Similar challenges faced the Balls of Chaos, Team Primary, Thunderbolts, Snowballs, and Team Galactic. With every misstep from another team, Mimo’s second sector looked all the more impressive, and Coach Momomomomo was grinning because of it.
Smoggy gave the team a momentary scare, setting a qualifying time just seven hundredths slower than Mimo’s. While their speed proved to be fierce, they couldn’t match the clinical precision that Mimo had; a skill that was crucial to master the second sector. Rapidly would go on to set their qualifying time as the final marble of the day, for the championship-leading Savage Speeders. After being in the green following the first sector, and avoiding the attenuator in the second, things looked good for the Speeders and worrisome for Team Momo. However, they fell just short, fourteen hundredths down, and Team Momo earned pole position for the first time in Marbula One.
The fans, once dormant after Momo finished last at home, were roaring. But, more importantly to Mimo, the coach, accompanied by the rest of the crew, was beaming. Coach Momomomomo could not have been more right that Mimo would take well to the technical course design, and they all knew it. Marbles were in awe at their performance, many saying that their second sector should be shown in schools. In a press conference, Mimo was asked how they felt about reaching this point after the past struggles the team faced in Marbula One, to which they replied:
“Of course, I feel great. I’m tremendously grateful for Momomomomo, for believing in me and my abilities, and I feel that all of us athletes on the team have a lot to learn from them. Pushing through adversity isn’t easy, but it’s familiar to us. This was the first step, the next is to maintain a good performance in the race tomorrow.”
Mimo would go on to rest up adequately for the following day, as the Coach made sure of it. Many marbles, fellow competitors and fans alike, wished to have a word with the pole sitter. They were all met with a stern Momomomomo, telling them to “save it for after the race”. Meanwhile, Momo was studying Mimo’s qualifying lap and training on their own to prepare for the final GP of the season.
Race day at the Razzway rolled around, and Mimo was more than ready. Looking behind them when positioned in the starting grid, and seeing big-shots in Smoggy, Rapidly and Orangin, Mimo gulped but focused their determination upfront.
A train of racers stared down Mimo heading out of Turn 5 at the start of the Razzway race. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“And we’re rolling!” Mimo sprung out of the gate, but immediately got overtaken by Smoggy, who lunged past them. Smoggy going high on the first curb allowed Mimo to whiz right by, and the first reserve found themselves with the lead once more. Hearing that most of the field was stuck between Turns 4 and 5, Mimo didn’t pay attention, and instead, ensured that they would not lose the lead once more.
Taking a glimpse behind, however, they could see that Smoggy was closing in once again, having just overtaken Limelime to retake second place. A bump from Limelime sent Smoggy right on Mimo’s tail, which allowed the Hazer to get the best of them following a swift move past the Turn 8 attenuator, now infamous after qualifying. Smoggy, Mimo, and Limelime were a few lengths apart going into the final turns of Lap 1, alarmed by the news that the safety marble couldn’t get the rest of the field dislodged. Ascending the belt and catching up to the stragglers, Mimo found themselves amid something that no marble had seen before.
“As they snake around, heavy impacts here. Oh, this is all going wrong. Nearly everybody is stopped and we’ve got a red flag. A disaster here at the Razzway.”
To the news that the race would be restarted, Mimo made their way back to the starting gate, where they would start on pole once again. They gasped as they rolled past Smoggy, hearing a grumble given that their effort to get the lead had been for nothing. Through radio, Coach Momomomomo alerted Mimo not to let this opportunity go to waste; to hold on to their good position.
A restart could have startled Mimo, but it would not at the Razzway GP – it motivated them. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Following a fan getting loose from the stands and onto the track and conveyor, Mimo grew more nervous by the second, awaiting the resumption of normality within the stadium. It didn’t help that Greg Woods had wondered out loud whether the marbles up front had depleted their energy. The lights were on, and they were rolling once again. Mimo, yet again, couldn’t seize the moment and lost the lead instantly to Smoggy. This time, another challenger had got past as well: Rapidly of the Savage Speeders. Mimo, frustrated, picked themselves up and utilized the speed boost to perfection, shooting past Rapidly and Smoggy. This lunge was eventually to little avail, however, as Mimo faced the infamous Turn 8 attenuator. What was once a beast that Mimo tamed elegantly, now was not as kind, and Smoggy retook the lead.
Feeling some pressure from Orangin for second place, Mimo fended them off, now only a few lengths behind Smoggy at the end of Lap 1. A poor exit off the conveyor, though, and Orangin swiftly took second place. Mimo responded well by displaying their overtaking skill in sector 2 once more, shutting the door on Orangin mid-way through the hairpin. The attenuator caused them to lose speed, but it was not enough for the O’ranger to get by. In the next three laps, Mimo and Orangin were locked in a back-and-forth duel for second place, with Wispy, Anarchy, and Shock momentarily joining the fray. This battle for the bottom two podium spots allowed Smoggy to pull ahead, but Mimo, having successfully held off Orangin after Lap 5, set their sights on the leader.
Mimo missed the speed boost on Lap 6, which allowed Smoggy to maintain a decent gap upfront. However, when Smoggy approached the infamous attenuator, nearly covering the entirety of the first part of the split, disaster struck. Rolling directly over it was egregious for them, as Mimo soon gracefully maneuvered past. Smoggy nearly made an overtake in the third sector but was faced with a block: Mimo had seen it coming. Unfortunately for them, Smoggy had planned their next move and executed it perfectly on the hairpin of Lap 7 – a near-identical overtake to what Mimo pulled on Orangin earlier in the race.
Mimo chases Smoggy as Orangin prepares to pass them with one lap to go. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mimo stayed in second for most of the next two laps, experiencing a brief back-and-forth with Orangin once again on Lap 9. Going into the final lap, however, Mimo was too eager to take the lead from Smoggy, as they were side-by-side for an instant on the straightaway between Turns 5 and 6. Smoggy was aggressive in the turn afterward, laying down the block to ensure that Mimo wouldn’t get by. Orangin took advantage of their loss of momentum, and Mimo could not catch up. It would end up being a bronze medal for Team Momo across the line.
“That ranks up there with some of the most challenging races I’ve ever competed in…” said Mimo, gulping down a bottle of water before continuing. “I’m happy to say that it was one of the most rewarding races too, and I’m exhilarated that I even had the opportunity to do so.”
“Our team is taking the right steps to finish this season strong,” affirmed Coach Momomomomo. “And I trust that they’ll do the best they possibly can at Midnight Bay.”
A podium (mo)moment that Team Momo desperately needed in their Marbula One debut. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Momo remained to compete in their final of four races for Team Momo, and after a series of intense training sessions in between the events of the Razzway GP, they traveled to Helarve a few days earlier than the rest of their team. “There were a few landmarks that I wanted to revisit before all of the tourists came swarming in,” they noted in a pre-race interview, referencing their 2019 trip to the town to see the Wisps. “The clock tower is a marvel on its own, but it’s even cooler when the Willow Wisps gather around it closer to midnight. Legend says that if your eyes meet with a Willow Wisp, good fortune is coming your way.”
The racer declined to mention whether they had locked eyes with one of the spirits, but their qualifying performance would have validated it. Momo set provisional pole position with a time of 24.97 seconds. Their record stood until Speedy’s lap, where they rolled off the belt during Clementin’s run and finished with a time of 24.54 seconds. The next day, Momo took their P2 starting position to the left of Speedy, whose eyes were closed as they took deep breaths in and out.
“I’ve known Speedy for years, and I know when they’re in a race—let alone a tournament—to win it. At that moment, before the light signals lit up, I knew they would do everything in their power to achieve that.”
Sure enough, the starting gate lifted, and Speedy lurched forward with grace, handling the turns of the course with ferocity and accelerating ahead of the rest of the racers. Momo, trailing in second with Prim at their back, attempted to nudge ahead of Speedy coming out of the tunnel. But they would only push Speedy forward, creating a larger gap between them heading towards the glass bridge.
Former teammates Prim and Momo side-by-side in race positions at the Midnight Bay GP. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
From then on, Momo continued to battle for the podium and a position in the top half—but they recall feeling gassed to take on the lead. “Prim was able to wrestle the lead away for a few laps…but there was no beating Speedy. They weren’t looking back.”
Team Momo watched from their pit lane corral as the O’rangers, Hazers, and Savage Speeders took the team championship podium. With 39 points overall, Team Momo finished in eleventh overall, a satisfying improvement from being in last four races earlier…but still with much to be desired.
“Our second half was stronger, no question,” commented the coach. “Consistency is becoming one of our tougher challenges to overcome as a team, but our potential is here. We just need to develop it into the outcomes we want, and maintain them.”
After the crew from Marbula One headed back to the villages around Om, they were met with raucous cheers from the crowd. Marbles all around the city were delighted to see the team once again, notably Mimo after their breakout performance at the Razzway. Coach Momomomomo, however, was unsatisfied.
“We improved in the back half of Marbula One, yes. But it was still only good enough for eleventh. We can’t guarantee that we’re good enough to qualify for the League yet, so we need to focus on training.”
The team would have a break in the following week before resuming their intense training for the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. Momo and Mimo stayed at Om, as did the Coach, and they planned to explore the lesser-visited outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, Momomomo went rock climbing at the Himarblelayas, after mentioning that they wanted to start preparing for tougher events again, and Mo and Momomo explored areas near the city to engage in little, fun ‘mini-sprints’, that would help them get into the competitive mindset they needed but also allowed them to let off some steam.
The following week, Mimo found a letter addressed to them that appeared different from the regular fan mail they received and was surprised to see that it was from Dragon’s Egg, a marble now participating in the Marble Rally. Mimo and Dragon’s Egg had known each other before Mimo’s debut in the Marble League, of course, in the Individual Division of the Ramen Bowl. They eagerly opened up the letter, to which it read:
“Dear Mimo,
How are you? I heard about your bronze medal at Razzway in Marbula One– congratulations! You’ve grown so much as an athlete since we met a few years back in the Ramen Bowl.
Speaking of the Ramen Bowl, I’m writing to you to ask if you, and the rest of Team Momo, would be interested in overseeing the 2020 Ramen Bowl in place of me on the advisory board. I’m still on the board, but it’s taking place in a little over four months, which clashes with the Marble Rally season, but the Marble League should be over by then. If only a number of you are available, that’s fine too.
Good luck in the Marble League Qualifiers! You have my full support.
Dragon’s Egg.”
Mimo was excited to hear from their old friend, quickly contacting Coach Momomomomo about the offer. The Coach smiled upon the opportunity but reminded that Marbula One may resume around the time too, covertly alluding to the idea that they planned to reinstate Mimo as a racer again if they were to be invited. As a result, Momomomomo said that those not participating in Marbula One could be free to oversee the Ramen Bowl. The rest of the team were happy to do so as well, once they received the news.
Coach Momomomomo, however, made sure that the team remained focused. They were training harder than ever, but also getting adequate rest, as they needed it.
“How many laps more, Coach? It’s too much!” Mo spluttered, exhausted after a rigorous set of laps.
“With every lap, we get closer to getting enough points in the Qualifiers. We’re always on the edge, this could be what pushes us through.”
A few months later, the team entered the Andromedome to present, yet muted fanfare. Fans were happy to see that Team Momo had a chance to qualify, but they weren’t expecting very much from an organization that hadn’t medaled in the Showdown and had a subpar showing in Marbula One. One sour Limers fan remarked as Stynth descended the grandstands,
“So what if the Limers didn’t get a chance to qualify? I know we’ll see Team Momo throw away their chance. I bet you a box of Choco’rangers.”
Stynth politely declined the rash offer, joining the rest of the JMRC to watch the teams enter the arena and oversee the Qualifiers. Following an abysmal performance in Balancing, where Team Momo placed nineteenth with a score of 240, Mo spun around the funnels with confidence, placing first with a time of 2:34.51.
Mo continued to spin in the final funnel for eighteen seconds after Kinnowin dropped through, doing everything they could to have the longest time of both heats. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Team Momo startled fans when they had difficulty with the starting gate in Block Pushing—with the green flag crashing back down on Mo as they prepared to roll down the course. Mo declined to report an injury at that moment but stated during the main tournament that they were “surprised and shaken up” by the accident. In a redo of their heat, the team had only pushed 54.8 centimeters, placing last overall. Despite winning a qualifying event, they sat in the relegation zone with one event to go.
That left their chances of qualification up to Momomo in the 5 Meter Sprint. They were facing Red Eye, Wasp, and Indie of the Crazy Cat’s Eyes, Hornets, and Indigo Stars respectively. The rest of the team could only watch and hope it would be enough. With Momomo falling back and finishing last in the heat, the Momo fan section was in silence.
“It’s over, isn’t it?” Mo asked their captain, beside them.
Momomomo didn’t respond. Instead, a tear rolled down their eye.
The remaining heats took place, with every marble seemingly at the top of their game in the final qualifying event. Tension was in the air throughout the Andromedome, especially for Team Momo. Momomo’s run clocked in at the eleventh-best time, which gave the team 35 qualifying points. Due to their funnel gold, Team Momo had qualified, in a historic, four-way tiebreaker. Momomo sprinted to their teammates after the revelation, as they were ecstatic.
“We’ve done it! We’re back in the Marble League!” Momo bellowed as they hugged the rest of their teammates.
Momomomo, however, quickly rolled to the section nearby, towards Team Primary’s section of the grandstands. While Team Momo was celebrating, their fellow team’s spirits had hit rock bottom. To be on the losing end of the 35-point tiebreaker was agonizing for the fans. However, it was Mary, their captain, who was affected the worst of all, pinning the blame on themselves for underperforming in the funnel endurance event.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay. Don’t let this performance define who you are as an athlete. Not when you’re capable of so much more.”
Mary sniffled, remembering their winning performance in the very same event three years earlier.
“We’ve been in this position before, last year actually, when we dropped out of the qualification zone in the final event. It was demoralizing, but we’ve taken the steps to rebuild. I have faith in you, it’ll get better.” Momomomo said softly.
“Thank you,” Mary replied.
With a quick turnaround to the main tournament, Team Momo appeared in the opening ceremony, gleaming as if they hadn’t ever left. The fans were thrilled to finally see the full team, as this was the first time all five members were competing together in an official Marble League. Momo fans, however, were anxious about what was to come, remembering the dismal performance the team had in Balancing in the Qualifiers.
The team, however, put all concerns to rest. With two finishers, they finished sixth in the event, a pleasant surprise for the Team Momo fan section. Double-digit points in their first Marble League event in over two years was very respectable, and it continued in the Halfpipe, with their time being good enough for sixth-place again.
Unfortunately, Mo proceeded to place last in the Funnel Endurance event during the main tournament. They couldn’t replicate their strategy of stealing momentum to be the last to drop into the green funnels, getting swarmed by the rest of the field and struggling to apply the technique in the black hole-style funnels. They didn’t comment on their performance afterward, as they exasperatedly stormed off the field. The coach watched them disapprovingly.
After earning two consecutive sixth-place finishes in Balancing and Halfpipe and seeming comfortable in that position, they fell to tenth. Heading into Newton’s Cradle, Coach Momomomomo opted to put in Momo and Momomo, who had begun training together as a duo early on during the 2019 offseason. Despite their promising results off the field, the two only mustered a 96.5-centimeter push through the cradle, finishing eleventh and dropping to twelfth in the standings.
“This isn’t quite where we’d like to be, but it’s still early enough in the season,” remarked the coach. “We have a lot of opportunities left to capitalize on.”
Mimo and Momomomo couldn’t quite do so in the Long Jump and Hurdles, placing eighth and twelfth respectively. But it was when Team Momo came back together as a group that they were able to shine.
“As I rolled down the ramp towards the block, I could hear The MarBeats’ “Carry That Block” in my head. ‘Mo, you’re gonna carry that block…carry that block past the red line…’ We didn’t get past the red line, but we got the closest we could,” said Mo.
The team earned a silver medal in Block Pushing 2017 by keeping Mo and Momo close to the front and Momomo and Mimo behind in a slightly more separated formation, replicating that strategy for Block Pushing 2020. Although Greg Woods described the team’s form as “disjointed”, it was clear that Mimo’s “momomentum” was enough to give Team Momo a final push, which put them five-hundredths above the O’rangers to win silver once again.
The team’s first Marble League medal since Curling 2018. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“As cool as it would be to medal in an individual event of my own one day…there’s no feeling like standing on the podium as a team. I missed that,” reflected Momomo, beaming as they rolled down from the second step.
Momo lined up at the starting gate for the Triathlon with renewed excitement and came through their heat in first by over two seconds. They went on to advance through the semifinal in an extremely tight photo finish over Pulsar of Team Galactic.
“Photo finish necessary, oh, they got it! I think they did! By one-hundredth of a second! Team Momo advances!” exclaimed Greg from the commentary box.
The final would go on to be one of the most exhilarating mo-moments in Momo’s entire career. Despite a rough transition onto the Marbula section, they held third going into the water, and a great lunge forward had them in the lead briefly. Foggy caught up to everyone in what was one of the most legendary comebacks in Marble League history, but Momo would hold on for the silver. They finished just behind Foggy and just ahead of Orangin in the final to earn a second silver for their team.
“We aren’t the fastest athletes,” acknowledged Momo in a post-event interview, “but we make up for our speed with our strength, and that gives us a significant advantage when we’re overtaking. It took us the entire season to realize that, but everything finally started to make more sense when Mimo was overtaken at the Razzway.”
Momo played back the footage, and we watched as Orangin took advantage of Mimo’s arrested momentum at the attenuator, overtaking them for a brief period in the penultimate lap.
“That was a critical mo-moment, if I do say so myself,” Momo jested, smirking. “In all seriousness, that’s the exact tactic I’ve been training for all season, and it finally came through in the underwater sector of the semifinal. It almost came through in the final.”
Team Momo shares a podium with the Hazers and O’rangers for the second time since the Razzway GP. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
At the end of the first half of the 2020 Marble League, Team Momo was back where they started – sixth place. They would earn two more sixth-place finishes in the Sand Mogul Race, featuring a strong racing performance by Mo, and the Relay, where they barely lost a photo-finish to the Savage Speeders. But besides a fourth-place finish in Team Aquathlon, the rest of Team Momo’s season didn’t see them place above seventh in any event.
“We felt good about the Aquathlon, but the way the bracket system worked out, we got put against two of the best teams in the league. Honestly, I didn’t feel confident enough heading into those match-ups. And it showed pretty quickly,” Momomomo admitted.
They finished eighth overall at the end of the season, earning 135 points and two medals to end their first Marble League in the top half since 2016.
“Overall, I’m satisfied enough with how things ended. There’s more that we could have done, and we’re going to learn from that and mo-move forward,” promised Momomomo.
The team returned to Om on a scenic train route, which took them through Herbotamia and the Himarblelayas. As they passed through Himarbleaya, the team decided to stay briefly and go on a retreat to the village of Momili to hike, ski, and drink hot chocolate.
After returning to Om, the team reconnected with Temple of Om and their manager, Memo, who was Mimo’s oldest sibling. They asked Memo if they were interested in managing the team, a proposition that Memo could not refuse.
Stynth visited the team in the days that followed to report on their offseason, as well as Memo’s new managerial position:
“If I could describe Om in three words, I would say “aromatic, bustling, vibrant”. The city, stretched over hills and plains, was perched in a dense mountain valley with newer construction outlining the city as it reached towards the higher mountain peaks. As my tram traveled closer to the city center, the surrounding architecture got older but never lost its luster, with neon lights and other modern attachments dressing up the thousands of historic buildings.
Mimo joined me on the tram on the outskirts of the city center, instantly recognizing me despite my smug disguise in Shining Swarm gear. “Not that smug,” Mimo commented, looking over my notepad. “But an A for effort!”
Mimo and I talked for the next hour as we approached Temple of Om, where Team Momo would be making a surprise celebrity appearance in the kitchen to learn how to make dumplings. I learned of Mimo’s eleven siblings, all of which were interested in different things, such as the arts, journalism, technology, and more! We were about to meet Mimo’s oldest sibling, Memo, at Temple of Om: after running the restaurant for a decade, they would be announcing their retirement from the business to join Team Momo as their manager.
I made sure that we entered through the back door this time, and we met up with the team, already suited up in their personalized chef jackets and hats. Momomomo handed me my jacket, which was embroidered with the label “Stynth – Our Mo-most Dedicated Fan!”I don’t think I stopped smiling that night, both from the delicious dumplings we made and the laughs we shared. Thank you, Team Momo, for an experience I will always treasure!”
from “Offseason Moments – ML2020 Part 2”, by Stynth
Memo instructs members of Team Momo on how to make dumplings at the Temple of Om restaurant. (Art Credit: Betawolfs)
The next day, Memo joined Team Momo for the first time at the Momotorway to discuss plans for the franchise. Many developments from that meeting helped broaden Team Momo’s influence around the world: it was here that the Momo’s Dumplings brand was developed in collaboration with Temple of Om. The team also began discussing future athletic opportunities, including captaincy changes and the possibility of adopting a minor league. To remain fully transparent with their fans, the team live-streamed their meetings online at Mooz conferences.
A few days later, a familiar JMRC-signed letter was sent to the team, to which they eagerly opened together, anticipating an invitation to come back for Season 2 of Marbula One. Sure enough, they were given the opportunity, and upon discussing race performance in Season 1 and event results in the Marble League, the team unanimously agreed that Momo and Mimo should remain as Marbula racers. This also meant that Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo would be heading to downtown Om for the 2020 Ramen Bowl, as they were delighted to reunite with some of their old competitors. Later in the week, the team was ready to part ways for the moment. Mo, Momo, and Momomomo were staying in a hotel in the heart of the city, while Momo, Mimo, Coach, and Memo would get ready to depart to Herbotamia for the inaugural Marbula One race.
Momomomo, the oldest and wisest of the team members, took care of the trio on their journey. Mo was especially excited to meet the teams in the Ramen Bowl, some of which they were sure to recognize from before, while others would be new faces to them. Momomo wondered about the types of events, and how they evolved and differed from standard Marble League events that they were used to.
“Over here!” exclaimed a familiar, deep, voice. It was a dark green and orange marble, soon revealed to be the famed 2017 Marble Rally champion.
Dragon’s Egg smiled as the Momo marbles rolled towards them, and was accompanied by numerous marbles that were recognized as past Ramen Bowl competitors. Teams such as the Ramen Runners, Efficient Eggs, Pho Flyers, and many more were present.
“Welcome home, Team Momo!” they called out in unison.
Momomomo paid particular attention to Shoyu and Mell, two marbles from the Ramen Runners. The Ramen Runners were the oldest team of the tournament, hosting the inaugural Ramen Bowl in 2006. They were a very proficient bunch of marbles, having won three Golden Noodles and two Silver Noodles. Of course, with the rise of Team Momo, the teams had a friendly rivalry when they competed.
Mo and Momomo were talking to the Boil twins, Hard-Boil and Soft-Boil from the Efficient Eggs, as well as Stew, the captain of the Brothballers. These were also marbles that competed with Team Momo back in the day.
Some of the other organizers and advisory board members ushered the crowd to the stadium, hosted once again by the Ramen Runners for the fifteenth edition of the Ramen Bowl team division. The opening event, Race to the [Ramen] Bowl, was traditionally the first event held in both divisions of the tournament and was being set up for the next day. After being briefed on administrative matters on the advisory board, the Momo marbles rested up at the hotel.
The next day marked the first event day of the Ramen Bowl, with the Race to the Bowl being the first of ten events. Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo, watching from the VIP stands, expected the Ramen Runners to win the event. However, Scallion of the Spring Onions, a new team in the Ramen Bowl, set an incredibly fast time to claim gold, to the awe of the crowd.
In the following few events, the Spring Onions continued to dominate in their debut year, against all odds. The Ramen Runners, Efficient Eggs, and Brothballers, teams expected to be at the top of the standings, were placing well, but could not keep pace with the championship leaders. Every time the Onions seemed to downturn, they would follow it up with a medal.
“It’s a different feeling, seeing new teams steamroll through competitions with such huge legacies,” Momomo remarked. “How do they make it look so easy?”
“They make it look easy here, but no doubt it’s been tough to get to this point for them. The hardest battles are the ones we don’t get to see,” Momomomo said.
The final event was a circuit race, partly inspired by the breakout Marbula season. The Momo marbles had played a part in making this run as smoothly as possible, as the Ramen Bowl looked better than ever. Championship-wise, though, it had already been decided, as the Spring Onions had an astounding 34 point lead over the Ramen Runners. They had clinched the Golden Noodle.
Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo watched eagerly, wondering who would win the final event of the tournament. The Spring Onions, with Leek, had already made their way to the front– but they weren’t in first just yet. Tonkotsu, from the Ramen Runners, grew their lead with every lap, determined to close out on a high in the 2020 Ramen Bowl. On the penultimate lap, however, they stumbled. The crowd gasped as Scramble, the captain of the Efficient Eggs, whizzed by and claimed the final gold medal. The Ramen Runners would finish second and the Spring Onions third– and those three teams would turn out to be the overall top three.
Team Momo approaches the field to congratulate the 2020 Ramen Bowl podium finishers. (Photo Credit: Ramen Powder)
“I think we have a lot to learn from this,” Momomomo said, as they observed the Spring Onions basking in their glory. “There’ll always be veterans that do well from experience, but some talent is unnoticed. You can never tell when a team might have a breakout season and win tons of medals, leaving everyone in the dust. That’s something we’ll have to learn to deal with.”
“Yeah, we kinda saw it with the Minty Maniacs in the Marble League,” replied Mo. “It’s amazing how the most unlikely of teams can pull that off.”
The team would bid farewell to their friends in the Ramen Bowl, congratulating the victors once more and thanking Dragon’s Egg, who found time to make a quick appearance the day after the closing ceremony. Mo, Momomo, and Momomomo made their way back to the Temple of Om, where they had a soothing dumpling dinner.
The final standings for the 2020 Ramen Bowl. (Design Credit: Ramen Powder)
Meanwhile, the Team Momo Marbula Crew had arrived in Herbotamia, ready for the inaugural race at Minty Mania. Momo would once again be the team’s opening racer, hoping that this time, they would qualify well and keep it. The course had a feature that was new to Season 2: a banked curve, which made up a significant portion of the third sector. Momo studied the curve intricately, trying to figure out what the best way to traverse through it would be.
In qualifying, Momo set a time in the latter half of the field, and despite their attempts to master the banked turn, they had a sharp angle coming out of it, which lost them a bit of time. Their time was only good enough for 11th, which made the field but wasn’t good enough for the two-lap shootout in Q2. They watched the follow-on rounds for qualifying and saw as Smoggy took pole, followed by Yellow Eye, Mallard, and Speedy. Three of those four were celebrated Marbula racers from Season 1 already, and Momo knew what they had to do: gain as many positions as possible to join the fray.
The following day, Coach Momomomomo alerted Momo to focus especially on the first turn. P11 had one advantage– it gave Momo the inside line. The lights were on, and off they went, and Momo would pull off an incredible move: gaining seven spots from the first turn alone. They were now positioned behind Yellow Eye, Smoggy and Speedy as they descended in the second sector of the first lap. The plan had worked beautifully.
Momo’s effort to master the banked turn had finally paid off – they were exceptional in the banking, weaving inwards and outwards to gain positions and to find the perfect line. Before Lap 5, they were in second place, right on the tail of Yellow Eye. However, disaster struck at the end of Lap 5, with Speedy being jammed in the guide of the conveyor. The race had to be stopped, and despite Momo getting by Yellow Eye briefly, it was all for nothing as the overtake was made after the yellow flag.
Momo resumes the Minty Mania GP in P2. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
The rest of the race had Momo fans on edge, but it was all for naught, as Momo stayed in second for nearly the entirety of the remainder of the race. Momo set a couple of fast laps when trying to catch up to Yellow Eye, and picked up the fastest lap point in the process. The Coach was incredibly proud, congratulating Momo heartily after the podium celebration.
“The plan has worked, big-time! Last season, we took four races to get any points, and look at where we are now!” exclaimed Momomomomo.
Momo smiled faintly, but something was bothering them. They kept it to themselves, however, to not damper the lively mood that their fellow crew members were in.
Later that evening, though, Mimo noticed something was up. It was rather unusual of Momo to be sullen after a good performance, let alone winning a medal. They asked their teammate what the issue was, to which they replied:
“Everyone’s saying that Yellow Eye led every single lap and that this was an incredibly dominant victory for them, the most dominant in history. And officially, it’s true, they did lead every lap recorded. But no one seems to remember that I made the move for the lead, only that it was after the red flag. It was a wasted opportunity on my part.”
“Look, Momo, the incident shook everyone up when it happened. You and I, we’re no strangers to this kind of thing. But everyone else, they haven’t experienced being out on the field, performing, when there’s a report of something like what happened to Speedy today. It was only natural that you’d handle it well.”
Momo saw reason in what Mimo said, but still looked glum, thinking about what could’ve been.
“Don’t dwell on it. The important thing is that everyone’s okay. Hey, next week, I’ll do my best to make sure that no one forgets our moves for the lead again.”
The next week rolled around, and indeed, Mimo would be racing at Orlango, returning to a slightly modified O’raceway course. Mimo had watched the footage of Minty Mania several times, watching their teammate’s brilliant overtakes in the opening turn, as well as Yellow Eye’s masterful maintaining of the lead. They planned on encompassing both elements in the upcoming race.
Mimo had a sub-par qualifying run, though, as their time of 24.717 seconds was only good enough for P14. The silver lining was that, once again, they had the inside line, but how effective would that be if Mimo was at the back? It turned out that it would be paramount to Mimo’s first move in the race.
The lights were on, and they were rolling for the second time in Season 2. Mimo, replicating Momo’s huge early overtake perfectly, made full use of the inside line to get into fifth. A strategic move high up on the curb, followed by a very fast line in the sand section, got Mimo up to second place, just behind Cerulean of the Kobalts. Mimo drew closer to Cerulean on the front stretch, managing to slot themselves onto the same level of the conveyor belt in the run-up to Lap 2. Then, a very clean exit off the belt, and Mimo darted into the lead. The Momo fan section was roaring out of exhilaration.
Now that Mimo had done the part of replicating Momo’s genius overtaking strategy, they had to replicate Yellow Eye’s skill in maintaining their lead. Lap by lap, they continued to time their conveyor exits precisely, to widen the gap to second place. It also helped that second place was a hotly contested position throughout the next few laps, and Mimo, strong on the sand section, left everyone in the dust. Tumult, Wispy, Billy, and Snowstorm were dueling for the bottom two podium positions, and Coach Momomomomo advised Mimo to pay no attention and to focus on what was in front.
Mimo’s lead was a massive 4.29 seconds with three laps to go, and while it looked like it was an easy gold medal for the First Reserve, Mimo caught a glimpse of Red Eye behind them. The Crimson Cat was approaching, trying to make up some ground, and they did an exceptional job of it on Lap 17. The lead had shrunk to less than a second after just one lap. Mimo, though, was undeterred; channeling their energy forward and making no mistakes, and they crossed the line to win the O’raceway Grand Prix. The fan section was in jubilation, chanting: “Mi-MO! Mi-MO! Mi-MO!” louder than any other team.
Mimo after the O’raceway GP, overjoyed to be on the top step of the podium. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Momo and Mimo sprinted towards each other after the race and podium celebration. “I told you! I told you, no one is forgetting about us now! Team Momo, at the top of the table!”
Indeed, Mimo was right. Team Momo and the Crazy Cat’s Eyes had both won a gold and silver medal in the first two races, but the fastest lap point that Momo won at Minty Mania put them in first overall. It was the first time that Team Momo, competing with Marble League teams, had reached the top of the standings.
Coach Momomomomo was crying tears of joy. They could not have been more proud of what the team had achieved; how far they’d come since being in the Marble League Showdown the previous year. In a team meeting held the next day, the racers, Coach, and Manager Memo discussed what their strategy should be going into the next few races.
“Of course, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. But we do need to keep in mind that in almost every season, we get all of our podiums, or good finishes, in one consecutive band of events. 2016 is the exception – you guys did a great job of consistently winning medals, and that’s how you were so close to glory up until the end. We need to return to that style of competing.”
The team decided to send Momo to the next Grand Prix, the Honeydome, to rest Mimo up, and as Mimo also expressed interest to race at the Aquamaring, the fourth GP. The Oceanics-hosted course had some similarities to the O’raceway, in the sense that there were long straightaways where Mimo hoped to reenact what they pulled off in Orlango.
At Buzzpig, home of the Bumblebees, Momo was ready to set a qualifying time. They would have to adapt to the unfamiliar sections of the course – being the Bee Dance section and the Hive. Momo set a time of 31.959 seconds. Like Mimo, this was on the cusp of elimination, but having placed eighth out of twelve racers, they had guaranteed a position on the grid. Momo gulped, however, when they saw the remaining qualifying hot laps; as every marble that set a time afterward did better than them. This meant a start from the back of the field in P16, but with Team Momo now being known for making huge gains in the race, Momo had their work cut out for them.
In the race, Momo would go on to make the large gain they envisioned, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the podium just yet. Speedy and Bumble were dueling at the front with them, and while Momo held the lead briefly, a masterful move in the first sector allowed Speedy to get by. Momo held the podium spots for a few more laps but fell into the clutches of Starry, and to their dismay, Yellow Eye. By the end of it, Momo finished in fifth – a solid result, but felt bittersweet. Yellow Eye, meanwhile, got the bronze and the fastest lap. The Crazy Cat’s Eyes made the podium for the third time, overtaking Team Momo in the championship.
A great triple-overtake by Momo on Lap 3 in the Bee Dance section. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“We’re still only four points off the leaders, and well ahead of third place. The Crazy Cat’s Eyes are on the top of their game, no doubt, but we can easily take it back in Dunduei,” affirmed the Coach in an interview.
Mimo was competing at the Aquamaring, with Red Eye being their main target to beat. Those two had secured the top two positions at the O’raceway, and with four points separating the two in the team standings, they were the ones to watch out for here. Mimo qualified in P8 – good enough for Q2 and the team’s best qualifying performance to date. Unfortunately for them, Red Eye set the second-fastest time in Q1. Mimo couldn’t make up any ground in Q2, but Red Eye fell back to sixth, so the Crazy Cat’s Eyes would start right in front of Team Momo for the race.
Despite Coach Momomomomo being optimistic, the race went in the complete opposite direction to what Team Momo needed. Mimo fell to the back of the field, while Red Eye shot up to the lead right from the first lap. Despite a hard-fought battle with Bolt, Red Eye emerged victorious by nearly three seconds with the fastest lap, while Mimo finished in fifteenth place, outside the points. The Crazy Cat’s Eyes’ lead ballooned to 30 points, and Team Momo was now left in between a rock and a hard place moving forward.
Momo, however, was more determined than ever to make up for the deficit. They made it to the third qualifying round at the Tumult Turnpike GP – another first for the team. Starting in P3, through some wonderful moves in the banked turn, Momo set their sights on the lead in the race. Unfortunately, they fell back a little bit, and by the end of the race, Team Momo had gained just two points on the championship leaders.
In the final race before the winter break, Mimo qualified in P7, unable to make up ground in Q2 once more. Red Eye qualified in second, so the Coach made it clear that getting to the front of the field was crucial. Sadly, Mimo once again was unable to follow through with the intended plan, finding trouble traversing through the sharp turns and the ice bridge at the Arctic Circuit GP. While Red Eye finished mid-pack, Team Momo finished a Marbula One race in dead last for the first time in Season 2.
Mimo finishes ahead of Rapidly but with no points to their name. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
Mimo was heartbroken after the race. Their blowout victory seemed like nothing but a fever dream at this point, with their two misfortunes being the rough patches that separated their team from the Crazy Cat’s Eyes. Coach, observing them closely, sympathized with the reserve member’s struggle but was desperately looking for a solution to get Team Momo back on track.
Out of the blue, Memo notified Coach Momomomomo and the team members that they were invited to a five-event Marble League Winter Special, hosted by the Minty Maniacs. The remaining members of Team Momo had joined the Marbula crew as they had finished up at the 2020 Ramen Bowl, and they were eager to participate. Momo also expressed their interest. Mimo, however, felt that circuit training would be a better use of their time, given their poor form. They agreed that Mimo would participate in the final event, Ice Hockey, as this required all five marbles but would be training for Marbula One before that.
“The Himarbleayas may seem fierce, but being aware of your surroundings makes it easy to tame this beast. Hopefully, we’ll be able to push through in this short series,” said Momomomo, telling their teammates about their experience going rock climbing.
In a meeting before the opening event, the Ice Dash, the team had to decide who would represent them in the individual events, as this was still unclear. The individual events, Ice Dash, Snowboard Cross, and Speed Skating, were held in Marble League 2018, but Team Momary placed poorly in all three events back then. Coach Momomomomo was set on sending out Momomo, Mo, and Momomomo in that order, giving their Marbula racers time to train and rest. Momo, however, openly expressed their interest to participate in an event, saying that they needed to remain competitively active during the break. Momomo wasn’t confident with being the first representative either, so it was decided that Momo would replace Momomo in the Ice Dash.
Momo would be racing against the Raspberry Racers, Pinkies, and Balls of Chaos in Heat 2. They watched as Blue Eye reset the record in the first heat, leaving the stadium in awe as the Crazy Cat’s Eyes had the spotlight. Fueled by their desire to overcome them, Momo advanced to the semi-finals, just two-hundredths of a second off Rezzy from the Raspberry Racers.
In the semi-final, they were pitted against the Snowballs, Team Galactic, and the Cat’s Eyes, being side-by-side with Blue Eye. Momo kept true to the middle, dashing as fast as they could, and reset the record once more. They grinned momentarily – before facing a hard collision with Starry of Team Galactic at the line. Taking a medical check before the final, Momo was a little shaken up, and could only get bronze as the Crazy Cat’s Eyes won gold in the first event again. Momo, though, was thrilled to be back on the podium, with the team continuing to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with.
Momo was happy to take a bronze home in the Winter Special but felt unfulfilled for the rest of the tournament. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
In the next couple of events, Mo finished in the bottom half in the Snowboard Cross, while the team captain set a time in Speed Skating good enough for fifth place. To the Coach’s dismay, however, the preparation for Bobsled did not go as planned. Momomo was reported to have altitude sickness, and the team was obligated to let them rest. This meant that Mimo had to substitute in, which turned out okay, as they placed in the top half. Momomomomo was worried that Mimo was losing valuable Marbula practice, and rightfully so.
Going into the final event, Team Momo had an outside shot at the title from sixth, but the Oceanics were easily the favorites to take the Winter Special. The Coach targeted a podium, which required them to clear the first two teams at the very least. Alas, this did not happen, as they were no match for Team Galactic in the Round of 16. Placing fourteenth in the event, Team Momo fell to ninth overall, in a similar fashion to Marble League 2017. They watched longingly as the Oceanics, O’rangers, and Hazers made up the overall podium.
“We struggle so much in collision-style events,” lamented Mo. “We were in a good position, but maybe we’re doomed to mediocrity after all.”
“It’s good that we’re participating in these off-season events. We know where to improve, and we’ll make the effort to do so,” replied the Coach.
The entire team was ready to head to Lewara together, which had a very different, more tropical climate to that of the Himarbleayas. Momo was set to race at the Raceforest GP, hosted by the Jungle Jumpers. They were antsy in the starting blocks after the Winter Special, especially since this would be the first time they were competing with the individual championship leader, Red Eye. Whether the Crazy Cat’s Eyes would slow down in the second half was not in Momo’s control, but whether Team Momo would bridge that gap was.
Momo was to set a time in the penultimate pair of marbles, right after Bolt. They weren’t used to the slower pace that this course required, and unable to make up ground, they could only place sixteenth out of eighteen marbles. If both Billy and Red Eye did worse, Momo would still make the field, but that was an incredibly tall order. Billy did not, as they made it to seventh, but it was Red Eye’s performance, the best of all Q1 times, that deepened the sinking feeling in Momo’s stomach. The team had failed to achieve a grid position for the first time all season, and now as already behind the Green Ducks as well, they were only going to lose more ground on the championship lead.
“Coach was right,” sighed Momo dejectedly to Mimo later that day. “Taking part in the Ice Dash in the Winter Special felt great in the mo-moment, but I could’ve spent that time training. Here we are, paying the price.”
Mimo didn’t say anything in response. They wanted to console their fellow racer, but they knew that making it up on the track the next week would be a thousand times better than any words at that moment.
Team Momo’s home Grand Prix: the Momotorway. (Design Credit: Spex)
The eighth race on the calendar was to be held back at home for Team Momo, as the Momotorway Grand Prix would return for the second season of Marbula One. The track, while being an all too familiar one to the team, was also one where Momo had placed sixteenth on in Season 1. Mimo needed to turn things around completely. Surely, their attempt to fulfill their championship aspirations couldn’t get any worse here, right? Or so, Mimo thought.
Mimo would go on to set a fairly slow time in Q1 and was barely in the DNQ zone before the final pair of racers set their times. With Shock riding the split before Sector 2 very egregiously, they set the worst time of the day, allowing Mimo to qualify for the GP. They did have some of their first-half magic in them, as Mimo climbed several spots throughout the race, but it was only good enough for seventh. Meanwhile, Yellow Eye claimed gold at Om, eliminating half of all teams from championship contention then and there.
After a few weeks of waiting, Momo lined up for the Palette Park GP. They managed to qualify this time in P11 and hoped to gain several positions again in the race. Red Eye qualified in P15, a season-low for them, but Momo didn’t pay attention. Instead, they were more focused on the teams that were right on Team Momo’s radar: the Thunderbolts and the Green Ducks. Bolt only qualified in P14, Billy; a DNQ. The race was a great opportunity to make up some ground on those two teams, but every time Momo could make an overtake, they’d get their place taken from them by another marble. Despite being in sixth for a decent part of the mid-race, Momo finished in tenth. A bit of a missed opportunity, considering Bolt and Red Eye didn’t do much better. Team Momo was now the lowest team, in fourth, that was still in championship contention, but given that it was near impossible to usurp the Cat’s Eyes, their eyes lay on second place for now.
Race 10, the Misty Mountain GP, would take place a couple of weeks later again, having been delayed due to navigation issues around Mount Huaze. The track was quite literally clouded in mist, bearing an aura of mystery and foreboding, similar to an aura that the Hazers carried themselves. Mimo, though, took well to the course in qualifiers – making it to Q2 and just missing out on Q3 by qualifying in P5. The race, however, was an entirely different story. Mimo climbed all the way to first, in a close battle with Cerulean and Bumble. They heard that Clutter had been stuck in the safety marble lane, but Mimo, while concerned, made sure to focus on the race. On Lap 9, Bumble had gotten stuck on Turn 6, but they were still in race conditions as Cerulean and Mimo stretched their margin to third incredibly. Four laps later, a red flag was called, and the four-second margin evaporated with a race restart.
Mimo got swarmed up by the field in the first lap of the restart, falling to eleventh at one point. They tried their hardest to make up for time lost, and gained a few spots, but finished in eighth at the end of it. It was such a letdown that Mimo’s hard work in most of the race had gone to waste. Momo watched them from the sidelines, remembering how their overtake at Minty Mania for the lead had been in vain. This was far, far worse. In an interview, Mimo tried to be optimistic. “I did my best,” is all that they had the heart to say.
In the penultimate GP, at the Savage Speedway, Momo qualified in P13 and made up no spots during the race. However, the attention was all on Red Eye, winning the race from pole and setting the fastest lap for the first-ever 27-point haul in a race, in nearly seven minutes of pure racing domination. Both the individual and team titles were now unassailable, but Coach Momomomomo wished for the team to close out on a high. At Helarve, for the final GP of the season, Mimo qualified in P8 making it to Q2. Previously, starting in the mid-pack spelled trouble for the first reserve, but not this time.
Despite being in last after the first lap, they made overtakes in nearly every lap to get closer to the front. Dueling with Cerulean, Razzy and Rapidly, Mimo finished the final race in fourth, the team’s best performance since their win at the O’raceway. It was enough to put Team Momo back in the top five overall, and both racers in the top twelve individually.
Mimo rests by the conveyor belt, having completed their second season of Marbula One ninth in the Racer’s Championship. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“This was not an easy season,” remarked Coach Momomomomo. “We struggled in the mid-season after a great start, team morale was low, and our hard work was in vain at times. But in the end, we pulled through, and improved massively from Season 1.”
A few days later, Momo and Mimo were waiting for their flight back to Om. They thought about the team’s place in marble sports, now in the presence of unmatched, perfect performance. In a way, the Spring Onions topping the Ramen Bowl opened up the possibility of such domination, and the Crazy Cat’s Eyes in Marbula One allowed Team Momo to experience it firsthand.
“You know, looking back, it feels silly that we considered the Cat’s Eyes our rivals. They’re masters of the sport, but if we could maintain our early good form throughout, we may be able to put up a fight,” said Momo.
Team Momo remained yet to have a tournament where they didn’t win all of their medals in three consecutive events following 2016. With the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers coming up, they hoped to achieve this in the tournament but had to train hard to ensure qualification. In the meantime, they enjoyed the rest of their offseason cooking and eating dumplings, as well as watching the Marble Rally and cheering on Dragon’s Egg.
Manager Memo received a memo about a practice sand rally taking place in the Cat’s Dunes near Felynia Coliseum, where the 2021 Marble League would be held. Momomomo was the team’s most proficient rally marble, and appropriately, was chosen to represent Team Momo in the race. They finished in third to earn a bronze medal behind Indie and Rojo Uno from the Indigo Stars and Rojo Rollers – a very fine performance considering all 28 teams had taken part.
Momomomo finished third in the 2021 Practice Race, a potential bellwether for the 2021 season. (Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs)
“If this is how we’re going to do in the qualifiers, I have a very good feeling about the Marble League this year,” commented the Coach.
In RetRollSpective, Team Momo has seen a rollercoaster of events occur over their history, but the team is still very well regarded by other marble athletes and the fans for its fun, its traditions, and its achievements in competition, including Momo’s individual championship in Marbula One Season 4. With hope, the team will continue to charm its fans through its talent and its passion. Best of luck to Team Momo in the near future, keep on rolling!
Project Marblearth 