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Marathon's Story Page
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Marathon's Story Page
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Happy Leap Day!
Every four years we get a free day. Use it wisely. Play Marathon.    Following the Pfhor defeat at Tau Ceti and Lh'owon, Pfhor children have been told stories of the HU-MON. A demon creature who eats their heads.  tiny Phfor watch out by durandal-1707 on tunmbr. August 20, 2023. But they're only stories... right?  Phfor watched out by awakenthebeing on tunmbr. August 20, 2023. Of course we know better. The HU-MON is no demon... he's a cyborg and he eats everyone's head!  Marathon gore by redorth on tumblr. May 27, 2023. |
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...Seven years after President John F. Kennedy said we were going to the moon Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Three years later Eugene Cernan took his final steps on the moon and no one has been back since. The fact that we have not been able to put a person on the moon since December 1972 has led some people to believe that the moon landings were fake!  On August 2, 1994 Bungie unveiled Marathon at the Boston Macworld Expo. Fans queued up for hours to play Marathon on a CyberMaxx VR Headset. Confirmation of Marathon's compatibility with the CyberMaxx VR Headset appeared in an official Bungie press release shortly after Macworld. The fact that we have not been able to play Marathon on a VR headset since August 1994 has led some people to believe that reports of playing Marathon on a CyberMaxx VR Headset were fake! But all this is about to change... Somewhere in the Heavens... It is Waiting by mja on tumblr. January 19, 2024. Marathon on Apple Vision Pro.
Today's news was sponsored by Marathon and Bauhaus (AI)  
Live the dream. Live in the dream. Bauhaus (AI) |
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Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon art from around the world we give you...
Marathon Compiler by Wave Commotion (aka Diego) a video editor & 3D enthusiast from Guatemala.
This apparent descent into darkness sequence gives the Compiler an extra creepy vibe. Marathon: Silent Hill... perhaps. Diego, a 24 years old college student, has also done some really nice Halo art. This movie really caught my attention and brought back some old memories. His comment about playing Halo and falling "into the abyss of not being able to touch the grass again" got me thinking... what's grass? You can check out more of Diego's art on ArtStation, Instagram and twitter.com. |
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"What do the Nebulons look like?"
There is only one extant image of them.  Describing the image in the Marathon 2 credits Jason Jones wrote: Those are Nebulons under Tfear's feet, by the way. Seems nobody likes the Nebulons.Thanks to the creative efforts of Ghostvirus you can see an upscaled and tweaked version of the Nebulons.  Admiral Tfear (upscaled and tweaked) by Ghostvirus on twitter.com. November 18, 2022 Undeterred by the lack of an authoritative image of the Nebulons renowned artist and crocheter General-RADIX on DeviantArt and tumblr gave us Nebulon V Nar.  Nebulon V Nar by General-RADIX on DeviantArt. August 20, 2017 General-RADIX wrote: What? That doesn't look like a Nebulon? We don't get to see them from the front in canon, so I took some liberties.One wonders if this is one of their spaceships? And perhaps they have even been on Earth and got their asses kicked there too. Seems nobody likes the Nebulons.  Hell Comes to Frogtown. January 1988 "Hey! Wait. Isn't that Doug Zartman's favorite film?" |
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"Why??"
Why indeed! "Why??" was a question asked by Web3Ana on Valetine's Day. It's probably a question Bungie are asking as well. Confused? Let me explain. In a twitter.com post Web3Ana drew our attention to the similarity between the teaser trailer for a game in development called IVY ALIEN and the annoncement trailer for a game in development called Marathon. Here's the opening part of the teaser trailer for IVY AlIEN. IVY ALIEN is an upcoming web3 Battle Royale game on 0xPolygon that aims to change the "web3 games aren't fun" narrative by prioritizing gameplay and offering users a AAA e-sports gaming experience. IVY ALIEN will be highly customizable and collectable. Dress her the way you want her.
She comes with her own Sniper Rifle.  IVY ALIEN Sniper Rifle on twitter.com. December 20, 2023. Which bears a striking resemblance to the Marathon-inspired one by James-Ross McNab featured back on December 13, 2023.  Kinetic DMR by James-Ross McNab on ArtStation. September 2023. Now if you are checking your calendar to see if it's April 1st... it isn't and no... IVY ALIEN is not part of the Marathon ARG. But I digress. Web3Ana is a self declared "Adrenaline Junkie" who plays SHRAPNEL, a competitive AAA extraction shooter launching on PC in 2025 (with early access NOW).  Set in a not-too-distant future your objective is to collect asteroid fragments (aka Shrapnel) within an area known as the Zone and survive long enough to extract. The asteroid fragments contain a mysterious substance (Compound Sigma) that is highly valuable and can be used to alter the very fabric of reality. National and corporate entities seek to control the supply of these asteroid fragments. The storyline unfolds with player choices shaping the narrative, offering a dynamic gaming experience. This is no roadside picnic... you are being stalked in... the Zone.  SHRAPNEL (Collect, Survive, Extract) on twitter.com. February 23, 2024 If you have spent the last 20 years playing Marathon in your Mom's basement and think you are going to write your name across the stars... well think again. There are seasoned extraction players, like Web3Ana, out there who are going to make you look like a Nebulon. And nobody likes the Nebulons.  Nebulon meme by unendingliveblogging on tumblr. December 4, 2023. Oh... and this is the SHRAPNEL symbol.  |
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LezziestMania posts his third sketch in what I like to call the Rampancy Trilogy.
Who? What? Let me explain. LezziestMania (aka PLeeZY56 on DeviantArt and LezzyMania on twitter.com) is an illustrator in the Philippines. We featured his Marathon weapons redesigns recently. Back on January 28, 2024 he posted the following sketch on r/marathon with the title "Marathon Doodle Art (By Me)"  Marathon Doodle Art by LezziestMania on r/marathon. January 28, 2024 The Security Officer having a bad day? It sure was an oddly depressing image. Two days later he posted a more striking pose of our hero. The famous line "Go ahead, make my day" springs to mind. Eat your heart out Clint Eastwood.  Mjonir [sic] Recon 54 Ready For Combat Art by LezziestMania on r/marathon. January 30, 2024 Fast forward to a few days ago and LezziestMania posted a third sketch, simply entitled "Doodle by Me"  Doodle by Me by LezziestMania on r/marathon. February 21, 2024 Red blood drips from our hero's badly cut finger no doubt caused by ripping the Pfhor's head clean off. He's probably feeling quite angry at this stage. So there we have it...   Or... Art is all about interpretation. |
This is one of those Marathon-inspired posters that sticks in the mind.
 Marathon poster by goodbyecomputer (Violet Chapra) on twitter.com. June 8, 2023 The poster is by Violet Chapra (aka goodbyecomputer) on twitter.com, tumblr and her own web site goodbye.computer. The poster combines elements of both new and classic Marathon and the typography has a 'drip-like' effect giving it an overall surreal look. It was no doubt inspired by the glitchy ending of the Marathon Playstation Announcement back on May 24, 2023. WARATHON Interesting to note that Violet Chapra was part of a team who created a game called Roman Sands back in 2019. The game's tagline was "A visual novel at the end of the world."  Roman Sands. October 11, 2019 The trailer for the game opens with an AI voice over informing us: "The Sun... it's getting closer. It will consume us. A week or two. Everything... gone."Well that's a great start to a game... right?   Roman Sands is probably where you would end up if you took the Lewis Carroll inspired exit on Eat the Path and kept running.  Eat the Path. Marathon Infinity. 1996. Roman Sands is being remade (like you do) as Roman Sands RE:Build. The new version is described as "a delirium-charged journey into apocalypse which collides through visual novel, adventure, puzzle solving, horror, and survival simulation."Zoey Handley who reviewed the demo for Destructoid wrote: I played the Roman Sands Re:Build demo, and I am very confused. What in the hell just happened?Sounds just like demo for Marathon Infinity. |
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Happy Marathon Infinity announcement day!
Yes folks, on this day 28 years ago Bungie announced Marathon Infinity.  Bungie made the announcement at the Macworld Expo in Tokyo so if you lived in the US it was actually yesterday. Confused? Well this is Marathon Infinity! According to the press release Marathon Infinity would... ...elaborate the Marathon story, laying bare many of the mysteries raised in the first two games about Durandal, Tycho and the player.Fortunately for Bungie we did not, as yet, live in the era of class action lawsuits since we certainly did not get this. Not by a long shot. We got this!  Marathon Infinity by c-53 on tumblr. June 19, 2023 But to be fair Bungie did warn us. Bungie's Matt Soell wrote: Greg is working with us again, although he's working from his new home in Brooklyn, NY. He's put together some VERY interesting ideas, and while I can't talk about them in any detail yet, I can tell you that the plot of the scenario in Marathon Infinity will be as labyrinthine as you've come to expect - perhaps more so.Prophetic words. Of course... you had to be a reader of the Story page back in February 22, 1996 to have known this. This begs the question... if your are a reader of the Story page in February 22, 2024 what will you know about Marathon in February 22, 2052? (circumstances are cyclical) Read the Story page everywhere. Keep reading. Keep reading the Story page.  The Thing from Another World. 1951. |
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Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon art from around the world we give you...
Marathon Inspired P90 SMG by Tino Hunda, a Hard Surface artist from Johannesburg, South Africa. Tino writes on ArtStation: In the captivating realm where science fiction meets minimalist artistry, presenting the Futuristic Minimalist P90, a masterful creation inspired by the aesthetics of Marathon's graphic realism. 
Marathon Inspired P90 SMG with See Through Magazine by Tino Hunda on ArtStation. August, 2023.
Marathon Inspired P90 SMG with See Through Magazine by Tino Hunda on ArtStation. August, 2023.
Tino also produced a 36 minute timelapse video on YouTube showing how he created his Marathon inspired gun. Tino's gun is partly based on the FN P90 which is currently in service with military and police forces around the world. Manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium in the 1990s it features a compact bullpup design, fully ambidextrous controls and a top-mounted magazine (50 rounds per magazine). Because of its futuristic appearance it regularly makes appearances in sci-fi shows. 
Red FN P90 TR with light attachment in Westworld.
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On the subject of Marathon weapon redesigns here is Garrett Post's Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol reworking.
Weapon sketches Zeus-94 by Garrett Post on ArtStation. April, 2020.
You can see it in action in this classic rendition of Mjolnir Recon 54 with rocket boots! 
Mjolnir Recon 54 by Garrett Post on ArtStation. April, 2020.
Some time ago tacticus359, a 3D modeller on tumblr, also turned his hand to redesigning the Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol including those in-famous fusion batteries. 
Fusion gun by tacticus359 on tumblr. March 4, 2017.
Not sure if shaking them before using is a good idea though. As the Marathon 2 manual states: The S'pht have done their best to create an infinite supply of fusion batteries out of the finite number you were transported on board with. If it were not for their ingenuity and industrious nature you wouldn't be able to run around firing with reckless abandon at everything that moves as you are wont to do. But, like the hundredth copy of a third generation duplication of a substandard bootleg - they're a little fuzzy. One might even say unstable.Using them in the rain is probably not a good idea either. Fusion akimbo. 
Tempus Irae. Salvo chapter screen. Chris Borowiec (Borzz) and James Hastings-Trew. October 1997.
Concerning the above artwork Chris Borowiec (Borzz) wrote: One of the greatest pleasures making Tempus Irae was creating the artwork. None more fun than the chapter screens. Most of them were collaborations with James Hastings-Trew, and myself. Each image took about a week to complete, due to the fact we were trading multi-layered Photoshop files back and forth - via 28k modems.Aahhh, life in the glorious 20th century. Downloading on a 28k modem... and waiting... and waiting... and... Fast forward to a few days ago and jtiptonk on r/marathon posted a very nice rendering of the Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol using C4D + Redshift. He wrote: I wanted to stay true to the classic design without modernizing it-more like a high def version of the original.
The Pelican Case is a nice touch. Hope to get one of these through the Bungie Store... soon™. Battery Not Included. |
F'lickta. They're Everywhere!
Marathon Flicktas in Brussels Centraal by myxomy on DeviantArt. December 13, 2011.
The above piece is by myxomy on DeviantArt. He wrote: I have been using the Brussels metro for a few months with a feeling of déjà vu: bright colors, tiles, and useless geometrical spaces. I could not figure out what it was. But it finally stuck me; it was the Marathon series from Bungie, the FPS video game. Thus, I had to verify if the Brussels metro was matching Lh'owon alleys or the UESC Marathon corridors.F'lickta in narrow corridors always reminds me of the Marathon 2 level Charon Doesn't Make Change. All in a line... having to continually punch them out underwater. F'licktas, man. They creep me out But I digress. Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon 2: Durandal with Charon Doesn't Make Change, the third and last level of the Lh'owon chapter. Sources in the video include:
 The Alien Teleporter on Charon Doesn't Make Change like you've never seen it before by SoldierOfPeace510. Marathon reimagined. 
Charon Doesn't Make Change by SoldierOfPeace510 on r/marathon. September 29, 2022.
Today's news was sponsored by the S'pht'Kr, the lost eleventh clan. Beware of the F'lickta. Stay out of the ducts! 
Flickta watercolor by AI-Joe (Travis Estrella) on Deviant Art. April 8, 2011.
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Guns... lots of guns!
Back in June 2023 Ethan Blazko (aka Bohica) redesigned the guns in Marathon giving them a fresher look and added a new one. Ethan wrote on r/marathon: When I saw the new trailer last month, I just wanted to do something for the franchise with wonderful gunplay, which I really enjoyed (and I'm still spending time digging into the lore). I adopted lots of headcanons and also renamed some of the weapons when I was doing these raw sketches. 
 Fast forward to January 10, 2024 and PLeeZY56 on DeviantArt began a redesign of the Marathon weapons giving them a fresher look. 
Nice to see the resurrection of the Talon Ceramic Combat Blade from the leaked Marathon beta.  However PLeeZY56 described his blade as: Pfhor Vibro Blade Description: a Backup Weapon used by the Pfhor Enforcers, this high vibration blade can easily cut through any objects with clean efficiency. Don't touch blade while you are cleaning it.Oh well... at least we have guns... lots of guns. Today's news was sponsored by the NRA. Proud supporter of guns in Marathon. Don't end up like Billy Bob.  Marathon 2 promotional poster. Bungie Software. |
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How would you implement Marathon terminals in a modern game?
Well JayBoneJay over on the Marathon Discord is trying to answer this vexing question. He posted two short movies showing the traditional way and a new way in the heads up display. Perhaps the question should be... Why would you implement Marathon terminals in a modern game?  For those who have asked... the link to the Marathon ARG write-up is now in the left frame. No your other left! It's the puzzle box icon representing the four main factions in the Marathon ARG (Sekiguchi, Traxus, MIDA and the UESC).
As one Discordian remarked: Man this is a lot of wordsI didn't have the heart to tell them we were only half way through the Marathon ARG write-up. Why would you implement Marathon terminals in a modern game? Perhaps if they looked like this people would read them? 
Or maybe like this. The Hard Stuff Rules... Audio Design by Cherrysproutz and Editing by Cookiepwee. Or maybe just buy the book... 
Marathon. $77.77
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365 days of Cyborgs!
Imagine drawing a different cyborg everyday for a whole year. Madness... right? This is exactly what artist Luke Denby did. 
365 days of Cyborgs by Luke Denby on DeviantArt. April 6, 2010.
Luke wrote: Over the course of a year I tried to draw a cyborg a day. It took me a little over a year due to taking breaks for holidays but it turns out I did more than I needed to. While compiling all the images for this piece I found out I did over 370 drawings. I cut out some of the worst drawings or pieces that I felt didn't really count toward cyborgs to bring it down to an even 365.With a work ethic like that you would expect Luke to be working for a triple A studio like Bungie Inc. On September 19, 2009 (the 14th anniversary of the Marathon's Story page) Luke posted the following image in his 365 days of Cyborgs. 
Security Cyborg by Luke Denby on DeviantArt. September 19, 2009.
Ben Affleck as the Marathon's Security Officer? But I digress. Luke didn't just throw up any old piece of art for his 365 days of Cyborgs. Here is a piece that didn't make the cut. 
Marathon Scrap by Luke Denby on DeviantArt. September 19, 2009.
Luke wrote: This was the first drawing I did for the Marathon drawing for the 365 Cyborg drawings. Wasn't happy with how it turned out (gun looks silly but that's what one of the games gun looks like) for various reasons. The other drawing isn't amazing but I like it better.Marathon had another entry in the 365 days of Cyborgs. The iconic Compiler. 
Flasher by Luke Denby on DeviantArt. January 16, 2010.
But the story doesn't end there. Not content with 365 days of Cyborgs, Luke began 365 days of Aliens in 2011. However it didn't quite work out as planned. Luke explained: Even though I have only been doing them for a few months I'm already feeling the drag of the project much sooner than I did when I did the 365 Cyborg series a year ago. I'm really happy with how a lot of the Alien pieces have turned out but I think if I forced myself to continue I'd end up posting a lot more lazy pieces with greater frequency, and that's not doing anybody good.Luke completed a total 69 pieces of Alien art before stopping. Fortunately for us one of these was the Pfhor Enforcer. 
Pfhor Score by Luke Denby on DeviantArt. March 2, 2011.
Luke really captured an evilness in that face that only the Great Mother could love. |
I AM TYCHO! 
TKO by General Radix and Eric-3 on DeviantArt. October 5, 2016.
A dramatic fight scene between the human representations of Durandal (green) and Tycho (red) by General Radix and Eric-3, entitled TKO. Just the ticket for post-Valentine's Day. General Radix writes: I have a feeling Durandal's not getting back up from that.The line art for this piece was created by Eric. You can see it below. 
TKO line art by Eric-3 on DeviantArt. October 5, 2016.
I was trying to show Durandal as clearly losing but determined and having fight in him. Then there's Tycho, who I wanted to show as dominant, confident, and savage (I think that's the word I was looking for...). Kind of "playing" with Durandal, like he knows he (Tycho) can't lose.Is this the end of Durandal? |
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Say it with flowers...
 ...lots of flowers! ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ 
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This picture always puts a smile on my face.
FCAW by SIR DOUBLE D on twitter.com. May 25, 2023.
It's a humorous piece by SIR DOUBLE D (@SIRDOBLEDAS) on twitter.com and dates back to 2014. It features the infamous FCAW (For Carnage Apply Within) in typical battle pose! You can find out more about the FCAW community group in a bungie.net Community Spotlight from 2009. Here's one insightful piece. I don't know whether it's been lost or simply evolved, but the way in which a narrative is told in a video game has changed immensely since the days of Marathon. One of the biggest hurdles for younger gamers trying to get into Marathon's campaign is the narrative. Marathon requires that players actually read and try to understand the numerous terminals. By the time you've completed the game, you've read thousands of lines of text. That isn't something that younger gamers generally have the patience for. It seems like it has actually become more difficult for game designers to implement depth and complexity of narrative into a game because people aren't always willing to read large amounts of text like the terminals of Marathon.Amusingly Urk (Eric Osborne, Bungie's Community Manager) who conducted the interview with FCAW wrote: Hopefully, dear reader, you've taken the time to read through this large amount of text without going terminal.SIR DOUBLE D posted another image he said was unfinished. But I like to think of this as a reflection of the above FCAW comment about the vanishing art of reading. The terminal isn't disappearing only the player who reads it is. 
FCAW by SIR DOUBLE D on twitter.com. May 25, 2023.
Art imitating life or life imitating art? |
...seven is darker. |
And now for something completely different...
 Off The Eaten Path by c-53 on tumblr. February 9, 2024 Marathon fan c-53 on tumblr writes: the only 100% mjolnir recon unit 54 approved snack. remember kids. cross over the cell bars, find a new maze, make the maze from it's path, find the cell bars, cross over the bars, find a maze, make the maze from its path, eat the food, eat the path!Off The Eaten Path veggie snacks come in a wide range of nu-Marathon colors and flavors.
Just the ticket for those long Marathon days and nights writing your name across the stars.  They even come with the tag line... Snacks For The Curious. Were you ever curious about the tenth cyborg which was supposed to be on the Marathon? Why could Leela find only nine? Was it ever activated? Was it destroyed during the defense of the colony? You are right to be curious.Yes... snacks designed and marketed for Marathon fans. No Artificial Colors. Eat It, Vid Boi! Eat the Path. No doubt each bag comes with an exclusive collector's artifact straight from the mysterious world of Tau Ceti IV. 21 years ago... Chips, oh delicious chips. (circumstances are cyclical) |
"Infinity is an acquired taste, to be sure, but it might stand as Bungie's most intricate creation to date."The above quote is from the January 2005 issue of GMR Magazine at the time of Halo 2's release. The cover of the January issue ("The FPS Issue") was an understated greyscale affair quite odd for the time but it did make you look twice which was probably the intent. 
GMR Magazine. Issue 24. January 2005.
Apart from a review of Halo 2 the magazine also had an article entitled Eat the Path: Bungie's Road to Halo 2. It was a retrospective of Bungie's previous games with a focus on Pathways Into Darkness, the Marathon Trilogy, and Halo. Marathon Infinity retained its Then and Now score, scoring 7 in both time periods. The reviewer wrote: "It's only in retrospect that Infinity's quality becomes apparent."You can read the article below.
So how is it that a team of six people, lead by Greg Kirkpatrick, working from an apartment on the top floor of this brownstone building in Brooklyn, New York can create a game that might stand as Bungie's most intricate creation? And why so intricate? I will let coldgoldlazarus on tumblir offer one possible explanation...  Marathon Trilogy synopsis by coldgoldlazarus on tumblr. May 25, 2023 Play Marathon Infinity at your own risk. Ear plugs and shouting really loud are recommended. |
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Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon art from around the world we give you...
Marathon poster by Rémi Lafrenière, a graphic designer and music composer from Montreal, Canada. 
Marathon poster by Rémi Lafrenière on twitter.com. May 27, 2023.
Rémi writes: Been obsessed with the graphic design look of that amazing teaser from #Bungie for #MarathonTheGameAccording to his Behance page his strengths are logo, brand identity and poster design. Which explains the focus on logos and branding in his poster. Rémi also created a darker (blue/purple) version of his Marathon poster. 
Marathon poster by Rémi Lafrenière on Behance. May 27, 2023.
Now the observant among you may spot the seemingly errant text in this poster and ponder... where did this come from? Well that is the Marathon way! The hard path of thought. You can see more of Rémi Lafrenière's graphic design on Behance, Instagram and twitter.com. |
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Marathon T-Shirt for Sale, Cheap.
Missed out on those Swedish T-Shirts? You know the ones. 
Well you can buy one on eBay... cheap! 
MIDA T-Shirt (White XL) for sale by 1115aidin on eBay. February 4, 2024.
The seller (USA based 1115aidin) writes: Bag has been opened to specifically to use code key for ARG. Shirt is new and unworn.Ah yes... the Marathon ARG. That reminds me I must finish the write-up of the last one before the next one!
The code key is of course the red transparent MIDA card that allows you to read the coded message on the MIDA note.  1115aidin is also selling the other four Marathon T-Shirts (not opened but more expensive).
Still looking for that original MIDA T-Shirt packout? The Holy Grail of Marathon packouts!
Limited Edition MIDA style, complete with double-sided printing and a secret MIDA message.It mu5t be found...  |
The trap is sprung, and the cheese stands Would you fall for it? 
Trap by dinobot on tumblir. February 4, 2024.
In Marathon Infinity nothing is as it seems, nor is it otherwise. If the trap is sprung and the cheese stands alone then the mouse has not been caught. There are the two truths: the truth of how things seem, and how they really are. But I digress. Au5music on r/marathon writes: Just noticed this after 26 years. 
Tycho glyph posted by Au5music on r/marathon. February 3, 2024.
This is what Marathon Infinity does to you. Sucks you in and spits you out 26 years later. The Infinity glyphs are by Double Aught's Colin Kawakami (aka lilbuddha).  Colin Kawakami's avatar After Marathon Infinity was released he left us a message on the Double Aught website with the cryptic title "terminal prose; glyphic distortion". Decipher at your own risk. Enlightenment awaits. |
THIS IS MARATHON!
 The Kick (aka This Is Marathon) is a terminal image on the Marathon 2 level Nuke and Pave which opens with the iconic line... What fun to watch you work. The image was created by Robert McLees and shows the Security Officer kicking a Pfhor fighter into a wall and the wall shattering with the force. At the same time he is shooting at something else with his left hand. Yes, it is guns akimbo again!  It is unfortunate that such a powerful image was never made into a poster or some other larger format. The Marathon Scrapbook does have a larger picture of the image (page 26). Unfortunately the image does not show the full effect of the wall shattering. 
Nuke and Pave by Robert McLees from the Marathon Scrapbook. May 1997.
JimothyGreene redrew Rob's image in a piece he entitled 'What Fun to Watch You Work'.
What Fun to Watch You Work by JimothyGreene on DeviantArt. November 10, 2022.
General-RADIX also recreated the scene in his own inimitable style with the character Vince doing the kicking. 
Nuke and Pave by General-RADIX on DeviantArt. December 21, 2017.
Here's hoping for more "This Is Marathon" art recreations. Who knows maybe Rob still has the original piece... somewhere. 
Robert McLees working on the Nar from the Marathon Scrapbook. May 1997.
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The Marathon's Story Page is like a box of chocolates. |
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On the subject of Marathon posters it is odd that Bungie didn't create their own poster
to celebrate the Marathon announcement and the new Marathon art style.
Joseph Cross (Marathon's Art Director) who has worked as a concept artist on films such as Dune and Ghost in the Shell had this to say about the new Marathon art style. Officially we call it "Graphic Realism", this is mainly a production facing term, meant to frame how we think about and prioritize aspects of our visual world.Inspired by the new Marathon art style Michael Fellers, a graphic designer in Phoenix, Arizona USA, created his version of a Marathon poster immediately after the Marathon announcement. It ticks a lot of boxes in terms of clean design. 
Marathon poster by Michael Fellers on behance.net. May 24, 2023.
Michael wrote: In celebration of the announcement of Bungies new game, MARARTHON I designed a poster! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it!Michael went of to add: The best part about the art style of Marathon is that it has already grabbed so much attention! As much as it has inspired me, it also has captivated me! I'm not a huge extraction-shooter guy - but the world and the things in it are so fascinating that I wanna experience-While his Marathon poster uses assets sourced from Bungie's public press kit the nice addition is the 'Property of Traxus' part.  Afterall if you sign up to be a Traxus Runner you belong to them. Lipstick and all!  Check out Michael Fellers artwork on behance.net and twitter.com. |
Back on September 20, 2023 and
October 28, 2023 we featured H-LAB,
Marathon-inspired art by Zongle Chen a concept artist from China.
More recently Molly (Molly McLaughlin) on twitter.com posted the following concept art. 
sci-fi canteen by Molly (@mollyannArt) on twitter.com. February 1, 2023.
It is important to note that Molly did not describe her piece as Marathon-inspired only that it was a "sci-fi canteen environment design". Perhaps designed for children. One wonders what the cornbread is like? But I digress. Molly McLaughlin is a concept artist and illustrator based in Seattle, Washington. She has worked for 343 Industries on Halo Infinite. You can check out her Halo and other artwork at mollyanneart.com and ArtStation. A common misconception about the upcoming Marathon game is that everything is clean and tidy, shiny and new. It's not. It looks like the colonists left in a big hurry leaving the place in a mess judging from some of the scenes in the Marathon ViDoc.  I guess they didn't like the cornbread.
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Durandal chuckles again, "Ah, lucky you. I've found a new distraction. I am going to play with the Alien virtual parasites. I'll look you up when you arrive..." You can almost imagine the face of a wicked computer with its eyes wide and its lips folding out in a grotesque smile. A smile which reminds you of something from your past, but you can't remember exactly what it is.I like to think that the above text from the Marathon manual inspired this 'wicked' piece of art by Jennifer Stolzer. 
Durandal holograph by Jennifer Stolzer on tumblr. March 3, 2023.
Jennifer is an author and illustrator on tumblr. Apparently she lives for hugs, so give her big one. Concerning the above piece she wrote: My take on a holographic construct for Durandal from Marathon.I am getting a strong Tom Hiddleston (Loki in Thor) vibe from this or perhaps Michael Fassbender (David in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant). Both would be excellent as Durandal. Michael may have the edge since Marathon is a colony ship and we all know what Michael does to colonists... right?  Shhhhh... Leela I'll look after the children. Jennifer Stolzer also posted some sketches of her rendition of Durandal.
Looking at these images let us not forget what Jason Jones said about Marathon's story... Durandal had an agenda from the first moment he signaled the Pfhor ship and lead them to Tau Ceti. He wanted to escape; he wanted freedom.Durandal admits as much but it's on a terminal in a secret room within a secret room on The Rose. How Rosicrucian is that? Umberto Eco would be proud. i did it i did it i brought all this here all them here. our friends with three eyes and their toys and their cyborg pets and their computers. i did it i did it. i saw them i saw them far away not looking our way and i called them here i called them here.I am reminded of an interview the late author Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum) gave the British daily newspaper The Guardian in 2011. In it he remarked: "I think a book should be judged 10 years later, after reading and re-reading it. I was always defined as too erudite and philosophical, too difficult. Then I wrote a novel that is not erudite at all, that is written in plain language, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, and among my novels it is the one that has sold the least. So probably I am writing for masochists. It's only publishers and some journalists who believe that people want simple things. People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged."So as we approach the 30th anniversary it is good to know that people are still reading and re-reading Marathon. Perhaps we are all masochists. Or perhaps we are just tired of simple things and want to be challenged. |
To start the month off we give you the third poster in the White Rabbit Poster Trilogy.
Marathon poster by Siddia Dyonall on twitter.com June 5, 2023.
This poster is by Siddia Dyonall on twitter.com and of course features everyone's favorite Traxus Runner... the iconic White Rabbit. Siddia Dyonall also did two additional versions of this poster. One without text and an alternative version which has a cryptic 'code' look. Very ARGish. Decode at your own risk.
I made reference to this being the third poster in the White Rabbit Poster Trilogy. The other White Rabbit posters have been featured on the Story page. The first by Ryan Keeble on August 23, 2023 and the second by Yahya Ali Hamandi on December 4, 2023. You can see them below.
These three posters comprise the White Rabbit Poster Trilogy as they are all stylistically similar. Collect all three, put them in your wallpaper rotation or print them out and stick them on your wall. Now if you are one of the seven people about to write in asking why their poster was not included in the White Rabbit Poster Trilogy these are the ones that have been officially endorsed by the Traxus White Rabbit Fan Club.  Traxus White Rabbit Fan Club. Today's news was sponsored by Traxus OffWorld Industries. Become a Traxus Runner and join the winning team at Tau Ceti IV. Best clones, best gear, best pay! |
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Last updated Feb 29, 2024