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Marathon's Story Page
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Marathon's Story Page
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #619. It's sketchy Friday! We've got sketches. First up we have LVO (@LVOARTX) on X, aka GIANTSALAMAND on Deviant Art, aka Inteledontid on Discord. We featured some of his sketches back on September 27, 2024 here a few more.
From top left to bottom right... Security Officer, Runner, Phfor [sic], S'pht/Pfhor/Wasp.LVO just doesn't do sketches. Here's a more finished piece.  S'pht by LVO (aka Inteledontid) on the Alright Runners™ Discord. October 9, 2024. Up next... Bish Bash Bosh!  The Marine by Dieselfame3 on the Pfhorums. March 3, 2009. Dieselfame3 writes: BOOSH. here we got my variation on the marine with the beating stick, a zeus pistol on the hip, and shotty in the boot holster.Staying in 2009 we have sketches by CryoS. They Call Me Mister Tall!  Marathon Marine by CryoS on the Pfhorums. January 21, 2009. CryoS writes: Today i finally managed to scan in my most recent marine art. I based the armor style from some of Craig Mullins' artwork. here we goCryoS did an earlier verison of the Marathon Marine.  Marathon Marine by CryoS on the Pfhorums. October 13, 2007. You can see a cleaned up, cut and compressed version by Switch here. Happy sketchy Friday. Stay sketchy. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #618. Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon art from around the world we give you... Jjaro Station by Meerjel01a, an artist from Sweden on DeviantArt.  Jjaro Station by Meerjel01a on DeviantArt. August 24, 2023. No mistaking this distinctive Marathon Infinity level. Acme Station is a masterpiece in level design and aesthetics.    But there is just one problem. Chris Giesel (Double Aught) wrote: Acme Station was designed by Greg in about 8 hours, a manic feat of willpower and incredibly detailed architectural masterpiece. You can see where he tweaked the long hallways to cut off the view just before the maximum viewing distance of the Marathon engine. Too bad you can't really take time out to enjoy the view--there's hardly enough air to survive. We intended Acme to be the first really challenging level of the game.And there's the rub. Greg created a gorgeous level to look at but you have little or no time to take in the view and admire the ingenuity.  Acme Station mapped in-game. The level name reveals its intent. 'Acme' is the point at which something is at its best or most highly developed. The level would feature prominently in Double Aught's Hastur's Workshop for map making tips and tricks. When Double Aught's website was updated on November 4, 1996 it featured the first iteration of Hastur's Workshop and stated: A peek inside the mind of Double Aught's most feared denizen. With illustrations and step by step instructions, the thick veil of mystery is brushed aside as you learn to reproduce the devious tricks and nefarious polygons of Marathon Infinity's mapmakers.Vidmastering Acme Station was originally thought impossible. When asked whether it was possible to vid - Greg Kirkpatrick, the creator of this level, replied: viding acme? Sorta - It's probably the hardest one to straight vid, because you have no room to move around.But Marathon fans like nothing more than a challenge. The first person to complete Acme Station under Vidmaster Rules was Jim Michell (aka BobJam) on February 1, 1997. You can see him in action in the film below: But remember. In Marathon... time is limited. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #617. And now back to Marathon. Guns, lots of guns. OMA Monster (@OMA_Monster) gives us a Marathon SMG.  Marathon SMG by OMA Monster on x.com. September 16, 2024. He did an earlier version as well.  Marathon SMG by OMA Monster on x.com. July 10, 2024. This is actually based on a non-Marathon SMG model but textured in the Marathon style. The image below is on a different background showing the colors more acurately.  Marathon SMG (accurate colors) by OMA Monster on x.com. July 10, 2024. OMG also did this very clean minimalist background/wallpaper.  Marathon wallpaper by OMA Monster on x.com. January 22, 2025. He went on do a 'transgender colors' version for all the good folks on the Marathon Discord.  Marathon boredom by OMA Monster on Marathon Discord. January 23, 2025. He entitled the piece "Marathon boredom". 'nuff said. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #616. Came across this old image in the Story page archives.  sk058 by Alex Okita (Bungie West). December 1, 1998 It dates back to December 1, 1998 and is by Alex Okita who was a concept artist working on Oni at the time. Simply entitled 'sk058.jpg' it featured on his home page (www.okita.com). Long gone now. In the image we have Mjolnir Recon 54, a Technological Crimes Task Force (TCTF) officer from Oni and behind them an earth pounding Trow from Myth. If you know Myth then you know exactly what's going to happen next. There's going to be a kickin'. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #615. These boots are made for walkin'  Boots by Jack Strider on Bluesky. January 25, 2025. A few days ago Jack Strider wrote: Now that I've got 54 sorted, I'm going to start working on an Oni piece :)No mistaking whose boots these belong to and she's gonna walk all over you! Readers of the Story page back in the late 90s will recall that we featured Oni's development as it contained numerous reference to Marathon, most notably the Marathon symbol. Marathon fans are suckers for the Marathon symbol. On June 17, 1998 we featured the Oni trailer which had the Marathon symbol prominently displayed. A day later the trailer was pulled and never officially released. But that never stopped the Story page. You can see it again here. Of course it was all baloney. Oni Baloney.  Oni Baloney by Rythaze on x.com. October 30, 2023 Bungie have featured the Marathon symbol in all their games. Marathon Is Doujinshi Anime. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #614. We've got sketches. Here is a series of sketches by SIR DOUBLE D showing the 'work in progress' towards creating his memorable moment on Couch Fishing (aka Couch Surfing). His first sketch dates back to September 14, 2024. SIR DOUBLE D wrote: Super Early WIP. Blocking out "Couch Surfing"  Couch Surfing (Work In Progress) by SIR DOUBLE D on Marathon Discord. September 14, 2024. A month or so later... WIP of my next Marathon piece.  Couch Surfing (Work In Progress) by SIR DOUBLE D on Bluesky. November 3, 2024. Two months later... Been a minute since I got to work on something Marathon related. feels good to get back on track. Here's a WIP of the last piece I was working on.  Couch Surfing (Work In Progress) by SIR DOUBLE D on Bluesky. January 3, 2025. A week or so later... WIP. Slow artist is slow.  Couch Surfing (Work In Progress) by SIR DOUBLE D on Bluesky. January 15, 2025. The next day... "Couch Surfing" Marathon - 1994. Mr. Marathon in a tight squeeze, literally.  Couch Surfing by SIR_DOUBLE_D on Bluesky. January 16, 2025. Welcome to Couch Fishing (aka Couch Surfing). Couch Fishing was created by Jason Jones. The level opens with a head wrecking maze of narrow corridors and dead ends. Pfhor Fighters appear to come out of nowhere and there is always a Trooper lurking somewhere. When I asked Jason Jones to provide a comment on this level for the Marathon Scrapbook he gave none. He did provide comments on all his other levels. Why not Couch Fishing? Jason tried to Vidmaster Couch Fishing back in January 1995. He wrote on January 27, 1995: I'm trying to figure out some trick to finishing "Couch Fishing" (#4) in this way, but so far I can only clear out the first wave and recharge.To his credit he posted his failed Vidmaster film. Few people do this. You can see it below. Marathon Vidmaster Challenge. Jason Jones fails to complete Couch Fishing. January 27, 1995. While Jason completes the first half of this level with relative ease he ends up faltering in the second half. Returning to the 1x recharger he succombs in the very maze trap he designed. Couch Fishing is a level of two halves. The latter part features wide open spaces and high walkways.  Couch Fishing viewed using Pfhorte 1.0d11. Indeed it has been suggested that the second half of this level was created by another person, perhaps Greg Kirkpatrick. Some of the areas are similar to his own maps. We may never know. But it might explain why Jason Jones did not want to comment on the level Couch Fishing. Bad memories.  Marathon Marine by Colin C. circa 2012. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #613. What happened to Sketchy Friday? It was the best part of the week!!! Because it was Jack Strider week we had to bump Sketchy Friday from its usual Friday slot. We had to do it before and no one noticed. No luck this time. Folks looking for more nude Runner sketches no doubt. But I digress. Today is Happy Marathon Vidmaster Challenge Day! Yes folks, on this day 30 years ago Jason Jones (Bungie Software) appeared before the unwashed masses on comp.sys.mac.games and alt.games.marathon, and proclaimed: I challenge anyone who thinks they rule at Marathon to complete all of the game's levels on Total Carnage starting with only the pistol and x1 health (via Command-Option Begin Game). Upload your replays!Marathon had only been out for a month and folks were struggling to complete the game on Normal never mind on Total Carnage starting out with only a pistol and no game saving.  Security Cyborg by LukeDenby on DeviantArt. September 19, 2009. Folks replied... no way can't be done. Show us YOUR films! In a follow-up post Jason wrote: School is now in session. :)You can see his film below. Marathon Vidmaster Challenge. Jason Jones completes Beware of Low-Flying Defense Drones.... January 26, 1995. So was born the Marathon Vidmaster Challenge. For more information about the Marathon Vidmaster Challenge then check out the Origin of the Vidmaster Rules section on Blasts from the Past. Happy Marathon Vidmaster Challenge Day! And remember... Just Vid It - With Style! |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #612. "... sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Jack Strider week continues. Jack unveils his final artwork on Bluesky.  Welcome to the Revolution by Jack Strider on Bluesky. January 23, 2025. Jack writes: Directly inspired by Mullins, but influenced by the saturated colors of Hannaford's H3 pieces.Hannaford is Isaac Hannaford who was a lead concept artist at Bungie during the making of Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo Reach, and later Halo Infinite for 343 Industries. He has also contributed to numerious Halo art books, guides and the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition). Jack's artwork is of course a homage to this image by Craig Mullins.  marine preview1 by Craig Mullins on the Marathon Art of Craig Mullins gallery. July 1997. It was part of a composite image Craig did as concept art for the Marathon Trilogy Box Set.  composite by Craig Mullins on the Marathon Art of Craig Mullins gallery. July 1997. Craig wrote: ...a compilation of the ideas and early comps that I went through to arrive at the final image. I think Bungie liked the top one the best.It's interesting to note that even though Bungie liked the kneeling Marine with SPNKR they ended up using the standing Marine with SPNKR for the inside of the Marathon Trilogy CD cover.  Marathon Trilogy Box Set Unboxing by Bob-B-Q. July 7 2011. Here's another more worked up version of Craig's Marine kneeling with SPNKR image.  marine kneeling by Craig Mullins on the Marathon Art of Craig Mullins gallery. July 1997. But back to Jack's image. Welcome to the Revolution by Jack Strider on Bluesky. January 23, 2025. Jack gives the following details about his image: The protagonist of MARATHON, Recon 54, perches in a centred position atop a set of industrial stairs - light sources are abundant, with cool, white hues in the top left and top mid, casting direct light onto the top of his SPNKR rocket launcher. Warm, yellow tones emanate from lava off-screen from the bottom right, illuminating his kneepads, torso, and other pieces of kit. His head is turned toward the viewer, a neutral expression formed on the only visible part of his face. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #611. The third eye. Back in July 1995 Inside Mac Games (IMG) magazine featured a sneak peak of Marathon 2: Durandal. The cover featured an in-game action scene from the first level Waterloo Waterpark along with a superimposed image of a Pfhor fighter.  The Pfhor fighter image has been featured many times as a banner on the Story page.  It always elicits the inevitable question... Where is the third eye? Between Marathon and Marathon 2 the Pfhor's third eye was repositioned. The Marathon Scrapbook (page 21) states: Rob(McLees) also carried out some cosmetic surgery on the Pfhor, moving their third eye from what he describes as its "circus clown" position in Marathon to its more "enlightened" position in Marathon 2. This repositioning allowed him to give mouths to the Pfhor. The Marathon 2 manual (page 21) shows a sketch of the Pfhor fighter with it's third eye in the more "enlightened" position.  This is the same drawing used on the cover of Inside Mac Games magazine though the third eye isn't evident in the IMG color version. The Marathon 2 manual sketch would suggest that the third eye was originally meant to be smaller than the other two eyes. But this was not translated into the game itself as all three eyes are the same size. And that's the Story of the third eye. Postscript. Then again maybe the Pfhor have many genetic variants.  Pfhor-Head by justinhubbell on DeviantArt. October 19, 2016. Marathon Inspires Diverse Art. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #610. It must Jack Strider week or something. Jack gives us more work in progress pics of his Marathon Marine rendition. I am getting a gritty realistic Craig Mullins vibe from these.
And a full stance view.  Back on January 8, 2025 we highlighted how in the original game the Marathon Marine (Security Officer) had been depicted with a degree of consistency. This was down to the fact that Marathon had only one artist (J. Reginald Dujour). Reg also did not vary the Security Officer's look between the in-game sprites, chapter screens and manual images. In Marathon 2: Durandal, apart from the chapter screens which were created by Craig Mullins, there is only one image of the Security Officer in the game drawn by Bungie's Robert McLees. It appears in a terminal on the level Nuke and Pave.  A larger version of this image was included in the Marathon Scrapbook (page 26). 
Nuke and Pave by Robert McLees from the Marathon Scrapbook. May 1997.
In this image the Security Officer is wearing what looks like a fully enclosed helmet. Perhaps the intent was to show that Lh'owon's atmosphere was harmful. But the BoBs don't wear any face protection when they are on Lh'owon. Then again they don't stick around for long after a mission and are teleported back to Durandal's ship. Perhaps Durandal was being kind to the BoBs? Yeah right! I can barely tolerate humans: slow, stupid, |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #609. It is always interesting to get a detailed description of what an artist's intent was when they created a piece of artwork. Over on Bluesky Jack Strider has given interesting details on three of his pieces. You can see them below.  Pathways Into Darkness by Jack Strider on Bluesky. November 18, 2024. Jack gives the following details: This artwork depicts a 'new' take on the main character of the early Bungie title 'PATHWAYS INTO DARKNESS', a Delta Force operator deployed to the thick jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula to nuke a sleeping god so that it may never wake up.  Marathon by Jack Strider on Bluesky. December 22, 2024. Jack gives the following details: The main protagonist of MARATHON, 'Security Officer' (later known as MJOLNIR Recon 54) stands in an atmospheric, foggy alien hallway, and seems to be unaware of a S'pht Compiler charging it's attack behind him.  Neither High nor Low reprise by Jack Strider on Bluesky. November 18, 2024. Jack gives the following details: The image depicts three 'Runner' designs inspired by artwork from Bungie's new entry into the 'Marathon' franchise.UOVSUEOVA, or more correcly U0VSUEVOVA (note it is correct in the artwork), is from the Marathon ARG. It was a code that when solved gave you access to the Traxus Chat Room. When the Somewhere In The Heavens - ViDoc went live at 6.10 PM PST May 24, 2023 it contained a clue to the Chat Room name. Early in the ViDoc (52 seconds) the following image was displayed for a split second.  The image contains the Traxus logo and a string of letters/numbers U0VSUEVOVA== . Note that the second character is the number 0 and not the letter O. The two = characters at the end of the string are characteristic of a Base64-encoded string. The length of a Base64-encoded string is always a multiple of 4 if it is not it can be padded up to two times using the = character. In this case U0VSUEVOVA== is 12 characters long with the added two = characters. The Base64-encoded string U0VSUEVOVA== decodes to the word SERPENT. SERPENT was the name of the Traxus Chat Room.  Find out more on the Marathon ARG. Smash that puzzle box icon. Hit the Traxus button. And follow the White Rabbit down.
 It's a Lament Configuration thing. You have been warned. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #608. Jack is back! Jack Strider that is. Jack who hails from down under (Australia) was one of the most prolific Marathon fan artists in 2024. His portfolio is impresive ranging from Pathways Into Darkness, the Marathon Trilogy, and NuMarathon. His principal tools are Blender and Photoshop. Here is a new piece he is working on.  Marine (work in progress) by Jack Strider on Marathon Discord. January 18, 2024. Jack writes: new boy coming soonHere's a second work in progress piece.  Marine (work in progress 2) by Jack Strider on Marathon Discord. January 19, 2024. Jack writes: it's getting better as I go, trying to go for the M1 mullins vibe (rolled sleeves soon)Looking forward to seeing the final piece. A quick stroll through the daily Story page updates in 2024 (366 days) reveals a wealth of Jack's artwork. Here's a snapshot.
Check out Jack's work on ArtStation, Instagram, and Bluesky. Jack no longer uses X. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #607. So you have just beaten Marathon on Total Carnage... what do you do next? Well Marathon fan 'im ael, fjordling' created a Marathon Poster.  Marathon Poster by im ael, fjordling on Marathon Discord. June 12, 2024. im ael, fjordling writes: i beat m1 on TC.. then got a strong urge to manifest this "movie poster" style idea i had. took some frankensteining to match the mental image but im pleased with this mockup for nowThe poster uses in-game artwork from all three games as well as a piece of modified Marathon fan art and an image from another game. We'll get the 'other' game in a minute. The modified fan art is of course the UESC Marathon (a hollowed out Deimos, the smaller of Mars' two moons). 
UESC Marathon posted by Rampant_Durandal on r/StarshipPorn. April 25, 2013.
We featured this image back on February 5, 2025. It is interesting to note that this image predates the Marathon ARG by ten years. The text on the side of the ship reads COLONY SHIP TRAXUS CLASS. PLANETOID DEIMOS. UESC AUTHORIZATION V-4 In the Marathon ARG, Traxus OffWorld Industries resurrected the CRISTs as the Traxus OffWorld Solar Orbiters. They build big ships. Confused? Go read the Marathon ARG. But I digress. Back to that 'other' game? The only image in the Marathon Poster that might have you stumped is the green face with the evil grin. The image is taken from the loading screen of Dragon's Dogma, a 2012 action role-playing hack and slash video game by Capcom. First released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. im ael, fjordling writes: every time i saw it i just thought about the manual text and durandals "imagined" wicked smileYou can see the face in the loading screen below.  Today's news was sponsored by Traxus OffWorld Industries.  |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #606. So back in August last year SIR DOUBLE D (@SIRDOBLEDAS) began creating bespoke artwork for each Marathon level capturing that iconic moment. An ambitious project. With four levels under his belt he began work on Couch Fishing. We featured a work in progress pic of this back on September 26, 2024. He wrote at the time: been busy with work and life stuff but here's a Super Early WIP. Blocking out "Couch Surfing"He wasn't kidding about being busy as it would be some four months before we would get to see it. Couch Surfing by SIR_DOUBLE_D on r/marathon. January 16, 2025. The piece is entitled 'Couch Surfing' which I thought was intentional, it being a play on the original level name. Not so. SIR DOUBLE D writes: I've made a terrible mistake. IDK why I was thinking of Surfing instead of Fishing.And the iconic moment being captured? Well the artist's intent was to capture: ...how claustrophobic all the fights in the beginning areAnyone who has played Couch Fishing well know how tricky the opening part can be. The presence of Troopers just ups the ante and your blood pressure. Here is Jason Jones (Bungie Software) showing you how to complete the start of Couch Fishing on the Total Carnage. It dates from January 1995 (30 years ago). Not easy. Jason dies! What's up next? SIR DOUBLE D writes: Next one is the Rose so I'm gonna have to think of something interesting for that one.Has to be Hulks and BoBs. Lots of screaming BoBs.  Run Bob... Run... NOOOOO.... the OTHER WAY. For those who may have missed them here are the first four inconic moments from SIR DOUBLE D.
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #605. It's sketchy Friday! We've got sketches. An image can be like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. Once in the mind it can grow and then you are drawing it... again and again... everywhere.  Thoth symbol sketch by void on Marathon Discord. September 21, 2024.  Thoth symbol sketch by void on Marathon Discord. January 14, 2024. These two sketchs are by void on the Marathon Discord. They were drawn 4 months apart. The most recent was a few days ago. The image is of course the Thoth symbol first seen in Marathon 2: Durandal.   It represents a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section. It is cleverly done and explains why Thoth behaves as he does in the game. You can find out more about Thoth on the Story page here. Is void still drawing Thoth symbols? To early to tell yet but there is a seat here for him... beside Hamish.  Marathoners Anonymous group therapy tru7h circle.  7777 by UmbratheCyborg on Marathon Discord. June 11, 2024. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #604. Happy Matt Soell's First Day! Yes folks, on this day 30 years ago Matt Soell joined Bungie. According to his semi-autobiography Matt had the good fortune of spotting a Help Wanted ad in the Chicago Reader for Tech Support a few weeks earlier, landed a job interview with Alexander Seropian and was hired. Matt wrote: "My job was pretty simple at first: man the phone lines. Seemingly everyone and their parents had ordered a copy of Marathon; very few of them had received it. Those who had often found themselves confounded by the installation process. I found myself talking almost non-stop from the time I got in to the moment I left. At the time Bungie only had three phone lines and an ass-backwards phone system that dumped customers straight into voice mail if Doug or I didn't pick up the phone in three rings or less. I had plenty to do.Matt became 'The Man in the Online Asbestos Suit', inheriting the title from Doug Zartman.  Matt Soell (seated) Doug Zartman (standing) Doug was now free to contemplate his existence in metaphorical terms aka Director of Public Relations.  Reflection of Self. Doug Zartman portrait. Mac Hall (Matt Boyd and Ian McConville) captured what it was like working for 'The Man' in their comic entitled "Web Bastard".  Happy Matt Soell's First Day! PARTAY!  Bungie's event banner. Retired... |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #603. Digging deep in the recesses of the Story page archives I came across three images of the Marathon marine. They date back to at least 2012 and probably later. The only info I have on them is that they were made by someone called Colin.   Never one to leave a story untold the Story page's investigative division (Id) noted the initials C C on one of the images. QED it's Colin C. Now the Story page featured artwork by a Colin C back on September 18, 2024. Here's the image we featured.  Marathon Marine by Colin C (aka CrunchyDetail) on Freelancer.com. January, 2020. Colin C. (@CrunchyDetail), is a freelance graphic designer, from Canada. The styles are somewhat similar and I can't imagine there are many Colin C's out there doing Marathon artwork. Since the three images have no story here's one I happened to have lying around. OG Marathon Man. Memory isn't as good as it used to be. Most likely to say "Where's m'boots". Voted by his class as the person most likely to get the job done right. Nu Marathon Man. Has embraced alien technology. Most likely to say "The Pfhor did nothing wrong". Voted by his class as the person most likely to marry an alien! Chad Marathon Man. Mr. Big Guns. Most likely to say "Get some! Get some! Get some!" repeatedly. Voted by his class as the person most likely to save Leela.What's your story? |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #602. Continuing our theme of celebrating Marathon art from around the world we give you... Eat the Path by Roman Groph (aka Roman Masalov), a freelance 2D artist, illustrator and concept artist in Yerevan, Armenia.  eat the path_9 by Roman Groph on ArtStation. January 12, 2024. While Roman didn't tag this as Marathon-related the title of the piece would suggest that it was inspired by the Marathon Infinity level of the same name. He also tagged the image as #cyborg and #rocketlauncher. Roman used Photoshop to create his image. Here's a work in progress pic.  eat the path by Roman Groph on ArtStation. January 12, 2024. Concerning the Infinity level Eat the Path, Chris Geisel (Double Aught) wrote: Another of Greg's famous concept maps. The pathways were supposed to be tricky, and they have red paths on the ceiling. It's another organic, angry map that has something to do with the player's inner journey. Only Greg knows for sure.The term 'eat the path' also features in the Infinity terminals. There is only one path and that is the path that you take, but you can take more than one path."Cross over the cell bars" is an allusion to Gheritt White, from the first game, Marathon. From Gheritt White to Renaldo Luigi. Let me leave you with this piece entitled renaldo.luigi.fxo.1.  renaldo.luigi.fxo.1 by PvtToaster on r/coaxedintoasnafu. June 1, 2023. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #601. And now for something completely different. Everything is not as it seems{}. seems{}. seems{}. Sony Interactive Entertainment proudly presents the long awaited Ratchet & Clank / Marathon crossover. A PlayStation exclusive.  Bigger Guns Nearby by discosmackdown on DeviantArt. July 2, 2009. But first some background. The Ratchet & Clank series of sci-fi action games span two decades (2002-2021) and were largely exclusive to PlayStation consoles. They feature the adventures of the titular protagonist Ratchet, a feline humanoid mechanic, and Clank the titular deuteragonist, a diminutive sentient Zoni "defective" robot. The Ratchet & Clank innuendo-like game titles, such as Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal and Size Matters, would not be out of place in the Bungie office humor of the 90s and beyond. Like Marathon Infinity, the 2021 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart game involved dimensional time hoping to save the day. So no surprise then that Ratchet & Clank would get a Marathon crossover. discosmackdown, the artist of the above crossover piece, writes: READ THE DESCRIPTION OR YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND THE PICTURE AT ALL LOLUnfortunately discosmackdowm's DeviantArt page has been wiped out. Phhht! Just like that. Fortunately the Story page has you covered. It's what we do. Here's another image in that Ratchet & Clank / Marathon crossover.  Watch Your Back by discosmackdown on DeviantArt. October 31, 2012. Coming soon™... to a PlayStation near you. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #600. 600 Days of Night. 
30 Days of Night / Marathon gore mashup. January 12, 2025.
Yes folks, it has been 600 days since the Marathon announcement on May 24, 2023. 600 Days of Night... and counting.  |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #599. Escape will make me God. This classic line is of course from Durandal at the end of Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap. Indeed this level has some of the best terminals in Marathon, possibly the Marathon Trilogy. Hard to believe for a level that many people loath with a passion. The level begins with the poignant three candles metaphor.  Durandal's ending is cutting... The candles burn out for you; I am free. Midway through the level (if you happen to find it) is the humorous secret classified ads terminal. Doug Zartman (former Bungie PR Director) explained the origin of this terminal and indeed the name of the level itself.  Doug Zartman on The Fourth Curtain Discord. Time is in GMT. By the time you reach the exit terminal you are probably experiencing a wide range of mixed emotions. Durandal's Darwin analogy is probably lost on you, as is perhaps his reference to the inevitable closure of the universe and your fate. Thankfully Faraz Parsa (@farazparsa) is on hand to remind us.  Marathon meme by Faraz Parsa (@farazparsa) on x.com. August 22, 2022. Never forget who you are.  Be sure to keep your Battleroids on a leash at all times... by whitestripe999 on r/marathon. February 14, 2023. Destiny my... |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #598. It's sketchy Friday! We've got sketches. First up. Onions (aka giantOnions) gives us another Runner sketch entitled 'Antiquated Tech'  "Antiquated Tech" MIDA Runner sketch by Onions on r/marathon. January 2, 2025. This one has MIDA written all over it including the ubiquitous nose ring. 
How are you wearing your MIDA Strobe T-Shirt?  Marathon MIDA Strobe T-Shirt inside out view. Worn inside out... as you do! But I digress. We featured Onions other Runner sketches (dressed and undressed) back on December 20, 2024. AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) gives us two sketches which lead to his 'Marathon buddies' image featured on the Story page back on October 21, 2024.  Mr. Marathon head sketch by AlexB207 (aka Bus Gamer 2) on Marathon Discord. October 17, 2024. Alex writes: i reeaally cannot decide on how to draw mr marathon himself lol, cant tell if i want to be game accurate or craig accurateHe went on to do a final sketch before coloring. Alex writes: not sure if i want to give mr marathon his ingame colours or his craig mullins colours
Ah the struggles of being a Marathon artist. Indeed Alex himself put it nicely about the Mr. Marathon variants in this sketch.  They're Everywhere by AlexB207 (aka Bus Gamer 2) on Marathon Discord. October 17, 2024. Happy sketchy Friday. Stay sketchy. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #597. Happy "Kill Bob LeVitus" Day. Following the success of THE DISC at Macworld Expo 1995 in Boston, Power Computing Corporation released the DISC II at Macworld Expo 1996 in San Francisco on this day 28 years ago. The press announcement stated that the DISC II would include: Marathon featuring Bob LeVitus: A very special Marathon II Demo featuring Power Computing Evangelist Bob LeVitus - If you dig on Marathon, you're going to love this very special version.It was creatively called "Kill LeVitus Marathon". This special edition Marathon 2: Durandal demo replaced Marathon Bob with Power Computing Bob complete with Power Computing t-shirt.    It was 'open season' on Bob LeVitus. Oddly while the official press release referred to the DISC II the actual packaging called it DISC 2. The CD itself read: THE DISC 2. THIS DISC BYTES! Yes folks, 90's humor. Classic! Here is the front and back of the CD envelope. Remember those?
The back of the CD envelope stated: Bob LeVitus Must Die! - A very special Marathon 2 Demo.How unique? Well that's a story for another day. Today is Happy "Kill Bob LeVitus" Day. Bob LeVitus Must Die! |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #596. An art piece by AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on Monday 6, 2025 raised an interesting question. What is the canonical look of Mr. Marathon?There is a degree of consistency in the original game thanks to J. Reginald Dujour. Two chapter screens give us two profiles. Mr. Purple and Mr. Teal.
The Famous Five. Move fast, seize the initiative, wield superior firepower, dive into the melee, anticipate enemy movements, slaughter the defenseless, endure. 
Marathon Manual, Page 22. December 21, 1994.
And the iconic... Marathon stance.
Marathon Manual, Page 17. December 21, 1994.
These images are consistent with the in-game multiplayer look. Even as far back as September 1994 we had Mr. Purple and Mr. Yellow.
And Mr. Red and Mr. Green courtesy of Inside Mac Games Magazine (October 1994).
In 1995 things went FUBAR. Or more precisely... in the words of Cole Porter... "Anything Goes". To be continued... |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #595. On the subject of Juggernauts and UAPs... ...Neal D Anderson (@nealdanderson) gives us not one but two renditions.  Juggernaut by Neal D Anderson (@nealdanderson) on x.com. May 25, 2023.  Lh'owon ambush by Neal D Anderson (@nealdanderson) on x.com. May 25, 2023. Neal may be better known to you as Phobos-Romulus, brother to Deimos-Remus (Neal J Anderson). Neal D writes: Seeing Marathon in 2023 is honestly surreal- hope 'the big floaty thing that kicks our asses' returns in some shape or form.Love the Juggernaut's face in the first image. I have taken the liberty of calling the second image... Lh'owon ambush. I mean that's what it looks like. Right? Unless of course you are a one of those Pfhor apologists and believe that Tycho did nothing wrong. Then it might be... Mjolnir Recon 54 cowers in fear at the majesty of the Pfhor empire. Never! If you want to see a larger version of the second image and the expression on our hero's face then click here. It's a massive 9.5 MBs (png format). The Story page bringing you the tru7h one 'bit' at a time. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #594. AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) kick starts the New Year with a... "little portrait of mr marathon".  Mr. Marathon by AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on x.com. January 3, 2025. If you catch the light just right you can just make out a trace of smile. A smile which reminds you of something from your past, but you can't remember exactly what it is. Oh wait! He's just happy kicking butt and taking names... Pfhor #1, Pfhor #2, Pfhor #3, Pfhor #4, ... etc ... 
vidboi by AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on x.com. August 6, 2024.
Out with the old, in with the new. New Year, new icons. Zuc gives us the classic trilogy icons with a bit more of a modern-ish look.
Last year, Zuc gave us Marathon in Half-Life's cover style. 
Marathon Half-Life mock cover by Zuc on the Marathon Discord. June 10, 2024.
Marathon Infinity Half-Life mock cover by Zuc on the Marathon Discord. June 8, 2024.
Marathon (in) 2025 never looked so good. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #593. "IT'S WEIRD-LOOKING!" 3gunbutch writes: Recently been a lot of coverage on UAP's.Now for all you old timers out there UAP is the new term for UFO. UAP stands for 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena' but it has been recently tweaked to mean 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena', a broader catch-all category. 3gunbutch continues: A now famous sighting from Nellis AFB in the 90's includes an artist depiction of a craft...Nellis AFB is Nellis Air Force Base located in Clark County Nevada, approximately 10 miles northeast from downtown Las Vegas, USA. It provides advanced combat aviation training. Think Top Gun. The best of the best of the best. With honors. They don't mess around at Nellis AFB. In the same month that Bungie released the Marathon demo, a high-tech Nellis Air Force surveillance camera captured images of what was described as a UFO (UAP). This surveillance footage was leaked in 1995. The person who leaked the footage was sent to prison. Shades of the Marathon Beta leak. Here are some images from the footage.
And yes, like all UFO footage it is tiny and blurred. Following detailed forensic analysis of the video footage an artist depiction of the craft was made.  As 3gunbutch points out this looks like a S'pht'Kr defender... ...or even a Juggernaut. Now... I know what you're thinking. How could Bungie know what a Juggernaut looked like if the Nellis UFO surveillance footage wasn't leaked until 1995? Did someone tell them?  |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #592. On this day 30 years ago the doors to the Macworld Expo in San Francisco opened. Bungie were there in force showing off their recently released game Marathon. Here's a short clip of the Bungie Booth (#3472). During the Expo Bungie also hosted the Marathon Macworld Mayhem Tournament.  Mayhem ensued. The finals were 3 rounds of 1-on-1 PvP action. There can be only one! The Macworld Expo in San Francisco on January 4-7, 1995 was a big success for Bungie and also for Apple. Jennifer Dees, in an article for Mac/Chicago Magazine entitled "Macworld Sell-Out: Bungie's Marathon", wrote: Running native and drawing crowds was Marathon, the incredibly popular new game from Chicago's Bungie Software. Reginald DuJour, who designed the game's graphics as well as the high-tech packaging for Marathon, said that getting everything working smoothly had caused some delays but it had been worth the wait. The enthusiastic crowds trying out Marathon, in the Apple Pavilion and also in Bungie's separate booth in Moscone North, apparently agreed.And for those that remember... the Marathon 101 Competition: Q13. At the 1995 San Francisco Macworld Expo, Bungie were out in force selling Marathon after the long delay with the "Box". As a result the Bungie crew all wore name tags with titles such as "Box Production Manager", "Box Quality Manager", "Box Design Manager". Who wore the name tag "Manager of Delays"? Choose the correct one. (5 marks) 1. Alex Seropian |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #591. It's sketchy Friday! We've got sketches. First up. logic over on the Marathon Discord gives us this sketch of a S'pht'Kr Defender.  S'pht'Kr Defender sketch by logic on Marathon Discord. December 30, 2024. logic writes: Cam ain't great. Sketch ain't either.I like the style of this image. Only wish it was bigger and clearer. Check out the little scenes around the edges with text from the terminals. On the subject of sketches, Italian artist juzo-kun wrote: The reason why I rarely if ever publish sketches: they are the messiest things.She did give us this sketch of a S'pht'Kr Defender.  Compiler and a S'pht'Kr sketch by juzo-kun on tumblr. June 13, 2016. juzo-kun wrote: A Compiler and a S'pht'Kr with a cameo of Alex (my version of the Security Officer) dealing with Lh'owon wildlife.juzo-kun is a prolific artist with many Marathon pieces in her portfolio. However they are spread out over numerous sites so compiling them all in one place is not easy. Here's another sketch from 10 years ago or so.  Time Pfhor Tea sketch by juzo-kun on Instagram. October 24, 2015. It's a piece she did for Inktober 2015. Given that it had no title I have taken the liberty of calling it... Beat the Pfhor, Time Pfhor Tea. Tea-riffic! Happy sketchy Friday. Stay sketchy. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #590. So your New Year's resolution is to play Marathon straight through. Only one problem. Level 13... Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap. Thanks to Smytsidian for this humerous start to 2025. And yes, Bungie numbered the Marathon levels starting from zero. That's lore folks. This made everyone's favorite level number 13. Coincidence? As Jason Jones remarked: "In Marathon 2, when I said that I hoped "All Roads Lead To Sol" atoned for the sins of "Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap!" I was serious. I can't believe anyone ever finished Marathon 1. I can't believe Greg didn't shoot me."Indeed the catch line for Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap could easily have be... 'Escape Will Make Me God'. AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on his 94th attempt at getting the seven pillars right.  Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap by AlexB207 (@AlexB207Swag) on x.com. August 2, 2024. On a more festive note Zott820 rang in the New Year with this little ditty. Go watch it on the big screen with full soundaround sound. Excellently executed piece. Auld Lang Syne never sounded so good. |
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This Day in Marathon.
Day #589. Happy New Year to Marathon's Story page readers... Everywhere! And what a year 2024 was. Here's a snapshot of some of what we covered.
 Jason Jones (right), Luke Smith (left) | Image courtesy Bungie. |
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Last updated January 31, 2025