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Marathon's Story Page
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Marathon's Story Page
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Happy Halloween!
Unfortunately not so happy for those who were let go at Bungie yesterday as part of cuts across Sony's PlayStation division and mirroring similar cuts across the gaming industry this year. The number of Bungie staff let go is undisclosed but judging by those who declared that they had on social media the cuts were wide ranging and across many specialities including QA, HR, support, legal, community, art, music, publishing, etc. Some long-term well known Bungie staffers were among those who lost their jobs. As one Grizzled Ancient lamented... "Tenure was no shield." Sadly behind every job cut is a life, a family, responsibilities, dreams. We wish them the very best for the future. Marathon's release date was also reported to have slipped to 2025. Though in truth this was probably a more realistic date anyway rather than the hoped for 2024 (the 30th anniversary of Marathon). Happy Halloween? Have a better one!  The Art of Bungie's History by TDSpiral on DeviantArt. May 13, 2013. |
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Tired of the printed logos on your favorite Marathon T-Shirt fading after a few washes?
Then stitch it!  Traxus stitched logo by craftinggeek on Stitch X to Continue. May 26, 2023. A Marathon Stitching Session. Jess (@craftinggeek) writes: "They announced their new IP, Marathon, and within thirty minutes of me seeing the new shirts that are being released, I was designing a cross-stitch pattern for a couple of them. Less than 24 hours later, I had both of them stitched up."  Traxus and UESC stitched logos by craftinggeek on Stitch X to Continue. May 26, 2023. Full details on how to stitch these yourself are available on Stitch X to Continue. To quote that famous line in the Marathon Infinity manual... If you're stuck here, you better go ask your mom. Jess is well known among Destiny sewing circles for her finely crafted Destiny Emblems.   Don't turn up faded and jaded at the next Marathon Esports Gaming Event. Look AAA in hand-stitched Marathon attire!  MIDA would to point out that they do not support the practice of underpaid laborers toiling for a thinly-veiled government-owned clothes manufacturing machine (oiled with the blood of the underclasses, by the way) which exists solely to line the pockets of the greedy bureaucrats who run the gaming/industrial complex.  No Logos |
Every year it comes around.
 Marathon Cyborg by Tim Kelly on DeviantArt. October 27, 2008. No... not Halloween! The perennial question. What did Jason Jones mean when he named the last level in Marathon... Ingue Ferroque? Jason would later correct this to Ignie Ferroque in an eWorld conference with fans. Yet his email address at the time was jon3@quads.uchicago.edu (igne ferroque). See also here and here. Jeoku who is seeking the tru7h writes: If you do a Google search you will find that there is no Latin word "ignie".(circumstances are cyclical) Here's the very first discussion about what Jason meant. This is the full version not the watered down versions you've been fed over the years. You have been warned. The tru7h is out there! One wonders if Sue K. Gibson is still around? But I digress. On the subject of great balls of fire! Myrzir on the Marathon Discord has created another 1920x1080 desktop wallpaper incorporating the original Marathon Poster art by Don Dixon and the new Marathon concept artwork.  Marathon desktop wallpaper 1920x1080 version by Myrzir. October 27, 2023. Has a nice Destiny vibe going on. See October 24, 2023 for Myrzir's first Marathon desktop wallpaper. |
Back on September 20, 2023 we featured H-LAB,
Marathon-inspired art by Zongle Chen a concept artist from China.
Zongle Chen has created a further piece in the H-LAB series. This is a nice panoramic view of the surrounding environment.  H-LAB by Zongle Chen on ArtStation. If you are wondering where some of the influence for this is coming from then check out Marathon ViDoc aerial views of the Tau Ceti IV colony.   |
Marathon BOB cosplay at gamescon by Bam on the Marathon Discord.
 Bam writes: "I did try my best at blocking other people's ways and shouting frog blast the vent core, at least when people recognized me haha Frog Blast the Vent Core? Technically it should be... "Thank God it's You!" since Bam is dressed as a Marathon 1 BOB.  If you do dress up as Marathon BOB for cosplay purposes watch out for those "Grizzled Ancients". Old Marathon fans who shoot first and ask questions later... just to be sure.  Bearded security officer by Shogoki. Oh and it's Happy 101 Day... before the divergent timelimes.  |
Everyone is talking about your exploits on Tau Ceti during the Pfhor invasion seventeen years ago. During those two days I remember hearing the crew talking about a single man, standing alone against the invaders, but I had no idea that it was only through your efforts that the Marathon and perhaps Tau Ceti itself were saved. Three months after we left Tau Ceti, the Pfhor arrived in force and sacked the human colony there. Happy Pfhor Sacking Day! Yes folks, this day 771 years from now the Pfhor will return in force to Tau Ceti and sack the human colony there. Phhht! Just like that. Or so we were told.   What really happened to the Tau Ceti colony? What did they find?    Time to read the terminals and find out.  |
"I am currently looking for work. I can send CV etc if you want and are interested." No not a joke. Craig Mullins is looking for work! Craig adds: "As so many people who have a hot poker at my back to get on SM have pointed out, TONS of people in the biz never heard of me. I thought that was fine, but now, hehe maybe not."  Craig Mullins (@craigmullins3) on Twitter. September 28, 2023. Craig writes concerning the above recent piece: "Just a little something that dropped out of my nose as I was brushing my teeth..."Craig we need more Marathon Art or the penguin gets it!
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In The Heavens... They Are Waiting.
Marathon Poster by Nathan Gillner.  Marathon Inspired Poster by Nathan Gillner on Behance May 27, 2023. The Marathon Poster in the home of a well-heeled Marathon fan. If you're a Marathon fan and you're home does not look like this then you are doing something wrong! Keep watching the Bungie Store for a Marathon Poster. Where you hang it is up to you! In The Heavens... They Are Waiting... for a Marathon Poster. In the mean time... Myrzir on the Marathon Discord has created a 1920x1080 desktop wallpaper version of the Don Dixon Marathon Poster.  Marathon Poster 1920x1080 desktop wallpaper version by Myrzir. October 22, 2023. killed, and Yrro in anger, flung the W'rkncacnter into the sun. The sun burned them, but they swam on its surface. Six Thousand Feet Under (Terminal 4) |
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Somewhere In The Heavens... They Are Waiting.
Jihad Joe on the Marathon Discord posted a picture of his framed Marathon poster.  Original or reproduction? Joe writes: "repro from hanz printed it on commercial grade print and pro framed"Joe actually posted his Marathon poster reproduction on r/marathon back on January 26, 2021... it was just waiting to be hung. In November 2020, hanz333 on r/marathon began a project to recreate the Marathon Poster (tube version).  hanz wrote: "Wanted to tinker with the new Pixelmator update so I figured I would recreate this poster in a printable size.There are some misconceptions about the Marathon Poster. While the advert for the poster had no text on it other than the title 'Marathon' the poster did come with text. .jpg) The poster that was mailed out had the opening tagline for the game "Somewhere In The Heavens... They Are Waiting", the Bungie logo, copyright information and the 'Accelerated for Power Macintosh' logo. You can see the original version here. Check out the Marathon Poster section of Blasts from the Past for more information including the original poster design by Don Dixon. You can now buy Don's original poster design in a number of formats including a T-Shirt on his webpage. Somewhere In The Heavens... They Are Waiting... for a Marathon Poster. |
The whole Rob McLees/Pfhor eyes discussion reminded me of the Marathon T-Shirt that mehve got.
 UESC shirt posted by mehve (@mehvechan) on Twitter. mehve is Lorraine McLees (wife of Rob Mclees) and Art Lead at Bungie's Consumer Products team. She's been a full-time employee at Bungie since early 1999 having work for Bungie before that as a freelance illustrator on Oni. So yeah... she knows where a lot of the bodies are buried. But I digress. Melee weapon in Marathon? Why yes! Your fist!  Marathon Security Officer by Paloma P. Torres on Behance. No... a melee weapon in Marathon! This reminds me of the original melee weapon in Halo. You know... the Machete!  mehve (Lorraine McLees) relates an interesting story from Rob McLees about the orignal plan for a melee weapon in Halo. "I was thinking at the time that the "Vidboi Challenge" was still gonna be a thing. And that you'd be able to go through the game meleeing everything. Like we did in Marathon where you had a dedicated melee weapon (your fists). Melee weapon in Marathon? Like you have to ask! |
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On the subject of the 723rd Heavy Air Cavalry and the Dreaded Utfoo Heavy Assault Craft mentioned yesterday I give you Luck Lady. 
What is seen can't be unseen. Sorry.
In the screenshot you can see the shape of things to come. Namely the characteristic
'one up two down' eye position which later become the eye pattern for all Pfhor in Marathon 2.
Midway through Marathon 2's development, Reg left Bungie. The games graphics subsequently received a radical overhaul at the hands of Bungie's new artist Robert McLees and Mark Bernal. Rob redesigned the weaponry, making the motley assortment of guns and ammo look more functional and futuristic. He designed the famous dual shotgun (with their infamous "far too complicated to explain" method of reloading), answering prayers of many Marathon fans. Rob 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.  Pfhor by Justin Hubbell on DeviantArt. March 21, 2014. Justin Hubbell writes: "...I have always preferred the "clown look" of the original game to the later designs. To me it resembled a skull, but more importantly it was a design that was unique. I had never seen an alien quite like that before." |
We must persevere. "We must persevere." perfectly sums up the the penultimate level in Marathon not because it is especially difficult but because you will be returning to this level... time and time again. You just don't know it yet. The artist Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel) summed it up in his famous 'Try again' picture (below) reflecting his own experience of that exit terminal. The battle weary Security Officer must... try again.  "Try again" by Jay Faircloth (aka. Anaphiel). 2001. Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon with the Greg Kirkpatrick level Try again, the second level of the Rebellion Chapter. Sources in the video include:
A nice rendering of the Juggernaut by Chuck Fox from back in the day.  Chuck Fox wrote: "Ray Dream rendering of the best-armored enemy in the Marathon universe."This is what Marathon 2 had to say about the Juggernaut on Feel the Noise (Terminal 1: 2nd message) and shown more clearly in the Pict Text section. The text is repeated below. The mailed fist of Battle Group 7's air combat wing  |
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"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
Bungie's Mos Eisley Spaceport.  Bungie's Mos Eisley by Yael Rojas (aka biodude2, aka 810dude) on DeviantArt and ArtStation Yael Rojas, a game developer fron Mexico, writes: "A crossover piece featuring characters from games made by Bungie. This piece takes inspiration in their Xmas posters and anniversary posters through the years. I tried to go for the 90's anime style using postprocessing and cell shading rendering."The aim of Bungie's Mos Eisley is to name as many Bungie characters as you can in the image. Good luck! |
Marathon Dark Mode.
 MARATHON TYPOGRAPHY - UI DESIGN by Emrenext. This dark design for Marathon is by Emrenext an Alternate Game UI Creator from Turkey. You can see his work on ArtStation. If you were watching the countdown for the release of the Somewhere In The Heavens - ViDoc on YouTube you will have seen a short animation countdown clip just before it played. Thanks to Pfhortnite on the Marathon Discord for spotting this one minute clip on YouTube. The piece is called MECHA and was created by Maciej Kuciara & Ash Thorp for YouTube to be used as a countdown for premier features. So not made by Bungie and not Marathon-related. Watching the clip may jog your memory of the event. The time is 6.09 PM PDT May 24, 2023. In one minute the Somewhere In The Heavens - ViDoc will begin. MIDA (@We_Are_MIDA) post their last YouTube comments. The Marathon ARG isn't over... it's just getting started. |
Who remembers Marathon Max?
 So MAX it was rated M. You had to ask your Mom if you could play it! "Hey Greg."Blam! Max Air. Hang Time.  Who remembers Marathon Max? |
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Back on September 30, 2023 we asked... "So why are MIDA getting all the cool numbers?"
This was based on the fact that numbers like 00001 and 00007 were on Certificate of Authenticity cards for MIDA shirts. Now Drawed on the Marathon Discord posts his MIDA shirt CoA card with the number...  The only possible explanation for this trend is that MIDA have infiltrated the Bungie Store distribution centre in Iowa and are putting these special numbers in with the MIDA shirts. Covert operations folks!   After all MIDA infiltrated the UESC Marathon so infiltrating Bungie Aerospace Corporation should be a peace of cake... right? 
SinglePaniniGrill on r/marathon received a VERY wrong order. Having ordered a MIDA Strobe T-Shirt in medium the following three shirts arrived from the Bungie Store.   According to SinglePaniniGrill the Traxus shirt was meant for California (US) and the UESC and CyberAcme shirts were meant for Victoria (Australia). Crazy right? So who got SinglePaniniGrill's MIDA shirt with a cool CoA number? Usual Suspects That Traxus T-Shirt on eBay finally sold. We first mentioned it back on October 7, 2023.  |
You are in a maze in a maze, but which one counts? Your maze, their maze, my maze. Or are the mazes all the same, defined by the limits of their paths? Happy 27th Birthday... Marathon Infinity.  Twenty seven years later we are still asking... "What happens in Marathon Infinity?" Of course we had been warned. Some seven months before Marathon Infinity shipped Matt Soell (Bungie Software) wrote: "...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. So on this day of days we give you... Marathon by Jason Roach.  Click to enlarge Jason Roach is a maze maker from Canada. His Marathon maze was created 8 years ago. Turn the maze horizontal and you get Colony Ship For Sale. Or perhaps it is your path to transcendence. Become a Runner in Bungie's new extraction game... Marathon. Where any run can lead to greatness. Extract yourself from the maze in under seven minutes and write your name across the stars. Find the Path. Eat the Path! I drop my gun Happy 27th Birthday... Marathon Infinity. |
In the heavens... they are racing.
      Marathon custom paint jobs for your Radical SR10, FIA F4 and Mercedes AMG GT4 by Daniel Boyle at Trading Paints. Trading Paints adds custom car liveries to iRacing. Design your own cars or race with pre-made paint schemes shared from the community of painters. Go Marathon... vroom vroom! You can even pick up Future War Cult (FWC) custom paint jobs including a new radical FWC look for your VW Beetle. Go Destiny... beep beep! |
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Marathon is truly international with some great Marathon-inspired art coming from all corners of the globe (oxymoron).
Here are four more artists and their Marathon-inspired art.
Dispatcher by Kaloyan Boychev, a concept artist from Germany.  Kaloyan Boychev writes: "A project i created largely inspired by the visual language of the upcoming Marathon by Bungie." MARATHON_Runner_01 by Terkel Bock, a 3D Artist at Viewnet from Denmark.    Terkel Bock writes: "I was really inspired by the trailer for Bungies MARATHON Reboot. This is my attempt at trying to emulate the artstyle/look of the trailer." Anti-interference Infantry - 02 by M K, a concept artist from China.  M K writes: "Personal Work Attempts. Reference: Marathon." A-LAB #2 by Dominique Kanku, a Blender 3D artist from Belgium.  Dominique Kanku writes:"I was (again) inspired by the new marathon game by bungie." |
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Happy Marathon 2 Demo Day!
Yes folks, on this day 28 years ago Bungie released the Marathon 2: Durandal Demo just before midnight.  To facilitate the release of the demo Bungie dipped their toe into the World Wide Web once again and launched their second webpage this time created by Art & Science.  The next 24 hours would be remembered by those who tried to download the demo from Bungie's new site as... The Day the Internet Stood Still. This is what Art & Science had to say about Bungie's new webpage.  Oddly the Marathon 2 Demo download didn't come with a Read Me file. The Marathon 2 Preview which was released three months earlier on The Disc had a Read Me called Absolutely DO NOT Read This! which began... Welcome to the "Marathon 2: Durandal" Demo. This was your Read Me file. You just had to go back and find it. That's the Marathon way! Happy Marathon 2 Demo Day! |
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MIDA... They're Everywhere!
Well MIDA acronyms anyway. treellama writes "should 'Maybe It Decodes A' be on the MIDA list too?" treellama is referring to the MIDA note sent to Deejay Knight at the start of the Marathon ARG. See October 6, 2023 news. One of the lines reads: There are in fact two MIDA acronyms in this one sentence. Sometimes you miss the obvious. Thanks treellama. Added it to The MIDA Acronym List. Twenty-two and counting...  On the subject of MIDA acronyms check out this fan-made Destiny 2 wallpaper posted by LasckyMan on r/Destiny2 back in the June 30, 2021.  Marathon in Destiny Again! Ilikesbreakfast on r/marathon writes "I bought 4 and got one for free!"  If you are missing your limited edition Marathon T-Shirt it is probably here! Mark Bernal (aka Termian) continues his "Revisiting the Marathon" series with the Pfhor Cyborg 'tank' first seen in Marathon 2. He posted it on the Fourth Curtain Discord and on his Linkedin page.  "Started working on this again. Modifying with fresh eyes." Mark Bernal. October 9, 2023  Pencil on Bristol paper approx. 11" x 10". Mark Bernal. October 10, 2023 You can see other pieces of Mark's artwork in his "Revisiting the Marathon" series on July 19 (Simulacrum), July 17 (S'pht/compiler), and June 23 (Pfhor fighter). |
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Woah!
MF_Brown on the Marathon Discord shows what it takes to be a new Marathon fan!  No... this is not an AI generated pic. That's ten Marathon T-Shirts! He also points out that the MIDA T-Shirt decal glows in the dark. Tavi Adino posts his Marathon swag on FaceBook's Bungie Marathon fans.  No... the Marathon hoodies didn't come in the bags. Some of you may remember these hoodies from back in 1 June 2023. Laura Warner (Staff Designer, Social Lead at Bungie working on Marathon) wearing a Marathon hoodie after receiving her Bungie nOOb Sword. Strike a pose.  Wishes for Fishes (@Wishes_4_Fishes) on Twitter posted a nicely composed pic of her Marathon sticker collection including the new Traxus one.  Wishes for Fishes also posted that QR code! You know the one. Yeah... you scanned it but won't admit it. |
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seven is darker Leela. Marathon. Welcome to the Revolution... (Terminal 3). December 21, 1994.  Uprising by José Connolly, March 2023. Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon with the Jason Jones level Welcome to the Revolution..., the first level of the Rebellion Chapter. Sources in the video include:
seven is darker Bungie Store Where TWAB? T-Shirt. March 3, 2022. Back in March 3, 2022 we pointed out that the Bungie Store were selling a Destiny T-Shirt called "Where TWAB?" which had a Marathon reference (seven is darker) as part of a complex link analysis (investigation) board (aka 'crazy wall').  Once you got you're hands on the TWAB (This Week At Bungie) T-Shirt the idea was to follow seven is darker through a series of past TWAB updates to piece together the clues... across time. Assuming of course you opened the sealed bag!   As to what people found... well that's a story for another day.  |
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Latin in Marathon?
Bungie recently launched Latin @ Bungie. No... Jason Jones is not running a course on Latin in Marathon this is about educating the Bungie community about Latin and Hispanic culture, and supporting local communities. It is part of their Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity Association (a.k.a. IDEA). However we could do with some Latin courses. Gopherofdoomies on the Marathon Discord writes: "I'm reading the MIDA acronym list (thanks a bunch hamish!) and I'm wondering what Mars Inhio Durias Aequitas Sumus In Posterum Sol means."If you have tried to translate this Latin phrase using an online translator you will get a bunch of gobbledygook like "hard equity in the posterity of the sun" or versions thereof. Context is everything. Some parts are not so difficult. SUMUS IN POSTERUM = we are the future. So we might conclude that the last four words SUMUS IN POSTERUM SOL are "we are the future of Sol" which would make sense in the context of MIDA. A sensible translation of the first four words MARS INHIO DURIAS AEQUITAS may be somewhat compromised by the need to make the Latin words form the acronym MIDA. INHIO can mean (figuratively) I gaze with eagerness or I regard with longing. Thus one possible translation is "Mars longs for strong justice". While it makes sense in the context of MIDA the translated English is not great. pfhorrest on the Marathon Discord suggests a better translation of DURIAS AEQUITAS namely "lasting equality". Pointing out that the connection between durias and Durandal (durability) can't be coincidental. Putting it together we get "Mars longs for lasting equality we are the future of Sol". Hoping that some Latin scholar will improve on this contextualised translation. In the end this may be just a subtle way of saying... MIDA are the future of Sol. |
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So the first Marathon T-Shirt has appeared on eBay. No surprise really. It's a Traxus shirt (medium) and the
Buy It Now price is US $149.99. It is still in the sealed bag (CoA 00491).
Unfortunately a few people are getting the wrong shirt or the wrong size. One fan, molluskmoth on r/marathon, posted his totally wrong order.  Given that this is limited series and most likely each shirt was made to order it's going to very hard for Bungie to resend the correct shirt to people since your shirt will most likely be in the hands of someone else. Logistical nightmare. A post has started on r/marathon for those who want to trade for a right shirt. Quin Rey on Twitter posted a picture of her UESC shirt which nicely captures the rich blue color.  Folks have asked whether someone is keeping a list of the CoA numbers? Well the Story page has been keeping lists for over 25 years. Lists of everything from YAMs to Spazeroids. You may even be on one of them! The highest Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) number seen so far is this one from someone who bought their shirt on the final day of pre-ordering.  Since the CoA numbers relate to the Marathon collection [000] as a whole rather than a specific shirt it is clear that at least 1055 shirts in the [000] series were made. It is unlikely that this is the highest number so we will keep watching and recording... |
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Marathon in Halo?
JayBoneJay on the Marathon Discord writes: "Hey Hamish, hate to bother you but I'm trying to get my electric sheep map to work in halo and trying to get my switches to be reactive to projectiles so I went into the scripts to see how the "The Maw" handles using the rockets destroying the vents and I noticed a particular line of code. Did you know about this?!"  No! But now I do. Brought a smile to my face. Thanks. JayBoneJay provides the source for this find: "This is from the Halo editing kit released by 343. The file itself says it hasn't been modified since November 15th 2001 3:17 AM."  Found another spelled out form of the MIDA acronym, namely MESSAGE IN DIRECT AVERSION. This one appeared in a note from Bungie to Deejay Knight (@DeejayKnight), a Voice Actor and Media Personality. Deejay Knight received one of the CyberAcme Cards at the start of the Marathon ARG along with a crumpled MIDA note.  Front of MIDA note from Bungie to Deejay Knight. The MIDA note is written on UESC headed paper with the UESC crossed out. The Pigpen cipher decodes to: SECRET WHEN YOU HAVE EY ES AND EARS EVERYWHERE The typed text below reads: JOIN US. 18 JULY 2888 BELLEVUE WA 98004 FULL DETAILS INBOUND. THE CYAC MASTER CIPHER IS A KEY. USE IT. MAYBE IT DECODES A MESSAGE IN DIRECT AVERSION TO THEIR CONTROL. FIND THE ENCRYPTIONS. CRACK THE CODE. SPREAD THE VID. DISRUPT THE STATUS QUO. WE ARE MIDA. ARE YOU? Added it to The MIDA Acronym List. Twenty-one and counting...
Additionally the following are included for completeness.
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As readers of the Story page know we don't shy away from asking the hard questions that Bungie
don't want you to know.
So without further ado... Where is the Bag? You know... THIS bag. The 'creepy kids' bag. Did anyone get one? Both my MIDA shirts came in these bags.  Now don't get me wrong these graffiti-style bags are way cool and the front of the MIDA bag does have 'creepy kids'.  Just not all 'seven' of them. Perhaps a little too creepy for Corporate? ChrisRedfieldsSweetAss on the Marathon Discord didn't get the 'creepy kids' bag. And Mattheuk9 who got CoA 00001 didn't get the 'creepy kids' bag either!  Did you get the seven 'creepy kids' bag? The image of the four 'creepy kids' on the MIDA 'graffiti' bag...  ...is actually from MIDA's ezine ANTI:REV+ issue 4673c Page 5. The image is just not upside down.  Postscript. MIDA would like to point out that they are NOT 'creepy'... honest.  |
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So folks are asking... what happened to those artifacts "straight from the mysterious world of Tau Ceti IV" ?
You know the ones... they combine to give you a Prime Artifact. Steve Cotton (Creative Director on Marathon). Somewhere In The Heavens - ViDoc. Mea culpa... folks. I thought it would be a cool marketing idea to have to combine artifacts to create a Prime Artifact in the real world. I guess killing your friends in real life for their artifact wouldn't exactly be sound corporate responsibility.  But I digress. The concept art animations for the Somewhere In The Heavens - ViDoc were created by Kennon Fleisher (Motion Graphics Lead at Bungie) and animators Adam Schmisek and Ryan Policky.  Prime Artifact animation development courtesy of Kennon Fleisher. Kennon Fleisher writes: "Marathon holds a special place in my heart as it was a game I grew up playing and modding with Forge and Anvil. It's arguably the very thing that got me interested in being a professional creative, so it's pretty amazing to come full circle and work on the re-incarnation of the game."Hardcore Marathoner modders will no doubt be able to track down what Marathon mods Kennon Fleisher released back in the day.   |
Happy Double Aught Day!
 Yes folks, on this day 27 years ago Double Aught officially launched their website. Double Aught, who had been contracted by Bungie Software to created the Marathon Infinity scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon", had up to now been keeping a low profile. But all this was about to change with the draw dropping (for the mid-90s), award winning, web designs of Randy Reddig. Randy's first web design for Double Aught was simply called AT and contained a section on the yet to be released Marathon Infinity. The world was introduced to Despair, Rage and Envy. But the world was not ready for Despair, Rage, Envy. Neither were the Pfhor.  0842 color by Mat Heldwein (aka Le-Mat). October 31, 2013. Happy Double Aught Day!   Want to beta test Marathon? Help test new features? Like 3D positional audio, multiple tracks and crossfades, fog... lots of fog! Then look no further. Wait! You thought this was a beta for Marathon?  Thanks to treellama for the heads up! |
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Gopherofdoomies on the Marathon Discord asks: "Is there a list of all the new MIDA acronyms?"
MIDA is never spelled out in the original game and has remained a mystery to this day. Greg Kirkpatrick had the answer of course. Over the years there have been many attempts by fans to come up with a spelled out form of the MIDA acronym. None have been correct. The simple reason for this is that the original MIDA had its origins as a "popular political party" not a "terrorist group". But I digress. In the Marathon ARG Jonathan Goff and the rest of Marathon narrative team had fun (and some work) coming up with multiple versions of the acronym MIDA. Here is The MIDA Acronym List. Twenty and counting...
Additionally the following are included for completeness.
On June 25, 2023, a month after the Marathon ARG, Jon Goff (Narrative Lead on Marathon) posted the following pic on Instagram. You can see what is left of the MIDA grafitti as other public art encroaches.  Photograph courtesy of Jon Goff on Instagram. June 25, 2023 Jon wrote: Out @theveniceartwalls the lingering fire of a futuristic revolution remains, joined by the vibrant expressions of modern storytellers/artists/chroniclers. MIDA cannot rise because MIDA was always here. MIDA cannot fall because MIDA will always be.A fitting epitaph for the MIDA grafitti at the Venice Art Walls. |
A dark future...Konoko in Marathon by Ryder Tost on Twitter.  Ryder nicely captures Playboy magazine reviewed Oni back in 2001 and wrote: "Konoko is one tough customer. It's hard to imagine female gamers not enjoying the beat-down she applies to those who stand in her way. Her Crescent Moon Kick in particular ought to bring a smile to any woman's face."Check out Bungie's Oni teaser trailer... complete with the Konoko walk!!! Two nice shots of the front of the MIDA shirts by Jacob O'Brien on Instagram. Which MIDA shirt will your clone be rocking today?  |
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Last updated Oct 31, 2023