Oh, To Voice A Chozo In One Of These Videos…

Maytroid 2024 is here!

I am so excited to get to work on these new prompts. Last year, my entries for each day were fairly sloppy, and I was new to the series, so I was lacking a fair bit of information. Now, I’m armed with more knowledge and am eager to use it.

For those who haven’t seen what I did for Maytroid last year, what I’m going to be doing instead of art is something more writing focused. These little text entries are mostly styled after the scans from the Metroid Prime series. Matter of fact, this new set of prompts actually lends itself much better than last year’s, as I have a lot more leeway to play to my own strengths than last year (I still don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna do with Gorea). These are all canon to my own Metroid AU currently, though as things change in development, these may become out of date. They will give the vibe my stories are going for, but these shouldn’t be held to as the absolute canon for them. I’ll be posting these week by week, around 7 at a time, starting today.

Day 1: Ridley

Transcript of Security Footage

Several individuals in this footage cannot be identified at this time. They shall be identified as Pirate 1, Pirate 2, and Pirate Major.

Ridley: What I want to know… is why he is not in custody.

Pirate Major: I gave them their orders, they knew he was to be brought in alive, and instead they killed him.

Pirate 1: You told us to take care of him! We thought you meant an execution, not milk and cookies!

Pirate Major: Insolent Wretch! You say such things about your orders in front of our Commander?! You know how we handle that sort of insubordination!

Pirate 2: Cool it, we’re already in hot water.

Pirate 1: We’re in hot water because of the life of some winy little nobody that begged for his life with money he didn’t even have.

Ridley: While your insolence is… aggravating… I am willing to forgive this misstep.

Pirate Major: What?

Ridley: He was an insignificant pawn. We can always find another. As I was saying, I am willing to forgive this on one condition. Did he die in pain?

Pirate 2: Yes. He did suffer before he died.

Ridley: What methods or torture did you employ?

Pirate 1: Waterboarding. Works wonders on humans. I always liked how they sound when they cough and gasp for air.

Ridley:Mmmmm… was blood shed before his end?

Pirate 2: Yeah. My partner here has… quite the way with knives.

Ridley: Do tell.

Pirate 1: Slashed his wrists. Those arteries gush lots of blood from humans. And we started pulling teeth when he lied.

Ridley: Delicious. You have escaped capital punishment, but you will still be serving as guards for the Metroid containment units. For further forgiveness, you will need to be more creative with your implements. I find Revine’s death, by your account, to be quite dull. Your are dismissed, unless you wish to enlighten me further.

Day 2: Fiery

Scan of Pipe System in Norfair

“These pipes appear be delivering superheated magma into the Norfair region. Given the proximity to Ridley’s personal quarters, likely explanations include terraforming the area for Ridley’s own comfortability, additional protective measures, or the intentional destruction of Chozo artifacts not deemed useful. The latter is most likely, as the immediate area was once a Chozo burial tomb. It is now completely submerged in magma, disintegrating much of the artifacts within.”

Day 3: Winged

Scan of SA-X Mutations

“This X-Parasite copy has suffered some form of destabilization of its copying abilities. Abnormalities include a malformed, beak like structure around the mouth, several atrophied fingers, several hypertrophied fingers, small patches of feathers, and an extraneous structure protruding from its back resembling a Chozo wing bereft of feathers. These unusual deformities could be the result of DNA infusions during childhood complicating the process of anatomical replication within X-Parasite offspring. This individual seems to suffer great stress from its predicament, but it is unsafe to assume that its combat functionality is greatly hampered. Adaptation is this species’s main trait.”

Day 4: Pirate

Scan of Space Pirate Elite

“Subject is a member of an unknown species known only from individuals working within Ridley’s special operations group, The Revenants. This group acts as Ridley’s personal enforcers and assassins, fanatically worshipping their commander as a literal God of Death. They wield melee weapons personalized to their unique fighting styles. Each weapon is charged with electricity, giving them an additional ranged attack capability. They have operated since before the Galactic Federation, making a name for themselves in fighting Chozo warriors. Their endurance, agility, and strength cannot be overstated, in spite of their gaunt appearance.”

Day 5: Mecha

Scan of automaton codenamed Mecha Ridley

“Subject is a battle ready drone, seemingly created by Ridley’s fanatical special forces, the Revenants. Mecha Ridley is heavily weaponized, as there could be no altar to the God of Death without the ability to take a life. Weapons include flamethrowers, guided munition launchers, and superheated claws. Mecha Ridley’s armor is highly durable, but greatly hampers mobility compared to its inspiration. Additionally, as a cult idol of worship, advanced artificial intelligence was not prioritized during production. Mecha Ridley displays average combat intellect for a war drone. Recommend staying moving and outsmarting the automaton.”

Day 6: Fang

Scan of Rundas’s Necklace

“Rundas appears to have begun collecting Metroid Fangs as trophies since last he was approached. Assuming one fang was taken from each Metroid he has eliminated, he has defeated 15 Metroids in the two months since he was last seen. Unfortunately, his ego has grown with his kill count.”

Day 7: Cunning

Scan of Abandoned Home

“Old Bird and Grey Voice’s abandoned home has been left mostly in tact, minus the usual signs of neglect. However, there appear to be a plethora of traps lain around the home. Various grapple snares have been detected, alongside explosive charges, beam emitters, and microphones. Much of these systems appear to be inert, and once reported directly to Mother Brain. It is clear she anticipated you might return here before confronting her. Given her destruction, several trap systems remain completely dormant. Still, any approach must be made with great caution.”

Me realizing my promise to release my Metroid fanfic “Before Metroid Prime 4 releases” now has an actual deadline.

I know this never happened in the games or any outside material, but what if frozen Metroids just… fell? Imagine shooting one with the ice beam and it just hits the floor with a nice *clunk*. Obey the laws of gravity, weirdo.

Idea

Vampires aren’t afraid of the sunlight. Oh, they know how deadly it is to them, but they do not fear it. They long for it. The longer they live for, the stronger that urge becomes. At the end of their life, with nothing left to lose, they stand outside and stare at the sun, just taking in that primal, human joy that humans are supposed to experience. They deteriorate quickly by that point, but they don’t care. It’s nice to just see the sun again.

Honestly, I would love to have some game that really fleshes out how much the Space Pirates scare the galaxy. The Urtraghians especially would work great in that role of trying to literally sniff you out and discover you. Honestly, more games could do with a horror game in that sort of style to flesh out their antagonist factions. Metroid kinda lacks a bit of stakes some times. There’s vague allusions to conquering the galaxy, but I think the game to do the individual consequence aspect was Metroid Prime 3. Having a game that centers around that “human” aspect of a piratical assault would do some good to establish what Samus is saving the good people of the Galaxy from.

Additionally, I think it could have some catharsis in ending the game with Samus arriving just in the nic of time and absolutely destroying the Space Pirates. It could even help to really show how much of a hero and symbol of hope the galaxy sees her as.

what would YOUR ideal METROID spinoff look like?

funny answer: a metroid-hatching tamagotchi clone, drawing from the metroid life cycle and variants to create branching evolutionary paths. raise your own metroid! feed it x parasite snacks! try not to die horribly!

real answer: I think it's unbelievable they haven't tried to make a horror game in the metroid universe. like it would be so easy to have a full game where the power suit is completely offline, or (if nintendo was really willing to experiment) having some kind of civilian protagonist separate from samus, but still placed in similar peril. I guess I'm basically just describing alien: isolation, but GOD could you imagine how good a ridley horror chase scene would be

Decided to draw V today. I still haven’t quite cracked the code on her hair, but I’m getting there.

Damn.

my job in the pirate base is to climb up and down the walls

I’m so glad Seregoss got brought up here. Reminder that he made a cover of Sylux’s theme right away when the Prime 4 trailer came out. Metroid’s fan soundtracks are absolutely amazing. I’ve gotten so many writing ideas from his music.

I’m planning on narrating my Metroid fan stories, similar to @tsproart has done with his own original story, Journey’s Ahead. Because of the vast array of incredible existing tracks, both in game and from fans, I want to edit in some title cards featuring the song name, artist and source. I’ll do this in the video itself, as opposed to the description, as I’m not animating this or anything. All of those amazing people deserve to see their name in some of the scenes I’m proud of, so they can be proud in turn.

Alright, I need to throw some more shit on here because once again, Metroid has an iron god damn grip on my brain.

If there is something I truly wish nintendo would accept for once in their lives, its bringing in some fan talent to work on metroid - much like how sega has brought on fan talent for sonic.

Because jesus fucking christ, there are some music artists out there that make some genuinely good covers and original tracks.

Take for example, Seregoss - This absolute mad lad makes some high energy remixes of metroid alongside his own tracks for some original projects, and they slap SHIT!

Like this S.E.R.R.I.S remix he's made. holy FUCK IT FUCKS HARD.

Or one of my absolute favorites, SynaMax

He does more than just make original tracks, he has straight up gone into the rabbit hole of finding the source of EVERY SINGLE SYNTH INSTRUMENT EVER USED IN THE PRIME TRILOGY.

NOT ONLY THAT, he has made MANY tracks with this library, and even released the information on the sources to the wide web as well as most of the samples that can be used! Now the downside of course is that he hasn't published ALL of these found samples yet, and I really hope he does, cause god dammit

Metroid Prime has such a unique soundscape that no other franchise has ever managed to captured, even with later metroid games as well, and I NEED MORE PEOPLE TO MAKE MUSIC WITH THIS SHIT.

He nails the vibe, so much so that I wish Retro picked him up to make music for Prime 4 cause god damn, it fits REALLY well.

For those aspiring musical artists out there, sincerely take a gander at the sample library of the Prime Trilogy, this shit needs to spread further out on the internet cause it is CRIMINAL that a lot of these samples had nearly become lost media in their own right.

That also leads me into the second portion of this blog, god fucking dammit I just love the Trilogy's music. I could go on, and on, and ON about my favorite tracks in the entire series - from the Chozo Ruins and Overworld of Prime 1, to fucking EVERYTHING in Prime 2 (Yes, Prime 2 is my favorite despite the keyhunting bullshit, and the music is peak to me), and Prime 3's mix of orchestral instruments alongside those classic synths we've come to know and love.

The highest peak of the trilogy if you ask me is Sanctuary Fortress.

No matter what, I always remember the first time reaching that area and hearing that techno-like, harsh yet almost spiritual vibe of the Fortress, and GOD - seeing that skybox on the outline, it always made me wish you could go down there to explore the Luminoth city that was abandoned so long ago, yet remains lit and functional to this day.

Prime 2 if you ask me has the better soundtrack in the trilogy just due to the sheer amount of original tracks, but also torvus bog and the flooded temple area too, its just too god damn good.

God, I really hope Prime 4 keeps to the tradition of god tier music, and reincorporates some of the instrumentals that the trilogy is known for.

Space Pirate Design Ranking

The Metroid series has a boatload of different designs, completely changing between every game except the 2D iterations. Some think it’s simple design inconsistency, others think that they’re different genetic manipulations of the same species, while others (including myself) are of the opinion that the Space Pirates are a collective made up of various species. Today, I’ll be ranking these designs based on what they convey and, simply, what I think is cool and aesthetically pleasing. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll only be ranking the standard Space Pirate variant of each game, the “core enemy type” if you will. And yes, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is here, though its place in the ranking is subject to change as we get more closer looks.

7. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

Some people may consider this a sin to put so low on the list but, to me, this really just doesn’t fit the whole vibe of the Space Pirates, especially in the Prime series. In the Metroid Prime saga, the Space Pirates are an authoritarian empire who recklessly abuse technological advancement for the sake of domination. This just… doesn’t say that. It’s a good design, don’t get me wrong, but this really looks like some weird skeleton knight. I could see this crawling out of some crypt to seek vengeance, not descending from a space ship to plunder. For that reason, I gotta put this guy in last place.

6th place: Metroid Prime Federation Force

For many of the problems Metroid Prime 2’s design has, I think Federation Force remedies… and then makes the opposite mistakes. Federation Force’s Space Pirate design is, canonically, around the same height as Metroid Prime’s Omega Pirate. Why make mechs for your game if you’re just gonna scale the enemies up anyway is anyone’s guess. With that in mind, I kinda like this as a heavy unit for the Space Pirates, but the center of this design just is a bit hard to look at. I love the limbs and the inclusion of the iconic Prime Pirate energy blade. There’s a mix of fleshy joints and tough, metal plating that I enjoy, I actually like the bright red eyes as well, especially for a heavy unit. But the carapace around it just feels… it’s kinda hard to look at. That mouth, as well, is just a bit too buggy and lacks expressiveness. Really, that’s my edict on this thing. Good extremities, but lacks expression and is generally tough to look at. Still, I imagine someone could retool/retexture this thing to be a real banger of a design.

5th place: Metroid Other M

From here on, these designs are ones I truly like as Space Pirates. Metroid Other M’s Space Pirate design was a tough one to find a good image of. This was about the best one I could find in a cursory search. As far as official designs go, I think this is the best translation of the iconic Zebesian Space Pirate to 3D we’ve ever gotten. There was a small effort made in Prime 2 to bring the claws back, but here there are on full display and they look great. The whole design is, honestly, fantastic. You can see the smooth bands around the limbs and torso, downward pointed jaw, and the big, smooth, blank eyes of the old sprite. The spines on the back and head really add some personal flare to these guys as well, and the whole design has a delightfully cheesy color scheme that I simply adore. I think the series has designs that evoke certain feelings and themes better, but this is certainly a fun looking guy.

4th place: Metroid Prime 3 Corruption

Unlike every other type but the Zebesians, the Space Pirates of Corruption have a distinct name based on the Homeworld we explore, Urtraghians. There is a distinctly pseudo organic bend to these guys, with the textures on the armor plating feeling almost Xenomorphic. However, where I think this design stands out is, of course, the head. The long, pointed teeth clearly visible under the rows of eyes really makes this eel-like head intimidating. You can really imagine the Urtraghians descending from their ships in a city, gunning down innocents and plundering whatever they choose. These animalistic terrors will smell where you’re hiding and drag you out kicking and screaming. It really fits the Space Pirates’ role in the story. From day one, they really have just been a bogeyman for the Federation. We rarely actually see them doing… ya know… pirating. The rampant technological obsession was a concept introduced by the Prime trilogy. As a design for the Bogeyman of the Galaxy, I think the Urtraghians work great.

3. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond

Haha, 3 is for 4 and 4 is for 3. This will be subject to change and many people might not rank them until we get clearer images, but uh… I’m doin it. Beyond’s pirates have a very buggy design, but in a way that’s parallel, not identical, to the Zebesian designs from the 2d games. Their mouth is split into mandibles, they have a hard carapace, and their movements can be jittery and unsettling. The large size of them compared to the Federation personnel seen in the trailer really evokes power and control. Their armor has outward pointed edges and defined pectorals. These are conquerors, proud, undefeatable warriors. The sparseness of it also evokes a sense of confidence, as if they don’t need a full covering when their hardened shell is so superior to weak flesh. It’s almost ornamental in a way. (Though someone should remind them they lost in every previous fight against Samus). Their mandibular maws, hunched backs, double thumbed hands, and digitigrade stance (standing on their toes with their heels off the ground) also evokes a certain other core enemy type in a sci fi shooter.

I’m going to leave it here for now as I have some other stuff to get to at the moment and I Forgor the image limit on Tumblr posts. I’ll get the ranking for the final (first?) two designs by the end of today. Then, I might make a post about what roles I’d fit these different species into for my own storytelling purposes.

I tend to go for a middle ground between the two. Someone with scars from injuries that no human being should be able to survive, but also let her care about eyeshadow and lipgloss because it’s just a fun thing she can do to express herself in a busy life of hunting down criminals and super predators. Give her absolutely chiseled abs and towering height, yes, but let her smile with the people and little critters she’s saved along the way. I’m not saying you can’t have your buff, grizzled veteran of many battles with the scars to prove it, but she’s still human, she still needs to live a little. But yes, give her a massive co-

People who draw Samus Aran as a 5 foot nothing girl with an hourglass figure, flawlessly smooth skin, perfectly applied makeup, absolutely no musculature, and a bubbleheaded smile are cowards. That woman has been put through the ringer and should look like it. Give her towering height. Give her absolutely chiseled abs. Give her terrifying scars snaking across her skin. Give her weird feathers and scales covering her body. Give her a scowl that could shatter glass. Give her a massive co-