As Samus Learned As A Child, Dull Chozo Claws Make For Excellent Back Scratchers. I Cannot Be Convinced

Shoutout to people who reblog my posts with commentary and insights. I fuck w/ you heavy.

Ya girl is sick and bedridden, so I’m doing some gameplay theorizing. Something I’m curious about for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is how Sylux’s boss battle will actually function. For how cool Sylux is from his design and mystery, Metroid Prime Hunters’s gameplay loop did few favors in making an intriguing combatant. Sylux had the Shock Coil, an electrical weapon which could drain Samus’s energy to replenish his own, and a secondary form that left trip mines in its wake. This is all well and good, but how does you defeat him? You uh… you shoot him. You just shoot him. In Metroid Prime Hunters, the gameplay loop revolves around precise aiming against moving targets, a mechanic that worked well enough for a DS game with a somewhat limited control scheme. However, Metroid Prime 4 is a very different game. Lock on alone makes this approach tedious, especially with the Shock Coil allowing Sylux to regenerate health. Given his intro cutscene, it appears he will have some allies backing him up, at least in the initial encounter. I wonder if it’s possible that the Shock Coil’s siphoning function could be tied to the Metroids-ahem, Mochtroids he has, tethering the electrical arcs to the Mochtroids in order to actually make the attack replenish his own health. There could also be certain environmental hazards to use to your advantage. I could also imagine some sort of evolving state, requiring different beam types to deal damage, similar to the Metroid Prime in the first game. Alternatively, there could be specific timing windows to exploit, utilizing specific opening to rain hell during. Imagine having a narrow window during his energy siphoning attack where you could stun lock him, prevent the attack, and deal significant damage, but getting the timing wrong could punish you with even greater damage and siphoned health.

Alright this is so great. Honestly, I’m not sure why I had never considered that possibility that Raven Beak already had samples of Metroid biological material and they were simply destroyed during the outbreak. That makes perfect sense. It certainly plugs the hole of “why did the Mawkin return to ZDR without any Metroid samples?” This certainly fits that and makes it much more understandable. Plus it helps the X seems far more intelligent but seeking out and destroying mere genetic material, not even a reproduced Metroid, because they knew the danger it could pose if the Metroids were reproduced. Plus the idea that they had been keeping track of their numbers and the Metroids were inexplicably reproducing makes the Chozo seem more intelligent and adds a layer of Dread to the situation. Having things go wrong is all the more terrifying when you did make failsafes, but those failsafes didn’t stop the problem.

Overall, good stuff here.

I like to think the Thoha Chozo had a very Jurassic Park moment when dealing with the Metroids' rebellion on SR388. Think of it this way; You need a bioweapon that can destroy the X, so you take DNA from a wide variety of other organisms on SR388, and splice them into a perfect chimera. You'll need a lot of these, so you program this creature to undergo mitosis when exposed to beta-rays. That way, your machines only need to create one 'Metroid' from scratch, and then it can be used to spawn the rest.

But here's the thing; After the Metroids devour the X, they start to transform and mutate. Turns out, using the DNA of other creatures has caused additional traits, originally deactivated in the creation process, to emerge thanks to the unique conditions of SR388. This results in them mutating into the Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and finally Omega stages.

This isn't hopeless though, far from it; Unlike the X, the Metroids aren't natural creatures and can't reproduce on their own. They need beta-rays, and/or the device that spawned the original Metroid. Since SR388 doesn't have any natural source of beta-rays, all you have to do is turn off the devices that emit them, and the original Metroid creator, and there! The Metroid population will always be the same.

From there you just need to destroy them one by one, and luckily the Mawkin have showed up to help; Normally your relationship with them is suspicious to the point of programming Metroids to be hostile towards Mawkin, for fear they would exploit the 'Ultimate Warrior' as a weapon. But instead, the Mawkin seem to have some genuine heart and are helping you handle the threat, and you need all the help you can get.

You accept them and conveniently don't bring up the anti-Mawkin programming, because as far as they can tell this aggression is indistinguishable from how metamorphosis has made the Metroids hostile towards you, their creators. Progress is slow yet tangible, and you keep track of how many Metroids the Mawkin have killed, and compare that number to the Metroids you created and cloned. You reach that number, and can now rest easy.

...Then you hear a report of a Metroid attack, and something definitely isn't right. How is there another Metroid, you killed all of them, you kept track of their numbers and everything! Is there something wrong with the original tally? It's not as if the Mawkin could've been mistaken on whether they killed a Metroid or not... But just in case, you engineer devices that absorb Metroid DNA whenever they die, just to have physical evidence; Otherwise, Metroids disintegrate completely upon death, so there's no physical 'proof' to reassure yourselves with.

The Mawkin keep finding more and more Metroids and now you're baffled. You check the original Metroid creation machine and it hasn't been used since the first and only time; But you take it apart, in case... Someone's been making Metroids behind your back, somehow? But the numbers keep continuing. You take apart all your beta-ray emitters, but there are still more Metroids. Is Raven Beak creating Metroids behind your back? But why let his soldiers die to them?

You scan SR388 for any beta radiation, and then you find a big one deep underground. You send Mawkin soldiers to investigate it, and only one makes it back alive. You thought the Omega was the final stage in the Metroid lifecycle; But somehow, another one emerged. Of the many species whose DNA was used to create the Metroids, one of them relied upon a lone queen to produce offspring. Another was capable of emitting its own beta-rays.

You know how some real-life animals, if there isn't a member of the opposite sex, will adapt by having a few transform into that sex so reproduction can occur? Something similar happened with the Metroids. Without a source of beta-rays, one of their own mutated into a Queen capable of emitting beta-rays within her own body, which she uses to produce eggs that hatch into newborn Metroids. And this Metroid Queen has been filling in the ranks that the Mawkin have attempted to deplete. And now the original number of Metroids that the Thoha cloned has been exceeded.

At this point, the Metroids are too numerous and powerful to defeat. But they haven't ventured to the surface of SR388, being isolated to its caverns; So you opt to seal away the Metroids by filling passageways with poisonous water. In case anyone is foolish enough to try releasing all of them at once, you program these Chozo Seal mechanisms to require a certain amount of Metroid DNA to divert the poison; This way, the Metroid population needs to be lowered to access more. And this acts as a way to gauge if those who come back to destroy the Metroids for good are competent enough to get the job done, and don't just end up releasing all of the creatures onto SR388 in their failed attempt.

That last bit is important, because you and the Mawkin plan to retreat back to ZDR, and gather more weapons, troops, and resources to return to SR388 and properly destroy the Metroids this time; Because now they know about the Queen. Theoretically, the Chozo could just destroy the planet... But they want to minimize destruction, so confronting the Metroids head-on will spare the rest of the ecosystem, as was the intention.

Alas, seeing the continued power and adaptability of the Metroids on display has intrigued Raven Beak; He finds their potential impressive, and has changed his mind. It's been deduced that the source DNA of the Metroids reacted to the environmental stimuli of SR388, the world that evolved and nurtured those organisms. But without the cradle of SR388, the source DNA will not thrive, and will not activate the other suppressed traits; Larval Metroids can't access the rest of their life cycle in any other environment.

ZDR has powerful biomechanical supercomputers called Central Units, which have telepathic abilities that enable them to control machines; Given larval Metroids were designed to respond to Chozo commands, and the use of Chozo DNA in the organic aspect of the Central Units, these AI can be used to control larval Metroids. As long as Metroids of more developed stages aren't present to rally them -the authority of Alphas and beyond will naturally override any Central Unit's- the larval forms will remain obedient.

And while the larval Metroid is just the tip of an iceberg the Thoha had never intended, what they did intend was already incredibly dangerous and powerful in and of itself, being designed to combat the deadly X and the many forms they could assimilate. So Raven Beak wouldn't need his Metroid army to metamorphose beyond their larval stage; The first form was sufficiently powerful, especially with beta-rays to clone their numbers into the thousands, far beyond the original population of SR388.

Raven Beak slaughters all but one of the Thoha, leaving you, Quiet Robe, alive. He brings you back with him and the rest of the Mawkin to ZDR, as well as the Metroid DNA samples his soldiers acquired; A return trip to SR388 is no longer necessary, and Raven Beak is fine with that planet being overrun by Metroids resistant to his control, but otherwise unable to access other worlds. But amidst the chaos, a lone X emerged from hiding while the Metroids were busy fighting the Mawkin, and infected one of the latter. This parasite stowed away, returning to ZDR with the rest of the Chozo.

And without any Metroids on ZDR, it felt safe to reveal itself in Elun and begin infecting the rest of the tribe, resulting in a years-long war and quarantine effort between the Mawkin and X. The Mawkin attempted to clone Metroids using the DNA samples they had, but the X were intelligent and could absorb their victims' memories; They predicted this move, and were able to move quickly enough to destroy all Metroid DNA on ZDR before any of their predators could be cloned. Without any methods to destroy the X short of blowing up the planet itself, all but one of the Mawkin would end up infected -karma- before Raven Beak finally isolated the parasites within Elun, somehow.

There's no DNA samples to create Metroids from, not anymore. And you can't build another Metroid from scratch, not without the DNA of the original SR388 creatures that went into it... But you can definitely build beta-ray emitters. And there are still plenty of Metroid larvae back on SR388 to clone directly, instead of the more roundabout process; So Raven Beak flies the Itorash back to SR388... And finds a bunch of rubble where the planet used to be.

Eventually he puts together that the human warrior he helped Old Bird and Gray Voice hybridize blew up the whole damn planet, finishing what her fellow Thoha started. His plans to conquer the galaxy with Metroids is screwed, they're all extinct with any DNA samples eradicated. That is, until Raven Beak finds out that his "daughter" Samus has Metroid DNA, thanks to the Galactic Federation, and the very X that spawned the Metroids' existence (and yet also delayed Raven Beak's plans by infecting his entire tribe).

And now, after all that effort in creating and then trying to destroy the Metroids, you have to bring them back using the person who helped you destroy them. Or, maybe not... Over your dead body! Which turns out to be literal when an X absorbs your corpse and then helps Samus awaken her Metroid DNA by siccing the remaining EMMIs back on her. How did you even get to this point again???

Kraid-soh

People on Reddit absolutely FLAMING Sylux for this one😭

Metroid Prime 4: Ruins looking niiice.

Thank you so much @coldgoldlazarus!

1. 3 Ships: Samantha Maxis x Elizabeth Grey, Gwen x Miles, (hot take) Samus Aran x Gandrayda

2. First Ship Ever:… I don’t even know what I was into back when I started finding relationships appealing so… maybe Glorybringer?

3. Last Song: Stone Cold (Super Smash Bros Ultimate version by A_A_RonHD)

4. Last Movie: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

5. Currently Reading: Nothing atm by just finished reading The Downfall of Ashkar Behek (a Metroid fanfic by Acayl on AO3)

6. Currently Watching: Journey’s Ahead by Tspro on YouTube

7. Currently Consuming: Bagel

8. Currently Craving: Dairy Queen ice cream

9. Oh jeez, I don’t even have 9 names to tag on here… @fanaticastrid @z-reblogs55 … I haven’t actually spoken to anyone else on here… at all

So…yeah

9 people you would like to get to know better

It occurs to me now that I can simply reblog this with each week’s update, so I think this will be a good way to go forward. If anyone has any better way to link this back to the other updates, lemme know. Anyways, week 2, here we go!

Day 8: Menace

Confession of Captured Revenant Pirate

“There is no hope for this world. You have been chosen. Kill me, release me, or keep me, it does not matter. The God of Death will descend upon this world, and bring with him our beautiful ends on his violet wings of destruction. His gift to us is the beauty of annihilation, and our swan song will be the cries of pain and the begging for mercy. Blood shall soak the land, decay shall fill the air, and fire shall paint the sky. He has died before, and come back once again. He is the beyond and the end. His promise is simple: Death to Everything. And we shall bask in its glory.”

Day 9: Meta

Scan of Space Pirate log

“Transfer of Commander Ridley has been successful. Smuggling operations, codifying his pseudo-corpse as Geoform-187, successfully transferred him to Frigate Orpheon for resuscitation and enhancements. While the metamorphosis was painful, it was completed to great success, and with equally great haste. One behavioral oddity following his awakening has been an uncharacteristic obsession with his murderer, the Bounty Hunter known as Samus Aran. His obsession with her has bordered on all consuming. While combat simulations targeting her are understandable, the latest advent of troops undergoing mandatory training on human torture techniques has shaken our confidence in his current leadership capabilities. Still, we expect this boiling rage to be reduced to a simmer over time. How long this change shall take remains to be seen.”

Day 10: Armor

Metroid Durability testing log

“This series of tests is to discern the limits of the outer casing around a Metroid. For the sake of testing accuracy and preventing longterm damage reflecting in subsequent experiments, each test has been conducted on a separate specimen. A maximum of five projectiles will be used in each test unless effects of projectiles are detectable.

Test 1: 9mm bullet

Result: No effect detectable. A mild shimmer across the gelatinous surface of the Metroid as each projectile bounced harmlessly off the outer shell. Metroid is healthy and appears to merely be confused by the impact.

Test 2: High Velocity Sniper Round

Result: No effect detectable. The outer layer appears to have rippled from the impacts, but no damage was suffered. Metroid is irritated by the impacts, though not in any serious pain that we can discern.

Test 3: Low Power Plasma Bolt

Result: Mild damage sustained. The area where the bolts made contact appeared to glow for a time from the transferred heat, but damage was reversed within 8 hours. Metroid appeared in pain from impacts. Tests on a further 2 subjects resulted in death from approximately 24 more shots.

Test 4: High Power Plasma Bolt

Result: Serious damage sustained. The area where the bolts made contact glowed, with numerous fissures visible in the membrane. Metroid appeared to be in pain from impacts and subsequent burning effects. Damage was reversed over the course of 26 hours. Tests on a further 2 subjects resulted in death from approximately 9 more shots.

Test 5: Troop grade missile system

Result: Serious damage sustained. Immediate damage and discoloration was less serious than energy based weapons, but compounding attacks lead to rapidly increasing damage. Damage was reversed over the course of 8 hours. Tests on a further 2 subjects resulted in death from 1 and 2 additional missiles respectively.

Test 6: Emplacement grade missile system

Result: Immediate destruction. Metroid was blown apart by detonation. While the efficacy of such an attack against a Metroid is real, the viability of such munitions against a small and agile target is low.

Day 11: Talon

The Edict of Ashkar Behek

“Between your own to hands, you created life in a form this galaxy has never seen. You nurtured it and allowed it to prosper, named it the Ultimate Warrior. However, when this novel form of life sought not to be controlled, you betrayed the values of your Hasana, and of the Chozo. You denounced your creation, sealed it away, and intended to destroy this world and all life upon it, to rid the world of what you birthed. Though your intentions were pure, this is a crime the Chozo will not tolerate. The sentence for you, Golden Claw, is death.”

Day 12: Fierce

Scan of Bioform Kraid

“Given the passage of several years, it was guaranteed that Kraid’s size would increase drastically since the initial invasion of Zebes. His species, the Kridilians, are used by Glaxamore forces as sentinels for important locations during sieges. They are transported in their juvenile stage of life, where they take up much less space. Once on site, they eat any bio forms they come across to accumulate mass as quickly as possible. As an adult, their legs become vestigial structures, reducing movement greatly. Kraid, himself, has been outfitted with various weapons on a rig grafted to his back, in addition to the various biological defenses native to his species. Perhaps most notably, Kridilians gain sentience once they reach adulthood. Kraid is likely to have an exemplary tactical intellect.”

Day 13: Omega

Scan of Pirate Security Log

“Subject 42, codified as Omega Pirate, has been transferred to the Phazon Mine sector known as The Grid, where the bleed through of Phazon through the Chozo shield occurs. While Omega Pirate has been cooperative and forthcoming in all tests and procedures, there are some of us who have our own suspicions about how much of his intellect he is withholding. On numerous occasions, he has been seen looking into the shield as if staring through it. As he does, he has been witnessed gesturing and nodding as if holding a conversation with an entity on the other side of the barrier. While some have dismissed this as Phazon mental degradation and have even celebrated its minimal effects on Omega Pirate, I have silent suspicions that his long staring sessions with the barrier are only the tip of the iceberg.”

Day 14: Relentless

Orders from Commander Ridley

“Tallon IV is now to be put on lockdown. Any vessels entering or leaving Tallon IV’s orbit are to be immediately destroyed. Curfews are to be in place for all non-combat personnel. Any unauthorized access to facilities or systems is to be reported immediately. Ration and payment rewards shall be given to any individual providing information leading to The Hunter’s capture. Capture of The Hunter is preferable to destruction. Any individuals who unnecessarily terminate The Hunter will face summary execution.”

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.”

Decided to make Sylux in Halo MCC. Overall, I think it turned out quite well. Unfortunately, I don’t have any big spiky shoulders to add to complete the look, but I do have the vertical slit visor and the blocky chest plate and neck guard.

Though, to this YouTube commenter who asked to remove his shoulder privileges, you got your wish.

ME AND @your-local-squip-fanatic!!!! SHE IS ABSOLUTELY UZI!!! I AM VERY N!!! WE’RE JUST COMPLETELY THEM!!! I LOVE ASTRID SO MUCH!!!!!

draw to nuzi yuri and them both kissing

You.

I like how you think.

Bonus art hehe

nitties.