Long before time had a name (earlier this week), a conversation about biracial headcanons in ninjago was happening, and someone pointed out Geo was canonically biracial. And that got me thinking…is he?
The short answer is: Technically no, because he's a hybrid (offspring of two different species). But since race is more of a social concept, you could argue he qualifies. Such is the way of social constructs.
The long answer is still a no, but I live for the thrill of overanalyzing, so I raise the real important questions:
What does a geckle-munce hybrid look like? Or more specifically, how different are the geckles and munce really?
But first, I'm not a scientist. I just happen to enjoy designs that make sense in a narrative, and thanks to the simplistic nature of legos, I'm taking this chance to explore a canon compliant version of these species.
First: Geckles!
These little guys are humanoid creatures that live underground and share a lot of traits with bats, like their habitat and looks.
Geckles are shown to be smarter than the munce in exchange for being physically smaller. I would bet they could also be faster and more agile than their taller counterparts however, their way of living and social rules doesn't require them to fully develop these skills.
Fun fact, bats are capable of multi-level social structure; they're pretty smart!
Munces’ design are, to me, a bit more bland to explore. They look and act like pretty average ogres: Big dumb green humanoid creature with crazy strength. And that’s fine! They're fantasy classics for a reason.
I don’t think munce were made for the underground life. Unlike geckles, who are smaller and seem to be adapted for that environment (lower supply of food and sunlight), munce bodies are too big for that, they need more resources.
Here is when I put on my tinfoil hat. Since Vania, the princess of shintaro, the girl who loves to read and hoard knowledge, doesn’t seem to be aware of the existence of geckles and munce living underground, I can only assume it’s a shameful, hidden part of shintaro’s past.
Sky folk are not native to the mountain, so the idea of both species coexisting (geckle mostly in the deeper caves and munce on the shallower ones, hunting outside them) just for the Sky people to come from who knows where, decide they didn’t like sharing, forcing the natives to hide inside underground and erasing them from their history books (and later enslave them), isn’t so crazy.
But anyways, back on track.
As stated before, geckles and munce seem to be at opposite sides of the spectrum (great way to visually show the clash of their tribes!). And before I learned about Geo, I thought they were the same species that somehow did some crazy genetic backflips to end up looking so different, even though they live in the same environment. Think about a Chihuahua next to a Tibetan mastiff, both look wildly different (albeit by human hand) but still are the same species.
But with the knowledge of them being different species and the forced underground migration theory, their appearance makes a little bit more sense.
Running with the idea of munce being inspired by ogres we can assume they’re averaging a height of 2m, more than that would simply be absurd for someone living in underground caves. And since they seem to use fighting as a method of problem solving, they must be beefier to be able to survive their own customs. I also believe they would hunt in teams/packs, mostly because I’m pretty sure one of their main sources of food were dire bats which…let’s not delve on the implications of that too much.
Geckles on the other hand are pretty tiny, having children models in the show. Probably around 1.50m. I’m not entirely sure if baldness is a genetic thing or a social norm as I haven’t found a single geckle with luscious locks, but they’re able to grow facial hair just fine. They remind me of naked moles, who are mammals with an “almost entirely ectothermic (cold-blooded) form of body temperature regulation”. Very economical system, very demure use of their limited energy.
A detail I find interesting is that munce have some form of sexual dimorphism (mainly breast size) while geckles are pretty much all the same.
Just like with any species, both geckles and munce have their own spectrums. There has to be a taller chunkier geckle roaming around somewhere, or a smaller skinnier munce who avoids fighting.
I’m also pretty sure both geckle and munce newborns are very alike, and that’s how Geo was able to survive early childhood.
His parents could've passed him off as a weird looking geckle until he started to develop marks, got his tusks, grew too tall to keep up the lie and, eventually, got bullied off the mountain.
Since they’re able to create a healthy offspring, they probably reside very close in the genetic family tree. And because every road in Ninjago leads to the oni and dragons, who are apparently the equivalent of the primordial soup in this universe, I believe both geckles and the munce are the result of devonians and dragonians mingling with humans.
here's a quick diagram to show how genetically close Geo would be from the original creatures of this world, using Lloyd for reference.
Based solely on appearance, geckles lean on the devonian side while munce are closer to dragonians. Which is a funny if you consider orcs tend to share more characteristics with traditional oni.
Since munce and geckle characteristics seem to be opposites, I think Geo would end up with an average if not slightly taller human height (175~185cm), with the boba looking eyes of a geckle but smaller like a munce’s and of course, big pointy ears although not so big as to be the same size as his whole head. His tusks may be smaller than a 'pure' munce while also getting slightly sharper fangs from his geckle side. And lastly, my favorite part of his mix and matching: His markings!
His marks have clear borders and tend to go on groups of three like a geckles’ while following the munce halo effect. They also mix the sharp, more dynamic angles munce marks have with the soft rounded shape of a geckle’s! He's awesome!
And that’s the end of my rant…for now. Can you tell I love thinking about creatures and how they’re affected by their world? The little details Geo has makes me think of the all the love and effort someone put in their job while making him, and I suppose this is my way of sending that love back :)
