sooooo normal about these guys actually. so so normal < has been thinking about them 24/7 since they released
still getting the hang of drawing them though so you all only get these two rough sketches for now! i've at least decided on what names i'm giving my version of them, so here's Patina (haven) and Mirage (oasis). i picture them as being like. the gay cousins at thanksgiving that just hang out together and gossip the whole time
HEY FOLKS DIDJA MISS ME. anyways here’s something I’ve been workin on for the past few weeks, some actual reference pics for the folks from these posts! I think it’s time they got a proper ref and lore post (it’s been, what, over a year since I made them?), soooooo :] buckle up. individual pics + bios under the cut; content warning for death, gore/body horror, unethical science and/or medical malpractice, I guess some minor mentions of self harm and emotional abuse… let’s just say they’ve been through a lot
CHIMERA
they/it - 23’5 - ~400 y/o - epic wubbox..?
Chimera can only be described as a true monstrosity among monsterkind. Its three components were unfortunately torn apart in an interdimensional travel accident, and in a desperate attempt to save them, their sibling Matrix decided to combine the three into one semi-intact body. Whether or not their efforts were successful is debatable; Chimera is highly physically unstable, and isn’t exactly all there mentally. It’s usually kept away from the eyes of the public, housed in the bowels of the Ethereal Island castle.
Resents Matrix for bringing them back, as they use this fact to control them. They insist that Chimera owes them their lives, and that they should be grateful, but constantly mistreats and neglects them.
Most of its original mechanical parts were damaged in the incident, so their body’s construction is supplemented by the body parts of other ethereal monsters.
EEKTO
The “primary” head, Eekto has the most control over Chimera’s body. It’s the only one who can see and hear clearly (though not by much…), so it serves as the collective’s eyes and mouth. Associated with the element of plasma, it now constantly leaks plasmic goop from its mouth, eyes, and neck joints, making it hard to speak without choking on its own saliva. The flame that engulfs its eyes grants Eekto enhanced vision in the dark, and allows it to detect things that aren’t visible to the average monster. In life, it was the oldest of the five siblings.
NOCK
The second most active head, what Nock lacks in hearing and sight it makes up for in chattiness. It’s the main mouth of the body, consuming large amounts of food at once in order to sustain all three of them. While usually relying on Eekto to be its eyes, it can also “see” by using its long, snake-like tongue to smell its surroundings, and is capable of picking up minor sound vibrations with the membranes of its Grumpyre wing “ears”. Nock’s demeanor is almost always disturbingly cheerful, and it seems to be in blissful denial of its current situation. It’s always happy to strike up a conversation with whatever monster happens to stumble upon them while lost in the castle- unless it’s Matrix, of course.
FRAKTAL
Fraktal, associated with the element of Crystal, was the worst fatality of the trio. Its head is basically all that remains of its original body, but even so, it’s in very bad shape. Frozen in a state of decay, it’s become a host to many crystalline growths that have covered its mangled face and “neck”. It is completely unresponsive to outside stimuli, and only ever moves when one of its other two siblings decides to move their shared body’s tail. The other two, however, act as if it is still alive somehow, treating and addressing it as such. Sometimes, though, one of the other heads may sense a signal from their tail; a faint, abstract thought that is not their own.
MATRIX
they/them - 11’1” - 431 y/o - rare wubbox
A self-proclaimed “genius” scientist, Matrix loves nothing more than to upgrade themself and others through body modification. Creating questionable prosthetics from miscellaneous materials, they kidnap and experiment on monsters against their will, leaving them mutilated at best, and in some cases, whatever unfortunate victim enters their lab never comes out. Matrix’s mission is to “improve” the lives of the Ethereal monsters, who they’ve proclaimed themself the leader of. They see other monsters as nothing more than test subjects who should be happy for the help they’re providing, falsely believing that their work will benefit monsterkind as a whole, and that anyone who opposes is simply ungrateful.
The first rare wubbox to ever exist, Matrix used their supernatural ability to create interdimensional rifts to access the human world. Inspired by what they saw, they rebuilt every part of themself in order to reflect that technological influence. Pleased by their transformation, they created copies of themself, which they distributed across the monster world; as such, nearly every rare wubbox is a clone of Matrix, with a few exceptions.
Using their aforementioned interdimensional abilities, they’ve shut off Ethereal Island from the rest of the monster world, preventing anyone other than themself from entering or leaving. Any Ethereal monsters who live on the Natural Islands are descended from ones who left their home island before Matrix and co’s arrival.
They were the one who rebuilt Chimera, and the perceived success of this operation is what inspired them to experiment on other monsters in an attempt to make them better than they were before. They also use this fact to keep Chimera under control, constantly reminding them that they literally owe them their lives.
Their extra set of tail-arms were assembled from parts leftover from Chimera’s creation. These arms are very flexible, and can extend and retract slightly, though they are not as strong as one may think. (Which means that unfortunately, Matrix can’t do the Doc Ock arm walk thingy.)
While Chimera’s components are affiliated with three of the Ethereal elements, Matrix is affiliated with the Mech element, and was taught the basics of engineering by one of their creators, a Vhamp named Khord. In the present day, they find Mech-element monsters the ideal subject to use for their projects.
ZYPHUR
it/its - 12’3” - 427 y/o - common wubbox
Scarred and damaged- not just physically but mentally- by the horrors it’s had to participate in, Zyphur is Matrix’s unwilling lab assistant. Serving as the brawn to its sibling’s brains, its main role is to gather subjects for Matrix to use in their experiments; it’s easily large and powerful enough to capture and restrain the other Ethereal monsters, but that doesn’t make the process any easier for all involved. Zyphur resents its job, and feels terrible forcing its captives to participate in the twisted whims of its older sibling, but it really doesn’t have a choice. It depends on them for food, shelter, and care, and feels obligated to help them due to familial ties. Despite this, Matrix constantly berates, mistreats, and manipulates it, keeping it as their own little lackey for whatever tasks they need done.
It was forced to help gather Chimera’s body parts immediately after the accident, and assisted Matrix in reassembling them. It was in a state of shock the entire time, still reeling from its own injuries, and begging its one remaining sibling for some semblance of comfort, which it never received. Before the accident, Matrix was often dismissive but still kind towards Zyphur, but this soon changed to pure disdain and superiority towards it in the aftermath.
Ended up the least scathed after the accident, with its most major injury being a severe head wound, practically ripping half its face apart. Despite Matrix’s efforts to repair it, this wound never healed properly, leaving a massive scar on one side of its mouth.
Associated with the Poison element, which is clearly visible in its eyes. Its major bodily fluids (notably tears, blood, and saliva) are tinted a vivid green and are somewhat acidic, leaving marks on whatever they touch. They are also toxic to other monsters and may cause skin damage or poisoning when exposed to them. In theory, Zyphur is capable of spitting jets of poison saliva as a defense mechanism, but tends to just let it passively drip out of its mouth.
Due to the extreme neglect, trauma, and isolation it’s had to endure, Zyphur is somewhat developmentally stunted, and behaves much younger than it is. When the Cataclysm and subsequent accident happened, it was mentally around 15 years old, and hasn’t emotionally progressed much since.
Most of the time, when its parts haven’t been repaired for a while, the edges of its gauntlet pieces are broken, with pieces of the prongs on the end often missing. This damage is self inflicted, fueled by Zyphur’s guilt towards the pain others have suffered because of it. It feels that Chimera’s components didn’t deserve to undergo such a horrible fate, and that it should have taken their place instead. Matrix simply sees this damage as the result of clumsiness, and often scolds it because of this.
Refuses to interact with Chimera- or any other monster, really- whenever it can help it; the feelings of guilt it holds about their situations are too painful to bear.
Very malnourished, and doesn’t get to eat real food very often. Its main diet consists of Matrix’s leftovers and whatever mutilated, “unusable” monster parts remain after their experiments.
ALVA
it/its - 13’5” - 433 y/o - common wubbox
A brilliant (albeit shut-in) scientist, Alva is the creator of Wublin Island and its denizens. When not looking after its “children” (the Wublins), it spends most of its time tinkering and experimenting with new ways to put the knowledge gained from its previous projects to good use. Between these two tasks, it’s almost always exhausted, and tends to overwork itself, refusing to sleep for days and putting its work and the needs of the Wublins before its own well-being. Despite this behavior, Alva is mostly satisfied with the life it’s built for itself.
One of the oldest living wubboxes from the Dawn of Fire, and one of the first to be created; it lived through the Cataclysm but doesn’t like to talk about its experience very much.
VERY bad at caring for itself in general; it doesn’t replace its parts as often as it should, causing itself chronic pain and fatigue. Alva tries to remedy this by occasionally using a shoddy cane it made for itself, but doesn’t do so often, insisting it’s fine- often while visibly having difficulty standing and walking.
Adores the Wublins and would do anything for them; though it’s quite exhausting caring for them all, it loves them very much, and tries its best to keep them happy. This also involves it hiding any sort of negative emotions or pain it feels in front of them, as it doesn’t want its children to worry about it.
Inherited the gift of the spark of life from its creator, a Galvana named Ivolta, who was the original inventor of the wubbox.
Typically doesn’t interact with the outside world much, but periodically allows airships from other islands to bring it supplies and monster eggs. It doesn’t like to leave the island, but may do so on rare occasions if its expertise is needed- namely, it was recently contacted by a team of monsters who want to use its statue-waking tech to reawaken the newly discovered Celestials.
Before the fall of Starhenge, Alva was Matrix’s best friend; the two were very close, bonding over their similar interests in robotics and bioengineering, and often collaborated on projects. However, after seeing how drastically different they are now and how harmful their “work” has become, it is disgusted by them, refusing to speak to them, despite their constant, oblivious attempts to befriend it again.
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PHEW that was a lot haha, anyways, if anyone has any questions about these guys, feel free to ask in the replies or my askbox! (i’ll try and respond in a timely manner lmao) been working on this storyline for a while now and I can definitely expand on some of these things if anyone’s interested :]
oh yeah heres another thing i made ages ago and just. never posted lol. icons of the full wubbox lineup (sans the fire haven/oasis guys) for my toyhou.se folder
bonus secret characters i haven't formally introduced on tumblr yet:
i'll post about these guys one day. they were supposed to be for my ask blog that i abandoned but should probably get back to bc it's been almost 2 years audskghdlsghdslk
BOOM more wubbox nonsense (drawn mostly from memory this time so forgive the inaccuracies LMAOOO)
this is Alva (center), the creator and “mother” of the Wublins. it’s very old and very tired, having been around since the time of the Celestials; in fact, it was one of Galvana’s first creations. supposedly it lived through the Cataclysm, but it refuses to talk about it. its body is pretty beat-up and worn looking since it often goes for long periods of time without replacing its mechanical parts.
also pictured are three of its “children”: Keeb the Screemu, Gnees the Poewk, and Vikath the Thwok. Keeb is a bit of a wild child, so Gnees often has to keep it in check in order to keep Alva from going insane. the two do tend to have communication problems, since Keeb is deaf but Gnees lacks the proper appendages needed for sign language, so it instead uses a form of morse code by blinking its eye lights. i honestly havent developed Vikath much but i imagine it’s a pretty quiet and well-behaved kid.
big greebo + plant epic antler shedding hc (basically just. plant epics lose their leaves in the fall, then their entire antlers in the winter, and grow them back in the spring)
also i dont think ive ever drawn/written any interaction between zeed and frozz where theyre genuinely being nice to each other 😭 they like each other i swear
some wubbox characters ive been working on lately! here’s Deej and Bebop (both it/its), the common and rare wubbox of Earth Island! Deej is naturally mute, making it somewhat of an outcast among monsters, especially on top of its unusual Supernatural status. Bebop is its best friend and one-sided crush.
pictured here are their “walkaround” forms which makes it easier for them to interact with other non-supernatural monsters; bebop’s is pretty much the same robotic appearance as its normal form, while deej’s has more organic bits incorporated into it (fur, paw pads) in order to better blend in with others, inspired specifically by the werdos.
more info under the cut!
Deej facts:
communicates solely in Monstrous sign language (MSL)
the most recently awoken wubbox on its island, reversing the traditional order (common > rare > epic)
contributes only percussion to the island song, but is still ashamed that it can’t make the bass sounds that its species is known for
has blue eyes instead of the usual red, plus one single fang on its lower jaw
Bebop facts:
color level gauge on its lower torso indicates fullness; its favorite food, like many other wubbox, is cookies
friendly and curious personality, but often oblivious
can switch out the record in its chest; lacks the signature life-core that other wubbox classes have (this applies to all rare wubs in this universe)
has rectangular irises and a cut beneath its left eye, which it has no recollection of getting
the extra little doodles below the refs are of bebop + deej and just bebop respectively
had an idea, basically what if the elemental epic wubs could “breed” (in this case it was more like “hey what do you think would happen if we put our power cores into the breeding structure. probably nothing but let’s do it anyways for funnies-” *egg pops out the bottom*). i think im gonna call this hybrid a “wubcorn” bc furcorns are plant/cold hybrids and all that.
comic transcript under the cut
first pic: frozz (cold epic) thinks it’s great at baby naming, zeed (plant epic) wholeheartedly disagrees
frozz: behold. our beloved son, greebo
zeed: did you have to call it that.
frozz: do you have any better ideas?
zeed: no but
frozz: greebo it is then
second pic: concept art of fully grown greebo; tried incorporating some furcorn-like features into it, mainly the fur, three-toed feet, and crooked branch horn
im working on like a wubbox oc-verse with ones from every island, there’s a bunch more characters im working on but here’s some general notes about the whole thing!
all the monsters are genderless and use it/its pronouns
the E.Ws are like a big chaotic friend group, not really a family but tight-knit; pictured here are Zeed, the so-called “voice of reason”, and Frozz, an absolute agent of chaos, who aren’t really in a relationship and just like. Frozz is kinda the type to jokingly flirt with Zeed just to see its reaction especially after the “breeding” incident
monster breeding as a whole isn’t really seen as a romantic/sexual thing, it’s more like mitosis ig? nothing physical just egg fusion
common, rare, and epic wubs aren’t blood related, commons/rares mainly see only others of their same class as family with the others being allies (putting this out there bc there’s a common/rare pairing with two of the main characters so i don’t want to make it weird or anything aueghsfk)
