The Marine
The Marine is the current mascot of the Themiclesian Marine Corps. He replaced Buppy the Caniform as the force's mascot in 1988 and has been esteemed as the most successful mascot of the Themiclesian forces, having given rise to multiple animation scenes, fan interactions, and other appearances.
Buppy the Caniform
Buppy the Caniform was endorsed as the Marines' common recruitment mascot in 1973 under the work of Lieutenant-colonel Prar of the Horsemen of Ku-ngwyan, who was a well-respected natural historian and had a studious pursuit of early mammals. The Caniform family included modern lineages like bears, dogs, raccoons, etc. Buppy was personally drawn by Prar until 1980 (Buppy's gender was never disclosed), when the artwork was provided by a drawing studio. Prar, however, was never quite satisfied with the way Buppy was drawn by non-naturalists and made repeated demands to amend its design reflecting increasing knowledge about the prehistoric animal, to the annoyance of contracted artists. After Prar's retirement in 1985, the Marines Common Management Committee resolved to retire Buppy and find a mascot whose design would not "be updated whenever science decides to update" and (in the actual words of a committee member) "release them from under the paws of scientists".
Originally, it was planned to demote Buppy to the role of a sidekick or a mount, so that Prar (in retirement) would not surface in public and criticize or embarrass the force. then But Prar died in 1987, leading the decision to "excise Buppy utterly from the artistic record, if not from the fossil record." The committee noted that nobody save for natural historians could tell what Buppy was, and natural historians were not the targeted recruitment demographic for the marine corps then in the fiscal year 1988.
Appearance
The Marine is 6 inches tall and weighs 6 ounces. He has a basically-Themiclesian appearance, with brown eyes and darkish, dishevelled hair. He wears the dress uniform of the Footmen of Prin, regardless of what he is doing; he is seen in this uniform even when he is sleeping or swimming. The uniform consists of a dark, double-breasted frock coat, waistcoat, chequered trousers, and lace-up boots. He wears a black Pelth tie over his standing collars. There is also a hat and a pair of gloves stored in his pocket. His clothes are usually a little wrinkly, and his boots are only shined to ankle level since his trousers would cover the unshined part (Themiclesian soldiers are usually not known for pressing their uniforms or shining their boots consistently).
When asked why he is so small, The Marine responded that at this size he could travel on the Exchequer District Railway and Kien-k'ang Rapid Transit system for free, since he would otherwise need to pay for a commuter pass.
Biography
The Marine canonically started life in 1945 as a ticket checker aboard the SNS Ki-pa, a (historical) naval transport ship shuttling Themiclesian soldiers between Themiclesia and Menghe. This is set in the later stages of the Pan-Septentrion War, where Themiclesia raised around 600,000 soldiers for the invasion of Menghe. He is seen standing on the railings SNS Ki-pa and looking at the returning soldiers' papers and tickets. The captain of SNS Ki-pa has given him a bell to wear on his wrist, so that in poor lighting he would not be stepped on.
His other duties onboard include guiding soldiers to their beds and peeping under cabin doors that remain unopened after the ship docked, for fear that some accident may have happened inside. He sleeps on a small shelf in the captain's room and uses a napkin as a blanket. Even though his work onboard the SNS Ki-pa brings him into contact with a plenitude of people, he does not get to know most well, since they are only aboard for a short while before departing. Yet here The Marine acquired his name, since it is what the soldiers travelling to or from Menghe call him. He is known to have a personal name, but it has never been revealed.
Despite constantly being on a ship going between Themiclesia and Menghe, The Marine has not set foot on Menghe for any length of time. The captain of the ship says he is too small to be left alone onshore, even if it is friendly. Nevertheless, he has technically visited Menghe when he was put into a pocket of a naval officer who did visit some Menghean officials onshore, although he was never taken out of the pocket and so has not set foot on Menghe.
After the Pan-Septentrion War ended, The Marine was sent to a Coast Guard facility for additional training of an unspecified kind, but he lasted only 9 hours before deciding to bail. It is suspected this is a reference to the situation that the Marines' military police unit is of Coast Guard origin and still wears a uniform that is similar to the Coast Guard's; however, historically, the entire unit was transplanted directly from the Coast Guard, and its members were not marines undergoing additional training with the Coast Guard.
During the Maverican Intervention of 1958 – 60, The Marine was in Maverica, but he does not remember what he did there.
When the Themiclesian fleet offered Mengheans to take refuge in Themiclesia owing to the Menghean War of Liberation, The Marine also worked as a ticket checker.
Eschatology
The Marine's views about life and death are gone into detail in an interview published in the January 1990 issue of The Stage. When asked what would happen to him if he is replaced as the Marines' mascot, The Marine replied that, as a mascot, he cannot actually die in the way humans do. But as he stops appearing in publications, he will start slowly fading from people's memory and retire to a museum, where only curators and researchers will come to see him. He is aware that Buppy the Caniform, the previous mascot, "is very much still around when people want to find out what happened to him."
When the academics stop coming, there is only an unfathomably long future of loneliness, where only the memories of his happier days will accompany him. He will "eventually have to move on from the museum and roam the earth, and even being recognized, which is what he was born to do, will be but a distant dream." From time to time, some people may recall him in one way or another, but because has has become so estranged, he would be all but impossible to find at that point. This point is held to represent Hrim's (a Themiclesian historian) reflection that when historians see a thing either in person or in writing, an enormous gulf exists between how that thing was understood to its creators and audience and how it must appear to a historian divorced from the context of its origin, and an incredible amount of emotion and thought, all by humans who were once as much alive as much as humans alive now, must have been lost and scattered.
He says this is the fate of all mascots and which he has already accepted, so he works exceedingly hard to delay that inevitable day and to have as many happy moments as possible so as to console himself. However, his views somewhat changed when the Internet became popular in Themiclesian households in the early 90s. He has uploaded himself to the Internet, so he would never have to retire and can always interact with people, regardless whether he is the current mascot or not.
Canonical information
According to an oft-repeated legend, there is a corner seat in the Marines' real life HQ said to be reserved for The Marine. However, stories about The Marine was first published in 1988, and the current HQ only came into use in 1999. In 2020, a retired Marines officer commented that the seat rumoured to be reserved for The Marine is simply an unpopular seat in the dining room because it was directly above a heat vent, so anyone in the seat would quickly overheat. The Marine's creator had revealed privately he slept in the captain's shelf because a hot water pipe ran in the wall next to the shelf, implying The Marine liked warm places.
By the time of The Marine's artistic design, the actual regiments of the marine corps had abandoned their dress uniforms for more than 15 years out of a consideration for cost, but The Marine continues to wear one. An explantion for this anachronism was never given by his creator, but The Marine said that the outfit "made a guy of any shape look good".
Dramatic portrayals
Because The Marine's dimunitive stature and the canonical importance of that stature, he has never been portrayed in live appearances, but he has appeared many times in animation and other works.
According to a 2003 booklet, The Marine's vital statistics are:
Age: 25 – 26 (ages one year then unages one year the next, etc.) Birthplace: SNS Ki-pa, A deck, room 131A Residence: 7 NW Crystal Park Height: 6 in Weight: 6 oz Blood type: AB- Likes: being noticed (in some cases) Dislikes: being noticed (in others)
Production notes
The creators of The Marine, Captains Trur and Mat, both of the 901st Services Regiment, averred to the press that the inspiration for The Marine came from city mascots from Dayashina, who were not mascots limited to flat appearances but characters with real stories. The pair were on official business in Nakazara together in the mid-80s.
As for The Marine's stories, Trur and Mat said they started collecting comments and quips from members of the other forces about Themiclesia's marines. Because the oldest living memories of marines "basically date only to the Pan-Septentrion War, about 40 years before The Marine's creation", the character was said to have been born at that time. Many veterans of the PSW said the only recollection they have of marines was that they checked tickets on transport ships. The decision to use primarily an external image for The Marine's characterization was "a major departure from accustomed manners", since most public institutions in Themiclesia could claim a long history from one basis or another. Though that was too the Marines' inclination up to the 80s, Trur and Mat thought adopting a less historical approach would appear refreshing and welcoming, and that impulse also underlay Buppy the Caniform's retirement.
The decision to make The Marine very small is ostensibly connected to the fact that, of the services, the Marines are the smallest by a considerable margin. In the 80s, the Marines numbered about 7,000, while the next-smallest service was the Coast Guard, which numbered 32,000. "The paucity of that number is not evaded and starkly displayed; it is not a form of meagreness, and they are par to the task despite their smallness," according to Trur and Mat, "as we see The Marine frequently uses his size to his advantage and does not excuse himself on account of his size." Additionally, "small things are endearing."