Alebrije

* Masters of Myth
* Legend Quest
* La Nahuala

## Historical Information

**Alebrije** is an abstract magical creature, Alebrije is a Dragon & a core member of Team Legend. The creature belongs to the **Alebrije** species, which effectively serves as his namesake; his real name, as yet unknown, is supposedly difficult for humans to pronounce.

Alebrije may appear monstrous, but is actually quite gentle and kind, albeit naive & air-headed.

## History

Not much is known about Alebrije's past, though he does have an on-again/off-again friendship with his supposed cousin, Everisto, since they were little. If the series is anything to go by Alebrije ate Everisto's macaroni sculpture without asking, and a grudge on that has been held up to date.

Later down the road, Alebrije found the ghost of Don Andre haunting what remained of his own armour, and an odd friendship has been formed between them ever since. After that, they met Teodora, and while neither of them could figure out the details of her past, they could tell she's a good soul hiding behind a bratty personality. Eventually, the three of them met Leo and helped save him save his village on multiple occasions, and Alebrije started seeing himself as a better big brother figure then the boy's actual brother, Fernando.

Eventually, Alebrije, Leo, and their ghost friends end up traveling the world to save everyone in existence from the wrath of Quetzalcoatl. Through it all, however, Alebrije somehow manages to stay is goofy, optimistic self.

## Appearance

Alebrije's appearance changes depending on who sees him. To his friends, Alebrije appears as a vaguely horse-like entity with a long, almost reptilian neck and a similarly long, similarly reptilian appearing tail. Although the artstyle of *Legend Quest* depicts them as pointy ears of Blue, Alebrije also has mantis-like antennae. Alebrije also has red hair & 2 eyebrows sported during the original movies. His legs are modeled after the webbed legs of Frogs and as such have a distinct shade of green. In Legend Quest, Alebrije has longer has four legs & is now a being with muscular, green, semi-humanoid hands and reptilian legs. Alebrije's head Orange Mouth & Nose is rather Small & much of it is dominated by his two eyes, although in *Legend Quest*, his eyes are rather normal looking. Lastly, Alebrije has little, but ineffectual ladybug-like wings.

Most notably about his appearance is his color scheme. Alebrije skin is a ringed pattern of pinks & blues/purples. This color scheme carries over into whatever anyone perceives Alebrije as, whether it be a supernatural creature or a common kitten. This becomes a running gag throughout the series, with various townsfolk remarking that Alebrije is an odd looking animal, with Alebrije has a tail himself sometimes getting upset that they don't see him as a noble Magical creature.

## Personality and traits

A kind and gentle soul, Alebrije is cheerful, upbeat, playful, friendly & caring. Good-natured and jovial, Abelrije is almost never upset, even in dire situations he retains a level of optimism and happiness unseen by his fellow members of Team Legend. Even though he can come off as dimwitted or even stupid, Alebrije occasionally dispatches sage-like wisdom and has been shown to truly understand his friends on a deeper, emotional level that the more technically inclined, logical minded Leo could not. Alebrije has a Good habit of assuming his fellow friends have the same abilities of him, such as being able to smell portals and such.

Although his more carefree and easy going spirit often clashed with Leo's more head strong and sometimes reckless spirit, Alebrije never once showed ill will towards his friend, and only showed him kindness and good will, showing that Alebrije doesn't like to hold grudges.

Alebrije's personality in the *La Leyenda* series was radically different and completely opposite in many areas. While still a kindhearted soul, Alebrije was actually quite intelligent and studious, having read every book in the Manors library prior to meeting Leo. Cool, calm and collected, Alebrije was someone of the straight man of his circle of friends. Always calling out Xochitl Teodora & Don Andrés of Ghosts for their antics and playfully teasing the both of them.

The most mature and level headed member of the team, Alebrije supplied the role of a caring older boy to much of his friends. He was quite protective over Finado & Moribunda & went out of his way to make sure the twins were safe and protected, but at the same time instilled them with vulgar advice, such as telling them to spot a Friend peeing while they were flying over Xochimilco. At the same time, he was quite caring over Teodora, despite his constant teasing of her. A trait he shares with his *Legend Quest* incarnation is his ability to see person for ho they really are underneath whatever rough exterior they may have, such as when he convinced Teodora that she was a good person.

Alebrije has been shown to have a theatrical and slightly eccentric side. He energetically ran his own "quiz show" when forcing Leonardo to go through his trials. Despite this, Alebrije is more often then not a more quiet and laid back individual.

## Relationships

### Leo San Juan

Even if Leo wasn't "chosen" to save the world, Alebrije has nothing better to do than to follow the boy around, insisting he can be a better person... and that the two of them should play games together, like checkers. Alebrije often acts as a chill older brother figure to Leo, reminding him that one cannot simply chose to be "normal", and that it's better to embrace the quirks that make you special and interesting then to stifle them to fit in.

### Teodora Villavicencio

In movies and series alike, Alebrije was able to see the good heart behind Teodora's bratty behavior, and she in turn considers him a sweetheart to the point where whenever she insults him, she instantly states that she said such mean things out of "compassion" or "loving frustration". Knowing she's more prone to gossiping than actually talking about what is really going on in her heart, he points out times she did something good that she wouldn't openly take credit for just to reveal she isn't as selfish and lazy as she'd publicly appear.

### Don Andrés

While both of them are eccentric, Alebrije often plays the straight man to Don Andres' fool. Having been best friends with this ghost for a long time, Alebrije is always willing to remind Don Andres to "tranquilo" (calm down) after a scary event gets them both wound up. In turn, Don Andres is able to recognize Alebrije in time to keep the odd creature from getting into trouble, no matter what form he takes (especially via his birthmark). In the movies, these two had several playful arguments over whether or not an alebrije counts as a subspecies of dragon.

### Marcella

Alebrije is rather open minded about Marcella being one of the heroes (or at the very least an ally to the side of good) no matter how often she makes the wrong choices with her magic. When Baba Yaga's mind control spell had the side effect of wiping some parts of his memory when he got his freewill back (mainly the memory of where he hid the esphera), Marcella offered to do an incantation that would help him get his memory back, but stated it'll only work if his mind was completely relaxed; Alebrije was able to calm his thoughts when she touched his face, stating she had very soft hands.

## Alternate forms

*Main article: Kaiju (Monster)*
Alebrije's appearance changes depending on who views him. It's been implied multiple times that the form others view him as depends on their personality, but the specifics haven't been confirmed.

Normally, in every single one of his forms, he is easy to tell apart from "normal" versions of those same creatures due to his unique/"weird" coloration, but when those colors are covered up by a magical outer layer (like when Baba Yaga turned him into a Kaiju), his true identity can still be noticed via a flame-shaped birthmark under his back right paw.

Alternate forms include:

* Goat (Leo's Abuala)
* Pigeon (Friar Goodafrado)
* Demon (New Jersey Village Pastor/ Baba Yaga)
* Cat (most people in the 21st Century)
* Kaiju (people of Japan and his own friends via Baba Yaga's spell)
* Snake
* Giant Scarab Beetle
* Hedgehog
* Different human forms (the Windigos saw him as a lost hiker, and Don Andre's future relatives saw him as a long lost uncle)
* Dog
* Beaver (Tomas Decatur)
* "Triplecorn" (The trolls protecting the world tree... whatever creature that is, the trolls consider it bad luck)
* etc. (to be continued)

If his cousin in India is any indication, he can also be seen as a mongoose if the right person saw him.

## Equipment and items

Alebrije, being a magical creature, doesn't use much if anything at all, and what little he does take with him are stored in places "you wouldn't want to think too hard about" in a form of hammerspace.

### Glasses

His most notable belonging in Legend Quest: Masters of Myth (and probably some of the Leyanda movies) is a pair of glasses prescribed to him to improve his vision, though he normally (and preferably) wears them only for reading and an occasional fashion statement to make himself look smarter, as keeping them on non-stop hinders his otherwise strong sense of smell useless.

### Wool Socks

Another personal belonging of his is multiple pairs of wool socks, which he insists on wearing in environments with cold, snowy weather to make his entire self feel warm and toasty. While he never states he has more than one pair, it's subtly hinted at due to how willing he was to give the pair on his feet to a chocolate-making windigo for a "makeover" that'll provide it's new identity as the Easter Bunny. Alebrije also wore out his socks when he discovered rubbing them briskly creates static electricity, which he used to trick a bunch of trolls into thinking that Don Andres is Thor in order to get past them.

## Appearances

### Movies

* *La Leyenda de la Nahuala*
* *La Leyenda de la Llorona*
* *La Leyenda de las Momias de Guanajuato*
* *La Leyenda del Chupacabras*
* *La Leyenda del Charro Negro*

### Legend Quest

* The Prophecy
* Jersey Devil
* The Mart
* Ghost of Medusa
* Vodnik
* Fenrir
* Tooth Fairy (cameo)
* Kaiju
* Nu Gui
* Mister Madera
* The Chilan
* Golem
* The Serpent & the Egg

## Trivia

* "Alebrije" is the name for numerous abstract creatures sculpted by the Oaxacan artist **Pedro Linares**, distinguishable by their bright and varied coloration and abstract anatomies**.** This is most likely the inspiration for the Alebrije of Team Legend.
* His name is unable to be pronounced by the team and his real name has never been confirmed either. Though Alebrije has mentioned that holding your tongue makes it easier to pronounce it somehow.
* He has "tummy problems," that involve him throwing up, mentioned randomly in The Serpent & the Egg.
* A running gag is that Alebrije gets irritated if he is not seen as something "noble."
* He has a very strong sense of smell that makes him great at tracking things (describing an ingredient needed for a potion as having a "tickly" scent as well as smelling "soup" around Baba Yaga no matter what she's disguised as) and even knowing what's going on far away (like when he could smell Leo is being cornered by an angry giant frog in the middle of the jungle), yet he takes it for granted to the point it surprises him that humans and witches cannot smell magical spaces like he could.

## Citations

1. ↑ Colorful, glutton, the chalupas left you for not stopping talking. He is: the Parrot! (El Charro Negro promotional, based in the mexican card game "Lotería") https://leyendadelcharronegro.com/#sec3

"*He's an 'Alebrije'. We call him 'Alebrije' because his real name is too hard to pronounce.*"
— Leo San Juan"The Prophecy"