Chocolatiers

The **Chocolatiers** are a brown team introduced in Marble League 2016 and are represented by Cocoa, Choc, Mocha, and Bonbon, with Fudge joining in 2018 as the reserve member.

Hailing from the villages near Mount Bonsel, the Chocolatiers were introduced in Marble League 2016. They are best known for being one of the most average teams in the Marble League, as they have never been in podium contention or a "basement battle", referring to a team attempting to not finish last in the Marble League.

The Chocolatiers are known for finishing close to the cut-off line in qualifiers, as they qualified in the last qualifying spot twice (Marble League 2019 and Marble League 2021) and narrowly missed out by two points for Marble League 2020. During Marble League 2021, the Chocolatiers would win 3 medals in a single season and finished in 7th place, marking their highest finish ever in the Marble League, which led them to being invited for Marbula One Season 3 where they finished 15th and eventually Marbula One Season 4 later. Then they would qualify for Marble League 2022 after finishing top of their group, breaking the "7th Place Curse", which was a trend of the team that finished 7th in the previous season not qualifying for the next season in the process after four years.

## Team Members

### Athletes

Choc, Cocoa, Mocha, and Bonbon are the original and current members of the Chocolatiers. Fudge was added to the team in 2018. Cocoa became team captain in 2019, though Choc took the role of captain in 2020, In 2023 Bonbon was promoted the role as captain.

### Coaches

Note: Events include any kind of events (friendlies, other tournaments, ...).

## History

### Pre-Marble League

The Chocolatiers come from villages around Mount Bonsel in South America, which are famous for their chocolate-based confections. It is the site of the world's biggest chocolate festival, held at the mountaintop village of Bonsel, known by tourists as the "Sweetest Place on Marblearth". The five original members of the Chocolatiers first met each other at a Bonsel chocolate festival in 2012.

Before their marble sports career, the five members were local confectioners working in towns around the base of Mount Bonsel. Choc is from Giradel, Cocoa hails from Lindel, Mocha comes from Toblel, and Fudge is from Ferrel. Bonbon hails from Bonsel, which is why they were involved in organizing the festival. Before the festival in 2012, Bonbon invited Cocoa, Choc, Mocha, and Fudge to take part in a festival project to create the longest chocolate bar. For ten days, the confectioners worked day and night to make the bar.

The project turned out to be a huge success as the chocolate bar ended up breaking the world record, leading the confectioners to throw a world record ceremony and reception. The ceremony was attended by marbles from across the South American region. Many celebrities attended, including former Extreme Lucha Marbre Championship wrestler Candy, who had been competing in the Surculo as a member of their team, the Jawbreakers, for the last two years.

Candy was the guest speaker of the night, congratulating the confectioners on their most recent achievement. After the ceremony ended, Candy approached Bonbon and the other friends. They all proceeded to have a long talk throughout the night. Candy shared their experience and story of success in the ELMC and the Surculo with the confectioners, while Bonbon revealed to Candy how they and their friends had made their record-breaking chocolate bar. This was the night that changed the lives of the five confectioners forever.

The next week, the five met up once more in a gymnasium, trying to figure out what to do with the leftovers of the chocolate bar. While others were still talking, Cocoa rolled away from the group and started charging at the chocolate bar, leaping off a ramp and jumping over the bar. The four others, after seeing what Cocoa had just done, decided to do the same after measuring the bar. Fudge, who was the last to jump, accidentally snapped the bar in half. This eventually led them to form a new marble sports team: the Chocolatiers.

Fudge initially declined to join the team and stayed in Ferrel due to their embarrassment from the chocolate bar incident. Cocoa, Choc, Mocha, and Bonbon applied for participation in the 2013 Surculo championship just before the deadline. The Chocolatiers did not impress early on, finishing in the bottom half of the standings. In an attempt to improve, the team hired Praline as their coach early in the season but felt that they were not prepared enough.

After the 2013 Surculo ended, the Chocolatiers hired Truffle to replace Praline, whom they had sacked. The results were impressive. The team went on to do well in the 2014 Surculo, earning them a spot in the elite league by finishing sixth. The Chocolatiers went on to keep their momentum into the 2015 Surculo, dominating the first half of the season with a string of consecutive podium finishes. Unfortunately, the team had a harder time in the second half and eventually finished fifth overall.

The Chocolatiers had heard of the Marble League from the Jawbreakers, with whom they had remained friendly. Candy had told the Chocolatiers a rumor that the top three teams from the 2015 Surculo would be offered a participation spot in Marble League 2016. This meant that the Jawbreakers, the Rojo Rollers, and the Quicksilvers would be invited. However, the Quicksilvers declined, as did the fourth-placed Jungle Jumpers. The Chocolatiers, who never thought they would ever get invited, were given a participation spot in Marble League 2016, which they accepted.

### 2016

The Chocolatiers had a poor start to Marble League 2016, coming 14th in the first event, Balancing. They followed this up with a better 5th-place finish in Event 2, the Relay Race. This was followed by five events where they finished in the bottom half, dropping the team to 14th overall. A glimmer of revitalization came for the team when in Event 8, the 10 Meter Sprint, Choc earned the team their first ever Marble League medal, a silver. The team came 5th in two of the four remaining events, Team Pursuit and Quartet Diving, but failed to earn any points in the other two events. The Chocolatiers finished their first Marble League season in a mediocre thirteenth place overall. Cocoa admitted that their team were not prepared for the level of competition.

The Chocolatiers returned to their homes and started to look for a place to build an arena and training facility. They found a place at the foot of Mount Bonsel, just outside of Ferrel and, in late 2016, they started to construct the Cocoa Arena. The construction was supervised by Fudge, and it was finished midway through 2017. While they waited for construction to finish, the team trained in Jawnair in a separate facility from the Jawbreakers.

### 2017

The Chocolatiers traveled to Knikkegen to take part in the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers. They had a string of mid-table results, except for the Sand Race, where Bonbon finished second to last. Nonetheless, the team still qualified for Marble League 2017 in ninth overall, having tried to conserve their energy for the main tournament.

The Chocolatiers started off Marble League 2017 well, with Mocha finishing sixth in the first event, the Funnel Race. Cocoa built on this momentum and drove it into their jump during Event 2, the Long Jump. Scoring a distance of 71.3 cm, they won the event, earning the team their first gold medal and taking them to the top of the standings. The team spent the rest of the first half of the season with mid-table results, keeping them within the top half of the standings. By the end of Event 6, the Relay Run, the team were in fifth overall.

Unfortunately, the Chocolatiers could not keep this up in the second half. They only scored three top-half finishes in three of the remaining events. They managed to earn a silver medal in Event 10, Archery. This put the team into 4th overall, but it wasn't enough for them to keep their position in the standings. Bonbon only managed to save the team from falling further down the standings, while also redeeming themselves from their poor performance earlier in the Qualifiers, with a fourth-place finish in the final event, the Sand Rally. The Chocolatiers concluded Marble League 2017 in eighth overall.

After observing the Chocolatiers' poor performances in the second half of the season, critics started to refer to the team as the "Choke-latiers" which the team were not very happy about. They returned home without much fanfare as they started to train for the Marble League 2018 Qualifiers. During one of their training sessions, the team also contacted Fudge, who accepted the request to join the team as reserve member.

### 2018

The Chocolatiers were seeded in Group A for the Marble League 2018 Qualifiers, along with fellow Surculo competitors, including the Jawbreakers. Also in the group was one of their customers: the Minty Maniacs, who hails from Herbotamia. Despite a fourth-place finish in the first event, Curling, the Chocolatiers could not achieve good results in the remainder of the events. The team finished in seventh, failing to qualify for Marble League 2018, along with all other Surculo teams, including the Jungle Jumpers, who competed in Group B.

While watching Marble League 2018 from the stands, the Chocolatiers decided to help run the concessions in the Arctic Circle. They were able to sell their homemade chocolate bars and chocolate beverages to fans watching the tournament, allowing them to publicize the Bonsel Chocolate Festival.

The Chocolatiers also took part in several off-season events, starting with the Marble League 2018 Consolation Race, where Cocoa had an encouraging performance by finishing second after having led much of the race. Choc was supposed to participate in the 100 Meter Water Race, but they were unable to attend as they got caught up with the preparations for the year's Bonsel Chocolate Festival, which was held at the same time as the race. The team took part in the Amazing Maze Marble Race, where they were eliminated in the group stage.

### 2019

Upon enetering the 2019 season, the Chocolatiers deided on Cocoa to be the captain of the team, yet fans remained doubtful that the Chocolatiers would qualify for Marble League 2019. Much to their surprise, the team had a strong start to the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers. Mocha repeated their success two years earlier in the first event, the Funnel Race, by finishing fourth. This was followed by two disappointing fifteenth-place finishes, and the team dropped to 14th overall. Fortunately, Cocoa was able to turn this around with a fourth-place finish in the final event, the Underwater Race. As a result, the Chocolatiers qualified for the main tournament in twelfth place. In the gap between the Qualifiers and Marble League 2019, the Chocolatiers released a new mint chocolate ice cream flavor named "Mint Chocolate Condition", which was released under the Marble League brand.

Just like in 2017, the Chocolatiers had a great start to Marble League 2019. Choc was able to speed past most of their opponents in Event 1, the Underwater Race, winning the team a bronze medal. Unfortunately, the team had a bad performance in the next two events, dropping them to eleventh. The Chocolatiers started to turn things around with a ninth-place finish in Event 4, the Gravitrax Slalom, and a sixth-place finish in Event 5, the 5 Meter Sprint. However, they again stumbled in the next two events with two bottom-half finishes. The team dropped to 12th overall.

The next event was the Summer Biathlon. The Chocolatiers chose Bonbon to represent them in the event. Using their experience from the Sand Rally event two years earlier, Bonbon managed to make it to the final, where they nearly overtook Hop of the Jungle Jumpers at the finish line, only to miss out on a first place in a photo finish, with Hop beating them by just three-thousandths of a second. This earned the team another medal of the season, a silver, and the team rose to tenth overall at the halfway mark of the season.

However, the Chocolatiers had a poor second half, much like in 2017. Mocha finished sixth in Event 9, the Hurdles Race, but the team fell to twelfth place in the standings. This was followed by another "Choke-latiers" streak with three poor finishes, including a DNF for Cocoa in the Dirt Race. The Chocolatiers did start to rise again, but it was too late. A string of mixed results in the final four events, including a fourth-place finish in Event 15, Collison, could only bring the Chocolatiers to finish Marble League 2019 in 12th overall.

### 2020

In early 2020, the Chocolatiers announced a change in their roster. Cocoa relinquished the role of team captain and handed it over to Choc. When questioned about it, Cocoa denied rumors relating this team captain change to their inability to handle the pressure from their former role.

Despite their disappointing performances, the team always had their other passion to fall back on—chocolate making. As the Chocolate Festival approached, the Chocolatiers spent more of their time perfecting their craft than training for Marble League 2020. The lack of training became apparent at the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. The Chocolatiers had a string of mid-table finishes and failed to qualify, their second time doing so.

The five members returned to Bonsel for the annual Chocolate Festival. They had started to work with other Marble League teams to sell different sweets across Marblearth such as chocolate-covered candied oranges with the O'rangers and salt-water taffy with the Oceanics. Truffle, who wasn't involved with the team's chocolate making, had noticed the team shift away from training and brought the five members together for a discussion about the future of the team. This conversation made the team realize that chocolate making would always be there for them, but that right now they needed to focus on training.

The Chocolatiers arrived at the Andromedome for Marble League Showdown 2020 more prepared than they had been in a long time, bringing with them their Choco’rangers sweets to sell. In the first event, the Relay Run, they just missed out on progressing, losing to Team Primary in a photo finish, putting the team in sixth. The team did not let their disappointment affect them as they competed in Event 2, the Halfpipe, once again against Team Primary. This time they managed to strategically block Team Primary and won the event, moving the team up to second overall. Two more mid-table finishes led to the team finishing the Showdown in third overall. Truffle said some of the success was from the energy Choc brought to the team as the new captain. During the off-season, the Chocolatiers continued to work on their team collaboration confectioneries.

### 2021

#### Marble League Winter Special

As the Chocolatiers had not been invited to take part in Marbula One Season 2, the team's main priority was chocolate making. However, they received a surprise letter from the JMRC inviting them to take part in the Marble League Winter Special. The team debated whether to accept, but Truffle ultimately accepted the invitation to keep the team in form. The trip to the Himarblelayas saw the team release Choco-mint Mania Cakes, chocolate peppermint lava cakes, in collaboration with the unofficial hosts, the Minty Maniacs.

The Chocolatiers had failed to qualify for Marble League 2018 so lacked experience in winter events. True to their inexperience, the Chocolatiers performed poorly across the tournament, failing to place in the top half across the whole tournament. They were 15th after every event except for the end of the Bobsled when they were last overall for the first time in their history. Their only notable performance was in Ice Hockey where they surprised everyone by eliminating the championship leaders, the Oceanics, in the first round. The Chocolatiers finished fifth in Ice Hockey, taking them back into 15th overall.

After the Winter Special, the team went to watch the Raceforest Grand Prix in Lewara, launching their Choconut cookies, chocolate cookies with an assortment of nuts. They also managed to find a healthier balance of training and chocolate making. The team hired Caramel as their team manager. Caramel had previously worked with the recently-retired Jawbreakers and would help Truffle balance the training schedule and organize managerial tasks, having nothing to do with the chocolate-making side of the team.

Bonbon was selected to compete in the Marble League 2021 Practice Race, managing to finish fourth. Instead of returning to Bonsel, the team visited Jawnair to train so they could spend some time with the Jawbreakers as well as playing Marbkart and sharing chocolate candies. They also attended a party in Lewara held by the Jungle Jumpers. Another training regimen they took part in was horseback riding, a hobby the team had taken up after a weekend visit to Dappel, an old farming village south of Mount Bonsel. After riding around Silver Dappel Farm, the team would dismount and attempt to emulate the horses in sprinting.

#### Marble League 2021

The Chocolatiers competed in Group B in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers. The Chocolatiers were below the cut-off for the first three events as they could only manage mid to low table performances. However, in the final event, the Sand Rally, Bonbon repeated their success in the Practice Race. They briefly had first place before getting passed by Pinky Toe of the Pinkies right at the finish line, edging out Azure of the Kobalts in a photo finish to finish second. This was enough to lift the Chocolatiers into sixth, the final qualification spot, qualifying them for Marble League 2021.

The team had a poor start to their first Marble League in two years with two bottom-five finishes in the first two events, the Swing Wave and Balancing. This put the Chocolatiers in 15th place overall. However, they managed to turn it around in the next two events as they got two consecutive top-five finishes—a fourth in the 5 Meter Sprint and their first gold Marble League medal since 2017 in Funnel Endurance. The former saw Choc breaking the Marble League record set by Green Eye of the Crazy Cat's Eyes before the record was retaken by Green Eye in the finals. After a quarter of the events, the Chocolatiers were in fifth overall.

The team could not keep up their good streak, with four of the next six finishes being in the bottom half—the two exceptions being fourth place in 5 Meter Hurdles and seventh place in Jousting which marked Fudge's individual debut. This dropped the team to tenth overall. Bonbon brought slight relief to the team with another strong performance in a sand event, this time a bronze medal in the Sand Mogul Race, moving the team up to the ninth spot. The Chocolatiers could only manage four mid-table finishes in the final five events of Marble League 2021, the exception being a silver medal in Football. This included a surprisingly poor result in the Sand Rally for Bonbon who had been strong in the other sand events. Despite their mediocre finish to the games, the Chocolatiers finished in seventh overall, their highest finish ever in the Marble League so far.

### 2022

#### Marbula One Season 3

Following their decent performance in the Marble League, the Chocolatiers received an invitation to participate in Marbula One Season 3. They accepted, choosing Mocha "Chocolate Champion" and Bonbon "Sweet Speedster" as their racers. However, they had a disastrous start as they failed to score any points in the first two races, placing dead last in the standings. Mocha scored the first points for the team at the Misty Mountain GP, then it was followed by a surprising win by Bonbon at the O'raceway Grand Prix, jumping the team up to 9th in the standings. However, another two Grands Prix without a point dropped the team to 16th in the standings, with Bonbon and Mocha sitting at sixteenth and thirty-seventh in the individual standings respectively. In the second half of the season, Bonbon only managed to salvage six points, but three top six finishes by Mocha were enough for the team to finish in 15th, with Mocha and Bonbon in 23rd and 28th respectively.

#### Marble League 2022

The Chocolatiers were seeded into Group A in the Marble League 2022 Qualifiers. The team managed to qualify for the main league as they finished first in this group with 32 points and two top three finishes, breaking the phenomenon known as the 'seventh place curse' that plagued other teams from previous years.

In the main league, the Chocolatiers started off Marble League 2022 with an 11th in Climbing. Unfortunately, this was followed up by 16th place in Balancing, their first dead-last finish in the Marble League; putting the team in 15th overall. A slight resurgence came from a 6th place finish by Mocha in the 5 Meter Hurdles, but the Chocolatiers couldn't keep it up and were dead last by the end of Event 6. After two eight-place finishes in the next two events, the Chocolatiers found themselves in 14th after the halfway point. Their form was admittedly worse than it was from the qualifiers. They were not alone though, as the team who won the other group, the Midnight Wisps, were also having an awful season. Not the best start for the team, but they were determined to do better.

To start the second half of the 2022 Marble League, they got 7th in Event 9: Block Pushing, but had two 13ths and an 11th to follow it. Despite a finish of 5th in the Team Aquathlon and 3rd place along with a bronze medal for Bonbon in the Sand Rally event, the Chocolatiers just couldn't move anywhere above 14th, which was where they finished after the conclusion of the final event. This was a huge decline in status compared to placing seventh overall the year preceding.

In the 2022/2023 offseason, Choc participated for the team in the Xmas Marble Race at Hailfern and finished just off the podium positions in 4th out of 32 teams. This was a valiant effort for such a terrible Marble League season.

### 2023

#### Marbula One Season 4

To the complete surprise of the team, they were invited to the Fourth season of Marbula One to which they accepted the invitation. Coach Truffle decided to keep Mocha on the roster for this season but made the semi-controversial decision of replacing Bonbon, the winner of the Season 3 O'raceway Grand Prix last year, with Choc. This decision would be tested for the length of this season.

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers qualified for Marble League 2017.

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers failed to qualify for Marble League 2018. They competed in Group A.

## Other 2018 Competitions

The Chocolatiers took part in two other competitions in 2018: the Marble League 2018 Consolation Race and the Amazing Maze Marble Race. Choc was slated to represent the team in the 100 Meter Water Race, but the team were caught up with a meeting. As a result, the team did not attend the event.

 Amazing Maze Marble Race | All

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers qualified for Marble League 2019.

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers failed to qualify for Marble League 2020.

## Marble League Showdown 2020

*Main article: Marble League Showdown 2020*
The Chocolatiers placed 3rd overall, securing a spot in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers.

## Marble League Winter Special

*Main article: Marble League Winter Special*

## 2020/21 Offseason

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers competed in Group B. They qualified for Marble League 2021.

## Marbula One Season 3

*Main article: Marbula One Season 3*
The Chocolatiers took part in Marbula One Season 3, represented by Mocha and Bonbon.

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers competed in Group A. They qualified for Marble League 2022.

## Marbula One Season 4

*Main article: Marbula One Season 4*
The Chocolatiers took part in Marbula One Season 4, represented by Mocha and Choc.

### Qualifiers

The Chocolatiers competed in Group B. They failed to qualify for Marble League 2023.

## Marble League Showdown 2023

*Main article: Marble League Showdown 2023*
The Chocolatiers qualified for the Marble League 2024 Qualifiers.

## Results

### Marbula One

 S4 | 10
 Total

## Team Members' Individual Scores

### Marbula One

 Choc | M1S4 | O'raceway GP (S4)Greenstone GP (S4)Tumult Turnpike GP (S4)Electron Expressway GP (S4)Casino Square GP (S4)
 Mocha | M1S3M1S4 | Tumult Turnpike GP (S3)Misty Mountain GP (S3)Mellow Meadows GP (S3)Stardust Accelerator GP (S3)Short Circuit GP (S3)Midnight Bay GP (S3)Razzway GP (S4)Sakura Garden GP (S4)Sleet Street GP (S4)Misty Mountain GP (S4)Stardust Accelerator GP (S4)

## Trivia

* The Chocolatiers were the first team to change their captain. Cocoa was captain in 2019 and was replaced with Choc in 2020.
* The Chocolatiers are the only team to change their hashtag twice, doing so in 2020 and 2021.
	+ The original Chocolatiers hashtag, #TopDeck, is a reference to the Cadbury chocolate bar of the same name.

## Gallery

Team Profile 2020Team Profile 2021Team Profile 2022Marble League 2021 Team ProfileMarbula One (S3) PosterMarbula One (S4) Poster
## External Links

* Chocolatiers on the JMR Website
* Chocolatiers RetRollSpective

## References

1. ↑ Skystrykr (15th March 2019). 2019 MarbleLympics - Team Members. Reddit.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Stynth, Roilan Estates (13th August 2021). RetRollSpective – Chocolatiers. Project Marblearth.
3. ↑ Project Marblearth. CHOCOLATIERS (CHO). Jelle's Marble Runs. Retrieved on 7th August 2022.