Indigo Stars

* Current
* 2019

The **Indigo Stars**, known as the Purple Stars in 2018, were newcomers to Marble League 2019. They had the intention of participating in the 2017 season of the Marble League. However, they withdrew from the competition because of mental health problems.

After missing Marble League 2018, it was confirmed that the Indigo Stars, known then as the Purple Stars, would participate in the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers. Prior to their appearance, they competed in the off-season practice events during the summer of 2018.

On January 1st, it was announced that the Purple Stars were renamed to the Indigo Stars. This was because purple is a rare marble color; indigo felt like a more appropriate name for the team.

After failing to qualify for Marble League 2020, the Indigo Stars managed to qualify for Marble League 2021, getting 2nd in their group.

## Team Members

### Athletes

Indie, Gogo, Diego, Bingo, and Montoya are the original and current members of the team. Indie became team captain in 2019.

The Indigo Stars (then Purple Stars) competed in the Amazing Maze Marble Race in 2018 using aliases such as "One Star" and "Four Star".

### Coaches

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

## History

### Pre-Marble League

The Indigo Stars, previously known as the Purple Stars, come from South Asia, specifically the southern tip of the Indian peninsula and the nearby island of Isle Hyu, a tropical island known for its array of colored stars, a phenomenon unique to the island. It is popular with marbles in the region as a place of natural beauty and as a place to hike, but they are also committed to protecting the island from over-tourism.

The five members of the team, Indie, Gogo, Diego, Bingo, and Montoya, as well as their coach, Ringo, all met on a hike on Isle Hyu in 2010. They all live in Bright Hyu City, a metropolis across from the island. The city is named for its bright, colorful lights which have been designed to recreate the stars.

The Purple Stars started training for the Marble League in 2015 and, in 2016, constructed the Bright Hyu Bubble, a stadium for them to compete and train in. They were going to take part in the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers. However, several members of the team suffered from poor mental health. Ringo consulted with the team and, knowing what happened, decided to withdraw the team from the competition. The Shining Swarm took their place.

In order to improve their health and mentality so they could prepare for the Marble League, the Purple Stars sought the help of professionals and adopted a healthier lifestyle with less heavy training and regular sleep. The team also started to travel to Isle Hyu at the end of every week to observe the stars before hiking around the island in the morning, a tradition the team continues to do.

Montoya had been on the main team, but while the team prepared for Marble League 2019, they realized that they couldn't handle it due to anxiety, so decided to become the reserve member of the team. Gogo had tried to bulk up, but was eating the wrong foods. They started to become defensive about their lifestyle with their family, and when they were home, they got into fights with them, leading Gogo to grow distant from them. Gogo didn't share this with the team. The team, one day, asked them about their home life and they broke down. After months of therapy, they managed to repair their relationship with their family, although a rift remains.

After Marble League 2018 had finished, the IMC invited the Purple Stars to compete in the Amazing Maze Marble Race. Ringo consulted with the team, who agreed to take part, and submitted a bid to host Marble League 2019. They made it to the final round, only to lose out to the Oceanics. The team took part in the Amazing Maze Marble Race, under aliases such as "One Star" and "Four Star". They managed to come second in their group, but didn't move on as they were the lowest ranked second place team.

### 2019

The team continued to train for Marble League 2019 and changed their name to the Indigo Stars to match their uniforms. On 1st January 2019, the team were accepted into the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers. The team traveled to the Seven Seas Stadium to prepare for the competition. Indie took part in the first event of the Qualifiers, the Funnel Race, coming 11th. Montoya subbed in for them in the next event, Block Pushing, and they came fifth, moving up to eighth overall. Indie returned for the Relay Race and the team came fourth. Gogo finished off the qualifiers by coming sixth in the Underwater Race, leading the team to qualify in sixth overall.

The Indigo Stars returned to Bright Hyu City to overwhelming support and encouragement from their fans. Some fans started to see them as the dark horse of the season due to the sudden popularity of fellow rookie team, the Green Ducks. The Indigo Stars paid no attention to these theories and focused on training. They returned to the Seven Seas Stadium after taking a quick trip to Isle Hyu for good luck.

The Indigo Stars started Marble League 2019 in the bottom middle of the group for the first three events, placing between tenth and twelfth. They managed to finish seventh in Event 4, the Gravitrax Slalom, but unfortunately fell to 13th overall. The team then had a fifth place finish in the 5 Meter Sprint, lifting them to tenth overall. This was followed by another two middle of the pack finishes before Diego finished last in the Summer Biathlon. At the halfway mark, the team were in 13th overall, while the Green Ducks were in second. The team were feeling intimidated by the more experienced teams and hadn't anticipated just how competitive the competition would be.

The Indigo Stars started the second half of Marble League 2019 with two twelfth place finishes in the Hurdles Race and the Hubelino Maze. Indie then made it to the final of the Dirt Race, where they crashed out and finished in eighth. Montoya subbed in for Diego for Event 12, Rafting, getting the team their second eighth place finish in a row. The team were fifteenth overall.

The Indigo Stars decided to put in Diego for the next event, the Elimination Race. They made it to the semifinal, but on their way down, they crashed into a wall, pushing Rezzy of the Raspberry Racers ahead of them, leading Rezzy to finish fourth. The team jumped to 13th overall. Rumors spread that Diego did this on purpose to try and help the Raspberry Racers beat the Green Ducks, but Diego denied this.

The Indigo Stars finally won their first medal, a bronze, in Event 14, Surfing, where Bingo managed to hold onto the surfboard a second longer than Speedy of the Savage Speeders. Bingo invited the rest of the team to join them on the podium and celebrate. Unfortunately, the team couldn't keep this up in the next event, Collision, where they were eliminated in the group stage and finished 12th. The team finished Marble League 2019 with a sixth place finish for Indie in the Sand Rally, finishing in fourteenth overall. It was not what the team had hoped for, but they were grateful for having had the chance to compete after so many years.

### 2020

The Indigo Stars returned for the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers with high hopes. Unfortunately, they had a poor start to the Qualifiers, with a 16th place finish in Balancing. The Stars continued to improve throughout the qualifiers, climbing to a ninth place finish for Indie in the final event, the 5 Meter Sprint. However, this was not enough and the Indigo Stars finished in 17th overall, failing to qualify for Marble League 2020. The team took a few weeks off to recover.

The Stars returned to Polaria to compete in the Marble League Showdown 2020. The Stars' performance in the first event of the Showdown, the Relay Run was lackluster, finishing in 11th. However, they picked up the pace, earning a bronze medal in the next event, the Halfpipe. This was followed up by two mid-table finishes in the Black Hole Funnel and the Sand Mogul Race. This was enough for the team to finish in sixth overall, qualifying them for the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers.

The Indigo Stars were not invited to compete in Marbula One Season 2 or the Marble League Winter Special. They spent their off-season having a break, finding their grounding as a team and clearing their minds. They also started the Isle Hyu Conservation Foundation to help protect the island's natural beauty and wildlife, also focusing on making sure new developments on the island don't pollute the area. A lot of the team's unused funds goes to the Foundation. Other teams also contributed to the Foundation including the Green Ducks who traveled to Isle Hyu after the Arctic Circuit GP to meet the Stars and draw media attention to the Foundation.

During this time the Stars attended a rally in Binglyu where they met Mango. They got on well, sharing the same ideals and so they asked Bingo to be their manager which they accepted.

### 2021

Before the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers, the Indigo Stars sent out their captain, Indie, to participate in the Marble League 2021 Practice Race. Indie stayed in the top five for most of the race, before taking the lead in the late stages, winning the race.

The Indigo Stars competed in Group B of the Qualifiers. They started off with two mid-table results, finishing sixth in the Swing Wave and fifth in Funnel Endurance. Halfway through the Qualifiers they were sitting in sixth in their group. However, they won the next event, the 5 Meter Relay, lifting them up to second in their group. Despite a ninth place finish in the Sand Rally, they finished their group in second overall, more than enough to qualify them for Marble League 2021.

In the main tournament, the Indigo Stars got off to a great start in the Swing Wave, winning their first ever Marble League gold medal and setting a new Marble League record in the process. This was the first time the Indigo Stars were in first overall as well as being the first time they were in top half of the standings. Unfortunately, the team slumped in the next two events, scoring the worst Balancing total recorded at the Marble League, dropping the team from first to eighth overall. However, the team improved over the next two events, including a fourth place in the 5 Meter Relay. The team could again only manage lower mid-table finishes in the next three events including Montoya's individual debut in Jousting, dropping the team to tenth by the end of the first half.

Despite the rocky start, the team recovered slightly, finishing in the top five in the next three events including a silver medal in the Sand Mogul Race, Gogo's first individual medal, climbing up to sixth overall. Unfortunately the team once again placed in the lower half of the standings in the final five events except for another fourth place in the Elimination Race which saw Diego nearly getting launched off the course by the big ball bearing at one point. This final string of poor results left the team in thirteenth overall at the end of the games.

### 2022

The Indigo Stars once again weren't invited to Marbula One and so used the extended offseason to prepare for the Marble League 2022 Qualifiers. In the Draw, they were up against 2021 14th place team, Minty Maniacs, and were seeded into Group A. The Stars' started well after a 4th place in Climbing by Indie and Gogo. They remained consistent with a 5th by Diego in the 5 Meter Hurdles and 4th in Balancing for the team. To their demise, however, this was not enough to make up for Bingo's 9th in Triathlon and the team tied on points with the Balls of Chaos on the qulaification line. Unfortunately, they lost the tiebreaker due to not have any Top 3 placements and the team were sent to the showdown.

The Indigo Stars entered the showdown pretty confidently as the first event was the Swing Wave, the which they held the record in. They weren't, however, able to replicate their success from a year ago and finished in a measly 13th. To make matters even worse, their record was broken by one of the expansion teams, Team Plasma who came out of retirement. Fortunately, Diego was able to it around by finishing 2nd in the 5 Meter Sprint in a close battle with Fenrir of the Wolfpack, another expansion team. This catapulted the team up 9 spots into 4th. The team couldn't keep it up though as they again placed 13th, this time, on Bingo's behalf in the Water Race. Still, they remained unshaken and snatched a 4th in the 5 Meter Relay. Two 7th's followed to keep the team comfortably in 6th. In the 7th event, Climbing, Indie and Gogo had the Indigo Stars once again finish 13th for the third time in the showdown, yet they remained in 6th with one event to go. In Sand Rally, Montoya captured the bronze ending on a relative high as they moved up one spot into 5th.

In the offseason, the Indigo Stars closed off the year by participating in the Xmas Marble Race. Gogo was the representative for them, but were unable to impress finishing 6th out of 8 in their heat and did not move on. This made them end in a lackluster 19th overall.

### 2023

Despite their success in the previous showdown, the Indigo Stars once failed to receive an invitation into Marbula One, this time in favour of newcomer team, Wolfpack making it the fourth consecutive time they weren't in the series.

Due to this, the team decided to host their own version, 'Starbula One' which was set to occur after the conclusion of Marbula One Season 4. Team management had been able to negotiate with city officials peacefully and quietly, securing the funding and permits required to host the city’s first marble sports tournament, the Stars’ first outside of those they competed in that Jelle’s Marble Runs had managed.In a television appearance on the day of the announcement, captain Indie fearlessly led the team’s CMM interview. “We want to prove to Marblearth how much potential exists within those athletes and teams who may be overlooked by marble sports officials and fans. So we’re hosting our own tournament this offseason – may our stars shine bright over those who join us in Starbula One.” The Indigo Stars invited the other 11 teams who weren't in the latest season. Consisting of five events: a traditional Grand Prix, street circuit, tag-team rally, obstacle course, and nighttime elimination race, the scoring system would be linear among all twelve teams, with the champion of the tournament earning the coveted Gold Star. At their home track, the Starbula One Circuit GP, Indie qualified in P8 and rose up to third by the end. Next up was the street circuit where Bingo could only salvage 11th. They managed to grab Gold though in the Five-Star Relay to move into 4th. A 9th and a 4th in the asteroid field obstacle course and Indigo Gauntlet elimination race respectively followed as the Indigo Stars finished their own competition in 4th overall.

#### Marble League 2023

After the success of their own small competition, the Indigo Stars returned for Marble League 2023 at the Superhive Stadium.

## Amazing Maze Marble Race

The Indigo Stars, using the name the *Purple Stars*, and pseudonyms such as *One Star* and *Two Star* took part in the Amazing Maze Marble Race.

### Qualifiers

The Indigo Stars failed to qualify for Marble League 2020.

## Marble League Showdown 2020

*Main article: Marble League Showdown 2020*
The Indigo Stars placed 6th overall, securing a spot in the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers.

## 2020/21 Offseason

### Qualifiers

The Indigo Stars competed in Group B and qualified for Marble League 2021.

### Qualifiers

The Indigo Stars competed in Group A. They failed to qualify for Marble League 2022.

## Marble League Showdown 2022

*Main article: Marble League Showdown 2022*
The Indigo Stars qualified for the Marble League 2023 Qualifiers.

## 2022/23 Offseason

### Qualifiers

The Indigo Stars competed in Group A. They failed to qualify for Marble League 2023.

## Marble League Showdown 2023

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

## Gallery

Team Profile 2020Team Profile 2021Team Profile 2022Marble League 2021 Team Profile
## External Links

* Indigo Stars on the JMR Website
* Indigo Stars RetRollSpective

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Stynth, Orbitball (23rd July 2021). RetRollSpective – Indigo Stars. Project Marblearth.
2. ↑ Skystrykr (15th March 2019). 2019 MarbleLympics - Team Members. Reddit.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fouc, PippinPlover, Stynth (21st July 2023). Star Love. Project Marblearth.