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Okay so when I started this account I thought I’d get maybe like, idk 1 or 2 followers since mcog is an extremely dead fandom. But now I have like 26 (and it hasn’t even been a year!), which is way more than I ever imagined. So here’s a little thingy to make you guys even more engaged and idk attract more people. So if you see this post (at any time, even if it’s 5 years after I posted it) you’re obligated to answer at least one of these questions 😈 or ask me what my answer is idk

Will this flop. Maybe. But I’m also genuinely curious

Obviously I’m gonna ask about Mcog related things:

1. Favorite Mcog character but MORE importantly: why

2. Something Mcog related that you wish more people would talk about (a character, a scene, a topic, a theme, etc)

3. Questions About Mcog That NEVER got answered (there are a TON of those…) that keep you up at night

4. Favourite city?

5. Something you hate about the show

6. On a scale of one to ten, how much do you believe the news that there’s gonna be a live action show?

7. Follow up to the last one, who would you fancast as the characters?

8. Favourite headcanon of yours? (Or one that you’ve heard about and you loved)

9. Mcog is a dead fandom, are you part of any other dead fandoms as well? (I know I am. Literally all my favourite stuff are unknown 😔)

1.Tao, to me he's the most relatable since we both are into science and explaining things. But I also like Esteban cos of his character arc and story.

2. The song that played whenever the cities were opened in the newer seasons was honestly incredible and fits well with the feeling of wonder you feel when they open it. And I'm still looking for a place to get the soundtrack. And to be honest, the soundtrack of S1, like it is incredible and some songs are genuinely amazing, they're just not recognized since the fandom is so small.

3. I mean....I made a whole post about this, but I'll list some of my own: How were the cities of gold even built? How are they able to open and close when an artefact is taken? What is the Muan Language and the script? Are there other cities of gold out there?

4. This might be nostalgia bias since I grew up watching S2 as a kid, but Badalom is the coolest to me. Maybe it's because it actually took a whole season for the characters to develop and find clues, but it's by far one of my favourites. I am a sucker for cities in the mountains, and after watching S1 aswell, it reminded me a lot of Machu Picchu

5. I honestly do not like what they did with Esteban and Zia in S4, I know that it's the end of the show and fans have been waiting for 40 years for this moment, but I felt like it could have been done in a more emotionally important way than in some cave. Also I still don't like how they squeezed multiple cities in a single season. It honestly feels rushed and takes out the feeling of adventure that was there in the previous seasons.

6. I'd say around a 4. I'm not so hopeful, mostly because there are not many fans of this show left to warrant a live action series, but I'm glad to be proven wrong. I just hope whoever's producing it does it well, because we (the nonexistent MCoG fans) will comb through every detail and complain, since we have no other media left.

8. I think Rana Ori and Tyrias' relationship was the "reason that was so trivial it wasn't even recorded" which caused the Muan-Atlantean Hyperwar. And, the real 7th city of gold is in the Pacific on the lost continent of Mu (I think that if there's a S5, this would be the natural progression of the series since they've already explored every other major region of the planet, it gives more opportunities to delve into the lore of Mu, and they could also include the Aztecs, Pueblo, Navajo and the other indigenous groups which they haven't met yet).

9. Spectacular Spider-Man. I wouldn't even say dead, more like murdered by Sony. We were robbed of the future seasons. This show was one of the peaks of animated shows and Sony ditched it for no reason, which i'm still mad about.

Gonna repost a few unsolved mysteries from the show which was compiled on the MCoG Discord, for inspiration for any potential future fics or AUs, and also just for fun.

Putting the MYSTERIOUS in the Mysterious Cities of Gold:

Season 1:

What happened to all of the kids moms?

How did Tao survive on that island?

Why did Atlantis and Mu even fight in the first place?

How can Esteban control the sun exactly?

Does he have even more powers we are not aware of?

Who is the Feathered Serpent?

How did Mayucca learn about Esteban's father?

Are there other Olmec bases out there?

Is Dr. Laguerra and Co. really dead?

What happened to Kraka and the Incas afterwards?

What happened to the Urubus, Mayas?

What are the Amazonians doing in the middle of the jungle?

Why did Mendoza steal Esteban's medallion as a baby?

Why is there a golden lake?

Who was that one old Incan priest who got washed away in that big flood after the kids solved some puzzle?

Season 2:

Who is Li Shuang?

What exactly are the script levels in the Muan language?

How did Tao inherit all of the knowledge of Mu while everyone else only has scattered remnants of it?

How did Zares and Ambrosius first meet?

Will Zares ever give back the gold he stole from Mendoza?

What was that Olmec doing in Tibet?

What was that laboratory in Season 2 with all of the self-growing flowers?

What was that cave with the drum?

What is Ambrosius' compass made of?

What is the special rock that powers Ambrosius' ship made of?

How does Athanaos get in and out of the Piss Tube?(maybe he's just good at holding his breath (that's how he survived the storm after losing Esteban))

What are the real lyrics to "The gig of the seven seas"?

Season 3:

Why did the Order of the Hourglass break up?

How does the Thallios function?

Who is Laguerra's mom?

How is Zia able to lift things with her mind?

If that power was given to her by the crown, why can't Esteban or N'deye have it?

Why did Ambrosius' medallion vaporise?

What is the mountain of the moon?

And why did the kids go to it in the day time?

Is there a lore reason why Mendoza chose Sancho and Pedro? Is he stupid??

Why were Mendoza and Laguerra making out when they were supposed to be saving the kids? (are they stupid??)

Season 4:

What on (or not on) Earth is that cyber pocket dimension Esteban and Zia go to?

Why didn't the Muans destroy the meteorite from the start and instead made all this stuff about the great legacy and the cities of gold?

What is the Solar weapon?

Why did Ambrosius betray the Order of the Hourglass?

How did Rana and Tyrias meet?

Why is Tyrias the only Olmec whose nice to the kids?

How can Zia and others have visions of the future?

How did Gomez suddenly reappear and visibly aged 20 years?

Did the King of France actually wanted to seize the 7th city and the artefacts for "safety"?

Why did Gaspard decide to become a good guy at the end of Season 4?

Why do the ropes on Ambrosius' ship keep changing colours?

Do the portals in the cyber pocket dimension lead to the other cities?

Secondly. Im gonna attempt to answer some of these. And by “some” I mean “a few”

What happened to all of the kids moms?

Dead (until proven otherwise. Well we know Esteban and Taos moms are dead for sure. For Zia, we don’t really know anything. But given that she only wants to find her dad, assume she has no mom)

Are there other Olmec bases out there?

There might be other Olmec bases, but no olmecs are alive, given that Esteban is the last Atlantean

Is Dr. Laguerra and Co. really dead?

Dead until proven otherwise

Why did Mendoza steal Esteban's medallion as a baby?

Oh boy, I explained this in detail in an old post

How did Tao inherit all of the knowledge of Mu while everyone else only has scattered remnants of it?

Muans have been living on that island, never left it, for centuries. No outside knowledge entered the island and none left. The island is just really well preserved

How did Zares and Ambrosius first meet?

This might be a stretch, but we’ve never seen them in the same room at the same time… so what if they were… the same person… but idk it’s just a theory

Will Zares ever give back the gold he stole from Mendoza?

Absolutely not. And there is a thematic reason for that

How does Athanaos get in and out of the Piss Tube? (maybe he's just good at holding his breath (that's how he survived the storm after losing Esteban))

Probably some similar thing to the bacta tanks in Star Wars

What are the real lyrics to "The gig of the seven seas"?

The lyrics can be found here

Why did Ambrosius' medallion vaporise?

It was unstable

Is there a lore reason why Mendoza chose Sancho and Pedro? Is he stupid??

I also explained this in this post. And no he’s not stupid (I’m surprised too)

Why didn't the Muans destroy the meteorite from the start and instead made all this stuff about the great legacy and the cities of gold?

I explained this before as well

Why did Ambrosius betray the Order of the Hourglass?

Selfishness, greed. They wanted to study Muan culture but he wanted to use it for weapons and stuff

How did Gomez suddenly reappear and visibly aged 20 years?

If you become a slave owner, that filth will reflect on your face

Did the King of France actually wanted to seize the 7th city and the artefacts for "safety"?

Obviously not. He’s a rich white European. He probably wanted to use it against his enemy kingdoms

Why did Gaspard decide to become a good guy at the end of Season 4?

He was never really a bad guy. He just wants to settle his score with Mendoza. And Isabella also had a strong influence on him. He’s a leaf in the wind

Do the portals in the cyber pocket dimension lead to the other cities?

That’s probably what’s implied

If Pedro marries the princess, is he eligible for the throne of Mutapa?

There's been one for quite a while, with a lot of the people here on MCoG tumblr also on it. Here's an invite link if you want to join: https://discord.gg/A3W8WyeK

The lyrics can be found here

I was hoping for the English version, but this will do.

It was unstable

But...But why was it unstable? What is the material or force which holds Esteban's and Zia's medallions together and not Ambrosius' and Tao's ? And why did it vaporize instead of melting like it usually does in the show?

This might be a stretch, but we’ve never seen them in the same room at the same time… so what if they were… the same person… but idk it’s just a theory

No, that can't be possible /s Ok but seriously, I think it was supposed to be " When did Zares and Mendoza first meet?"

Well we know Esteban and Taos moms are dead for sure

I mean..the only knowledge we have of Esteban's mom is from Mayucca, who is implied to have heard of these events a while ago. There is a chance...... . I mean after season 1, we thought that Athanaos was also dead, but somehow, he returned..... Dead till proven otherwise then.

Probably some similar thing to the bacta tanks in Star Wars

Ok so I did kind of mean this as a joke, but yeah it might be similar to the Bacta tanks from Star Wars. Or even LCL from NGE. It is interesting that Ambrosius somehow has breathable liquid in the tube. Another miracle of alchemy I guess.

Do any of yall think about the fact that Mendoza was with Esteban for like 2 years or something after he saved him from drowning.

Because we know that Mendoza saved Esteban in 1520, in the Pacific Ocean (id say around December). Esteban probably isn’t a newborn but he is a baby. So not more than a year old I’d say. Esteban’s father asked Mendoza to “bring him [Esteban] home with him”. The expedition reached Spain on September 6 1522. That’s like a year and nine months. By the time he was brought to the monastery, he was a toddler.

Meaning. Mendoza kept Esteban for ALL that time. Which is. A LOT.

Babies start walking at around 12 months. So it’s highly probable his first steps were taken on the ship. They also start talking at a year old (first word is usually “mama” but I think it might be different for Esteban cause he doesn’t have one).

So like. Someone had to raise Esteban. We have no evidence that it was Mendoza himself but it’s not wrong to think that either?? Cause we have no other info 😭

There were no women on the ship cause obviously. And raising babies is usually a woman’s task. So naturally you would think that Mendoza would leave the baby at the first country they reached (like the Philippines) but he didn’t do that, cause Esteban’s father really wanted him to be brought to “his (Mendoza’s)” home.

Now I wanna know. How was it for him to take care of such a young kid? We gotta remember he was also young too. I doubt he had any experience with babies. Did he even want to? Or was he kinda forced to cause uhh who else would do it. Not to mention, it’s not a particularly easy trip they’re on. Lots of people died from disease and stuff during voyages like that, and yet Esteban, a small baby, somehow survived? Probably explains why everyone thought he had special powers and stuff.

Esteban obviously does not remember all that but Mendoza would. So like. New opportunity for bonding ???

This also brings me to an adjacent point I thought of when I was looking at a map.

The Magellan expedition left from and returned to san lucar de barrameda. It’s close to Seville (1-2 hours by car) and very far from Barcelona (10 hours by car).

If we want to go by boat and not land (cause no cars back then) it would be relatively easy to get to Seville, since all you’d have to do is go up the Guadalquivir river. But going to Barcelona would still be long (through the strait of Gibraltar and into the balearic sea). But idk how long it would take exactly cause there’s no modern ferry that can make that journey.

Now listen. Mendoza returned with baby Esteban from the voyage and they arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. But Mendoza doesn’t leave him there! He makes the extra journey of going to Barcelona and leaves him in a monastery over there.

Spain has a lot of churches, he could have left him in any of them close to Sanlúcar de Barrameda. He could’ve gone to Seville if he wanted to leave him in a big city.

So why on earth didn’t he do that? What’s so special about Barcelona?

The only thing I can think of is that’s where Mendoza is from. Because Athanaos says “bring him home with you”. So Mendoza took that to mean, not just his home country, but his home town.

I know this is dumb but it’s the only explanation I can come up with without making too many leaps and without assuming things we have no knowledge of.

The thing is when Esteban is rescued by Mendoza, he already had fully grown hair, which babies START developing around 12 months after birth, meaning that by the time he's reached Spain, he's already 3 years old. However, they only develop permanent memories after 3 years due to infantile amnesia, so its still possible that Esteban forgot what happened all those years ago

we know that Mendoza saved Esteban in 1520, in the Pacific Ocean (id say around December).

I also think he was rescued in December aswell, but I think I can even narrow it down to December 22nd or 26th, since that time is the Summer Solstice for the Southern Hemisphere, and they were quite far south. During this time, the Sun is out for the maximum possible amount of time, which could mean that with a lucky passing of the storm, thats how the sailors got the idea that this kid had powers.

Not to mention, it’s not a particularly easy trip they’re on. Lots of people died from disease and stuff during voyages like that, and yet Esteban, a small baby, somehow survived? Probably explains why everyone thought he had special powers and stuff.

Another thing is that December 26th is also celebrated as Saint Stephen's (or San Esteban) Day in Catholic Churches in Spain, so there could be a chance that Mendoza, remembered the date when he rescued them (maybe even considered it to be his birthday since he was roughly a year old) , told it to the church fathers in Barcelona, who then named him after the saint. Atleast that's what I think what happened.

Now I wanna know. How was it for him to take care of such a young kid? We gotta remember he was also young too. I doubt he had any experience with babies. Did he even want to? Or was he kinda forced to cause uhh who else would do it. Not to mention, it’s not a particularly easy trip they’re on.

Esteban: is used to fasting so it’s pretty easy for him. He keeps himself busy so he doesn’t feel the time go by. Got lots of energy at suhoor

Zia: is also used to not eating much. Loves the vibes. Donates a lot

Tao: hard to wake up in the morning. Makes a calendar with all the dates and times for suhoor and Iftar. Keeps track of everything

Mendoza: can survive on literally nothing. He’s LOCKED in. Although Zia tells him not to skip suhoor

Pedro and sancho: wouldn’t fast cause they’d find it too hard. Would make sure to not eat in front of everyone else though. Also I think they’d cook suhoor and Iftar for them

Gaspard: gets hungry no matter how much he eats at suhoor. Says he’ll eat a lot at Iftar but gets full after one bite. Mendoza makes fun of him for not losing weight. Tsk tsk

Isabella: extremely tired at suhoor. Stays silent the whole time she eats. Acts like she’s not hungry (she is) (it’s obvious)

Pichu: always wakes up at suhoor with everyone else and demands to be fed

So, has anyone ever watched Mcog and thought: “huh, this is basically the story of Icarus?” If the answer is “no”, I’ll challenge myself to change your mind.

And a small disclaimer: I am not a Greek mythology expert by any means (I’m more of an Egyptian mythology person, but even then it’s still limited) so everything I say is very basic. If you know more stuff, or if I got something wrong, please correct me!

Before I start, here’s a refresher on the Icarus myth. Icarus and his father Daedalus are imprisoned in the labyrinth of Crete by king Minos. To escape, Daedalus builds wings out of wax, so they can fly off the island. He tells Icarus that he shouldn’t fly too low (close to the ocean), nor too high (close to the sun). Unfortunately, Icarus gets too excited and flies really high. The sun melts his wings and he falls into the ocean and drowns.

I wanna point out the links between the myth and Mcog. Firstly, Esteban and his father also need to escape from somewhere (the new world). Esteban is a bit luckier than Icarus, and is kinda his opposite, in a way. He almost drowns but luckily, Mendoza saves him. Where Icarus is seen taunting the sun (Helios), Esteban is a lot more modest and can actually control it. Icarus flies too high, and Esteban is afraid of heights.

Now this looks like I just proved the opposite of what I initially said. Esteban is thematically similar to Icarus (since there are many similarities, like the escape, the sun, the drowning, etc) but he doesn’t act like him at all. That’s because, in Mcog, Icarus is not represented by Esteban. I think he’s represented by Mendoza.

For this section of my post, I’m interested in the meaning of the myth, and not its literal elements. The myth can be interpreted in many ways, but a common reading of it warns against being overly ambitious but also against having no ambitions at all. Basically, it’s about moderation. And I think Mendoza represents moderation perfectly.

To better illustrate my point, I’d like to remind us all of a specific scene that really seems to be full of the whole “don’t be too ambitious” warning.

I’m talking about the scene where he snitches on the mayans to Gomez, to get them on his side. He then uses their trust to steal the Spaniards’ cannon, which he gives to the Mayans, acting like he did it for them the whole time. So, he’s telling a bunch of lies, to both parties, so that he may be the winner in the end.

Just like Icarus, he’s overly sure of himself, and that becomes his ruin in the end. We see this happen to Mendoza where he tries to bring the cannon back to the Mayans, but in his self assurance he goes the wrong way. This is something worth noting because we know Mendoza is extremely good at finding his way, even in places he’s never been. So him getting lost may be due to the fact that he assumed he’d come out on top no matter what.

He almost gets caught because of that, but then the Mayans help him. It turns out they knew he was lying this whole time. No matter what new lies he tries to tell them, they don’t believe him. It gets so bad that he almost gets executed for it. In fact, he needs to be saved by Esteban and has to give up the other medallion piece to stay alive. Which is obviously humiliating because he almost dies from being too ambitious about how many people he could deceive.

But Mendoza does learn about moderation, at the end of the show. Once the city is opened, Gaspard and Gomez hurry up and fill their ship with gold, but it gets too heavy and it sinks and they drown. This is so obviously hinting to the whole “being too ambitious” lesson. No moderation at all.

But there are two lessons in this myth: don’t be too ambitious (fly too close to the sun) but also don’t have zero ambitions either (fly too close to the ocean).

I think this explains why at the end of Mcog Mendoza does get gold. He doesn't end up with nothing, but he doesn't end up with an entire city's worth of gold either. The ones who wanted too much gold (like Gomez and Gaspard) end up drowning because all the gold sunk their ship.

The reason why Mendoza makes it out with the gold is because he doesn't take too much. If the show wanted to tell us, for example, that being greedy is bad, then Mendoza would’ve gotten nothing at the end. However, that doesn’t happen. He does get something at the end.

Mendoza does actually end up with no gold or treasures in the end. In the first episode of Season 2, Zares confiscates all of their gold and throws them in jail for about 6 months. Also, I think Ambrosius might be the best character which fits with Daedalus thematically. Both are extremely skilled craftsmen who can craft intricate machines, yet are both blinded by their own hubris, which makes them lose everything. Daedalus loses his son, position in power and reputation, and Ambrosius, who was once respected as a great alchemist in Chambord, became blinded by his ego and delusion, losing everything he built and the treasures he collected.