#Mulefa

[pointyearsuniverse]

His Dark Materials

The Mulefa

[his-dark-materials-trilogy]

[eternal-gromnommer]

Just saw the His Dark Materials series and...I'm kinda bummed about the design of the Mulefa? I mean, they're cute, but they're too normal-looking.

The books went out of their way to describe that they had diamond-shaped skeletons with one front leg, two side legs and one hind leg, and had a two-pronged trunk they used as an arm. They're aliens, and the show made them a bit too familiar and not quite alien enough.

So here's my take on them trying to keep the original anatomy and maximize the alien-ness factor. I imagine the front and hind legs have to be really short with very long claw axles to make the bike-wheels work better, so when they don't have any seed pods on they're bipedal and walk on their two side limbs. Their trunk would also have to be less tapir and more elephant to actually work as a prehensile organ.

Also pictured: the Tualapi, a predatory "bird" that is the natural enemy of the Mulefa. Nice that they also have diamond-shaped skeletons as evidence of "rhombotetrapod" ancestry, but it's a bit odd how the wing sails moved to the back and somehow bypassed the head and neck.

[curlybraces15]

Imagine if His Dark Materials came out as movies and had the same success Harry Potter had: we would have had Mulefa/Golden Monkey/Iorek plushies, Alethiometer and Subtle knife toys and so on...

[kirjavas]

no one talk to me unless its about the little baby zalif running after mary and her stopping to say goodbye before turning back around and wiping her eyes... the mulefa had about half the amount of scenes they had in the book and i would still willingly lay my life down for atal

[forgetleighnot]

Surely there are other spec bio nerds that grew up on the books incensed about how miserably they did the mulefa in His Dark Materials, right??? I know I'm late to the game here but my god what an unbelievable disappointment

[missclarasoufflegirl]

So not gonna lie, I'm a little disappointed by the design of the Mulefa, but also having a background in VFX I appreciate how difficult it must be to design and animate the quadraped they describe in the books

[unseemingowl]

Atal: Gets on her seedpod-wheels for the first time 

Me: Immediately bursting into tears “yes, vroom, vroom, you funky little Mulefa” 

[aquitainequeen]

And what of the depiction of the angels? As described in Pullman's book, the angels seemed like they'd be impossible to depict well onscreen but the show makes the smart choice of making them take "human" form most of the time, ie bald men and women in robes with eerily pale eyes. It's just uncanny enough an appearance that it works, though the familiar translucent shimmery form shows up on several key occasions. The design of the miniature Gallivespians is also inspired — with Sian Clifford and Jonathan Aris' characters Salmakia and Roke sporting insect-like black eyes and sleek futuristic outfits. And of course, there's the mulefa, the wise and friend-shaped creatures that Mary Malone (Simone Kirby) befriends, in a storyline that manages to streamline one of the weirder aspects of the book. That streamlining sometimes comes at a cost —the industrial wasteland-esque design of the Land of the Dead is striking, but somewhat samey — but it's clear that HBO has spared no expense on making this final season look as grand and dazzling as possible.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Review: The War On Heaven Reaches Its Conclusion In A Confident And Epic Final Season

[pointyearsuniverse]

[ladyorlandodream]

Atal ❤️❤️❤️

(I am still a bit disappointed that they have changed Mulefa's morphology but I am so happy to see them on screen)

[stromuprisahat]

"Well, if you can laugh, I don't suppose you'll eat me," Mary said. And from that moment, there was an ease and friendliness between her and them, and she felt nervous no more.

The Amber Spyglass (Philip Pullman)

[camushii1]

The most important ship in his dark materials is Mary X atal

[kirjavas]

showing my friends the mulefa and their reactions ranged from “so cute i want to drink tea with it” to “nightmare fuel. it looks like someone forgot what an anteater looked like and combined it with a giraffe”

[trinikins]

Mulefa: good morning

Me: hello sweet angel 😍✨❤

[iamthekaijuking]

there's a fun looking nonhumanoid sapient alien in the show "his dark materials!" they're called mulefas and they look like a chalicothere-tapir-giraffe hybrid but the best part is the way they hold oiled seed pods in their paws and use them as natural wheels. a weird but cool concept

They look pretty cute! Although I think it’s a let down that the show doesn’t follow their original book appearance and instead just makes them into vague ungulates.

I also think that using their hands and claws as axles would both put tremendous pressure on them and wear down and injure their hands and claws, BUT apparently His Dark Materials has overtly fantasy elements so that part is okay.