#thank you tumblr user reclusive sapphire

[octoagentmiles]

Any headcanons/theories specifically about the Manitoba? :)

ME??? HAVING ✨ THEORIES ✨ ABOUT THE MANITOBA????

Yes. Yes I Do.

I have made an entire TIMELINE of the MV Manitoba and Barnacles’ backstory. You can’t separate the two, so you’re getting the whole thing. This is a conspiracy theory. With that being said, here we go:

under the cut because OOOH BOY.

MV MANITOBA/BARNACLES BACKSTORY/TIMELINE.

At age 2, Barnacles and Bianca exit their den and become Polar Scouts; they are both exceptionally gifted.

In the Polar Scouts, they are taught to hide their emotions. Emotions are a sign of weakness.

Barnacles doesn't have many friends. He meets Natquik, who becomes his personal mentor and role model.

They meet Inkling.

Natquik leaves the Artic to do research in the Antarctic.

Tracker becomes a scout.

The Ice Cave Incident. Barnacles doesn't process his emotions about it properly, and he develops PTSD. He develops claustrophobia.

Barnacles and Bianca graduate the Cub Scouts at age 16.

They are both offered positions on a merchant vessel ship, the MV Manitoba. They both accept.

They meet Tweak; Barnacles and Tweak become best friends.

The Manitoba sails for several years. Barnacles feels at home and like part of a family on the crew.

An unexpected and huge storm hits the Manitoba hard. The captain (not Barnacles) loses control, and the vessel shipwrecks.

Barnacles, being as protective of his loved ones as he is, and as self-sacrificing as he is, grabbed Bianca and Tweak, and shielded them from the destruction happening around them.

Barnacles, Bianca, and Tweak are the only survivors.

They never learn what happened to the rest of the Manitobans.

Barnacles and Bianca return home to the Arctic. Tweak returns to the Everglades.

Barnacles reunites with Tracker. He learns that Natquik never returned from the Antarctic, and they lost radio signal from him years ago. He assumes the worst. He avoids talking about Natquik any further, because he can't process his emotions.

Nonetheless, he decides to become Tracker's mentor, like how Natquik was to him all those years ago.

He never properly processes his feelings about the Manitoba's falling, and he develops a second form of PTSD. He develops separation anxiety, and a constant need for control.

Tracker becomes manager of the Polar Scout Emergency Post (PSEP).

Barnacles has a midlife crisis at 23; he and Inkling somehow reunite. Inkling tells Barnacles of his dream.

Barnacles and Tweak reuinite; Tweak builds the first Octopod.

They meet Shellington, who becomes the first “Octonaut.”

The rest of the crew follows: Dashi (*insert the crashing of the first Octopod*), Kwazii, Vegimals, Peso.

*aggressive mic-drop* (/pos)

misc headcanons:

Tweak and Barnacles met Harry through the Manitoba (see tags for details).

Tweak coped with the Manitoba falling by impulsively dying her fur green. Her dad let her dye his too because he was trying to be supportive. This was the last time Tweak visited home before The Great Swamp Search.

Bianca could've been an Octonaut, but either wasn't given the opportunity, or turned it down (see tags again).

Nobody else on the Octopod knows about the Manitoba besides Barnacles, Tweak, and Inkling; Kwazii saw the wheel in Barnacles' room once and tried to ask, but Barnacles just went super quiet and it kinda freaked him out so he never asked again.

In the song Barnacles sings in The Narwhals, the original line was "On the Manitoba, just you and me!" instead of "On the Octopod..." because he wrote it during those times with his old crew. Boris knew the song because he knows about the Manitoba as well, and was around when it was written.