Time Monster

"Time monsters are created by major time glitches. Many of these creatures have poor eyesight and intelligence and only attack if you get close. But workers cannot afford to ignore them—you must defeat every monster in an area."
— Time Factory Worker's Safety Guide, Blinx: The Time Sweeper

Time crystals created by glitches in time will eventually become time monsters if not tended to, which act hostile towards any nearby life. Eradicating time monsters is one of the primary jobs of a Time Sweeper and poses many of the job's hazards. As most life in a world disappears when its time is broken, time monsters do not have the opportunity to attack their world's inhabitants, though travellers from other worlds such as Time Sweepers and Tom Toms must take care to defend themselves.

The appearances and abilities of time monsters vary incredibly. Most time monsters, however, can be classified into distinct categories (such as the spiker or octoballoon) based on their behaviour and, to a lesser extent, their appearance. Keroppers, for example, will eat projectiles fired at them from the front and grow in size, whereas kerofish will do the same without growing (even including bullets and lasers, though bombs will explode and damage both from the inside). Colours of a specific time monster vary, correlating with resilience and the amount of time energy absorbed. Time monsters that have absorbed sufficient amounts of energy may become extraordinary large and powerful variants of more common time monsters or new time monsters entirely. Energy is absorbed through time crystals, which in the Big Crystal incident included Big Crystal fragments that were sufficient to create large time monsters on their own. A defeated time monster will drop the crystals it has absorbed, which served as the primary way of recovering Big Crystal fragments in the Big Crystal incident. Time monsters that have absorbed large amounts of time energy may also grow time barriers (which must be destroyed by an attack while a time control of the same type is active), have adverse effects on the worlds in which they reside (such as cutting off power), or even explode and irreparably damage the world as nearly occurred in the World B1Q64 incident.

While the mere existence of time monsters is capable of wreaking havoc on a world, their conscious actions can impede any present life as well. In addition to attacking directly, usually through charging or firing projectiles after becoming aware of a target (signalled by a distinct sound made by the monster), some time monsters have shown a limited degree of intelligence in stealing objects required for Time Sweepers to progress in a world, though this may have been coincidental rather than a conscious effort. They otherwise show little regard for self-preservation and attack blindly, potentially impacting a solid object or falling into a gap, although they appear capable of experiencing pain as indicated by the cries of some when injured and the panic induced by being engulfed in flames (as is common when the TS-3000F is used).

Despite the risks involved, destroying time monsters can be somewhat lucrative beyond simply ridding a world of instabilities in time. The time crystals that result can be sold for substantial profits, as can any other remains of the monsters (such as the orbs upon which dust keepers stand or parts of trash robots).

Time Monsters in Blinx: The Time Sweeper

Time Monsters in Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space

Last updated on 12 Apr 2023