Joni Savage (born 1987) is the main protagonist of the ClueFinders series, and the founder of The ClueFinders Club. She has the title of Team Leader.
Appearance[]
Joni is a Caucasian girl with light skin and reddish-orange hair tied into two braids, violet bows, and blue irises in most games. Later games depict her hair with more loose strands, and her braids are thicker. She wears a yellow backpack with brown straps in most games. Her signature outfit consists of a lavender short-sleeved T-shirt, violet shorts with a brown belt buckle, brown hiking boots, and white socks. She also wears round, golden-rimmed glasses.
In nearly every ClueFinders product, she is 12 years old. In the book The ClueFinders: The Mystery of Microsneezia, Joni has a birthday after the events of The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures. The story suggests that she is 13 years old, but there is no confirmation in the book or the games.
Outfit Variations[]
In The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures: Puzzle of the Pyramid, Joni wore a light green T-shirt, a light brown vest, light blue jean shorts, lavender socks, dark brown boots, and light blue bows.
In The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures: Secret of the Living Volcano, Joni wore scuba-diving gear for the underwater portions, consisting of a black wetsuit with red accents.
In the original release of The ClueFinders Math Adventures Ages 9–12: Mystery in the Himalayas, she wore a purple T-shirt over a red sweatshirt and long violet pants. In the newer release, she wore an almost identical outfit, except with a dark purple sweatshirt instead of a red one.
Personality and Character Traits[]
Joni is a headstrong, adventurous, courageous, and confident tomboy. Sometimes, she can be prone to recklessness and rash decisions. Nonetheless, she demonstrates good leadership capabilities. It demonstrated that she is not actually "absolutely fearless," such as in The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures, in which she is worried about her kidnapped uncle but is reluctant to admit it. She considers the other ClueFinders, Santiago, Leslie, and Owen, her three best friends, and she is very loyal to them. She is also fond of her uncle, Dr. Horace Pythagoras.
Joni's somewhat rash temperament in the games usually contrasts with Santiago's more tentative nature. However, the two got along well and were made partners in many earlier games. In The ClueFinders Real World Adventure Kit, Joni mentions in her log book that she considers Santiago a good buddy, though perhaps a bit too cautious.
In the later games, Joni and Owen frequently appear as a pair. The two have more excitable and impulsive dispositions, in contrast to the levelheaded dispositions of Santiago and Leslie. Joni and Owen seem to work well together, though, at times, Joni can get slightly exasperated when she feels Owen is goofing off too much while solving a case.
According to her profile in LapTrap's files, Joni enjoys reading biographies of famous crooks, she often hangs out at newspaper offices and police stations taking notes, and she owns a pet anaconda named Jupiter. In The ClueFinders Real World Adventure Kit, Joni implies that cats are her favorite animal. She also mentions in her log book that she likes math and plays soccer. In The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures, she mentions that she dislikes coffee; in ClueFinders: Mystery Mansion Arcade, she mentions that she dislikes anchovies. She mentions a dust allergy in The ClueFinders: The Incredible Toy Store Adventure!.
In The ClueFinders: The Mystery of Microsneezia, Joni's parents are stated to be political scientists who spend a lot of time away from home. Because of this, Joni often stays with her grandmother. Santiago also lives with Joni's grandmother after being sent there by his parents, who are Latin American revolutionaries.
Appearances in the Games[]
The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures[]
Joni and the other ClueFinders travel to the Numerian rainforest when they learn that Joni's uncle has mysteriously disappeared there, supposedly kidnapped by the monster Mathra and taken to the legendary Lost City. Joni is determined to rescue her uncle. Dr. Pythagoras' computerized assistant, Laptrap, shows up to help and tells her that her uncle recorded the locations of the Lost City and the two keys needed to get inside on a program in his files. Joni, Santiago, and LapTrap searched for two keys to the Lost City, where they believe Dr. Pythagoras was taken. After obtaining the keys and making it to the Lost City, Joni and Santiago discover that Fletcher Q. Limburger is the true culprit behind the kidnapping of Dr. Pythagoras and the disappearing animals. Joni and Santiago rebuild the ancient Mathra trap to stop Limburger and rescue Dr. Pythagoras. Dr. Pythagoras rewarded Joni and the other ClueFinders with LapTrap after their successful mission to save the rainforest on a small boat.
The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures[]
Joni and the other ClueFinders go to Egypt to help Professor Botch with the opening of a newly discovered tomb. While there, Joni tries on a ring, which ends up stuck on her finger. Feeling embarrassed, she fails to tell Professor Botch that day. When she and the other ClueFinders return to the tomb site the next day to return the ring, they find the place deserted, and Professor Botch is nowhere to be found. After deciphering an ancient scroll, the ClueFinders realize that they must stop Alistair Loveless from unleashing the power of Seth and rescue the professor in the process. While at the Nile Kingdom, Joni has the ring taken from her by Alistair Loveless' goons. The ClueFinders keep progressing until they reach a temple where they meet four Egyptian gods, giving them ClueFinders special powers to stop Seth. The goddess Isis endows Joni with enhanced bravery. She and the other ClueFinders confront Seth, where Leslie instructs Joni to distract him so Owen and Santiago can reverse the pistons used to awaken him. Professor Botch and his companions escape and revert to their human forms. Joni and the others board a plane, leaving Egypt.
The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures[]
Joni and the other ClueFinders embark on an expedition aboard Captain Clark's ship in the Pacific Ocean. While investigating a shipwreck, Joni and Santiago come across some mysterious stone tablets, which they show to Captain Clark. As the ship approaches a mysterious island, a tsunami suddenly threatens to capsize the vessel. Later, Joni, Santiago, and LapTrap wake up on the island's shore, separated from the other passengers. They use the video phone to contact Owen and Leslie, trapped in a chamber. Joni and Santiago then explore the island and rescue their friends. After they locate Leslie and Owen, a strange green arm tries to grab the ClueFinders, and they scatter in different directions. Other captives, including Joni and Santiago, are trapped inside a container in a biosphere chamber. Aliens are holding them as specimens to consume their brains. Leslie's group quickly starts freeing all of the specimens, and just as they free Joni, Santiago, and the other people, the aliens catch up to them. The ClueFinders and other people flee into a nearby room with a bunch of controls in it. Figuring they have nothing to lose, they push all the buttons in front of them. Then, all the people escape the island on a ship just before the island sinks into the sea. Then, a spaceship rises out of the ocean and blasts off. Joni remarks that no one will believe what happened to them, but Santiago says that they have proof since Joni should still have a few CrypTiles in her backpack. When they look at Joni's backpack, they find the bottom completely torn and the CrypTiles missing, leaving them without any evidence of what happened.
The ClueFinders 6th Grade Adventures[]
One day, when Joni is playing with a frisbee with the other ClueFinders, she accidentally throws it into her neighbor's yard, Ms. Rose. She and Santiago go to retrieve it when the ground collapses beneath them suddenly, and they fall into a mysterious underground chamber. Owen and Leslie set out to rescue them. They can contact Joni and Santiago throughout the game using the red video phone. When Leslie, Owen, and Laptrap finally reach the throne room, Ms. Rose reveals her true form as the leader of the underground plant kingdom to all of the ClueFinders and explains her motives to keep the kingdom safe from pollution. When Owen asks Ms. Rose to let them go so they can try to stop the pollution, Ms. Rose agrees, but only on the condition that she can keep one of them hostage, which Joni agrees to. When Owen and Leslie return later, they are alarmed to see Joni transforming. Her skin has turned green, and leaves are sprouting from her fingertips. Ms. Rose tells them that only clean water can save Joni. After the other ClueFinders purify the water in the plant kingdom, Ms. Rose returns Joni to them. She explained that Joni had fallen asleep and wouldn't remember anything of the plant kingdom when she woke up.
The ClueFinders Math Adventures[]
Joni and the other ClueFinders travel to a village in the Himalayas to solve the mystery of the village's treasures disappearing. Joni and Santiago set out to explore the village and gather clues needed to deduce the locations of the missing treasures.
The ClueFinders Reading Adventures[]
Joni and the other ClueFinders go to investigate a meteor crash in the Sierra Mountains. After Joni touches the meteor, they suddenly find themselves transported to the planet Millennia in a far-off galaxy. Joni, Owen, and LapTrap wind up separated from Santiago and Leslie, and they discover that they must stop the evil sorceress Malicia from rescuing their friends and saving the planet.
The ClueFinders: Search and Solve Adventures[]
After seeing an SOS message from their clubhouse in an abandoned amusement park, the ClueFinders go to the park to investigate. They discover that the SOS message came from a man named Jacques Ramon, the local art curator, who was mysteriously kidnapped and trapped on one of the park rides. While Santiago and Leslie investigate the nature of the kidnapping, Joni, Owen, and LapTrap try to find a way to restore the park's power. Joni's group needs to collect enough keys from the robots located throughout the park. They will use these keys to unlock the rooms containing the circuits that power the park. Once they have fixed all the circuits, the rides will be turned back on, and Jacque Ramon can get down from the ride. However, rather than thanking the ClueFinders or saying anything, he only gives them a smug grin before dashing off. Joni's group finds his behavior strange, but then they suddenly get a call on the video phone from Santiago and Leslie, who have been imprisoned in a haunted house in the park by a woman they were following. After collecting more keys, Joni's group enters the haunted house and navigates its maze-like interior. Joni's group can rescue Leslie and Santiago and trap their captor, but Jacques Ramon shows up just then. He reveals that the woman who kidnapped Santiago and Leslie is his sister, Mimi Ramon and that he intends to trap the ClueFinders in the haunted house along with her. Joni and Owen pursue Jacques as he flees. Several park robots paint forgeries of famous paintings at an underground area where the ClueFinders meet up. Joni, Owen, and LapTrap once again pursue Jacques, while Leslie and Santiago stay behind to reprogram the robots to catch Jacques. Joni's group ends up on a log boat ride to chase down Jacques, and Joni steers their boat into Jacques' boat, causing him to be caught off guard long enough for one of the robots to catch him. Jacques and Mimi Ramon end up arrested for art theft and forgery, and the game ends with the ClueFinders looking over their recent success in a newspaper at the clubhouse.
ClueFinders: Mystery Mansion Arcade[]
Joni receives what appears to be a distress call from her uncle, Horace. She and the other ClueFinders go to a foreboding mansion where her uncle supposedly is, only to find out it's a trap set up by four villains the ClueFinders had previously encountered. Each villain has a trap specifically designed for one of the ClueFinders, and Joni ends up in a labyrinth-like trap created by Ms. Rose. The other ClueFinders must complete their traps before helping Joni finish hers, as hers is the only one they cannot handle alone. Users can use the red video phone if they need to contact Joni while doing other ClueFinders activities.
Appearances in the Books[]
The ClueFinders: The Mystery of Microsneezia[]
On her birthday, Joni receives a message from Uncle Horace asking for help. The message leads the ClueFinders to the island of Microsneezia, where they set out to find Uncle Horace.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Joni's last name Savage means "fierce", "ferocious", and/or "wild". However, it is meant to reflect more on her fearlessness and cunning personality.
- Joni is the only ClueFinder to appear on every single game cover.
- Her Dutch name "Kim de Wilde" may be named after British singer Kim Wilde.