#Beaver Facts

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Science has answered this question and... it's the latter!

Simply playing the sound of running water causes beavers to build dams. You can play it over a speaker. They absolutely lose their shit.

So yeah, a beaver hears running water and

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Beavers: Nature's Ingenious Engineers

Explore the incredible world of beavers! Discover their unique engineering skills, habitats, and vital role in ecosystems.

Check out my other videos here: Animal Kingdom Animal Facts Animal Education

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Dimmsdale Rich Families Analysis

Misc. musings that haunt me daily...

I love Dimmsdale's rich families... You've got the Dimmadomes who are all about real estate, fancy buildings, hosting city events, and (Thanks to Dale) they got into tech and shipping.

Contrast that with the "old-fashioned pencil and paper" vibes of the Leadlys, plus the Buxaplentys running the trains... It's a triangle of supporting each other's businesses (and thus, the rich get richer).

This post written under the assumption we're treating these episodes as canon, though I cherrypick "Country Clubbed" in my worldbuilding and I use Dimmsdale's founding year from Season 3 over the one given in Season 9.

General Background

Several flashback episodes imply the FOP world exists in a timeline where the English settled at least part of the west coast in 1665 (as opposed to the Spanish).

- Presumably, this is one of the unique things a universe-hopper like Jimmy Neutron would identify this world by. - On that note, people are heavily implied to "stand differently" in the FOP world, which is why visitors from other dimensions react with surprise when they see their bodies (and fall over before they get their footing):

Just some fun "alt reality" vibes. Enjoy your visit; sea legs required.

Notably, this is also a universe where trains existed on the west long before they existed in ours, but we'll get to that.

Today I'm discussing the Dimmadomes, Leadlys, and Buxaplentys, but for anyone who's interested in learning more about rich families, Season 9's "Country Clubbed" namedrops a bunch.

Dimmadome Family

We know the Dimmadomes for their impact in the modern world- they're always innovating, hopping from one thing to the next. Dale does seem to have consistency in the businesses he owns (though I am DYING to question what his plans are for that indoor amusement park).

Doug doesn't seem able to commit to anything for long, though we know he's very proud of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome. He hosts many events throughout the series, from music shows to wrestling to demolition derbies.

Dimmsdale was founded in 1665, named after Dale Dimm (following him throwing Alden Bitterroot the witch down a well). It's possible Dale Dimm is an ancestor of the Dimmadomes, given what we know about:

- Dimmadomes having their hand in things (including the founding of Dimmadelphia). - One Dimmadome ancestor using the surname Dimm ("Lost and Founder's Day"). - Dale Dimm's very tall, barefoot figure is a hilarious ancestor choice for Doug "tall hat" and Dale "boot obsessed" descendants when you think about it.

While it's heavily implied Dale was born into generational wealth, we can't confirm whether that was (or wasn't) true for Doug. It's possible his family helped him get his start, but he seems to have kicked off his own success story by mining for gold (Presumably at a young age given that was back in 1953 and the main FOP series kicks off in 2001).

I like to think Doug (prior Dale's birth) changed his family's surname to Dimmadome to move away from the negative connotation of Dimm and commit himself fully to his big and shiny brand image.

Doug's a pretty interesting character! He's not afraid to get involved in his projects and work hard personally, as opposed to outsourcing- a trait he and his son Dale seem to share.

Doug also seems pained to surrender a check to Timmy in "Odd Ball" (even asking for a minute to say good-bye to his money), which isn't far off from Dale's attitude towards stocks.

He was even down to move to Alaska to follow the Ballhogs basketball team. He loves throwing all his chips on the table and doesn't back out easily. He also goes all-in with promotional outfits, like the parka above or his chicken costume in "Chicken Poofs."

That said, he might have some "sunk cost fallacy" views towards some of the stuff he buys. While the basketball team cheered they'd won the game by a close shave, Doug's first remark was that now he'd have to figure out what to do with all the stuff he bought in prep for their move to Alaska. He immediately started eating the Blubber Nuggets he would no longer be able to sell.

In "Chicken Poofs," when Doug sees the town inside his restaurant's chicken-dunking cages, his first thought isn't "Oh my gosh, I have to save these people." It's "These people stole my chickens- I'm ruined!" However (at Timmy's advice), he comes back from the loss of his chickens by selling the eggs they left behind. He wasn't about to go home empty-handed.

I'm obsessed with Doug's chicken-dipping machinery having labels so the thing one step up from Deep Fry is The Sun, and the step up from Sun is Lava. When would he ever need a dial that goes that high?

A "waste not, want not" attitude is fascinating in contrast to Dale being so incredibly wasteful, he brought two single-use helicopters on his trip to the park in "Stanky Danky." Is Dale rebelling against Doug's "We have to make the most of everything" parenting style? I think that plays really well into my vision of Dale being the first born into excessive wealth, while Doug possibly worked his way up after striking gold in 1953. Dale is wasteful, Doug more practical.

Doug is also over-the-top ridiculous and would sooner work around his love for tall hats than stop wearing them.

He owns a boot-shaped phone and a laptop with an armadillo logo, apparently. I'm not sure what they were going for with the armadillo - it's probably just random or meant to represent high security - but I looked it up and in Mayan folklore, armadillos are perceived as cunning critters that outwit people and dodge consequences thanks to their shells, which... Yeah, I think that sums the Dimmadomes up pretty well. Fun fact, but armadillos are one of the only things Fairy magic can't affect ("Teacher's Pet") because magic bounces off their shells. My Anti-Fairy biology incorporates pink fairy armadillo biology because we know Anti-Fairies are also immune to most Fairy magic. Just kind of a "Hm" implication, especially since "Crock Talk"' here and "Teacher's Pet" are both Season 7 episodes. I guess the other horrifying option is that Doug eats armadillos the way you eat apples, but...

I'm also of the opinion that Doug torched things in the Learnatorium, given what we know about the Learnatorium's interior ("Totally Spaced Out") and this scene of Doug "destroying childhood memories" in "Odd, Odd West"

In fact, it's not even a reach to say Doug takes pride in destroying people's cherished childhood memories. He seems to "look down on wasteful, childish things" and seems to value anything that is more useful in performing a task or turning a profit. Again, that's big "Everything must be useful and we can't waste space" energy (and presumably reflects on his offscreen parenting).

Where my fanworks are concerned, I love the idea that Doug paid for personal tutors to help Dale adjust to society and/or some basic schooling. Say... maybe an elementary teacher to start with? I don't think it would be unreasonable to theorize Crocker was involved with that, at least at first, as it helps justify the money he would've needed to expand the Crocker cave in the early days. -> We know from S4's "Genie Meanie Miney Mo" that Mr. Birkenbake states he can't afford a garage because he "doesn't make Crocker money," implying resentment... which is pretty interesting when you consider that Crocker also doesn't have his own place because he moved back in with his mom after university, and not even to his old room (Instead to a room above the garage). -> We know from S6's "Wishology Pt. 2" that Crocker stole the money intended for "the school's new science wing" and used that to pay for some of his tech, like his rocket. Both these episodes come well after S2's "Nectar of the Odds," so it's interesting to consider Crocker getting money earlier to support his tech pursuits in Seasons 2 and 3.

Dale seems to feel strongly about his dad- If it's not love, it's obsession and Grade-A Daddy Issues. His tent is shaped like his dad's head - despite Doug not being present at the event as far as we know - and even his house features statues of his dad.

Considering the nervous, over-the-top, aggressively money-chasing person Dale turned out to be, it's no surprise we can see a lot of Dale in Doug. While Vicky did a number on Dale's psyche, there's definitely some Doug influence in his behavior too.

Fun Fact: The Dimmadome gives off Roman Colosseum vibes, so it's fitting that one of the ancestors we saw in "Lost and Founder's Day" is an ancient Roman!

I would also be remiss not to look at the Dimmadome fortune, glance at the sheer number of businesses Doug is constantly opening... and question if there's some money laundering going on there. Seems kinda sus, ngl...

I'm just saying, Doug with a ton of "disposable income" (gold) because he ended up with a lot of it very quickly seems like a "great" way to get into gambling. Shout-out to the Dimmadomes and their obsessions that hint at addictive personalities. Actually, that makes Dev's game addiction so much darker and now I'm horrified. He could get into trouble so easily...

Also, in "Engine Blocked," Doug literally tries to pay Vicky with a bunch of [I assume fake] money with his face on it, so that's questionable...

One last interesting note is that the Dimmadrones (called such in "Stanky Danky" when chasing Cosmo, Wanda, and Hazel) are clearly based on the early model of Amazon delivery drones.

I think the obvious assumption is that Dale* built them for Dimmazon, but repurposed a few of them for Dev's caretaking (as opposed to them being built for Dev in the first place).

* It's possible the robots were built by a team, but knowing Dale programmed the statues in "Lost and Founder's Day" & Dale's seeming preference to do things himself rather than outsourcing, I'm going with the "Dale built them" theory.

This repurposing might be backed up by Dev referring to the ones that hang out with him as au pairs - a phrase meaning "caretaker" - and even claiming his au pairs are Au Pair #1 and Au Pair #2. While that might just be convenient shorthand since those are the two he interacts with, maybe those are a different type of Dimmadrone that was designed (or tweaked) specifically for Dev's care.

In a previous post, I discussed my headcanon of Dev having hypoglycemia and referenced the au pairs having the ability to "alert on him," or at least use both visuals and noise to signal him, as in this screenshot from "28 Puddings Later" showcasing a glowing exclamation point:

We also know Dev has specific food needs (Lactose intolerance), that he's very picky with his food (Even a treat like cupcakes that you would expect a 9-year-old to enjoy regardless), and that the au pairs are capable of food preparation (since Dev tells Hazel in "A New Dev-elopment" they can make sushi).

The au pairs are probably the most advanced, expensive, time-consuming models (compared to the ones that simply need to be mass produced for package pick-up and put-down).

I do like the thought that - for all his faults I didn't touch on here - Dale does care enough about Dev that he took the time to design two robots that could look after Dev in his absence... and specifically, took the time to think of what a child actually needs.

Dale probably thinks "I spent 7 years struggling... I would've loved the comfort of knowing my base needs like food were taken care of."

In my hypoglycemia post, I said the au pairs seem to know what hugs are and can recognize when Dev wants comfort. That implies Dale put a lot of thought into the design of the au pair and its ability to assess Dev's needs. Dale's not oblivious to what a child needs, like safety, appropriate food, and physical affection... He just lets the au pairs handle Dev.

Dale definitely gives the impression of someone who's making a genuine effort to parent, considering he missed out on healthy role models for at least 7 years of his life (Not to mention Doug is a wild character and probably fell short of being an excellent parent himself).

Along with designing the au pairs to look after him, Dale involves Dev in his projects, greets Dev, and answers his questions, and that's so interesting when you compare him with people like:

- Remy's parents (after the shipwreck in "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary"'s closing scene) opting to count their surviving money and open a luxury hotel while still dressed in rags, forcing Remy to forage for his and their survival - Vicky and Tootie's parents opting to stay with perceived cannibals rather than disobey Vicky ("Timmy's 2D House of Horror"); they consistently let Vicky run the show and beg her forgiveness when they upset her. You could 100% make an argument that Vicky is Tootie's actual caregiver. - The "Fairy Idol" alt version of Bucky (Chester's dad) who lost his house and went off to party instead of securing food or shelter for his son. Also, Regular Bucky canonically feeds Chester animals he stole from the zoo or aquarium ("Who's Your Daddy?") and I think we should talk about that. - A.J.'s parents are fantastic in many ways, but there's something incredibly dark about the way they don't like A.J. going outside where there are germs ("Who's Your Daddy?"), they have a laser set up in front of their house to vaporize visitors ("The Big Scoop"), and A.J. seems to believe they dislike Chester (given his long silence after Chester asks why A.J.'s parents' security system got more aggressive after finding out he was Chester). - Later-season neglectful Timmy's parents (though I acknowledge I don't love that flanderized aspect of their character unless viewed from the 'got burned out after 50 extra years of parenting' lens, personally). - Clark and Connie who walked out on their daughter having an anxiety attack (and sent Chloe into a dissociative episode 3 times in the first episode they appeared). - A distracted adult Timmy ("Channel Chasers") leaving his kids with a robot Vicky babysitter despite the sight of weapons and his children begging.

Dale IS an antagonist and a neglectful parent. This post is not meant to take away from that or excuse it, but I think it's interesting that within the bounds of FOP characterization... He is pretty consistently in line with how parents in this show behave, and he does have many positives alongside his flaws. I totally understand why child protective services have not taken Dev from him.

Disclaimer: All characters are morally gray and this list is for amusing discussion purposes. I'm not calling these characters "bad parents" so much as highlighting interesting behaviors for consideration.

FOP's characterization leans into adults being foolish and neglectful - Dimmsdale is named after the idea that the adults are dim, after all - and I think it's worth evaluating all the FOP parents within that framework.

Related Dimmadome Posts:

- This post where I had the thought that Doug might have ADHD/OCD comorbidity (Hilariously, something I'd already decided to do with Dale and Dev...)

- This post comparing Doug and Dale body language

Leadly Family

S9's "Dog Gone" is a bonkers episode, and I love it so much. Notably, it's the episode that confirms Leadly is personally rich- Not just Pencil Nexus as a company, which has multiple branches in other states and can afford a jet.

In fact, Leadly is so rich, he offers to buy Sparky from the Turners for 17 million dollars, just because Sparky gave him the Heimlich maneuver and Leadly thought it was neat.

My personal headcanon for Leadly is that he's somewhat aware of magical beings and is actively seeking them.

The Leadly mansion is pencil-themed, of course.

The Dimmadomes and Buxaplentys are both confirmed to have generational wealth. We have no proof one way or the other for Leadly. It's likely his is too, but it's not impossible he founded Pencil Nexus and committed to its branding because he's proud of what he does.

Leadly doesn't have many appearances, but we know some very important things about him:

- He's convinced he's being haunted by a hot tub ghost, reason being that Cosmo likes to use his hot tub at night (whether Leadly's in it or not). Sparky also claims that he had an accident on Leadly's lawn (Crashing his car), but that Leadly blamed the hot tub ghost.

- He's super buff.

- His company is literally the only thing keeping a [presumably magical] forest from overtaking Dimmsdale, considering that when Pencil Nexus reduces their tree chopping in "The Boss of Me," the forest overtakes the city within a couple hours.

Did some godkid out there just wish for renewable trees and now Dimmsdale is cursed and suffering??

Leadly just flexes like this and has massive muscles, but his aren't as big as the people affected by the Everleadys.

The episode makes it explicitly clear that people's massive muscles are magic and aren't going away (Hence the lawsuits and decision to remove Everleady pencils from the world), but Leadly's muscles do fade when he stops flexing. His are natural.

Despite the jokes that he flies the company jet around to goof off, it's not unreasonable to think he's out there personally chopping trees and I respect him for it.

Y'know, I did wonder how on earth selling pencils made him rich enough that he can afford to spontaneously buy things for 17 million dollars (and keep a pet snow leopard that he apparently rides, considering it was tame enough for Timmy's Dad to ride it home from work and he parked it outside his house and it just stayed there).

Did he fight the snow leopard? Did he raise it? I'm afraid of him.

Conclusion: Ed Leadly has a monopoly on an infinitely replenishing wood source. His company can never take a break or the city will be overtaken by magic plants. Big "curse of Midas" vibes.

I can't stop thinking about how in "T.U.F.F. Puppy," it's implied that Petropolis exists in the same general location as Dimmsdale... Los Angeles county:

- Los Angeles' population in the 2010 census was 3,792,621. Dimmsdale's hillside letters parallel the Hollywood sign. - 91502 is the Burbank area code, where the Nickelodeon studio is - Jorgen claims in "Meet the OddParents" that the power he has to do that was vested in him by both Fairy World and Whittier, California. This seems to match the city borders seen in "Fairy Idol" while he's zooming in on Chester to assign Norm as his godparent.

This implies parallel universe vibes, though in my lore, I have all four Hartman shows blended into one continuity.

See my 2019 post, "A T.U.F.F. Timeline" or the shorter "How Hartman Shows Co-Exist" post if you want details on that

Here's the thing... In "T.U.F.F.," it's implied the forest near the city has been allowed to spread and evolve. Its bizarre flora and fauna certainly give a "non-natural evolution" vibe, so it's not implausible magic could be at play.

It's made very clear in "T.U.F.F. Puppy" that this show is still set on Earth, yet "Flower Power" refers to the Petropolis Rainforest. That implies this forest exists around the city. In fact, we know it's separate from the Amazon, which is referenced in "To Bee or Not to Bee").

Interestingly, the episode "Til Doom Do Us Part" depicts Petropolis being overrun by brightly colored flowers once weddings are mass canceled-

- which implies the florists are keeping the creep of nature back from Petropolis.

I feel like this is especially cursed in my lore where "T.U.F.F." exists in a post-FOP future... Leadly, your woods!! Oh no, he can't hear us... He's been gone for 2,000 years...

Shout-out to Pencil Nexus keeping Dimmsdale safe, one pencil at a time. And shout-out to Leadly's unique body language of gripping the sides of his coat, because he does it a lot and it makes me smile every time. He is just some background guy with a pencil-themed gimmick, but he has a special body language quirk and I love it.

Related Leadly Things:

- If you haven't watched S9's "Dog Gone," I recommend it. It's silly. There are some late-series episodes that give secondhand embarrassment vibes, but for some reason "Dog Gone"'s bizarre energy is so charming to me.

- Leadly appeared in these one-shots of mine, if you're interested in my portrayal of him hunting down magical creatures (and just generally being entitled and getting in the way): "Opportunity" & "Trying Too Hard"

Buxaplenty Family

The Buxaplentys have been running the railroads ever since Dimmsdale's early days, with Orville Buxaplenty the first to do so. Timmy's distant grandfather (Ebeneezer) mocks trains by claiming they're "just a fad" and there's no future in them- Thus, he chooses not to involve himself with trains and leaves Orville to do so alone.

This establishes the Buxaplenty wealth as being generational through these trains. Presumably, Dimmsdale has a large train station, as this seems to be where the Buxaplentys have set up shop.

If the Dimmadomes have businesses spanning Los Angeles to Dimmadelphia, it's very likely the trains play a key role. Assuming we take the 1665 founding date of Dimmsdale as canon ("Which Witch is Which?"), the trains may have been essential at moving resources from Dimmsdale to later found Dimmadelphia. -> See also, respawning magic woods (?) Rich people crossover of the centuries??

Notably, their family takes some heavy hits in "Country Clubbed" when Mr. Buxaplenty is forced to watch the destruction of the club, his mansion, yacht, and limo in quick succession.

The surname Buxaplenty is clearly a play on the phrase "bucks aplenty" (and I want to shout-out a 'fic I read many years ago - but unfortunately do not remember - that had a whole thing about Remy's surname actually being Buxley and everyone just calling them Buxaplentys in a derogatory way, because that's hilarious).

A neat detail about Remy is that in the Spanish version of Fairly OddParents, his surname is Cajallena, which (to my understanding) translates as "full cash register."

In my lore, I made Cajallena the maiden name of Remy's mom.

I did some poking around. Apparently, Remy is based on comic/cartoon character Richie Rich, popular from the 60s to the 90s or so (and who still shows up in modern reboots of things today).

I'm not familiar with this series, but both are blond, the only child in their family, and wear big red bows. After brief research, I get the impression Richie was at least a little associated with trains... even owning a toy trainset that costs 1 million dollars (and paying 8 million to buy the factory that makes a part of his set that broke).

I want to highlight this comparison:

From the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, I believe, and it looks like Richie owned other gold vehicles like a boat as well.

As for Remy himself, I believe I read a few years ago that he's designed around the concept of "green-eyed envy," so he has literal green eyes. I think envious is a very good way to describe his character, considering that his immediate reaction to learning Timmy has fairies was "If he has fairies, he could wish himself richer than me; I wish his fairies were gone."

This is a minor detail, but I rewatched some Remy scenes (especially the lunch scene in "Remy Rides Again" and the breakfast scene in "Stupid Cupid") because I could've sworn Remy said at some point that he likes caviar. That might be true - I didn't find it in my hasty rewatch - but I definitely laughed when I checked and saw that instead of eating caviar for lunch like I'd remembered, he ate steak. Kid knows what he wants.

We also know Remy enjoys Crimson Chin and Crash Nebula. Specifically, we know that he's a fan of Cleft the Boy Chin Wonder, but that when Remy ventures inside the comic world, he made the character more relatable to him by making Cleft rich... in addition to minor costume changes, such as slapping the Buxaplenty logo on him in place of Cleft's usual C.

Remy sees something in Cleft that connects with him, but that extra "I want Cleft to feel like me" bit is interesting. Admiring Cleft isn't enough. He needs to be "I am Cleft's secret identity. I, Remy Buxaplenty, have this alt life." The Crimson Chin can't seem to tell the difference between Timmy and Remy as Cleft - unsurprising since he's a comic character playing his role - but Remy saving the Chin from falling is one of the only acts of kindness we see him engage in. That implies Remy does value the Chin and/or feeling like a hero in some way... or if nothing else, he values the praise the Chin gives him.

As parents, the Buxaplentys are pretty interesting. Even by "dim FOP parents" standards, they're exceptionally bad at being loving - or even effective - parents.

- Remy's dad is so awkward, he's not even sure how to address Remy when we see them in "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary." It's his wife that suggests he try "Son." Also, Remy's parents time themselves so they spend no more than 2 minutes per day with him, which they tell him openly.

- Remy's dad calls him "Liam" later, which isn't close to his name... but Remy's grateful to be acknowledged anyway, which has interesting implications. Remy takes anything he can get; putting up with what little scraps they offer to avoid the risk of turning them off the idea of reaching out to him.

- At the end of the episode, Timmy wishes Remy could spend more time with his parents. We can assume Cosmo and Wanda didn't want to hurt the Buxaplentys on purpose - especially given what we know (from episodes like "Boys In a Band" & "Go Young, West Man") about Da Rules preventing godkids from harming others directly.

So that begs the question... Was shipwrecking the Buxaplentys the only option to get them to pay attention to their son? That's kinda dark... Angela will turn down a book pitch to care for sick Hazel, but "Remy gets sick and a parent tends to him" was seemingly not on the table. Which does make sense in-universe- After all, there are plenty of butlers and staff who wait on Remy.

Remy even tells us that his parents stopped paying attention to him after about 3 seconds despite being stranded with him on a desert island, which is pretty bad... but it gets worse when you realize Remy was stranded between Seasons 2 and 5.

When he returns in "Remy Rides Again," he asks Timmy to "guess where he's been," and informs him he "just got back from an uncharted island."

Combining that with Remy's claim that his parents only paid attention to him for 3 seconds - and looking at the scenes of Remy foraging for food while he wears rags and his parents get involved with business despite being stranded - That's..... just awful.

That's a long time for Remy to be without the comforts of home or the comforts of Juandissimo while struggling to survive (and keep his parents alive along with him). Depending on where you personally place Timmy's time freeze, it can get way worse.

And Remy was just happy he had time with his parents... Happy to forage for food... Happy to get a headpat... and for what? They don't deserve you, kid.

For all his greediness and schemes, he is pretty grateful for what little he has. In addition to looking forward to spending time with his parents, when Remy is venting to Timmy at the end of "Remy Rides Again," not once does he mention "And I didn't have my nice things." He says "I didn't have my fairy, Juandissimo, to comfort me."

Remy's parents don't even take care of themselves, let alone pay attention to his needs. They chose not to leave the deserted island - and apparently took their sweet time calling for clothes to be delivered - and Remy seems to be the one in charge of food.

Also, the implication here is that Juandissimo gave some part of his physical form up so Remy could eat, which is horrifying?? Did that happen multiple times, considering these scenes take place immediately after the shipwreck and later after Remy's mom opens her luxury resort, so definitely different days? Did... did Remy reach the point where he was struggling to find food - or the more awful option, struggling to find food for himself because he was giving it to his parents first - and Juandissimo said "F that" ??? ... help.

On top of all this, the official canon is that Juandissimo couldn't hold a job after being separated from Remy because he was so hung up on Remy's situation (and his own shame that he failed), he couldn't stop crying, so he bounced from job to job.

It's the thing I love most about Juandissimo, because when he's introduced in FFQC, he's a huge lapdog for Da Rules, even going off about how not following them would lead to madness. But we learn one very, very important thing about Juandissimo in "Remy Rides Again"... which is that Juandissimo openly broke Da Rules to return Remy's memories.

He's very clear about this: "I decided to help you no matter what Da Rules say, so I gave you back your memories." Because he loved him... and he knew Remy's situation wouldn't get any better if he sat and did nothing. The godparenting program and Jorgen weren't going to help, so Juandissimo - who LOVES Da Rules - broke them.

We know Juandissimo returned those memories while Remy was on the island. That suggests Remy's parents had no intention to return to Dimmsdale... and presumably, they also didn't care Remy was missing school.

We know Remy got real clothes again at some point on the island, and we can assume he had food and a bed because his mom opened a luxury resort, but there's more a child needs... Schooling, medical care, social interaction with peers... everything about that situation just screams neglect. Serious neglect. "We literally do not care" levels of neglect.

Even when Remy's parents do return to Dimmsdale and care about his schooling again, they send him to a military school full of older kids and adults. And that seems at least a little reasonable on the surface - After all, Remy's been a brat, so of course they'd send him to a school for ne'er-do-wells - but that begs the question...

... What has he ever done to upset his parents?

Remy's envy leads him to be rude, sure. And he's presumably committing some kind of fraud or deception crimes in the background due to the implication in "The Big Bash" that he bribes people with checks, but puts stops on them later so they don't go through. These are things that happened when he was doing magical stuff away from home.

But all signs point to him being extremely respectful towards his parents even when they're very dismissive of him... even when he's been placed in terrible, scary situations like being shipwrecked on an uncharted island, not knowing if they'll survive. Remy is polite, does what he's told, never talks back, and volunteers to find food.

It's almost worse that his dad acknowledged Remy finding food was a good idea and still didn't lend a hand in that. The Buxaplentys are such concerning people, and that's just my recap of things that happened in Season 2 and Season 5.

According to Season 9's "Country Clubbed," Remy's dad hits "classless saps" with his limo on purpose every month - which sounds horrible even without the next part - and he does that so he has an excuse to invite them to the Fancy Schmancy Country Club and he and his friends can mock them (under the guise of allowing them access to the club in exchange for them not suing). He heavily implies he'd like to hit Timmy later since he didn't get him while hitting his parents.

That's really messed up... WHAT is going on in the Buxaplenty parents' heads?

The only slightly relieving thing from that statement is that presumably, they don't run over Remy because we can assume Remy isn't a "classless sap," but I don't think "choosing not to run your son over because he shares your wealth" is a real point in their favor.

I make no claims that Dale is a fantastic parent, but the weird thing is... I don't think Dale is outside the range of how other subpar parents in the FOP universe act. Except the Buxaplentys- They're pretty much the lowest of the low.

There are so many concerning things going on in the Dimmadome house, like terrible safety rails, and Dale does cut his son off, dehumanize him, and make him feel unwanted. This is all true.

But at least Dale knows Dev's name and calls him that. It's very possible he's aware of Dev's lactose intolerance (seeing as Dev had to get his allergy card from somewhere). At least Dale provided the au pairs to look after Dev and gave them the ability to cook and recognize when he wants a hug. Even if Dale doesn't go out of his way to hug Dev, he seems to like him enough that he's happy to clap a hand to his shoulder and talk to him. At least he seems interested in talking to him and hearing about his day.

Dale even tries to get Dev outside, but didn't snap at Dev when Dev lay down to play his game instead in "Stanky Danky." That was their father-son thing, though it would've been easy to leave Dev at home.

Dale arguably took charge of Dev's care during that event, seeing as the au pairs don't hover around Dev. idk if Dale made his 9-year-old walk home himself across a very busy road while he chased after Danky, but that's not the point.

The implication is that Dev tags along on Dale's walks to Signal Hill - and has done so many times - because Dev knows Dale's calls drop up there. It's implied Dev plays on that hill when his dad is on a call because Dev knows the grass makes you itchy if you roll down it. He'd probably played there recently since that was the first place to come to mind during the treasure hunt with Hazel, and he remembered the itchiness of the grass.

Dale even makes donations to Dev's school, which is more than the Buxaplentys ever did (See also, Remy likely missing school while shipwrecked).

Remy could die and his parents probably wouldn't spend a cent on his funeral... or get his name right in a eulogy without a lot of note-checking and effort. In fact, it wouldn't shock me if they hid his death so no one found out, because a dead son would be bad press.

Actually... It's very sad to imagine them putting more effort into hiding Remy's death than into caring for his life.

Shout-out to Chapter 10 of the 'fic "Buy Me Love" by DeliverUsFromEvie where Remy addresses two mansion employees by name, but they're confused to find out their boss has a kid and that said kid has been in the house this whole time. I think about it constantly. hey. what on earth.

This 'fic has one of the most brutal interpretations of Remy I've ever seen, and Evie has this and several other awesome works, so consider checking them out!

All of this said, there's something else that's interesting here, so let's talk "Turner Back Time."

I can't stop thinking about how when Timmy wished his ancestor (Ebeneezer) had decided to work with trains rather than dismissing them, that led to a timeline where the following things happened:

- Timmy's Dad still married his beloved Timmy's Mom (lol). Yeah, you're not prying him away from the love of his life for anything.

- Dimmsdale fell to ruin because Timmy's Dad wouldn't play the Rich People game right (Supporting the city's growth) and instead opted to drive trains off the tracks and crash them through buildings.

- The Turners lived in a mansion, but Timmy's bedroom is exactly the same, presumably because in the timeline where his family's rich, he needed a safe space untouched by his parents' branding.

- Despite Timmy's effort to become miserable, Dad kept showering him with affection and toys, so Timmy didn't qualify for fairies until he was tied to railroad tracks with a train hurtling towards him.

- The first thing Timmy did in his attempt to become miserable enough to qualify for fairies was decide not to eat... Same energy as when he felt guilty and refused to sleep in Season 1 ("Dream Goat").

There is something here about Timmy's Dad ignoring the train system, but being attentive to his son, while the Buxaplentys ignore their son, but Dimmsdale isn't in ruins.

I'll say 1 and only 1 positive thing about the Buxaplentys: At least their trains are on the tracks instead of careening through hospital walls. Honestly, the bar is so low, it is below the floor.

Timmy's Dad became a greedy person in that timeline, but he still chose to marry someone of lower social status, have a son, and be kind to his son- He's happy to greet him, encourages him to enjoy their wealth, and gifts Timmy lots of nice things. In that timeline, it's the Turners who have generational wealth. Dad was raised by generations of Turners and he still makes time for Timmy. Come on, Buxaplentys... Is it THAT hard to speak to your son like you're happy he exists?

Closing Thoughts

The Buxaplentys are definitely an old money family while the Dimmadomes and Ed Leadly give off new money energy (to me).

Neither Doug nor Ed was seen at the Fancy Schmancy Country Club in S9's "Country Clubbed." All the people who were there have names that play on wealth. They also dress in a much more "upper class" way than Leadly with his flashy yellow suit or Doug with his Southern/Western theme.

The Dimmadomes represent business-related wealth and big company vibes, and I'd call them eccentric. Compare Doug's precariously perched cliffside estate (S3's "Engine Blocked") to Remy's telescope-

I really hope he decorates that hat for the holidays

The energy I get from this is "Doug doing whatever he wants just because he can"... which is also the impression I get from the "Crock Talk" scene that shows his hat stretching through the limo roof. Doug does business things and hosts events, but keeps to himself unless he's doing business things.

Comparatively, Leadly is all-in on his pencil branding, and the Buxaplentys flaunt their wealth in everyday life. As in, they buy the most expensive version of anything they want and like to showcase their wealth.

But while Doug and Dale have "Do what I want" energy, the Buxaplentys seem more restricted by social expectation.

That is, the Buxaplentys dress very nice and dine with fancy people- even their 11-year-old wears a tux, bowtie, and cummerbund. Buxaplentys are very "Flaunt wealth & do what people expect of us." They don't go out of their way to do "silly, eccentric" things like putting a hat on their mansion, but they sure will buy golden, diamond-studded things.

Well, that wraps up my analysis on Dimmsdale's wealthy families, who each intrigue and frighten me in their own unique ways... whether that be money laundering, holding back a magical forest, or being absolutely awful parents.

Thanks for reading!

[avillanappears]

thinking about how the reason beavers make dams is because they hate the sound of running water so much they can’t relax until it’s all stopped.

[naradreamt]

Scans of my copy of 子 ギャル (CO GAL)

[river-of-wine]

I find Miss Grimshaw’s death to be one of the most interesting out of the characters that die in RDR2 because there is just so much going on with it. She begins chapter six shooting an innocent woman, doing what she believes is the right thing as the arbiter of justice she is described as. She shoots an innocent woman through the stomach for a perceived betrayal, and in doing so, she damns herself. Grimshaw ends the chapter being shot through the stomach by Micah, by the real traitor that she failed to recognise, for what was, in Dutch’s eyes, her own perceived betrayal. Molly confessed to ratting on the gang, something that she didn’t do but knew the consequences of, and Grimshaw, as her final action of the game, turns on Dutch, the man she has been loyal to for so many years, on the side of John and Arthur. Grimshaw’s death comes at such an interesting part in the story, such a climactic moment, and yet it is almost entirely unnoticed by everybody around her. In this huge moment, this standoff between what remains of the gang, the murder of one of its longest standing members just kind of happens, and then the standoff continues as Dutch gives a speech over the dying, agonised screams of a woman who has spent so many years loyally at his side, who has taken her first real stand against him, who has been murdered, who is now a traitor and not worth acknowledging. Grimshaw dies in pain, perhaps the most that we hear from a gang member’s death that we actually witness, though I’m sure Kieran’s torture at the hands of the O’Driscolls was even less pleasant. Grimshaw’s death is the death of what may have still remained of the gang, the security within it that she helped to provide, and her death is the justice that she failed to correctly serve returning to her, her failure to actually kill the traitor then killing her. She is shot through the stomach and dies in pain and the man she had been so loyal to simply does not care

[wisefoxluminary]

How do you think Black Noir II would interact with Soldier Boy if they met? I feel the show is setting up a confrontation between them in season 5.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: beavers

I love rodents; they're my favorite mammals. So today I'm combining rodents with the usual Wet Beast Wednesday to talk about beavers. These rodents are not only amphibious, they're engineers that play a major role in their ecosystems. Let's find out why you should appreciate beavers.

(Image ID: a beaver standing on dirt. It is a rotund, furry mammal with a large, blunt head. Its legs and eyes are small. Its tail is wide, flat, and hairless. It is wet. End ID)

There are two species of beaver: the North American beaver Castor canadensis and Eurasian beaver Castor fiber. The two species are so similar to each other in morphology and behavior that it took genetic testing to confirm that they are distinct species. Each species is divided into many subspecies, with a classified 25 for the North American beaver and 9 for the Eurasian beaver. Beavers are the second largest living rodents after the capybara. Adults have a body length of 80-120 cm (31-47 in), tail length of 25-50 cm (9.8-19.7 in) and usually weigh between 11 and 30 kg (24-66 lbs) but can reach up to 50 kg (110 lbs). Beavers are semiaquatic and have multiple adaptations for living in the water. The hind legs have webbed toes and are used to provide propulsion while swimming. The wide, flat, paddle-like tail is used as a rudder. Beaver fur is very thick, with 12,000 to 23,000 hairs per square centimeter and grows in multiple layers. The hair keeps the beaver warm and provides buoyancy while being thick enough to act as armor, protecting the beaver from predators. Beavers can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes, but most dives are shorter than that. While underwater, the beaver's heart rate is halved and blood is redirected to the brain and away from the extremities. The ears and nostrils can close underwater and the mouth can form a watertight seal. Being highly adapted for swimming, beavers are somewhat clumsy on land, but they can still move fast if needed. The front feet are very dextrous and can carry objects. Beavers can stand and move on their hind legs while holding things with their front feet. The tail helps provide stability while standing up. Like other rodents, beavers have an upper and lower pair of incisors that grow for their entire lives. The teeth need to be worn down by gnawing on objects and a beaver that can't gnaw can suffer from health problems as their incisors grow too big. Beaver teeth are coated with a layer of enamel that contains iron compounds, giving the incisors a characteristic orange color. The teeth grow outside the mouth and the beaver can close its lips while moving the teeth, letting it chew or pick thing up with its teeth underwater without getting water in its mouth. Unlike other rodents and pretty much every mammal, the beaver's excretory and reproductive tracts are merged into a single hole called the cloaca. Cloacas are common in reptiles, amphibians, etc, but having separate holes is a kay mammal trait. Beavers must have evolved back into having a cloaca. One hypothesis for why is that having a single hole reduced the surface area that can be exposed to the water, reducing the chance of infection. Males have a penis that extends from the cloaca when in use. Because of this, male and female beavers are virtually indistinguishable by sight if the penis is retracted. Staying downstairs, beavers have two sets of scent glands, anal glands and castor sacs. Both are used to produce scent chemicals that are used by beavers to mark their territory and identify each other. The anal glands also produce an oily substances that beaver groom into their fur to help waterproof it. The castor sacs produce a substance called castoreum and are attached to the urethra. Ancient people often thought that the castor sacs were testicles and that female beavers were actually hermaphrodites.

(Image ID: a beaver seen from the front on some rocks by the water's edge. It is dragging a long log in its mouth. Its top incisors are visible and orange. End ID)

The North American beaver is found in most of Canada and the United States, as well as northern Mexico while the Eurasian beaver's natural range has been considerably reduced from what it once was. They now live in portions of western, central, and eastern Europe, west Russia, and Scandinavia, with isolated populations in Mongolia and northwest China. Beavers live in freshwater (and occasionally brackish water) streams and lakes. They are nocturnal and crepuscular, active most commonly between dusk and dawn. Beavers are generalist herbivores, eating a variety of leaves, stems, shoots, roots, and bark. They prefer herby food in summer and woody food in winter. Beavers form stores of food underwater for the winter. Their digestive systems have an enlarged portion of the intestine called a caecum that helps digest the cellulose form all the plants and wood they eat. Their feces has been reported to have sawdust in it. Beavers are territorial and mark their territory with smell using secretions from their anal and castor glands that are placed onto piles of rock and mud they build. beavers defend their territories fiercely and will get into fights with others trying to move into their territory. Beavers who live in neighboring territories will gradually grow less aggressive toward each other and they become used to each other's scent. This is called the dear enemy effect and is seen in other territorial species. Beavers communicate using a variety of noises including whines and growls. A common behavior is slapping the tail against the surface of the water, which is used to alert other beavers to danger.

(Image ID: a beaver swimming underwater. Its body is strengthened out and streamlines. Its front legs are tucked under its chin. The hind legs are being used for swimming. The tail is out of frame. There are rocks and logs in the background. End ID)

Beavers require deep and still water to build their homes, but they aren't satisfied just looking for lakes to live in. No, these little entrepreneurs will make the conditions they need by damming streams. I will devote a whole section below to beaver damming and its impacts on the environment. Aside from dams, beavers also build lodges, which are their homes. Building these structures requires material and beavers use wood, mud, and rocks. To get the wood, they use their incisors and powerful teeth to chew through trees and branches. Famously, a beaver can take down a large tree in under a day. Lodges take a while to build, and until it is ready, beavers live in simple burrows on the water's edge. There are two types of lodges: bank lodges and open-water lodges. Bank lodges are burrows along the water's edge covered in sticks and are more common with Eurasian beavers. The more famous open-water lodges are built away from the shore. A pile of sticks forms a platform that is covered with a dome. The dome reaches above the water and is made of sticks and rocks held together with mud. Inside the dome but above the water is an open cavity filled with air. This is called the living space and is (as the name suggests) where the beavers live. The only above-water opening in the living space is an air hole built in the very top. The other entrances are underwater, meaning that beavers can only enter and leave by swimming. This provides good protection from predators, most of whom wouldn't be able to swim into the living space, as wells as insulation to keep the living space warm in winter. Beavers live in familial groups usually consisting of a pair of parents and up to eight children. Family members use the scent of their anal glands to identify each other and will body through grooming each other and play-fighting. The parents are monogamous, but will seek out new mates if they lose theirs. Mating occurs in late December to mid January when the female goes into heat. Up to four pups are born three to four months later. Beavers are born furry and with open eyes and can digest solid food after a week, but usually nurse for up to three months. Beaver milk is more fatty than the milk of other rodents. Beaver offspring will stay with their parents for two years before becoming independent and a family can have two generations of offspring at a time. The largest families need to build multiple lodges. The offspring, called kits, will stay in the lodge for their first one to two months and will start assisting the family with construction of dams and lodges at a year old. They reach sexual maturity between one and three years of age and can live for up to ten years in the wild. Beavers that become independent will travel away from their parent's pond to find a new stream or pond to settle in. This is the time most beavers meet their future mates and the pair will travel together in search of their new home. Beavers will stay in the same territory unless poor conditions force them to leave and find a new home.

(Image ID: A beaver in the Minnesota Zoo with four kits. They are in an artifical lodge with stone walls and star and sticks on the ground. The kits are miniature versions of the adult. End ID.)

(Image ID: an artistic depiction of a beaver lodge with a cutaway to show the interior. It is a large pile of branches with a chamber inside partly submerged in the water. The chamber is connected to the outside by two tunnels the open underwater. There are two adult beavers outside the lodge and three juveniles inside. End ID. Source)

The most famous feature of beaver behavior is their dams. By damming streams, beavers create the large and still ponds they need to build their dams. Beavers that live in pre-existing ponds or lakes that are deep enough for their lodge entrances to be underwater don't need to build dams. To start, thy will dig canals to reduce the flow of the stream, then drive large logs and branches into the mud of the stream bottom to form a base. The dam is then filled in with rocks, branches, shrubs, mud, and anything else the beaver can get its paws on. Beavers can pull or carry objects up to their weight and will build canals and use mud slicks to pull larger logs. Dam complexes can cover acres of territory and the canals beavers dig dig to divert water and help move logs around can be over half a kilometer (1,600 ft) long. The largest dam in the world is in Alberta, Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park and is 775 meters (2,543 ft) long and growing. It was formed of different dams that were combined. Beavers are one of the best examples of ecosystem engineers, species that modify their habitats. They are also a keystone species that are vital in wetland areas of their native range. Dams expand wetlands and reshape the stream environment in ways that typically benefit the local ecosystem. There are some negative impact of beaver dams, including impeding fish migration, increasing silt upstream of the dam, low oxygen levels in the created ponds, and harming species that require fast flowing water. However, the positive impacts of the dams are many and varied. The dams create new ponds that provide habitat for many species that require deeper or slower water, including many aquatic insect larvae, worms, and mussels. These ponds are also ideal spawning locations for many fish and amphibian species, especially salmon and trout that can leap over the dams. Indeed, beaver dams are a huge boon to salmon spawning. The ponds also raise the local water tables and help prevent drought. The areas in and around ponds see a large increase in plant species diversity that encourages local grazing animals and migratory species to visit. Because the areas around beaver ponds are so wet, they act as natural fire breaks, helping mitigate the damage from fires. The dams also help prevent floods downstream by slowing the amount of water that passes, thus helping prevent erosion. The dams act like sieves, filtering out silt, debris, excess nitrogen, and pesticides and other chemicals that get into the water. Bacteria living in the dams break down cellulose in plant matter and release nitrogen gas into the atmosphere. On the downside, beavers have been extending their range north as the arctic warms and their ponds are melting permafrost, which releases methane into the atmosphere.

(Image ID: a beaver in a forest environment gnawing a tree. The tree trunk is slightly thicker around than the beaver. The Beaver is chewing at one side of the tree while the other side is already chewed, resulting in an hourglass shape. End ID)

(Image ID: two beavers sitting on top of their dam and working on building it. One beaver is gnawing on a log while the other one is carrying a bundle of roots in its mouth. End ID)

(Image ID: a beaver dam seen from above. The dam is a large pile of sticks, longs, rocks, and mud that stretches across a stream. The water level on one side of the dam is significantly higher than on the other side. End ID.)

Both species of beaver as currently classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, meaning they are not at risk of extinction. This was not always the case. Beavers have historically been heavily trapped for their meat, fur, and castoreum. The castoreum was used in many forms of medicine. Nowadays it isn't used anymore except in homeopathy and other forms of quackery. The fur trade vastly reduced beaver populations and it was only due to new laws and conservation efforts that the two species were saved from extinction. Since then conservation efforts have largely revolved around trapping beavers and reintroducing them to new areas. Probably the most famous example of this is the 1948 beaver drop, when the Idaho Department of Fish and Game dropped beavers in crates from planes, where they parachuted to the ground and were released. Despite how silly this sounds, it had a much higher survival rate than other relocation methods. Only one of the 76 beavers died due to forcing its way out of the crate during the drop and falling to its death. Beavers can damage infrastructure by damming streams near human activity and can damage trees people want to keep alive. There are ways of mitigating this. Pipes can be used to keep the water levels of the ponds from getting too high and fences or other deterrents around trees keep the beavers from cutting them down. If the beavers are causing too much of a problem, trapping and relocating them can help. On the other hand, sometimes environmental managers trying to attract beavers will make artificial beaver dams to try to entice beavers to adopt a stream. This is sometimes done in streams with too much erosion or water that flows too fast for beavers to settle. The artificial dams start the work and set things up for beavers either relocated to the stream or that pass by and settle down. Beavers are used as symbols of hard work, industry, and families. The beaver is the national animal of Canada. If Canada appreciates the beaver, shouldn't you too?

(Image ID: a group of three beavers being released from a crate. End ID)

(Video ID: archive footage of the 1948 beaver drop. End ID)

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

seeing a spn actor in any other show makes me feel like i’ve won the lottery every time

[turtleations]

Interview with I.N.A. (Spread Beaver / Manipulator, Percussion; Music producer) (summarized)

Published in the hide BIBLE (by Akemi Oshima) 2008

Note: INA calls hide “hide-chan” throughout the interview, and in the spirit of being as authentic as possible without actually giving a literal translation, I will, too.

Note 2: As with Sugizo’s interview, this is very, very close to an actual translation. Many of the things I give you here are INA’s exact words, just moved from first to third person. The prompts and questions of the interviewer are actual translations.

The reason why I stick with this format for now is because there are some parts where I can figure out the meaning but wouldn’t know how to accurately put them into English sentences. Doing it like this allows me to work around that. It also allows me to skip some small bits and fillers that I cannot figure out, although there were hardly any of those this time. There is nothing in terms of content value missing from this.

INA-san’s memories with hide-san must be like a mountain, aren’t they?

INA could talk about anything (laughing). When he’s given interviews since, he gets asked to recall memorable incidents, but it was all memorable, so he doesn’t know where to start.

You first met hide-san when you were working for X?

When INA was working with hide-chan for the first time, he was stage manipulator for X’s Jealousy-tour in 1991.

What kind of work did you do until then?

INA had been working on the recording of popular music. He was thinking that he would like to work more with actual artists, but of X he had never heard before, even though they were all the rage then. When he was shown a video of them, he thought “Eh?” and “What am I doing here?” But he did it anyway. Hide-chan he first met at the rehearsal studio. Since there were so many heroic stories about them, that was a little scary…

You heard a lot about them, didn’t you?

That had been a problem. But when he met them for real, they all turned out to be good people. Because they were with SONY then, there also was a lot of staff. But even though INA was the new guy, hide-chan often invited him to go drinking with them.

About the Jealousy-Tour

Ever since then, INA and hide-chan worked together, and that continues until now.

Any memories of the tour?

At that time, after the show, all the members would gather and go drinking together. Going outside in their full flashy set-up, clothes and all. Surprisingly, the fans went with them into town and would just have conversations in the bars as if that were normal. INA also went along.

Your working with hide-san

It started with INA sampling hide-chan’s voice for his solo corner “HIDE’s Room”.

“HIDE’s Room” started out as improvisation and developed from there, right?

So it seems. When INA got involved, “HIDE’s Room” already existed. But it was still pretty improvised. Hide-chan said he wanted to make a variety of noises and they sampled his voice like that. INA added keyboard and drums on top of it and it gradually developed from there. After that came the three days at Tokyo Dome that Taiji resigned with, and then, half a year later, INA went to LA for the recording of "Art of Life".

Wasn’t going to the US for "Art of Life" delayed by half a year?

In the meantime, they did things like Talk Live at Budoukan. For Talk Live, INA was on stage with the orchestra, tampering with the computer in a tuxedo (laughing). That was the time Yoshiki did "Art of Life" alone at the piano with the orchestra.

After Jealousy, getting involved with "Art of Life" happened naturally?

INA was told they wanted him to come along. Before that, he had helped Yoshiki with his solo-songs – that kind of progression.

Yoshiki’s solo?

Violet UK. INA was there for the very beginning. 15 years ago now? Even sooner than that.

After the Jealousy-tour, Violet UK already had a name, that’s amazing.

At that time, it probably didn’t have a name yet. The good thing about going to LA was that for the first three or four months, INA had nothing much to do and just went drinking with hide-chan and Heath. Various incidents happened. Fire trucks were involved.

Fire trucks?

Hide-chan, drunk, pulled the apartment building’s fire alarms in the middle of the night and a lot of fire trucks came, which made everyone flee into Heath’s room. Hide-chan then went to sleep on Heath’s bed, and the next day during the recording of "Art of Life", Heath reported, “He won’t wake up.” (laughing) Heath himself had gone to the studio having barely slept at all.

INA-san’s previous work?

When he thought about working for X, he had already stopped doing that. He thought those people were interesting. After that, hide-chan made a song for “Dance 2 Noise” with J and Inoran. At first, he was working with the machines himself. He always said to INA, “I don’t get it, I don’t get it. Please teach me how.” He did his best to do it on his own with the crappy hand-down equipment at his disposal, but he fell asleep during INA’s explanations. Then he asked INA to help him, because he didn’t understand it, and they decided to do it together. Hide-chan and INA were in LA for the recording of Art of Life, J and Inoran and the programmer were in Japan, so it was a constant back and forth with the data. INA’s professional working with hide-chan started there. They secretly went and used the studio X had claimed for themselves when it was empty. Song recording happened in Japan. Afterwards, INA went to the US again. At that time, he came and went. Next, hide-chan made that movie with Tusk, and the called INA and said, “Let’s make the soundtrack together.” They returned to Japan to create it during a one or two weeks long break in the recording of "Art of Life".

About making hide’s solo music

It started around that time. Hide-chan decided to go solo and was thinking about various things, like finding a producer, who should play the keyboard, and in the course of this, when hide-chan wasn’t able to find the right partner, INA was called to the collaboration that continues to this day. He now thinks the work on the first single went smoothly (laughing). Therefore, he now thinks it was fortunate he got invited to work with hide-chan. Back then, not so much.

What do you mean?

INA doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but he was told to be open with hide-chan and during the vocal recording they basically had a fight. Because INA was also strict and insistently kept telling hide-chan, “No, wrong!” Good things came from it, thought, so hide ultimately didn’t resist it.

hide-san gave up on doing it on his own?

He probably still wanted to when he started to work on his solo. He borrowed a computer from INA, and then called him incessantly with things like, “It doesn’t work,” “I don’t understand this,” “It doesn’t have power.” At that time, he called INA wherever INA happened to be, it was a problem. It was a time without mobile phones, but he still managed to find him wherever, bafflingly. Even at his parents’ house (laughing). Then he accepted that he couldn’t do it alone and said, “Let’s do this together!”

Did you also act as vocal director?

Yes. INA had already done that on X’s demos, so it happened naturally from there. But even so, why him?

Hide-san rarely asked people to do tings like that, he must have trusted you from that time.

At that time, hide-chan still lacked self-confidence and didn’t want people to hear his voice.

In the beginning, he said he hated his own voice.

He sang a lot at that time. He practiced, recorded. Practiced, recorded. Over and over, until his voice was all rough. “Doubt” was recorded almost in one go, but other songs he had to sing hundreds of times. The music they listened to back then was similar, so talk was quick, but it was probably a good thing that their musical backgrounds were completely different. INA liked black music, hide was a rock guy. INA thinks hide-chan found it more interesting to work with people from different backgrounds, since he wanted to do a lot of different things.

What was music you both liked?

During that time, industrial rock and fusion came up and they talked a lot about how good they thought Nine Inch Nails, Prodigy, or Jesus Jones were, “I wonder how to go at it, to make something in that style,” and things like that.

Did you want to make that kind of music yourself?

INA did not know rock until he met X, and he thought it would be good to add another component to the things he liked. Hide-chan probably thought the same way. INA had things hide was looking for, and he also had a lot of experience in the technological aspects, so that was a perfect mixture.

What was your impression of hide-san at that time?

He went drinking a lot. He went drinking with INA. One way or another, there had been a strong impression of alcohol consumption. Returning from the studio, they absolutely had to go drinking until morning. Why did he have to drink so much? (laughing)

Did you also like drinking?

Yeah, INA liked it. He was a pretty heavy drinker.

It’s probably a happy thing that you two became friends.

They could go drinking together. In the course of doing so, they also took trips to Hakone and things like that.

Along with Pata-san?

No, others. Various other people came along. If they went somewhere for fun, it probably couldn’t be helped. In LA as well, people were always with them when they went out to drink.

Any episodes from that time?

Plenty. (laughing) The fun episodes with hide-chan are mostly stories of alcohol. A lot of memorable episodes from when he was drunk. He said he was going to drive the van on the vast grounds of their American apartment complex. Since it was private land, they figured it would be okay, and INA, Pata, and Heath got on the ride, except they somehow ended up in the mountains where there were no roads. Thus, Pata flipped out, yelled, “Asshole! Matsumoto, you fucker! This is going too far!” and everyone was surprised by how angry he could get. Because hide-chan was going up a cliff. (laughing) That was the first and the last time INA saw Pata get that angry. And then, there was stuff like throwing things into the pool.

Didn’t you also live together?

Of course not. In this, they practiced abstinence (laughing). But INA certainly spend more time at hide-chan’s studio than in his own home. In Japan it was the same. Since hide had a studio at home, that’s where they worked all the time. [Note: These studios, according to INA’s book “Kimi No Inai Sekai”, were simply little extra rooms that weren’t soundproof, and the neighbours having opinions about the noise level drastically limited what they could do in them.] They were among the first to record things at home. Equipment like that wasn’t really in use back then. In any case, they were early with it.

He liked new things.

Seriously, he was a person who did not know whether he was a commoner or a celebrity. He had opinions about the cost of alcohol that was several thousand yen, yet easily bought new equipment that cost tens of thousands of yen. He’d say, “INA-chan, here’s a new computer,” and bring it along with a smile, while INA went “How expensive was that?!” He was quite strange. In his heart he was a commoner, though, extremely so.

After you finished his first four solo songs

After that, they went drinking together. “We’ll do it together,” INA was told earnestly. And, “You’re not in my employment. I want you to openly tell me if something is good or bad.” And also, “I don’t want you to work for anyone else, INA-chan. I want you to use your talents only for me.” And INA thought this person was amazing, and replied, “I get it. Let’s do it together.” At the time, hide assembled a bunch of specialized people and created the prototype of LEMONed. Two weeks later, they went to the US, and it was like they were living in a new rock’n’roll castle. An apartment building where Toshi-kun and Heath and hide-chan all lived together. In a room there, they prepared a system for audio recording and the beginning of the first album was made. It was also around this time that the X Film Gig was happening in Japan, wasn’t it?

Ah, yes, that film gig that was an entire tour.

At that time, Yoshiki was still working on "Art of Life". INA’s work on it was done by then, so the year 1993 was entirely dedicated to hide-chan’s album. At that time, hide-chan became all well-behaved so as not to cause trouble anymore. They stopped going out and secluded themselves in hide’s room for a while, to work. Without taking a break either, from noon until two or three at night, only working. Every now and then they would go out to drink. This repeated every day for about half a year.

Still, you always went to Japanese bars.

They didn’t know LA very well at the time and rarely went to American bars. Just once, to a place that was like a giant disco. Later, they went to more places, but at that point, they were living in a pretty narrow world. After going back to Japan, they recorded the last three songs of HIDE YOUR FACE, then went on a nation-wide tour after.

That tour was your debut, INA-san?

Before, when hide was on TV for the promotion of his singles, INA was with him – maybe because hide-chan felt it would be better if there was someone else in addition to him, so INA had to do it. Since he had never done anything like that before, he hated it. There was a “?” constantly hanging over his head.

Can you elaborate on that?

Regarding his solo, hide-chan said he hated being on his own. When they had a live for the press at the tie-up of “Tell Me”, they did that together, too. INA doesn’t know what to make of that. (laughing)

How did you do it together?

INA was freestyling on all the machines (laughing). Because of this, he also joined the band for the tour, probably. Back then, programmers like INA never went out of stage like that.

Now that happens a lot, though.

INA wonders if they weren’t the first to do it. Since there was no one else doing it, they had to figure out how to go at it. At that time, scratching on DJ equipment wasn’t a thing yet, but INA had played drums as a student, so should he maybe beat those a bit? He was never really at the keyboard because they had DIE for that. INA thinks he did a good job overall. Since programmers didn’t go on stage, they were never seen in public. So, he created his own thing for himself to do. In regard to that, he wasn’t really told, “Do this,” or “Do that.” Maybe hide simply wanted more people on stage (laughing).

Or maybe he just wanted to be with you?

It’s funny. Just now, INA worked through the uncut MCs of the first and second solo tours on the DCR, and they are amazingly long. Second tour, ten hours altogether. INA is going to be busy with that for months. On the first tour, it was only 104 minutes of MC in total. But for the PSYENCE-tour, ten hours. At the end, there would be fifty minutes of talking in a two-and-a-half hour concert (laughing).

The MCs were that long?

Chatter. But it was interesting to listen to. During the first tour, INA searched and searched, but they barely talked at all.

The first tour’s rule of no alcohol the day before a live stuck around, right?

During the second tour, they had to abstain as well. They did that part when they were done (laughing). On X-tours, on the other hand, they drank a lot. They went through hotels and such until five or six in the morning.

After the first tour was finished, hide-san’s solo activities took a bit of a break, didn’t they?

Yeah. They went back to LA for X. For the recording of DAHLIA, they were there for a good while this time. 1995, wasn’t it? The solo tour ended in spring 1994, until summer they worked on videos, after that they went to LA. Zilch came into being at this time. X and zilch and the solo stuff… LEMONed was also started, they published a compilation, it was an extremely busy time.

You had to deal with all of that, right?

For real. INA went to Osaka for X, came back to Tokyo for solo recording, the next day it was off to the US for zilch… like that. And they travelled with all of their equipment. INA and hide-chan and the manager, all those people, and about 20 pieces of equipment, going to the US every week. At the end, the customs people only went, “There they come again” and waved them through. That was terrible. While INA finished the second album, hide-chan went to record the vocals for zilch. Then he had to go to the studio to play guitar for X. In this time, they mostly divided the work. If they worked together all the time, they felt they wouldn’t have been able to get it all done on time. The recording of Toshi’s vocals for "DRAIN" was also done at hide’s apartment. The bass was also recorded at home rather than going to the studio.

Was his home studio that enormous?

No, it was about the size of an 8-tatami room [Note: About 13 square meters or 142 square feet], where they crammed in all their equipment and recorded the sound.

What about zilch?

It was a mess (laughing). When INA and hide-chan came to the studio, they were earnestly there to work. They took what they did seriously. When the others were fooling around in the studio, hide-chan and Ray McVeigh often clashed. Hide then said, “INA-chan, I’m going to lose my temper today, so you better go home early,” and then they’d have a fight. It was quite interesting. Since zilch and hide’s solo activities happened at the same time, INA and hide-chan spread their work out between them. They had a producer as well, and the project grew as more and more people got involved.

Did you hear about the conception of LEMONed?

He didn’t. Only after the fact, just like with Spread Beaver. Hide just dropped that information casually in the middle of a conversation. When the LEMONed store opened, they were in LA. INA remembers how hide passed him a video and said, “It turned into this kind of business.” At the time, they did a bunch of things in Japan. The “Misery”-PV had a home-made feel to it because INA edited it himself from raw material of stuff the two of them had filmed at home. It was a time like that (laughing). The lip-syncing for that PV they filmed in front of a blue TV screen at hide-chan’s home. The staff just turned the light here and there. It cost 0 yen (laughing).

There had been a plan to make a video like that, huh?

INA thinks that a plan for filming a video like that already existed within hide-chan. But he had no plan for the actual contents.

Here, staff member Motoyama provides the information that they made the video by sending it to Japan for the design team t.o.L. to edit, and those then send it back to LA.

INA once again emphasizes that, seriously, it cost no money, and laughs. INA did not get a salary, of course, and he even had to be the chauffeur. “INA-chan, you got free time, right? Let’s go take some pictures together.” Also, in the desert, their car got stuck and they all had to work together to get it free. That time was really fun. It felt more like an extension of their playtime, not at all like work.

A lot of people said the same thing: That it was like playtime.

When INA was down with a fever, hide-chan got worried and came by to make him rice noodles. At that time, they lived in a world made up of ca. four to five people, in LA and Japan. At the time of PSYENCE, hide-chan said he wanted to create “The best possible work with the least possible number of people in the shortest possible amount of time.” Song creation aside, they needed about one month to finish the recording. Which was pretty terrible, actually. They finished work at five in the morning and started again at eleven… like that (laughing).

And when you were done at the end of the day, you couldn’t even go drinking.

They could not. It was hard, but they pulled through.

How was the second tour?

Combined with the LEMONed event, there were nearly twenty shows. Strangely enough, while INA had his doubts about how to handle it in the beginning, in the end it turned out to be fun. At first, he was concerned with how to proceed, but as the tour continued, it all just fell together and solidified. Hide-chan was amazing when it came to bringing out people’s talents – not just with the musicians but also with the staff and everyone. He didn’t say, “Please do it this way because that’s the way to do it,” but instead, “This is want I want to do, but do you have any alternative suggestions?” And if a suggestion was made, he’d go, “That sounds good, let’s do it!” He had that stance towards everyone, so everyone enjoyed working with him and had a good time. Even if he ended up not doing what had been suggested, he gave it serious consideration. There aren’t many people who can say they were given a chance like that. Since hide-chan quickly realized the ideas he liked, everyone had fun and gave their best. By the time the tour was over, they had really grown close as a team. Even now, the staff from the PSYENCE-tour called it the most fun one they were ever involved with. Regardless of whether they contributed in big or in small ways. In this regard, hide-chan was amazing.

INA-san, your hairstyle became very flashy. Why was that?

Miyagi-kun, hairstylist at LEMONed, said, “This is gonna stand out!” and pained INA’s hair in fluorescent colours. But that paint would come off, so they decided it would be better to dye it if INA was to sport those colours every day. Miyahi-kun also went over the top (laughing).

It wasn’t done by hide-san?

Well, it had been kind of a spontaneous thing. But hide-chan also dyed INA’s hair. He had a beautician’s licence, after all. During the first tour, he also dyed DIE-chan’s hair. And Pata’s, way back.

And after the PSYENCE-tour?

The incident where hide-chan fractured his skull. All of a sudden, he just stopped contacting INA one day. Usually, they were in contact every day even after the tour to make up a time for INA to come to hide-chan’s place to work on songs. But now, there was no phone call at all, and INA was told by the office, “hide-san got injured, so we’re taking a break for now.” They didn’t give him any details and he didn’t hear anything else for about a month. INA didn’t do anything, but he wondered what was going on until hide-chan himself contacted him one day and told him that he had been hospitalized. INA was surprised to hear this (“Eeh, what happened?”), while hide was rather dispassionate about it (“Broken skull.”). INA was startled, even though he only heard about it after the worst was over. They were talking about going to the US to resume work and start recording for zilch, but the doctor told hide he wasn’t allowed to fly. Regardless, hide went anyway, then told INA that there was this terrible ringing noise in his ears during the flight. When INA heard that, he went pale and thought, “It’s over.” But it was okay; after this they stayed over there for a while. In fact, that was their longest stay. They resumed the work with zilch that had been postponed for the PSYENCE-tour and only returned to Japan in Summer.  [Note: They had left for LA around February.] After that, X JAPAN announced its dissolution.

He just went about song making as if there were nothing happening, though?

Basically. Get it done, get it done… he worked like that all the time. He finished one song about every one or two weeks. But when they were in Tokyo, he just wanted to play around. Abroad, he calmly worked in the studio every day, but in Japan, things immediately got in the way and no work was done. Kiyoshi or whoever would come over to hang out and they wouldn’t work. One day during the creation of “Ja, Zoo”, in order to get them to focus, the record company send INA and hide to a camp at Lake Yamanaka. It was supposed to be refreshing, but since there was absolutely nothing around, the two of them turned a little weird about two days in. They were alone in that mountain hut, there was no one else around, outside was nothing. “I wonder if there isn’t anyone in Tokyo who can come to visit,” they said and kept making phone calls. Inevitably, they went out at night, but there were no establishments around, so they kept circling the lake in their car until morning. [ Note: INA makes it sound like they were the only people in the area, but according to “Owaranai Kizuna”, the book of hide’s former manager Kuma, there was an entire team with them, and also Kuma himself, who got stuck there when hide abducted him on the way to the retreat and set his mobile phone on fire. (More at eleven.)] Then, the people from the record company said, “Good work!” and invited them to the Atami Onsen as a reward. And thus, hide-chan, who had shown great restraint until then, let loose, went berserk while drunk, and broke his foot. And that just a couple of months before X JAPAN’s Last Live in Tokyo Dome. [Note: Actually, it seems that it was more like one month before the concert, as the accident happened in late November.] Just before that incident, INA, in a good mood, had warned hide’s brother and manager Hiroshi to make sure that hide did not, no matter what, injure his hands. And his hands were safe. Instead, he came back with a broken foot (laughing).

No kidding. (laughs)

But, at the time, it was adorable. When hide came back from the hospital and INA knocked on the car and asked if he was okay, hide pretended to be asleep (laughing). When INA later asked him about it, he explained, “I didn’t have a clear answer, so I decided to just feign sleeping for the moment.”

The photographs for the jacket of “Rocket Dive” were taken at that time, weren’t they?

Staff member Yamamoto again: That’s right. Hide-san just said, “I’m sorry” regarding those photographs.

INA: That day, his leg was still in a cast.

Yamamoto: They could only photograph the upper part of his body.

INA: At the Tokyo Dome, he was already well healed.

Yamamoto: He ate small fish all the time. He had put it in his mind that he would be healed for X JAPAN’s last live.

INA: Everyone brought calcium and such. But within a week, hide-chan already resumed pre-production at home. Since he needed to stand while singing, he did so while carefully balancing on his tip-toes.

Did you hear about X JAPAN braking up in advance?

INA did, by accident. Even hide’s manager didn’t know about it, no one knew about it, so he kept it a secret.

Did you say anything?

They didn’t speak much about this matter. Only after the press conference announcing the break-up. They walked home, worked on “Rocket Dive”. There was an air of “March on to the next thing” after they watched the press conference on TV. But then, in the afternoon, an old friend contacted hide and they decided to go for a drink (laughing). At that point, the Last Live had not been decided yet and it felt like it would end with that press conference, so INA thought it made sense that hide-chan wanted to drink.

X JAPAN’s Last Live was on New Year’s Eve 1997.

INA was there backstage. After that was the Kohaku-performance at NHK, so after the live was over they immediately had to move on to the NHK building. Those who, like INA, were left behind, were like, “There they go.” Afterwards, they had a closing party with the members. Ah, yeah. Pata-chan was there, too.

Yamamoto: There was a full -page advertisement for “hide with Spread Beaver coming…1998” in the morning issue of the Asahi Shinbun, so they waited for it in a pub while drinking.

INA: Except no one had heard about that yet (laughing). INA had known about it, but Joe was all, “Eeh, what’s Spread Beaver?” Since they had been working together all the time already, it wasn’t a problem to just turn them into a band, but everyone was still delightedly surprised. There was no formal contract, so at that point, nothing really changed. After that, they went to LA for recording again. Everyone was involved.

What did you record?

“Pink Spider”, “ever free”, and stuff for the album. But work on the album did not go as planned. “Pink Spider” and “ever free” were to be released in May, and it was decided that they should return to Japan for the promotion. The plan was to release the album and go on tour then, but now there was talk of doing something like a pre-tour, since the album wasn’t finished. First, a pre-tour with the three new songs, then the zilch-tour, then the real national tour once the album was finished. “No matter how you look at it, there isn’t enough time,” they said.

How come the completion of the album was delayed?

Basically, a sense of “Let’s make it better”. It was changed over and over, and the promotion of the singles also got in the way, so the time for recording just disappeared.  But they made it to the point where it should have been finished in a month, maybe a month and a half.

Did you hear anything regarding hide-san’s thoughts on the world?

He wanted to do western music, but by the time zilch was started, western music was already circulating in Japan, and he wondered if it wouldn’t be more interesting to take Spread Beaver aboard. He wasn’t just obsessed with “The World”. Rather, he’d said, when PSYENCE was completed, “This is great, INA-chan. If this doesn’t sell, we will go abroad, we will give up on Japan.” He’d always been conscious of foreign countries and the world as a whole, but it’s not like he absolutely had to make it there above all else.

INA-san, you continued participating in hide-san’s work after he died, didn’t you? Just now, you told me about listening to and editing ten hours of his MC.

That’s simply because it’s interesting. Separate INA from it for an hour and he’s already going back to it. Everyone else from Spread Beaver also comes at once if they are called back without warning. INA didn’t do anything for it for a bit, but this year [2008] there was a lot. He edited the live album and there were also lives to perform. Listening to it as music of today is strange.

Where there ever times when it was difficult?

That, too… There were times during the work on “Ja, Zoo”. And then, after, the tour without hide. That was hard. Because they had to keep smiling amongst the thousands, ten-thousands of people in the audience who were all crying. But it’s because of this that they are here now. Even if there were also grudges… There were a lot of people who held it against them that they did this. But there were also those who said it saved them, so he is now glad they did it.

In that sense, those were difficult circumstances, weren’t they?

To be honest, there were times when INA thought that he also wanted to be saved. However, they decided to do all the things hide-chan had wanted to do in 1998. They did the things they could do, like release a Best of-CD or re-release “Tell Me” with the band. And when things calmed down, they opened the hide museum. Altogether, they held a lot of events. Since INA is the one participating in the museum the most (laughing).

And so, DJ INA was born. (laughs)

At first, he was a false DJ. He did hide’s tour as a DJ. After all, there were people waiting for it who did not just want to listen to hide’s music at home but enjoyed experiencing it loudly with everyone else, and things would continue after this. There was the memorial summit with X JAPAN, Luna Sea and all the others, as well as tens of thousands of people. If there were things INA could do for that, he ought to do them.

There are too many memories, aren’t there?

When INA thinks about them, they rapidly come back. At the launch party for the memorial summit, he talked to Pata and it brought back a lot of stories. Things normally forgotten that none the less stayed in everyone’s heart.

Did you ever fight?

When it came to making music, there were things resembling fights, but never outside of that.

You were the same age?

Yes. Their birthdays were one day apart. INA’s is on 12 December.

INA-san, what kind of person was hide-san to you?

He honestly doesn’t know.

Anything you want to say to hide-san?

Things like “Thank you.” It was interesting, and it stayed interesting after hide-chan was gone. It’s strange, though… INA’s feelings haven’t changed now that he supports hide’s activities after his death as opposed to them working together when he was alive. What he wants to say is just “Thank you.”

[pleistocene-pride]

Happy Ice Age Week: Castoroides better known as the giant beaver, is an extinct genus of beaver that lived throughout North America during the Pleistocene to early holocene some 2.1 million to 11,000 years ago. The first remains of castoroides known to science were consisting of a skull was unearthed from a peat bog near Nashport Ohio in 1837 during the digging of the Ohio Canal. These remains would be formally described by American geologist John Wells Foster in 1838, who named the animal castoroides meaning “beaver like” in latin. Since then hundreds of castoroides specimens have been found from Alaska and Canada on down to Florida, being especially concentrated around the midwestern United States in states near the Great Lakes, particularly Illinois and Indiana. Today two species are considered valid: C. ohioensis & C. dilophidus. Reaching some 6 to 7.5ft (1.8 to 2.3m) in length and 170 to 275lbs (77 to 125kgs) in weight, Casteroides was the largest known rodent in North America during the Pleistocene and the largest known beaver. The hind feet of the giant beaver were much larger than in modern beavers, while the hind legs were shorter. The tail was longer and may not have been paddle-shaped as in modern beavers. The shape of Castoroides large incisors would have made it much less effective at cutting down trees than living beavers, meaning that they likely didn’t build damns and lodges in the same manner. In life castoroides would have been heavily reliant on lakes and wetlands where it would both avoid predators and feed upon primarily aquatic plants. Remains of the giant beaver, along with human artifacts and the remains of other megafauna from several sites shows that there were some interactions between Paleo-Indians and Casteroides. Many native tribes such as the Innu, Mississaugas, Algonquin, & Anishinaabe all feature giant beavers in their traditional mythology, which many believe is evidence of there ancestors interaction with Castoroides.

Art used can be found at the following links:

[blanketforcas]

(mild negativity ahead!)

oh that urge to be able to sit jackles down and explain that queer castiel doesn’t hinge on reciprocated destiel. the angel is gay regardless of how dean feels!

i think the two — queer!cas and fully canon destiel — are so intertwined in his head and that’s why he feels the need to try to explain away the gay whenever he talks about castiel’s feelings and describes them as otherworldly/heavenly/not lustful or romantic etc because he’s so intent on his straight interpretation of dean.

it’s frustrating because unfortunately the way he talks about it undermines cas’ character growth and an arc that is very obviously extremely meaningful and important to misha and a lot of fans

(ask inspired by your tags here: https://blanketforcas.tumblr.com/post/735811813423349760/they-really-missed-the-opportunity-for-cas-to-say)

i have complicated feelings about the why of it all and also go back & forth on it sometimes, so i'll just post your ask as is

[robbie-roo]

hi would you like to perhaps trade modern animal facts for dinosaur facts.........

WOULD I????

Did you know cats have whiskers on their feet it's right up near their topmost toe it helps them figure out where to pounce when hunting

Shrews are cool as FUCK so because they are so small they need to have a very high metabolism- small body = loses heat faster some of them are as small as almonds!!! they are incredibly powerful hunters and can hold a territory that can be up to over 600 yards!!!! they have to eat a LOT to keep up with their high metabolism so when they hunt they will kill something and leave it there if they manage to catch something else before they finish eating and only once they no longer have any prey to catch will they eat their stockpile, the bodies of their kills are usually stacked up together. Shrews also have super fast heart and breath rates they lose heat super fast and their heart can be up to 800 bpm and their breath up to 500/minute Shrews live in high altitude and climates so how are they keeping their body warm? they use the snow as an insulater! they'll burrow under the snow and use it as a way to keep the heat inside their tunnels. when a shrew is pregnant they will eat a lot more a 7lb shrew will eat 8lbs of food for example- and their milk can shift through lactation for nutrition (colostrum and weaning milk for example)

speaking of reproduction- just like bees male mouse opossums will die right after mating- as they reach their sexual maturity they will go into overdrive they won't eat and have a very high stress level males of this species very rarely survive more than a year

you might know that all animals (aside from primates/humans) have an extra layer in the back of their eye called the tapetum lucidum, this is what eye shine is ot helps soak in light when in the dark

speaking of vision teehee

only primates have trichromatic vision most mammals only have dichromatic vision where they lack the cone rods to see green/yellow colors

ok so hearing right? so most animals other than us have pinna which makes it so their ears can move towards sound but mammals also hear different frequencies like I'm sure you've heard about how cats talk to their kittens in a different way than older cats? humans do that too! when we use baby talk for pets or children but some animals speak out of our frequencies entirely for example mice will sing to each other to find mates!

OK more specific animal facts- beavers are SICK ok so their skulls look like this

see that giant open space behind their front teeth? they use that space to suck in their cheeks to create a blockage and make sure they don't get wood chips down their throat when chomping on trees for their dams

bats have little tiny bumps on their wings for wind turbulence

some fish have electroreception which is when you can sense electric currents by other organisms with like open channels on their cells but so can MOLES!!!

baby cheetas are born with extra fur and slightly different markings to look more like Hyena pups so that they are less likely to be attacked by them

speed round- farm edition (because I was an animal educator at a farm for years)

goats are immune to poison ivy and you can still drink their milk after

horses only breathe through their nose they can't breathe from their mouths

domestic sheep HAVE to be sheared every year as they will just continue to grow wool forever and ever until death

llamas are super clean animals a llama herd will designate one specific area for pooping they're also super good guard animals and are used to kill foxes going after chickens sometimes

emus can run 31mph (the one I worked with named Mu was also mean as hell but they can be super sweet)

bunnies sleep with their eyes open as they are prey animals they also will almost always poop as they are eating and must be eating or at least offered food nearly 24/7 or they will die similar to a shrew

goat horns are connected directly to their skulls and they LOVE when you scratch in-between them for them :)

most animals have a baculum (penis bone) except us and herbivores [that was an adult group fact not a children group fact]

I'll leave it there for now but I always have more >:)

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #31

The Battle of Big Wand

Part 5 of reacting to this episode (spoiler-free)!

And we're back! Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda have run off and Dev is eating his feelings through pudding.

Good to note Wanda says it's been weeks since Peri granted a wish. They're so stressed out...

Their son is dying!!! Their precious baby boy they were denied for thousands of years and have only had for about 22 years!! Whom they left behind to go on vacation through time for 10,000 years!!! oh no, he's got anxiety...

From a story standpoint, I like that Cosmo and Wanda aren't "just" in a cage, and even if they were freed, they wouldn't leave their dying son to interfere with the rest of the plot if they can help it. That works great.

Aw, Peri's mumbling about bringing Dev food from the cereal bar and that's the one thing he told his parents he was excited about at Dev's house. And Dev's affected... He's wobbling...

Dev recently turned 10 and he is dealing with really heavy situations.

I like his "Aha! There!" as he's looking for excuses about why he's not interested in saving Peri.

Dev: Always with Da Rules! Holding me back; keeping me from getting what I want!!

I wish Da Rules had been emphasized more in New Wish because we barely saw them and I really think the weight they carry would make this scene stronger, but I like it!

He is having a ROUGH day...

I don't personally love the art style for Dev's tears... I think it's a bit silly for the heaviness of the scene since it doesn't seem to be dripping off his face, just kinda going into the void... It looks more like light than water, but it has a unique aesthetic and I admire that.

Something something, Dale's tears in "Lost and Founder's Day" were huge gushing fountains as he had a breakdown and Dev has rivers...

Oh, I'd know THAT look anywhere... It's how Timmy looked in "Meet the OddParents" when he was losing Cosmo and Wanda and we got "It's okay, guys... It was worth it. I'll be fine. It's all good... IT'S NOT ALL GOOD; I'M NOT FINE; I'M GONNA MISS YOU!!"

Dev is holding it the flip together if he can mirror the devastation of Timmy torn from his fairy family after 51 years...

... especially since Dale's level of tears exist in this show:

Local billionaire forced into 7 years of underground child labor, starvation, and other abuses has a complete breakdown whenever he's at risk of losing what he has now, more at 11...

And the crown is OFF... Dev once again slipping away to work things through by himself. I expect no less than him seeking solitude when things are hard... It's definitely his pattern by now.

I... didn't know there was a key, so it pulled me out to try figuring out what that item he threw down was. I think it might've been a punchier moment if that had been a bigger deal, but that's nitpicky. Alas, Dev will not be jumping in the pit.

I think it would be funny if Dev panicked and jumped into the pit and then he couldn't get out, and Irep just left him there, so he's yelling for his dad and Dale's just standing there at the top, clearly Going Through It at the sight of "deep dark torture pit hole beneath the lid that swings open like a trapdoor." Dale's been okay so far, but I feel like seeing his lookalike son in The Torture Pit would definitely be a trigger for him... Not necessarily something that would kick him into gear to save Dev, but I think it'd spook him. -> I think the Anti-Fairies should push the cage lid shut after Dev jumps down so he's trapped and screaming for help, and that really snaps something in Dale :)

Wanda still taking shots at Dev, oh no. I... don't love that, actually? He's clearly going through stuff. Hmm...

Okay. I liked the show-don't-tell we had when Dev questioned Irep why the other Fairies were here (and not just "the usuals"). And I liked how he and Irep were arguing and his dad cut in to tell him to "listen to his business partner," leading Dev to protest that they're not partners if they don't listen, etc.

This feels off? It's both a tell instead of show (Wanda telling us "I think deep down, he has good in him," which we literally just saw and have regularly seen throughout the series since he started letting down his walls), and it's kinda victim-blamey tbh?

-> Maybe I'm wrong on that, but it just... surprises me to hear that from the mouth of someone who's been in the godparenting line of work for 50,000 years. She's clearly seen this kid has issues (as early as "Peace of Pizza" when Dev hugged Cosmo who was disguised as Dale and Wanda was disguised as the boot).

-> I get that he's currently taking over Fairy World and that her son is dying on the floor... I just expected more sympathy from her, especially since she's seen Dev at his best (joking around with Hazel) and Timmy caused both her and Cosmo back-up in the OG series multiple times by complete accident and/or Cosmo and Wanda's failure to communicate their needs. That might not be canon here, though... but even if it's not, she's seen Dev at his best when he's kind, playful, imaginative, and generous towards Hazel, so I'm just really surprised.

-> I think it throws me off because Dev just saved her son's life and instead of saying thank you, she's making a point of emphasizing that she doesn't think he's a good kid unless you delve incredibly deep inside him. Oof...

OG series Wanda (actual dialogue from "Playdate of Doom"): You have to learn how to forgive people after they try to destroy you! New Wish Wanda (emotionally): This kid actually sucks. We should spit on him.

To be fair, in my second post for this finale, I did say she tends to have a black and white view of things and I cited her bitterness towards Foop, even knowing he's a baby of a wildfire species who was raised in Abracatraz. She really seems to struggle with people having facets, which was interesting.

Come to think of it, she also did this with Blonda back in the day- She was either furious with her or apologetic and accepting, but then she went full savagery again. I guess it's just her thing.

??? She also totally ripped the gold stars off Poof's Good Baby chart when she thought he was acting out against Foop during their playdate, and she made Poof watch her do it, and she and Cosmo eventually took him all the way down to zero, and... that's kinda messed up, actually. He's a good boy :( Also, something something, Wanda forcing Poof to hug Foop after Poof made it very clear he wasn't comfortable with it, Wanda too afraid to stand up to her dad in "Talkin' Trash," something something...

I think during "Certifiable Super Sitter," Foop told Wanda he was sad that his parents had "moved away without leaving a forwarding address again" and he wanted to play with dogs and fire, and Wanda immediately wanted to handcuff him, then a moment later grabbed him by the collar and yelled at him... hey Wanda. what on earth. he's bein' vulnerable...

-> Wanda stop seeing people as only Good or Bad challenge (impossible).

Cosmo keeps cutting her off about it?? She sees the bad in Dev and Cosmo seems to see the good. That's interesting.

I'm glad Cosmo is once again reaching his magical back-up threshold sooner than Wanda. He did that in "The Same Game," and his magic drains way faster than hers or Poof's according to the meters in "Grow Up, Timmy Turner." It's kind of his thing (to me).

Oh, apparently my worldbuilding notes say male Fairies drain fast and hard because their bodies are designed to release a ton of magic during childbirth, so they can't hold it in well when it's being actively drained out of them.

Yeah, that tracks. Sorry, Poof.

HEY!! I was just joking when I said Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were slipping off to canoodle and using "chasing Puppet Hazel" as an excuse, but why is Puppet Hazel here and they're not??

She gave them the slip and they really said "oh well; we tried. Time to snuggle" and this is why Irep hates them. sdfkl.

Peri is dying (This IS about him).

I like how they have to power the Big Wand with electricity kind of like how Jimmy Neutron had to rewire it back in Power Hour 1 (and forgot to plug it in).

Although, I do like how in "Crocker Shocker," Fairy World is powered by belief in Fairies... "Battle of Big Wand" AU where this episode goes exactly like "Crocker Shocker," which means Fairy World losing power also removes its ability to float, so it plunges towards Giant Bucket of Acid World and Dev has to do a total 180 halfway through his scheme to avoid a horrific death.

Actually, that's freakin' HILARIOUS. Maybe I'll write that. I just really want him and his dad to be scrambling to higher ground and freaking out. Stupid. I hate it. I need this so much.

?? I may be misremembering, but I think Wanda makes lemonade from Cosmo's sweat / dust again in this episode similar to "Nectar of the Odds" which is... hmm.

Y'know what, now that I think about it... We should never let the man who spent 7 years perfecting his skills of squeezing juice out of things get this close to Fairies. TERRIBLE idea.

[cnt'd - It would be wise to prepare yourself for Opinions (TM), and if that does not sound up your alley, no shame in that]

Ooh, there goes Hazel's rule-free wish! Restoring Fairy World to normal.

... Eh, it's not as funny as my secret hope that Hazel would be too anxious to use it and wish for something silly, but I was right with my "use it to save people when they're dying from magical back-up" theory. I'll take it.

Aw, Dev with his arm on his chair. He looks goofy for someone having a terrible day. He looks exhausted.

Mind-wiping the planet? NO! My Club Redheads Who Didn't Get Mindwiped!!

Oh my flippin' gee, it's a really, really good thing I didn't set Happy Peppy Gary up as under Pixie protection and therefore immune to mindwipes and then write a whole arc about him raging against Fairy World and hoarding all his remaining friends in this club!! It's a good thing I didn't do that!! Oh no...

It's a good thing I don't have to treat New Wish as canon in my 'fics if I don't want to. I think he's suffered enough. He would flip out. skldjf.

... Actually, I guess he's not on the planet during this part of the timeline... So he'd be fine even if he didn't have immunity. but the rest of the club is toast.

Cannot express enough how funny it is that this is the equivalent of Gary coming back with pizza and his entire world is on fire AGAIN... Jorgen stop mindwiping Gary's friends challenge... plz, no more...

They're okay!! Peri looks so tall. He's all grown up!

?? So... Huh. Hang on. Why is Peri okay? Dev didn't get involved. I thought he was dying from magical back-up because he hadn't granted any of Dev's wishes for weeks.

Can Wanda just Do That... Can she do that... That doesn't sound right.

Huh! I cannot believe I was on the right track (in my first theory post for this episode) when I said that the alt ending I thought was funny (but doubted would happen) involved Dev losing his memories and Peri, but how it would probably be a good thing for both him and Peri...

... I just thought he was going to start working things out with his dad (maybe with Dale realizing he messed up in hiring Vicky and regretting he wasn't there) and Dev might be deemed un-miserable, and... not so much because he outed magic to the world :'D

I had high hopes for you, Dev... Sorry, kiddo.

I'm so surprised. I genuinely didn't think we were going this direction?? Did... did we get any foreshadowing for this?

Fingers crossed this means more Daddy Issues episodes for Dev if we get more seasons, as I wouldn't want that resolved too fast considering how deep both their issues seem to go.

omg, is the window design behind him a copy of his game tablet?

But he's ready to face his punishment, taking accountability and accepting his consequences like a mature adult, even though he's young and broken...

... Uh, big yikes for Dev here being like "Well, maybe I deserve [to lose my caretaker and magical memories], Hazel." Big abuse cycle vibes... Uh-oh...

I hope we get a Season 2. I'd really like to see him work through this; it's a dark place to leave off ;;;

Wow. Is this really the route we're going? Dev's slipping towards "I deserve punishment and I'm going home without magic - or Peri - to live with my dad," and Hazel laughs in his face & tells him "Oh yeah, you definitely deserve it." ??

Holy cow, that's brutal. I write dark stuff all the time, but that gets to me for some reason?? Hazel, why would you say that?

Timmy "I forgive H.P. & Anti-Cosmo" Turner & Chloe "I forgive Kevin and Foop" Carmichael & Hazel "get wrecked" Wells. omfg?? I guess Timmy and Chloe making excuses for people who did bad things is also saying Something about them (which is Chloe's Thing in multiple episodes), so it's not necessarily good, but... I mean, H.P. and Anti-Cosmo did leave him alone after this point in the series apart from Anti-Cosmo kidnapping Cosmo while thinking he was kidnapping Timmy after Timmy downloaded critical life-changing info to his brain, and Foop became very fond of Chloe, so...

... Huh. I did not think I was this invested in Dev. Now I just feel... weird? Played.

Okay, so... First of all, kudos to Hazel for not throwing her morals away to chase a guy who wronged her. Respect. I said in an earlier post that I wanted boundary setting and... I guess I got it.

But... are we doing this? So, why didn't Jorgen mindwipe people after Dev became king of America? The news reporter clearly still remembered him. What's the plan if someone greets him as "former king" again? Surely he'll question that.

Why ?? is Foop still allowed to attend school in the main series despite harassing everyone, but Dev gets dunked on ?? Is it just because Foop lives in a world of microaggressions about how people don't expect him to be capable of being a good person because he's an Anti-Fairy? lmao??

It can't be that they're scared of Anti-Cosmo... School straight-up yoinked Foop's summer camp privileges.

- This is hilarious? iirc, Jorgen stopped erasing Crocker's memories after Season 7 because the benefit of him knowing (i.e. Fairies sucking power out of him) outweighed the benefit of him not knowing (which is why we get my favorite joke in Season 9 where Cosmo blatantly tells Crocker he's a fairy), but Jorgen took one look at Dev and said "Bad boy. Dangerous." -> Okay, I guess I'll just be normal about this :') - I feel like Dev would be really mad if he found out how all the other villains have gotten off easy in the past - I'm scratching my head, but the only villain I remember being punished this severely was Crocker, who suffered as a child despite doing nothing wrong (plus his multiple offenses as an adult, but he was trying to kill people) - Arguably the Anti-Fairies suffer by being locked up, so... I guess there's that. And yeah, I get that Norm doesn't like his lamp. - Okay, I guess Foop broke so hard that he developed an alt personality who sticks with him from his second appearance in Season 7 all the way through Season 10, but...

I know Dev took over Fairy World, but he clearly expressed remorse and saved Peri. So I feel weird about him going back to his dad, this time without a godparent to look after him...

... but it's horribly in character for how the Fairy Council - and Jorgen by extension - see their world. Their canon has literally always been "we use humans as a power source and dump them when they get scary," which is heavily implied to be the reason for the hard rule of leaving when they're adults, so idk what I expected...

Like, they booted Crocker to the curb and it literally wasn't Crocker's fault he lost Cosmo and Wanda as a kid. This is extremely in character for Fairy World.

Actually, I should be cautious about saying it's in character for Jorgen, who has huge issues about erasing memories and stress eats his feelings.

Huh. Y'know, this reminds me a lot of the first half of "Timmy's Secret Wish" when Poof and Foop get sent to the Hocus Poconos, but I love that scene; it's one of my favorites in the series. Maybe I'm anxious about this plot point because if there's no Season 2, this is Dev's finale. I feel pretty confident that if we had a Season 2 that builds on this, I'd like it more- It would be a step in his journey rather than the end. It just worries me to know they did this when there's no Season 2 confirmed, because that's a wild thing to drop on us in the final minutes when there's been no memory erasure foreshadowing in this episode (and not much in the series as a whole). Like... I straight-up did not see this coming. This is a total tone shift from the OG series where we had fluffier endings, so I... genuinely am caught off guard. I was not set up to expect this, even with the drama of "Lost and Founder's Day" and "Operation: Birthday Takeback." -> ?? Even with multiple days spent analyzing this episode as I liveblogged, I saw no foreshadowing for this... I don't think. I mean, sure, actions have consequences, but wowza. Maybe I'm just biased because I've been bingeing the OG series again while doing art and there are plenty of episodes that do a great job of foreshadowing (Ex: "Anti-Poof" depicting Foop sleepy and Poof taking naps before the climax where everyone sings a lullaby to put Foop to sleep). This... feels weird after days of analysis. I feel like I've been played? I did not see the set-up for this. Ah, well... can't win them all. I think I'll like this much more when there's a Season 2 that can build on this. But I'm very "Hmm" because throughout my liveblogs, a theme for me has been "I wish they'd emphasize Da Rules and consequences; I'm very unclear what New Wish's lore is" so I feel... irritated that this got dropped on us with so little foreshadowing. Alas... -> Tbh, maybe this is what Dev needs? (To not wonder if he's friends with Hazel only because "she wished for them to be?") A soft reset for him where he remembers their fun and fights without the magic might be a good move for his character to look inside himself and try to solve his problems without magic. but holy flip. holy wow, Hazel. omg, I think Timmy would be stunned if he met you. Hazel confirmed down to torment H.P. and Anti-Cosmo on international TV?? Hazel confirmed ready to dropkick baby Foop into a black hole because he's a bad little boy??

:o We never saw Hazel's mom (a therapist) work with Dev. Is that what we're setting up for Season 2? Because if that's true, I like that part.

?? I think Hazel is trying to communicate that actions have consequences, but her laughing and saying he deserves it just doesn't feel right to me. Dev (for all his many red flags) is one of the nicest bully characters I've ever seen; he clearly regretted snapping at her earlier in the season and apologized to her of his own choice.

He even came to his own conclusion in this episode that he didn't like what Irep was doing (hurting people), AND he realized his dad doesn't care for him and started working through that. No one had to carry him through that. His dad didn't have to monologue about not caring about his son. Dev put those pieces together himself.

If he'd been a harsh bully in front of the audience the whole time, I think this wouldn't feel so shocking, but considering what a loyal friend he's been to Hazel in the past (Ex: Willing to lure his dad's robots away from her & being friendly to her when she came to his birthday), this is a lot to take in right now.

I'm gonna have to sleep on this (and rewatch it without pausing; I've been working through this episode for days).

I feel bad for not loving this, but... ?? Wow. That's... a lot to take in.

So... we're losing Peri; is that right? That... kinda shocks me because we barely got any episodes of them together. Oof :( That's a super engaging dynamic... Just gone? Oh, my heart. I hope they get back together in a future season? I said earlier I liked the idea of Peri realizing he's not ready to godparent, but this doesn't give me that vibe. I wish we knew how Peri feels.

I like that Dev's taking accountability- something I remember him not doing back in "Lost in Fairy World" and stuff, and it does feel right that there would be severe consequences for his actions. I do think he admires Hazel a lot, but he needs to work on how he treats others- I agree I cannot in good conscience say he's "doing well" if we've only seen him be truly kind towards Hazel, and everyone else is unclear (and he bullied those kids in the past).

I understand why it's dangerous to allow him access to magic now that "taking over Fairy World" and "locking up and nearly killing his assigned fairy" are on his track record.

And I'm not really surprised that the Fairies, who are deeply concerned about their personal safety, are willing to take magic from him even if he has to go home miserable. I get it. but holy cow.

?? I think it makes me feel better to think about it in terms of "Yes, he'll go home miserable, but magic is a privilege, not a right". omg tho. holy flip. Actually, Fairy World did also erase Timmy's memories multiple times, both for worse and better things he did than this ("Timmy's Secret Wish" & rude clone in "Fairy Idol," which wasn't technically Timmy but they still dropped consequences on him). So... it is in character. tbh, this is incredibly funny?? It really shines a light on how Timmy's biggest strength was often said to be his imagination and creativity, and he showed this over and over. He'd dodge and weave and spin his little gears like mad, taking down the big players in the magical world left and right, and I honestly like how Chloe, Dev, and Hazel don't do that. -> Chloe managed to win Foop over because reaching out was her strength. But imagination was Timmy's. Timmy was a master at his craft. He worked hard on it. We regularly saw him take the time to think, plan, and outwit his antagonists... but the Fairies mopped the floor with Dev. omg?? that's hilarious? Dev didn't even try to argue his case, or make an effort to appeal to anybody? Incredible, actually. No notes. -> I... hope it's maturity and not learned helplessness. but... considering I said his pattern was that he kept withdrawing and relying on himself without reaching out to others for help... uh-oh..... I don't feel so good about where this is going for his mentality...

I think the Pixies should make a move on Dev and I'm not joking. The Fairies clearly don't want him and the Anti-Fairies have had their fun. I desperately want to see Dev ricochet between the entire magical world.

- World's biggest plot twist: Dev ends up fawned over by multiple species and we bring back the deleted scenes of magical dudes bugging Timmy in "Fairly Oddlympics"... Dev's now the one Anti-Cosmo bothers because he NEEDS to know if he's a good cowboy, and H.P. asks Dev if he's prettier in his dress than Jorgen and Anti-Cosmo are <3 - Seriously though, since Timmy used to play the role of breaking gridlocks when the three races argue (because he knew them all), I think Dev should do the same. Dev and his many weird uncles...

I wish we could see Dev's eyes in this scene. I personally would've liked to see his eyes the whole finale because I think it really would've gotten to me and made it hurt.

I get that he usually wears them when he's being devious or sneaky or closed-off, but it does make him feel more distant. Which is probably the point since this is a children's show and you don't necessarily want him to be seen as "the good guy" to little kids, but I would've liked to see his eyes and connect with him more.

Hm. I guess I shouldn't be surprised this was his ending. I've been told by agents that "you can't have messy moral grays like [my writing] in middle grade," and it IS a kids' show... They probably can't write him behaving THIS badly and let it go unpunished. But... hm. I guess this tracks? Foop is a non-human baby whose evil is over-the-top (laser guns, nuclear warheads, black holes, boxes full of magical spiders), so it's probably okay to play with it and still let him stay in school. Maybe Dev can't be "too relatable" with bad behavior like that. I wonder if that's why they kept Irep's cube head? I know kids' shows generally opt for simplified protagonists and complex villains (often with facial hair) to make it easier for young kids to connect with the nice protag and harder to connect with the evil villain. Maybe Irep needed to be emphasized as non-human and that's also why Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, and Dale had mild behavior in this episode.

Ooh boy. I'd like to see a Season 2, though. This is one heckuva plot twist and cliffhanger to drop on us for a season finale? For a possible series finale??

AND! HE'S! DOWN!! Memory wiped! ... unless his shades saved him, which be really funny considering how Jorgen's wearing shades to protect his eyes and Hazel had her eyes closed.

I think shades are pretty standard across the series when memory wipes come into play?? I think Jorgen wore those when erasing Crocker's memory, playing into why Cosmo and Wanda (who didn't) also lost their memories of being Crocker's godparents. Is that what we're going for? That would be funny.

No good-bye with Peri? No taking off his shades? :(

Oof. It hurts to hear Hazel write Dev off as a jerk. He IS a bully; I'll give her that. I think he should have to fight uphill to win her over again, but Hazel's thing definitely seems to be blocking out people if she doesn't want to talk (Ex: closing off when she was upset she and her friends scored poorly on the friendship test, annoyed at Dev at the end of "Lost and Founder's Day" and then walking off without giving him the chance to explain, no on-screen decompression after the "Operation: Birthday Takeback" drama beyond her very quick "Dev, what are you on about? We're still friends even though I literally yelled at you and walked off" bit in "Battle of the Dimmsonian"), which is ?? ... I mean, that is a choice for a protagonist. Huh.

-> Can't stop thinking about how in "Battle of the Dimmsonian," Dev recontexualizes what happened by claiming they had an argument, even though we definitely saw Dev being quiet when talking while Hazel snapped at him and walking off without him getting to say his piece... Like, it's been haunting me ever since I saw that episode but I wasn't gonna say it, but now I'm... hmmmm..

When people yell at ME and I don't get the chance to speak, I don't consider it an argument. That happened not long before I watched this, in fact, and I consider it the other person being rude while I held my cool and waited for them to wind down their rant. I don't consider it an argument if it wasn't mutual bickering on some level.

I... I'm sure I'm overthinking it, and I'm maybe biased by that recent yelling experience, but since we KNOW Dev has issues about thinking he's not good enough to make / keep / deserve friends, it's hard not to read this as "Dev accidentally internalized the belief that he and Hazel blew up in a mutual fight." oh boy. I'm dying, squirtle...

-> btw, I think it's fine that Hazel walked away after "Lost and Founder's Day"; proud of her for doing that if that's what she felt was best. I do think she should've told Dev sooner that she was over the fight tho, considering he clearly didn't know and legit thought she broke off their friendship. And meanwhile Hazel was like "??? Friends can fight; it doesn't mean we stopped being friends."

Hilarious. Girl, he cannot read your mind. You KNOW you snapped at him. You KNOW you didn't tell him you were over it. You KNOW you two didn't talk until he approached you first even though you were at the museum from daylight to sunset and may have even had classes together. Super interesting dynamic (and Hazel is VERY justified in thinking Dev relapsed, called her a mean name, and mugged her)...

But also, she did not let him explain the part about how he wasn't part of his dad's brain-zapping scheme or that he saved her from robots with ill intentions by taking her hat and running off, we NEVER see him explain onscreen what actually happened so she might still think that now, and furthermore... oof.

- Fair judgment or textbook case for fundamental attribution error? You decide! (Again, Hazel is allowed to be annoyed... I am just Shook). Oh, that is an INTERESTING way to differentiate her from Timmy and Chloe... holy COW... - Actually tbf, Chloe backstabbed Timmy multiple times, sold out Mark's alien identity for extra credit, and she does hate Kevin's guts, but...

Cry... S1 Dev "Maybe I deserve this" Dimmadome vs. S1 Timmy "I did something bad and I don't deserve sleep" Turner forcing himself to stay awake multiple days... ruh-roh......

I'm probably reading this wrong, but this is setting off all my alarms...

Holy flip, Dev. I've never seen a more "Aliens Exist"-animatic-coded character in my life besides Dib, and I was gonna draw it with the Crockers. I have a new vision... Like this:

... Okay, I actually REALLY want this 'fic now :'D Dev and Dale go home and both hang out in Dale's lab puzzling over the weird notes about fairies someone left behind... Theorizing together... Ya Boix sparkling water cans all over the floor... Dev making progress while Dale is doing work business, then catching him up when he comes back... Youch.

Well, all righty!! Wow. I...... Huh.

The rest of my notes have been split into several subsequent posts. They're very long as they cover reactions to the rest of the finale (Yes, I was very confused to learn the thing I thought was Hazel's rule-free wish isn't her rule-free wish) and then I'll post my reflections on the series as a whole. Enjoy, and thanks for coming on this liveblog journey thus far! Not done just yet... Heads up- If you didn't like the dip into critique this post took, you may not want to see the upcoming posts for this liveblog series, which are both positivity and critique alongside comparisons to the OG series.

Also, if you're interested in a sideblog exclusively for my FOP worldbuilding, detailed character bios, 'fics, and fanart (without liveblogs or this type of critique), you may like my @riddledeep blog.

-> I just finished tidying it after hiatus- My new public announcement (pinned post) is queued for the day after this post goes out, and maybe you'll like it. I'm open to self-advertisement for people's FOP AUs / worldbuilding blogs or AO3 series to follow, so read that post for more info!

-> Here's the sideblog masterpost if you want to browse my character bios and worldbuilding posts.

Thanks again for reading my liveblogs!

[mywaywardcupcake]

I do love the idea of Atem out here just giving the monsters names. And this is my beaver warrior, Louise. They are best friends with Isaac, the black luster soldier. Sometimes they hang out with Jessica, the feral imp.

[naradreamt]

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