#New Mutation/ Conclusion

[filmjunky-99]

t h e a n d r o m e d a s t r a i n, 1971 🎬 dir. robert wise

'We have the organism at Wildfire and we continue to study it. We now know beyond a doubt that other forms of life exist in the universe.

However, with this new knowledge, there's no guarantee that another so-called biological crisis won't occur again.' - stone

'What do we do about that?' - senator

'Precisely, Senator. What do we do?' - stone

[codenamesazanka]

My prediction on what was Scissors-kun's deal ended up being pretty correct: he was indeed abused - horrifically so, being tied up and locked away - and then abandoned by his family during the war because of his quirk. Except Horikoshi actually exceeded my expectations and revealed that it wasn't because of behavioral issues (not that it would've justified it! Never. but I was imagining a parallel to Toga), it was only because his quirk was a random mutation, and also his family sewn his mouth shut.

Because thing is. The set up for something like this was here all along. I predicted it based on things that were already happening in the story. Continued fear of 'abnormal' quirks; horrific domestic violence enacted due to this; Heroes never catching wind of this because this was from a family that weren't consider 'Villains', so this was Scissors-kun's normal. And this normal broke and the dark secret got revealed only because something extraordinary happened - the country collapsed. Scissors-kun family left him, so he was able to escape.

But... none of this is apparently going to be addressed. The happy ending is Scissors-kun being found and helped, instead of any widespread, far-reaching, systemic change that would prevent shit like this. No, 'but it's obviously going to be addressed off-screen' doesn't count. The story brought up on-page and explicitly that quirk discrimination is a thing, that abusive quirk counseling/treatment is a thing, that abuse and abandonment of children is a thing. I expect the solutions to be on-page and explicit as well, and not just 'if I reach out when it's not my business, then...!'

(Also. it is their fucking business. They're government employees. Their job is to save people and guarantee the welfare of all citizens. it is very much their business.)

I'm not upset that Scissors-kun isn't Shigaraki; never really expected that in the first place. Shigaraki died. Deku fucking failed. I've come to terms with it. I'm not upset that Shigaraki wasn't saved, but this kid was; not even in the meta-, story-, character-sense, because, fine, he's replacement goldfish Tenko, but I'll take the 'we'll do better next time', it's a good thing this kid gets saved, it's what Shigaraki would've wanted, it's what the League fought to destroy for. It's even good that The Old Lady has become a better person.

What baffles me is that this save occurs pretty much because of nothing except the purported 'What Deku Showed The World That Day (When He Killed A Man)'. This save isn't because Heroes and civilians have more awareness of victims. This save isn't because society is promising to stop quirk discrimination. This save isn't because Ochako learns of Toga's abusive parents and so sets out to tackle this issue of quirk-related domestic violence. This save isn't because Deku has lead a new movement to stop bystander inaction. (Moreover, about 'bystander inaction' - Scissors-kun lists 5 other people outside his immediate family of Dad/Mom/Sis who knew about him... and did nothing. His uncle, his aunt, his grandparents, his great-grandfather - if they didn't directly help sew Scissors-kun mouth shut, they still turned a blind eye and never alerted authorities. (Tenko explicitly states this as one of the factors that led to him lashing out, but I guess the story forgot about it long ago, so. Even with the memories sharing of Chapter 417 and 418, Deku never sees this.))

As I said above, none of the issues that lead to Scissors-kun being in the circumstances he was in has been addressed.

This save isn't because any random civilian has decided to help - because any rando can and should help! This isn't even because Old Lady came to the guilt-ridden conclusion herself to do better.

This save is because Old Lady, carrying the burden of guilt, watched Deku kill the kid she didn't save all those years ago (tho she doesn't know it) and is apparently inspired by this act of "I can't help but do something" to finally take action (as helpfully narrated by Hawks). It's not because civilians have done any deep thinking about the rot that permeates their culture; it's because Deku was a hard-working murderer on TV. There were dozens of other people on the street. Real change should've been a whole crowd of people seeing Scissors-kun and wanting to help - someone giving him a blanket or offering him shoes while another calls for an ambulance???

But whatever. I just want to state this: the first thing that truly saved Scissors-kun was Shigaraki's destruction. Without it, his family would've stayed in that house and kept him locked up. It's really only because of Shigaraki's destruction that Scissors-kun even got the opportunity to find freedom and get his hand held.

[cenorii]

Can't he be killed? (generalized theory)

All info about why Wesker is not dead is now compiled in one place with new info. Each chapter is important to the overall meaning, so don't skip a chapter.

1. Body 2. Cutscene detailing 3. End credits re5 4. Umbrella Corps 5. Suspicious mentions 6. Photo on the wall 7. Weapons 8. Conclusion

I think we should start with the most important fact on which all theories hold - his body. So first we will talk about the properties of Wesker's body.

Chapter 1. Body

Let's start with the infection. The virus in Wesker's body is a single virus called Prototype, which he got from Birkin. According to Birkin's note (Virus Memo from Umbrella Chronicles), Prototype must be injected a few minutes before the "envisioned contingency". This is an obvious hint that the virus only activates after an "envisioned contingency", i.e. after stress (physical). But let's answer the question, what is stress, scientifically speaking? That's right, stress is hormones. When a person is injured, their body releases cortisol, the stress hormone, adrenaline, and a host of others. It's these substances that activate the Prototype virus in the body.

When Wesker injected himself with this virus, he needed to receive any conditions of increased stress, in simple words - to cause the very "envisioned contingency", to increase the influence of the virus, helping the body to initiate synthesis. When Tyrant wounded him, Wesker went into anabiosis (according to Virus Memo), and the virus was instantly activated because the wounding caused a huge amount of hormones to be released into the bloodstream. Because of Wesker's original compatibility with the Prototype, he is the perfect host for the virus and the effect he got is the maximum of what the Prototype is capable of.

During his anabiosis, the virus regenerated tissues in Wesker's body, repairing his fatal injury, and continued to slowly alter his body, fusing and invading RNA into his. When Wesker woke up, he didn't have any special abilities at first, though his eyes could glow for a brief moment. The glow in his eyes is closely related to emotion (also hormones), but I'll talk about that later. He felt the lightness of his movements, felt that he could move faster than before (Umbrella Chronicles), because he didn't know what he was really capable of yet, and the virus hadn't had time to change his body completely (we can tell that from his eyes, which were still blue).

Three months after this event, Wesker was able to mutate permanently. His eyes are the only external evidence that the mutation is complete and the virus has changed his body (Code: Veronica).

He has gained a number of abilities: his speed, thanks to the improved structure of his body tissues, can now rival that of a bullet. When he moves quickly, it looks like teleportation to normal people, because the human eye can't keep track of such fast movement. His body is solid, making it painful to damage him in melee combat (in re5, Chris's fists hurt and his face contorts into a grimace after he punches Wesker in the face). His regeneration is capable of healing injuries of any severity. He also has increased strength, but its limits are unknown because Wesker hasn't used it on anything significant. However, he can punch through dense metal with his hand, as well as lift a heavy rocket.

And all of these abilities are closely related to hormones.

Remember how his eyes is glowing in Umbrella Chronicles when he got mad at the RED QUEEN? Now remember every battle against him in re5, as well as the Spencer death scene. Every time, before using the abilities, Wesker's eyes would glow. His eyes are the truest indicator of his emotions. If his eyes are glowing - he is annoyed about something, angry, and all these emotions are the result of hormones.

Hormones are not only the element that activated the virus inside Wesker in re1, but also the tool he uses to control his abilities.

Wesker, provoking his emotions, unconsciously causes bioluminescence in his eyes. By experiencing emotions and making his eyes glow because of it, he can change the density of his body, increase his speed, strength.

Further evidence of this is the scene where Excella pierces his skin with a needle and injects the serum without obstruction. Wesker is calm, his eyes are not glowing, his body density is normal. If he were angry - the needle would break against his skin.

And now we come to the most interesting part of this chapter... What happens if you piss him off to the max? Can he become even stronger than he was in re5? I won't keep you in suspense, the answer to these questions already exists officially - Lost in Nightmares (re5 DLC).

During the events of re5, Wesker's powers are restrained by two factors at once - he wants to test what Chris can do, so he deliberately restrains his powers, and he's also not angry, just annoyed. Because of these two factors, all the fights with him in re5 are only a fraction of what he is capable of.

But in Lost in Nightmares nothing holds him back, for here he is truly angry, he is enraged. He has learned the humiliating truth about himself and his life. And feeling unthinkable irritation that some decrepit old man has the nerve to do this to him and then proclaim his old body as God, Wesker can't contain his emotions. For 10 whole years of living with this power, he kept emotions under control and learned to control them so that his abilities were as effective as possible, which is why such a big shock removed all restrictions from his consciousness and everything that was being held back came out.

In a fight with him he would spare no one, any blow he threw could prove fatal. One simple push with his hand is a long stun. Missed a qte? You're dead. Even in a normal comparison, he's much stronger here than in re5. And that's thanks to the fact that his power is fueled by his anger and frustration, which is a huge amount of hormones.

In the final battle re5 (volcano), Wesker is very angry, but there's a factor that keeps him from using his powers the same way he did in Lost in Nightmares - it's the serum (PG67A/W). But what did this serum do to him? Did it take away his powers? No.

PG67A/W does not take away Wesker's powers, but instead stabilizes them (if administered under the right conditions, when the virus inside him destabilizes over time). If an excessive dose of PG67A/W is administered and causes an overdose, his body becomes severely stressed, as hinted by his headache. After an overdose of PG67A/W, his body tries to cope with the strain and his strength increases even more, making it hard to control. When Chris injected him with another extra dose of PG67A/W, his strength became impossible to control and he gave up speed altogether. This can be seen in the airplane fight: Wesker gradually loses the "grace" of his attacks, they become chaotic, and he loses the ability to move quickly, and with each "teleportation" his jerks become shorter and shorter, and eventually he loses control of this ability altogether.

However, his strength and regeneration aren't something need special control over, nor are they something can "just not use" like high speed. Those are his passive skills, if I may say so, but they too are made more effective by his emotions.

When Wesker impaled the rocket with his hand, he proved that he still had his strength. But strength alone is not enough to stab a rocket. Even the strongest man risks breaking his fingers if he tries to do the same. Wesker's body density is off the charts in this situation. He's so durable that this is the only battle where he can't be stunned (even with a rocket launcher).

He's incredibly angry, and he's also overdosed on Uroboros and all his previous powers are aggravated due to PG67A/W. In that situation, he's invulnerable. And if such a creature falls into the lava, its body density and regeneration won't allow the volcano's temperature to critically harm it.

At the end of re5, Wesker has all the conditions to survive.

Sorry for the lack of gifs with all the moments when Wesker's eyes start to glow… I felt lazy.

Chapter 2. Cutscene detailing

The cutscenes in re5 are incredibly dynamic and directed. The detailing is also their key element, which gives such an aesthetic effect to the overall picture. The game had enough budget to make the cutscenes top-notch, and the developers were up to the task. Or not?

Wesker is a character that is no small part of RE. Not only did he appear in re1, Code: Veronica, and re4, but he was also a major character in Umbrella Chronicles. He had a big impact on lore, other characters, and perhaps even helped boost the popularity of the franchise. If such an important character is destined to die at the end of re5, shouldn't he have a detailed cutscene showing his death? Nemesis had a death animation shown in re3 (1999), even Saddler had a death animation in re4 (2005). Even Sergei Vladimir had a death cutscene in Umbrella Chronicles (2007), but not Wesker in the 2009 game.

In the scene where his death, the final act of his life, is supposed to be shown, all the attention was given to rocket launchers. Don't you find that strange? And then the main characters fly away without even checking (at least from afar) if there will be any activity in the volcano after their shot or not. Isn't Chris used to the fact that after taking critical damage, his enemies can mutate a lot? Flying away like that right away is stupid.

I find the "understatement" in his "death" a brilliant decision - it's a bridge to the future that will serve as an excuse for "why he's alive" if they bring him back, or an excuse for "why he's dead" if Capcom doesn't want to use him again.

Now let's turn our attention to the death of Alex Wesker in Revelations 2:

Her death is final, which is why it has such a detailed cutscene. Her current consciousness is now in a new body (Natalia), so it's necessary to show that the old Alex is finished.

Chapter 3. End credits re5

Toward the end of the song in the credits, you can see a dark object appear below the surface of the water, slowly floating to the left. It's hard to see, so I brightened the video so everyone can see it.

This object appears to be shrouded in tentacles, and also floats from the side of the volcano where Wesker "died". There are no other creatures created with Uroboros in the vicinity. So it can't be anyone else but him.

It could be considered an official hint that he's alive.

Chapter 4. Umbrella Corps

The 2015 game (Umbrella Corps) contains straightforward hints that Wesker is alive. This game is officially declared canon, so ignore its poor ratings. Despite being a bad game, there is some good information in it, but not much at all. So...

The plot: the main character is an unnamed mercenary nicknamed 3A-7. He is part of the Umbrella Corps, a secret corps that belongs to Blue Umbrella, an organization that "reformed and got on the right path". Didn't it seem like a lie back in re7, right? The purpose of this corps is to search for bioweapon samples in quarantined areas that the BSAA has failed to sterilize well. The main character is involved in an operation called "The Experiment" but survives every step of the way due to his combat experience. The plot glimpses an unknown Corps Leader (Executive) who even his subordinates know nothing about. One man who sent 3A-7 on missions once wondered why this Executive was so feared, why he was so intimidating, and why he knew so much about the events in re4, as if he had been to that island himself. But only two men survived the events in re4 - Leon and Wesker. A male subordinate attempted to get the Executive's DNA, but disappeared in the process. He was killed for wanting to know the truth and was replaced by a woman who also knew nothing about her boss. At the end of the story, the main character survives even after the most difficult challenge and is contacted by this mysterious Executive and told that he has plans for 3A-7. The main character is voiced by D.C. Douglas, just like the Executive, whose voice can be heard in co-op mode at the end of the missions.

His phrases: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe7LEaA7em8.

Wesker is also voiced by Douglas. So why would Capcom use such a recognizable voice on a random character? Why voice two characters at the same time with that voice? It can only make sense if the Leader turns out to be Wesker, who survived the volcano.

It's all very suspicious and ambiguous.

Chapter 5. Suspicious mentions

In re6, everyone suddenly learned that all this time Wesker had a son he didn't even know about - Jake Muller.

The note Jake's mother left him before she died reads:

"My beloved son, Jake. Please forgive your mother for leaving you alone so soon. And please don't hate your father. Your father surely still loves you from the bottom of his heart. Stay strong and know that you will meet him one day."

Don't you find Ms. Muller's certainty that Jake will one day meet Wesker suspicious? It certainly could have been a dramatic element, telling the viewer that Jake will not meet him because his father has died and he is now all alone. However, now, knowing all the facts telling us otherwise, Jake's mother's words sound different. They sound like a prophecy. Why was she sure that Jake and Wesker would meet? How deep is this iceberg?

Chapter 6. Photo on the wall

On Karl Heisenberg's (re8) wall are many pictures that are intertwined with red line - it's his board for investigating Miranda and everyone involved in the Village. Chris is one of those involved, Karl is aware that he is here. However, if you use the free camera to get closer to Chris' photo... you can see that there is a red line running from him to some small gray photo that is hard to see from a distance.

At first it appears to be a photo of Karl, however the person in the photo is older than him. I believe this character is intentionally made to look like Karl to confuse the players and not give too direct hints. The other people from the photo are easily recognizable, even references to re1 are present. However, this person from the photo is unknown. The only thing that is known is that he is somehow related to Chris.

If you superimpose Wesker's face from re4r over this photo, you get a perfect match of facial features. If you doubt it's him, just look closely at the shape of the nose, the distance between the nose and mouth, and then look at the shape of the face and chin. They are identical. Considering that the rumors of re4r development came out in 2021 (the year re8 was released), it's not surprising if Wesker's new face could have been used here as a reference... or a hint.

When comparing, it's obvious that this is an aged version of Wesker's new appearance from re4r. In 2021, at the time of the re8 storyline, he is 61 years old. Judging by the fact that Chris's photo is recent, that means Wesker's photo is fresh too. What is unusual is that he now has long hair. However, this could be a very logical outcome, as he chose to go into hiding after re5.

Here's my little edit where I only added different clothes and long hair.

Chapter 7. Weapons

In re7 that it is revealed that the Blue Umbrella are using Wesker's designs to create weapons effective against biological threats. Various firearms signed as "Albert W." are now being used by BSAA soldiers. Isn't that strange? No matter how good these weapons are, naming them after a bioterrorist and enemy of humanity is a strange move, isn't it? Someone secretly respects him.

Chapter 8: Conclusion

Keeping all the previous points in mind, it's hard to seriously argue that Wesker is dead. There are too many hints that he can't be killed. There are also hints that he has a clone (two different characters with Wesker's voice in Umbrella Corps).

Once again, the "understatement" in his "death" is a brilliant decision, it's a bridge to the future that will serve as an excuse for "why he's alive" if they bring him back, or an excuse for "why he's dead" if Capcom don't want to use him again. But considering how often we see mentions of him and hints of being alive, Capcom really want back him as soon as possible.

[mammoth-clangen]

I love seeing the colour patterns on your clan gen homotherium and smilodon.

They remind me of cat colours. Colour mutations in animals (cats and prehistoric animals on general too) are my special interest

I remember that my favourite smilodon design was the one from Primeval. I still have the box sets and they were my favourite as a kid (and now lol).

Sad that Smilodon was most likely tawny like lions. It apparently lived in open areas so most likely wouldn't have spots or stripes. But that doesn't mean we can't draw them like it. Also I wonder what mutations they did have in real life (like white lions, white tigers, "strawberry" erythristic leopards, albino leopard, and melanistic leopards and jaguars do appear in the wild)

I actually discovered your comic when I followed the homotherium tag after seeing the frozen cub. I once saw lyuba the mammoth at the natural history museum, London, at a limited exhibition. I'm completely obsessed with the permafrost mummies. I hope I get to see more in person one day.

Here's my kitty, Zoe.

Oh my goosh what a cute cat ;A;

here's my creature, Fat Tilly! She's an 11yr old Selkirk rex who likes loafing and lying in the sun c:

And thank you! I adore colour mutations in extant animals and I agree that it's really fun to contemplate them in extinct ones c:

I'm gonna preempt this getting long and put a cut here jhrjhrf

I'm sure you will already have seen this, but for anyone interested in paleoart depictions of colour mutations, I'd really recommend this great article all about it

White Cat, Gold Plains was actually all about the premise of a Homotherium with piebaldism. Pied is one of my favourite pigment mutations because it's so much deeper than integument patterns; it's actually a neural tube defect that leads to distinct behavioural changes. WC,GP was about Kiina, the pied cat, and her struggles with always being view as 'childish' by her peers and struggling to fit in. There was also more human impact in this story, as Kiina gets picked up as a cub by a group of early humans. It was sort of my own experience/musings on neurodivergency played alongside some thoughts on early domestication attempts humans must have had (though we all know that, sadly, Homotherium did not end up domesticated). Pied animals are typically more trusting, which is why you see so many pied domestic animals! (Fat Tilly and Zoe both are, for example lolol)

Also the Primeval Smilodon has one of the most gorgeous and distinct designs of any media sabercat tbh, I really loved the episode as a whole even though it had a sort of sad-but-expected ending.

I don't remember where I read it, but there was someone discussing Smilodon patterns and the conclusion was basically "we can't be sure". While lions are solid as adults, they're spotted as cubs and likely had spotted ancestors seeing Pantherines seem to have strongly contrasting patterns as the default. Machairodontids aren't even the same lineage as Pantherines, so we really can't know what patterns they had except for Homotherium latidens having dark brown cubs! They could just as easily grow into a different adult coat, like hyena do. (side note, I was sorta hoping that absolutely amazing Homotherium mummy news might drag some people to my comic so I'm glad it did lolol)

Smilodon was also likely very ambush dependent, being too bulky for pursuits even as long as modern lions. Disruptive colouration could have helped with this even in fairly open habitats. This is actually why I gave the Ice Fangs very faint stripes; high contrast tiger striping didn't make much sense, but breaking up the outline a little couldn't be a bad thing even in a steppe environment. I also didn't want them completely solid because there are actual lions to differentiate cx

[dodgeballstuckonthegymceiling]

May you do some rottmnt boys headcannons for how they would react if Draxum tells them that they were y/n pet turtle before he stole and mutated them

It feels weird to write this with a romantic relationship so Im going to make this plutonic.

Raph Leo Donnie and Mikey finding out there are the readers old pet.

🐢 Anime boy backstory 🐢

Before Draxum started the mutation process, before he got ahold of Splinter, he needed some actual test subjects. You where an average New Yorker, you went to school and had a part time job and even had some unique pets that you where very attached to.

A alligator snapping turtle, a softshell, a red eared slider and a little box turtle. Draxum took interest in you because of your pets. Huginn and Muninn where sent out to find the perfect animals to mutate, that's when you where targeted by him.

On your way home from a trip to the vet to check up on your little guys health you got jumped. There was no possible way to get out but you where not about to leave your pets. You tried to run but after being picked up by Draxum's vines you got thrown against a wall, passing out. When you woke up your beloved pets where gone.

Raphael

★ He was the one who tracked you down after Draxum told him he once was someone's pet. It was kinda awkward expanding everything to you but after introducing himself you immediately pulled him in for a hug.

★ He kinda gets protective of you. But not from other people! Just in general, you took care of him when he was small. It's only fair that he does the same for you.

★ You and Raph end up being the responsible ones in there little family. The difference between getting in trouble with You instead of Raph is that you always lecture them for at least an hour. Also you get to say stuff like "I raised you better than this."

★ You get invited to every family movie night and everyone fights over who gets to sit next to you because you always cuddle with the closest person. turtle?

Leonardo

★ The reaction he had was similar to the one in in the gif above ⬆️. Yes, he was a plane old turtle once but it took him by surprise when it came out that he was a pet.

★ He's a total lap dog towards you, and only you. There's no getting out of it. He'd walk up to you and plop himself down on your lap and look up. You always give in and give him shell stitches. It's not weird if it's from you, okay!

★ His brothers collectively agree that you are now basically his babysitter. He gets into a fair amount of trouble, imagen Raphael saying "if you don't stop I'm telling y/n!" Or being the one who now yells at him after making bad discussions instead of raph.

Donatello

★ Blank face before quietly saying "What?" He knew that he was just a regular softshell but surprisingly he never thought about where he came from before getting mutated.

★ He gives you random tests on your knowledge of softshell turtles. Like you could be folding laundry and he'd just say "what is the proper temperature for a softshell turtle enclosure?" He does this to try and figure out if you where a good pet owner. He's come to the conclusion that you where a pretty good pet owner.

★ He wonders about what could've happened if Draxum never stole him and his brothers from you. Things could've turned out way differently, the thought comes back to him every once I awhile.

★ You know things about him that nobody else knows, like where he likes to be pet on his shell. But he refused to believe you without any proof. He is only slightly embarrassed when you demonstrate for him.

Michelangelo

★ *New parent acquired* He got really excited and asked a ton of questions. Did you get him from a pet store? How much did he cost? Do you still have his old habit??? He needs to know theses things!

★ If you have any photos of him and is brothers as regular turtles he's going to ask for copy's. Don't tell anyone but he's working on a family album in his free time.

★ You are now his older sister figure, no you aren't getting out of it. He comes to you when he needs help or has a problem with something or someone. He says that he inherited your kindness even though it doesn't work that way.

★He lowkey love's it when you pamper him like he is still your pet turtle. Doesn't matter if he's a big guy now! He wants chin scratches and lap pillows. Also he makes Draxum apologize for what he did to you.

[truths33k3r4]

PART 25 of the Mutation Situation Comic Dub is UP!!!!

All credit for the stellar art goes to @indieyuugure while I edited and lent my voice to do the dialogue and theme song in a Cappella. :) Epidemic Sound covered the music and sound effects!!

One more week guys.. And then the Mutation Situation will be finished. Just…. Wow. :) The time really has flown. I’ll miss voicing the 2012 boys, and will especially miss their handsome human faces and designs, but guys. GUYS. I can not WAIT to jump into a whole new original universe that Indie created for Indie TMNT. I am so HYPED!!!!!!

See you all next Saturday for the exciting conclusion of this incredible series. :) haha I sound like an old tv show host HA

To God be the glory!

~ Melissa

[fabuloustrash05]

Is it just me, or does it feel like there are several more mutants in the TMNT 2012 universe that the show never talked about? What I mean is, New York can't be the only city where mutants roam around. Unless they picked specifically NY and nowhere else to do their mutations and all that stuff. What if there are mutants from different places? Idk, this thought randomly just appeared in my head.

I was actually thinking about this the other day cause in the season 2 episode The Kraang Conspiracy, Kurtzman shows April and the Turtles his research, explaining the Kraang have been on earth for many MANY years.

With the Kraang being on Earth for this long, you'd think they probably have other bases and are experimenting on mutants in other parts of the world outside of NY but the show never explores that concept. We can assume that NY is their primary location for their studies and experiments (considering that is where their leader Kraang Prime resides and they've suggested Kraang are like a hive mind, like bees with their queen, but with mind control cause all Kraang are just brainwashed Utrom under the control of K!Prime) and NY is where they wish to execute their big plan, but did the writers ever consider that establishing that the Kraang have been here since Ancient Egyptian times that maybe the Kraang aren't actually gone when the Turtles calm they are by season 4-5??? Which btw, there's never an actual conclusion to the Kraang plot, they just disappear after the Triceraton invasion. The last time we see the Kraang species as a whole is in the season 4 ep War for Dimenson X, with the later ep Trans Dimensional Turtles being the last time we see Kraang Sub Prime.

At the same time, the show makes in clear that the Kraang are cowards, whenever facing a threat that can easily over power them, they run away (EX: the Triceratons, instead of fighting back they just ran and hide away to avoid conflict until the Triceratons found them hidding on Earth) So I could assume the Kraang wanted to lay low and only are in NY, maybe they've hopped around to different states and/or countries every few hundred years to avoid being spotted, but theirs still a high chance that some of the Kraang failed/rejected mutant experiments (future ally or foe) are still out there wondering the Earth that the Turtles are unware of.

Writers and artist of TMNT 2012, this gives yall an opening for fun fanfics and even OC making! Make a mutant OC that was created in another part of the world. Its possible in canon that other Kraang bases exist outside of NY. There's potential here!! GO FOR IT! :D

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2024, Issue #52

HxH: Morena's card game begins, and she exposits that she was conceived in a state-sanctioned non-consensual orgy; Borksen learns that thanks to Nen restrictions, she actually does have actually does have an escape route. The implications of Morena's backstory are certainly staggering, but also lost on me

Yozakura: Taiyo has an "I know you're in there" fight with himself, ending with him expelling Asa by shooting himself in the heart. Taiyo's willingness to damage his own body to make it uninhabitable to Asa doesn't seem ideal, but definitely preferable to being possessed

Undead Unluck: Soul tries to force Andy and Victor's souls back together, but Rip cuts them apart permanently with Unrepair. This is Rip's capstone, where he finally uses Unrepair for someone else's happiness instead of ruining his own with it

Roboco: Roboco writes more shameless ripoff manga, but finally learns that her own original material is a lot better. I have no faith that this lesson will stick

Sakamoto: Atari's luck has literally run out; she reveals to Tenkyu that his friendship w/ Uzuki is irreparable; Shin resolves to kill Tenkyu, even if it means severing ties with Sakamoto. Both Tenkyu and Shin are losing their friends because they're killing in their name against their wishes; Atari's an idiot for using such an obscene amount of luck last chapter just to fire ONE bullet

EluSam: Tokiyuki and realKojiro gush over Kojiro as he fights Nagao; the scene cuts away to Mima getting into architecture and interior design. This seems to have an affect on enemy morale, but I feel like it's not worth ignoring what seems to be Kojiro's most important fight

Witch Watch: The flashback gang discusses the legacy of Familiars and their prejudice towards humanity; Kuon warms up to the team, and Taiga raises more death flags. The idea of magic fading away as a sign of peaceful times is a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately because I've been revisiting Medaka Box; this may inform a future essay

Blue Box: Taiki endears himself to Chinatsu's dad with his earnest, if a bit overbearing, nature. I'm glad we're not drawing out the tension too much, it makes the dad more relatable

Akane: Despite Miroku's refusal to let them perform, Shiguma and Issho learn enough rakugo for Kiroku to give them a slot; Miroku offers to grant Kiroku his name and rank if he will use it to expel the pair. This is clearly the event that led to the founding of the Arakawa School, but even with a foregone conclusion, it's a nailbiter

Kill Blue: Juzo and Shin use assassin techniques to advertise the bakery; Yoichiro wagers his staff's bonuses to whichever club can beat their challenges. Clearly he's plotting something, but I can't quite see yet how this furthers his plans

Nue: Rido spontaneously achieves his Bankai Spirit Armor and promptly passes out. It looks cool, but I'm already so unclear on this power system's rules that such an upgrade only serves to confuse me further

Kagurabachi: In a side story, we revisit everyone's favorite guy, Sojo, trying desperately to enjoy a bath despite his routine being ruined at every turn. Looking back, I'm sad that Sojo died; I hope he continues to haunt the narrative

Chojo: Keinain's new assistant, Makami, finds everything about the Chinjuku station to be lewd; this is not because she's a prude, but an extremely repressed pervert. Would

Astro Royale: Himuro reveals he became a cop to stop the Yotsurugi family from interfering with his dad's business, but only found out later that they were supporting him through hard times; the damage he caused this business relationship resulted in his father's suicide; he eats the Daybreak Ore and becomes a mutated mass. Himuro's motivations now reflect Kinpa's, but just like he hurt his dad by targeting the Yotsurugi's, his rage is misdirected and self-destructive

Kiyoshi: Asuta's time runs out and he gets away, cementing the sacrifices made to summon him; as he leaves, he calls Kiyoshi his soulmate in a perverse twist on Kiyoshi's own desire for friendship. Axe-deniers when the lead fails and lets 100 innocent people die - 🎉🍾🥳🎊🥂; throw the yaoi girlies in there too since there's about to be a huge boost in sales

Hima-Ten: Tenichi takes up the rear on the class hike; Himari fakes an injury to keep him company. Very cute, but how the hell does this moron not realize she's in love???

Ichi: Just before the contest begins, Ichi sees a mysterious figure; the Kindake Magik vows to kill everyone who doesn't worship his mushrooms, then escapes into his mushroom forest. So much for not being a human-hater; Togeice's poor sense of direction will certainly make this challenge much harder on her

Shinobi: Yodaka sabotages Hachikuma's strings and turns them against him. Though heavy-handed, Yodaka straightening and braiding Hachikuma's discarded, tangled strings as a symbol of the value of putting effort into maintaining relationships is sweet

Hakutaku: The mechanics of the AR game are explained, but Hikuma sleeps through people actually enjoying it. Maybe it's cus I don't like mobile games, but I do not see the appeal of this game, which is probably the most damning indictment of a game design manga

Syd Craft: Elio is revealed to be Levie Olyn, Syd's favorite romance author, who became his assistant after he cleared her name in a case; she writes her books to vent her DEFINITELY NOT ROMANTIC feelings for Syd. That's a great dynamic, I love girls who pine, I'm super endeared to this idiot

My top 3 manga for the week are:

Undead Unluck, unsurprisingly, for its fantastic color page, multiple great spreads, and at least two of what will undoubtedly become the most iconic moments in the entire series; congrats on netting the final cover of the year!

Syd Craft for continuing to expand upon its concept in a way that really appeals to me; let it be known I never said Tsutsui was a bad author, I just said he was a coward

Kiyoshi for dodging the axe, establishing an interesting dynamic between Kiyoshi and Asuta, and the bravery to leave it on such a bleak cliffhanger

Runners up include Astro Royale and Shinobi Undercover, both for giving me some interesting symbolism to chew on, as well as Hima-Ten and Chojo for women in denial that fall short of Elio

Edit: I want to correct something I said last week - it does not seem like Bug Ego is joining Weekly Jump after all, I think someone I follow on twitter either got a bad tip or I misunderstood what they said. Bug Ego was added to the Shonen Jump app, not Shonen Jump itself. Apologies for any confusion!

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Vampire Bat Mutant Reader AU, where Reader is an ex-ward of the joined Brotherhood and X-Men, and is possibly related to Wolverine or Sabretooth.

It's a dog eat dog world, and Reader is so, so tired of it. They hate being what they are. They hate being called a monster. And they hate, hate, HATE the people who turned their backs on them, who told them they weren't welcome anymore...

Reader can't help that they were hungry! They can't help that they were born like this. They can't change their mutations or be someone they're not. They can't do it anymore. They refuse.

So here they are, trying to figure out how to make sure they aren't immortal, and letting themself fade away as they refuse to drink blood or eat meat. It hurts, but... they don't want to be stuck on this miserable earth with these horrible people for the rest of eternity. So... they just need to make sure they aren't immortal... they just have to go on a bit longer, is all...

Except among the mutants, well... changes have happened. They're still fierce, dangerous, cold-hearted to their enemies and foes... but they're trying to be a bit better to their kids. Trying to be warmer, or more parental, more caring. They still don't let anyone get away with harming their kids. That's non-negotiable. But they'll try to not jump to conclusions so fast...

The newer mutants (Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Todd) are excited about school, and at least trying to figure out their powers and make new friends (who aren't just their roommates and guardians). And they like the looks of this new kid, who has sharp eyes and bright teeth and seems a bit too depressed, a bit too lonely...

It's time to make a new friend!

And Reader is terrified that their old "family's" newest members are trying to be around them, because they're scared what will happen if the adults catch wind of this... would they actually kill Reader this time? Would they punish their kids, the way they did to Reader and Scott and Jean and the others? Or something worse?

(Scott is finding it hard to believe, but... the new kid... they look like... but it can't be... Reader? He... he has to tell Jean. Now.)

@thewickedweiner @sugar-soda What do y'all think? I thought, huh, what if Vampire Bat Mutanr Reader is a Dark AU, but mixed with good-old fashioned Creed or Howlett Reader too? Did I pull it off?

[kid-az]

All Tomorrow’s: Vanga Vangog’s Processor and Asteromorph’s HC’s

The grand finale of this saga of Vanga’s posthumans, and this one is on one of the saddest stories among the posthumans, the Mantelopes! In canon they had been born in bodies that made them unable to meaningfully interact in the world inspite of their sapience, and this would disappear quickly in a few thousand years as their songs of sorrow turn into regular mating songs and bellows.

Of course, that had not happen in Vanga’s timeline. Instead, the Asteromorph’s took interests on these posthumans due to the realization of their high intellect. This process, at first merely one of master and servant, would become a symbiotic one for both parties, with the Processors acting as the Asteromorph’s brains and memory-keepers, and the Asteromorphs the Processors hands and (Relative) brawn.

You can do a surprising amount with just a brain, and the Processor’s are the penultimate conclusion of that question, their relationship with the Asteromorphs making their empire far more technologically advanced and powerful than in canon, ironic considering the Asteromorph’s themselves wouldn’t become bigger brained.

-Their curious minds and natures made Processor’s extremely excited and interested on learning new ideas and things, to the point that they and the Asteromorph’s would make earlier contact with the Second Empire in this timeline, learning about all of their cultures and sharing some of their technology and ideas. This also had the benefit of stopping the Gravital’s from killing everyone.

-They kept their ancestral traditions of singing songs, their laryx (Voice box) being the only thing other than their brain to grow in size. Only instead of singing exclusively sorrowful songs, they instead sung songs of hope, rage, and so many other different emotions, including those only they can feel. Their laryx were so developed that they could mimic a ton of different sounds we couldn’t, including metal guitars, chainsaws, plane jet engines, and stuff that is beyond our hearing range.

-Most Processors are born offworld in the zero-gravity habitats of their Asteromorph Symbiotes, though there is still a very sizable trillions of them living in their home-Star system. This birthplace is effectively their version of Mecca, as almost every Processor visits once to several times during their lifetime. (With help from Asteromorph’s of course.)

-The Asteromorph’s are much less reclusive than in canon, and in fact a sizable amount of the population are now living in space habitats or even low-gravity worlds of other posthuman species. The highest populations of them live alongside the Modular People, Stickmen, Pterosapien’s, and the Satyriac’s .(Even they need to cut loose and party!)

-The Asteromorph’s knowledge of their ancient history, alongside the Processor’s general intelligence and assistance from the Second Empire, allowed them to find their ancestral homeworld earth far earlier. No one would inhabit the planet however, instead deciding to seed the almost deserted planet with new life from each of their worlds and millions of years later, when the sun threatens to blow up, they safely move earth into a new star system, allowing the introduced, establish and possibly sapient life to flourish.

-The Asteromorph’s and Processor’s of later times treat eachother like friends or even siblings, with an eachother being paired so long as they get along very well.

-After reaching connecting eachother’s consciousness’s, the Processor’s would offer their Asteromorph and other posthuman brethren the ability to do so as well, with them being able to agree or decline however they see fit.

-Once finding the Qu, this Posthuman empire would not horrifically mutate or kill every last one of them, instead deciding to strip them of all of their biotechnology, take down their leadership, and having them live alongside as equals….. the posthuman’s unwilling to stoop down to their abusers level.

-Like in canon, they would all disappear from this galaxy, but instead of it being a relatively ambiguous fate, the Author’s species would discover what had truly happened to humanity……… in that they had reached apotheosis and have left this universe altogether, instead deciding to seed new universe and life, so that they may love today, and seize all tomorrows.

[fruitcoops]

Debut

Day 5, ft. our black-cat lucid-dreaming king. Characters belong to @lumosinlove (sorry not sorry for what I did to your favorite boy) and header belongs to @noots-fic-fests!

Yesterday's movie: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (1966)

TW for mentioned movie-murder (nobody actually dies)

Regulus spared the glass double-doors hardly a glance before wrinkling his nose. It was hot out, sticky and steamy, and the direct sun pummeling the entire courtyard reeked of early September. Busy chatter ran rampant around him between flashes of color and blurry faces.

“I’m dead,” Regulus said decisively.

Next to him, Leo rolled his eyes and caught his tennis ball on the downswing. “You haven’t even been to first period.”

“This—” Regulus gestured at the main building, blindingly bright and stuffier than any high school had the right to be. “This is hell. Ergo, dead.”

“Tell me again in pre-calc and I’ll believe you.”

“You tested out of pre-calc,” Regulus reminded him, laying back on the hood of Leo’s car. The blue paint was unspecific and unassuming, almost black in certain lights. “And that’s an ugly sweater you’d never wear.”

Grey cotton switched to thick stripes by the time he looked at Leo next; the stupid silver chain remained around his neck. Leo frowned down at himself. “I like this sweater.”

“Hmm.” The characters didn’t tend to care whether Regulus interacted with them much or not. The plot plodded on until he shook himself awake or the blare of an alarm did it for him. It rarely came to a conclusive end.

“Natalie got a phone call last night from some weirdo on the landline,” Leo continued, tossing his ball back up in the air. “They were talking about…I dunno, I think he was asking her questions? Sounded like a guy, anyway.”

“Horrifying.”

“Kasey’s going over tonight with Finn’s brother to keep her company.”

Regulus stretched his back against the windshield and looked to the vast sky. No matter how far he tilted his head back, the old tin roof was always visible. It was a mutated version of his memories—he hadn’t tried very hard to remember what it looked like from the outside. Sirius had excelled there. Every professor remembered his name.

A thread on his baggy jeans was coming loose. If he allowed the dream to progress, Leo would no doubt call him later to inform him, distraught, that Kasey and Finn’s brother (whose name slipped Regulus’ mind constantly) and probably Natalie had died in some explosively gory fashion. It would be distressing despite the fallacy of it all, he’d drag himself awake, and then it would be three o’clock in the morning and he would be sweaty with adrenaline. Regulus had enjoyed the party at Leo’s new house. He’d prefer not to pay the cost of attendance (a rare seasonal hangover) before he absolutely had to.

Denim-on-denim warned him of a new presence before he could actively pick a new story. “O’Hara.”

“Babe, is he bothering you?” Finn’s voice dragged and drawled with California haze. Under his arm, Tremblay narrowed his eyes at Regulus. His bubblegum gave a violent pop.

“Not too bad,” Leo said playfully.

Did Finn even own a denim jacket? God, he probably did. Even Regulus’ imagination couldn’t have pinned something that specific from nothing. Maybe he should just let the rest of this murderous Riverdale-ass nonsense play out in its original form to punish that fashion nightmare.

“Can you wear a hoodie like a normal person?” he yawned. Apparently, he was overtired even in his sleep.

Finn fixed him with a comically disgusted look. “Why are you even here?”

Where the fuck had Regulus picked that accent from? “This is my high school,” he said. “I spent the whole night at your house, can I have some peace and quiet here?”

Logan popped another bubble. His scowl held far too little legitimate danger; if nothing else, that would have tipped Regulus off. The original outright animosity had rested much heavier on him than teenage pouting.

But there—on the steps. “Calisse de crisse,” he muttered, swinging himself down from the hood of Leo’s car.

The courtyard was almost perfect under his feet, as if he was feeling the asphalt through his old loafers. He had hated those goddamn shoes. He came to a sharp halt, right as his shadow fell across lined paper marked with meticulous, infuriating lines.

“Go away.”

Sirius blinked up at him. “Hi.”

“Stop,” Regulus insisted. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Why?”

“We didn’t go to high school together.” Honestly, it was so embarrassing for his brain to mix it up this badly. Valley-Girl Finn O’Hara was a nightmare in and of itself; the least his imagination could do was keep track of a timeline. “Put your physics away and leave.”

Sirius’ brow creased. “How did you know I was doing homework?”

“Unlucky guess.”

“How did you know it was—"

“Because you’re always doing your fucking physics in my nightmares!” Regulus dragged a hand down his face and gripped the back of his own neck. It felt like nothing, not even air. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face toward the clouds. “Yes, I understand, I hated the classes Sirius excelled in as an extension of my own complex inner world, merci, au revoir.”

When he looked down again, Sirius was gone. Remus Lupin leaned on the railing by the bay windows, looking out over the river. He had a book in one hand and a bloody knife in the other.

Regulus stared at him.

“No.”

It was Leo when he blinked. A dark robe and everything, and that tennis ball instead of a book. His face got a little fuzzy in profile, but cleared up when he looked at Regulus head-on.

Regulus tipped his head back and forth. “Better.”

He walked with Leo through the never-ending halls. Some were direct rip-offs of his actual high school, down to the navy lockers and their silver buckles. Others had been borrowed: a staircase from elementary school, a music room from Steinhardt, the artificial glow of Sirius’ basement skating rink around a corner. His stomach swooped at the sight of the broken dumbwaiter he and Sirius had used for hide and seek, and he ground his teeth hard.

He had his loafers on. His khakis were tight on his thighs. Leo’s footsteps made no sound.

“I think you’re supposed to be a serial killer,” Regulus noted on their third circuit of the second floor. “With a mask and everything.”

“Oh.” Leo sounded almost disappointed. “I mean, I could?”

“I might just be bad at imagining that.”

“Should’ve stuck with Lupin,” Leo agreed.

“I can go off and find him—”

“Don’t leave me here,” Leo groaned, walking backward for a few floppy steps that made him look more like himself than he had the whole time.

Regulus huffed. “Neither of you pose much of a danger to me.”

“I think we do, in a way.”

--

No.

The thought was forceful enough to pull Regulus to the surface. He exhaled hard, blinking fast until his left eye decided to get with the program and open properly.

The stove’s electric clock told him it was just past two in the morning. Not bad.

He sighed. His feet, tangled in the fresh sheets Leo had laid out for him, still felt too compressed. That explained the loafers. He could get up for a few minutes; make a snack, take a walk around the still-sparse main floor of the house. He didn’t hear anyone else up yet.

Or he could stay here, burrowed in a quilt that smelled lightly of magnolia. The sheets let his legs free when he stretched, still shaking off the scent of bubblegum and industrial cleaning solution. He was tired. Perhaps a little drunk, enough to dull the oncoming throbbing behind his temple. The sugar rush was long dead.

Regulus tucked his nose down into a butter-yellow square and shut his eyes. Being asleep was an exhausting business. He had too many questions. There was too much to nitpick. Too much psychoanalysis to avoid.

The sheer audacity of Leo to pull some therapy trick in Regulus’ own dream. As if he wouldn’t be aware of it, as if he’d fall into the trap that easily. Regulus muffled a frown in the quilt. If Leo, the real one, was an actual danger to anything but the occasional low doorframe, he wouldn’t be on the foldout in the first place. Really, it was just lazy writing.

Do better, Regulus thought as he shuffled deeper into his cocoon. From the top, this time.

[celosiaceo]

Last-minute Arcane theory

Dropping my inactivity streak to write out my last-minute Viktor theory before act 3 drops 🎀

ARCANE SEASON 2 ACT 2 SPOILERS UNDER CUT

I found Viktor’s new commune cult and the iridescent transformations on the people he “healed” to be very interesting, as well as the way that the Hexcore changed to be something more organic rather than mechanical-automatic.

With that I kind of got invested in poking at what exactly the hexcore became and what it was actually doing to people. And I think that it’s all a mushroom!!!

A big part of that conclusion to me is a polymer in mushrooms called chitin — in fungi, some mollusks, sea organisms, and insects use chitin as a structural polymer to build cell walls (in fungi) and exoskelletons (in mollusks, shellfish and insects)

When it’s pure, chitin is pliable, tough, resilient and in thin layers is translucent like in insect wings. In thin layers it can organize itself in stacks of photonic crystals which create iridescent colors when light hits them, which reminds me of a thing or two

(for sidenotes, the shiny marks that the people get seem to have a metallic sorta glimmer to them, which I think references titanium prosthetic implants that are very common in today’s medicine!! the shiny medal combined with iridescent chitin could in theory make something that looks similar visually, not sure if chitin can actually be combined with metal or not tho, and would coincide with the marks being placed on the ailed parts of people like prosthetics)

As chitin isn’t a “native” molecule to mammals or plants, both have immune receptors that can recognize chitin and initiate an immune response to destroy it if it’s detected within the organism

mammals have those receptors mainly in their lungs or intestines, but they can also be on the skin

Plants too have receptors that can set off the defense response against chitin but! Commensal mushrooms (that leech off a host for nutrition without harming or benefitting the host) have a way to shut this defense (it’s not understood how as of now), and some pathogen fungi can release proteins that block those receptors and mask chitin so the immune response isn’t activated — which could be why the “healed” peoples’ bodies don’t reject the transmutation despite not being injected with shimmer like Viktor had been

Because it’s a natural compound, chitin can also be made really biocompatible (compatible with the organism, not rejected by the immune system), and for that it has many applications in real life medicine being tested in the current time! Those include tissue regeneration, wound dressings or cancer treatments (also sounds pretty familiar, as the "healing" cured tumours caused by shimmer and various mobility disabilities and injuries)!

Another thing that further got me convinced in the hex-shroom theory is the prosperity of the commune — when it started, it looked like a barren wasteland with some metal scraps scattered around, but just after 6-7 months (that’s how long I heard the timeskip between act 1 and act 2 was) there’s flower fields and fully grown fruit trees? A mutated ”mushroom on steroids” could in fact be behind that in theory

Fungi are aaancient organisms, and they can form soil from inorganic matter by breaking it down for nutrition, they also very much enrich existent soil, and many mushroom species form symbiotic relationships with plants. and back to chitin, it can be used in agriculture to improve plants’ pathogen resistants, growth and defence against pests! So if the whole place is infused with the hex-shroom, it’s very possible that it’s also behind the agricultural boom, or “healing the land”, in the commune too! This thought train got me really concerned about Vi actually, and made me wonder if her suddenly considering joining the commune after eating several of the local fruits wasn’t a coincidence…

So how do people iridescent markings turn into the things Jayce sees in his flashbacks? I suspect the hex-shroom an be behind that too!

I suspect that the hex-shroom consumes the host over time and replaces their human tissue with itself. People in the commune end up with increasingly more hex-mushroom in their body from the “healing” that slowly becomes harder and takes their bodies over while their natural defenses are silenced, and because everything they eat has grown from the soil that the mushroom formed and with the help of the mushroom as a fertilizer and growth agent

Chitin also explains the transition of the markings to the wood-like material itself. When combined with some additional molecules or stacked in thicker fibrils chitin becomes way harder and stiffer and loses its translucense, becoming more of a dull color as it gains density. In it can form incredibly strong microfibrils that are harder and stronger than bone or steel!! In hindsight this explains why Viktor only ended up with a hole in his chest and not reduced to atoms by Jayce’s shot while the whole roof behind him was obliterated

Since the people don’t have mouths or eyes and appear to be hollow (missing brains or other organs), they look like mushroom stalks a lot to me, since those are often hollow too. By then they’re probably sustained entirely by hex energy from the core in a kinda invisible hyphae network and their senses work off of it too by group communication through the network (through the glowing fingerprint marks) or something.

The way the healing entirely removes the people’s sense of self-preservation very quickly also reminds me a lot of the cordiceps mushroom, which overtakes the host’s body and makes it put itself in open spaces where it’d be easily eaten by predators

Ok but why would the hexcore (and the hex matrix too) turn into a mushroom specifically?

I thought about that too, then I remembered that the hexcore started mutating after absorbing Viktor’s blood, and the matrix probably started mutating after Viktor coughed down the tunnel leading down to it all the way back in s1e5 (thats the only reason that’d make sense to me, since arcane had done insane foreshadowing like that before)…

With that in mind, it’s very possible that Viktor’s affliction is some sort of chronic fungal infection of the lungs — he’d be at a high risk of any given chronic infection, due to growing up in the fissures with health compromised by the Grey.

And so the hexcore and the matrix absorbed his blood and the pathogen fungus within it and mutated, adapting to the fungus’s functions and patterns, even down to looking like mycelium/hyphae while healing Viktor.

If before it acted like nuclear energy, serving whatever purpose it was given without its own motivation, now it has a motivation; to propagate and spread and infect, corrupting the minds of its host to not let itself die out, the way it manipulates Viktor’s, the primary host’s mind to believe that “healing” others of both ailment and identity aligns with his altruistic motives of actually saving lives and the way it removes any self-preservation of its secondary hosts

Anyways I’m shaking and crying over the prospects of act 3 god save us all idk how I'm gonna fall asleep today... preparing my tear glads

[supremechancellorrex]

I've been thinking about what the Bad Batch means to me these past few weeks and things just don't quite sit right. When I started watching the Clone Wars, it felt like a lot of love and care had been poured into the project. The clones had unique personalities built from the ground up, with even minor characters getting quirks. Hevy only appeared in two episodes, yet is so loved. Hardcase is missed despite only really appearing in one arc because of expert character crafting and real, actual effort with the writing.

The point of the Clone War was that the clones were individuals, they had agency and they could have an impact on their lives and others. Referred to as 'property', with no representation or rights, they are slave soldiers in function, who are biologically identical although at times with slight variation, but their personalities and motivations matter and have weight. This is why Fives nearly ruins Palpatine's plans. This is why Rex is able to resist the inhibitor chip in Order 66 and help save Ahsoka.

This is why I'm not sure I can forgive the Bad Batch.

Spitting on Grandpa

When the Bad Batch started, I was initially quite excited because it was advertised as a sequel to the Clone Wars. The first episode opens up with the title 'The Clone Wars' fading into the Bad Batch, but the show is anything but because the 'regs', as normal clones have been dubbed, don't matter now. Instead, the only characters with agency are a special group of clones who mostly don't look like the clones based on Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) or even scientifically fit the basic definition of what a 'clone' is.

How is this not meant to be insulting for TCW and the Clone Fandom? I watch normal clones like Commander Wilco get shot in the face. I watch Mayday choke and die for Crosshair's development. I watch Rex play second fiddle to the Bad Batch on screen, the man and leader who used to always say "I'm always first, kid" and take the reins. I watch Cody appear for an episode only to not appear again this season and have no impact on the narrative other than Crosshair's development. Can 'regs' no longer change the world? Do the 'boring', 'regular' slave soldiers have no impact anymore?

Echo: "The fate of all the clones is now sealed because of us."

When it comes to normal clones impacting the narrative, the closest we get is Rex's resistance network, which features actual clones actually doing something. Yet apparently an episode about the Bad Batch discovering an island paradise world and battling a tsunami deserves more screen time than seeing how the 'regs' set that one up. Even this plot point is less about finally saving Howzer and normal clones like him, and more about Echo not being with the Bad Batch and further setting up the plot regarding Tech and Crosshair. The normal clones remain non-entities outside of the Bad Batch's development, they have no agency beyond this.

This is why we see stock reg clone characters bully the Bad Batch in the Season 1 opening, because despite them all being slaves under the thumb of fascism and the fact normal clones treated Ninety-Nine (the beloved hunchback clone from TCW Season 3) fine, it's the Bad Batch's plight that only matters now, their persecuted perspective on being special and better than the regs, regs that are now treated as old news, an afterthought. The world feels small, and inexcusably less richer than it was.

Essentially, we're no longer allowed to see what the reg clones motivations are, why there are reg clones that actually, canonically, dislike the Bad Batch as opposed to Ninety-Nine. People like to speculate, but on screen we are not shown or told in TBB. We're also not shown why all the named clones from Howzer, Mayday, Fireball, Gregor and Nemec to Cut, Cody and Rex never had issues with the differences other than they're the good regs I guess. Hell, even Cody and Mayday's remaining squad say nothing of Crosshair's mutations, not even one catty comment.

Conclusion

So, what does this mean? The Bad Batch steals the clones' agency and makes it their own. They wear the clone identity, but refuse to help normal 'reg slave' clones that look like actual clones in favour of focusing on themselves and their 'more important' personal problems. The Bad Batch are special not because of who they are or that they've worked hard, but because they look different from other clones, because they're just more capable and have special abilities. It's not who you are that counts, it's what you are.

And, now, I even see fans doing what TCW told us not to, disregarding normal clones, 'explaining' why the Bad Batch are fine to leave the reg clones to die because they called them "The Sad Batch" one time. Somehow the Bad Batch undoes all of TCW's work, stripping the clones of their agency and making them into just victims sleepwalking into extinction as we wait for the Bad Batch to consider trying to actively save them.

Echo: "The fate of all the clones is now sealed because of us."

And, then the rest of TBB go cave exploring and holidaying on Pabu. This series might as well be about natborns.

[seriousbrat]

Do you think Lily’s patronus makes sense as a Doe? Because when I think of Does I think docile, timid, fragile, sensitive and fearful and Lily doesn’t quite match that description. I know patronuses aren’t always 1:1 with the wizard’s personality but usually there is some overlap (Sirius is loyal and protective, James encapsulates the positive and negative qualities of a stag with his leadership and strength but also the toxic masculinity, Remus is needing of a pack and is also clever etc.). So do you think there is some part of a doe or what they symbolizes that fits with Lily’s character OR do you think her patronus changed to match James who’s already was a stag?

If you’ll allow me to ramble about my own theories here for a minute than I would like to say that I actually believe that her’s changed. I think this mostly due to JKR saying this in a interview awhile ago when someone asked if it was a coincidence that jily had matching patronuses: “No, the Patronus often mutates to take the image of the love of one's life (because they so often become the 'happy thought' that generates a Patronus).” Her statement implies (or more outright states) that there was a change of patronus for atleast one of jily, And since James was already a stag animagus at 15 we can assume that his patronus was always one (further evidence is that McGonagall’s patronus and animagus is both a cat).

I personally believe that patronuses are a manifestation of hope, the desire to go on, and the idea of what to continue living/fighting for (“The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive” from Lupin, and then Luna says this while helping Harry conjure one in DH “"We're all still here," she whispered, "we're still fighting. Come on, now...”). So I think given this it makes a lot of sense for Lily’s patronus to change to reflect an image of James. She is a targeted individual in her new small society that is at war and there isn’t much hope to be found anywhere, but she finds hope in James because he represents the life she wants to have that’s not connected to the war, a normal happy family. Her “happy thought” in the midst of death and destruction is family and love (also meaning this is what she wants to preserve and fight for, and it is ultimately what she dies for.)

It’s also interesting that her patrounus takes a female form, we know it’s possible for characters to have a patrounus that differ from their gender but that isn’t the case here. And while I know the doylist answer has to do with JKR’s views on femininity and gender in general, from the watsonisan perspective this could mean a couple things:

She is a doe because her hope lies within her being James’ wife and partner (like the family thing I said above. It’s not about the title or status of being a “wife” but about the normalcy, safety, intimacy and love that it represents)

She is a doe because her identity is separate enough from James where she wouldn’t mirror him but instead be her own version (possible, but less symbolically satisfying to me lol).

Or is it just something else entirely?

anyways sorry I didn’t mean for that to be that long lolll, but If you vibe with my “Lily patronus changed theory” what do you think it was before?

Also I consider you a lily expert so if you think this theory is trash or missing something lmk lmao

omg wait this is very interesting and absolutely NOT trash!! to be honest with you, I've thought about this a little myself before and never come up with a wholly conclusive answer. But personally I think it's very possible that Lily's patronus might have changed. I skirted around this issue in my fic by not having Lily produce a corporeal patronus until she was already with James lol.

Re: the doe, obviously in real life many prey animals are skittish, shy, and fearful because that's how they survive. This includes male deer too, because they will also startle easily. But I think that Lily could definitely be said to have qualities that are doe-like in a more symbolic way: grace, beauty, a gentle and caring nature, devotion to her young. I think it is an animal that fits Lily in many ways, and I think the symbolic/mythological meaning associated the animal is maybe more relevant than how the real animal behaves in the wild.

But even though I think Lily has doe-like qualities I don't think this precludes her patronus having become a doe because of James. It's more about the person she grew into, alongside James, than her identity totally changing because of her relationship. I think it still represents her, she IS the doe but she just grew into that person over time.

If Lily's patronus did change to mirror James, I REALLY like your idea that it reflects what she most cares about, that James (and what he represents to her) becomes her happiest thought and what she's fighting to survive for. Not just James, but later also Harry- whose Patronus is also eventually a stag.

As for what it might have been before (or had she never met James) it's a difficult question! I recently assigned patronuses to all the order members for ease of writing and lowkey I feel like I've run out of animals lol. I could see her as some kind of bird perhaps (I always feel like I default to giving people birds though lol) maybe a dove... or a seabird of some sort. I've always really liked the storm petrel, which is thought of as intrepid and brave and is known to fly through terrible weather, it cares for its single young, and has apparently been used as a revolutionary symbol. There's something really beautiful and dignified about them to me, they're lonely but resistant which could fit Lily's position as a Muggleborn amidst the war, if she hadn't fallen for James and joined the Order with him. So that's my first thought-- I'd be open to ideas though!

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference saved in our archive

Another great reason to mask: Covid can infect many other animals, and their mutated covid strains can reinfect us too. Keep everyone safe and healty: Mask up in public.

Abstract Background The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has not only affected humans but also raised concerns about its transmission to wild animals, potentially creating natural reservoirs. Understanding these dynamics is critical for preventing future pandemics and developing control strategies. This study aims to investigate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wild mammals at the Belo Horizonte Zoo in Brazil, analyzing the virus's evolution and zoonotic potential.

Methods The study was conducted at the Belo Horizonte Zoo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, covering a diverse population of mammals. Oropharyngeal, rectal, and nasal swabs were collected from 47 captive animals between November 2021 and March 2023. SARS-CoV-2 presence was determined using RT-PCR, and positive samples were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis. Consensus genomes were classified using Pangolin and NextClade tools, and a maximum likelihood phylogeny was inferred using IQ-Tree.

Results Of the 47 animals tested, nine (19.1%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2. Positive samples included rectal, oropharyngeal, and nasal swabs, with the highest positivity in rectal samples. Three genomes were successfully sequenced, revealing two variants: VOC Alpha in a maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) and a fallow deer (Dama dama), and VOC Omicron in a western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Phylogenetic analysis indicated potential human-to-animal transmission, with animal genomes clustering close to human samples from the same region.

Conclusions This study highlights the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in various wild mammal species at the Belo Horizonte Zoo, emphasizing the virus's zoonotic potential and the complexity of interspecies transmission. The detection of different variants suggests ongoing viral evolution and adaptation in new hosts. Continuous monitoring and genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife are essential for understanding its transmission dynamics and preventing future zoonotic outbreaks. These findings underscore the need for integrated public health strategies that include wildlife monitoring to mitigate the risks posed by emerging infectious diseases.

[rocksanddeadflowers]

Over the course of reading as many Lyfrassir centric fics as possible one of the consistencies I noticed in post Bifrost Lyf was their eye color changing (undulating hues, silver, etc) as the first and foremost visible side effect of the Bifrost. I wandered why for a bit before it clicked why it matters so much! (At least, this is my conclusion. Maybe the fics developed this mini trope thingy bc changing eye color sounded fun and has no real reason.)

Just.... Lyfrassir watching the tapes. Seeing them, viewing them, watching them. Days I've spent watching it now, the same scenes, the same faces, over and over. All they could do was watch and see the Bifrost and the Black Box's recordings, over and over, neverending, constant. Really, their eyes being (visibly) affected first makes the most sense! And I think it's super neat! On the occasions when their actual vision changes (perfect example being in The Stars Claim Them) it just adds to how cool this is to me.

Their hair being the other common thing to change? Mmmm.... That might just be an aesthetic thing at this point. Really most all the visible mutations probably are aesthetic reasons (both as writers and the Bifrost deciding to paint it's new barbie doll). But it's fun to read into !!!!