#astro club penguin

[rhythmoidd]

I drew Astro in Donald's outfit in Kingdom Hearts bc I'm playing the game on twitch atm!

he probably won't heal you but at least he looks cute

[encountersltd]

THE DEFINITIVE ENCOUNTERS LTD BLORBO LIST

aka if you make content of these characters i owe you everything and would love to see it (within reason, no nsfw-- that's not what i want to see and for some of these characters it's just plain illegal)

with that...

Abbie (MINDWAVE)

Abstracty (ONE)

Accessories Shopkeeper (Neopets (NC Mall))

Adventure Tim (Adventure Time kaboom! Comics)

Agent Princess (Adventure Time kaboom! Comics)

Agitha (The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

Almond (Cucumber Quest)

The Amoeba Boys (The Powerpuff Girls)

Argenta (Pokémon)

Astro Man (Mega Man 8)

Austin (The Backyardigans)

AVA (Cyberchase)

Bacon (Cucumber Quest)

Balrog (Cave Story)

Barinade (Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)

Barnaby B. Beagle (Welcome Home)

Baroness Von Bon Bon (Cuphead)

Bashmaster (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)

Queen Bea (Super Secret Secret Squirrel)

Beanish (Beanworld)

Big Dog (2 Stupid Dogs)

Blipbug (Pokemon)

Blizzaurus (Super Princess Peach)

Block Man (Mega Man 11)

Test Subject Blue (Nitrome)

Bob the Ball (Within a Deep Forest & Knytt Underground)

Boomer (The Powerpuff Girls)

Box Cutter (Showvember Again)

Branchy (Showvember Again)

Bubble From BFDI (BEEFLUIGI)

Mr. Bump (The Mr. Men Show)

Bunny (The Powerpuff Girls)

Buttercup (The Powerpuff Girls)

Buzz Buzz (Earthbound)

Cabby (Inanimate Insanity)

Candi / Kazami (Splatoon)

Caterpillar (Pocoyo)

Charlie The Unicorn (Charlie The Unicorn)

Circi (Drawn To Life)

Citrus Twisty (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Clover (Inanimate Insanity)

ColorMan.exe (Mega Man Battle Network)

Cosmo (Sonic X)

Cucumber (Cucumber Quest)

Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes)

Princess Daisy (Super Mario Bros. series)

Daizy (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!)

Little Miss Daredevil (The Mr. Men Show)

The Darwinians (Darwinia)

Dee (PBS Kids Bumpers)

Ditto (Nitrome)

Dizzy (Bob The Builder)

Lord Dominator (Wander Over Yonder)

Dora (Dora the Explorer)

Dr. Hipster (MooseBox)

18-Volt (Warioware)

Err (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)

F (Alphabet Lore)

Fish 'n Chips' Secret Conjoined Twin (Showvember Again)

Subject 005 (Kidutus)

Foxtail (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Frank Frankly (Welcome Home)

The Fruit Witches (Adventure Time)

Papa G (Kid Cosmic)

Professor Garbanzo (Beanworld)

Glitchmaster (Cucumber Quest)

Globox (Rayman)

Google Chrome (Showvember Again)

H (Those Dancing Letter GIFs)

Hammer (Protagonist Object Show)

Haru (A Year Of Springs)

Headdy (Dynamite Headdy)

Herbert P. Bear (Club Penguin)

Holey (BEEFLUIGI)

Iciclia (Atomic Betty)

Impy (Impy And Wormer)

Isa (Dora the Explorer)

Itamor (Ristar The Shooting Star)

Jenny (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Jo (Kid Cosmic)

Jonny 2x4 (Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy)

Jojora (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)

Julie Joyful (Welcome Home)

Kaeru (Kero Blaster)

Kay K (DoubleDuck (Italian Disney Comics))

Kelly (Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil)

Kenny (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Keypad (Showvember)

Lampy (Protagonist Object Show)

Lasermaster (Cucumber Quest (even though they only appear in a non canon guest comic i love them a lot. wish they were real))

Liam (Kidutus)

Little Dog (2 Stupid Dogs)

Lullaby Princess (Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom)

Lurerre the Abysroid (Mega Man ZX)

Ly (Rayman)

Maggie Pesky (The Buzz On Maggie)

Heavy Magician (Sonic Mania)

Magolor (Kirby)

Maji Mentaro (Robot Band PiCPAC)

Maria Socket (Robot Band PiCPAC)

Mathman (Square One TV)

Maurecia (Wayside)

Meat Boy (Super Meat Boy)

Meap (Phineas And Ferb)

Meep (Kid Cosmic)

Megamind (Megamind)

Melodytchi (Tamagotchi)

Melon Bread (Gunstar Heroes)

Memory Card (Showvember Again)

Metro Card (Protagonist Object Show)

Micro Puffs (The Powerpuff Girls (DC Comics))

Milla Vodello (Psychonauts)

Mimi (Super Paper Mario)

Mina (Jelly Jamm)

Misery (Cave Story)

Misty (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Misty (Pokémon)

Mole (The Modifyers)

Mr. Glitch (Square One TV)

Murasaki (BEEFLUIGI)

Mutemaster (Cucumber Quest)

Myron (Wayside)

President Nanao (Kero Blaster)

Little Miss Naughty (The Mr. Men Show)

Newton (LittleBigPlanet 3)

Nightmare Princess (Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom)

9-Volt (Warioware)

Lady Ohdette (Kidutus)

Orion (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Pablo (The Backyardigans)

Pandora (Mega Man ZX)

Pato (Pocoyo)

Peridot (Cucumber Quest)

Pheromosa (Pokémon)

Phoney Bone (Bone)

Pip (Barnyard)

Plague Knight (Shovel Knight)

Plank (Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy)

Colonel Pluck (Donkey Kong Country Returns)

Poison Ivy (Batman)

Pop (Showvember Again)

Popcorn (Showvember)

Popple (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)

Printer (titletext[])

Prometheus (Mega Man ZX)

Quack (Peep And The Big Wide World)

The Queen (Jelly Jamm)

Rachel Bighead (Rocko's Modern Life)

Rachel Wilson (The Amazing World Of Gumball)

Rayman (Rayman)

Admiral Razorbeard (Rayman)

Ristar (Ristar The Shooting Star)

Robotboy (Robotboy)

ROM The Spaceknight (ROM: Spaceknight)

Roselia (Pokémon)

Rosemaster (Cucumber Quest)

Rubber Band (Paper Mario: The Origami King)

Salad Fingers (Salad Fingers)

Sandy Cheeks (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Saranoia (Yin Yang Yo!)

Scepter (Showvember Again)

Science Cat (Adventure Time)

Selma (Sirocco and the Valley of the Winds)

Shannon (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Shed Resident A/V Robot (ItemLabel / Nemo's Factory)

Siren (Stretch Panic)

Skrawl (ChalkZone)

Slumber Princess (Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom)

Small (Big And Small (i don't know much about his source material beyond the house game but he is an absolute angel so on the list he goes))

Snap (ChalkZone)

Sparkster (Rocket Knight Adventures)

Specter Knight (Shovel Knight)

Spectra (Danny Phantom)

Splaat (Klasky Csupo)

SpongeBob SquarePants (SpongeBob SquarePants (he just had to go here))

SpongeBob's Tongue (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Squilliam Fancyson (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Squirps (Super Paper Mario)

Squish (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Starlow (Mario & Luigi)

Strobo Gonzales (Robot Band PiCPAC)

Sue (Hanna-Barbera Pac-Man)

Professor Sunshine (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Susie (Kirby)

Swiper the Fox (Dora the Explorer)

Sword Shark [R.I.P.] (Adventure Time)

Taylor (ONE)

Tennis Ball (Tennis Ball on His Day Off)

Terrormisu (Wario: Master Of Disguise)

Terry (That Food Chain episode of Adventure Time)

Texty (ONE)

Tico (Dora the Explorer)

Tinker Knight (Shovel Knight)

Todd (BEEFLUIGI)

Togepi (Pokémon)

Digital Tome III (Robot Band PiCPAC)

Tony (ONE)

Tool Star (Dora the Explorer)

Tortilla (titletext[])

Trix Rabbit (Trix Ads)

Twink (Paper Mario 64)

Unelma Varzai (Kidutus)

Uniqua (The Backyardigans)

Veri (Kidutus)

Victoria Von Bathysphere (LittleBigPlanet 2)

CommanderVideo (BIT.TRIP)

Waluigi (Super Mario Bros. series)

Wander (Wander Over Yonder)

Wario (Super Mario Bros. series)

Whippy Creamy (ONE)

Woggle (Protagonist Object Show)

Wooden Toy (Sirocco and the Valley of the Winds)

Wormer (Impy And Wormer)

Wubbzy (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!)

Agent Xero (The Modifyers)

Queen Xhan (Kid Cosmic)

Mr. Yuk (Safety PSA)

Zazz (Sonic Lost World)

Zeena (Sonic Lost World)

Zoe (Monster Prom)

Zoogina (Zoog Disney)

[puppetsandpantry]

My Avatar History

This is the post the last month of content has been building up to. It doesn't really mean anything to anybody but me, but I want to document this info as a fun little project. This will be going through all the variations and changes in my online avatar since I first started using custom avatars. Let me weave you a tale.

So sometime in the past, around August of 2020, I was a player of the now shuttered game Club Penguin Rewritten. The owners of Club Penguin Rewritten held an art contest, and I decided to participate. I drew a pixel art version of the Astro Barrier ship from the minigame Astro Barrier. I don't have that file anymore, so I can't show it here, but imagine the astro barrier ship (which was already pixelated) but with a bit more graphical fidelity. Like taking something 8-bit and making it sixteen bit. I really enjoyed drawing that space ship, and so I decided to make another, fully original, top down spaceship image. After a bit of tinkering, and a lot of use of the "make rectangle" and "make circle" tools, I came up with something that looked like this:

(This is a recreation based on my memory) At that time, I realized that it vaguely looked like a face. So I made it a face.

At the time, I thought this looked really cool, and based on my desire to have a custom avatar on youtube, I chose this to be my avatar. (Fun Fact: The green and red lights were holdovers for the idea of this being a flying ship of some kind.) One of the next days, I decided to make this not just a head, and gave it a body.

This thing looked really bad, and not long after making it I decided to shelve the idea of giving this thing a body. (Fun Fact: This is the first time I recorded the light on his face red rather than green. This would not be done consistently afterwards, but I did it here first.) The only thing I would keep from this design was the little blue glowing hands, though they never appeared in any official capacity.

After this, I wanted to go back and make some changes to the avatar, or at least I think I did. I don't remember. In any case, due to the way I used to save my pixel art files, when I brought the avatar back into the editing program, it made some weird color blurring changes. For some reason, I liked how said changes looked at the time, and decided to use them in the actual version. I christened this version the "Hi-Rez" version, despite that making no sense.

(I think I thought that it looked like it was shaded better, but it really just looks messy.)

After this, I made some variations for holidays, Halloween and Christmas specifically.

The Halloween avatar is supposed to look like a Jack-O-Lantern, and the Christmas one should be self explanatory. I think I only used the Christmas avatar once, but the Halloween Avatar got used a couple of times. Now for a quick diversion: My original tumblr avatar. The avatars I've shown thus far were only being used on Youtube and Twitter, and maybe some other places that have since stopped existing. When I created my Tumblr, I initially planned on keeping my Tumblr and Twitter separate, though I've now gone back on that decision. When deciding on an avatar, I picked a random file I had lying around, and that was this:

This is a design made inside the Nitrome game "Steamlands," which includes a rudimentary flag designer tool. The resolution on them isn't great, and this is an upscaled version. It's supposed to be a skull, but it looks crappy. I figured it would suffice. At this point, my avatars are stable for a while. To get into why they changed, we first have to talk about my twitter banner. Here is my old twitter banner:

It's the name "Dipped Feathers, with what are supposed to be feathers in the "t", with Sleeping Beauty Castle, a really squashed game controller, and a half animatronic, half bird thing in the foreground. These were chosen to represent my main interests at the time, theme parks, video games, and animatronics. I don't have the file anymore, but the original version of this banner had a dog instead of a bird for the animatronic; I changed it when I realized that a bird made more sense with the name. (Fun Fact: I will not disclose where the name "Dipped Feathers'' comes from.) Here is the Christmas version:

There is snow and the controller is now hot chocolate. This probably also got used only once. (Why there isn't snow on the roof of the castle, I don't know.)

Cut to September of 2023, and I realize that I really didn't like how this banner looked. So I decided to make a new one. Here it is:

I decided to focus more on wavy letters for this one, which are something I have a fondness for. The weird divot at the beginning of "Dipped" is so that the banner doesn't overlap the twitter avatar space. I made the background for this black, which I like because it looks seamless to the rest of the twitter interface when in dark mode. I was really satisfied with this logo, and left it like that for a while. Cut to late September, I became really interested in The Amazing Digital Circus by @gooseworx and Glitch Productions. Even now, I remain obsessed. Knowing that the pilot would be released on October 13th (go watch it), I decided to prepare something to show my excitement. In addition to a group shot of all the characters from the show, I also made this:

It's my avatar with Pomni's Jester hat. (Note: I made the light red instead of green when designing this one, along with cleaning up the blurred details of the "Hi-Rez" version). I used this avatar from October 13th to October 23, before switching back to my halloween avatar for the rest of the month. But while I was designing this variant of the avatar, I realized I really didn't like the avatar base. For one thing, I'd never given it a name (the file name is just "yeet") or even figured out what it was. It wasn't really an OC because it didn't have character. It's a gormless face thing. So I began to make some new ideas, staying in line, color wise, with the new banner I had made. Here are those:

These were all pretty bad. My first attempt was just recoloring the old avatar with the new colors. It didn't look good, but it did lead somewhere. I now share with you, in gif form, the process of getting from my old avatar to my new avatar:

I realized while messing with the colors that the central teal part of the old avatar was basically a little ghost shape. So I gave them the colors of the new banner, and almost immediately I loved how it looked. It's definitely simpler than the old avatar, but it has potential to actually be a character, and it actually looks like something. I couldn't tell you what the old avatar was. This one is a ghost. Simple as that.

I've used this avatar since I made it here on Tumblr and on Youtube, but I've waited till today to use it on twitter. I actually made this avatar on the same day as the Pomni version of the old avatar, and had I not made that avatar, I would have started using this on twitter immediately. I really wanted to use that avatar (and the Halloween one, one more time) before saying goodbye to the avatar design, so I waited until the beginning of November. Which is now, as of me writing this. Thanks for reading!

[jetpackgay]

h

[nazzstalgia]

[shiftyyyy]

OMGOGMGMG I LOVE HIS LITTLE DANCE 🥹❤️❤️ IT REMINDS ME OF THE CLUB PENGUIN DANCE I LOVE IT

he has such beautiful and elegant moves… I cried 🥹🥹 SICK AHH MOVES BRAH 🥶🥶🥶 GO ASTRO GO!!1!!11!1 DONT HURT EM NOW AHHSTROKE🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

@shiftyyyy

[penguinnewsnetwork]

Club Penguin Rewritten is Back Online!

After weeks of absence while converting to HTML5, Club Penguin Rewritten is back! The development team is still working on fully-converting the game to HTML5, so there are things that are currently disabled, but I’ll try to cover everything that is available. So, what can you do and not do currently?

Well, the December Penguin Style catalog is still available and you can still buy items. However, it seems like the Edit Player feature doesn’t work. 

The Ice Rink turned back into the Soccer Field, but there’s no catalog available. I bet this is a temporary placeholder.

A handful of games are available to play, while there are some that aren’t. Here’s a list of every game that is currently disabled as of this post: Dance Contest, Jetpack Adventure, Bean Counters, Mancala, DJ3K, Puffle Rescue, Catchin’ Waves, Aqua Grabber, Card Jitsu, Sled Racing, Smoothie Smash, Pufflescape, Puffle Launch, Field Ops, System Defender. 

Games that are available: Find Four, Ice Fishing, Cart Surfer, Thin Ice, Astro Barrier, Hydro Hopper, Pizzatron 3000, Puffle Roundup.

Pretty much every room is available except for The Dojo. The Everyday Phoning Facility is still accessible. 

You can check out the current play: Squidzoid vs Shadow Guy and Gamma Gal, however the Switchbox 3000 and Costume Trunk are inaccessible. 

Igloos work, and there’s a new interface just for editing. You can now save up to four different igloos! No idea if this function works, but this is great for when you want to deck out your igloo for seasonal events, but don’t want to remove your furniture. Also, December’s igloo catalogs are still available.  Puffles are disabled as well.

That’s really it for now. Club Penguin Rewritten is still in progress of fully switching over to HTML5, but there’s plenty of things to do for now. 

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: The 6 Best Books On The History Of Manga And Anime

  Say you’re a fan of anime and manga who’s looking to learn more about history or craft. Where do you begin? There’s whatever insight you can glean from the work itself, of course. There’s also a good amount of information available online, from animation blogs to translated manga interviews to personal pieces. But when all else fails, turn to the library. Here are some excellent nonfiction books on the manga and anime industry that I’d recommend to just about anybody. I’ve also read at least sections of every book on this list, so you have my guarantee of their quality!

  Image via Penguin Random House

  Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World reaches beyond manga and anime to encompass Japanese pop culture post World War II. But there are plenty of stories in here that fans of anime and manga might find fascinating: 

  The toy car that inspired top developers at Nintendo

How the karaoke machine led directly to idol culture, as music producers sought to produce music that ordinary people could sing

The manga-obsessed student radicals of the 1960s, many of whom came to work on later anime projects like Mobile Suit Gundam

  Author Matt Alt’s choice of interviewees and attention to detail marks Pure Invention as one of the best of its kind. If you’re a curious reader looking for an accessible (and recent!) popular history, I highly recommend this book.

  Image via Bloomsbury.com

  For fans abroad, the history of anime begins with the airing of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy on Japanese television. But this wasn’t enough for Jonathan Clements, a long-time anime and manga scholar who continues to blog on Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. His academic text Anime: A History begins in the 1910s, 50 years before the airing of Astro Boy, in fact, Astro Boy only appears halfway through the book! Clements is concerned not just with the medium of anime itself, but the cultural traditions, historical events, and individual people that brought it into existence.

  One of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of English-speakers seeking to understand the history of Japanese animation — besides, as Clements notes, the haphazard nature of even those resources available in Japanese — is the language barrier. Online writers at sites such as Sakugablog have done fantastic work in making some of this information accessible, but those same writers would be the first to acknowledge there’s still plenty we don’t know. Anime: A History synthesizes countless Japanese-language source texts and interviews about the history of animation, yet Clements is careful to acknowledge that the testimony of individual actors within the industry must be weighed against both their own agenda and the words of others. While Anime: A History would be a valuable text if it was nothing more than a synthesis, Clements’ ambition to build a coherent history of Japanese animation from a production standpoint that thoroughly examines its subject matter and context from all angles is what makes it essential.

  Image via Stone Bridge Press

  Jonathan Clements collaborated with equally prestigious anime and manga scholar Helen McCarthy to produce The Anime Encyclopedia, whose third edition was published in 2015. It’s an enormous text (over a thousand pages long!) that covers everything from summaries and critical appraisals of popular titles to specific themes and tropes to nuggets of cultural history and influence. If I were to criticize this project, I would say that recent anime writing outside the United States exposes The Anime Encyclopedia’s biases; for instance, the magical girl series Ojamajo Doremi only merits a few paragraphs despite its status as a beloved children's series in Japan. Keeping that in mind, it’s an impressive resource that is great fun to browse (and to disagree with)!

  Image via j-novel club

  Mari Okada is one of the most prolific and influential anime writers of the past decade. She’s worked on adaptations, original projects like Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day and KIZNAIVER, and even directed her own films. In her memoir, From Truant to Anime Screenwriter, Okada frankly discusses her personal struggles: her fraught relationship with her mother, her years as a young student when she couldn’t bring herself to attend class, and the process by which she gathered her courage to touch upon her personal experiences in her work. There are chapters of this book that wouldn’t be out of place in an Okada-written drama, which I suppose is the point.

  Okada’s memoir is in part a testament to her work ethic and her willingness to tackle any challenge no matter how difficult or annoying it is. But it’s also a rosetta stone for her work: not just in how it overlaps with her personal life, but in its emphasis on the importance of communication despite how difficult it can be to voice even simple feelings. Whether you’re a fan of Okada or not, I found this to be a great resource for writers nervous of the fraught boundary between fiction and personal experience or for readers who want to know what makes Okada’s work so distinct.

  Image via Stone Bridge Press

  Frederik Schodt is one of manga criticism’s greatest elder statesmen. His book Manga! Manga! put him on the map, not only for its editorial content but also for its translated excerpts of Japanese comics — including what would be, for years, the only available English chapter of Rose of Versailles! Yet that book was published in 1983 and sections can’t help but read as dated now. So I’m recommending the sequel here, 1996’s Dreamland Japan. 

  Like its predecessor, much of Dreamland Japan is devoted to detailing Schodt’s theories as to what manga is and how it works. But the sections of the book I personally find most valuable are the profiles where Schodt writes at length about specific manga artists he either personally enjoys or believes to embody a specific genre unique to manga. The freakish kitsch of Suehiro Maruo; Ryoko Yamagishi’s historical epic Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi (Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun); and alternative artists like Kazuichi Hanawa and Shungicu Uchida. These chapters stand as a stark reminder that despite the recent popularity of manga in the United States, many fantastic comics remain completely unknown to most English-speaking audiences.

  Image via ComiPress

  Finally, there’s Udagawa Takeo’s Manga Zombie! Translated into English by John Gallagher, it’s an eccentric and rewarding text that profiles several avant-garde manga artists from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Udagawa strongly dislikes the market-driven manga hits that would go on to rule the world from the pages of Shonen Jump and fights instead for the careers of authors whose work was published in the pages of pornographic magazines as often as they were in Jump or the alternative magazine Garo. Most of these authors have never been published in English, whether officially or through illicit means like scanlations. If not for the translation of Manga Zombie — or for Udagawa’s further works of manga scholarship — the artists he writes about might vanish into history without leaving a trace.

  The comics detailed in Manga Zombie can be grotesque, ranging from the “fleshbomb style” of artists like Masaru Sakaki to prescient weirdos like George Takiyama. Some might be repelled by the content here; personally, I’m disappointed by the lack of female comics artists featured, although Udagawa (who mentions the girls comic pioneers the 49ers in the foreword to his book) is certainly aware of them. But I love reading folks talking about their favorite work that I’ve never heard about, and Udagawa makes for an idiosyncratic tour guide to some truly unique material. For those willing to brave the world of Japanese exploitation comics, Manga Zombie is a hidden gem.

  What’s your favorite text about manga or anime? Is there an interview you consider especially interesting? Let us know in the comments!

      Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he isn't reading weird fantasy novels and horror fiction, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can find him on Twitter at: @wendeego

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Adam Wescott

[crystallizedday]

Dr. Hare really was just the first William Afton, huh? Genius bunny-costume-wearing guy kidnapping kids who “always comes back”…

… & that will be the last time I ever mention that cursed comparison cause I hate it so much. WHEEIXJSKD

Anyway, YEAH

For a while, I’ve been wondering why I can’t really seem to let Poptropica go aside from like potentially nostalgia or something, but I think it’s cause it GENUINELY has more than what’s presented at face value that I was just too stupid of a little kid to really notice at first.

Some islands just have some genuinely investing pieces of world building that really WASN’T necessary but was just… put in there anyway. It really shows the passion that was put into these miniature stories, ESPECIALLY with Astro Knights (which, if you can’t tell, is my favorite one).

Bro that whole island had a huge ass telescope-building in the beginning where you can just look at all the different planets you’ll be visiting later on before you knew you were even supposed to go to space, not to mention all the written pieces of lore you can collect to get a better understanding of the setting & what exactly happened here. A lot of them weren’t even needed to solve puzzles, they were just there for anyone interested in the how’s & why’s & even get a certain character’s perspective on what was going on.

Stuff like that really proves these people loved what they were creating & wanted to flesh it out as much as they could &, as a writer myself, it’s really heartwarming & rad to see.

… Bro I dunno how I keep switching the tone up like this, it’s honestly kind of impressive. WHDISJXOSK

WE WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW DARK THIS GAME REALLY IS & I somehow found myself talking about how it’s really sweet the game even has these small details in the first place in which only some of them allude to these dark themes, WHAT??

It’s pretty off topic… but fuck it. It’s too heartwarming not to include.

This is also why I am terrible with small talk, WHICSJCOSKCIIWX

YOU

YOU THINK?? DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MESSED UP AND SCARRED MOST OF POPTROPICAS VILLAINS ARE??

DO YOU

UNDERSTAND??

HAVE YOU NOT TALKED TO. ANY OF THEM.

I HAVE SEEN THINGS.

IT’S GONNA TAKE MORE THAN “TOTEMS” TO “REMOVE” THE EVIL.

..Also thats not me this image was taken from the wiki.

[janethepegasus]

So i saw Matpat’s latest video about shared universes (starting with Doom and somehow connecting it with Kingdom Hearts) and my crazy brain thought it would be a good idea to expand it even FURTHER all because he used Spider-Man to connect to Thanos in Fortnite (yes seriously)

So behold, all the shit i had to go through to make connections to everything i can find and think of

So since all Spider-Mans are in one multiverse, that means all versions of Spider-Man are canon, so let's look at two cases of alternate Spider-Mans. Theres the Japanese Spider-Man, which was created by Toei as a collab by Marvel, Toei also created Super Sentai, which has connections to Kamen Rider (Super Hero Taisen), Metal Hero (some crossover movies), and obviously Power Rangers. Power Rangers had a crossover with TMNT, which has connections to not only other versions of TMNT but also other series like Batman (basically the whole DC universe is involved), Archie, X-Files, Ghostbusters, Rabbids (they were an extra character in a fighting game, as like a promotion for the new game), and all the toons that showed up in Cartoon All-Stars, like the Smurfs, Alf, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Winnie the Pooh (which is already tying back up to Kingdom Hearts), Muppet Babies, Looney Toons, and Ducktales.

Now Muppet Babies is part of the Muppet franchise, the Muppets are connected to Sesame Street, which opens up a can of worms for connections. Some characters cameoed in Between the Lions, Mr Rogers' Neighbor Hood, The Electric Company, Reading Rainbow, Poky Little Puppy, and a bunch of these characters appeared in a We are Family music video, which has *inhales* Bear in the Big Blue House, Barney, Arthur, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Rugrats, The Magic School Bus, SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue's Room, Blue's Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Kim Possible, The Proud Family, LazyTown, Lilo & Stitch: the Series, Madeline,Little Bill, The Fairly OddParents, Zoom, AND a whole bunch more shows.

Obviously Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Odd Parents had a crossover (three in fact), but those other shows had crossovers too, like Rugrats having a crossover with Wild Thornberrys, Lilo and Stitch had crossovers too, they had crossovers with The Proud Family, Kim Possible, Recess, and American Dragon Jake Long. Spongebob is connected to a lot of Nicktoons shows through the bumpers on the channel and had a major crossovers with Fairly Odd Parents, Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron, Tak, and Invader Zim in the Nicktoons Unite games.

Looney Toons is connected to all other Hanna Barbera property, which had crossovers as well (look at Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, they're LOADED with crossovers with other series), as for the Looney Toons cast themselves, examples include Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pokemon (in a commercial in Kids WB), The Justice League, Wild Kratts (Kinda? The two characters, Road Runner and Wild E. Coyote, were pretty much referenced as a way to say that real life coyotes can catch up to road runners), and The Amazing World of Gumball. And Pokemon had a crossover game with Nobunaga's Ambition called Pokemon Conquest. AND Ducktales is connected to Darkwing Duck and the same goes with the reboot.

Okay now back to where we started, Power Rangers had a crossover episode with Masked Rider, which is an adaptation of Kamen Rider Black RX, Kamen Rider had a FEW crossovers with other series, like Crayon Shin-chan, Pac-Man, Osomatsu-San, Hello Kitty, Pretty Cure, and a few others. Pretty Cure only had crossovers with itself but there is one pic floating around the internet showing one of the Cures standing in front of Arresterdramon Superior Mode, so it might hint to a commercial happening during that time. Hello Kitty has a ton of crossovers with different series, such as Sonic, Cookie Run, Pac-Man, Puzzles and Dragons, Doraemon, Yokai Watch, and several others. In Osomatsu-San Hesokuri Wars, they have costumes/sets of the six brothers being yokai, magical girls, monsters, angels, knights, super heroes, greek

gods, and others. Yokai is also connected to Yokai Watch, which has it's own crossovers with other series, like Final Fantasy, Terminator, Inazuma Eleven (which had commercials that crossed over with Despicable Me), The Seven Deadly Sins, Detective Conan, Hello Kitty (which brings this back to Hello Kitty and its crossovers), Inuyasha, Professor Layton, and several others. Professor Layton had a crossover game with Ace Attorney, which has many references and a small amount of crossovers.

Now let's move on to another Spider-Man, the one from Ultimate Spider-Man, obviously he's connected to the other Marvel shows that take place in that universe, but Spider-Man had crossover episodes/specials with Phineas and Ferb and Jessie, Jessie having connections with other Disney Sit-com shows like Austin and Ally, Good Luck Charlie, Liv and Maddie, and a few others, HOWEVER Mr. Moseby from the Suite Life of Zach and Cody appeared in one episode, which means that Jessie is in the same universe as That's So Raven, Hannah Montanna, Cory in the House (yeah yeah yeah, i can hear the anime memes from a mile away -_-), and Wizards of the Waverly Place. Phineas and Ferb also had crossover specials/episodes with Star Wars and Milo Murphy's Law, Star Wars has many crossovers and references in other shows, like the Muppets, Seasame Street, Captain N, Mario (in that old Mario cartoon episode where they parodied it), Putt-Putt, Megaman, Duke Nukem, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Dragon Ball, Transformers, Metal Gear, Angry Birds, Lego, Club Penguin, and several others.

The Star Wars references were in Megaman V and Megaman Zero, sprites from Megaman Zero were used to create sprites of TV Tome Adventures, which then became TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise and then it turned into the video game version of that show, the creator of the show, Kirbopher, did an animation related to Super Mario RPG, and had many voice roles like in Mob Psycho 100, Pokemon, and other series. Dragon Ball is the prequel of Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Super made it clear that there's other universes so all of those are connected as well, and Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z had crossovers with other shows like One Piece, Dr Slump, Astro Boy, Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo, and a few others. Metal Gear had crossovers and references in Terminator, Gundam, Castlevania, Mario, Zelda, Ape Escape, Yugioh (which connects itself to the other seasons like GX, 5D's, Zexal, Arc-V, and Vrains), Monster Rancher, Yoshi, The Standley Parable (only in the demo), and several others. Transformers, since it's made by Hasbro, is also connected to other Hasbro property, such as My Little Pony (and Equestria Girls), and they had references to other series in both the show and in the IDW comics, like pony versions of Rick and Morty appearing in one episode, pony versions of characters from Sailor Moon, Gravity

Falls, Kill La Kill, Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Frozen, and few other shows and even pony versions of IRL people like Gordon Ramsey. Transformers had crossovers and references to other series as well such as G.I Joe, Doctor Who, Spider Man, Star Wars, Marvel, and several other shows, and apparently Jem, Inhumanoids, C.O.P.S, and Robotix takes place in the Transformers universe.

Angry Birds had crossovers with other series like Rio, Star Wars, Puzzles and Dragons, Transformers, Sonic, The Muppets, and many levels in their games make references to other series. Lego Dimensions is full of crossovers, like The A-Team, Adventure Time, Back to the Future, Beetlejuice, DC Comics, Doctor Who, E.T, Fantastic Beasts, Ghostbusters (both the original and the 2016 reboot), The Goonies, Gremlins, Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Knight Rider, Legends of Chima, other Lego property, Lord of the Rings, Midway Arcade, Mission: Impossible, Portal, Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, Simpsons, Sonic, Teen Titans Go!, and The Wizard of Oz. Speaking of The Simpsons, they had crossovers with other shows like Family Guy and Futurama, AND they cameoed appeared in South Park, and Family Guy is in the same universe as American Dad and The Cleveland Show. The Simpsons also had crossovers with The Critic, X-Files, King of the Hill, Robot Chicken, Bob's Burgers (which means it's also connected to the Archer Show), Rick and Morty, and several series get mentioned in the show itself. As for Sonic, he had a crossover comic series with Megaman, he had crossovers in the comics with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and DC (it was part of a Sonic Super Special comic but for some reason the Wikis won't tell me if it's generally DC or some part of it >:/ ), Sonic had levels in Sonic Lost World that were crossovers with NiGHTS, Legend of Zelda, and Yoshi's Wooly World, in Sonic Forces, there's DLC costumes that are based off of NiGHTS, Beat from Jet Set Radio, AiAi from Super Monkey Ball, and Joker from Persona 5. Sonic had crossover games with other SEGA series, but in Sonic Dash, they had events that had crossovers with Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and Pac-Man. In one of the Vocaloid games, Miku had a costume that was a Sonic hoodie, to celebrate Sonic's anniversary, Vocaloid made many songs and some of these songs branch out into their own series, one of them being Black Rock Shooter, and i swear BRS was a guest character in some fighting game but i don't remember what the name was.

Okay, now let's head back to Marvel, one of the characters that's paired up with Spider-Man (except for the Movie universe) is Deadpool, and in one comic, he takes a girl to see Hamilton. In one of the Hamildrops, they did a crossover song which was a mix of Story of Tonight and You'll be Found from Dear Evan Hansen called "Found Tonight", one of the actors from Dear Evan Hansen is now playing the role of Jeremy in Be More Chill, and in the original 2015 performance of BMC, the actor who played Jenna also played Martha in Heathers, and Eric William Morris, who played Squip, also played Jordan in The Ballad of Little Jo. And since we're using actors to connect series...*inhales* Lin Manuel Miranda (who plays Alexander in Hamilton) also had roles in In The Heights, 21 Chump Street, Mary Poppins Returns, Ducktales Reboot, Do No Harm, Looking for Maria Sanchez, Sesame Street, House M.D, and a few others. Mary Poppins Returns is a sequel to the original Mary Poppins so they instantly connect, and i'm gonna make a crazy theory of House M.D taking place in the same city (or state) as Blue Bloods and Forever, both shows have characters played by Eric William Morris, who had roles in Trust, Greed, Bullets, and Bourbon, Royal Pains, As The World Turns, and few other small roles. But one of his current roles is Carl from King Kong Broadway, which is based off of King Kong, and King Kong had a crossover film with Godzilla, and there's a short film that had Ultraman and Kamen Rider (i think it was Godzilla?? It was a giant lizard thing :/). However, King Kong was the inspiration behind Donkey Kong, which now has connections to both Mario and Donkey Kong series. Donkey Kong had crossovers/references with Frogger, Pitfall, Qubert, Mickey (from Disney), Punch Out, Mother, Earthworm Jim, Kirby, Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Scott Pilgrim, The Fast and the Furious, Class of 3000, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Big Bang Theory, Metroid, Pushmo, Minecraft, Gravity Falls, Wreck It Ralph, Pixels, Skylanders, several others, and had japanese exclusive songs in Donkey Konga that had songs from Super Sentai, Pretty Cure, Pikmin, Naruto, Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball Z, Star Fox, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Ice Climbers, and several others.

Minecraft had a Super Mario texture pack in the Switch version of Minecraft, plus a Steven Universe texture pack as well, there are console exclusive skins based off of characters from Gears of War, Halo, Banjo-Kazooie, Dust, Tony Hawk, Left 4 Dead, Boarderlands, Conker, Half-Life, Portal, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, and several other shows. Steve from Minecraft can be an unlockable character in games like Super Meat Boy, Choplifter, Retro City Rampage, and Creepers can be found in Blocks that Matter, Boarderlands, Torchlight, and Minecraft is refernced in Adventure Time, Octodad, The Stanley Parable, Skyrim, and South Park. And since Minecraft has Halo skins, this ties into Red VS Blue, a show that uses assets from the Halo series. And Red VS Blue appeared in a promotional video alongside the main cast of RWBY. Mother (or Earthbound) is the inspiration for Undertale, which had a sequel called Deltarune, and in one of the locations in Deltarune is a place called "Ice-E's Pezza", and Burgerpants mentions a guy named "Purple Guy" which is a reference to Purple Guy from Five Nights at Freddies. Crash Bandicoot had two crossover games with Spyro the Dragon and had references in Uncharted, Futurama, Johnny Test, Family Guy, Jimmy Neutron, The Country Bears, Jak and Daxter, Friends, The Simpsons, Tomb Raider, and several others. And Mickey is one of the characters in Kingdom Hearts, so now we come in full circle with Matpat's theory.

So started with Spider-man (well two versions of Spider-man) and ended it with Mickey, i'm sure there's other series out there that i forgot to bring up but eh, this is long enough :/

[atomictoyland]

Kenner Super Powers Collection (1984-1986)

The amazing Kenner Super Powers Collection was possibly one of my favorite toy lines of all time. This was my childhood introduction to the superhero world / the practice of collecting my favorite characters. I have many fond memories of playing with these figures for hours and hours on a daily basis, so I might be a little biased towards the line. Just to put that out there.

Introduced in 1984, Kenner allowed us to play with some of our favorite superheroes and supervillains. ��By squeezing either the arms or legs together (based on the character), the figure would activate it's action power. Each character came with an accessory of sorts, minus the cape toting heroes - we were jipped of any additional accessory in leu of the cape, and some others didn't have any accessories at all. All the figures in the first series came with a mini comic and a bio card that could be cut out, which was simply amazing in my eyes. Series 1 gave us characters such as, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Robin, Superman, (my personal favorite villain) the Penguin, and of course no line would be complete without the Joker.

Along with the figures, Kenner gave us multiple vehicles and the amazing Hall of Justice playset. The playset was connected by straps that snapped the set together. When released, the playset opened up to reveal an elevator that raised to the roof, various teleportation chambers, a jail cell to hold supervillains, and a computer station that jetted out for the characters to sit and save the world. Many have complained that the playset didn't bear any resemblance on the interior, and the exterior lacks any sort of depth. All in all, I think it's quite remarkable - up until this point the only other playset was Mego's 1976 plastic covered cardboard version (which is an amazing sight all in it's own).

Sadly, the line only ran for three series and was cancelled in 1986. I still love these treasures to this day, and they line my shelves with a constant rotation. I might play around with them a little bit while rotating them out, but I'll never tell.

Mail Order:

Clark Kent (no accessory) - released in 1986

Playsets:

Hall of Justice - released in 1986

Series 1 - released in 1984:

Aquaman with Power Action Deep Sea Kick (trident)

Batman with Power Action Bat Punch (removable cape)

Brainiac with Power Action Computer Kick (no accessory)

Flash with Power Action Lightning Legs (no accessory)

Green Lantern with Power Action Ring Thrust (lantern)

Hawkman with Power Action Flight Wings (mace)

The Joker with Power Action Madcap Mallet (mallet)

Lex Luthor with Power Action Nuclear Punch (chest plate)

The Penguin with Power Action Umbrella Arm (umbrella)

Robin with Power Action Karate Chop (removable cape)

Superman with Power Action Punch (removable cape)

Wonder Woman with Power Action Deflector Bracelets (lasso)

Series 2 - released in 1985:

Darkseid with Power Action Raging Motion (removable cape)

Desaad with Power Action Shock Squeeze (removable skirt)

Doctor Fate with Power Action Mystic Spell Cast (removable cape)

Firestorm with Power Action Atomic Punch (no accessory)

Green Arrow with Power Action Archery Pull (bow & arrows)

Kalibak with Power Action Beta-Club Swing (beta-club)

Mantis with Power Action Pincer Thrust (no accessory)

Parademon with Power Action Battle Flight (gun)

Red Tornado with Power Action Tornado Twist (removable cape)

Steppenwolf with Power Action Electro-Axe Chop (no accessory)

Series 3 - released in 1986:

Cyborg with Power Action Thrusting Arms (drill hand, claw hand)

Cyclotron with Power Action Cyclo-Spin (removable face/chestplate)

Golden Pharaoh with Power Action Soaring Wings (staff)

Mr. Freeze with Power Action Cold-Blast Punch (removable dome)

Orion with Power Action Astro-Punch and Changing (no accessory)

Plastic Man with Power Action Stretching Neck (no accessory)

Samurai with Power Action Gale-Force Spin (sword, removable vest)

Shazam! with Power Action Thunder Punch (removable cape)

Tyr with Power Action Rocket Launch (firing gun-hand)

Vehicles

Batcopter - released in 1986

Batmobile - released in 1984

Darkseid Destroyer - released in 1986

Delta Probe One - released in 1986

Justice Jogger - released in 1986

Kalibak Boulder Bomber - released in 1986

Lex-Soar 7 - released in 1984

Supermobile - released in 1986

www.atomictoyland.com

[penguinnewsnetwork]

Dance-A-Thon & January Penguin Style!

A new, miniature event is now live from January 3rd until the 10th! Celebrate the Dance Contest minigame’s multiplayer upgrade by rocking out at the Dance Club! Join in on the fun by picking up this free item - a purple Boom Box!

If you head upstairs to the Dance Lounge, you can make some noise with friends with the Noisemaker 3000! Don’t worry, Astro Barrier and Thin Ice are still available to play.

If you head on up to The Roof, you can hold dance contests with other penguins!

You can select ‘Multiplayer’ in Dance Contest by choosing it from the menu.

Now, onto the new Penguin Style! This month’s issue is full of great dance gear, and fiesta wear. What could this possibly be hinting at? Below are visual guides to all the secrets we could find. If we missed any, let us know in the notes and we’ll update this post! 

Check out January’s Item of the Month and Penguins At Work!

And if you missed out on the final Advent Calendar door at the Christmas Party, you can now buy Ice Blue for 20 coins on the color page! 

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for when we cover the latest pin! Until then, waddle on! - Boopenguin.

[clawingbackthepast]

Adverts: Chocolates, Sweets, Ice Creams and Lollies

54321: A Pack of 5 for Only 32p

Aero: Makes You Go Oooh

Aero: My Aero, My Hero

Aero: Wallpaper

Bassett’s Jelly Babies: Bassett’s Jellyworld

Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts: He’s Had One Too Many

Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts: You Might Turn Bertie

Bounty Ice Cream

Breakaway: Don’t Take Away My Breakaway

Breakaway: It’s Wicked

Cadburys Boost: Biscuit Boost

Cadburys Boost: What Can Fill the Watford Gap

Cadburys Buttons: Sing a Song of Sixpence

Cadburys Buttons: Three Little Pigs

Cadbury’s Caramel: Personal CD Players

Cadburys Caramel: Postie

Cadbury’s Chunky Bars: Elton John

Cadburys Creme Eggs: Zodiac

Cadburys Crunchie: I’m So Excited

Cadburys Dairy Milk: Show Me Heaven

Cadburys Dairy Milk: The Chocolate and a Half

Cadburys Flake: Gypsy Caravan

Cadburys Flake: Waterfall

Cadburys Fruit and Nut: Everyone’s a Fruit and Nutcase

Cadburys Mini Eggs: Mr Cadbury’s Parrot

Cadburys Roses: Christmas

Cadburys Roses: Supergrans

Cadbury’s Roses: The Sweetest Way to Say Merry Christmas

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Astros

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Cadburys

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Caramel

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Creme Eggs

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Crunchie

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Dairy Milk

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Marble

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Milk Tray

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Roses

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Snack

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Time Out

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Wispa Mint

Cadburys Time Out: DJs

Cadburys Time Out: When It’s That Time

Cadburys Twirl: Take 5

Cadburys Whole Nut: Winter Train

Cadbury’s Wispa: American President

Cadbury’s Wispa: Dad’s Army

Cadbury’s Wispa: It Ain’t Half Hot Mum

Cadbury’s Wispa: John Thaw and Dennis Waterman

Cadburys Wispa: Mel and Pete

Cadbury’s Wispa: Michael Medwin and Trevor Eve

Cadburys Wispa: Wispa Gold

Cadburys Wispa: Wispa Gold 2

Chewits: Muncher Menace

Club: Club Fan Club

Club: Join Our Club

Dime: Armadillos

Dime: That Bloke’s a Nutter

Fab: Smashie and Nicey

Ferrero Rocher: The Ambassador’s Reception

Fruit-tella: I’m Too Juicy

Fry’s Turkish Delight: Full of Eastern Promise

Jolly Rancher: The Great Taste of Fruit Squared

Kinder Surprise: Chocolate and a Surprise

Kinder Surprise: Sharkybaba

KitKat: Pandas

KitKat: Thunderbirds

Magnum: Me and My Magnum

M&Ms: Football

M&Ms: The Candyman

Mars: Petrol in Cars

Maynards Wine Gums: Juice Loose Aboot This Hoose

Milky Bar: Cowboys

Milky Bar: Milky Bar Buttons

Milky Way: Bad Altitude Problem

Milky Way: Red Car and Blue Car

Milky Way: Satellite and Meteor

Opal Fruit Ice

Penguin: Funny

Penguin: Killer Whale

Penguin: Nephew

Penguin: Shirty

Quality Street: Carol Singers

Rocky: Rocky Robin

Rowntrees Fruit Gums: Kevin the Fruit Bat

Rowntrees Fruit Gums: Kevin the Fruit Bat Is an Artist

Rowntrees Fruit Gums: Kevin the Fruit Bat’s Birthday

Rowntrees Fruit Pastille Ice Lolly

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: Beyond Fruit

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: You Just Can’t Help Chewing 1

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: You Just Can’t Help Chewing 2

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: You Just Can’t Help Chewing 3

Secret: You Can’t Trust Anyone to Keep a Secret

Skittles: They’re Wicked

Smarties: Only Smarties Have the Answer 1

Smarties: Only Smarties Have the Answer 2

Smarties: What Makes a Smartie

Softmints: Peeling Potatoes

Toblerone: Triangular Chocolate

Trebor Soft Mints: Mr Soft

Trio: Magic Wrappers

Trio: Soundproof Box

Twix: The Case

Vice Versas: Brown Is White and Vice Versa

Wagon Wheels: Kinda Big and Kinda Nice (Short Version)

Yorkie: New 7-Chunk Yorkie

[truesportsfan]

It’s now ritual, trying to apply common sense to the preposterous. You can try this at home. But it can’t be done. Consider:

The trouble with secrets is people. Once a second person knows, the secret is cut in two. Add a third confidant and the secret is just 33 percent confidential. And soon and so forth until there’s no keeping the lid on the dugout garbage can.

It’s reasonable to believe that with 45 or more folks within the Astros’ organization aware that the club was playing with a marked deck, another 45 or 450 people knew through first and second hand info.

Now what did at least a few of these inside-the-know crowd do? They bet the Astros early and often. To think otherwise would be unthinkable.

So add that one — inside trading — to all the side stories and side issues that get down to the gritty that forms the trending foreign word, integrity.

In November, an inside-info college football “thing” came and went with little media examination or suspicion. But something was rotten in Louisiana.

On Nov. 15, the visiting Marshall team defeated Louisiana Tech, 31-10. That game opened with Marshall a two-point favorite until two days before the game, when enough dough was played on Marshall to move the line to Marshall laying 4 ½ — a significant but unexplained movement.

Unbeknownst to the public, La. Tech planned to suspend three players for the game, including star quarterback J’mar Smith. That “privileged” info traveled — sifted — from the inside, logically carried by La. Tech insiders to bet the opposing, visiting team.

La. Tech didn’t release the news until Thursday night ahead of a Saturday game, well after the significant movement in the betting line. But such a stink bomb was tossed into the “Who Cares?” pile, as neither team is normally the kind that national TV covets and top-10 national polls include.

Another side to this Astros’ game-fixing — and isn’t that what they attempted? — is the absurd takes by high-profile media geniuses who regularly don’t know what they’re spewing about.

ESPN’s $10 million blowhard Stephen A. Smith concluded on the air that the Astros had to have cheated in the 2017 ALCS based on how little the Yankees’ offense produced. He even gave numbers as evidence.

Great take! But the Yanks’ offense had nothing to do with it. It was about the Astros swiping signs for its batters when they, not the Yankees, were at bat.

The there’s the outrage among those players who felt victimized by the Astros — selective outrage. Reader Pete Caterina: “Too bad the clean players weren’t as vocal against the PED cheats.”

But what team did not include the drug-aided?

Now we’re worried about beanball retaliation against those Astros on its insider-trading teams. Rob Manfred — the Lizard of Oz, he speaks with forked tongue — the story goes, now must act to preemptively stop it.

Huh? This is the same commissioner who claims home plate-posing and bat-flipping should be encouraged in kids! Has he not seen — or recognized — how many MLB brushback and beanball brawls are ignited by those who exploit baseball to demonstrate excessive self-regard? How many preen their ways to singles off the wall rather than doubles and triples?

How do we fix baseball, sick from neglect, TV money greed, a lack of fundamental foresights and even professionals who dismiss the importance of running to first base?

I don’t know. But I do know that it’s growing more difficult to return to a place you’ve never been. But that’s our little secret.

NBC scores big with its NHL coverage

NBC, even without Doc Emrick, had a strong NHL Sunday.

Within the Red Wings-Penguins opener, a between-periods feature told the story of “The Congo Kids,” two African kids adopted by a white family from Minnesota. Now the Seidl brothers, Simon and Sawyer, 13 and 15, are hockey-happy players in kids’ leagues.

Next, Mike Tirico was superb as the play-by-play caller during Bruins-Rangers. He was well-prepared, and made valuable and relevant parenthetical observations,

Funny, how for years hockey was considered a tough TV watch. Now, it’s reliably the best sport to watch. Mostly fast-paced games, with minimal artificial stoppages, rarely last beyond 2 ¹/₂ hours, overtimes and shootouts included.

Does anyone find this remarkable:

Gary SanchezCharles Wenzelberg/New York Post

1. Gary Sanchez spent nearly six years in the minors, time when young pros are supposed to learn the intricacies of the positions they play, in Sanchez’s case, catcher.

But when Sanchez was promoted to the Yankees, he appeared only vaguely familiar with the position.

2. Now, 10 years after becoming a professional catcher, he’s still being taught the position. The Yanks have hired a catching tutor to work with him — that after near-daily Aaron Boone and YES Network testimonies to how incredibly improved Sanchez is behind the plate — spoken to scant evidence.

3. The Yanks allowed an accomplished catcher and pretty good clutch hitter, Austin Romine, to sign with Detroit.

And at the close of last season, Sanchez remained

Don’t forget about No. 63

Person of the Weekend was CBS’ poor stats graphic man or woman, charged with squeezing Tiger Woods’ name on the first page of the leaderboard, though he was tied for 63rd.

It’s not Woods’ fault, but with him out of the hunt, we hear and see so much more golf on TV rather than a gushing worship service. I enjoy Nick Faldo’s takes, but when Woods is in it, he turns to goo.

The national anthem — as screeched, strangled and otherwise tortured by Chaka Khan before the NBA All-Star Game — seemed another planned exploitation of an honor for transparent buzz-inducing self-promotion, this one a colossal failure.

Time for Pete Alonso to grow up. He wants to be “drunk on a float”? The “Let’s Go Mets” chant should include the f-word. Like it or not, kids look up to him. He doesn’t need to be the Mets’ Rob Gronkowski — and the Mets should let him know.

CBS provided a strange graphic at halftime of Saturday’s Indiana-Michigan: free-throw stats! Here we thought TV had decreed they no longer count.

NBA All-Star Game was pitched as an 8 p.m. Sunday start on TNT. It began at 8:40, but some lies have become more standard than surprising.

The University of Maine men’s basketball team is 7-19 and just might be suffering from communications issues. Two recruits are from Serbia; one each from the Ukraine, Montreal, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Latvia, England and Lebanon. Why Maine? The climate.

source https://truesportsfan.com/sport-today/13068/