#capsule gill

[dailytrendsfeed]

[zexonyte]

yeah i made him a fish lookin thang whatcha gonna do about it

[raspberry-beret]

Art Weekend - Acorn by Bryan Nash Gill

A Connecticut artist, Bryan Nash Gill often used local woods such as ash, oak, and willow for his inspiration. Using downed wood, he saws off a block and burns it to remove the new growth, leaving only the hardened growth rings. Each cross section is printed with ink, leaving a unique image of natural growth. Each tree leaves a completely new image and pattern, especially when there are distinctions like a burl or past damage to the wood.

[smikkle-fish]

Diseased Equilibrium

AO3 Link

Previous

Start from Beginning

It is said that monsters roamed the Earth long before dinosaurs ever did. 

Monsters.

How pathetic. 

The small ones knew nothing about them. Nothing about him. They had forgotten their place in his kingdom, thinking that they were equals. She told him that the small ones were to be protected. He disagreed. Despite their size, the small ones have damaged his home. Sure, some had good hearts. For example, the small one with glasses that looked at him with respect. 

“Goodbye…old friend.”

His small paw had touched his large, scaled snout gently. The old king was not used to such tenderness. He was used to claws slashing into his hide and sharp teeth tearing chunks of  his flesh. Not this.

No one saw the giant titan lean into the touch. 

A blinding light filled the lizard’s vision. When it faded away, the gentle touch was gone. 

The small one was dead. 

Godzilla was tired. Dirty water flowed through his gills, something he had gotten used to. The king had many resting places throughout the Earth, but the small ones had destroyed his favorite one. It was necessary at the time. Even so, he was still upset about it. 

This was his kingdom, and it was being ruined by the small ones. He was not one to forget nor forgive. Godzilla still remembered the metal object that had brought death to his oceans. Only the small ones could create such a thing. It had killed everything within its radius. Including the Fire Bird’s island. There was a time where the king would have felt sympathy towards the winged titan, but that time has long since passed. 

Rodan deserved it. 

Simply thinking of the titan angered him. Godzilla snarled to himself and exited his resting chambers. He swam into the open ocean. His long tail propelled him forward. The king’s anger increased as he saw the trash that floated throughout the ocean like it belonged there more than the creatures. It wasn’t that much of a stretch. The garbage of the small ones were quickly replacing the fish at an alarming rate. 

A buzzing interrupted his thoughts. It was familiar. It was annoying . 

It was the small ones. 

This was the group that enjoyed studying him. Godzilla was in no mood to entertain them, so he snapped his jaws at the metal capsule. It quickly sped off into the depths. 

Godzilla soon breached the surface of the water. The air was just as dirty as the ocean. He knew the balance of the Earth had been broken by the small ones. It was almost impressive. When the Three Headed Alien awoke, they did not cause nearly as much damage. They were weak. Still, Rodan had sided with them like the coward he was. 

His treasonous actions did not go unpunished. Every titan had gone back to hibernation except a select few. That being Godzilla, his queen Mothra, and Rodan. The king would not allow insubordination in his kingdom. Everyone must follow his rule without question. Or else there would be dire consequences.

The king prohibited Rodan from flying.

He knew how important flying was for Rodan. The molten pteranodon was made to fly, it was a part of his very being. Godzilla took away that privilege the moment the battle in Boston was over. 

Rodan hadn’t flown in years. If he tried, Godzilla would come by and tear the smaller titan to pieces. After Mothra��s sacrifice in Boston, Godzilla had acquired a strange ability. He could sense where every titan was across the Earth. When the king focused, he could see what a specific titan was doing. He checked every day to see what Rodan was up to. 

Kong had formed a shaky truce with Godzilla. Ghidorah was dead. The only threat to Godzilla’s kingdom was Rodan. Loyalty was everything in this world. When it’s broken, it could never be fixed.

The King of the Monsters would make sure his kingdom was secure. He was willing to do anything to ensure that. 

No matter the cost. 

Once he spotted the outline of Infant Island, his dorsal plates glowed a bright cyan that he knew could be seen by his Queen. The radioactive reptile was furious at the disappearance of Rodan, the fire bird disappearing from his senses entirely. Godzilla had thought that Rodan would never attempt such a thing, especially with the king's threats of death. Despite how much it irked him to say, the pteranadon's actions surprised him. It was unexpected. Usually, any threat that the King of Monsters gave was taken seriously. No titan dared to test their luck against him. Any who tried would meet their agonizing end from his atomic breath. Even Kong had submitted somewhat. The ape was practically an infant compared to the ancient king. Even so, Godzilla begrudgingly agreed to a truce with the young alpha titan. If Kong ever decided to rebel again or attack, it would pose a problem for Godzilla. It was best to have the ape titan as an ally. 

While it bothered the atomic lizard to not have Kong fully submit, he knew it was necessary to avoid future problems. That horrid axe that Kong had wielded caused a permanent scar along Godzilla's leg. He was relieved to see the younger drop the infernal weapon. However, Godzilla had a feeling that the little ones had gotten their grubby hands on the weapon. They would never fully understand its significance or strength. As much as the tiny bugs tried, they were not going to become the apex species any time soon. He was sure that the humans would try to create another weapon to defeat him. In all honesty, Godzilla was at his limit with the humans. They were a pain in his hide to deal with. They weren't worth keeping around. Even so, Mothra incessantly begged him to spare them. She saw something in them that Godzilla did not. Perhaps it was their intelligence and ability to create the unimaginable. At this point, Godzilla did not care. The creation of the fake him was the greatest insult the little parasites could give him. After everything he did, they still wanted to exterminate him. To take his place as king. That was unacceptable.

He has kept the Earth balanced for eons, he defeated the pair of pests that were specially designed to kill him, he defeated multiple titans that would have killed millions before they could reach the humans, he eliminated the False King who would have terraformed the Earth and killed all life within it, and he recently destroyed their stupid metal titan that had gone rouge with the help of Kong. He had done so much for them. Yet they still tried to rebel. 

Just like Rodan. 

Godzilla roared in fury as he breached the waters. He and all other titans had felt the presence of the Three Headed One. The others would be arriving soon after hearing his commands to wake. It was the humans fault for keeping the alien's skull. This is what happens when those parasites mess with things they do not understand.

"Goji."

"Mothra."

His queen was waiting on the beach that surrounded the sacred island. Her body was tense, and her wings glowed a dull red in frustration. Both titans stared at each other without a word. A tension that rarely appeared between the two now suffocated them. Mothra had always told Godzilla to be less harsh on Rodan and more patient towards the humans. He had respected her requests for the most part, and he had done so for centuries. The moth knew that the king had reached a breaking point. She would not be able to convince him to spare the humans anymore. 

In silence the two climbed up the tallest mountain that had a lush valley below. The row of mountains acted as a sort of wall for humans. No one besides her Shobijin could enter safely. Though, the twins that had accompanied Mothra for centuries were gone for the most part. The last remnants of her Shobijin were present in the twins that worked for Monarch, the only group of humans that actively helped the titans. She repressed a mournful sigh as they reached the grassy surface. Anguirus was waiting for them with a fearful expression. The spiky titan bowed once he noticed Godzilla behind her. It was a stark contrast to how the pair used to greet each other. Before Godzilla became the king, he was simply a fellow titan. Yes, he was stronger than them, but he used his strength to protect and support. Now, his strength was used to force submission to their fellow kind. In the past, Anguirus and Godzilla would greet each other with a wrestling match. One of them would pounce of the other, and they would playfully tousle until Mothra intervened. At times, Rodan would join in the mock-fight, which created an even bigger headache for the moth. She would do anything to have those times back. 

Shaking her head to rid herself of her nostalgic thoughts, she looked at Godzilla directly. He may be angry, but she refused to be intimidated. "I suppose you are aware of what has happened?" Mothra spoke with an even tone. If Godzilla was going to rage, then she would keep her composure no matter what. Anguirus was already beginning to tremble as they waited for Godzilla's response. 

A snort left the lizard's nostrils. "I am. It's hard not to be aware when that fucking bird has been on my radar for years." His lips curled in a sneer, revealing his sharp teeth. 

"You know that Rodan is-"

"I don't give a shit if Rodan is 'upset' or 'troubled'! He knew what would happen if he disobeyed my direct orders, and he did it anyways!" Godzilla interrupted the winged titan with a roar. Something he had never done before. The titan even mocked her when referring to the many times she had told him to be more sympathetic towards the volcanic titan. His dorsal plates glowed an even brighter blue, an instinctual intimidation display. "Thanks to him, I have to find and kill that faker all over again! If it wasn't for your precious humans, Ghidorah's skull would have never been found! I should have never fucking listened to you!" 

"Godzilla, you must understand that-"

"NO. I am not sparing those parasites ever again! I have had enough of their constant destruction and rebellions. Because of them, the Earth is more unbalanced than it has ever been! They're better off dead, and you know that! Stop defending them! They are worth nothing!" As his anger grew, Godzilla's long tail thrashed violently on the ground. The tip nearly hit Anguirus who had started to back away from the arguing pair. Each word that left his mouth shocked Mothra more and more. Her partner had never disregarder her in such a way. It truly showed how far Godzilla had fallen. Said titan was not done yet. "Those humans are dying today, Mothra! I am not gonna be convinced otherwise! And once I find Rodan, I'll kill him and that golden monstrosity! I am done with such insubordination!"

"We shouldn't-"

"Your input won't do anything anymore. The humans and Rodan have gone too far. I'll compromise with you on anything else, but not this. Those parasites have ruined everything! Rodan doesn't fucking listen while the bugs have been ruining MY WORLD! THEY ARE GOING TO FUCKING SUFFER FOR EVERYTHING THEY HAVE-"

"GOJIRA, BE QUIET!" Mothra screeched so loudly an so suddenly that Godzilla's mouth snapped shut. Her grand wings were spread out to make herself bigger while glowing a bright crimson. Her calm composure had finally shattered at the repeated interruptions and disrespect. "I will not be treated like one of your 'subjects' that you can push around with ease. I am your equal, Godzilla. Not your subordinate. Now, you will be quiet as I speak. Am I clear?" The warm voice Mothra was known for was now colder than ice. 

All the anger Godzilla had been feeling vanished. Throughout the centuries of knowing each other, Mothra had never raised her voice in such a way, not even once. She was the level headed of the two. He was a raging storm that only calmed with her light. His vengeful and violent thoughts were starting to fade away as guilt slowly wrapped around his very soul. The betrayed look in his queen's eyes further strengthened the coils of the shame he felt. 

Mothra took a deep breath to reorder her thoughts. "I have been by your side since this planet was created. It was never yours to begin with. The Earth does not belong to us, and it never will. We are the protectors. Not the owners. Not the rulers. Not the executioners. We have no right to get rid of what nature has created. Humans are inhabitants of  this planet just as much as we are. They have the sharpest minds of any creature I have ever seen. They create things, Goji. Can you think of another animal who can build the things they do? To think that they are parasites is wrong. Yes, they have hurt the Earth. Yes, they have ruined the balance. Yes, they have tried to kill our kind and even you. But they haven't exactly done it on purpose." She had been glancing at the horizon while speaking. Mothra hadn't wanted to look at her long-term partner. When she noticed the lack of response from the lizard, she glanced at him. Godzilla had been struck siIent. He barely breathed as he looked at her with wide eyes.

With a sigh, she continued. "I doubt any human creates something with the sole purpose of hurting nature. They need guidance more than anything else. Our existence has been a horrifying discovery for the humans. They fear things they do not understand. They fear you especially. We can't communicate with them properly in order to show that we aren't their enemies. I have seen many humans show kindness and attempt to learn about our kind. In turn, I have done the same for them. What have you done, Gojira? Have you taken a single moment to try to understand the species that inhabit this realm? There is so much more to them than destruction. I am aware that there are humans who have done horrific deeds. They made a machine to kill you and other titans. They created a bomb that killed all the life on Rodan's island while nearly killing you. Who were the ones that saved you, hm? Who were the ones that sacrificed themselves to pull you from the brink of death? If they hadn't intervened, Ghidorah would have destroyed the world! You cannot say that all humans are parasites when there are so many instances when they are anything but. The ungrateful one is you. You are millions of years old and are antagonizing the species that has existed for less that a fraction of that time!" Her voice raised slightly at the very end. It pained her to have to use such harsh words to the being she had adored for eons. 

Godzilla still had yet to utter a sound, so Mothra took it as her chance to speak about the subject that was plaguing her the most. "Over the years, you have antagonized everyone. So much so that I have become your only ally. I do not know what happened to make you start asserting your power over our kind. I slowly saw you become someone  so power hungry that you were willing to kill innocent beings who you thought posed a threat. I let my own feelings get in the way of stopping you. I have tried to justify your actions in my head for so long, but I see that I cannot do that anymore. My intentional ignorance only served to help myself, not our people. We have lost so many friends, yet you still try to instill fear on the few titans that remain. They do not respect you, Gojira. You are astonished at Rodan's rebellious nature despite the fact that you have wronged him too many times to count. He is strong willed and will not give in to fear. You should know how reckless he is. I am astonished at how far you have gone to keep him in line. You eliminated the being he treasured the most. After you killed his kind, Rodan had no one to raise him except Quetz...She was powerful and apparently a 'threat' that had to be removed." Mothra spat the last word viscously. 

Her wings sagged a little, and Mothra looked away once more. "I have a part in her wrongful death. My lack of action costed her her life. I will regret my cowardice for the rest of my life. Rodan has never looked at me or you the same way ever since...Do you know why Rodan switched sides so easily? Do you? Or do you just think Rodan became a 'traitor' for kicks and giggles?" The once powerful voice Mothra had started to crack. Her next words were spoken in a broken whisper. "He hates us, Goji. He hasn't been treated with an ounce of care of respect in centuries. Ghidorah, as shocking as it may be, saw him as the fierce warrior he was always meant to be. It is obvious why he would choose him over you...Why he would attack me so brutally...Why he has risked execution at your claws just to bring Ghidorah back..." She grew quiet for a long, long time. When Rodan had pinned her during the battle in Boston, she could see the amount of pain and anger Rodan's golden eyes held. It was the first time seeing him since coming out of hibernation, and he was not the same titan she once knew. The impulsive yet caring hatchling she had found one day had turned into a winged beast that only looked at her with pure malice. And she could not bring herself to be upset at Rodan in the least. 

Godzilla attempted to speak, but found himself with no words to say. His normal response would have been to lash out and attack. However, this wasn't any other troublesome titan. This was Mothra. His Mothra. She has never sounded so angry, hurt, and disappointed in him before. The silence enveloped them. One now too guilt-ridden to speak while the other was in a state of shock and denial. 

It was deadly quiet for what seemed like hours. 

The silence was eventually broken by a voice they hadn't heard for over a millennia.

"You must have done something very stupid for my sister to be this upset and for me to be awoken. I wonder what it could be..." Battra spoke with a teasing tone that was underlined with a hidden threat. His dark red eyes narrowed at the silent king. Behind him, the last titans on Earth stood before them; Battra, Scylla, Behemoth, Methuselah, the Queen MUTO, Baragon, and Biollante. None of them were happy. Well...Except for one.

At the sight of the titan he thought he had killed, Godzilla's eyes widened almost comically. A wide smile appeared on a familiar face. One covered with green vines and sharp teeth. 

"Hey, big bro! I can't wait to see how you've fucked up!" 

This was going to be quite the reunion. 

.

.

.

"Hey, Rick?"

"What is it now, Sam?"

"Is it normal for Isla De Mara to suddenly have a radiation spike?"

A pause befell the two scientists. Each had stayed late to try to figure out the disappearance of a dangerous titan and the reappearance of an even more dangerous titan. To say that they were stressed would be an understatement. 

"Radiation spike?"

"Yup."

The older scientist took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. A headache had been forming for the past hour, and the sonographer desperately wanted to sleep. Now, he had to stay up for the rest of the night to look into the anomaly in the supposed inhospitable island. What else could go wrong?

"Also, I just got an alert that Kong is nowhere to be found." 

Rick slammed his head on his desk and groaned in despair. His hands grasped at his white hair and pulled. 

"Is this a bad time to mention that we're also out of coffee?"

"GODDAMMIT, SAM!"

.

.

.

San nuzzled Rodan's head for the umpteenth time. The three headed alien had yet to leave the pool of titan essence. His brothers had yet to return, but he had at least regained his missing tail and scales. The warmth of the pool and his birdie soothed his aches immensely. Being used to power that machine, unable to die, was the worst experience of his life. It was cold. So, so cold. He never wanted to be cold again. 

"When do you think Ichi and Ni will return?" Rodan asked softly. He didn't mind the hydra's incessant need for touch, it was the opposite. After spending centuries hibernating in a volcano and being outcasted before and after said hibernation, it left the volcanic pteranadon feeling a sense of loneliness so strong that it hurt. His species were social creatures. Most titans lived in solitude and didn't form packs or flocks. Rodan had always seeked out the company of others. After his falling out with Godzilla, he never truly regained that sense of companionship again.

It was a large reason why the beaked titan enjoyed being with Ghidorah. Each of his heads had a separate personality. While they shared a body, they did not share a mind. Ni tended to be more aggressive and temperamental. He attacked first and didn't bother with questions ever. His impulsive tendencies led him to gain the most scars. The right head had a cracked horn and split lip. Ni was proud of the scars and bragged to his brothers about being stronger than them. Ichi was the leader of the siblings and acted as the eldest despite the alien hydra being born at the exact same time. Ichi tended to be calmer than his two brothers, but he would not hesitate to yell at them if they were annoying him too much. His patience was limited, but it was still more than what Ni and San were capable of. The middle head had the strongest hatred towards Godzilla for the treatment of his brothers. Ichi was protective of his brothers and did not take kindly to the radioactive lizard ripping off San's head. Speaking of the left head, San was the most curious of the three. He saw Earth as something to explore instead of destroy. He was the most willing to try any of the food Rodan brought. Additionally, he was the most affectionate with Rodan as well as his brothers. San was still capable of being ruthless when he wanted to, however. Out of the three of them, San was actually the most protective of their fierce birdie. 

While Rodan had spent only a few days with Ghidorah, he had grown fond of them surprisingly quick. The alien was protective, but they knew that Rodan was powerful in his own right. He had missed them more than he thought he would in recent years. They had met in the past, but it was always during a battle  or shortlived. Ghidorah would arrive on Earth, Godzilla would fight him alongside Mothra and any other titan who decided to help. This often included Rodan. The large hydra would retreat to space, come back, and it would repeat for years until Godzilla trapped the trio in ice. 

A pleased hum left San's muzzle. "They seem to be more aware now. They'll likely regenerate completely soon." His eyes were closed in bliss. It was rare that the Golden Demise would feel such a thing as exhaustion or sore muscles. San did not enjoy feeling so...weak. He knew they were not supposed to be weak, but San knew better than to lie to himself and his brothers. They had been beaten badly at the claws of the Weak King and his infuriating entourage. The moth was a nuisance that had trapped them and given the stupid lizard immense power when the trio had incinerated her. She had pierced their birdie with a stinger that was filled with venom. Despite the years of battling her and her weak partner, Ghidorah had never noticed such a weapon. It made them unreasonable angry that the infernal insects would do such a thing, so they used their gravity beams to turn her into dust. It revived his well known opponent so much that all of their attacks were for naught. The dumb little creatures that had followed the titans around had also given the brutish king a boost in power. Not only that, but the annoying bugs had created a device that used cheap trickery to distract Ghidorah. 

The next time Ghidorah would fight Godzilla, there would not be any cheap tricks that would aid the ugly reptile. No moth and no devices to help the king. 

Ghidorah did not enjoy creatures who ruled over others. It was something the weak would do. And Ghidorah hated anything that was weak. The hydra enjoyed fighting, but not if the battle was rigged. While they usually won those unfair battles, it wasn't as fun. Additionally, the hydra had a special hatred for those that took control of the minds of others. While Ghidorah had done that himself, it was done to awaken the many hibernating titans. He didn't really control their every move because he was focused on other things like his birdie and defeating the old lizard. Ghidorah knew what it was like to not be in control of their own body. They knew how it felt to have every muscle move without their consent. The beings responsible are long gone now, but Ghidorah would never forget what they did. 

A quiet chirp broke the left head out of his thoughts. Rodan had taken notice to how San had completely zoned out. San chuffed at the smaller titan to reassure him that he was alright. No other creature had ever cared for San accept his brothers. The three had always thought that they only had each other to rely on. This was true for most of their lives until a particular winged beauty came into their lives with a fiery passion. 

They would both relish in getting revenge on the ones who wronged them. It would be a fight to remember. 

At the thought, San purred and used his head to tuck Rodan close. It could take hours or even days for his brothers to literally come back from the dead. Until they returned, he was content to wait in the warmth of his fire bird. 

Patience would be the most lethal weapon they'll need if they were to win. 

And they would win. 

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Fossil Friday: Haikouichthys

This is Haikouichthys eracaicunensis. It was first described in 1999 after it was discovered in Yunnan, Cina in Cambrian-age rocks. Oh...look at that. I am still talking about Cambrian animals.

It is only about an inch long and narrowly built. It has identifiable eyes, cranial cartilages, between six and nine gill arches, possible nasal sacs and otic capsules. It's even possible its brain had the same major divisions found in extant vertebrates.

There have been debates on whether a notochord was found but there are numerous myomeres indicate it is a chordate.

So, it is agreed that it is a chordate and even an early craniate but can we narrow it down even more? Some scientists think we can. Many believe it might be one of the earliest fish. There's still not a lot of information on this animal bu maybe one day we'll find more, better preserved Haikouichthys that will give us a better picture. Until then, fossilize you later!

[bethanythebogwitch]

This Wet Beast Wednesday is going to get dark. Not because of any grim subject matter, but because it involves caves. The olm (Proteus anguinus) is a cave-dwelling salamander classified as a troglobite, meaning it lives only in caves and cannot survive elsewhere. Compare to a trogophile (lives both in caves and outside) and a trogloxene (visits caves, but can't survive long-term in them). It is found in caves in the Dinaric Alps mountain range and can be found near Trieste, Italy, southwestern Croatia, and Bosnia, and has been introduced to a few other cave systems. Historically, they have been known for washing out of caves after heavy rainfall, where they were often though to be baby cave dragons. The olm sets the record for being Europes only trogolobitic chordate and the largest trogobite in the world at 20-30 cm (8-12 in) long.

(Image: a olm seen from above)

Unlike most salamanders, the olm is exclusively aquatic, living entirely underwater. To support this lifestyle, it is neotenic (retains juvenile characterists as an adult), having external gills for its entire life. The adult form does have lungs, but they are only used in ery low-oxygen environments. Despite sharing this adaptation with the North American axolotl, the two species are not closely related. They also have multiple adaptations for a life spent in complete darkness. Like many other cave-dwellers, olms are blind. Their eyes are very underdeveloped, but are still sensitive enough to detect light, which the olm flees from. To compensate, their other senses are more developed than those of other salamanders. They have powerful chemoreception through taste and smell, able to detect very low concentrations of chemicals in the water. It also has powerful hearing and a unique organ on its head that allows it to pick up electric fields. They are known to use this sense to orient themselves with the planet's magnetic field lines. Olm skin is thin and has no pigment, giving it a very pale coloration. They do retain the ability to create melanin and will gradually darken if exposed to light, though this is stressful for it. Their bodies are long, slender, and flexible, with underdeveloped legs. This allows them to have more sensory receptors along the body as well as helping them move through tight places.

(image: the head of an olm)

Olms live life in slow motion. The scarcity of food in their habitats is matched with a very slow metabolism that also gives them extremely long lifespans. They feed on small invertebrates and are capable of going on extremely long fasts between meals by reducing activity and metabolic rate. Olms can last up to 10 years between meals and one was recorded as staying in the same spot for 7 years without moving. They have an estimated maximum lifespan of 100 years and an estimated average lifespan of around 68 years. It takes a juvenile around 14 years to become sexually mature (though this rate in increased in warmer water) and females typically only reproduce every 12.5 years. Sexually active males establish a territory and chase other males away. This is notable because olms are otherwise gregarious, meaning they try to live around others. Mating pairs perform a mating ritual in which they circle around each other while touching each other with their snouts. The male then releases a spermatophore (sperm capsule) and the two wriggle together until it reaches the female's cloaca. Females lay their eggs in small cracks or between rocks and protect them as they develop. Some older references state that olms give live birth at low enough temperatures, but this has never been observed by scientists.

(gif: an olm moving around)

Olms have a subspecies called the black olm (Proteus anguinus parkelj) that is found in a very small cave system in Slovenia and has several differences from other olms. Black olms have pigmented skin, fully developed (though still small) eyes, and its other senses are weaker. This suggests that the black olm is a much more recent colonist of caves and has yet to fully adapt to an underground lifestyle. In addition, olms from different cave systems have minor physical variations, usually involving head size.

(image: a black olm from above)

Olms are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, though local populations may have their own classifications. Their biggest threat is from pollution, especially wastewater runoff containing pesticides, fertilizers, and PCBs. Olms are also targeted by the black market pet trade and many places have laws preventing the removal of olms except for scientific purposes. Caves are temporary structures and species specially adapted to live in them will always be in danger should the environment change rapidly or the cave collapses. Olms have been introduced to a few other cave systems. Olms are considered a national symbol of Slovenia, especially as their presence in Postojna cave was one of the inspirations for the beginning of cave biology as a field and they are still used to encourage ecotourism.

(image: an official Slovenian coin depicting an olm)

[squidbiology]

INKLING ANATOMY

Strap in, because this is a long post. I placed it below the cut because of this.

An inkling's bipedal anatomy is extremely different from most sapient invertebrates; even amongst fellow mollusks. They possess a total of 10 limbs, though only four of them are actually functional.

The others are located on the head, and are used both for display (they're covered in a large density of chromatophores, iridiphores, and photophores) and fat storage. They've lost almost all of their muscle mass and nerves, and cannot be moved.

At the tips of their fingers and does they posses chitinous hooks, often called claws, which are sharp, hooked structures mainly intended for gripping. These hooks are normally sheathed within the hook slits, where they can be extended at the pressurization of a small sac that sits just behind it in the fingertip.

Near the heel of the foot is a larger toe, which is called the spur toe. Within this toe is a particularly large, sharp hook, which is used mainly for fighting instead of gripping.

An inkling's preferred method of fighting is to grip their opponent with their front hooks, and then slice with their spur hook and bite with their beak.

The internal anatomy, though with stranger positioning due to the unique shape, is quite similar to most mollusks.

Arguably, the most important organ is the brain. The inkling brain is enclosed in a cartilaginous head capsule and includes two large optic lobes. This is because vision is very important to Inklings. Up to 65 per cent of the brain is devoted to processing visual information.

Within their brain are two statoliths. Each statolith is a small calcareous structure which sits within a chamber called a statocyst. As the little bone moves around within the chamber according to gravity, the squid can work out which way is up, always allowing them to instinctively know which direction they're facing, even when falling. This is what allows squids to consistently land on their feet while superjumping.

Arguably the second most important is the ink sac. This is a large organ, over 7 times the volume of the stomach. The entire sac is lined with small ink glands, which produce ink and various pigments. These cells fill up, and once full, empty into the ink sac.

Ink is expelled through a tube that leads to the back of the neck, where there is a ruffle of skin called the ink gills.

There's also four other tubes that lead to a bunch of long, pressurized structures called atramentosses, or ink bones. The term "ink bone" or "boink" should not be misconstrued, as they're not actually made of bone, or solid at all.

However, the pressurized tubes instead provide muscle attachments and structural support similar to bones. These tubes are segmented, because they are pressurized so heavily that they cannot bend well, and if these joints didn't exist, limbs would not be able to bend.

These joints also prevent the entire inkling from depressurizing if one is punctured in an injury.

Inklings also posses a twin pair of lungs, which are lined with internal filaments resembling gills, and are extremely powerful. They're nearly twice as good at processing oxygen as a crustacean's lungs.

Between them, they have three hearts. The branchial hearts pump blood to the lungs, where oxygen is taken up. Blood then flows to the systemic heart, where it is pumped to the rest of the body. The systemic heart is made of three chambers: a lower ventricle and two upper auricles.

Beneath those is the digestive system. The squid's stomach is a small sac that connects to the stomach pouch or caecum. Digestion of food begins in the stomach. The caecum also performs some digestion and is the primary site of absorption of nutrients. Enzymes from the liver and pancreas help digestion.

Waste passes into the large intestine, a thick tube adjacent to the stomach pouch, then to the small intestine, and then empties into the rectum. The end of the digestive system is the anus, from which waste exits. Inklings are extremely efficient for carnivores, and absorb nutrients at a much higher rate than other species.

Finally, beneath that is the pouch and reproductive system, located near the bladder. The pouch is used to carry eggs, and the rest of the reproductive system varies between sexes.

Here are the charts above without labels.

[handlersandhumans]

IC-39: Sagittarius

Straight and True

"That- that thing’s tearing through us! Where’s the reinforcements! They were-" A hypervelocity needle impaled the MT, spearing it to the wall like a grotesque hunting trophy. The air filled with the sound of an ejection capsule failing to fire: a sickening crunch that made Michigan��s arm hair stand on end.

“You were sent on a suicide mission.” A distorted, static-laced voice rang out over the Balam advance squad’s comms. It was the sound of a radio cutting out from reactor malfunction, the tone usually reserved for the dying cries of soldiers in their MTs.

Build below the cut!

Right Hand Weapon: Viento Left Hand Weapon: Viento Right Shoulder Weapon: Laser Turret Left Shoulder Weapon: Laser Turret Head: Lammergeier Core: Nachtreiher Arms: Alba Legs: Lammergeier Booster: Gills FCS: Ocellus Generator: NGI 000 Expansion: Assault Armor Additional Notes: Originally designed before the Lammergeier parts were introduced, I was wanting to make a very fast, lightweight tetrapod and this was the design I came up with. I later repurposed it for Handlers and Humans. The Laser Turrets, unaffected by generator spec as they are, are basically kinetic for all intents and purposes.

[tribbetherium]

You mentioned something in one of the asks about aquatic shroomors/meatmoss and daggoths being capable of limited underwater respiration? What are those species like?

Many underground rivers and lakes pass through the Sub-Arcuterran cavern system, running for miles through its tunnels and chambers for great distance, their waterways slowly but surely eroding through rock, and expanding the subterranean network that for millennia has become a strange and alien world.

In this lightless realm, plants cannot survive, and thus the biosphere has rooted itself on the existence of chemosynthetic bacteria: a plentiful organism able to thrive without sun. Forming bacterial mats on walls and floors and on the water's surface, the bacteria have struck up a symbiosis with fungi, forming the mocklichens, but more recently with a far more unusual partner--meatmoss, a free-living, free-growing harmster tumor that has long since outlived its host and begun to grow much as a slime mold would.

Requiring moist environments to grow, some have taken to the water entirely: where both the meatmoss and its symbiont bacteria absorb necessary compounds from the water and from the surface it anchors to. As meatmoss respires through direct absorption of oxygen, aquatic meatmoss, such as cavern fleshfern (Oncophyton spinatus) have developed long, branching frond-like shapes to maximize the surface area for gas exchange, running along rock as webbed filaments but producing clusters of long tendrils that in essence serve as the whole organism's "gills". Cavern fleshfern also uses these fronds to reproduce, forming singular cells encased in capsules containing their symbiotic bacteria and releasing them into the water to settle and grow elsewhere where the currents of the water take them.

The abundance of fleshfern has not gone unnoticed by a group of aquatic daggoths: the tubesnouts. While most are filter-feeders that subsist of the floating mats of chemosynthetic bacteria and the micro-invertebrates that thrive on them, one species, the feathery tubesnout (Linguibranchiae pennadactylus), has taken up grazing on fleshfern that grows in large masses at the water's bottom. Like all mammals, feathery tubesnouts are air-breathers: their nostrils elongating into flexible built-in snorkels, their central nose tendril being greatly reduced to more easily reach the surface.

But the feathery tubesnout has a secret trick up its sleeve: its tongue, equipped with fringes that allowed its kin to filter-feed, has become highly vascularized, allowing it to absorb oxygen from the water. This is not a particularly efficient way to respire, even when aided by its slow metabolism and small size that greatly reduce its oxygen needs, but it can prolong its dives for up to three hours before needing to surface for air again. As such, propelled by undulations of its eight pairs of fin-like fingers and navigating with a combination of touch, hearing, and a strong sense of taste that functions much like smell when underwater, the feathery tubesnout grazes for hours on end at the bottoms of the subterranean ponds, chewing away at fleshfern fronds with the aid of its incisors--still unmistakably rodent-like ones that seem almost out of place on something so un-rodentlike.

This frequent grazing over millennia has incited a response from the fleshfern: to protect its reproductive and respiratory fronds, it has begun growing defensive measures on them to ward off attackers. These come in the form of thorn-like spikes, growing along the stems and branches of the fronds, much like the thorns of the stems of a plant. Yet it is almost easy to forget that the meatmoss is in fact an animal: made entirely of masses of undifferentiated cells, a new semblance of anatomical order has begun to arise from the chaos of a mass of free-living cancer cells from millions of years in their new lifestyle. Modified clumps of cells lining the fronds have developed the ability to produce keratinous sheaths from a long-hidden, latent ability to form specialized tissues akin to those of a more-organized animal: to defend itself, in the dawn of a strange new arms-race, a false plant has struck back with an analogue of botanical thorns--but are, in a structural sense, claws.

[theprinceofmycologia]

Mycological terms and practical vocabulary

I would recommend against reading all of this (except if you want to ofc), I made this post with the purpose of being able to look up what certain terms mean in my posts.

I have not yet used all of these terms, however I did think these were important terms. Whenever I use a new term in a post, I will add it to this list.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A

acute - (refers to the shape) sharp

amyloid - turns blue, grey or black when stained with Meltzer’s reagent

annulus - ring of tissue on a mushroom stem left by a torn partial veil

ascomycetes - a class of fungi that produces their spores in sac-like cells called asci

B

basidiomycetes - a class of fungi that produce their spores on basidia

basidiospores - sexual spores produced on the basidia of basidiomycetes fungi

basidia - (sing. basidium) spore-producing cells of a basidiomycete fungus

biotrophic - feeding on living cells of other organisms

bulbous - (describes a stipe) with a swollen base

C

caespitose - crowded together in a tuft or a cluster but not attached to each other

caulocystidium - a cystidium on the stem of a mushroom

cheilocystidium - a cystidium on the edge of a mushroom gill

chlamydospores - asexual spores formed by the breaking up of fungal hyphae

clamp connection - swollen area formed around septum in a hypha during cell division

clavate - (often describes a stipe) club-shaped

coprophilous - growing on dung

cystidium - special sterile cell among the basidia on some fungi

D

deuteromycetes  - obsolete term for a group fungi not known to reproduce sexually

dextrinoid - staining brick red or brown with Meltzer’s reagent

dichotomous - forking/divided into pairs

dikaryon - a pair of closely associated, sexually compatible nuclei

E

ectomycorrhiza (EM) - where the fungus forms sheathes around plant rootlets (often of a tree), growing between but not penetrating the cells of the plant root, and providing the plant with water and nutrients while the plant supplies sugars to the fungus

endomycorrhiza - mycorrhiza in which fungal hyphae penetrate cell walls of host plant

endophyte - fungus living within a plant without causing visible symptoms of harm

F

foetid - with a strong and offensive odour

fusiform - (describes a stipe) spindle-shaped, tapering at top and bottom

G

gleba - spore-bearing tissue enclosed within fruitbodies of gasteromycetes

guttation - the exudation of water and some metabolic byproducts produced by fungal cells

guttule - a small oil-like drop microscopically visible inside a fungal spore

H

hirsute - hairy

hyaline - clear/colourless when viewed under a microscope

hymenium - fertile spore-bearing tissue (e.g. on mushroom gill or pore surfaces)

hypha - (pl. hyphae) filamentous thread of fungal mycelium

I

inamyloid - not changing colours with Melzer's reagent

L

lamellae - gills

latex - milky fluid that oozes from cut surfaces of Lactarius species

lichen - organism comprising a fungus and an alga or a cyanobacterium

lignicolous - growing on wood

M

monomitic - monomitic systems only have one type of hyphae: generative hyphae

mycelium - body of a fungus, most of which is underground or hidden within wood

mycobiont - the fungal component of a lichen or of a mycorrhizal partnership

mycorrhiza - structure by which a fungus and a plant exchange nutrients mutually

myxomycetes - a large and commonly encountered group within the slime moulds

N

necrotrophic - feeding by killing and consuming (part of) another organism

nonamyloid - not turning blue, grey or black when stained with Meltzer’s reagent

O

organelle - a differentiated structure within a cell

P

parasitism - process whereby an organism feeds at the expense of another (host)

partial veil - protective membrane covering gills during development of a fruitbody

pellicle - the outer layer of a mushroom, often viscid (sticky, gelatinous) and easily peels off

peridioles - egg-like spore capsules in bird’s-nest fungi (Nidulariaceae)

peridium - outer wall of a fungus, especially a gasteromycete (e.g. a puffball)

perithecium - flask-shaped chambers containing asci within pyrenomycetes fungi

photobiont - photosynthesizing component (alga or cyanobacterium) of a lichen

pileus - (pl. pilei) the cap on the top of a mushroom stem

pleurocystidium - a cystidium on a gill surface

pores - the orifices of the tubes of polypore fungi via which spores emerge

pseudorhiza - a tap-root-like extension at the base of a mushroom stem

Q

---

R

resupinate - fruitbody that lies flat on the substrate with its hymenium outermost

rhizomorph - a root-like mycelial strand comprising bunched parallel hyphae

ring - membranous remains of the partial veil attached to a stem

S saprophyte - an organism that obtains its nutrients from dead organic material

septate - (describes hyphae) partitioned by cross walls known as septa

septum - (pl. septa) a cross wall separating cells of a hyphal thread

serrate - (describes gill margins) with saw-toothed edges

sessile - without a stalk

slime moulds - a group of fungus-like organisms that use spores to reproduce

sphaerocysts - globose hyphal cells in the Russulaceae and certain other fungi

spore - reproductive structure of a fungus, usually a single cell

sporophore - fungal fruitbody

stellate - star-shaped

sterigma - (pl. sterigmata) prong at top of basidium on which a spore develops

sterile - does not produce spores, either sexually or asexually

stipe - stem of a mushroom

stipitate - (describes a fruitbody) having a stem

striate - (describes a cap) with fine radiating lines or furrows around margin

T

thallus - (pl. thalli) the body of a fungus or a lichen

tomentose - seemingly thickly covered in wool or soft hairs

trama - the flesh or context of a fungal fruitbody’s cap, gills or stem

tubes - spore-bearing cylindrical structures of boletes and polypores

U

universal veil - a protective membrane that initially surrounds an entire fruitbody

Uredinales - rust fungi (an order within the Basidiomycota)

ustilaginomycetes - smut fungi (a class within the Basidiomycota)

V

viscid - slimy or sticky

volva - remains of the universal veil found at stem base of some fungi

W

---

X

---

Y

---

Z

Zygomycota - a class of simple fungi whose hyphae generally lack cross walls

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

References

First Nature

The University of Adelaide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mutuals

@squidsandthings

@fungus-gnats

@fairy-tales-of-yesterday

@flamingears

@lameotello

@lovelyalicorn

@writingraccoon

@edukincon

@emmakapla

Hiyaaa:) This is another part of Mycology 101, it will be linked in my pinned post.

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Visitation

Synopsis

The Fifth Doctor tries to take Tegan back to Heathrow Airport but the TARDIS arrives in the 17th century instead of the 20th. The time travellers find a space capsule has crash-landed nearby and that its alien occupants, three Terileptil prison escapees, intend to wipe out all indigenous life on Earth by releasing rats infected with an enhanced strain of the great plague.

The creatures are also using a sophisticated android to strike terror into the local villagers. Aided by itinerant thespian Richard Mace, the Doctor tries to unravel the evil plot.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Black Orchid

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on Earth in 1925 where, due to a case of mistaken identity, the Fifth Doctor ends up playing in a local cricket match. The travellers accept an invitation to a masked fancy dress ball, but events take on a more sinister tone as murders are perpetrated at the country home of their host, Lord Charles Cranleigh.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Time Flight

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on Earth in 1925 where, due to a case of mistaken identity, the Fifth Doctor ends up playing in a local cricket match. The travellers accept an invitation to a masked fancy dress ball, but events take on a more sinister tone as murders are perpetrated at the country home of their host, Lord Charles Cranleigh.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Arc of Infinity

Synopsis

Omega, an ancient Time Lord made of pure anti-matter, once defeated by the Doctor, is plotting to cross over into this dimension by bonding with the Doctor. Meanwhile, the disappearance of a man in Amsterdam piques the curiosity of his cousin, Tegan, who previously left the Doctor at Heathrow Airport and now finds herself at Omega's mercy. Fearing total destruction from the collision of matter and antimatter, the Time Lords recall the Doctor to Gallifrey to undertake the only viable solution: executing him!

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The King’s Demons

Synopsis

England, March 1215. King John is visiting the castle of Sir Ranulph Fitzwilliam. The arrival of the TARDIS disturbs a medieval joust, but the Doctor and his companions are proclaimed to be friendly demons by the King, who seems strangely interested in their "blue engine". It soon becomes clear that neither King John or his Champion, Sir Gilles Estram, are who they pretend to be. One of the Doctor's oldest and deadliest enemies threatens the future of democracy on Earth, and he must be stopped!

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

[spiderh0rse]

shephard's mind notes part 4, e16-20

e16

fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads~

thinks the Spore Launcher is an alien from Alien

guilted into picking it up anyways. Baby talks it

"This is my weird squid slime spitting alien gun thing. There are many like it. But this one is mine."

essentially starts treating it like a pet that doubles as heavy weaponry.

sees a floating light and thinks it's Tinkerbell. Will o' the wisps would have him MADE

cannot enter the lab without a labcoat. He tries. Doesn't work.

the hologram is basically an answering machine, huh. Adrian fiddles with it and plays around

doesn't want to call the Barnacles Barnacles

pronounces "parasitic" with a long first "i"

knows a mild amount about barnacles

wants a grappling hook.

Realizes he needs the barnacle. Unenthused.

chastises the barnacle for being a messy eater

picks up on it not liking dead things. Calls it picky.

could be batman! or spiderman! not Indiana Jones though.

thinks if a barnacle ate another barnacle it'd make a black hole. Wants to try that some time.

Slur count: six.

Thinks he's going to get a SECOND Sparky. But no it attacks him.

Is processing alien blood as equivalent to human blood.

names the Spore Launcher Gill!

freaks the fuck out at the Tentacle. May be about as panicked as he ever gets

thinks all this bullshit must be karma for a past life.

"it is really hard to aim with an alien mouth."

seems to enjoy riding the barnacle's path

poorly convinces himself that some dying guy will be fine without him

thinks he can get some tunes off a radio. Gets orders instead

cramped vent :( gets stuck. Calls time-out. He's in a compromising position right now

e17

manuevering his way out of the vent. Falls!

gets NASTY shit all over him and maybe in his mouth

Colleague.

threatens gman. Apparently knew him from some base inspection back at base

thinks Gman may have been a spy for the aliens

DND nerd >:)

concludes gman is just messing with him. Says this fondly

knows almost all these dead HECU by name and is Bothered.

freaks out a bit about the Pit Worm

wishes he'd been deployed to Afghanistan. Blames Obama for his being here

he HATES BUGS.

"nobody likes centipedes" wrong. I do

misses human on human violence

guessing idle at aliens hating technology or doors or both. Compares them to Amish people

baseball,,,

he HATES steam!

the laser doesn't hurt as much as he expected it to

hates the Pit Worm noises. Yells at it to go back to Dune

"okay running now running now lasers are bad and so are giant centipedes"

upset that he's the only one alive. doesnt want to do things alone and having every companion he takes die looks bad

familiar with Star Wars

can't think of last words before he gets crushed into a tiny cube

"the only way this could possibly be worse is if youtube cut off the end of my sentence." not cut off!

e18

pretty sure this (bug) is the worst thing thats ever happened

HATES slightly overcooked pancakes. recounts an event that has clearly happened to him multiple times

gets his leg caught in the metal grate

gets so mad he breaks it

"that water looks deep enough to break my fall" it's opaque. Shephard it's opaque

touched some mushy thing at the bottom of the water,,,

always wanted to kick through glass

seems to be having a completely shitty time staying afloat

"you know what? I really don't want to be here!" He says this so GENUINELY wow

calls some corpses slackers

complains that the laser hurts

lampshades how much ammo he's able to carry. More than should be feasible for any one human being!

anticipates being paid millions by the military for killing the Pit Worm

thinks the Worm would be cooler as a cricket

screams that he should've been a tradesperson

"uncomplicated shit made complicated"

calls himself a "good little marine" it's kinda cute of him

witnesses the Worm's remains. "That's the power of Oxy-Clean!"

only wearing the gas mask because of the night vision goggles

feeling kinda down :( trying out the stolen antidepressants

four capsule type of day

struggles with the safety cap

his mouth is so dry :(

correctly assumes scientists are sneaking in their narcotics

oh yeah yeah should mention he's read the label on the plastic bag holding the pills. inside of the plastic bottle. It's Gordon's oxycodone! And Adrian just took four!

he's on a ten minute time limit until it kicks in now! Go go go!

could use more practice with his mp5

irritated by the Gene Worm's lights

proclaims this ladder is the best one he's ever climbed. wants to stay here climbing it forever. wants to hug the person who built this ladder

e19

think the ladder is asking him to take his clothes off

confirms the black ops are after him

hes never been so quickly plagsrized in his life

enough of this childish nonsense! Pokemon reference!

does a very bad bugs bunny impression

familiar with medical shows

thinks the electrified corpses smell like hot dogs

shot twice by a .50 cal...

WILHELM SCREAM

starts talking to other inanimate objects for a moment

"I'm everywhere."

he's fighting a bunch of Californians! Not too bad

pissy about some private giving orders "can I be in charge for a little bit?"

SNIPER RIFLE POG

oh the oxy is kicking in

sings about walking on a box

super giggly right now

has lost the bullet button just keeps launching grenades

his arms are SHAKY now

talks about getting his dead pals a funeral. He won't cry he'll get. A cat

fullnames himself!

he needs a map. One that's easy to read. Wonders if they sell that

"hey, you're an ass... dick"

can't find his grenades!

NEW COOLER LADDER

falls off. Laughs it off

e20

humming some song! doesn't know what he's doing right now

got up too fast :(

starts talking to some corpse. sticks his hand inside the bones.

took a remote detonater out of the corpse. Laughs at it having eaten a button

presses the button explosions happen and he is Worried wants to undo

he is faster than a FIRE TRUCK

he's NOT a police-fire-doctor

accidentally teleports to Xen.

likes xens colours!

tips over and falls into the healing water.

wakes up clear-headed! freaks out at a TENTACLE MONSTER in front of him and shoots it

promptly reprimands himself for that. It was just drinking.

Adrian remembers basically nothing from when he was high

the sights on his rifle are BLURRY

went spelunking at 13. Except it wasn't a cave it's the spot under the bridge gangs hang out

theorizes the pit drone stingers are like bee stingers

thinks opening a door will release hundreds of tons of water. tries to open it

he is Missing his teleporter gun. Interrogates his pets about it. They claim innocence

"oh, sweet black forest fuck-cakes!"

does not want to go through the dark and dirty tunnel

he is just listing actors right now

this is his LEAST favorite tunnel in black mesa

[clonerightsagenda]

Ok last 'the gang is working at Goddard now' post from discord before I call it a night, assuming tumblr will let me post this one

Kat only loosely related, but although the Hephaestus doesn't have a CAPCOM (too far away) I wonder if closer low Earth orbit Goddard installations have one and if they, like NASA CAPCOMs, are all former astronauts. Probably not, I would think, since if you've got 1 person filtering all communication you'd probably want it to be one of Cutter's more… informed people. now imagining Jordan doing a CAPCOM stint since she's comms Jordan: What, you say the hull isn't damaged but you were hit by something. Was it round? Perhaps…. melon-shaped? Klein who's up doing a satellite launch from a station or whatever: I'll kill you Gill Klein’s just never gonna live that down huh Kat unfortunately he literally didn't Gill Rip Kate : ) but also :’ ( Also remind me what CAPCOM means because I’m like “the video game company?” Gill Concept: the Hephaestus crew doing a shift or two on CAPCOM to unwind after a long day of dismantling Goddard Futuristics from the inside out Kat capsule communicator basically they're the single line of communication between astronauts and the ground, to streamline stuff and they're usually astronauts because they know what the crew is doing more personally "In the context of potential crewed missions to Mars, NASA Ames Research Center has conducted field trials of advanced computer-support for astronaut and remote science teams, to test the possibilities for automating CAPCOM." hm. Maybe Goddard has AI capcoms Gill The Sensus series’ predecessor line, perhaps Kat Some poor asshole on a low orbit station: We've got an ammonia leak Automated CAPCOM: Please choose from the following options. Press 1 for a personnel issue. Press 2 for a maintenance issue Astronaut: We're dying Kate Pfff Kat someone: we've got some crew hostility in one of the low orbit stations Minkowski: Put Eiffel on CAPCOM for a few days. Either they'll calm down or they'll unite in being annoyed by him instead. Win win Kate Their secret weapon Gill Minkowski likes doing CAPCOM to unwind but Lovelace finds it stressful bc she’s way worse about being a backseat driver Kat Minkowski: Finally normal simple problems to solve. It is usually a pretty simple, boring job. Until something goes wrong Gill meanwhile, Lovelace: What do you MEAN you've never had to duct-tape a water reclamation system back together?? Kat Haha yeah. Former astronaut capcoms have creative solutions LEO crew who can get new supplies shipped up basically whenever: We could just… trash this broken part and order a replacement Lovelace: Why when you can mcgyver this solution with only moderate risk to life and limb Gill the Hephaestus Mission and the crew themselves gain such a reputation that when the rumors start circulating that Minkowski got her current job by killing Marcus Cutter ("and did you ever meet Marcus Cutter?") half the company is lowkey terrified of her Kate “Ohhh look at YOU with your cushy life, you can just order a NEW part. Back in MY day my boss came up there personally with a gun and shot at us” Kat Haha It’s a very different life being right next to earth easy mode Gill LEO crewmember whispering to another one while their commander is on the phone: God, I hope we don't have to go through a teambuilding exercise run by Isabel Lovelace… Kat Although I suppose it makes it even easier for cutter to send goons up to harass you Kate True… “Hey, can we have a new part?” “No, but you can have Victor Riemann! Have fun!”

Gill Alternatively: "Uh… we think we need a new part… ma'am." Minkowski: …okay? Let me get the word out to the supply team. "You're… not gonna send Warren Kepler and his minions with them like Mr. Cutter used to, are you?" Minkowski: What? No. Most of them didn't even come back from Wolf 359. "/sighs and other noises of audible relief, oh thank god!" Kat now imagining SI5 showing up for no goddamn reason on a resupply shuttle and the mission commander being like "i didn't order you" and closing the hatch crewmember: don't those burn up on re-entry commander: not my problem Gill Telling command you need help? Admitting human weakness? That's a Kepler-ing. Kat Yeah well does it admit human weakness to have to be let onto the station before you burn up with all the dirty laundry and other garbage when the capsule gets sent back thru the atmosphere Eiffel hearing about life on LEO stations: I can't believe this. They got new underwear sent up to them though it's a dangerous game… .Terry Virts had two consecutive underwear shipments explode thanks space x Cutter: The Andromeda station's psych evals are too far in the green. Blow up their next three laundry shipments.

[alfietalksaboutcomics]

The Comics I've Read in March

I've devised a new type of monthly post for this blog, I'm going to keep track of and talk a bit about comics I've read each month that are either some of my favorite reads or ones that I'd find it interesting to ramble about. This is in large part to keep track of what I've read in any given month and to create little time capsules for myself. Without further ado let's get into what I read this month starting with my the single issues.

Single Issues

X-Men Forever #1 by Gillen and Maresca

X-Men Forever #1 by Kieron Gillen and Luca Maresca is a weird issue. It exists in this bizarre liminal space in terms of continuity. It takes place after Immortal X-Men but before the already released first two issues of Rise of The Powers of X. So essentially the issue is playing narrative catch up, it's explaining how we get from Immortal X-Men to Rise of The Powers of X. That being said it's not like you could read this before the first two issues of Rise of The Powers of X, it is very much is built around the expectation that you have already read those first two issues. So like I said, the book finds itself in a bizarre liminal space.

Despite all that weirdness, the book is still fantastic. It was an exhilarating read that just didn't let up. The hits just kept up coming at a breakneck pace. It feels like the book is weaving together two halves into a complete article of clothing, picking up threads from one half and effortlessly weaving it into the other.

On the art front I was happily surprised. I didn't dislike Maresca's art on Children Of The Vault but I didn't love it either. I don't know if it's that he has stepped it up or if it's the fact that this is a different colorist but it's exceptional work. The facial work in particular blew my breath away on several occasions. To return to the coloring for a second, in the past I haven't considered myself a fan of Blee, I had thought of his colors as bland and washed out. But for whatever reason here I absolutely adore his work and I can't exactly say why.

I have two favorite panels from this issue, the first is Sinister Doug's little chest hair, it's absolutely adorable.

The other is actually a set of panels. It's when, upon learning that the mutants who walked through the gates are alive, Charles Xavier falls to his knees and breaks down into tears. It's a perfect payoff to when he broke down in tears when he thought he sent them all into a meat grinder at the Hellfire Gala.

Resurrection of Magneto #3 by Ewing and Vecchio

I haven't really talked about Resurrection Of Magneto by Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio online in any form so let me rectify that here. Resurrection Of Magneto serves as a coda to Al Ewing's time in the Krakoan era, it only makes sense that in this final stretch the focus shifts to his two primary focus characters in his X-Men work, Magneto and Storm. Resurrection Of Magneto has been a fantastic book all the way through and this issue is no exception.

Despite Ewing's always fantastic writing, the most continually notable thing about this series to me is the work Vecchio is doing in it. I was a fan of his work even before this series, but even I must admit that his work in Resurrection Of Magneto has been a improvement by magnitudes. It's honestly been shocking to see him shine like he has in this series where before his art wasn't nearly at this level.

My favorite panel from this issue is rather silly but it's the panel where we see the array of the Phoenix's opposites. It has to be my favorite because it brings in a deep DEEP pull in the first fallen. A bizarre character from the tail end of Claremont's return to Uncanny X-Men in the late 2000s.

X-Force #50 by Percy and Gill

X-Force #50 by Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill is the final issue of Percy's run on X-Force. I've been a massive fan of this run all the way through. Percy has been doing what seems almost impossible in big two comics nowadays, a slow burn story. Indeed making it to fifty issues is pretty miraculous at this point and time.

X-Force #50 gave me a adrenaline rush while reading it, but not for the reason one might hope. No, all the while reading this comic my brain was racing with one question: "How the hell do they wrap this up in 20 pages?". The answer? They rushed to the conclusion. It's not bad but it does feel uncharacteristically rushed. I have the feeling that Percy thought he may have had more runway then he actually did, that he had to wrap up unexpectedly quickly. Which sounds insane to say considering he already had fifty issues worth of story, but given what we know about the sudden editorial change in the X-office it seems possible that if Jordan White stayed on perhaps Percy would have been on X-Force for even longer.

As is X-Force #50 is fine, it's a utilitarian ending for a story that feels like it needed more room to breathe. That being said overall Percy's run on X-Force is exemplary comics.

Series

All-Star Superman by Morrison and Quitely

Before All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely I never read a superman comic before. Hell, the only other DC I read was Spirit World #1. So in a effort to read something other then a marvel comic I decided to pick up one of the most famous and beloved Superman stories of all-time.

I find All-Star Superman to be a exceptionally hard series to write about. Even though it's only twelve issues, those issues are dense. I've always thought that Morrison does a great job making a single issue feel like six. All-Star Superman is no different, the issues are dense and feel like they tell their own complete stories.

Based off the iconic cover to the first issue of the series and knowing a little bit about the basic premise I honestly thought that it would be an exploration of the character of Superman and how he deals with his impending death. I was admittedly, very wrong. The series is in fact not an exploration of Superman, but his mythology. The series spotlights the major characters of Superman's mythos like Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Bizzaro, Lex Luther, and more. It feels like a celebration of Superman and the characters history.

On the art front Quitely delivers amazing facial expressions as always. I first encountered Quitely's art in New X-Men, where he really gets to shine by having so many weird freaks to draw. All-Star Superman doesn't nearly have as many bizarre freaks which does make me sad, that being said the work is still incredible.

A complete aside but, my favorite character from All-Star Superman has to be Lex Luthor, the man just has impeccable hater energy.

Lex Luthor is Ahab and Superman is his Moby Dick, I just have to admire the complete and total devotion to hating one man with every fiber of your being.

Moon Knight by Lemire and Smallwood

Back in January I wrote about Moon Knight by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey. I would describe that run as sleek and stylish, it largely runs on vibes. Back when I wrote about it I put a lot of attention on the fact that the series really doesn't focus much on Marc Spector's interiority. Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood sits on the opposite end of the spectrum, focusing so much on Marc's interiority that the fourteen issues almost entirely takes place inside Marc's mind.

The series is a deep dive into the fractured mind of Moon Knight. Marc and all of his alters get a focus. The first arc starts off with a lot of inertia but honestly kinda slows down at a certain point, it doesn't feel like it needs to be five issues. In the second arc the focus shifts primarily to the alters and we see the world from their perspective which is conveyed through different art styles, it's a pretty smart way to go about fill in artists. The last arc sees Marc reconcile with his alters and go after Khonshu who is trying to take over their body. The last arc is by far the strongest in the book in my estimation, Smallwood returns as the primary artist and his work is just so above all of the fill in artists.

The art across the series is stellar. Smallwood is the primary artist and he brings a otherworldly feel to the comic. It honestly reminds me a little of Sienkiewicz's work at times, which makes sense given he worked on the original run of Moon Knight. Special mention also has to go to colorist Jordie Bellaire, who brings the same careful use of color and it's absence like she did in the Ellis and Shalvey run. Both Smallwood and Bellaire's combined talent lends the book a almost chalky look? Which sounds odd to say but it's the best word to describe the look of the series.

My favorite sequence from the run has to be a flashback that takes place after the funeral of Marc's father. Marc laments to his mother that his father hated him, when she retorts that his father did indeed loved him, Marc experiences a dissociative episode and Steven takes over. Marc's mother reacts poorly telling him to knock it off.

This sequence deeply resonated with me. While I don't suffer from D.I.D I do suffer from Bipolar and I can recall having similar conversations with my own mother when my episodes would flair up. The tragic thing is that for both Marc's mom and mine it doesn't come from a place of malice but a misunderstanding of their child's condition. It's a wonderful depiction of what it's like for your loved ones to not truly understand your condition and it's the moment that most impacted me.

Silver Surfer Requiem by Straczynski and Ribic

Silver Surfer Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic is a beautiful series both visually and narratively. It's kind of funny that I read this so soon after All-Star Superman since they have such similar premises. A being of great cosmic power—in this case the Silver Surfer—is faced with their own approaching death. It's a fairly superficial connection but one I find funny all the same.

The writing is quite lovely but the real draw is Ribic's art. There are ample splash pages which are so amazing and breathtaking I want to frame them. I've always thought that Ribic's art has a mythic quality to it and here is no different.

It's very hard to pick one splash panel to showcase here, there are so many amazing ones in this short four issue mini. The one I ultimitely landed on showcasing is this one:

It's a page of the Silver Surfer before he was the Silver Surfer approaching Galactus with a bargain to save his home planet. It's a pretty simple page but something about it just sings to me. Galactus's machinery is a precursor to Ribic's later celestial technology in Eternals. And something about Galactus's face just feels so omnipotent, so beyond human, so unknowable.

Black Cat by MacKay

Before I go any further I feel the need to give some context, in preparation for the upcoming Marvel event Blood Hunt I decided to read all of Jed MacKay's major marvel works, some of which I go over later in this post. I'm calling it my MacKayathon. Black Cat was the first step in that and my god is it a good first impression.

Before reading MacKay's Black Cat I had no opinion on Felicia Hardy a.k.a the Black Cat. around twenty-eight issues later I find myself utterly obsessed with this character and her world. MacKay's Black Cat run is stretched across two volumes, two annuals, one giant-sized issue, one one shot, and one mini. Even when spread across multiple titles, twenty-eight issues of Black Cat is insane.

Black Cat is all about heists. In fact the first volume is essentially her stealing stuff from everyone in the marvel universe, including, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Danny Rand, and even fucking Kade Killgore. The highlight for me has to be the last two issues where in the process of stealing from Tony Stark, Felicia creates the Iron Cat suit of armor, which is really an amazing design.

The supporting cast is also great, from Black Cat's crew Bruno and Dr. Korpse, to her aging mentor the Black Fox, to her rival and leader of the Thieves Guild of New York Odessa Drake. It's a great cast and MacKay made me care deeply about all of them. Generally Mackay has that effect, of taking characters I either didn't give a damn about before or didn't even know and elevating them to become some of my favorites.

On the art front for the first volume, Travel Foreman does a great job but his pencils is occasionally hampered by colorist Brian Reber, who's colors are fantastic with all the other artists on the series but don't gel with Foreman's pencils for whatever reason. The future lead designer on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kris Anka does two issues and brings his trademarked stylistic flair to the book. In my opinion though, the artist who best fits the series is the one who comes in for the last two issues, MacKay's future collaborator on Avengers, Carlos Villa. Villa just feels like a star who is waiting for the right book, something about his expressive faces and style just feel perfectly suited to big two comics and especially the expressive Black Cat.

One complaint I have about the art is the way Black Cat is sometimes sexualized for the male gaze. For the most part outside of the first annual this isn't really a big issue in the interiors, but the covers for the first volume it's a entirely different matter. J. Scott Campbell's covers for the first volume most resemble pin up posters, it's a little gratuitous and just feels gross.

Sadly due to covid related reasons the initial run of Black Cat was cancelled prematurely. Fortunately the second volume came out only a few months later, however it starts somewhat oddly. Black Cat volume two begins with three event tie-in issues. They are by no means bad, they are quite fun in fact, but they do interrupt the flow of the book somewhat. However after those first three issues the new volume picks back up the threads of the old volume and starts to continue the story.

Issues five through seven of the series comprise The Gilded City arc which is essentially the pay off to everything that has come before it. It's a wonderful end to the story of MacKay's Black Cat. However that's not quite the end, there are still three more issues that comprise the Infinity Score arc of the series. The Infinity Score arc is a weird one, It's building off of the Infinite Destinies series of annuals that introduce hosts to the infinity stones. Some of the annuals are good but others are pretty bland if I'm being frank. In Infinity Score Felicia must assemble the infinity stone hosts to pull off a heist. Unfortunately the series was cancelled again, with only three of the infinity stone hosts gathered. The silver lining to this is that MacKay gets to finish up the story in Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score, even if seemingly the original plans had to be changed as no more infinity stone hosts join Felicia's team and she has to make do (much like MacKay) with what she has to complete the job.

For the second volume the bulk of the issues are penciled by the returning Carlos Villia. However the Gilded City arc has Michael Dowling, a fill in artist for the first volume, return. Dowling's style is much more reminiscent of Foreman's then anything done by Villia. But honestly he works wonders none the less. Luckily the cover artist has changed from Campbell to comics superstar artist Pepe Larraz. Larraz's covers much like all of his work are breathtaking, and unlike Campbell's work it manages not to sexualize Felicia for the sake of the male gaze!

The last bit of MacKay's run on Black Cat is a five issue mini, Iron Cat. This series sees the return of that exceptional Iron Cat suit of armor as Felicia's ex, Tamara Blake steals the armor and makes a attempt on Felicia's life. Black Cat must team up with Iron Man to take her down and get back his armor.

The art team on Iron Cat is Pere Pérez on pencils and Frank D'Armata on colors. Pérez does a great job, his work is very detailed but still has a lot of life to it. D'Armata is someone I have complicated feelings about, his color work often gives comics this weird glossy look, as if everything and everyone was covered in Vaseline and shoe polish. His colors often are very cold to me, especially building interiors. However here his work doesn't bother me so much, sure I still would have preferred Reber but D'Armata gets the job done.

Iron Cat is a good bit disconnected from the rest of the run. For instance Bruno and Dr. Korpse, two central characters in both volumes of Black Cat, barely appear at all. But it's still a great comic and one that compliments the rest of the run.

Taskmaster by MacKay and Vitti

Taskmaster by MacKay and Alessandro Vitti is a fun and short series, it's only five issues and it's plot is pretty straight forward. The basic gist of the plot is this: someone has killed Maria Hill and framed Taskmaster, Black Widow is after him to avenge Hill but Nick Fury Jr saves Taskmaster's life and recruits him to finish Hill's mission, which involved securing a old H.A.M.M.E.R a doomsday device, the only wrinkle is that to get access to the doomsday device Taskmaster must get close enough to three super spies to copy their biometric signatures or whatever. And that's essentially the plot of the book, sure there are a few twists towards the end but now you largely understand the structure of Taskmaster. Each issue focuses on Taskmaster getting the biometric whatever of one of the super spies, rinse and repeat till it all comes to ahead in issue five.

The thing that makes the series worth the read though is Mackay's voice for Taskmaster. Mackay's Taskmaster is just a lovable goofball.

Taskmaster is just a real joy in this series, he is just such a silly little guy. That being said MacKay doesn't pretend that Taskmaster is all jokes, he's a competent mercenary who knows when to put his straight face on. He's simultaneously lovable and pretty scary, it's a great balance.

There are really only two notable things about Vitti's art in this series to me. firstly his men are big and bulky, which doesn't really speak to anything deeper but is the main thing I remember about his art here. The second thing is that he gets a lot of range of emotion out of a skull mask, Taskmaster is constantly expressive in pretty extreme ways, that alone deserves some props.

I'll just present my favorite panel from this series without comment.

The Death of Doctor Strange by MacKay and Garbett

I wouldn't regularly pick up The Death of Doctor Strange by MacKay and Lee Garbett. I'm just not a huge Doctor Strange guy. That being said, it's the precursor to MacKay's run on Strange and Doctor Strange and by the rules of the MacKayathon I am compelled to read it. With that being said I quite liked The Death of Doctor Strange.

The titles really gives the central premise of the book away, Doctor Strange is murdered, the twist however is that he is going to solve his own murder! This is possible because a unspecified amount of years ago, Doctor Strange took a week off his life expectancy to create a version of himself to avenge his death, the wrinkle though? He only has that one week to solve the case! This is a pretty fun and clever concept and by far the most compelling thing about the book. Seeing this past Strange reckon not only with his future and the choices of his future self makes for good drama.

Upon Strange dying a magical protective seal around the world fails, thus enters the Three Mothers, a trio of beings who capture magic users to feed their eldritch and fetile master, the Peregrine Child.

Besides being creepy and serving as antagonists these villains start a funny trend across MacKay's work at Marvel, the elaborately designed weirdo villain team. Two examples of this from his later work would be the Twilight Court and the Bloodcoven.

It's just a funny recurring beat I've seen in his work.

I honestly don't have strong opinions on Garbett's art generally, his work somewhat reminds me of Joshua Cassara's, especially in the faces. Both artists employ pretty blocky anatomy. Antonio Fabela's colors are quite nice, they especially pop when it comes to the more magical moments.

Earlier on in this post I talked about how I admired Lex Luthor's raw hater energy. Well Doctor Strange has his very own hater, Baron Mordo. I know just about nothing about Mordo except for the fact that he hates strange and hates the idea of Strange dying by anyone's hands but his.

Closing Thoughts

So that concludes the "My Favorite Comics I've Read in March", this post honestly turned out a lot longer then I expected clocking in around 3,500 words. But overall I think this has been a worth while exercise. See you next month, the MacKayathon will continue!

[respect-the-locals]

This is *somewhat* similar to the bracelet I posted about yesterday, except it's completely different. The Fahlo bracelet didn't come with any shark tracking information (because they messed up and sent me a dolphin instead, which is fine but a shark would have been better). Anyways, this bracelet I bought for myself!! It was bought in 2021 at a time when I was looking for something that I could preserve some of my mother's ashes inside of. I had no idea this was what I wanted until it popped up in my feed on Instagram one day, and I knew then that it was the perfect way ❤️.

-- It's call a Legend Bracelet! As you can see by the bracelet, and as you'll see described in the second photo, "One capsule is empty - fill it with sand / earth or something meaningful. The other capsule - comes filled with sand / earth from an area in the world we are helping to protect. A reminder to stay connected to the endangered places and species around the world."

In the case of my bracelet, a piece of ghost netting fills the other side. Ghost nets are responsible for countless shark fatalities. They get tangled in the nets and drown, because they are unable to move. Majority of sharks need to be constantly moving to keep water flowing over their gills.

"Crafted from eco & vegan friendly materials. Made from the bark of cork trees."

What you DON'T see described is this,

"The process helps extend the tree’s life expectancy and increases it's CO2 absorption."

AND

"Up to 50% of profits donated to charities fighting to protecting the environment & endangered species."

My specific bracelet helps to protect the sharks!🦈 Obviously, sharks are animals I'm pretty passionate about. Follow Your Legend has partnered with the Bimini Shark Lab to "help save sharks and protect our oceans"

The COOLEST part about my bracelet is that it came along with not only a sticker, BUT ALSO information about a Tiger Shark named Dani! (Ironically Tiger Sharks are my absolute favorite species of shark. So bonus points!) Through the card provided, (and the QR code on the back) I am able to access both information about Dani herself and tracking information about her whereabouts!🦈

*Unfortunately, with this being bought in 2021, her tracker has either fallen off or something terrible has happened 😔 because there have been no current further updates on her.*

Regardless though, as sad as that may be, I'm still super happy to have bought and contributed to the efforts of Legend Bracelet! There are numerous other bracelets that support different causes/animals and I'd encourage everyone to look into them!!🙌😁

[boricuacherry-blog]

Felicette, a former stray cat who was sent into space by French researchers in 1963, now has a bronze statue in her honor at France's International Space University in Strasbourg, France. The statue was designed by sculptor Gill Parker, depicting the cat perched atop Planet Earth.

Felicette was the only cat to have ever survived a sojourn into space, being part of a 15-minute suborbital mission.

The memorial is the culmination of a Kickstarter campaign launched in 2017 by cosmic cat enthusiast Matthew Serge Guy. More than 1,100 patrons donated $57,000 to honor Felicette.

Felicette, a petite tuxedo cat, wasn't the first animal to be launched into space, just the first cat. However, before Felicette, France had so far only sent rats into space. She won out over 14 cats being trained for space flight.

Felicette - then designated C341 - was launched from a base in the Sahara Desert, reaching an altitude of about 100 miles above earth, while scientists kept close tabs on the cat, monitoring her breathing and heart rate through a series of electrodes implanted throughout her body. The capsule she was in then parachuted safely back to the ground. A few months upon her return, she was euthanized so that the scientific team could examine her brain. She was commemorated on postage stamps around the world in the 90s.