#crocodile armour

[arminreindl]

A Guide to Osteoderms: Part 1 Notosuchia

So here's something I've been planning to make for a while. As a croc enthusiast, something I often see is people being unsure about how the armour on ancient croc groups looked like and, for simplicity, often simply modeling it after their modern relatives. As this is oftentimes not the case, I have started work on a series of guides on what the armour of ancient pseudosuchian groups looked like, with references to illustrate the incredible diversity found in the fossil record. I have recently finished the first part, which deals with the often terrestrial notosuchians (an ironic and random choice I know), which I am happy to present. Below are a few images to give you a sense of what to expect and below that you will find a link that should take you to the download of the PDF file. Further groups will follow, I just need more time to research and work on it.

Download here

[educationaldm]

Crocodile Armor from 3rd Century Egypt. Do you allow your players to skin and make armor out of monster hides?

[lesbiansforboromir]

The next person I see claim that RoP had terrible and 'cheap' costuming I'm just going to unhinge my jaw and swallow their whole head like a snake like you are quite literally making shit up based on 2 images you saw months before the first season came out. 'Omg they did fake sewn on scale mail for Miriel' have you ever considered that it's not supposed to look like scale mail, have you considered that it's a tiny sleeve of material that's clearly meant to be under-armour padding with a fish scale embroidered design. Who told you it was scale mail, Peter Jackson? Did he tell you elves have to have long hair too? They even do scale mail elsewhere in the show, I want to scream, I'm thrashing like a crocodile, begging people to be normal about this completely average show and it's genuinely gorgeous costuming and design.

[draconesmundi]

I just got here from storyteller saturday ask and then this blog so can you elaborate on dragons being crocodile relatives?

HAPPY STORYTELLER SATURDAY

So crocodiles are part of a bigger group called pseudosuchians, which include things like armoured Desmatosaurus, leggy creatures like Saltoposuchus, shark tailed swimmers like Dakosaurus, beaked herbivores like Shuvosaurus... Pseudosuchians aren't often talked about so I was really happy when the little herbivorous Simosuchus had a spotlight on Prehistoric Planet!

Pseudosuchians are my favourite animals, all of them. And dragons are my favourite fictional animals, so basically I made draconic pseudosuchians. They have the same skeletal details and body plan, with a few fantastical elements...

Dracomorpha, the dragon group, split apart from crocodylomorpha back in the Jurassic. Dragons have overlapping scales rather than discrete osteoderms, and also have fleshy projections (fins, frills, wattles, barbels). They have horns, but so did some prehistoric crocodiles so that's nothing new. Many dragons have osteoderm rods on their shoulders and flanks supporting a membrane of skin, but so did some prehistoric reptiles. Dragons are venomous while crocodiles are not, and dragons fly using magical adipose tissue to generate a magic field, while most crocodiles cannot do this.

Many dragons are semi-aquatic and launch themselves into flight with a strong tail-propelled leap...

[imabeautifulbutterfly]

Star Wars Fic Roulette

@dragonrider9905 As promised, here's the second story. It is much shorter than my usual, but it felt perfect ending it where I did.

Also this does contain a spoiler from Season 3 Episode 8

So anyone reading this please BEWARE SPOILERS AHEAD

Love oo,

Can't Lose You

Warning: Spoilers from Episode 8 (You've been warned), anxiety, trust, grief, tears, comfort, I think that's it. If I miss any please let me know.

Main Master List   |  Star Wars Fic Roulette

You looked over Hunter as soon as he was back on the boat Fennec had purchased, your eyes shifting from him to Wrecker. You held your breath until Wrecker made it back on the boat. 

“Breathe… breathe,” You reminded yourself, keeping your voice low.

“Look at the stars, kid.” Fennec’s voice came from behind you, you turned your head to glare at her, “Just saying. When you’re struggling to find your breath, sometimes it helps to look at the stars and breathe.”

“If it weren’t for you …” You began to raise your voice when Hunter held your hand, pulling your attention back to him, he simply shook his head ‘no.’ You closed your eyes and nodded, letting out a breath.

“Anything hurt?” I asked Hunter as I shifted his backplate to look at the damage.

“No. Not really.”

“You’re lucky you got away with only a scratch.” You mumbled as your hand gently rubbed his back. “Alright, you should be okay. Wrecker, any injuries?” You called over your shoulder as you looked at him.

“All good!” He held his thumb up, you nodded, shifting away from Hunter, trying to relax, but keeping your eyes on the water. By the time you finished with Fennec, and she dropped us back to the Marauder, all you wanted was your bed. Well, Hunter and your bed. 

You sat in the common room, absentmindedly playing with your medic scanner, when Hunter came and sit beside you. 

“Cyar’ika?” His fingers gently played with your hair, stroking it as he looked at you. It was an old habit that you absolutely loved, you closed your eyes and reminded yourself Hunter was still alive and he was here with you. 

“I don’t trust that woman.”

“I don’t trust her either, but we needed the information.”

You opened your eyes and turned to look at Hunter, “At what cost? What if she tells the Empire where we are? What if she’s somehow working for Hemlock and we lose Omega again?” Tears welled up in your eyes, “Or what if this time, I lose all of you and not just Tech … I can’t …” tears started to slide down your cheeks as you looked at him, “I can’t lose you. I can’t.” 

“Shhh” Hunter pulled you on to his lap, holding you close as you buried your face in his neck, letting out the tears that had been lining up since you saw Hunter grabbed by the Crocodile. Watching him being pulled under and then seeing Wrecker go in after him, it was too much.

“I’m here. I’m fine.” He gently whispered as he kept stroking your hair and your back. “You’ll never lose me.”

You squeezed your arms around him, holding him as close as humanly possible. You were grateful he had taken off his armour, as his warmth seeped into every fibre of your being. You didn’t want a second without Hunter, without his love. 

“Promise me,” you mumbled against his shoulder.

“What?” 

“Promise me, I won’t lose you.”

Hunter pressed a kiss to the side of your head and buried his face in your neck, feeling his breath on your neck, “I promise.”

Main Master List   |  Star Wars Fic Roulette

Tag list:

@liadamerondjarin @badbatch-simp24@spicymcnuggies@lady-ren @firstofficerwiggles @darkangel4121 @discofern @kavecika @monako-jinn-stories @ladykatakuri @avathebestx @theroguesully @furyhellfire66 @carodealmeida @ciramaris @sprout-fics @twinkofthedink @dindjarin-mandalorian @ulchabhangorm @littlemisspascal @tortor-mcgee @vodika-vibes @clonethirstingisreal

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2024 Day 24 - Sillosuchus longicervix

As we know by now, pseudosuchians ruled the earth during the Triassic period, slotting into many different niches and utilizing many different body shapes than just the semi-aquatic crocodilians we have today. Poposauroids especially filled many of the niches dinosaurs would later come to fill, and even resembled them. Our previously visited Lotosaurus was convergent with hadrosaurs and stegosaurs. Poposaurus was convergent with theropod carnivores. The shuvosaurids resembled ornithomimid theropods, and one shuvosaurid in particular: Sillosuchus longicervix, reached sizes that would make the early sauropodomorphs tremble.

Sillosuchus lived in Late Triassic Argentina. The holotype, while still quite large for a shuvosaurid, was about 3 m (9.8 ft) long. But then, a finding of a large Sillosuchus-like neck vertebrae, as well as fragments of the tibia and ankle, pushed this animal’s size estimates up to 9 to 10 m (30 to 33 ft) in length, making it the tallest terrestrial pseudosuchian known. It would have had a beak like its relatives Effigia and Shuvosaurus, and likely used it to shear off plant material, reaching higher into the trees than any pseudosuchian would have ever hoped to dream. And since Sillosuchus came first, this makes sauropods the copy-cats!

Sillosuchus was found in the Cancha de Bocha member of the Ischigualasto Formation, which was at the time characterized by a dry climate with meandering rivers and seasonal rainfall. Sillosuchus would have lived alongside other dinosaur-like pseudosuchians, including the armoured Aetosauroides, the small, agile Trialestes, and the apex predator Saurosuchus. Dinosaurs would have included the early sauropodomorphs Chromogisaurus, Panphagia, and Eoraptor, and the early theropods Eodromaeus, Sanjuansaurus, and Herrerasaurus. Other reptiles would have included the silesaur Ignotosaurusm, the mysterious Incertovenator, the crocodile-like Proterochampsa and Pseudochampsa, the bizarre rhyncosaur Hyperodapedon, and the lepidosauromorph Taytalura. Synapsids like cynodonts and dicynodonts were also common here, and temnospondyls lived within the meandering rivers.

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[zmansnezy]

If I were to take a shot every time Gabi got mischaracterized, I would be dead

Little rant, but I’ve noticed this a lot and just can’t help but point it out. The vast majority of arguments I see from Gabi-Antis fall into two categories:

Pure Emotion: “I hate her cause she killed Sasha” there’s no real problem with this, art is subjective, love or hate whatever characters you want to love or hate. This however, does completely fail as an argument for the quality of a characters writing.

Mischaracterization Reliant: “she’s a sociopath/psychopath/saristic/etc” these are the main focuses of this post. Arguments that present a false version of Gabi in order to condemn her, allow me to explain.

Allow me to paint a picture of the average Gabi hater season 4 viewing experience: An arrogant girl is introduced and destroys a train full of people in cold blood, laughing as she does so. She then cruelly murders a girl, and gets her closest friend hurt with her own blabber mouth. Then, she cries crocodile tears to convince the friends of the woman she killed to help her. Eh, little exaggerated but not far off.

But as many of you know, this is not actually the case. Gabi is not sadistic, or a psychopath. She’s a deeply misguided kid. There are two scenes of hers that often go overlooked, but are vital to her character:

Her conversation with Reiner: in chapter 93, we see Gabi show very clear care for Reiner as she confronts him about how off he’s been. Ending the conversation, she expresses her desire to understand him deeper.

Her conversation with Falco During the Liberio Raid: here, we see her say very bluntly that everything she did was to prove to the world that Eldians were not bad. Now, her methods are misguided, but her intentions are unquestionably good.

when one takes this care she has for her friends and her people into account, one simple truth becomes apparent: Gabi’s primary motivation is love.

does she bear hate in her heart for a time? Yes. But that is not the deeper thing driving most of her actions, what drives her is love. She doesn’t put her own life at risk to take out the armoured train because she loves killing people, she does so to prevent a mass charge of 800 of her kin (anyone who knows a thing or two about WW1 tactics knows how much of a bloodbath this would have been).

She wouldn’t have gone after the Scout’s airship if it wasn’t for her witnessing the brutal deaths of her two closest friends and the destruction of her hometown.

everything she did in the warrior program she did because she believed she was furthering her family (and her peoples) advance towards equality.

when Falco gets hurt because of her, her immediate instinct is to die in his place.

and when she learns she’s wrong, she immediately changes her ways and feels remorse for her previous actions.

While she obviously does bear incorrect views for a great portion of her time in the story, her intentions were always pretty pure.

And it is with understanding this, that most arguments against her fall apart. Most arguments rely on this idea that Gabi is in fact sadistic, and Isayama is justifying the acts of sociopaths through her. This is not the case. Isayama is explaining the actions of child soldiers through her. Acts which, mind you, have a lot of historical precedence.

there is much of Isayama���s post timeskip writing I am critical of, but Gabi is easily the best character introduced post time skip and frankly, it’s not close.

Unlike other parts of the timeskip, Isayama did not chicken out on Gabi when his vision and general reception began to diverge. Despite the hate, he did not stray from his vision, because his vision (in this case) was ultimately correct.

Gabi is one of the redeeming aspects of post-timeskip AOT and one of the best depictions of a child soldier in fiction. Isayama did not shy away from the ugly reality of child soldiers, but more importantly he asserted strongly the compassion required for a solution to this problem.

so yeah, that’s about it.

[serpentarius-fr]

That snapper post reminded me I'd been meaning to draw my own interpretation of snappers, so here we go. There's a lot of issues with them that I think result in them being so unpopular, and I wanted to approach how I'd polish up and fix those issues while still trying to remain somewhat true to FR design conventions.

Firstly, give them an actual beak! For supposedly having one it doesn't really look like it. I also somewhat changed the brow ridge, inspired in part by the brows on some dinosaurs (particularly tyrannosaurs) to give it a fierce appearance. I like the spike-chin, but I think it could lean into the rock-beard look a little more, particularly on males. Adding some to the jawline doesn't hurt either. The other main dimorphism I added was thick jowls to the males, inspired by lizards like tegu and iguana. It just looks cool to me :)

Legwise I hate their hands, they don't even look that good for digging plus they have like, 0 dexterity. I wanted them to still look like they'd be awkward to use for holding things (hence why they may have more oral than written history!) but also look like they could dig deep into the earth. One of the biggest issues with snappers is their awkward crouched hind limbs, and I think they look a lot better if you make them plantigrade.

One of the other sore points with snappers is that their wings look somewhat tacked on. I don't necessarily think removing them outright is necessary though, plus that breaks modern breed design conventions. Making them look more vestigial and unformed helps them fit the design a lot better. I think they'd also have heavy scales on the back to add extra armour.

Speaking of which, I wish canon snappers leant into the armoured snapping turtle/crocodile/ankylosaur look more! Make those legs spiky and scales chunky! I fixed the weird spikes going under the wing and had them go behind instead, keeping the entire backside well armoured so all the wings have to do is close around the sides to protect that area.

I also fattened the tail up a bit more just to sell the fat reserves implication, seeing as they live in a desert-like climate. I also exaggerated some of the last spikes to something nearing a stegosaur thagomiser. More dinosaur inspiration to make them look fierce, and fits in with the whole heavily armoured thing.

Its sad that snappers are kind of close to dragon designs I really like, but miss the mark. They could be so cool man!!! I should get around to finally buying some snappers and just design them all to look like this.

[bobnichollsart]

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2011 I created a bunch of models for the Leicester New Walk Museum. Here is the scale model of the marine crocodile, Metriorhynchus (the leathery skin armour was unwise, it is too easy to interpret as scutes).

[dry-gold]

Links in lieu of propoganda. Kadimakara, a triassic archosauromorph reptile

Kalisuchus, a triassic archosauromorph reptile

Kambara, a cenozoic crocodile

Kimberella, a precambrian bilaterally symmetrical animal

Kolopsis, a cenozoic diprotodontid marsupial

Koolasuchus, a cretaceous temnospondyl amphibian

Kronosaurus, a cretaceous marine reptile

Kunbarrasaurus, a cretaceous armoured dinosaur

[arminreindl]

Fossil Crocs of 2023

2023 has been a year with its ups and downs, but one consistent thing has been its fossil crocs at least, giving us another interesting variety of species and genera not known before. Like last year, I'll go down each of them (including phytosaurs) and give you some key notes. And since I've done my best to make individual posts for them I'll link those when available. I'll also try to give translations where possible, but do note that sometimes I might switch around a word due to it just sounding awkward otherwise.

Scolotosuchus

Starting us off is Scolotosuchus basileus ("royal scythian crocodile"), a basal, rauisuchian-like animal from the early stages of the Triassic. An animal roughly 3 meters long, it is primarily known from vertebrae and some other material, which however does have interesting implications. Based on the anatomy of the vertebrae, it has been speculated that Scolotosuchus performed a lot of rapid movement of the neck, presumably while hunting. Furthermore, it might be that Scolotosuchus lacked osteoderms, instead having developed a bracing system for its body much more like that of dinosaurs and mammals. Artwork by @knuppitalism-with-ue (he'll pop up quite a lot)

Colossosuchus

Fast forward to the Late Triassic, the hayday of early Pseudosuchians, and we find our first phytosaur of the list. Colossosuchus techniensis ("colossal crocodile of the Indian Institute of Technology") was an enormous animal from India's Tiki Formation. This one is known from undisputably better material, perhaps some of the best on this list as we have an entire bone bed of these guys, possibly representing a mass death site. Size estimates of the large specimens generally range from 6 to 9 meters in length, also making it the largest animal of this list, with the authors favoring an estimated 8 meters for the largest individual. Of course this is all subject to change, as we don't know the precise proportions (the downside of a bone bed is that all the bones are kinda jumbled together and god knows what belongs to what). Artwork by Joschua Knüppe again, a female being courted by an overconfident and confused Volcanosuchus (told you so)

Kryphioparma

Ok I won't bother you with this one too much. Kryphioparma caerula ("blue mysterious shield") is an aetosaur from the Late Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona. Now aetosaurs are cool of course, but the thing is that Kryphioparma is known from exclusively osteoderms, their large armour plates. While thats valid, its also not really exciting (as you could have guessed from the absolute lack of artwork). Best I can say is that it coexisted with a bunch of other aetosaurs, which surely would have been a sight to see back in the day.

Venkatasuchus

Now Venkatasuchus armatum ("Venkata's armoured crocodile") is in a similar boat. This Indian aetosaur too is only known from osteoderms, tho at least a lot more of them that were found together, meaning we got a much better idea of its shape. There are some interesting implications it has on paleogeography and how different animal groups spread across Pangea, but that's probably beyond the scope of this post. There is at least some art of it tho, including one piece by Joschua featuring Jaklapallisaurus, an early sauropodomorph.

Mystriosuchus alleroq

Now we got our first new species of a preexisting genus. While I did my best to make posts on new genera, which typically went hand in hand with their respective wikipedia pages, species are a different matter since they'd require me to overhaul and research the whole genus. Which for Mystriosuchus would go all the way back to 1896.

Anyhow, Mystriosuchus alleroq ("jawbone spoon crocodile") is the newest in a long line of Mystriosuchus species and has been recovered from western Greenland of all places. Like Colossosuchus it is known from multiple individuals, at least four in fact, And like Venkatasuchus, it appears to have wideraning implications for the spread of archosaurs during the Triassic. Oh look its Josch's art again, neat.

Jupijkam

The final phytosaur and the final Triassic taxon of the year, Jupijkam paleofluvialis ("horned serpent of ancient rivers") was recovered from Nova Scotia Canada and represents one of the northernmost phytosaurs (alongside obviously our friend Mystriosuchus alleroq above). It is far less complete than the other phytosaurs I covered so far, but still nothing to scoff at. It's also one of the youngest known phytosaurs, possibly having lived during the last stage of the Triassic. There's no art but here's an image of its snout from the original paper.

Turnersuchus

And with this we have reached the Jurassic and somewhat of a double feature. Ordering these via chronology makes this almost like storytelling. Turnersuchus hingleyae ("Hingley's and Turner's crocodile") is the oldest and basalmost named thalattosuchian, a group of crocodylomorphs that took to the seas. As such it shows a mosaic of features, already having begun to reduce its limbs, having a moderately long snout and still bearing osteoderms, which some of its descendents would come to lose. Turnersuchus dates to the Pliensbachian, a stage of the early Jurassic, tho the paper mentions how its not likely to hold its title as oldest member of its group for long as even older material has been discovered and is awaiting publication. Artwork by Júlia d’Oliveira and Joschua Knüppe

Torvoneustes jurensis

While Turnersuchus gives us a glimpse at what the earliest thalattosuchians were like, Torvoneustes jurensis ("savage swimmer of the Jura Mountains") represents them at one of their most derived. At 4 meters long, it must have been an impressive creature, entirely smooth and lacking osteoderms, highly reduced arms and a tail fluke to boot. There are some interesting features, as unlike other species of Torvoneustes, this one does not appear to have been as durophagous, instead appearing to be more of a generalist. It's the last Jurassic croc of the year and practically lived at the opposite end of this time period relative to our previous thalattosuchian, during the Kimmeridgian. Artwork by Sophie De Sousa Oliveira, not to be confused with Jùlia who drew Turnersuchus.

Comahuesuchus bonapartei

From marine to terrestrial, Comahuesuchus bonapartei is a member of the Notosuchia, land-dwelling cousins to the Neosuchia. This new species is known from the Cretaceous of Argentina and was described on the basis of a lower jaw, which differs from the previously described species of Comahuesuchus by the fact that the teeth are situated in individual sockets. Its jaws were short and wide, being described as U-shaped, giving it a somewhat pug-nosed appearance. In case you're wondering why I don't have the translation of the name thats because I can't access Bonaparte's first paper, so all I can say is that the new species is named after famed Argentinian paleontologist Jóse Fernando Bonaparte. Artwork by I mean you probably guessed it, its Josch again.

Aphaurosuchus kaiju

I have some mixed feelings on Aphaurosuchus kaiju ("powerless kaiju crocodile"), not just because I have to rewrite its genus wikipedia page that I am no longer happy with. No, Aphaurosuchus is a great genus in my opinion, given the complete nature of the holotype. But I do think that the species name of this second form is a bit of an exaggeration, seeing as it is to my knowledge not that exceptionally big. So why name it kaiju other than to sound cool? I also think it just kinda becoms funny when you consider the meaning of the genus name. Anyhow, it does look pretty mean, but thats to be expected from a baurusuchid. It lived during the Late Cretaceous in Brazil and the phylogenetic analysis that accompanied its description had some interesting implications that I'm curious to see tackled in the future. Other than that it's just another baurusuchid from a place crawling with baurusuchids, which tbh is pretty cool itself but doesn't really help make it stand out. Arwork by Paula Zeinner

Dentaneosuchus

It is the middle Eocene. France is entirely occupied by mammals. Well, not entirely... One indomitable reptile still holds out against the invaders. Yes, I am of course talking about Dentaneosuchus ("frightfull crocodile"), the titan of the Eocene, the terror of the jungle. Easily among the most exciting finds, this animal was an enormous sebecid previously thought to be a member of the genus Iberosuchus, but recent research not only shows its distinct but enormous. With a lower jaw around 90 cm long, it rivals even the famed Barinasuchus of Miocene South America. The total body lenght is of course a matter of debate given how little we know about sebecid proportions, with the paper lowballing it at 3 to 4 meters and I personally recovering something more akin to 5 meters. Regardless of the specifics, this would make it easily one of the top predators of its time, tho sadly this was not meant to last. It was among the last non-mammalian apex predators of Europe, before climate change and competition from mammals eventually drove them to extinction. Arwork by Joschua Knüppe and @mariolanzas

Baru iylwenpeny

Our last three entries were all members of the Notosuchia, the terrestrial crocodiles that existed from the Jurassic to the Miocene, so lets jump to the other major group of the time, the Neosuchians, specifically their most recent branch, the Crocodilians. Yes finally we are getting to crocs in the stricter sense.

Baru iylwenpeny ("divine crocodile thats good at hunting") is an animal we also knew for a while under the informal name Alcoota Baru based on where it was found. This year I spent a lot of time writing in the Mekosuchinae, Australasian crocodiles of the Cenozoic and just when I had finished the page for Baru, this guy got published. It's the largest, most robust and most recent member of the genus. Good at hunting is a good choice for the species name, as this animal was over 4 meters long with a head commonly likened to a cleaver and a hunting style speculated to consist of inflicting a lot of trauma on its prey with its massive teeth. I could gush about Baru for ages, but thats the important parts. It lived in central Australia during the Miocene only 8 million years ago. Artwork by the incredible @manusuchus

Antecrocodylus

Now for the last crocodilian described this year and one I remised to make a dedicated post for due to time constraints (I had a busy few months). Antecrocodylus chiangmuanensis ("before Crocodylus from Chiang Muan") is a close relative of the modern dwarf and true crocodiles from the Miocene of Thailand. It is only known from the back of the skull and an associated lower jaw, but it serves to highlight how little we know about the crocodiless of eastern Asia during the Miocene, which is a shame given that this region is crucial to deciphering where true crocodiles originated.

Alligator munensis

And our final taxon is Alligator munensis ("Mun river alligator"), which, obviously, is a member of the modern genus Alligator and thus most closely related to the still extant Chinese and American Alligator. Likely having been split from its Chinese relatives when the Tibetan plateau was lifted up, this species lived during the middle Pleistocene in Thailand and may have survived until the Holocene. It's head was short and robust and its teeth globular, which could indicate that it fed on hard-shelled prey like clams and snails. It was also small, likely not much bigger than 1.5 meters. Artwork by Joschua Knüppe

And that should be all of them, all new species and genera of Pseudosuchians described this past year. It's once again been fun to look back and I hope that you find them just as interesting as I do. Lets hope that 2024 will bring equally fascinating discoveries.

[conkreetmonkey]

So this is probably really stupid to find interesting, but I watched a video about the evolution of King K. Rool over the years, and it's pretty clear to see that his golden belly armour being just that, armour, and not a part of his body is a pretty recent thing, which was seemingly introduced in Smash Ultimate. In his debut appearance in DKC, it does seem to be made of gold:

That's pretty clearly the same material on his crown, cuffs and belly, right? And as his cuffs and crown are clearly just accessories and not part of his body, it would be natural to assume that so is his belly armour. I'm actually not sure if this is the case, however, since I've never read the manual the game clearly expects you to have read, can't find a video of someone hitting him from the front to see what kind of sound effect it makes, and haven't gotten to the final boss of DKC myself yet (I'm stuck on Chimp Caverns, lol). So as far as this installment goes, with my limited knowledge, I could go either way (K. Rool experts, feel free to weigh in).

From this point forth, his belly armour remains golden for some time, and I don't believe an answer to whether it's part of him or not is given in any of the several games he appears in up until Smash Melee.

Then, suddenly, in DK King of Swing on the GBA, his belly armour is made of skin.

This change then remains consistent from this point up until Smash Ultimate, and K. Rool actually does appear in a surprising amount of games up until then, featuring in Barrel Blast, Super Mario Sluggers, and even in Brawl as a trophy.

Finally, after Brawl, his next appearance is in Smash Ultimate, in which we finally get a solid answer: it's a metal chestplate. Apparently. Despite the long string of games before in which it was clearly flesh. In Ultimate, this is even of mechanical importance, as it can be worn down and eventually broken by attacks, which stuns K. Rool and leaves him vulnerable. He can also use it to parry attacks, so it has multiple associated mechanics. This cracked texture would be kind of gross if it was made of tough skin instead of metal, so maybe that's why they made the change.

I also discovered that whether or not he has a tail, and how long it is, is wildly inconsistent. In Melee he has a short tail, in Brawl he does not, in Ultimate he has a nubby one yet again, and in DK64 he has a properly long crocodile tail longer than his legs. Weird.

idk why I thought this was interesting I just did.

[oh-great-autistic-gay]

Since King K. Rool is a Kremling, which is a kind of crocodile, it likely means his species give birth through laying eggs. With this in mind, it means he wouldn’t have a belly button.

But we can clearly see he does

Why?

Well

What do his belly and pecs have the exact same texture and colour as? His crown and cuffs. This likely means he is wearing armour.

But why would he wear armour built for a mammal?

Because it is a trophy he took from a Kong he killed, or that was passed down through his family after an ancestor killed a Kong

[fanaticsnail]

More on the Star Wars AU because it's eating my brain like a worm eats an apple 😭😭 You can ignore it if you want, sorry for being annoying

SENATOR CROCODILE! Representative of the planet of Alabasta, one of the Core worlds, quietly working to prove the current leadership as unstable and untrustworthy and take control of the planet and its trade corridors, looking for the blueprints of a mysterious weapon.

Diathim Robin, a runaway of one of the destroyed moons of Iego, perhaps even last of her species after the refusal of her people to surrender their knowledge for the benefit of the Galactic Government, with ripped wings and dimmed aura, angry and bitter, her angelic appearance now twisted to serve the label of the Demon child.

The vision of Zoro with a lightsaber in the mouth has me wiping tears, it shouldn't be that funny to me. But you're so RIGHT ABOUT MIHAWK. (+ maybe a little angsty bonus for the goth family, but Force ghost Perona, tied to the remains of an ancient temple on the asteroid Kuraigana).

Jedi Padawan Nami (Twi'lek Nami and Nojiko???) who secretly works against the Order because a fearsome criminal has a vicious hold of her home and she is too afraid of the consequences to ask for help.

Baratie is now one of the most expensive and elegant restaurants in the Upper Levels of Coruscant, beautiful and with delicious food, ideal place to overhear the shady deals between powerful people.

Germa 66 is just another clone producing company (Kamino who, I don't know them) involved with crime and unethical experiments, the Vinsmokes now selling slaves workers for the mines, as well as making their own personal army.

Thinking of Mihawk, I can see him using an untraditional lightsaber. Yoru is still Yoru, with that enormous handle, and probably a large blade due to a bigger than average kyber crystal. Also, in my head I see him as someone who at least in his youth fell off the balance and succumbed to the Dark Side, even if not for long, so maybe his kyber crystal was bled and he eventually healed it, giving Yoru a pure white blade. I see him as someone who fares incredibly well with any form of lightsaber combat (he is an overachiever like that), perhaps even developing his own (showoff), although I see him having a preference for a combination of Makashi and Soresu. Now Zoro, Zoro. In canon all his swords are legendary or cursed, but I still want him to have made at least one of his lightsabers. So let's say, Kitetsu III is the third because it's the third lightsaber made with this kyber, and it's not the sword but rather the crystal that is cursed. Perhaps it changes colour with every new person that bonds to it. Let's say in Zoro's case it's blue. Wado is very pale blue, almost white (think Ashoka), and Zoro still inherits it from Kuina, although I see her dying later in their years, perhaps in unfair combat. Shusui (I miss that sword so much) was won, and definitely has a purple blade. Zoro uses the Ataru form almost exclusively (big on the offense, physically challenging, requires a great deal of using Haki the Force, it screams Zoro), although Mihawk tries to make him at least combine it with Soresu (because Zoro's defense sucks <3 jk jk I love him).

Kid who incorporates a variation of every piece of weaponry he encounters and deems cool enough in his arm, always having a trick up his beskar arm. Rusty red armour, later incorporating bold gold stripes (gold symbolises vengeance so maybe?), Kil's armour is blue (reliability) -grey, I see Wire's as black (justice. It fits him), and Heat's perhaps black-gray-pale blue (gray is a symbol of mourning a lost love, if I remember correctly which immediately made me think of Heat x Tobiuo angst for some reason. But seriously, what if.....? Not that she is actually dead but what if he believes she is (I can't think about him separately of her anymore T.T)

Kid and Killer's dynamic reminds me so much of Boba and Din's in a way. Working for the Empire bounty hunter Boba has Kid's rage and pride. Din is a quiet, gentle giant for the people who cares about, honourable and proud, and loyal to a fault which is like. Killer. In a nutshell.

(And to think two of my main One Piece OCs started out as Star Wars OCs .... And now they want to go back home to be space criminals 😔😔)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Senator Crocodile. Diathim Robin. ZORO WITH A LIGHTSABER IN HIS MOUTH IM SCREAMING. I have no words, this is just gorgeous. You have so many beautiful thoughts, and I am so very grateful you're sharing them with me. Mihawk trying to work on Zoro's defence, hells yes.

The coloured armour I am absolutely, deeply in love with. Wire in black 🫠🫠🫠 and the fact you're thinking of my OC in there with Heat makes me so insanely emotional. Have Tobiuo missing and presumed dead, only to be a slave to the gangsters, like the hutts. Make her a Twi'lek, former Jedi with amnesia (forbidden love between Heat as a Mandalorian). GREAT, NOW IM THINKING REALLY HARD ABOUT THIS AND TRYING NOT TO SCREAM.

KID AND KILLER BOBA AND DIN AAAAAAA YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU ABSOLUTELY. I am so in love with this whole train of thought, you have no idea. Thank you 😭😭😭

Edit to Add: YES TO STAR WARS OCS MIXED INTO ONE PIECE. I gotta hear about them.

[miloscat]

[Review] Legend of Kay Anniversary (Wii U)

An unremarkable PS2 action-adventure.

After immersing myself in Avatar media for so long I looked around for any other games set in Asia-inspired fantasy worlds but made by Westerners. This let me knock one off my Wii U backlog, the 2015 remaster of the 2005 PS2 game Legend of Kay. Neon Software, the German studio behind the original game, are known to me for their Amiga Sonic clone Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad, and it's somewhat fitting that their final game before closure was this other furry platformer. Some of the Neon cofounders went on to form Keen Games, which seems to have morphed into a new Kaiko... the original Kaiko being the company that the Mr. Nutz Hoppin' Mad team left to form Neon in the first place! Who knows how long they'll survive now under the aegis of the troubled and layoff-happy Embracer, but it's been four years since their last remaster...

Anyway, this game is a sort of 3D Zelda-like-slash-3D platformer filled with anthropomorphic animal characters, which as a Rare fan sounds up my alley. Comparing it to Starfox Adventures may be a little generous though: this is very much a B-tier PS2 action game, and a graphical revamp for new generation consoles can't magically fix the mediocrity.

To get the plot out of the way: it's extremely Normal. Kay is a "plucky" (read: obnoxious) protagonist, using his martial arts training to fight back against the occupation of his cat village by evil gorillas and rats. He travels his island to settlements of rabbits, frogs, and pandas to free them from oppression. I think it's telling that there are no credits given for story or writing; anything story-related is constantly undermined by overly shallow characterisations, completely functional video game progression (go here to get key to open door to go there etc.), and the most brain-dead "banter". For example, Kay thinks the height of action hero quips is to call a rat "cheese-breath" about a hundred times.

The latter issue is not helped by some misguided voice acting choices. It's a fully voiced game but you'll wish it wasn't with Kay's bland sarcastic schtick and almost every other character uncomfortably presenting as a borderline racist caricature. Mostly it's white people doing faux-"Asian" accents, although apparently crocodiles are Eastern European and frogs are... Jamaican, for some reason? I was glad to find a setting that let me skip any dialogue scene with a quick tap of X, because there's no other way to speed up the tedious exposition and pointless back-and-forth when you meet enemy groups.

There's only a handful of what you might call "puzzles", and the platforming ranges from "not bad" to "OK", serviceable but doesn't excel. The biggest strength and biggest weakness of the game is its combat, which is pretty involved. You can swap between three weapons which have different attributes, you often have to get around enemy blocks so there's a Wind Waker-style roll around move to hit their back, but you can also zip between targets during a combo, or use rolling, crouching, or jump attacks. You can carry up to 5 usable items which sometimes are used to explore but you have to rely on them for combat encounters late in the game when they start throwing waves at you with hordes of armoured enemies. When the difficulty spikes like this, it all just becomes too much and goes from an exercise in creatively using moves to keep your combo up to a struggle to survive (and if you die, you lose any consumables you used in your last attempt, also there's a lives system for some reason??).

I said combat might be the game's strength and it was clearly a focus of the project, but I had the most fun exploring the little worlds. There's lots of goodies to collect, mostly in the form of chests and pots containing money. You quickly end up with more than you'll ever spend but I still liked finding it. The point multiplier mechanic may seem superfluous but when you get accustomed to the flow of the platforming sections, grabbing coloured crystals to keep this combo going to make your fights and coins worth more points becomes addictive. The level design may be nothing special but the zones you traverse have some character to them.

It should be noted that this is a semi-linear game, in that the levels are mostly open to explore with events and sub-dungeons within them, but you progress from one field to the next with no way to go back. This bit me on more than one occasion when I blundered into the story trigger to move on before turning in one of the rare sidequests or going down a side path to find a health extension, making it permanently missable. This frustration prompted me to occasionally consult a Gamefaqs guide with maps during each subsequent chapter. The game does give you a minimap in the corner of the screen but it can't be expanded to a full map so it's less useful than it could be.

Legend of Kay would have felt middling even at release but rereleasing it just makes its deficiencies even more obvious. It's still got some charm for being "of that era" (I was often reminded of The Hobbit's action-adventure game from the same generation, but with fewer instant death pits), so I got some enjoyment from it. And it has some ideas that work, like the acrobatic combat and combo system. While some of the environments look nice there were just as many drab areas, and the repeated character model reuse got old. Oh, and sometimes you ride an animal and it's not fun. On the whole, I can't recommend this one... even if you ignore the cringey cultural stereotypes!!

[dwellerinthelibrary]

A smashing pantheistic Tutu with all the trimmings. He's got multiple small heads surrounding the face that looks out at us, the hemhem crown, a lion's body with a extra crocodile head at the level of his breast, wings, a serpent tail, Roman armour on his body, Nemesis in the form of a griffin with a wheel sitting on his back, and he's standing on a snake. I guess the small figure in front of him is a defeated enemy. Watch out, demons!

When: Roman Egypt

Where: Egyptian Museum, Cairo