#dont come for me with the realism here the word speculative is doing a lot of legwork

[luciiferous]

A very early conceptual look at a Mau skull.

More general info about them under the cut, but as an overview: compared to elves (and humans) they only have 24 teeth, more sloped heads and slightly smaller braincases. Both males and females have a sagittal crest (that bony bit on the back of the skull), and the size is not linked to sexual dimorphism. This provides a lot of bite force despite a fairly small jaw, and with so few teeth, damage to that area is a much bigger threat. It's pretty common for Mau to die of starvation if they aren't part of a "pride" (not their word).

Below is more about their general biology and why catgirls exhibit aggressive mimicry!

So some background terminology because I'm going to be using the term mimicry a lot. Most people are probably familiar with Batesian mimicry, where a harmless creature will evolve to look more like something toxic/dangerous/unpleasant to eat generally. This deters predators from eating them, even though they would be perfectly safe to.

The classic example is the monarch vs. viceroy butterfly, but afaik this is now considered an outdated classification (the viceroy butterfly is actually somewhat toxic as well, so this is an example of Müllerian mimicry instead). So for a better example, I'll use hornet moths and European hornets.

The hornet moth is on the right, and obviously... is a moth. It has no real defenses other than the fact that it looks like the real hornet (left). You can break this down further by classifying if the mimicry is mutually beneficial to both species, if only one benefits, etcetera... And there are several other kinds of mimicry as well!

For our purposes, the mimicry the Mau exhibit is something called "aggressive mimicry". Unlike Batesian, the mimic species isn't relying on a bad reputation to protect it; it's actually trying to seem harmless in order to avoid being detected by its prey. This often allows it to sneak closer and launch surprise attacks; sometimes, they might even be mimicking the prey species itself.

(Above, ant. Below, ant-eating mimic spider)

Do you see where this is going yet?

If the Mau shared any common family tree branches with elves (or humans, but that's another story), it would have been a long, long time ago. Their most distantly-recorded ancestors looked a bit like a mix between spider monkeys and small cats. They were largely arboreal, opportunistic hunters which ranged from about 24 inches to 30 inches at maximum, when upright. Though they were almost entirely quadrupedal at that time.

Due to a mass migration and genetic bottlenecking event that forced them out of their native habitat (too long to get into, but dragons were involved), they gradually began to shift towards an upright posture. They got larger, and their guts were changing as the need for other food sources was becoming pretty urgent... But, this migration also put them in contact with other Spoken species for the first time, and elves were now a viable source of much-needed calories.

So things started to shift a little.

Over thousands and thousands of generations, as the Mau built up the first civilizations in Kha, they were constantly adapting to better infiltrate their elvish neighbors.

It started first with vocalizations-- just like our housecats learn to meow at us, the Mau found out how to mimic voices, words, common phrases. They began to understand names, and even parts of their language. By stalking their prey for a time, they could figure out how best to lure them out of the village and into the dunes-- maybe by pretending to be injured, calling out to them directly.

So off to a good start!

But once their prey got close enough to see them, the illusion was harder to maintain. So why not continue adapting, continue to seem "appealing" to them. The Mau may keep their fur, their ears, their whiskers, their tails... Claws and paws and all the things not immediately noticeable, but a familiar face would be enough to fool them on first glance. Clothes could hide a more animalistic form. So they sacrificed a few teeth in the interest of having flatter faces, developed a weaker jaw and thinner bones but honestly, when your prey walks up to you, you don't need to be so overkill with your equipment!

Eventually, as the elves began to have cities of their own, this predator-prey dynamic would shift to be on more equal footing. The Mau were already able to communicate with them, to trade and barter if they wished, but eating them was so much easier. The elves had been at a significant disadvantage until the invention of stronger weaponry, and that only caused the Mau to grow more clever in response.

By this point, they had been dubbed the Sphynx in the south and Mantichore in the north-- reflective of how each culture was getting along with its neighbors.

So-- in the modern age, how do they get along now? Well, obviously, much better. Eating other Spoken is considered exceptionally taboo, though the Mau were the last ones to come around to accepting that idea! After the desolation of Kha, they were forced into another migration that significantly reduced their population, and their greatest cities were lost to the sea. This meant that they were more or less forced to assimilate into other cultures, though many Mau still retain a strong identity with their homeland. While not entirely obligate carnivores, their diet skews heavily towards meats; their ability to taste sweet things is greatly diminished, and usually fruits, berries and honey are only used in poultices or teas.

Nowadays, they're less inclined to see their fellow Spoken as food... Though they might not turn it down if offered. Think about eating your pets in an emergency situation. Most people would probably never consider it!

… But some might.

[jazajas]

okay so i finished love, victor a while ago and i saw some other reviews and thoughts about it here so now i've got a pretty good list on my thoughts and feelings.

tl;dr: it has some issues, yes, but im gonna hold out and hope it gets better later on because the same thing happened with the first few eps, i wasn't that into it but then it got good, and nothing is ever great with the first season, because at that point we're getting used to those characters.

⚠️caution: spoilers ahead (im on mobile, i cant get an under-the-cut)⚠️

1. while a leah on the offbeat movie would have been amazing movie sequel (even tho i havent read the book yet, im just here for the wlw content) i am kind of glad we got this instead. mostly because I've seen book series where one movie was good, so they decide to do the rest, turn out bad (hunger games? divergent? percy jackson? the hobbit?) because so much was cut from the book-to-first movie writing, that other scenes wouldn't make sense to future movies if they had those in while cutting others. however, i am sad that i didn't get to make the choice of deciding whether what was cut was wrong etc. about future movies, but i'll take what i can get.

2. LGBTQ+ POC as a lead! that's amazing! as a ace/bi lantina that's close to home (it also is great that victor's from texas and so is ya gorl) and even then it's a mixed latinx family! i think pilar mentioned that at least the grandmother left Colombia and i saw the Puerto Rican flag in victor's room. also the salazar's are definitely from small town texas, even without knowing the name. (church barbeques, the use of the words "such a diverse city" in regards to atlanta)

3. a lack of actual lgbtq+ main storylines (so far) is kind of sad for a show like this. i was getting serious bi/pan vibes (as a lot of other people) from victor from the beginning, and when it was implied that victor was actually gay (while great, not shaming) as it has been brought to my attention, there was a lot of looking at a lot of straight relationship problems (please let us know more about benji)- edit 6/18: upon further consideration, it very much is a show about questioning your sexuality, I'm speaking about the other straight relationship issues, not mia and Victor's, its just the first season.

4. let us talk about cheating for a sec. never okay, in any circumstance. i feel sorry for mia that she saw victor making out with benji and the fact that he was doing any of that in the first place. victor made a choice to lie about the espresso machine and then kissed benji at the hotel and then when benji was fighting with derek, basically confessed his love and mistakes, then proceeded to makeout with benji after he broke up with derek, he built that grave and now he must lie in it. i get having feelings for a guy when you are in a relationship with a girl, and not accepting yourself enough to end that relationship but you really want it to work so you can be "normal". really, he should have told mia after he got back from the trip tho. i get being in highschool and doing stupid stuff and making dumb decisions, but for a show aimed at teens i think we should also remind said teens to make good choices even if we have to lose some realism within the character choices.

4. pilar and her decisions based off her brother pissed me off. because i honestly think that if she'd kept her mouth shut about what she knew or confronted victor about it in the first place we could have avoided a LOT of mess. did she not learn from snooping around her mother's business about her relationships that going behind a person's back doesnt end well? i did, however, like the pilar/felix friendship and was really kind of hoping that they'd get together during their coffee hangout (although now im glad that didn't happen) because they had a deeper understanding of each other. same with wendy/felix, although they do seem to much alike to work out in the long run but i still feel bad for wendy.

5. i don't know how i feel about lake and andrew, as people separate from each other. both seem to be the way they are from their upbringing (not confirmed why andrew is such an ass, but if his comment about his dad is anything to go by i bet it's got something to do with attention) but andrew seems to be less, idk, superficial? like he turned down mia because he didn't want to be a rebound, he didn't out victor, he actually stood up to early teasing the other dudes in the lockerroom were doing at victor (with teasing of his own obviously but that interaction had him on my nice list until much later). lake? lake. i honestly don't have an opinion of her? not really. i mean after hanging out with pilar i was hoping felix wouldn't go back to lake. is her name laken? i feel like her full name is laken. but they also played the "im only like this because my mom is really superficial about stuff and i do like the geeky nice guy but appearances" to "actually screw the norms im gonna makeout with him infront of the whole student body". i honestly thought she was gonna be bi because she kept hitting on mia when she was helping set up for her "date" and "big night" and there was one point where i saw her face fall at something mia said in relation to her and idk i was hoping she'd be bi (i figured early on that victor/mia wasnt gonna work and was like "oh mia/lake would be cute" but now idk.

6. okay on to the "big night", i have one word. NO. i didn't like the peer pressure into having sex. i agreed with felix when he said "your body your choice" but im also disappointed that victor made out with mia and when lake was talking to felix after victor left he didn't try to stand up for victor.

7. on to age gaps because i hadn't really thought of this at first. we'll start with benji/derek: WHAT GRADE IS BENJI?! because that determines my thoughts. if he's a sophomore that meant that he and Derek started dating benji's freshman year and thats eugh, don't do that, don't care if its a gay couple that shouldn't be happening because the maturity of the two characters is DRASTICALLY different (this is also a reason i am not a fan of cmbyn) but that would explain why they were so rocky. hoping the event at the gay bar was open to anyone not just for drinking, but not liking that fact that not one of the adults with victor were like: hey, this is a 16 year old, that's kind of wack when that dude was hitting on victor. that made me question some stuff. although i figure it might be making up for the lack of a gay bar scene in love, simon. but even then, in svthsa it's a restaurant with a bar that some people go to just to drink at, it wasn't just a bar, simon could be there but should NOT have accepted drinks from college kids, not matter how attractive.

8. i loved how bram and simon and their friends helped victor out though. i like how bram was like: hey i know my friends are a lot so here's a gay basketball league becaue there's no one way to be gay. i like how Simon talked about needing help himself just to help victor and how he said his friends were cool with it because it's a community. i like of justin(?) mentioned how being what his parents wanted was putting on a mask and pretending, not him doing drag. my favorite lines from that ep are: "and before you ask my pronouns are they/them/theirs" "'they're all gay? even that guy? he's like [insert really tall number]' 'yeah. you should see him in heels'" "or in simon's case: really unathletic" "and also because bram said that if i wore [the jean jacket] one more time he'd burn it". also katya was there. and the group hug too!

9. the back hand homophobia in relation to family is sad, but realistic and i sincerely hope his parents are kind enough not to be too harsh on victor because of it. anything they say that isn't positive or supportive of victor is bad but i hope they realize that there is more to him than that and that they can come to terms with it because it's not always that hard to be a part of that community and super religious. i am biromantic and catholic. and while there are some things i wont agree on my mom with, i know that it's more of a strike against God for kicking out gay kids from families than it is to be gay, because those parents were given trust by GOD to love those kids no matter what, and be good parents. so in the end, the parents are wrong and harmful and in the case of christians against jesus's teachings to love everyone.

10. this is fan speculation but dont think simon/bram are going through a rough patch? i honestly think it'd be a little cruel to the characters to have on of their actors be producing but then not have that relationship stay. and while it's not set in stone and obviously things happen in the real world, we have no proof script wise about there being a rift. all we have are bad photoshopped ig photos and scenes where two characters are never standing next to each other probably beccaue schedules never link up correctly for minor characters. who knows, maybe nick robinson was filming for a movie where is does have an even more major role than victor's gay guru in a series about victor so his filming time was around that. im gonna keep hope that things are okay.

11. that being said: we need more mainstream wlw content, because someone said it earlier and it really does seem to be catering to straight girls. i'll admit i did freak out when benji played call me maybe which is something i associated with him and victor but then kissed a guy because who wouldn't? we get that serenade and sweetness and then it'a ripped from us. but i did mellow out. if i flipped later it was because victor was making dumb decisions and i had to give myself a moment of compsure before i continued.

in the end, i'd say that there is a lot of growth this series needs to go through, but i also know that some people just aren't going to like it and i get that. but i also know that sometimes the best of stories have rocky starts, nothing is ever perfect from the beginning. and besides, further seasons are on hold until we figure out this covid thing, which means that you bet they're gonna be looking at our feedback. they saw what we thought before, they can do it again

i really did like it but we need more ACTUAL lgbtq+ relationship stuff from this series and better decisions on what we are teaching the younger generations, as well as what we want to focus on and realism within characters. i'm giving it an 8/10, because there is always room for growth and i really hope we get better things out of this than what we have been given in season 2.

edit: someone mentioned it really seeming like it was meant for Disney+ and i felt that. also to anyone who reaches the tags agter reading ALL OF THIS: i am sorry