#i am very excited for the dinosaur turtle

[minecraftbookshelf]

My first painting in like, ten years. I did this back during the mob vote and then just. Forgot about it. (Pls ignore the mug holding down the corner of t he paper)

Sketch paper under the cut

[zahri-melitor]

New(ish) Comics (this is the best week of the month, no lie)

Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1: this is fun. I like the way Bruce and Damian are written together. I am annoyed Babs is out as Batgirl. I'm amused that Tim is very specifically excluded from the story that involves real Santa given he'd not be wondering 'ooh oooh is Santa real' like Dick is here.

Someone had better give Darkseid some coal, is all I can say.

Batman #139: …so we really are running Batman and Batman & Robin with contradictory plots right now. Cmon. There was even a way to finagle this so that Damian could be living with Bruce and have Zdarsky’s plot still work! Grump.

“I’m coming for you, Joker. I’m coming for all three of you. For the last time.” (actually there’s a printing error in this line and the letterer has ‘For the the last time’) I disbelieve this Zdarsky, sorry, though if you could figure out a way to get Joker out of the Bat books for a few years I think everyone would enjoy that.

Now that aside, I do want to note that apparently my decision to (re)read all of Henri Ducard’s appearances seems to have been prescient, given Zdarsky has just referred to ‘manhunting’, ‘training when I was young’ and ‘Paris’ all together. That’s Ducard. That trio is 100% Ducard. Sounds like I need to finish Henri Ducard’s post-2016 appearances, which I was delaying. So Batman: The Detective and Batman: The Knight are jumping up my reading list. (And a quick look at ‘Lucie Chesson’ says she’s from Batman: The Knight, so yep, gotta read)

Joker + dolls always makes me think of NML Endgame, personally.

Birds of Prey #3: Damn this continues to just be a solid read. Thompson keeps hitting yet another 'look I can be trusted' target every issue.

I could do with at least 30% less Harley commentary in this book, but I do acknowledge that at least half the team are unlikely to talk much in a combat situation. Future!Maps is cute and as I slowly approach Maps content I’m excited to meet her more. Also… SIN MY SWEETHEART. I have been waiting for this hug for SIXTEEN YEARS. (Literally. I was in DC fandom in 2007 when they were torn apart). Also loooooooooool Ollie got curbstomped by Diana, sucks to be you Ollie.

Blue Beetle #3: Oh I couldn’t help myself (in terms of how many panels I already posted), but Blue Beetle is doing such interesting things right now. Victoria’s finally being acknowledged on page as being super sus and villainous (rather than just slinking around being sus and concerning me deeply). I’m getting more and more worried about the identity of the Red Beetle. We got Traci back! Which from what I hear means that Trujillo is glossing over some of Traci’s recent characterisation, but we’ll see how this tracks (and in any case, re-establishing Jaime’s connections to the magic/dark side of DC via Traci is helpful if we’re about to do a Dan Garrett story).

Free my girl Dani Garrett if we’re doing a Dan Garrett storyline, she’s an autistic mildly amoral archaeologist and I desperately, DESPERATELY want to see her arguing with Victoria Kord over who ‘owns’ the scarab while Jaime’s standing in the middle going ‘excuse me nobody owns Khaji Da, it’s its own being! And my friend!’

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #3: hello Jimmy Olsen! Hello Turtle Jimmy lore! (I love how silly this book is. I do enjoy JLI stuff that doesn’t take itself seriously) I’m getting attached to a few of the new villains, particularly Linka Grodd.

Shazam! #5: MARY SIGHTING. Darla remains tiny and adorable and I love her too. This comic remains committed to ridiculous fun villains (and Waid and Mora have apparently been off raiding the ‘underused weird Silver Age villains’ list). Mr Dinosaur is an amazing addition to the canon. (And yes. Billy rebuilt the moon. Oh Shazam!) Also I see we are still back firmly in the ‘jealous Freddie’ plot that’s been hanging around for a while.

Warlord #25: this week we check back in with Tara, Mariah and Machiste. Grell’s done some fabulous art for the splash page that I really really like.

Travis is fighting *checks notes* snow giants as he's still too ashamed to come hang out with his friends and partner after the whole 'I killed Joshua' incident a few issues back. He's also cutting all sort of things with his Damascus Steel sword which I have to remind everyone and note is highly suspicious damascus steel, because it's made from a RIFLE and there is no way the type of steel used was able to be worked as damascene, given it likely was alloyed wrong.

I love Ashir here (the guy actually wearing clothes) as firstly, look! A rare appearance of someone with most of their skin covered! Secondly, Travis' burn of "I didn't know you had character".

Anyway, Travis is moping a bit here about being a lone warrior. You could go and hang out with your friends any time you want, Travis. You're the one who left, not them.

[tf2-crew-mailbox]

Oho excellent I’m going to autism all over you about dinosaurs so I’m sorry if this mail is 5 paragraphs long. But not sorry enough to stop myself

So I live in Alberta home of some of the best cretaceous period quarry’s. most of the stuff found here ranges from 77-65 million years ago. The dinosaurs park formation. Aptly named after dinosaurs provinal park is home to over 100 species of prehistoric animals. Ranging from dinosaurs to champtosaurs soft and hard shell turtles pterosaurs and fresh water marine reptiles. Albertasaurus and gorgosaurs two therapods (beastly foot) are found in the formation and are though to be a relative of T. rex.

Fossils are so common in Alberta that many discoveries have been found accidentally while doing construction. If any of you have ever visited the royal Tyrrell museum in drumheller, there’s a whole section devoted to things they’ve found in oil fields/construction. Including borealapelta. A nodosaur (think ankylosaur) that’s so well preserved it looks like it would have the day it died. You can see the scales and skin impressions on it. It’s incredible.

I’ve actually had the privilege to volunteer with museum in the lab and out on digs. It’s incredible.

Also hi pyro spy told me you’d be interested in this stuff. And you do a bit of drawing/painting to. Did you know there’s a dinosaur called pyroraptor. Cool right! Anyways what’s your favourite Dino.

Also to spy. It makes me happy to talk to you. Well all of you fellows honestly. It’s nice to chat with others outside my community. They same way I imagine it’s nice for you to talk to people outside the red team. Also you take an interest in what I have to say. Wich is sadly more than my own father.

Anyways thanks for being people I can turn to~raptors

Also here’s a little painting I did

Hello! !! Pyro is talking Now! Handwriting has been too Painful for me, but now I have a way to send letters to You and the others. A Typewriter!! I am pressing the keys Too fast beCause I am excited.

Your dinosaur facts Are very cool, I did Not know all of the details about the “Alberta Dwellers”. So to Say. I’d love to see the preserved One sometime, but I’m not allowed in museums Any more. : ( Or the rest of my Team. Establishments Here hate us i think.

I like your drawing!! Your brushstrokes are Very delicate, which is A good thing for what you’re making. Keep. Drawing! You’re already good at It.

Also. I’ve been reading your letters about the Dinosaurs and I am also Very happy for you. You do very amazing things. Demo read them Also and he’s offered to explode some of The dig sites for you. The offer is good but Say no.

I am going to practice using this Thing some more !! It’s fun to talk. : ) my Favorite dinosaur by the way is All of them.

[queenharumiura]

Five Deaths - Gokudera

Taken from meme: [x] ||Accepting|| (I did say if how wasn't specified, i'm sacrificing Haru so here I am)

Prompt: [ FIVE DEATHS ] send for five times our muses almost died together and the one time the sender Haru does.

Let's see, I guess tw would be character death, being shot, and poisoning? I tried. I guess also nausea (bc poison cooking)

-

[1]

“Haru is going to die out here… she’s too young to die…” Haru sniffs. She’s lost in a forest and alongside a person who aggravates her half to death. She’s probably going to die from heightened blood pressure before anything else. “SOS, surely someone will come and find us. What are you even doing out here anyways? Haru is here because Lambo-chan claimed to know where the new cake shop was located.” Great, she’s lost in a forest, she’s stuck here, AND she didn’t get her promised cake! “Waaaahhh… Haru is so sad…” The dramatic tears start again.

[2]

“You mean to tell me that isn’t a relative of Godzilla?” In what way? Her evaluation of Gokudera drops to a new low. Is he trying to tell her that a natural born reptile of this era can grow to be that size? There is no way. If this isn’t some kind of monster or a nearly extinct dinosaur, she doesn’t know what it is. “Hah? A turtle? Dino-san’s? AT THIS TIME YOU’RE MAKING JOKES!?” You’re trying to convince her that a small turtle, submerged in water, will grow to that size? Don’t you know most turtles need to live in a wet environment to survive? “Stop making stupid jokes and keep running!”

Poor Gokudera, he was being honest too. A shame.

[3]

“Huh, they make pink grenades? Since when?” Haru picks up the grenade curiously. “They make grenades marketed to girls now?” Maybe it explodes glitter? That’d be cute. A bit loud and probably obnoxious though. The pink grenade gets knocked out of her hand and she gets dragged by the arm. “Hey! Wait! That hurts!” You’re going to stretch out her sleeve! Do you know how stupid her shirt is going to look to have one sleeve noticeably longer than the other? “Stop pulling so hard! Hahi! I’m NOT STUP-“ One of the grenades goes off with a loud bang. “…” She was holding that in her hand just moments ago, wasn’t she?

Wait, she could’ve died just then, or at least be seriously hurt. The realization dawns on her- who in the world throws pink grenades around? Haru also remembers that a certain someone had smacked the grenade out of her hand and dragged her away. It was dangerous, but he still went out of his way to drag her somewhere safer. “Thank you for saving me, but YOU’RE GOING TO STRETCH OUT MY SHIRT!”

[4]

She was really sick and tired of everything, but she kept those thoughts to herself. She wasn’t the one who had it the hardest here. All the guys were out there fighting, so she didn’t have a place to say anything—but! It’s still horrible here! She just wants to go home where it’s safe and sleep in her own comfortable bed. She didn’t want to wake up every morning feeling afraid of what was to come. Even if she knew what was going on, it was still hard to wrap her mind around all of the events that have transpired. Suddenly, they’re being asked to safe-guard Uni-chan, they’re on the run, and they’re maybe going to die? Everything is so scary here in the future. She’d always thought about her future with excitement, but now? At this point, she didn’t want to think of anything to do with the future.

It was a desperate time for everyone, and if things didn’t go well, they were sure to die—or at least some of them. She’s sure that some of them would survive at the very least. Does she think she’d be one of them, probably not. Knowing her luck? Nope. Hm? They’re talking about needing a place to hide at? Doesn’t she know a place that they could hide away at for a brief moment?

[5]

Blergh— “Wait, what do you mean Onee-san made this?” How did it take this long for her to find out that Bianchi’s cooking was deadly? That’s what happens when you’re being protected by those around you who know the truth about her cooking and they ensure that you’ll never have to encounter the poisonous cooking yourself. What they failed to realize is- if you don’t tell her, what about when you’re not around to supervise? She’s just going to eat it and die? “Hahi? You grew up eating foods like this? What kind of iron stomach do you—Ble- you have?” Haru is going to die here today. Is that her life flashing before her?

Wow… it weirdly looks like a sushi conveyor belt showing her all the desserts she’s had in her life. Her flashing life looks mighty delicious. “Setting us up for death by not telling us. Oh woe is Haru, to die doing what she loved: eating.” She’s being dramatic as she always will be. “I sure hope you’re dialing poison control over there.” Haru feels like she’s going to just waste away and die here. What if she just sleeps all this discomfort away? What are the chances she’ll wake up again? Hmm… how lucky is she feeling today?

[-]

Everything was so chaotic at the moment that she couldn’t really make sense of what was going on. Everyone was here for some kind of a social function from what she could recall. A gathering of powerful famiglias and gangs around the world celebrating—whatever it was, she forgot (more like, she didn’t really care that much). She had just seen Lambo earlier when he was fussing over some wine that spilled on his shirt and she was helping him address the stains. Who knew that as soon as they separated, an explosion at the other end of the dance hall happened causing mass panic and confusion.

Tensions were incredibly high as one could imagine with a dance hall full of those of the underground. Threats turned into gunfire, and the screaming only became harder to filter through. She’s looking around, trying to locate her friends. Lambo is over there and he met up with Yamamoto. He’ll be safe. Ryohei is of course with Kyoko. She couldn’t find Tsuna, but more than likely he was either trying to scope out the situation at hand to put a stop to things, or he was busy looking for everyone to ensure their safety first before proceeding.

She couldn’t find Chrome either, but she would be safe. Mukuro was also at the function… and there was no way he wouldn’t prioritize ensuring her well-being and vice-versa. Where is he? You’d think at a time like this, he’d be making a big, bold, and dangerous statement. Preoccupied with checking out the situation at hand, she didn’t realize the danger she was in (classic Haru, some things never change even when you’re an adult). A hand suddenly yanks her hard by the arm and she crashes into someone. The sound of angry concern fills her ears. She found him. Right where she was standing was a broken chandelier. IF that had fallen on her, she would’ve died. She swallows nervously. “Thank you, Hayato.”

The chaos was only getting worse and it was getting hard to see with all the smoke and dust filling the air. She takes the hem of her dress to the mouth and starts tearing the fabric with her teeth. A long dress was only going to get in the way in this situation. By the looks of dark smoke at one end of the hallway… there was fire. She’s cutting her dress so her mobility is increased but also because it would probably be for the best to cover your mouth with cloth to prevent dust from settling into your lungs. “Alright, I’m ready.” He had a handkerchief in hand, so he was set to go. She knows that he would’ve had her use the one he had, but Haru was self-sufficient, and not about to let him get sick later because he prioritized her over himself. That was her thing to do, to prioritize others.

He begins escorting her through the chaotic crowd of people running around and fighting. It seemed that some people decided to take advantage of the situation by attacking their enemies to blame it on the lack of visibility. Haru had been keeping an eye on the others ever since she spotted them in the crowd before. It seemed that all of the guardians were gathering together, minus Lambo. He was tasked with keeping Kyoko safe. Hibari has joined them—that’s how you know things are getting serious. Haru successfully gets escorted to where Lambo and Kyoko were. Lambo’s job was to escort both Haru and Kyoko to safety. Before he leaves to join the other guardians, Haru makes sure to give him a quick kiss- you know, for good luck.

Lambo carefully weaves them through the crowds and escorts them back outside where it should be safer. He stayed by their side until the situation inside was under control as he was given explicit commands to watch over the two ladies until everyone gathered around again for a head count. Lambo wouldn’t have left their sides anyway. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he left to join the others and something happened to them. (Well, Haru probably wouldn’t allow him to head back into the danger zone anyways, knowing her big sister instincts) It took some time for more people to file out of the building and for the fighting to stop. If the Vongola were to get involved, it was only a matter of time before things were resolved.

Ambulances were called to the scene and they started taking the injured away. The last ones to come walking out of the destroyed building was of course, the Vongola. The site was secure, and everything was over. They could relax. Haru rushes over to Gokudera the moment she sees him, and she steps on a piece of rubble wrong and snaps her heel. It was just your usual ‘ah another clumsy Haru moment’ that everyone could laugh at- or so they thought. There was no usual Haru quickly recovering by regaining her balance. There was no comedic ‘Safe-desu~’.

No.

She buckled and fell hard against the ground.

Timed just when her heel snapped, a patient sniper lying in wait took the shot. No one can ever anticipate when Haru’s clumsiness will strike. It should be clear who the intended target of the sniper was, but Haru had to stumble and fall because of a snapped heel.

As sniper 101 would suggest, once you take your shot, you move locations as your position has been compromised. In the case of failing to snipe the right-hand man of the Vongola, the sniper had to run away immediately if he wanted a chance at escaping. It would be difficult, considering the person he’d just shot wasn’t some random person. He’d just shot a close friend of the majority of the 10th generation Vongola, and the girlfriend of the right-hand. Two of the most feared guardians had moved to give chase. With them on the job, there was no way anyone could escape. Hibari was relentless and powerful, and Mukuro was frightening and crafty, so he’d be able to spot any devious illusionary scheme hatched as a get away plan.

While normally one could survive a chest shot if medical attention was administered immediately, the underground wasn’t that friendly. The bullet was a special one that was designed to make it difficult to treat by any normal means, so the victim has virtually no other option but to die a painful death. The residual storm flames imparted on the bullet was fashioned so it did optimum damage to whoever was shot, expanding its area of effect. The flames were wreaking havoc in her system. A true sick bastard, who designed this bullet, as if being shot in itself wasn’t painful enough. The storm flames inside of the bullet made it so the remaining time of the victim was spent in excruciating pain. Of course, there was an extra added ‘bonus’ in store. If the bullet sensed a foreign dying will flame being used, it would release a lethal poison.

Again, a true sick bastard. This bullet was designed to kill, and to do so horribly. With how much everything hurt, Haru was relieved to know that by some sheer circumstance, she ended up taking the bullet instead of Hayato. She’d always thought to herself that if things came down to it, and she had to sacrifice herself for one of the guardians, she’d do so. In a heartbeat. In general, she was the sort who would sacrifice herself for those she loved, but she also knew that the Vongola couldn’t lose any of their guardians. Just thinking about Hayato being the one suffering this instead was unthinkable to her.

Haru could just instinctively tell that she wasn’t going to make it. Everything hurt like a bitch, she could estimate the number of vitals that were damaged, and everything just – yeah. Her hearing was fading out, she could feel herself going numb as the heaviness started kicking in. Her vision was starting to darken, and she desperately was searching for the one person she wanted to see. If by the fact that she was already in his arms and she hadn’t realized it yet was of any indication of how bad her state was, it wasn’t looking good for her.

Ah… she recognizes that cologne. She didn’t have the strength to move at her leisure to get a good look at him, and she couldn’t hear his voice (or anything else for that matter. The deafening ringing in her ears drowned everything out), but she could just barely pick up on the scent of his cologne. It was comforting to know he was right there in her final moments. Breathing was difficult and it hurt. She couldn’t tell if she was making any discernable sounds, but she did try. Nothing came out aside from breathy, pained, wheezing. If one could read lips, they’d see she was trying to say she loved him. If anything, she wanted her last words to be full of love than anything else.

Ryohei tried to use his flames to help with damage control and that’s what triggered the last mechanism. If she had even the smallest chance of survival, it was shot now with the way the poison released into her blood stream. With the tiniest of pained yelps in response to the first aid, she slumps limply against Gokudera.

There is a reason why they tell you to never let your guard down even for a moment. They’ll get you when you least expect it.

[mochiimadness]

Hello hello hello!! I really like your writing and hcs!! Made sure to check the bio if requests are open or not,, I can't find the rules so if I requested something that's not allowed or anything you can decline this request! ^^

If it's ok, may I request separate hcs for the rottmnt turtle bois with maybe a dinosaur mutant s/o?? I'm starting to see alot of dinosaur yokai s/os and I am absolutely obsessed with them!! If it needs to be a specific kind it could be a t-rex or velociraptor (I am very basic help) I hope this is ok though!!

Hi! My rules are in my pinned post :3 once I figure out how to use links and such on tumblr, I’ll add it to my bio so it’s easier to find!

The rottmnt boys with a velociraptor yokai s/o!

Neon Leon

Thinks you’re amazing

Admires your feathers and if you give him one, keeps it on a necklace

So you’re always with him!

He’s so cheesy

If you’re a tall yokai, he absolutely asks if you could give him rides

Please let him live out his dreams of riding an actual dinosaur

If you do, he may end up getting excited to the point of dramatically ‘fainting’ on the couch

He breaks out a cowboy outfit

“Ready to saddle up!”

He’s holding an actual saddle

He’s just joking

All in good fun ofc

If you help the turtles out in battles, he does beg you to ride into battle just once

“Please! I’ll look so cool- we’ll look so cool! Just once!!”

You two do look very cool

Being a velociraptor- with some training, you’d be an amazing fighter

Razor sharp teeth and claws, plus being built for chases?

No villain is going to stand a chance.

He also admires your claws

“Hey, you know- you could probably slice a pizza with these- “

Leo no-

He’s sneaking the pizza closer.

Leo.

They probably could though, just food for thought.

Don Tron

As a man of science-

He’s absolutely freaking out over you

Fanboying to the max

Not only are you an actual velociraptor (yokai)- you’re also his s/o????

He’s going to try the lottery again because apparently, he is the luckiest turtle in the world!

He’s going to be asking if he can run some tests on you,

“Can I take a quick DNA sample?? Ooo what about a test to see how many sheets of metal you can slice through! Oh wait- what about- “

Please be patient, he’s just really excited

You do have to remind him that technically, you’re not just a velociraptor- you’re a yokai

Which means your DNA is going to be a bit different from the standard dinosaur, and much more-

✨Mystic✨

Thankfully, he’s much more open minded compared to how he used to be on “mystic-ness”

Meaning- guess what, he’s going to try to run tests and data points on that too

Donnie

He’s trying.

When he’s not running a million tests, he’s standing nearby poking his fingers together nervously and asking if you could give him a ride

If you let him, he may just combust on the spot

Loves to gently run his fingers over your feathers

Loves how soft they feel

Whenever he’s anxious and needs to relax, he’ll ask if he can feel your feathers

One day, you give him a bracelet made of a few of your feathers so that way he could relax better even if you’re not around

He cries

Wears it all the time, and even builds a mini force field to keep it safe during battle.

Mystic Mike

He gasped loudly when he first meet you

“Oh my gosh!! You’re a real dinosaur!”

You two instantly hit it off

He may or may not slide down your back like a slide from time to time.

Loves your colors

He declares you his muse and immediately makes a painting of the two of you

You love it

He calls you his “chick-a-dee”

When asked why he responds, “Donnie told me velociraptors are the ‘ancestors of birds’- and chickens are birds!”

. . .

“Not that you’re a chicken-!! I just meant you’re adorable like one-!”

He’s so cute

He asks if he could paint you one day

If you agree, he paints all sorts of vivid colors on you- taking extra care with your feathers

You’re his masterpiece, muse and amazing s/o all at once!!

You two also color coordinate!

He’ll paint a few orange and yellow spots on you

Or paint some of your feathers orange

When he wants to match you, he paints his spots to match your colors!

If you go into battle with him, he trusts you so much that he asks you to throw him into battle

Literally

“Whip-o-rama baby!”

You use your tail to whip aside opponents with ease

He always cheers you on.

Big Red

He is in awe.

Especially if you’re larger than him

Not only are you this amazing velociraptor yokai-

You’re also his s/o??

He’s going to cry tears of joy.

He’s not as worried about accidentally hurting you with his spikes

Especially since you have razor sharp teeth and claws

Not to say that he’s not worried at all, he still takes care not to accidentally poke you

And you make sure to not accidentally scratch him

You two absolutely have a giant cuddle pile at least once a week

You usually have a pile of pillows with a blanket or two

But despite the pillow pile, you both mainly use each other as pillows

So adorable

His brothers have so many photos of you two cuddles up together

He loves to hold your face in his hands and press kisses to your snout

Loves when you let out loud, rumbling growls of joy

Thinks they’re the cutest sounds ever

In return, you wrap your tail around him and press kisses all over his face

He will let out loud churs

Which you think are the cutest sounds ever

You two ‘argue’ over who makes the cutest noises.

You’re ‘arguments’ are just you two going-

“No, you’re the cuter one!”

“No, you!!!”

In battle, he trusts you to hold your own and have his back if needed

And ofc he always has your back as well

Y’all’s plans usually consist of the two of you smashing through walls or smashing opponents

Between the two of you, no wall or villain stands a chance

Power couple

I hope you enjoyed!! Thank you for requesting!

Dino ‘purrs’ are my favorite thing right now afsgaha

Reblogs appreciated! :3

[mrultra100]

Ultra’s Prehistoric Planet Reviews- Episode 1: Coasts

After so many years of agonizing waiting, we’re finally experiencing a docuseries that’s on the same scale as the original Walking with Dinosaurs, if said scale was exceeded already. Prehistoric Planet has gained so much hype before its release, with people freaking out in excitement like crazy (I should know, I’m one of them). And after watching the first episode on Apple TV + last night (Right as 12 am nonetheless), we can start with this lil’ review series I’d like to call Mr. Ultra’s Prehistoric Planet. While that wasn’t the most creative name for something like this, it’s at least catchy, right? Anyhoo, the main motto of this thing is to review all 5 PHP episodes, give them a good rundown about how good they are, go over each segment and the creatures that feature them, and label this package with my usual mind-numbing nonsense. For our first venture into the Maastrichtian era, bring your sunscreen and surfboards, because we’re gonna experience a swimming T. Rex, mosasaur cleaning stations, a trip to a pterosaur beach party, and even a glowing ammonite orgy! (Yes, that part is in there too, I’ll explain later). It’s now time to begin our journey with the Coasts. This review may contain spoilers for the episode, so don’t read this if you haven’t watched it.

Right off the bat, this episode was a very solid way to start the series. We get an live-action intro with David Attenborough where he talks about the lives of various Creatceous fauna like T. Rex. As usual, David is one of the best possible picks for the role of narrator here. His love and approach to nature, along with his 90+ year long career, makes him an incredible narrator. Not only are all of the models very well-made and accurate, but we also get quite a few new species making their primetime debut to the world of media. Not only is this the first ever appearance of Tuarangisaurus, but also Kaikaifilu (A relative to Tylosaurus, one of the most famous mosasaurs), and FOUR different pterosaur species (Barbaridactylus, Alcione, Tethydraco, and Phosphatodraco). Along with that, we also get scenes where more familiar beasties like Tyrannosaurus and Mosasaurus are depicted doing some new behavior not done in previous documentaries. It really helps this is down to further drive home the fact that these were actual animals, not monsters. The only flaw I can point out is the iconic pose of the T. Rex from the preview not being used. But to be fair, it had its own share of issues, like T.Rex living near the Tethys Sea. Even when it was receding, the Western Interior Seaway was still a thing when Papa Hank was around, so I’m cool with this segment changing. One more piece of info I wanna go over before we start covering the respective segments is how Hans Zimmer killed it in the musical department. Again, this is another legend of media we’re talking about, as the guy has made banger after banger for films like The Lion King, The Prince of Egypt, Rango, and even Muppet Treasure Island! (And no, I’m not making this up, his music actually appeared in a Muppet movie!). This man has a whole legacy behind his work, and I’m happy that PHP is now one of them.

The first segment of the episode (And of the whole show in general) shows a father Tyrannosaurus and his chicks swimming to an island in search of food. While good ol’ Papa Hank has no trouble swimming (As with almost all amniotes), trouble shows up a minute later in the form of a hungry Mosasaurus. While the massive father is safe, even within the giant sea lizard’s own turf, his chicks aren’t, with even a strangler even getting picked off and eaten by the Mosasaurus, highlighting how brutal nature can be, especially for a youngster. While he’s lost a single chick during his swim, the T. Rex and the rest of his brood manage to get onto the island, where they find the body of a dead protostegid turtle. The father Rex feeds on the carcass, while the chicks scramble to hunt for themselves, often playfully snacking on the baby turtles racing to the sea. And that sounds like a fun family activity (Terrorize and eat baby turtles while your father devours the corpse of one of their parents), well, at least to them.

We cut away from Hank and his family to focus on the pterosaurs of North Africa. Not only do we get our first look at Barbaridactylus (A creature that’ll be getting more screentime in the next episode), but also 3 other species; Tethydraco (A little-known relative to Pteranodon), Phosphatodraco (The first azdarchid to show up in this show), and the focus of this particular segment; Alcione. The chicks are left on a steep, rocky cliff by their parents, with many of the chicks having to fly over to the mainland for the first time. As many of you can expect, a majority of the chicks don’t make it, with both Barbaridactylus and Phosphatodraco gobbling them up on the air and ground respectively. While a few do eventually make it to the safety of the forest, that’s one helluva way to start off your life; go through a gauntlet as you jump off of a cliff while trying not to drown and get eaten by someone else.

Now cutting to the waters of New Zealand, we come face to face with a mother Tuarangisaurus and her calf. These relatives to the famous Elasmosaurus are the first creatures in the show to get more than 1 segment, with both of their segments in this very episode being covered in this part. In part 1, the mother and her calf (Along with many more of their kind) briefly visit a bay to swallow some gastroliths, while the mother sneaks off to get laid by one of the males. Imagine this from the calf’s perspective; You’re swimming around, looking for a few rocks to swallow to aid in your digestion and weighing you down, before you catch your mom doing the dirty with someone you never met.

Part 2 then shows the later-pregnant female struggling to keep up with the others, making her a clear target for a predatory Kaikaifilu. In order to save his mom from being killed and munched on, the older calf (And eventually the others) harass the mosasaur, biting and ramming into him. The plan works, and the Kaikaifilu swims off as the mother Tuarangisaurus gives birth.

Speaking of mosasaurs, we then cut to what’s possibility my favorite scene in the episode (And one of my favorite scenes in the show already); A Mosasaurus cleaning station. We all know how much of a powerful predator Mosasaurus is, Jurassic World’s kaijuequse Mosasaurus is proof of that. But, to see this absolute leviathan of the Maastrichtian depths getting all scrubbed up at a cleaning station is what dreams are made of. Unfortunately for the old male, a rival suddenly pops up and fights him for control of his territory. The resulting fight showcases the fierce power of these sea monsters, even moreso than the fight between the two Tylosaurus in Nat Geo’s Sea Monsters. At the end, our male wins and gets to keep his reef. Good for him, he honestly deserves his stretch of coral reef, along with the entourage of pycnodont fish and shrimp that help clean him. It’s a win-win for everyone! Well...except for the younger rival. He ain’t getting access to a free spa anytime soon.

And to end this review, 3 words; Discolight. Ammonite. Orgy. Yeah, I said that I’d get to this part, but considering how we already covered the second half of the Tuarangisaurus’ segment (Which was the last part of the episode), we’re ending this review with the ammonites, who take sex so seriously, it kills them. Off of the coast of North America, during a crescent moon, massive shoals of Scaphtid ammonites rise from the abyss to, ya guess it, bang each other like crazy! To do this, they wave their bioluminescent tentacles at each other, with them having to synchronize their glowing patterns to get the process right. Right after they all mated, the ammonites then crock. All of them. This is similar to how cephalopods alive today crock after making babies of their own. Also, gotta hand it to the team for adding in practical models. The use of dead ammonite props washing ashore makes this scene all the more real!

1 episode down, 4 more to go. Given how long this blasted thing was, this is certainly gonna take a while. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s review of Deserts! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta get all of this water out of my head.

[dinosaurloverman]

This is the energy log of shova lien. Atleast what the humans pronounce my name as.

I have been here for a very long time. Since the major human calander year of 20××. We came here to visit. To learn. To record and see all that there is. That is the purpose to our lives we have collectively chosen to do.

Other species we have met have decided other things to do. To spread out. To survive. To become immortal. To ascend.

I do not know what happened to these races we have met. I have not slept in what humans called centuries. I do not know why nor is it of major concern. It is natural to me it seems.

When we came to this world the humans were in the beginning of a war. What they called a world War. Their third world War. The fighting stopped as soon as touched the soft plants under our feet. However one of the nation's weapons, a nuclear bomb had already launched. Before it even got close to damaging this planet. The earth we took it away. Away from the world and to explode like a star among the other stars. It would never hurt a soul again.

Many of the humans were terrified of us. Some called us "angels" devoted temples to our names and bodies. Others used us or attempted to use us as excuses to harm themselves and others. However there was a number of the population who were excited to meet us. To find out they were alone. They were alone in a solar system that should have held many other peoples.

They would fight. Sometimes to kill. Sometimes for fun. Sometimes in what they called a druken state. They were as if monsters. They could lose entire limbs and continue to fight. We had only ever seen this In afew other species. They continued to fight in land that was entirely barren of life. Toxic. Radioactive. On fire. Or frozen. The weapons they used were projectile based. Devastating to any organic body. And so many different types. If their ranged failed they would get up close to one another using whatever they could to harm or kill. Fists, rocks, branches, knifes. So much death and destruction for such a young species.

So we stayed for a long time. Atleast what could be considered long for humans. As we did the humans suffered political strife. Some wished for our extinction matter where our brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers resided. Be they on earth or entire universes away. We did not wish this. Others wanted to worship us. Make us gods. We did not wish this. And others again wishes us extracted, harvested I'm hopes of gaining what we are. This is the time I learned emotion.

My rage and frustration was great. My normally opal like skin turned molten red. The world seemed to burn with my anger. My frustration towards the small humans before me. The sheer fear on their faves was blind to me as I roared anger towards them as they and no other creature had ever seen on this planet. It was only after intervention of our groups elder hunan did my rage stop. I learned emotion that day. I learned anger. Then I learned sorrow as I wept for my reaction and the sheer fear infront of me. And in many human years later did I learn joy when in my solitude did I see life being born.

The humans called them Turtles or tortoises depending on shells, legs, and diet. Such small things crawling out of hard shells and soft dirt infront of me. No protector. No guidance. Just experience. So many other creatures came to feast on them. I once again learned another thing. Protection. From the moment they were born to when they were adults o protected them all. Not one died under my watch. Nor did the predators who hunted them. This is when I returned to my group where I was welcomed back as if I had never left before. And so we stayed for a very long time.

Humanity seemed to change with our presence on the earth. They grew much older then before. They became compassionate. They wee smarter. They loved even more then before. They threw away their weapons of killing one another and instead turned to devices of protection. Of defense. Diseases would not harm them as greatly as they had before. The whole of the world healed entirely, life flourished greatly as if it has exploded. The world changed and it seemed for the better.

My kind left the world. I decided to stay here. I like this world. Despite having been toward every corner across this world I still have so much to see and experience. That was a long time ago. For humans atleast. I still see the children of the animals I protected every day. I still am visited by many humans in forest. I still sing with the birds that fly and listen to the wind in the trees. This is a beautiful world.

I have come to learn another important thing. A human had come to "interview" me. To learn of me and from me. He told me something. That "humans are still savanna apes with bombs and weapons". At this time humanity changing and changing for what they believed and what I believed to be better. But from their history texts, I have to agree with that reporter. They have grown in technology and land so much and so fast their bodies and evolution had not kept up. Now however they are peace with one another. With the world's they inhabit and in the universe we all exist in.

There was another who taught me something. That we must revist the world's we discovered. We must open the dirt and find the stone. For there is more history to learn and see. The humans called them dragons, paleo ecology, titans, and their true name: dinosaurs. And they were not the first known life forms there. Before them were the first life forms, the aquatic anthropods. This has shown me there is still so much to learn on all worlds.

The year is now 30××. I have been here for a very long time. I have seen much great and small changes in the human species. I have seen then as violent warriors. Now they are wise humble people. They fight still but not in the ways they did before. They have changed and for the better. They longer fight against one another. Now they fight in defense. In great fleets that can blot out entire sky's. They fight with weapons that have startled even me. They have medicines and techniques that have led them to a prosperous future. They will be long lived. And I will see them to the end.

For all my brother and sisters across the stars of the infinite sky's hear my message. Hear my words and know I will not be vanished. I live along side the humans. I am still here. I am still learning and growing. This is the energy message of Shova Lien

[emilykinncy]

Normily My Caffeine Withdrawal Podcast episode (transcript of certain parts)

EK intro: I first met Norman Reedus working on The Walking Dead of course. Over the course of my four seasons on our show, I got to know Norman better and better and we became good friends. And in a sort of interesting parallel, our characters storylines also became more intertwined within the show. Norman is so special, he seems to have endless amounts of creative energy that I find incredibly inspiring. He also has great taste in music and coffee which makes him a perfect guest for this podcast. Welcome back to My Caffeine Withdrawal, I am so incredibly excited to share this episode with all of you today. Norman has so many fans and I know this to be true because everyday someone in my life or someone on social media asks me ‘hey, how was it working with Norman? What is Norman Reedus like?’ Well, now today you guys are going to get to know Norman in the same way that I know Norman! We talk about how Norman got into acting and when and why he moved to California, as well as what his life was like as an artist first starting out in Los Angeles. We talk about a book he’s been writing! And he tells a lot of great stories! But first, Norman explained his current coffee setup situation and how he’s currently weathering the quarantine from Costa Rica. 

This gets long so putting it behind a cut!

I put a timestamp of where each segment starts at the end of them! 

NR: Hi Emily!

EK: Hi!

NR: I just set this up cause I’ve been listening to your podcast which I really like and I know it’s heavy on the coffee so I brought my coffee setup down the mountain in my backpack on the motorcycle and this is my coffee jam here (I’m not 100% sure of the last 2 words) so, this is what I do. You ready?

EK: Yes!

*NR shows her & describes his coffee process*

EK: What was the thing um, on Instagram, you posted this picture of a hummingbird, that was crazy! What made you post that?

NR: It’s this person that I’ve become friends with, they only try to post positive things…*he explains more about the person & post* (starts at 6:08)

EK: You wanna hear something kind of crazy about the hummingbird thing? I don’t know if you know this about me but I’ve definitely gotten more like spiritual…but like *Emily giggle* this is gonna sound crazy and I don’t even usually talk about this stuff, but I sort of have this sign of when I’m like guided where I’m supposed to go, and my sign has been a hummingbird. And you had text me and I randomly looked at your Instagram and saw—

NR: Wow

EK: —It definitely was like one of those where like ‘go there’, maybe it was just if there is a god or whatever just being like ‘oh nice, connect with your friend, you know, like connect with Norman…’

NR: I actually believe all that. When I texted you I was having breakfast at this place by the beach, the lady that makes the honey, by her place. And I was listening to your podcast with Lennie. And I had already heard Lauren’s and I was listening to Lennie’s, and at the end of it you were like ‘you know what I hope during Covid everyone can reach out to a friend’ and I was like ‘I’m just gonna text her’ so I texted you at that moment. I have the same thing with a bird like my dad, before my dad died he was always talking about cardinals, those red cardinals. So everytime I see a cardinal I think the same thing. And then the night before, Danai called me out of nowhere. I hadn’t spoken to Danai in forever. And she’s like ’what are you doing?’ and I’m like ‘I’m sitting on my patio with all the lights off…’ and there was a meteor shower, it was called like the Gideon meteor shower, this huge meteor shower that happened. And I saw 21 shooting stars before I went to bed. I pay attention to all that shit—

EK: Yeah

NR: 21! And I was like talking to her I’m like ‘there’s 11! There’s 12!’ and it just kept going. I believe all that stuff.

EK: I grew up Catholic so I kind of, like…religion in general felt sort of overwhelming even though prayer and stuff like that came naturally to me and then just over like the last like 5 or 6 years or so I’ve like really embraced it where I’m sort of like ‘yep, I think these things are happening, I have little signs that tell me like where to go…’. I guess I don’t really talk about it with people much but it’s just, like I read about it and stuff. Yeah.

NR: I believe it, I believe all of them. I’m not really religious but I believe all those signs all the time. I see little signs in everything, yeah.

EK: Yeah! (starts at 9:38) 

--

EK: That sounds like you’ve had a very productive quarantine, or whatever this corona-pocalypse quarantine time.

NR: I’m not good with sitting still, you know what I mean, so I’m always doing something.

EK: Yeah! Yeah. I mean that’s one thing, when I was thinking about—when I was around you more working on the show, was that you were always…like you know sitting down to dinner and then like noticing this saltshaker and this fork should be next to each other in a certain way and then you can take a picture. You know what I mean, like I remember that about you like always making something, I guess. Or looking for the art in it or the picture. Or, you know, which um—

NR: it’s ADD or something I dunno what…

EK: I admired it because I feel like I can be so slow. Like, I love making stuff but I can sort of like piece it together over weeks  and then I finally do—like in my head somehow, like I’m more of like a turtle! You know just like—

NR: Yeah but you make music! I mean, we all wish we could write songs and perform songs. You know, you make music. We all wish we were musicians, you know what I’m saying, so. (starts at 18:18)

--

EK: I remember you telling me a story of how you got an agent by like going to a party and then someone said ‘do you want to be in a play?’ and then you were the understudy and then the guy just happened to have to call out so then you were in the play, you didn’t have to be the understudy and then an agent—and that’s how it all started with acting, um, *laughs* did I just tell your story for you?!

NR: You’re right. No, no you’re exactly right. That’s exactly what happened. (starts at 26:08)

--

NR: I actually made an album, a music album

EK: You did?!

NR: Yeah

EK: Oh, that’s—you wrote all the songs and stuff? Or did you—

NR: I didn’t write any of it. And I didn’t really sing it, it’s more of a spoken word thing

EK: Yeah!

NR *tells story about how this came about, which involves an igloo*

EK: Wait, why were you in an igloo in Switzerland?! *laughs*

NR *tells more of the story…it’s long ok I don’t wanna transcribe it sdhfhsfh*

EK: Yeah I wanna hear your album! I mean…

NR: It’s out—

EK: It is?!

NR: It played…it did pretty well in France, it was on the radio and shit

EK: Yeah, will you email it to me or something, so I can…

NR: I will. Yeah yeah.

EK: I also wanted to make sure today to get some of your music picks because I remember back when we were on the show you always gave me the best music, like stuff that I hadn’t heard. I don’t know if if it’s just like because of your friends in New York or like maybe you’re a little bit older than me so you know different bands than I do. But, I remember like Dinosaur Jr., you like introducing me to Dinosaur Jr. Like I didn’t really know Dinosaur Jr. before you

NR: That’s crazy that you don’t know Dinosaur Jr. then (? I really can’t tell for sure that last word he says)

EK: I know! I think I might have pretended that I kind of I knew but like you introduced me for sure and I like totally dove in. But yeah during this quarantine, what have you been listening to?

NR: *lists some bands* Sean Lennon’s band that he made with Les Claypool is really good. He was on Ride with me.

EK: Oh, he was?! I’ve only see—I haven’t seen all the episodes of that, I’ve only seen, um, a few of them (adsdfdjf don’t lie Emily it’s probably actually 0 but we all understand babe) (starts at 35:10)

--

EK: It was so fun to talk to you today

NR: Yeah I miss you! I miss you, it’s good to see you and hear you.

EK: I miss you too, I’m going to check out that sock method…although I think it’s just pour over it’s just with a special…reusable—

NR: Yeah, a dirty sock

EK: Yeah, but something about it, yeah….*both laugh* Thank you for being on here, it feels so good to like chat with you

NR: Yeah, I miss you it’s good to hear your voice

EK: I miss you too, yeah. *she starts talking about twd & the connection with everyone etc* (starts at 41:36)

NR: *after he mentions everyone from the cast he’s still in touch with* You get these friendships with people and it becomes a big part of your life, your friends on the show, so. I’m glad I’m talking to you

EK: Yeah, I’m glad I’m talking to you too. (starts at 44:03)

From Emily’s end blurb: I hope you guys enjoyed Norman and I’s little catch up call over Zoom, I hope that you learned something new about Norman you didn’t know before. You know, Norman and I really hadn’t connected much over the last couple years (we all know this Emily and we pretty much all know why lol) we’ve just been on sort of different paths (yeah, that’s a way to put it I guess haha) but again and again I’m finding that one of the blessings of this time, being stuck at home, is remembering and reconnecting with people I care about and people that care about me. Maybe you have a friend you used to work with that you haven’t caught up with for a while and now you’ll feel inspired to send them a little text saying hello.

(How do they literally have chemistry on a *podcast* okay bye I’m going to go fly into the sun now)

[sorenskyhigh]

Pets They Would Have pt. 2

Karasuno

Hisashi Kinoshita

Hisashi is a Train Company Employee. This means he works a lot of hours and just does not have the time to take care of, love and train any other pets

Fish are a really easy to take care of

All you have to do is remember to feed them and have a water filter to constantly clean their aquarium

Some fish, if handled when young, can get big and will let and love for you to pet them

But, they also are just very nice to have

Just to watch them swim around all of the plants with the light on at night

As I said, they don't need alot either

Hisashi could just let them be

They wouldn't beg or need constant love and attention like a mammal (dog, cat, rat, bird)

They also don't need constant vigilance for health issues or specialized diets like amphibian and reptilian pets

Hisashi is going to be tired when he gets home from work, so he needs a pet that is more ornamental than a chore

I feel if Hisashi were to have fish, he'd get the weirdest ones in the pet store

Hisashi seems to have a very strong inner child

So he would want either the flashiest fish, or the ones that cause a double take everytime their passed by in the store

He may get only one or two or get a whole tank full

I honestly feel like it could go one of two ways:

A- He has an aquarium for a wall in his house filled with his wild choice in fish or

B- He has a small, round, spherical bowl with two fish in it

It'd be funny if he had just the two fish to start with then they had babies even though the worker said they were both female

Obviously they weren't

They laid eggs and he had to transfer the female and daughters to one large tank and the father and sons to another so they wouldn't keep having babies

After this he has like 14 fish in total

Then he keeps finding himself at the pet store looking at the "ugly" fish no one wants

He buys these fish and ends up having two tanks that cover a whole wall

One's for his male fish the others for the females

But he screws up and learns the hard way that clownfush can change genders to help make babies

I'm being terrible to this poor guy let me stop

He so would be that fish owner to get real plants and "not those toxic plastic ones, how do they not hurt the fish???"

I honestly love the thought of Kinoshita just spacing out in front of his fish as he just watches them swim and do their own thing

Or if he were to only have a couple fish and he lets them get really big and pets them

Kazuhito Narita

Now, I know what you're thinking

Aren't Ferrets incredibly high maintenance?

Not really

Kazu ends up working at a Realty Firm

Generally their work hours are supposed to be around 40 hrs a week

But they often have to stay longer considering most clients can only meet up on weekday afternoons

So this means Kazu has to work a lot

Ferrets may be mischievous and a little destructive, but that's easy to fix

If a ferret is to be left at home alone for hours at a time, just get it a really big cage and tons of toys to play with

Plenty of food and water too, of course

But ferrets are honestly pretty chill

All they need is for you to clean out their cage around once a week, some light grooming here and there, and some time to run around

Apartment or house doesn't matter with ferrets

They love to just mess around and only need a couple hours of free time a day

They sleep most of the day, 17 to 20 hours usually

They also aren't very vocal

They have a specific noise they make when excited thats barely heard by most human ears

Fun fact about ferrets is they actually have pretty poor eyesight, but their sense of smell and hearing more than make up for it

The only real problems Kazu would have to worry about are hairballs getting lodged and dental issues, no different than a cat

I didn't pick a cat though bc, Kazu seems like the kind of person to have something that doesn't get riled up on a whim like a cat

Cats often have unpredictable moods, ferrets on the other hand can be energetic but won't get into a bad mood at the drop of a pin

They're generally very fun loving

Though, it is always recommended to get a pair

Ferrets are highly social animals, so they would need a buddy for when your not able to be there for them

Kazu would probably get one almost all white ferret and one almost all dark brown ferret for the symbolism

I love the thought of Kazu wrestling with one ferret, it wrapped around his hand, and then the other one if climbing on his back and sliding down the back of his shirt in playful retaliation

Tobio Kageyama

I really really wanted to give Tobio a turtle, but with him being a volleyball player in his adult life, that just won't work

Turtles need very specific temperatures and surroundings so they can live happily and healthily

I honestly feel in terms of personality, nothing but a cute little Eastern Box Turtle would fit him perfectly

I honestly struggled to find something that, to me, fit Kageyama Tobio but also would be manageable for him as a pro athlete

He's a very complex character and something with fur or feather just did not seem to suit him to me

The only problem is.......reptiles and amphibians are generally really demanding pets

From the food they eat, the the temperature their home has to be set at, its a lot of constant care

Some of them may not like constant physical touch, but they still need to be cleaned and have a constant watchful eye to check for any skin abnormalities

I decided on the African Fire Skink after much much MUCH consideration

These lizards don't get large, onky around 14-15 inches

And, unlike many reptilian nd amphibian pets, they don't require any specific heating or lighting

As long as your house isn't like consistently hot or cold or constantly changing between the two, their fine

They do need a substantial amount of dirt to dig and hide in

They mostly eat insects and one very rare occasion would appreciate a pinky mouse

These lizards are also shy and like to be admired from a distance

They don't like to be touched too much

They also have few and far between health problems uike other lizards

The only real problem is you can't find them at local pet stores but, they generally sell for around 25-70 USD

They also live for around 15-20 years

I feel like Tobio would have gotten his lizard as a middle schooler bc he didn't have very many friends, but he also didn't want a really needy pet since he doesn't know how to socialize well

Since this lizard like to be left alone, he could admire it from afar and this lizard could help him learn how to social better

Sorta.....

Imagine Tobio at a table in his room, doing some homework and the little Skink is just lazing about in a sunspot next to him 😍

Shoyo Hinata

YES YOU ARE SEEING CORRECTLY

At first for Shoyo I thought, okay maybe a hamster or a Guinea Pig or something like that

Ya know, something small but mighty and also, incredibly cute!

But I took a look at a list of pets that travel well and one of pets that can be left at howm for days with a proper care taker

I nearly shot myself bc I totally forgot that Hermit Crabs can be pets!!!!!

And they suit Shoyo so well!!!

They are small and sturdy

They fight back and pinch when threatened but can be very nice little pets to have

Hermit Crabs also love, sadly, for only around 10 years and can grow up to 6 inches long

Also, three to five shells per crab should be available

I am living for the idea that Hinata bought a bunch of shells for his crabs and painted them with little volleyballs and crows and ornage and black 🥺

These are good bc as long as you have someone reliable to feed them when they need to be while you're gone

Usually, if they're small, they're tiny wittle claws can't grab onto pellet food, so heir is a specific kind of almost dust like food for Hermit Crabs

Also, dark leafy greens like kale and broccoli or fruits like apples, bananas, and grapes are good too

Just choo them up really really tiny

They also need 2-3 inches of soil, silica play sand, and (optional) coconut fibers for them to burrow in when they molt

They also need a place for water to keep their little shells moist

They also need specific temps and maybe even mist their terrarium with water now and again

Something that us important and why Shoyi would need someone to come in and check on them is bc they are every vulnerable when molting

When a Hermit Crab molts they need to be separated from others so they don't get hurt

Like with many smaller pets you also have to thoroughly wash your hands before and after you touch them

Shoyo would fight Tobio when Tobio said his Crabs are boring and go into a long detailed argument about how each Crab has his/her own personality and how interesting they are

Kei Tsukishima

Did you expect this Dino loving nerd to have anything else other than a reptile?

I tried to find one, as you can imagine, that would fit his adult life schedule but also his personality

I really wanted to give him an Iguana or Chameleon butbthey were really demanding with care

Now.....I know

Anole are native to the Southern US and Southern Hispanic countries such as Mexico, Clolombua, and Venezuela

They are around 20cm long and only live a very short 3-5 years

Also if you own many most should be female and only one should be male if you choose to have any males at all

The males get very territorial and will fight one another

Also the males flair our their dewlaps (skin flap under their chin) in defense and when they feel threatened

The dewlaps are usually pink, red, or on the rare occasion blue

Females have these as well but don't flair them out as much

Anoles are very high energy but don't care to be touched too much

These lizards also can't be picked up by their tales as they have evolved to lose their tales and grow them back

Kei would like these as they are so odd

They're not only descendants of Dinosaurs but they can lose their tales and grow them back at will???

I feel like Kei would constant have new ones

His massive tank (you need big ones for these guys, they are very active and will resort to cannibalism if their space is too small) is never empty, always at least three

He has analbum on his phone of all of the Anoles he's owned and maybe even has a picture book with their names on it

Yamaguchi to this day is the o ky one that has had the privilege to see said book

Yamaguchi is also the only person Kei trusts to take care of his precious Anoles

And when one dies he has really small but none the less grand ceremony for a descendant of the mighty race of Dinosaurs

Yamaguchi always helps him set these up

I fell like he would give them really weird names as well

Like twig, stick, sock, glove, kneecap or some weird shit idk

I'll have Yamaguchi, Yachi, Yui, Natsu, and Saeko in the next one

My requests are open and I hope you enjoyed

@popcorntime-doodles @multifandombrainrot @kneecapstealingalien @jiheonity @weareallhumans123 @smallmangi @canadian-crow @just-jellyfish @immiamarais @i-need-coffee-now-pls @shadowsbutdead @ghostexhibit @goshikisimp @anothershadeofpink @mestayanon @all-around-fandoms31 @thatfunnysprout @itsallgonnabokayihope @g00s3 @boreateo @backalley-astrologer @vaniatslover @lil-mellow-bunbun @strawberrymakki @beelziee @taiyahhh @sakusasgerm @cr4z3d-cl0wn @brendanfkelley @mainnews32 @beelshumanworldburger @mehreenackerman @detective-bakugou

[stardancerluv]

Reflections

Part 12

Summary: an autumn stroll

Arthur’s Note: I love these shots of the character Oliver, they worked very well for this chapter. I had been wanting to bring back a sculpture, they work so well for these two character

You looked over at Jerome, as he lounged on the bed.

“Let’s go and see the autumn colors.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I know the perfect place.”

As the two of you walked around the autumn leaves crunched and the air was crisp. Hearing, a soft coo you stopped and leaning against Jerome. You pointed to a turtle dove that sat on a branch.

It was so nice just enjoying the outdoors. Neither of you had any obligations at the moment. It was just the two of you. No one nor your school mattered.

You just wanted to spend time together. You did things at your own pace today. After sleeping in the two of you had a lazy, languid breakfast. Japan during autumn, was quite a sight to behold.

“Do you wanna see what’s over the wall?”

You shrugged.

He gave you a sly smile and easily he picked you up.

“I up quite high. I am taller then you.” You giggled down at Jerome.

“Oh, are you?” He gently, tickled at your calves.

You wiggled and giggled. “Jerome!” He gently pushed at his hands.

“Ok, I suppose I’ll be good so you can look out.” He snuck a kiss on one of your knees.

“Thank you.” You finally said, swallowing and getting your breaths back. Resting, your hands and you looked around. You sighed this is really lovely. You shared a silent smile.

Coming over to you, he stopped leaning against the wall, he came to stand between your legs that dangled off the edge. Opening, them a little more he was able to get closer to you. With a sigh on his lips, he wrapped his arms around you.

Laying his head against your middle, he sighed. Wrapping your arms around him, you gently laid yours against his. Moving for the briefest moment, he kissed a place over your heart. Before laying his head back where it was. Your fingers entwined in his soft strands and rubbed at his scalp.

“Little dove, what are we going to do?”

Hmm, you made a soft sound. You looked down at him, his eyes were clear dark pools.

“By this time, next year you won’t be here.”

You drew his face up and kissed him. The love softened yet made it made it very passionate.

“Jerome the idea of that tears at me, but...but..

“Y/N, my little dove we don’t deserve anymore pain on this.” You could see the cloud of anguish leave his eyes. He pressed a kiss against your lips. He picked you up, “Let’s go and have some fun. I have a great idea of what we can do.”

With your arms around each other the two of you continued down the path. He smiled down at you. “The important question of tonight will be do you want me to win you a dinosaur or a teddy bear?”

“A dinosaur ?” You said hesitantly but you were excited at what he possibly could have in mind.

“Did you know that when a dinosaur goes roar, it means I love you.”

“Roar!!!!”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Roar!!!!”

@dance-like-russia-isnt-watching @profkenobi @rentskenobi @mac-n-cheesie @xxinvisiblexx @unfilteredmoonchild

[haikyuu-and-more-haikyuu]

if your fave hq characters had pets, what sort of animals would they have?

Ah! This sounds like so much fun! I’ll just do karasuno, tell me if you want my take on the others teams too or background characters! Sorry if there are any spelling mistakes or weird sentences- I am over stimulated from work and it hurts to think! But I wanted to get this out before bed :D 

Daichi: He’s a big doggo person. He likes big dogs becuse he can rough house with them and take long road runs with them. He is gets a Alaskan Malamute named Wakana, since she is so vocal.  And even when the dog grown up, she still thinks she is a lap dog, Daichi literally have to push her off if he wants to get things done. Wakana always puts up a light fight. Such a drama queen. 

Sugawara: He doesn’t have time for much and doesn't want a high energy animal since he deals with 30+ monkey since he is a elementary school teacher, so he gets two bunnies. Both boys, a white one and a grey one. The grey one is named Mitsou and the white one is named Masa. Mitsou has a temper and will often stump his feet if he is disatisfied (when Suga doesn't give him cuddles) while Masa is just happy to be there :D

Asahi: He get’s a St. Bernard's dog and just looks scarier than he already does. But that big doggo is the cutest dog. He liked cuddle and get attention and will often just sit by Asahi or visitors sides until he get’s the attention he wants. He also is quick to snatch up food that has fallen on the ground and often begs for left overs. He rarely gets some. His name is Sora

Nishinoya: He doesn't get a pet until late into adulthood. He traveled around the world and wouldn't have had the time to care for a pet. But when he eventually does settle down, he gets a greyhound. He needed a partner that was just as playful as him and also a challenge. His name is Tsuyoshi, which means strong. 

Tanaka: Get’s a dog like a light brown bull terrier. His name is Arata, and he is just as rowdy as his owner. But also really cuddly and attention seeking. He chews up his toys in minutes, so Tanaka has to by really strong toys so they actually last. He also liked to by clothes to the dig since Arata doesn't mind.

Ennoshita: This chill dude gets a chill catto. they like laughing together and just take a nap. The cat goes out and comes back after a few hours. That is how they both like it. He names the cat Rina. She got kind of too lazy at one point and gained a little bit of weight. So Rina had to learn to walk on a leash with Ennoshita and it works well. 

Narita: Is allergic to cats and dogs. (if you guys didn’t know, its the enzymes in the spit that people react too, not the fur itself) Taking shots and medications for it is too much of a hazzle for him, so he gets a big fish thank and fills it with fishes and a few eels and snails too. They don’t do much but it’s exciting to see them swim around minding their own business. He also likes to by new items and sea weed for them so their tank gets decorations and a little personality. Some of them follow his fingers when he is close. 

Kinoshita: Got a sphynx from a family friend that just had a littler. His was surprised to see how cuddly and playful they were. His cat is also curious and talkative. The cat, named Sushi, becuse Kinoshita tried to make sushi one time and the cat jumped up and tried the almost done roll, often greets him when he comes home. he also like to sleep with Hishashi in the same bed. Kinoshita also buys him winter and summer clothes so the cat doesn’t freeze to death or get sun burned when he is out. Kinoshita has fallen greatly in love with that wrinkly monster.

Kageyama: That video I reblogged of that volleyball playing doggo, that is Kags doggo. (lol jk) He gets a dog, a little, fluffy pomeranian, to everyone surprise. The old lady next door died and when she didn’t have any family members that could take in the dog, Kageyama offered to take the two year old dog into his care. Her name is Yoko. She is playful and often nibble on his sock when he is relaxing. She has a blanket she likes to sleep in and is really cute when she does so. Kageyama has tried to take the small dog on road runs, but the little Yoko gets too tired and needs to be carried the rest of the way; (small dogs doesn’t need as much exercise as bog doggos)

Hinata: I saw this pintrest post about Hinata owning a mimi turtle (or baby turtle) and yes! He get’s a lil turtle that he names Hikari (light). He likes to feed her berries and often talks to her when he rambles on about his days and need some company. She is often walking by herself in the living room and it took Hinata a few times before he was smart enough to tie a long red yarn around her for him to know where she was. He once lost her and didn’t find her until two days later. He though he had killed her. Hinata likes to think that Hikari likes to be on his head (but to the turtle, it’s the same)

Tsukishima: He and Akiteru tried to convince their mother to let them have a tiger or a bearded dragon. But Mrs Tsukishima said no and that was it. When he gets older, he gets two birds. Named Rex and Strawberry (named after a dinosaur and his fave dessert). Birds are actually very cuddly and often likes to be with their human and play or just relax. So they wouldn't be in their cage when Tsukishima is just home. If he has visitor they need to be in the cage for a few hours. He also learns them words and always whistle when its feeding time. Birds pick up on that too. They have leaned Tsukki, since Yamaguchi calls him that, and now Tsukishima can hear his nickname 24/7.

Yamaguchi: It’s canon that Yama is a dog person, so he would defiantly have a doggo (or two when he grows up) His family currently have a Shiba Inu that they got then he was in middle school. Yama wanted to name it french fry, but Tsukki didn’t let him. So he named it Yukiko since the dog likes winter so much! Like him! He gets his how dogs when he is well into adulthood. 

Yachi: When she lived with her mom, before she moved out, they didn't have any pets since the complex didn’t allow pets and her mom were too busy taking care of a pet. She get’s a hamster names Sho.  (It means to fly) she named it that because his fur his black and it reminded her of karasuno. He doesn't do much except for run in his wheel-thing and relax in his tunnel. She likes re-decorate his thank and by new stuff for him. It’s a little spoiled hamster. 

Shimizu: Get’s an isle cat that like to sun bathe and cuddle with her on the sofa. the cat has a running wheel and uses it sometimes when Kiyoko is in the room with there. She is brown, black and white. The cat also likes to sit on the counter when Shimizu makes food, just to observe. He name is Aki, and Kiyoko named her that becuse her fur remained her of autumn. 

Ukai: Gets a mop that becomes the next store pet. He got the dog when it had trend three years and was put out for adoptions. His name is Hibiki he is often seen relaxing on his bed by the counter in the store. He doesn’t bark much, but when a few rowdy school kids passes through the store, he can get a little worked up. Most of the time, everyone is fine with the little helper Sakanoshita has gotten. 

Takeda: Gets a dog after a few years. He gets a cocker spaniel that is playful and rowdy and stick his nose into everything. The garbage, his closet or cabinets; you name it. His name is Dai. He once got so excited of seeing a bird outside, that he ran straight into a glass door. He was fine and so was the glass. Takeda was surprised when he saw how energetic the dog was becoming. 

[mutant-ninja-anole]

A Few Brief, Very Late TMNT IDW notes on City at War:

I sort of let my reviews of TMNT go by the wayside on this blog, so I wanted to post a few thoughts.

Wrapping up City at War:

It was a bit of a fifty plot line pile up, which unfortunately meant things that probably should have meant more might have felt smaller. Just like the alien dinosaur invasion seemed a little less important than it should have been, things like Hob mutating part of New York during Baxter’s victory speech, Kitsune summoning a Kaiju sized dragon on national TV the same night, all while the Foot Clan war is wrapping up and multiple characters are dying...okay then! So:

Shredder is back! When have we ever had a honest to goodness redeemed Shredder as a character in TMNT? I look forward to this, and him filling the role Splinter had.

Karai is head of the Foot again? I guess unless Shredder is? I may tick off some Karai fans but I’ll be annoyed if the Turtles are acting chummy with her later (Which I doubt, based on what I’ve seen). Whatever Kitsune’s manipulation or the Hate Sword’s influence, all of this could have been avoided, the Foot Clan could have been her’s, if she had just not...said she was going to murder orphans? What the heck, Karai?

Metalhead is gone...I thought this version was an interesting dark mirror into Donatello’s head, with a tragic story in his own right. But like many things in this arc, perhaps it was too much to have it all resolved at once?

Hun and Bishop dying was appropriate, I feel like it was time for them to go from the story.

Jennika, well, a lot has been written already so I won’t belabor it but I am interested in where it goes from here with her.

Splinter is gone...I never thought he fell quite as hard as other people did. He was a man operating under the rules of feudal Japan in modern times, except the situation for mutants didn’t exactly afford him going to the government for help. Regardless, it was nice to see him reunited with his wife at last, and accomplish the redemption of his greatest foe. Kudos to him.

Mutant Town has a load of possibilities, really excited for it!

Nonetheless this is the worst thing Hob has ever done.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Baxter continues to come out on top in every scenario. His seeming admiration for April intrigues me.

Despite the chaos, lots of people got to do something, Alopex played a role toward the end that took into account continuity well.

The artwork! Great throughout and I’ll specifically call out they appropriately displayed the horror of people getting mutated.

Kitsune...okay, I get it, she wanted her beloved back but she manipulated so many people and that led to...how many deaths in the Foot Clan war? To say nothing of what she has already done. I’m not comfortable with her (seemingly) getting an easy redemption.

Basically, a really fun ride that sets up some great possibilities going forward. But it probably ended up trying to do too much, somewhat by necessity, and I didn’t like some characters getting off apparently free. But TMNT IDW gets a belated 3 cheers from me for creating such an epic tale of TMNT out of the sandbox of Turtle toys they had to play with.

I’ll post my thoughts on the post issue 100 follow up arc after the Jennika series mini and issue 105 come out.

[thelastspeecher]

I fucking knew there was something off about that post I saw the other day about a new major paleontological find.

basically, people are losing their shit over a New Yorker article published about a new lagerstatte (fossil mother lode), dubbed “Tanis”.  the researchers claim to have found a preservation of the exact moment the Chicxulub crater was formed (aka the asteroid impact that killed non-avian dinosaurs at the K-Pg boundary).  and I’m not gonna try to disprove it.  that’s not my place.  I don’t work with metazoans, I work with microbes.  I am a geologist, tho, which is part of the reason I was able to recognize right away that something smelled a bit fishy.  luckily, actual paleontologists are raising the alarm about it, too.

here are some sources for my long rant about how people need to be a bit more careful when they read summaries of scientific studies.

first off, the article very much painted the head of the team in a “fighting against the institution” light, saying that his discoveries were discounted bc he messed up a reconstruction of a new dinosaur species once.  that fucking pissed me off.  yeah, sure, everybody messes up, but when you say “hey I found a new dinosaur species” and publish a whole paper about it and it turns out you used turtle bones for part of it?  people are going to be a bit more careful.

you can make a narrative, yes, but goddamn, don’t paint the entire paleontological community as being stuffy and grouchy and old just bc they are making sure he’s right this time.  a major find like this needs multiple verifications.  in science, you can’t just say “I made this HUGE discovery” and expect everyone to take it at face value.  think about it.  it took decades for evolution and plate tectonics to be treated like the valid theories they are.  and if you’ve messed up with a discovery once already, your new findings should be examined extra closely.  this random white guy isn’t fighting against the man and being downtrodden by a disrespectful community (unlike minorities in STEM fields).  he’s going through something that every scientist goes through.  verification of your fucking findings.

and that’s not why scientists feel a bit weird about this whole thing, in the first place!  a lot of paleontologists are actually very excited by what all has been preserved!  hell, I’m excited, and I’m a geomicrobiologist, not a proper paleontologist!  the thing that’s making a lot of people feel weird is that the New Yorker article was published before the actual paper detailing the findings was.  that’s...weird.  generally speaking, before you get an article written about you, your results have to be published.  and you should want them to be published.  you want the scientific community to go over your results before the public grabs them and misunderstands what they mean.  which happens all the time.  also, the scientific community going over your results before the public sees them is what prevents you from becoming a laughingstock later on for messing something up.

but the real icing on the cake is that now that scientists have read the paper themselves, there’s a disconnect between what the paper says and what the New Yorker article says.  the New Yorker article mentions a shit-ton of dinosaurs.  those dinosaurs aren’t mentioned in the paper at all.  the only dinosaur evidence mentioned in the paper is a hip bone from a Triceratops.  that’s it.  that’s not denying that there’s really fascinating stuff at the site.  the soft tissue preservation on the fishes is incredible, and the stratigraphy shows some amazing patterns.  there’s cool stuff there!  but none of that cool stuff is dinosaurs, despite the New Yorker article claiming it’s a dinosaur graveyard.

To quote Kirk Johnson, an expert on the formation the site is in (x):

The weird thing is, DePalma [the head of the study] has been very hyperbolic and cryptic for the last six years. The paper is fine, and we can talk about its significance, [but we] have it paired with the New Yorker article, which has a lot more nuanced detail and a lot more claims. It just makes us all a little bit queasy.

TL;DR: in no way is any of this a case of “spunky young scientist fights against the old, outdated institution”. so many scientists are excited about this, they’re just rightfully cautious. the New Yorker article was published before the paper, which is...weird.  and scientists feel weird bc the New Yorker article says “there are DINOSAURS here” and the paper says there aren’t any.  that’s fucking weird, folks.  there’s some shady shit going on here, which is sadly overshadowing the amazing discoveries that have been made.

[tmntawesomeness]

Dad bonding

cute little one shot of each brother spending time with their kids. Enjoy!

Taking deep calming breaths, Leo sat underneath the dojo tree as he meditated. Toning out the tv in the other room playing cartoons and the sound of bickering from the two young children. If things got out of hand with the kids Karai or Mikey would step in, right now was one of his rare moments to himself. After a few minutes of deep meditation though, Leonadro sensed a presence. He no longer heard any bickering, and he could hear the tv in the other room, specifically, he could hear the tv playing his nephew's favorite cartoon. Which meant one thing, Miwa lost the argument. Cracking an eye open, Leo watched his 5 year old daughter come into the dojo. Little Miwa sat down next to her father, clearly irritated by the look in her snake eyes. "Yoshi's a poop head." Leo gave his daughter a light bop on the head. "First of all, don't call your cousin names. Second, why?" The little Kunoichi in training scrunched up her nose in irritation. "He sat on the remote then farted on it so I wouldn't change the channel." Sighing, the leader shook his head. Little Yoshi was Mikey's son alright.

"Your uncle use to do that when we were kids." Glancing over at his daughter, Leo gave a small smile. "Would you like to meditate with me?" Watching as she thought it over, Leo's smile grew when Miwa got up and sat in her dad's lap. Once the two of them were comfortable, they started to meditate. Well, Leo did anyways. Within a few minutes the Leader felt pressure agaist his chest. Trying not to laugh, Leo looked down at his daughter who fell asleep trying to meditate. Wrapping his powerful arms around his little girl, Leonardo gave her a small kiss on her head before going back into meditation. _______________

Delivering a final powerful punch to the punching bag in front of him, Rapheal wiped at his forehead before turning around and walking over to where he left his water. Sitting down, the powerful ninja took a drink of the cool refreshing liquid. Hearing the pitter-patter of bare feet against a cold hard ground, Raph glanced over and smiled. "Hey kiddo, isn't Mondo suppose to be keeping an eye on you?" Giggling, 5 year old Sandro jumped onto his dad's shell, holding onto the edge of it with his powerful salamandrian/turtle hands. "He wiped out pretty hard when he was showing me a skateboard trick. Rockwell told me to go see you while he makes sure Mondo didn't break his head like an egg. The wipe out was cool though!" Chuckling, Raph got up while his son still held tightly to his shell. Normally Slash would be watching over Sandro, but he, Leatherhead and Mona were out on patrol together so it was just him, Rockwell, and Mondo Gecko at the Mutanimal's hideout. "Well I was about done with training anyways, how about we go and have something to eat?"

Raph could practically feel Sandro's large tail swing in excitement. "Can we eat on the roof? Please Dad?" Thinking it over for a moment, Rapheal turned his head and smiled at his son. "Sure kiddo." Stopping by the kitchen first to grab some leftover pizza gyoza and reheat it, Raph and Sandro, followed by a now dog sized Chompy, went up to the roof and enjoyed their food. Leaning against Chompy's shell, the ninja in training stared at the view of the city as the sun started to set behind some buildings. "New York sure is pretty." Staring at the same view, Raph nodded in agreement with his son. "Yeah, I remember how breath taking it was seeing the city for the first time when my brothers and I were teens. It was amazing." Sandro looked up at his dad. "I bet space was pretty cool too huh?" Laughing, the ninja patted his son's head. "It was, but nothing was more beautiful then seeing your mother for the first time." He laughed harder when Sandro made a face of disgust. "Eeeeew Dad! We're eating!"

_________________

Yawning tiredly, Donnie leaned back in his seat as he stared at his invention infront of him. He had been working on it for a few hours and was almost done with it, but he should probably take a break before April drags him out of the barn for some daylight. Getting up from his chair, Donnie headed for the barn door, only to stop at the entrance when he opened the door and saw Lavinia. His daughter was standing there, one hand reached out as if she was about to open the door herself, and her other hand covering a spot on her forehead. Donatello also noticed the trail of tears on Lavi's face. Kneeling down, the ninja gently took his daughter's hand and removed it from her head, revialing a small bump and a bruise forming. "Bonked yourself in the head while training Pumpkin?" Lavi gave a timid nod as her dad wiped away some of her tears. "Don't worry, Doctor Donnie will fix you right up." Walking into the farm house, Donnie picked up his daughter and sat her down on the kitchen counter before going to the fridge and getting an ice pack. "How exactly did you get that bump?"

Taking the ice pack, the 6 year old girl held it against her head as she blushed. "I was trying to do that technique you showed me but I did it wrong and hit my head with my training staff." Nodding, Donnie had his daughter pull the ice pack away a little so he could see her forehead. "You'll be fine, you'll just have a bruise for a little while." Giving Lavi a quick kiss on the forehead, Donnie smiled down at her. "How about later I help you with it? For now though, how about we take a quick break?" Getting an okay from Lavi, Donnatello helped her down from the counter as they made their way to the living room. Both of them sitting down on the couch, Donnie grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. Lavi gave an excited gasp as their favorite sci-fi show came on screen. Chuckling, Donnie put the remote down and wrapped his arm around his daughter as they enjoyed the show, who's main character always sounded very familiar to him. Must be the British accent. ________________

Humming to himself, Mikey returned to the lair with a fresh hot pizza in his hands that he managed not to eat on the way back. Stopping, the ninja looked around. It was quiet. Way to quiet for a place with two kids, especially if one of them was his. Usually Miwa would be yelling at little Yoshi while he ran from her laughing, but that wasn't happening. The only noise he could hear was the tv playing Yoshi's favorite cartoon. Squinting his eyes suspiciously, Michelangelo used his ninja skills to walk as quietly as possible to the kitchen. Peaking inside, his suspicions were confirmed. Yoshi, sitting on a stool that was pushed all the way to the fridge, had the freezer wide open while he was digging into the tub of ice cream. "Yoshi!" Looking up with wide eyes, his 4 year old son looked like a deer caught in a headlight when Mikey walked in. "You know the rules! No sneaking ice cream without me!" Putting the pizza down, Mikey grabbed his own spoon and started digging in as well. Yoshi looked up at his dad. "Am I in trouble Papa?" Mikey shook his head as he swallowed a bite of ice cream.

"Nah, just don't tell your mom okay? Or else she'll kick both of our shells back in time to the dinosaur timeline." Besides, the stomach ache Yoshi will get later will probably make his kid think twice about doing this again. "Come on, lets get cleaned up." Putting away what was left of the ice cream, Mikey picked up his son and looked him over. "How did you manage to get ice cream in your hair?" The only reply he got from Yoshi was a giggle while they headed for the sink.

[atravellingbee-blog]

Day 1 & 2 Of Shanghai 2018.

Hello Hello Hello,

I am writing this from a very cold and smoggy Shanghai. The weather reminds slightly of home but then you see the chinese writing everywhere and remember where you are at. I am going to be honest. when i booked this trip I was excited and could not wait to get out of Foshan for a few days but then about three/four days before I set off I just didn’t want to go. I think it’s because I knew I had to get a really really long overnight train from Guangzhou to Shanghai and last time I HATED IT. Yes the train was as bad as I thought it would be, Yes it was long, 18 fucking hours long (excuse my french) and yes I know I booked it but it was cheaper than flying, so it is my own daft fault but I WILL NEVER EVER EVER TRAVEL ON THE OVERNIGHT TRAIN AGAIN (ever). Apart from the journey the first two days have been sick.

I am currently on day 2 in Shanghai and thankfully it’s not as cold as it was yesterday. The cold weather here is making me daydream about the heat in Thailand in two weeks (ahhh bliss). But here is my Shanghai journey so far. The first day consisted of meeting up with my friend Dan, We had a lovely catch up and went for a walk down the river and even went on a boat. 

Here’s us on a boat, I am mostly hiding because it’s freezing on my face. I am totally not a fan of the cold and I thought moving to China would help me with that but when in Shanghai it’s freezing. It was really nice to see Dan, as living so many many miles away from him I don’t get to catch up with him and sometimes in this crazy you need to see the people who have been with you since day one. He always knows how to make laugh and how to say the right things. We ate some bomb ass dumplings with shrimp and an almost soup filling @ yang in downtown Shanghai.  Lets be honest, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t make these dumplings look good but at least I had a try. 

Some of the dumplings had pork in and some had shrimp in. I got full off about three of them but they are so cheap like about £2.00 for 8 dumplings and they are about the size of a small orange and damn tasty. We then went to meet some other people at beef and liberty. It was a quirky looking place with funky neon lights everywhere, which I am all about. The toilet had a huge “this way” on the wall near door which was dope. I had some beautiful chilli cheese fries and a banoffee pie, tasted like home. If anything by the end of this trip I will be huge because all I have done is eat nice food but back on the diet after Thailand and VIetnam. 

After dinner we went to visit the bund which was beautiful and the first time I had seen it. It has lots of high storey buildings that are famous in China covered in bright neon lights. In the dark it is really quite something. It was nice to finally see it after hearing so many people I come to China with talking about it. We took some photos then had a walk about the local area before I finally had to call it a day as I had been travelling for many hours and had a long day sightseeing. 

DAY 2

Today is day and it’s nearly over but I am still gonna write this post about it because I may not do much more today but if I do I will add it to tomorrow’s post.

Today has consisted of picking up train tickets to visit Suzhou tomorrow and going to the Shanghai Natural History Museum. The museum was full of dinosaurs and animal skeletons and some boss sealife. I even got to see a turtle, it was alive and moving. It was black and red and the sickest turtle i have ever seen, he was a cool dude! I thought about stealing him but I don’t want to go to jail for stealing a turtle in China. 

The museum had some cool exhibits and was really cheap and a nice way to kill off an afternoon in Shanghai. I took some cool photographs of the place and bought some bling necklaces, yes I know necklaces from a museum. They were cheap and look sick so I had too. The skulls wall in the museum was my favourite part and it looked insane, I kinda want it for my own house (but as I have been told by my friend Devon, it’s kinda scary looking).

After the museum I got lost on the metro whilst looking for either the grilled cheese place or the pancake place but found an even better place to eat. By complete accident I found Joe’s Pizza in West Nanging. It was such a boring looking piece of pizza but it tasted like how pizza should taste. The place comes from New York and has the same owner, so it has that American pizza taste. IT WAS SO GOOD. The place itself in Shanghai looked just like an pizza place in America but it was clean and the pizza was so quick and god damn tasty. Joe’s Pizza, no pizza will ever come close to you, thanks for ruining every other pizza I ever eat now because I will just be dreaming of you. You have my pizza heart always. 

So that’s my first two days in Shanghai done, tomorrow I am off to see my wonderful friend Ellen in Suzhou (finally) and now I am going to go to bed or maybe eat the third piece of pizza I am hiding in my bag in the room.

Wherever you are in the world, i hope you are having a whale of time.

see you all soon x

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 1.11.2017

Late with a review? Me? Never! Maybe a little.

In my defense there are ten of them. 

Regardless, we have another Roundup with quite a diverse ensemble that I hope you all enjoy! I sure did. 

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Batman, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Dark Horse’s Overwatch, Marvel’s Power Pack, DC’s Super Hero Girls, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II, Marvel’s Thanos - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages, Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo, Lion Forge’s Voltron Legendary Defender Vol. 2

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Nathan Stockman

As people can no doubt tell from a glance over my blog as well as the rest of these Roundups, I’m actually quite the fan of this title, and have enjoyed this comic’s take on Spider-Man and, in truth, the entire Spider-Family more than almost any Spidey title in a decade now. At the very least of those that feature Peter. 

So this is a cute overview and relieves my stress over worrying that the title could be wrapping up soon since they’re promoting the next arc. I’m so glad to have this story of family and love~

DC’s Batman Halloween Comic Fest Special Edition (2017) #1 Steve Orlando, Tom King, Riley Rosso, Ivan Plascencia

I actually really enjoyed the Night of the Monster Men crossover comic from earlier this year, even if I think people would be best off if they waited like me until the whole trade collected everything and then bought it so they didn’t miss anything or read out of order. It was a good family crossover, used most of the characters to their benefit, and gave us some team ups we haven’t really seen used that much before, or at all.

So I really support the fact that this first issue of the arc came out to tease people for the Halloween Comic Fest because it’s the right amount of creepy and it exposes lots of new readers to members of the Bat family they may have not otherwise been exposed to. 

It’s a fun little free comic, and I recommend checking it out if you haven’t read the full storyline and would be curious about checking it out for yourself. 

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Marco Failla

Being the huge fan of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur that I am, the hardest thing about the recent storyline has been that Devil hasn’t been in it and Lunella’s little broken heart breaks my heart every issue. So I was curious if that was going to be in the roundup and.... well, it wasn’t!

That means that, as could probably be predicted, the reunion between the two title characters is sure to be upon us, but it also kind of feels like these particular Primer Pages are.... really out of touch with what’s been going on in the comic recently, which kind of sets it apart from at least the comic primers I’ve read myself. I don’t know what to put this on, since Robbie Thompson has been the writer for all of these Primers and has done an amazing job thus far. It’s just a strange blip, I suppose. 

Dark Horse’s Overwatch (2016-present) #12 Michael Chu, Gray Shuko

Since I’m not really someone who’s played the video game for myself (I’m much more of a Let’s Play watcher), I view the world building pretty much entirely through the eyes of these comics we get. And that makes things... routinely difficult to decipher. Mostly because these are not coming out in a linear fashion to walk me through the worldbuilding. 

Heck, they’re not even coming out in order of issue number for us poor souls on the comixology train! 

So this is really one of my first exposures to how Overwatch functioned before it broke up, how the hierarchy worked, how the characters interacted. How... goofy everyone looks all wearing the same costumes and colors. 

It’s interesting stuff for sure and I feel like if I was more plugged in to the metatextuality of the Overwatch universe I’d not have the difficulties following that I’m describing, but there are only so many hours in a day.

The art is good but sometimes feels a little stilted, especially when it concerns fully portraying Tracer’s movements and time displacement. I’ve seen it used better but that’s more of a personal nitpick.

Why isn’t Overwatch trusted in England. Why isn’t Jack completely on board with sending a team in at first. No clue. Especially if this is Overwatch in its prime. But I suppose we’ll see. 

Or not. I don’t know if these comics actually fulfill any narrative structure since there are different writers and artists every other issue. 

Marvel’s Power Pack (2017) #63 Devin Grayson, Marika Cresta, Chris O’Halloran

So this one-shot was a blast from the past in multiple ways for me. First off, a Power Pack comic!!! Legitimately some of the first Marvel superheroes I read about outside of Spider-Man when I was growing up specifically because reprints of some of their issues were in the back of Spider-Man Magazine back when.... I was a kid and... subscribed to Spider-Man Magazine through a school fundraiser. Anyway. 

It’s also a play on my nostalgia for both having Devin Grayson as a writer and also having shoutouts to the fact that the Fantastic Four are still around and, by the logic of their last series, Alex Power is still with them. 

Devin Grayson is a writer I’ve had a complicated relationship with for years now, which her tag on this very blog can tell you in and of itself, but for all the reasons I’m incredibly critical of her writing, there is also the undeniable fact for me that some of her character work is genuine some of my favorite writing in comics when it’s restrained and kept to series and characters she clearly loves and understands a lot. For instance, I much prefer Grayson’s writing of familial relationships over her writing of romantic ones. And it’s quite obvious here that she at least understands enough about Power Pack to predict where Katie -- who is a character that unlike Julie and Alex we have not seen much of in recent years -- would be like as a growing teenager. Given, most of the issue is Grayson retelling an old story from the original Power Pack series.

While the framing and general premise is hokey, you really get the idea that Marvel is testing the waters of what properties they can really bring back in the new comic book landscape, especially with the note at the end of the issue compelling people who want more Power Pack to contact Marvel themselves. Which, personally, I will. Because I love my kids and I do think there’s a genuinely interesting place for them to inhabit in Marvel right now. Especially since we know Julie is pansexual in canon and I just really, really love Julie. 

The art also elevates a somewhat hokey concept to something really beautiful and modern, the breakdowns on every page are just gorgeous and I really have to give props here to Marika Cresta for that. 

And in general, I want more women to be involved with comics so this team would be one I’d really like to see more of, whether it’s a future Power Pack comic (fingers crossed) or not. 

DC’s DC Super Hero Girls 2017 Halloween Comic Fest Special Editions (2017) #1 Shea Fontana, Yancey Labat, Agnes Garbowska

Why this was chosen as a Halloween freebie is honestly kind of beyond me?The storyline of “Past Times at Super Hero High” literally has nothing to do with hauntings, curses, Halloween, or magic. It’s just the hang of kids from Super Hero High getting stranded in the Jurassic period and having to save their teacher. I guess... girls don’t like getting scared? Which by my estimation is an assumption which could only truly be made by either someone who never went to a sleepover party as a kid or doesn’t remember sneaking horror movies between friends without parental supervision. Kids eat up being scared. Kids also eat up anything with dinosaurs, but these things are fairly mutually exclusive when not a Don Bluth movie. 

Beyond my hilarious, if I do say myself, skepticism involving the choice of this particular comic being used as the Halloween comic of choice for DC to distribute from the series, it is a well written and well drawn addition to what has been an incredibly popular series for kids, especially young girls, who want to get more interested in reading superhero comics. And as I’ve made known before, that is something that is very important to me, personally. Comics for kids and comics especially interested in young girls, that doesn’t talk down or overly exaggerate gender differences are so important in nurturing the next generation of comic fans. I know, because that’s how I became a comic fan. 

It also is further proof that Shea Fontana’s run on Wonder Woman was criminally underrated and cut short as she really does understand how to write to the superhero genre tropes in a loving fashion and especially in exemplifying how strong and important the female characters are. 

I just wish the general lineup of the main cast wasn’t so white. Like, Bumblebee is one of the main Super Hero girls and she got entirely left behind within the first few pages. We do have Katana, at least, but representation for race is just as if not sometimes more important than just representation for women. I hope that’s something that becomes more prominent as the series continues. 

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II (2017) #1 (of 5) Erik Burnham, Tom Waltz, Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado

So I really adore Ninja Turtles crossovers to an extent that’s probably not healthy, and the previous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters crossover is by no means an exception to that, but one of the things that I could not have expected, even with as excited as I was for this comic to come out, was how much it tied into the ongoing storylines in both Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

No. Really! Seriously!

This is taking place between the last issue of TMNT that I reviewed and the next issue that will come out this month, which is why all five issues of this mini is coming out week by week this month. 

It’s honestly really amazing. 

The moment it opened up I knew that it was going to be Burnham and Waltz’ usual high standards of writing as well as Dan Schoening’s art (which also explains why his art has been missed on some of the recent Ghostbusters stories), but the moment we got to the “Ghost Realm” and saw not just Darius Dun from the IDW TMNT comics, but also references to his not-so-past murder I was like “holy crap I can’t believe that the consequences of storylines I’ve been curious about are finally coming to fruition here!

Of course that comes to its own difficulties -- as I mentioned in my review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe, we’re increasingly getting to a point where the Ninja Turtles’ ongoing narrative just... isn’t self-contained anymore. And while that’s worldbuilding and expanding, but also makes it increasingly difficult to follow what’s happening in the main book unless you’re plugged into everything that’s going on in IDW. Which, if you’re not an immersive fan, can suck. A lot. I mean, for nerds like me who intersect with Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters and Transformers and X-Files and so on, that’s kind of cool and enjoyable. But for people who aren’t... Well, there’s a reason that comics have been pushed as more and more niche even as the superhero genre and comic-sourced media are growing into multimillion dollar properties. 

The art’s fantastic, the writing’s top notch. If you want to eep up with either properties’ storylines or if you just enjoyed the last crossover, I would absolutely recommend picking this up. 

Marvel’s Thanos - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Ron Lim

As someone with not exactly the most cares in the world that Marvel has given a series to Thanos of all characters, I was kind of hoping this primer would, more than any of the others, sort of give me an insight to the appeal of the comic as a whole. And... really it didn’t that much. At least not by my estimates. 

I did enjoy the art quite a bit, and I love that the impact of the Guardians of the Galaxy has just been growing larger and larger thanks to the movies, but other than that this Primer really didn’t offer anything that really stuck with me personally. 

Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo (1984-present) #163 Stan Sakai

So I did something with this issue that I rarely ever do, and that was that I looked around at other reviews online to see what other people were thinking as long time Usagi fans because... Well, to say the least the comics are always excellent but this time around I felt like I had read the comic before. Or, at least, that the storyline was similar enough that I was growing suspicious that somehow I had read the storyline before. 

It turns out, I hadn’t. I had just been confused because the spy character you can see in the bottom right panel has been around in other stories (and yes I know that’s a weird detail for me to get hung up on but that’s my brain for ya). And instead of confirming or deterring my suspicions I became exposed to a completely different trend in comic reviews right now. 

A.... strangely almost.... red-scare esque read of Usagi Yojimbo as pro-socialist???

We live in weird times, my friends. Where Usagi Yojimbo, a comic mostly about and making commentary on the history and culture of Feudal Japan, is being read now as..... socialist propaganda because the thief that Usagi and Ishida are after for most of the issue, Nezumi, is known for being a Robin Hood like character who steals from the rich and distributes part of his gains to the rest of the poor in the city, thus making him beloved and protected by the people who are more wary and unimpressed by the ruling class and police. Even though the eventual murder victim shown in the same issue is shown as having fallen on hard times and had his life ruined by Nezumi stealing from his business several times. 

But. Everything’s political now. And while I get that, I guess it doesn’t sit right with me because yes, that is a reading you can take away from this issue, but personally what always strikes me about Usagi Yojimbo as a fan is how depth and nuance are hidden by the seemingly simple. That has always been my compliment of the art -- which is simple, B&W, and toned, but full of deep details and very insightful use of environment and dedication to building spaces -- from this issue alone you can almost build a map of the city just from how Sakai lays out the art and how the chase moves through it -- but works just as well with the writing.

There is a commentary here on how opinion and loyalty is built by redistribution and how the class system as it was in Feudal Japan leaves injustice to be answered by outcasts like Nezumi and gangs like the Black Goblins, or how punishment in a justice system which is imbalanced discourages citizens from assisting law enforcement -- but none of those things are shown as without judgment or repercussions either. Nezumi’s own lawlessness is leaving him exposed to being hunted down by the gangs as well as the police, and to be framed for murder. There’s definitely repercussions shown for his victims, how they are left damaged by his actions and the injustice of their society to the point that they are desperate and get involved with crime themselves. 

There are no simple answers or simple interpretations from this issue. Just like there isn’t for Usagi Yojimbo as a whole. Our main character is not a benefactor of the system, but he is also involved in this case because of his friendship and loyalty to Inspector Ishida. Not to mention that Usagi’s associates are usually not the honorable sort like Ishida himself. And he has been involved with some questionable morality himself at times. 

At any rate, it’s usually against my style to read other reviews before I write my own but I’m glad I did this time around, because the common interpretation I’m seeing is.... oddly disconnected from the comic I read myself. So it was fun to do a bit of a deep dive. 

Lion Forge’s Voltron Legendary Defender Vol. 2 (2017-present) #3 Tim Hedrick, Mitch Iverson, Rubine, Beni Lobel

So. This was quite an unexpected addition to my pull list this week. They’re really cranking these comics out. I mean, it’s only been two weeks since the previous issue, it’s like they’re trying to be the comic version of the show in every possible way -- there’s not even breathing room between updates!

In all seriousness, this issue continues the honestly pretty solid quality that the last issue made standard, which again is just a complete shock to me because I didn’t enjoy the first issue. That being said, it still maintains the weaknesses that were proven last issue, too, especially in the alien designs and the general storyline we’re currently on. 

While I could definitely see this across-space amnesty mission as something that would happen in the actual show, there is a lack of urgency or even connection to Zarkon or the Galra Empire that is incredibly noticeable. For better or worse, the show keeps very close to its baseline of tension by having even mostly filler episodes have an impression and general outreach of the Galra Empire felt. Without that present in the current storyline and without anyone on Team Voltron even bringing up the possibility of the ongoing conflict with the Galra coming up, we feel a certain amount of disconnect and weightlessness to everything happening. And I’d argue that nowhere is that clearer than when Voltron is formed to fight the Big Bad of the issue but.... the Big Bad is defeated by.... Coran’s cold.... Which Coran gave it by.... breathing/sneezing on it in space. 

The art is a lot of give and take. I’ve said all I can on the fact that the alien designs aren’t feeling particularly original, but at the same time I have to credit the adherence to the style of the television series as well as the effort put into the backgrounds, really making even the scenes within the ship actually feel like the artist and writer had an actual location in mind for everything that was going on. 

At the same time, that adherence could also arguably be a hinderance. After all, we do see a lot of times where the characters look... strangely off model, or their expressions and poses don’t match the tone of what is happening or even what they’re saying (the panels I included above are a particularly egregious example of this). 

This all said, if you’re a fan of Voltron there really is a lot of reason for you to pick up the comics yourself. It’s not a supplement or introduction for the show, and in truth it’s not really making an effort to place itself in the show’s known timeline (somewhere between Seasons 1 and 3??? who knows). 

And those are the comics for this week! Did you happen to agree with me? Disagree? Think I missed out on picking up a comic that was good? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

But before I let you go, I have to (yes have to) plug once more:

I have exactly a month to pack up everything I own and move halfway across the country again which is not helping those financial crunches I mentioned before either.

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

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