#i have no doubts there are other sapient beings in the universe who do it too

[simptasia]

before televisions and computers, we had books. before books we had paintings and drawings. before paintings and drawings, we had verbal storytelling. now we have all of these things at once

aren't we so very fucking lucky!

[colorfuldonutrunaway]

Made the ref sheet for my other main oc, a character who is a romantic asexual.

So I'm going to edit this to explain the metrics a bit more.

*Name: Rei was created by rogue Japanese scientist Akira Watanabe, using the DNA of a deceased Vulpine (a race of sapient fox folk thought to be extinct) and his own genes, effectively creating a strange hybrid son. Legally, this would be his name (in western order) if the Japanese Government knew he existed.

*Nicknames: Americanized version of his first name, and Fox generally being what he's called by employees.

*Race: On account of being a human hybrid, he takes DNA from Dr.Watanabe, and immigrated to America, making him Japanese-American on his human side. His other half is a Vulpine, a race of sapient fox-men who lived on the Japanese isles thousands of years ago and potentially inspired the stories of the kitsune.

*Age: 21 as of 2024, thus being created in 2003.

*Gender: Male, biologically and identifies as such.

*Alignment: Chaotic Good. Ray is willing to do good things, even if it means breaking the rules or doing something risky.

*Job: Scientist who wants to follow in his father's/Creator's footsteps by uncovering secrets of the universe and contributing to the knowledge of humanity.

*Perception and Communication: Has decent sense, and a good communicator, but will sometimes doubt his senses or get nervous.

*Persuasion and Mediation: He can do a decent job convincing people to do stuff by pointing out pros and cons. Mediation is something he isn't great at because he doesn't like getting in the middle of a situation between other people that he's not already a part of.

*Literacy and Creativity: Dr.Watanabe gave Ray access to mountains of literature to learn how to read and absorb information from the world around him. His sense of creativity has blossomed as a result. He can think of many creative ways to solve problems at any given moment, and has been taught how to speak Japanese, English, and Chinese fluently.

*Cooking: Do NOT let this poor bastard cook! It will not end well!

*Tech savvy: Watanabe raised him surrounded by lab machinery, computers, and engineering tools so that he could take care of himself. This has led Ray to be able to efficiently repair most machines, operate with any type of computer, and code effectively.

*Combat: He was given some martial arts training by a local school, but he's still a bit physically weak.

*Survival: Again, given mountains of books and personal training by Akira have given him a good grasp on how to survive in the wilderness (or at least Hokkaido's wilderness) as well as being prepared for emergency situations.

*Stealth: His small size allows him to slink around without detection, but his bright orange fur and tendency to carry gadgets in his pockets can hinder this easily.

*Street smarts: Oof, he hasn't had a chance to socialize growing up, and only left the lab to run errands. So he's not fully familiar with the nuances of how humans behave. This especially hit hard when he arrived in America after Roman found him.

*Seduction: Infertile hybrid + asexuality means he struggles hard. Doesn't help that he's seen more as 'cute' rather than 'sexy', so it destroys any attempts at him being seductive.

*Luck: Isn't anymore or less lucky than the average person I suppose.

*Handling Animals: His fox appearance leads to most animals, especially dogs and cats, being scared or aggressive to him.

*Pacifying children: Children crying or screaming hurts his ears severely, so he refuses to assist in calming one down unless absolutely necessary.

*Strength: Not very physically strong.

*Dexterity: Great with rapidly typing, using weapons, and putting things together quickly.

*Health: Excellent care has led to him having a good body, but he's not going to take a lot of hits in a fight.

*Energy: Very energetic bundle of fur.

*Beauty: Some people find the curly fur on his face aesthetically pleasing.

*Style:...But he wears a lab coat almost 24/7.

*Hygiene: Very fastidious about his fur and how he smells. Being a fox though, he's naturally a little musty.

*Intelligence: Watanabe created him with a brain that can retain insane amounts of information and can learn at quick speeds. Therefore, he's highly intelligent as he knows a few languages, learned the sciences of Astronomy, biochemistry, mathematics, aerodynamics, and ballistics, and is a fan of old literature.

*Happiness: Being raised in an isolated laboratory has made him very self-critical and introspective. Being abruptly taken from his home country to America has also impacted his sense of self with the culture shock. He becomes more chipper when Roman lets him work in his lab and experiment with stuff.

*Spirituality: Raised without religion, Ray becomes agnostic after reading about things relating to the idea of a higher power. But he does no rituals or ceremonies, and attends no place of worship.

*Confidence: He's ready to take on the world and show how intelligent he is. And nothing can stop him.

*Humor: Akira entertained him with access to television, which helped him not be so far removed from the world outside the lab. This also led to him discovering comedy. Ray loves surrealist humor.

*Anxiety: It significantly spiked after Dr.Watanabe's passing and his subsequent kidna-immigration to America by Romanov. But after awhile, he settled into his new home and began to use the lab as his own, reminding him of the good ol' days.

*Patience: He feels like time is a valuable resource, so he refuses to be in a situation that doesn't need his attention.

*Passion: Should've been higher, because he's extremely passionate about science and changing the world for the better.

*Charisma: He knows some basic psychology about humans that he can exploit, but he's not a master of social cues.

*Empathy: This is where it gets kinda strange...Ray has a supernatural power. Referred to as the "Memory-Empath" skill, it allows him to see and feel the memories of others by making eye contact with them for an extended period of time. For example, looking into the eyes of a happy child with their father shows a memory of the child playing a game of catch with their father, and Ray can also feel the sun on the kid's face, the sense of approval from the father, the smell of the grass nearby. This has created a person who is very sensitive to the emotions of others, and he cares deeply for the welfare of his friends.

*Generosity: He's willing to give for a cause and donate things he doesn't need to someone who needs it more, but don't expect big handouts from him.

*Wealth: Not sure what to put here.

*Aggression: Not very aggressive, as he was raised to be very polite and well-behaved by Dr.Watanabe, who in his own right, is a great-grandfather. He's pretty old world.

*Libido: As stated before, being a sterile hybrid and asexual has led to him having a decreased libido. (disclaimer: I'm not saying that asexual people lack them, it's just difficult to turn him on)

I'll add more when I can, but I'm good for now.

[krysmcscience]

MOGUS ART DUMP TIME

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Brown, Red, and Green raised a kid together? Probably, because there's no fuckin' way that kid would end up normal by any stretch of the word, and it would be absolutely hilarious to watch the assured family drama unfold.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the kid they raised came from an entirely different canon universe altogether? Probably not, but that's what's about to happen in this fukken post, because in an alternate timeline, the kid these three adopted turned out to be Shio. (Yes, that Shio - the one whose canonical appearance typically requires a Body Horror warning. If you want additional context about who tf Shio is, there’s a simple summary of them in this post (some of the deets for other characters is, kinda outdated or wildly inaccurate now, ahaha, C A M), or you can read the WIP for the novel they’re from here. Although, there’s some good or bad news if you take the latter route, depending: Shio doesn’t show up until the end of chapter three, and you already have hella spoilers going in, LOL.)

That being said, get ready for some family photos of our favorite trio of gay space pirates, who have managed to accidentally adopt an impostor baby from a whole other universe, which is a totally normal and average thing to happen to anyone ever, no big deal. Pay no attention to the fact that their brand new impostor baby used to be a literal war criminal, one who attempted to rage-quit life so hard over being dumped that the creation deity of their universe took one long look at them and decided, 'Ya know what would be funny? Resetting this piece of shit back to Babby Status without any memories whatsoever of who they used to be, and then tossing them out into space for a trio of some of the biggest chaosmongers in this other reality’s existence to stumble across and adopt because they think they've just found some weird cute animal, rather than a fully sapient being that is going to molt into what looks like a human baby in a little less than two years. That would be So Fucking Funny and it needs to happen Right Now.'

'Look at how tiny and cute and huggable this lil guy is, surely they will stay this way forever~' Oh, Brown, you poor sweet naive little man. Shio's only three here, they've got plenty of time to grow. >:3c

Plenty of time to grow and decide that they're more of a 'he' than a 'they' this time around, even.

Sweet/sad fact about Brown - he refuses to allow a child of his to go without love and support because of the way he lacked those things growing up (and in general). Hilarious fact about Brown to follow that up with, though - that does not mean he will be responsible and NOT put his all into teaching his child to become a notorious space pirate just like him (with - of course - the Full Backing of Green and Red). So, Shio might not become a war criminal, per se, but, uh. He is Definitely still gonna wind up becoming a criminal. <:]

Yes, Red's shirt says 'Puppy Cannon', and it is indeed a reference to 'Party Cannon', why do you ask? Shio's shirt, meanwhile, says 'Squish Bab', whereas Brown's says 'I woke up like this (48 hours ago)', and Green's gauges have 'BlaXk HUle' on them. (Crinkle assures me it's pronounced the same as 'black hole', and while my brain understands this logically, my eyeballs still have doubts.)

'Well, Shio has gotten bigger and taller than me despite him only being 13, but surely he won't get any bigger than this, right???' Keep dreaming, Brown, this isn't even Shio's final form size.

Has Shio already accompanied his parents on several heists and raids on MIRA property while in some manner of disguise by now? Not according to any of Devon's paperwork. Which Shio helps with on a consistent basis to give his parents some alone time. And who wouldn't trust the beloved Admiral's part-time assistant~? He's such a calm, quiet, and responsible young man~ ;) Pay no mind to the fact that, against Red's wishes and to Green's not-so-secret delight, Shio and Brown have recently and very intentionally caused a full-blown society-wide panic back in Shio's old universe, thanks in part to them learning about his past life and making a series of videos on social media entitled 'Shio Survived So Get Ready For ~Kill All Humanity PART TWO~ LOL'.

In case it's not fully legible, Brown's shirt reads 'I went to another universe and all I stole was my *awesome kid* (and 50 thousand dollars) ... (and a car)'. Meanwhile, Green's 'Slutstomper' gauges are in reference to an absolutely raunchy electropop band from Shio's ex-universe. Red's shirt will be revealed in the next photo, and I can assure you, he does not understand what it means the way Green and Brown do, and it was all Green's idea because he just has, you know. So much class.

'I can't believe my son can lift and carry all three of his parents like it's nothing now. I'm so mad, yet I couldn't be prouder.' People who knew Shio before they got reset tried to warn you that they were an Absolute Unit, Brown, but you didn't listen. This is what happens when you don't listen. 23 years later, you wind up with an adoptive son who can easily pick up not just you, but both of your boyfriends along with you.

Has Shio gone back for another visit to their old universe with Brown by now to fake going on a Kill All Humans crusade for the sake of causing more mass panic? ...Maybe. Did they trick Devon into letting them borrow one of his ships for this endeavor? ...Possibly. Did Red end up so furious that he made both of them do three months of community service to make up for it afterward, and banned them from letting Green go along to help them properly socialize? Well, yes - absolutely yes, in fact - but to be fair, they both knew Green would have spent most of his time there being a slutty menace and flirting with everyone, anyway, and neither of them wanted to have to deal with that. They were already being punished as it was (by having to help a bunch of needy people with a smile), so, no need to make it worse for themselves.

Brown's 'Stabby Babby' shirt definitely features an angry baby holding a knife on it, but Shio's arms are in the way because he's Just That Massive. Also, I apologize for Green and Brown (but mostly myself) for allowing that Pupknot shirt to exist on poor innocent Red. In Shio's defense, he has crafted a very solid mental block around what the joke is and thus Also does not understand what it means. And in my own defense, after coming up with two other puppyfied metal band names, how could I resist the horrible joke that would come out of doing the same to Slipknot? (Okay, that's less of a defense and more of an outright admission of guilt.) As for Green's decals and patches, if anyone wants to see the full-size versions of them for whatever reason, let me know, because I put an absurd amount of work into them, and I want a reason beyond my own fragile artist ego to compile them all into a single cohesive image. Also, in regards to the 'VB' on Green's gauges and one of his patches, it stands for 'Video Bois', which is sort of an AU-canon term for their polycule (video cables = RGB = Red, Green, Brown).

Oh, wait, what's that eldritch creature way off in the background, you ask?

...

Don't worry about it. :)

[princess-of-the-corner]

If there's one point which I will say RWBY did fumble on it was how they challenged fascism in the final chapters of Volume 8.

Basically, one thing you NEVER do if you want to actually challenge fascist ideals is to dehumanize fascists. They aren't inhuman monsters, and they aren't acting that way because of some genetic factor or mental illness, they're perfectly rational humans beings who do horrible things because they don't see their scapegoats as human.

Most of the show does a good job of displaying this: Ironwood regularly uses dehumanizing language when discussing Penny (a mechanical lifeform and artificial person with a soul he commissioned the creation of) and the Big Bad (who is shown to be surprisingly human in how she thinks in spite of how long she's been alive). Rather than call him out for this, however, our heroes instead insist that it's their humanity that gives them the advantage over their enemies.

Reminder: In this world, humans share the setting with another sapient race known as the Faunus. So saying "Our humanity is what makes us better" comes across like a white supremacist rallying cry in-universe.

Additionally, in the closing chapters of Volume 7 and all of Volume 8, Ironwood's prosthetics (previously only used to showcase him as the setting's version of the Tin Woodsman) are used to emphasize his "inhumanity" and him sacrificing his arm to save global communications (the only purely selfless and heroic thing he does all series) was meant to be a metaphor for him sacrificing the last bit of his humanity in order to accomplish his goals. How do we know this? The Blue Ray commentary says so!

Now, they do have a counterpart to this: The aforementioned Penny, a kindhearted soul with a fully mechanical body. The villains even outright use her mechanical body to dehumanize her both behind her back and to her face, presenting an ACTUAL fascist and bigoted viewpoint for the show to challenge. So NATURALLY she gets turned into a flesh and blood human with no mechanical bits during the last few chapters to show how she's more human than Ironwood, even though Penny herself never indicated that she wanted a human body and had gotten a seen earlier in the Volume where she proudly showed off all her bells and whistles to try and impress her friends! Clearly this is the best way to debunk the idea that her machine parts make her subhuman!

All that said, to the writer's credit, they do challenge ableism in the prequel novel, "Roman Holiday", and Volume 9 at least doesn't have ANY of the protagonists use dehumanizing language when talking about Ironwood's actions (instead pointing out when certain characters are talking like Ironwood was when he jumped off the slippery slope), so I'm going to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume they didn't fully think through the implications of the metaphors they were using.

Re: Penny I think they kinda wrote themselves into a corner with that one because like. She's the Pinocchio one, right?

On one hand, you expect 'Pinocchio' to become a Real Boy™ at some point. To go through the mythos only to end with a 'you are a Sapient Being even if you're not Human' without actually turning her Human would have pissed people off.

But yeah plenty of people are in the other direction where they like their nonhuman characters and want to leave her as a robot while emphasizing that she is still a Sapient Being deserving respect, with turning her Human undermining that.

So I think either decision would've bothered some people

The rest of what you said:

Yeah I think it's more just not thinking through the implications rather than malicious intent. This can be criticized ofc, and I think going forward the writers should be on the lookout for this accidentally cropping up. But I give more of a break to accidental implication than I would do someone who believes that with their whole chest.

[eachuisge-cc]

Feel like info dumping your cat lore? I doubt I'm the only one who's curious.

I always feel like infodumping, thanks for giving me a reason!

so my preferred way of designing cat people is less "cat/human hybrid" and more "cats that happen to be people-shaped and sapient." kind of in the same way hyenas look like dogs despite being members of feliformia because there was an open evolutionary niche for dogs and no canids around, wherever these dudes came from had a niche for smart dexterous bipedal persistence hunters but no hominids. which is why their silhouette is very human but their biology is very feline (full body fur, five digits on the forelimbs and four in the back, primarily carnivores though they're more omnivorous than most felids, claws albeit not retractable ones because fingers don't work like that). I also stuck them in felinae despite some of their markings resembling big cats because it just made more sense for something that can speak with a human-like voice. so they can't roar, but they can purr. they should probably be related most closely to civets honestly but I had to draw the line somewhere.

yes I put the cat people in felinae and then named the strip club that hires cat people Panthera. don't worry about it.

As a consequence of this it's impossible for then to crossbreed with anything but aliens (which I like to think of as the citrus trees of kingdom animalia) but this is a good thing because I already have too many projects.

Their color genetics are very similar to domestic cats because that's the most fun way to do it and I wanted lots of colors/markings, but they've got a different variety of agouti patterns because I wanted to do tiger stripes and cheetah spots. I might fuck around and give them some of my cathar reduced colorpoint genes just because they look cool, probably again via overlay for max variety.

They originated in the magic realm and have a much higher tendency to have innate magical powers than humans do (though they don't always). They're more common in some regions than others but they're an actual majority in Evergreen Harbor, because a large colony of them moved in after humans abandoned the area, and they're the main driving force behind repurposing the town and making it livable again. They're otherwise pretty common in San Myshuno (because you can find everything from cyborgs to satyrs in San Myshuno) and Glimmerbrook (because there's a portal right there). They're less common in other places but you'll still generally see a couple of them around, and their presence is taken in stride in most decently populated places. the exceptions to this are Moonwood Mill, because they do Not generally get on with werewolves, and Strangerville, whose residents are unaware that anything supernatural is real. There's a certain tendency outside Evergreen and Glimmerbrook for other occults to see them in kind of the same way the star wars universe sees twi'leks, which is why Panthera was a solid business model, but it's mainly a thing in Del Sol and Myshuno and there are also like, cat people lawyers and shit even in those places. because so many are based in Evergreen, the most common careers you'll find them in are civil engineering type jobs, and given the innate tendency of cats to bend society to their will, they do very well for themselves.

so yeah that was uh. a disorganized and long-winded ramble but thank you for taking an interest! if you have questions about a specific aspect of them I'm happy to answer those too.

[snepril]

So I've mentioned before that my sphinx fursona exists in a wider universe. I figure I should actually explain that!

The Millennium of Magic is my personal urban fantasy setting. In writing it, I wanted to create a setting that blends fantastic elements into our world in a way that's believable and consistent while still leaving plenty of room for fun, interesting stories.

Core to the Millennium of Magic is, as the name would imply, magic. When writing magic for this setting, I had two goals in mind:

Create a system that feels magical - something mysterious, grand, and yet deeply personal, something felt as much as observed, and something that can't just be reduced to "science with added special effects."

Build a setting that allows individual characters to express themselves through magic, but that also gives magic a sense of history and tradition that reflects the many forms magic has been believed to take over the course of human history.

To that end, magic in the Millennium of It is, simply, the ability of a conscious mind to exert its will on the material world - "mind over matter", in a sense. Magic is innate to all sapient beings - anyone or anything with a sufficient degree of self-awareness can practice magic. However, that doesn't mean everyone does practice magic - in fact, most of the world is completely unaware of the existence of magic. What holds most people back is, simply, belief. Casting a spell requires confidence that one can cast a spell - doubting the possibility of it for even a moment can shatter one's grip on the ethereal forces of magic. Needless to say, in a world trained to believe in science, this is a rare thing to come by. However, believing that you can cast a spell only the first step. As I mentioned before, magic is intent and belief given form - and this is what makes magic so difficult to use!

For example, suppose you wanted to conjure a flame. The question, then, is this: what does "conjure a flame" mean to you? Do you picture a great, raging fireball? A flickering candleflame? A crackling campfire? Do you picture a gentle mote of warmth, a beacon of light in a dark night, or does the pain of an old burn and the sight of a terrible inferno come to mind instead? Something so simple - "conjure a flame" - can mean many different things to many different people, or even to a single person on different days! A sorcerer, then, must learn to control their thoughts, to shape and guide them so that, at the moment they release a spell into the world, the picture in their mind is exactly the result they wish to see. How sorcerers accomplish this varies - some prefer simple incantations, words that evoke specific meanings through practice and repetition, while others employ specific instruments or reagents to achieve their desired results. The methods of magic are as varied as its practitioners, and no two will ever cast the same spell in exactly the same way. Because magic is derived from perception and imagery, magic is inescapably personal and completely unique to each and every person who touches it.

And that is the most important characteristic of the Millennium of Magic - a system of magic that isn't bound by rules and formulas, but is shaped by the experiences, biases, and quirks of each and every spellcaster. A hidden world ruled not by strict rules, but by older, nebulous forces. A setting where who we are and how we have lived matters, where the more human side of life is cherished and celebrated - even for those of us who aren't human!

[kharrneth]

So I was going to write about the Gods of Harmony and how they have a hand in the Polar Gate collapse, but then I snagged on the Old Ones and I need to iron that bit out first. According to my sources:

When the Old Ones came to the Warhammer World, it was in a state of Pangea and Panthalassa. Since the WHW is a mirror of earth in many ways, we can presume it was about 200 to 300 million years old when they arrived.

The Old Ones apparently deemed the WHW to be important in their grand schemes. Originally a tidally locked hell-world with most life fighting for dominance over the thin strip of temperate land called a terminator line, it was terraformed and genocided into a personal paradise for the Old Ones. According to “Warriors of Chaos 8th edition” the world was in a harmonious state before the Old Ones came.

They created the Slann to be their servants and the skinks to build their empire outpost, as that was the purpose of the WHW in the beginning. The saurus were the first of their creations, who carried out the aforementioned genocides in long, brutal wars.

At some point, the Old Ones determined the WHW was to be important in the fate of the entire Galaxy. It is suspected they created the sapient races in order to do battle with Chaos.

The Old Ones were interdimensional beings who travelled realities using interdimensional lanes that cut through warp space. They are almost as old as the universe, having an empire that spans both time and the stars. It is unclear if our universe is their universe of origin.

The Old Ones were beings of “Life and Order” (Except when they were exterminating undesirables I guess) and had been seeding life throughout the galaxy for billions of years. This life, in turn, created the presences within the Warp. It is likely it was the Old Ones, however inadvertently, who created the Gods of Chaos...

The Old Ones terraformed Pangea and Panthalassa into the Known World. This process took them many millennia and the final shape has a purpose that was never explained.

Eventually, the Old Ones would come to conflict with the creatures of chaos spawned within the Warp. It was during this time that they would nurture and uplift other creatures, with the presumed purpose of doing battle with the creatures of Chaos. First, the Elves and Dwarves were made. Then came man, halflings, and ogres, who were made more hastily; some say the Ogres were incomplete whenever chaos came.

The portals either collapsed due to the Old Ones sealing them off or the entities of the warp finally punching through into reality, once held off by powerful wards and enchantments; science and magic were one thing to the Old Ones. I don’t believe the Portals failed due to structural faults; I highly doubt a civilization this advanced would fuck up their portals, especially since this was far from their first one so it’s not like it’s untested technology. 

[datasoong47]

On the one hand, I agree with @habbadax​ above on the Fermi Paradox as it’s commonly expressed. Unless aliens are actively sending out signals, their radio signals wouldn’t be detectable - and that’s even assuming they’re still using radio and haven’t gone on to other technologies

However, there’s another level to the Fermi Paradox which that doesn’t work for (but for which I believe there’s another simple explanation) - if there are intelligent aliens out there, and they have space travel, they should’ve visited Earth already and possibly colonized it - even if there’s no possible FTL travel, it would still take maybe a million years or two to colonize the galaxy, assuming the ability to travel at relativistic speeds. On a cosmic scale, that’s a blink of the eye, and there’s no reason to believe that intelligent aliens could not have evolved millions of years ago, perhaps even billions of years ago - stars significantly older than our Sun exist after all, and while the very oldest would be unlikely to have planets (having formed at a time when heavy elements were far rarer), there are still many stars a few billion years older than our sun that could have lifebearing planets (and who’s to say that the time it took our world to evolve sentient life is typical? Maybe other planets evolved sentient life faster - and even if we do turn out to be typical or even faster than average, we’re unlikely to be the very first in our galaxy)

So, if there were sentient aliens predating us, and they colonized the galaxy, then they should’ve colonized Earth as well. And if that happened, we would certainly have known about it by now. Even if they had technology that was carefully designed to not leave a trace, they would’ve brought their own plants and animals with them, livestock and crops if nothing else, some of which would’ve gotten out into the wild. We’d’ve discovered organisms by now that have fundamentally different biochemistry and probably a different genetic code by now if that were the case. So, we can conclude that aliens have never colonized Earth at any time in its past

So, this is essentially a deeper form of the Fermi Paradox. But I think the solution is actually quite simple, even if a bit dull and maybe even depressing depending on your perspective - interstellar travel simply is not feasible. The barriers to successful (non-automated) interstellar travel are simply too high, and the benefits to the homeworld being nonexistent - if FTL travel is not possible, then even the closest stars would be too far apart to have any kind of trade or communication, so what benefit would there be in sending out a ship to colonize another star system? The obvious exception might be if there was some impending danger to their homeworld that they couldn’t resolve, and had to flee for survival, but even in that case, they’d probably just end up with a small diaspora on a few close star systems, and then leave it at that. Maybe in dense star clusters it might be more worthwhile, but even there it’s questionable - what possible resources could there be that it would be easier to import from even a close star system than from your own?

So, however many sapient species there are out there (my feeling is that technological species are probably rare, but I very seriously doubt so rare as to make us alone in the galaxy, much less the universe), they’d all be restricted to their home system. No space operas here, unfortunately

fucks me up that by total coincidence the sun and moon's size difference is exactly matched to their difference in distance from us, thus making our beautiful total solar eclipses where you can see the silver threads of the sun's corona possible because the moon just covers the sun completely

The stars (literally) aligned just right for this experience to be possible. It's likely that aliens don't have this

[swifthfy]

Humans At The Vet

Leazis was happy about her job working as a veterinarian on what some might even consider a core world, even if it wasn’t near the core. Was happy being the core of the issue here. It hasn’t even been a few years since humanity was discovered, but they have already proven their status as dependable workers with extreme pack-bonding. Stick a human on virtually any ship or any crew and they start to form bonds in a heartbeat.

This means that humans are now everywhere in the galaxy and on almost every planet you will see a few humans registered. The problem is their somewhat unique biology. They differ from all other sentients just enough to make medical procedures difficult, most medicines don’t work or do the opposite of helping. 

That’s where Leazis and the other veterinarians come into the picture. You see, the most popular pet in the galaxy happens to be a mammalian species called Fial. The Fial are, by complete chance, extremely close to the humans in terms of biology, enough so that most medicine and techniques work on them just as well as humans. And sure, a few sapient species share traits and medicine with pets. But as the humans don’t have sapient counterparts and they’re new in the galaxy, their biology hasn’t been taught to most doctors yet.

Which of course, results in veterinarians taking the brunt of the humans that pass through the worlds far away from their own. This includes our unfortunate Leazis, who sees more humans than pets these days.

‘’God fucking damnit why can’t these fucking deathworlders just leave me the fuck alone. I swear to the universe that they find pleasure in injuring themselves.’’ Leazis threw another empty bottle of Fial medicine towards the wall, shattering and scattering the pieces mostly in the trash.

‘’Leaz, we’ve been over this, they pay more than any Fial owner I’ve seen AND they don’t try to escape when administering shots or medicine. They’re our best customers and the best behaved ones.’’ Leazis’ colleague, Hoad has this conversation every once in a while, mostly after a human comes in with an injury that only ‘’real’’ doctors could fix in other sapients.

‘’The humans come in with burns, bleeding, chemical burns, concussions, lacerations and even broken bones. One of them had a steel rod going THROUGH their lung. How in the fuck did they even live? I’m the fucking ‘doctor’ and I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE. It’s as if the universe wants them to live through anything, all I do is close their wounds and replace the blood.’’ Slamming her desk she looks at the appointments and upon seeing two more humans in a row she lets her head smack her desk with a thud. ‘’Please let them be normal issues like not eating or insomnia.’’ 

Her cries go unanswered however as the next human enters the room and shows their right arm bent with an entirely new joint. ‘’Hey doc, I broke my arm trying to lift some cargo, but it fell over and crushed the bone, can you mend it?’’ Leazis is now in shock, this being the worst fracture she has ever seen, even with humans.

‘’I...I...I can… try?’’ How are you even conscious? How are you talking?’’ Leazis was in complete shock at this point, having seen bad things like pets mauled by other pets but those were mostly shallow wounds and bruises, nothing life threatening or debilitating but this? This is way way way worse.

‘’This bracelet on my shoulder stops the electrical signals for pain from going through, paralyzes the arm though. So what’s next?’’ This is what she’s always so unnerved about, this is what Leazis hates the most. Seeing something so horrible treated as mundane, something like it just happens and then you fix it. Most species would get their arm mended of course, but they would react horribly at even a memory of the accident. Humans seem to just shrug off both the physical injury but the psychological ones as well. Leazis had started to doubt if they even had psychological injuries from physical injuries.

‘’Let's… just get you on the damn table and get this over with.’’

  -        -          -             -            -                -               -          -

Having done an hour long surgery, which included:

Putting the human to sleep to prevent mental trauma and complications.

Opening the tissue around the arm to see the shattered fragments of the bone.

Throwing up in the garbage and washing her hands again.

Taking each piece of bone and mending it back to resemble the original one, using an entire bottle of Fial regeneration helper to speed the process.

Closing up the wound and checking for bleeding, finding the bleeding to be in acceptable levels she decided to just let the human heal it themselves, this had already been more than she signed up for.

Going to wake up the human with an injection, she saw them staring right at her. ‘’AAAH what the fuck how are you awake!?!’’

‘’Was I… not supposed to be?’’ The human must have been silent through the entire operation and just watched their arm be opened and healed. ‘’It’s not like I felt anything so what’s the problem?’’ 

‘’The injection I gave you was supposed to put you to sleep for hours if not given the antidote, how in the fuck are you awake, I saw you fall asleep.’’

‘’Yeah I did drop for a few minutes I’d assume but I woke up in the middle while you were working on my arm, I thought it was strange but I didn’t feel anything and you were focused so I saw no reason to take it up with you.’’

‘’Y-your arm will be healed in a few weeks, keep this metal frame attached and try avoiding heavy use, now please, get out.’’ This would have cost millions in credits, had this mistake been done on another sapient. She had used the wrong dosage, one appropriate for a Fial tenth the size of the human. 

‘’Sure thing, doc, thanks a lot, payment should be arriving in just a moment, this is the ship’s contact info if ya need to give anything more.’’ The human left the door, leaving Leazis alone in the room. Another empty bottle of medicine flies across the room, landing nowhere near the garbage. A knock comes to the door, the next customer is waiting.

‘’Come on -’’ She manages to say before remembering it was also a human. She curses inwardly and waits in abject terror, expecting something just as bad or even worse. She winces as the door opens, only to show a human with no injuries to be seen.

‘’Hey doc could I buy a bottle of the... ‘Fial regeneration helper’, I’ve got mechanic with some pretty bad burns on his arm.’’ This is something she wasn’t normally supposed to do as the dosages could easily become deadly for Fial. Humans however, could use the bottle however they wished, drink it, inject it or pour it in their eyes. They look at it as a ‘cure-all’, which it in all fairness is to them.

‘’Sure, here, 206 credits.’’ Leazis doesn’t want to know more and thus doesn’t ask, she just wants the human gone from her clinic and to never come back. She doesn’t hate the humans, she just hates what they consider normal. All Leazis wanted was to help pets and other creatures and make them happy. Now she’s being subjected to bodily horrors above her paygrade, even if the pay is better. Again alone in the room, she speaks to herself. 

‘’I just wanted to help animals. I just wanted to help animals. I just wanted to help animals. I just wanted to help animals. I just wanted to help animals... ‘’ This goes on for a little while until she looks at her tablet and sees four more humans on their way, apparently having been drinking rocket fuel until passing out. Leazis has truly lost the joy in her job.

Hearing a knock on the door, Leazis is left confused, the four humans shouldn’t be arriving yet, she finds a human without an appointment. ‘’Can I help you? I have four humans coming down here soon and I need the entire room for them, so this has to be fast.’’

‘’I hope this isn’t serious, it’s my dog, he hasn’t been eating for two days and I’m worried sick.’’ Leazis perks up instantly, forgetting all the shit she’s been through today. Now she gets to help an actual pet, even if it’s a human one.

‘’Sure let me take a look. Bring it on the table here…. aaand that’s great. Pupils are fine, no fur loss, heartbeat is just fine…’’ She stops in the middle of the sentence, having found the issue at hand. ‘’There's a ball of some kind inside the stomach, it’s obstructing the way to the intestines.’’

‘’Well that’s two mysteries solved, his favourite ball went missing around the same time. Anything you can do to help?’’ Pets eating things they’re not supposed to, this was what she had originally signed up for. Simple problems and simple solutions.

‘’Yeah no problem with that, but I will have to do surgery. This won’t take long, don’t worry, it’s safe.’’ Prepping the table one again she goes through the motions, almost happy about the dog having swallowed a ball as it gives her an actual patient. She puts the dog under, cuts him open and retrieves the ball. After she just closes the dog up and applies canine regeneration helper. Taking no more than ten minutes, the dog just has to be carried home and tended to for a while.

‘’There you go, good as new. Try to keep him from eating more toys.’’ Leazis was beaming with pride as the owner hugged her pet and cried of joy. This is what she loved about the job.

‘’Thank you so much doctor, I’ll recommend you to everyone I know. You have no idea how much this helps.’’ The human keeps hugging her dog while not speaking.

‘’It’s no problem, but please, don’t recommend me to more humans, I have my hands full with you people already.’’

‘’Heh, yeah, I’ve heard the rumours. Well then I guess I’ll just thank you and pay, best of luck with the human patients.’’ Leazis, now almost jumping in joy at having helped a pet, says her goodbyes to the human and their dog, giving a treat to be handed out once the dog wakes up. She would have stayed in the good mood for hours if not for the banging at her door and four new guests arriving in stretchers.

[areyouafraid]

longpost abt daedra kathutet is a kinda interesting character to me. for one he's unique in the sense that in a game full of dremora (TESIV) he's the only one you can have anything resembling a conversation with. it's also shown that even though he places heavy emphasis on the virtues of loyalty and honor, as many dremora do, he's kind of a lazy dickhead and prefers to have others do his work for him (there is little indication that he had any intention of freeing anaxes before the HoK appeared, and his attitude towards the siege of kvatch raises some questions regarding his integrity as a soldier). and though this kind of depends on how you perceive it (and even though he looks down on the ascended immortals for their cowardice), he seems less inclined than other dremora to battle given his decision not to kill the HoK on sight. he does mention that the HoK's response to the siege of kvatch won them some respect among the dremora (for... some reason), though the opportunity to kill the hero is evidently not something many dremora will pass down. his connection to the aforementioned virtues of loyalty and honor is also somewhat questionable-- even though he does honor his deal with the HoK, he fails to mention that you can't take the bands off, or why exactly no one is able to escape the forbidden grotto (which leads me to believe he assumed they would get killed there anyway). something else interesting: the vast majority of the named daedra in paradise were also soldiers of molag bal during the planemeld, and can be encountered at dark anchors in ESO. kathutet in particular even held what seemed to be a rather prestigious rank in molag bal's army, and was quite liked by molag bal himself-- so why did he leave?

the rest of this post is basically just a fan theory lol but i want to point out something that felt important to me. the book on the xivkyn (ESO) mentions that the xivkyn hate dremora in particular because of their defection from mehrunes dagon. i had been kind of believing that a lot of the sapient daedra had more or less "protean" allegiances and served the prince of their choice at will. and though it's mentioned in some older in-game texts, this heavily implies that dremora do owe their "original" allegiance to mehrunes dagon somehow, which means that all of the dremora (with the exception of orthe, who doesn't appear in ESO as of this writing) left the service of mehrunes dagon and then returned (which may be part of the reason dagon rewarded them with shitty positions in gaiar alata)

so ESO introduces the xivkyn, who in short are a New Special Kind of daedra created by molag bal to be his personal guard. the xivkyn detest both dremora and xivilai but are especially abusive to dremora, even by daedric standards. many positions of power in coldharbour's society are quickly usurped by xivkyn, and ambient dialogue from molag bal's dremora soldiers suggests that they are more than a little anxious about being replaced. even though dremora may seem from an outside perspective as being insanely authority-horny (mehrunes dagon set valkyn skoria on fire for eternity and it did not seem to greatly affect his loyalty), there are a wide range of tasks and postings (typically anything that doesn't involve fighting and/or killing something) that they seem to universally hate and which inspire doubt in the wisdom of even the most respected daedric masters (of course, broad generalizations do not help in understanding anything, but it also seems that across the board the most hated infraction of all is not recognizing the innate martial brilliance of an individual). i feel like it's possible that the rise of the xivkyn may have inspired many of the daedra in molag bal's service to defect (especially those belonging to a race of beings in which the most common recurring theme seems to be a weird pathological need to be respected and praised)

i kinda wonder how coldharbour looks these days? of course, xivkyn didn't appear in any of the core series games (they weren't introduced until ESO) but i can imagine they probably haven't gone anywhere. we know that as of the events of TESV that daedra worship tanked after the events of the oblivion crisis, with molag bal, arguably the least likeable daedric prince, facing possibly the worst deficit of worshippers-- to such an extent that his influence over nirn seems to have been greatly reduced. additionally, if there was in fact some sort of mass defection from his infantry, coldharbour probably looks a lot different nowadays lol

[cameoappearance]

Since I’d previously only brought this up briefly in the “Character Pronouns” section of my Dreamwidth/Tumblr Bastion RP accounts, and it could use a longer and more visibly posted explanation:

In my mind, Bastion will accept any pronouns directed at them that aren’t easily confused with non-pronoun words. For the most part, gender is a deeply puzzling and unintuitive mystery to them and they have no idea why there are so many pointers to it in seemingly unrelated things humans (and some omnics) do, say, and wear, so it honestly doesn’t make a difference to them which gender-words other people use to discuss them. When I describe them, and if they had reason to talk about themself in the third person in English, it’s with they/them and it/its pronouns because those have no gender associations and are in common use (also the latter is what’s used in canon when the devs remember to do so), but Bastion wouldn’t find he/him, she/her, or a rarer gender-neutral pronoun like ze/zir or e/em objectionable, they just wouldn’t self-apply them.

On a Doylist level I’m a little dubious about the creators’ thought process behind giving Bastion it/its pronouns and Lynx Seventeen from the comics they/them pronouns given that they’re both nonbinary omnics but Lynx Seventeen lives among humans and has a human-shaped frame and a vocal processor that can pronounce human languages whereas Bastion speaks in beeps and whistles and is shaped like a particularly blocky Transformer with no facial features and a lot of visible weaponry; I suspect it may have less to do with Lynx making a deliberate choice about their gender presentation and Bastion not caring, and more to do with Lynx being more relatable to both the writers and the average audience member so they get more relatable pronouns. However, a few trips through the Murderbot Diaries series where literally every AI character from the partially organic protagonist to the hyperintelligent sapient spaceship to a random robot concierge on Preservation Station canonically uses it/its pronouns has made me more comfortable with using them for a robot character without feeling like it’s calling their personhood into doubt. Even if someone in-universe was treating Bastion like a gun with the ability to send text messages rather than a person, the use of it/its pronouns would not be the biggest part of that attitude that stuck out to them.

When it comes to other people’s genders, they do have some small scrap of code for decoding human(-influenced) gender presentation inherited from Aurora’s programming, but it basically just suggests masculine or feminine grammatical gender for strongly and obviously binary-gender-conforming people and gender-neutral language for everyone else, so this doesn’t do much to clarify how gender works or why people care so much about it. It’s also easily overruled by the person in question specifying how they want to be gendered. (This is the result of me not wanting to use they/them for literally every single person who talked to Bastion in Milliways and didn’t reference the pronouns they used for themself in conversation, but also finding it unlikely that Bastion would either think to ask unprompted or be a high-confidence guesser.)

[robin-the-wanderer]

OOC:// Alright, here’s me answering all these wonderful questions:

Are Pokémon able to use more than four moves?

yeah, though it’s considered quite hard to, and pokemon would usually have to undergo special training to do that!

Do sentient/sapient Pokémon exist?

yeah, all pokémon have at least some level of sentience/sapience, though it’s on a HUUUUUGE varying scale. legendaries/usually

Are Pokémon all "standard" as their official designs or is there variation to their appearance?

birth defects do exist, and a pokémon’s appearance can also be changed by injuries. additionally a pokémon can also gain special features from crossbreeding for moves (quillpokebiology’s headcanon!) so that’s something.

Do hybrid (cross-breed) Pokémon exist?

no, though pokemon who have a slightly different appearance due to egg-breeding for moves exist. i again, took this from quillpokebiology, quite a fun headcanons if i do say so myself :)

Can people have more than 6 Pokémon to a team?

they can OWN more than 6 pokemon, however in battles its strictly six-only.

Do all Pokémon come from eggs?

it follows real-world stuff. generally mammals do live birth, insects, birds, and fish lay eggs. there might be some special birth methods depending on what pokémon, though. for example, slugma may be born from magma being possessed or something.

Does everyone believe in mythical Pokémon?

not everyone does, since they’re, well, yk, myths. there are even some theorists saying that mew isn’t real and that mewtwo was the original, haha.

Is it normal for 10 year olds to start a Pokémon journey?

10 is the legal age that anybody can legally own a pokémon/sign up for a trainer card. most pokémon trainers start their journey when they’re much older, though, about 15 to 19.

Can legendaries be caught?

there is only one of each legendary and mythical, but a human may befriend a legendary if they were lucky enough. paradox pokémon and ultra beasts still can be caught though, just that they’re of course, harder to catch than the average mon.

Do human-pokémon hybrids exist?

no

How truthful is the Pokédex?

depends, macargo definitely isn’t hotter than the sun, though.

Does cubone come from kangaskhan?

i don’t really know, though professors are suspecting they may have once been related.

Why are most Pokémon Professors named after trees?

uhhhhh. trees are usually considered to be symbols of experience, knowledge and wisdom- family trees, elder trees and all. i guess only the most popular pokémon professors are named after trees, others that aren’t don’t get too much of the spotlight cause, well, name i guess?? i don’t really have a proper explanation HAHA

Do Pokémon have levels?

a pokémon’s growth is calculated by the moves they learn, eg. xurkitree learns tail-glow naturally no matter what level you find it at, so if you find one that only knows tail glow (which i doubt you’ll ever do), it’s probably very low leveled or something. but it learns zap cannon at like, level 70, so if you find one that knows zap cannon you can tell it’s definitely very strong and is past level 70.

Can Pokémon that evolve in other ways besides leveling up (stones, friendship, trading, ect.) evolve naturally without those means?

yeah, those “special ways” are just a surefire, quicker way to get them to evolve.

Do Pokémon understand human speech?

yes they do, but for some mysterious reason humans can’t understand pokemon speech.

Can shiny Pokémon pass down the trait to offspring?

there’s an extremely rare chance, but yes.

Do IRL animals exist?

no

Do real world countries exist?

no

Do regions have more Gyms than just the ones you can challenge in-game?

no, though there are some unofficial gyms you can challenge just for fun.

Why are shiny Pokémon called shiny in-universe?

shiny pokémon are rare as gold. gold is shiny. henceforth the name “shiny pokémon”. it’s a fun little naming gimmick thought of by the first professor to go in depth into the research of shiny pokémon, the pioneer.

Are Pokémon strictly the typing they have in canon?

their primary two types remain strictly as their primary two types, though if their mom/dad was of a different type, that type gene could still be passed down to them and manifest as a super weak, but present third type.

Does defeating the champion make someone the new champion?

mhm, it does.

What's a headcanon or lore drop you've desperately wanted to talk about but haven't gotten the chance to?

the thing that made the great crater of paldea was the thing that wiped out the dino- i mean, fossil pokémon all those years ago.

guzzlord is a corrupted zygarde in another apocalyptic parallel universe where everything went wrong!

“grass like pokémon” with leaves and flowers and the such often get burnt badly if hit by fire type moves though if given proper treatment they can regenerate though the battle usually stops when the pokémon gets too injured to fight.

though they seem invincible, pokémon can actually die, so trainers should make sure they take good care of their pokémon after battle. poison is something you should get treated right away, no matter what.

aight, the next (VERY long) section is just me rambling about my favourite ultra beasts because i love these silly guys

Kartana:

if you know how to deal with it right, kartana is actually the easiest ultra beast to ward off, because they burn like paper when they touch fire.

they live in a relatively peaceful environment where their only real threat is other kartana trying to take over their territory.

the people you see in the ultra forest wearing straw hats are people that live in villages with the kartana, training and living alongside them. most are paired with their first one when they come of age, and live alongside that specific one until death.

there is an equal balance of power between kartana and their human, neither one is considered a “pet” or a “servant” and neither has “ownership” over the other. they’re just bonded together, friends, that’s it.

because of this, kartana are relatively friendly towards humans. the only reason why they act aggressively is because they’re stressed about this whole new world. when one approaches you and accidentally gives you a paper cut it’s probably because they’re trying to ask for directions on how to go home.

they only go full on turbo aggressive slicey slicey mode when they or their human partners are face with imminent danger or particularly large opponents.

you can tell a kartana’s age by the length of their little feelers! the longer they are, the younger they are, with newborn’s feelers being about 10 cm long.

they HATE their feelers being touched, it’s painful and it’s weird and it’s sensitive. just imagine like, someone trying to touch your eye, now how would you like that?

older kartana have shorter feelers, which means the feelers shrink as they age. they rely heavily on these things to function, and most deaths are because they got themselves killed because their senses were too weak.

their blades at birth are already sharp enough to cut through thick wood and some weaker metals, though their blades are sharpened with time and practice and only really reach the “can cut anything” level at around 10-15 years of age.

the average kartana lives for about 30-45 years!

the most common reason for death in their world is accidental drowning, which is why occasionally, you’ll see an unfortunate kartana drifting downstream or floating in a lake or… yeah, you get it.

kartana’s world is like. just imagine infinite minecraft forest with some sakura villages and bamboo groves here and there.

contrary to popular belief, kartana don’t frequently challenge each other to swordfights since well. their blades can literally cut through anything and the match would be decided in a few seconds.

instead, a move commonly used in battles is razor leaf, they challenge each other to fights where they shoot those sharp leaves at each other and see who can dodge the most. it’s a battle of speed, agility, samurai skills, and ✨honor✨

some kartana even challenge each other to sculpting contests where they make little wood sculptures and battle on which one looks the nicest!

they’re born from little seed pods on the trees that grow in their world, falling off the tree when they are born.

kartana’s ability in its world, when it’s not covered in ultra energy, is Sharpness, it’s hidden ability being Hyper Cutter!

aight. enough kartana, let’s move on to…

blacephalon:

blacephalon live in a very strange, eerie infinite forest of warped, leafless trees.

it is always night there. the only source of light is the multi coloured stars that shine brightly in the sky- and they look like stars that primary school children drew, something out of a child’s sketchbook.

these stars occasionally fall out of the sky, and hit the earth. they sometimes set the trees on fire, which is eerie green, and remain bright and burning for a while before losing their starlight and fading out.

blacephalon actively run around the forest seeking those fallen stars to consume their energy to replenish their firepower.

starlight gives them the power they need to put on those spectacular fireworks they always do, and that’s a very important aspect of them so yeah.

because of this, some researchers considered giving them the name UB-Starseeker but thought UB-Burst was more fitting instead so yeah.

they’re also kind of scared of the stars falling, cause… it’s always night. the only light source is the stars. so what if all the stars fall? total darkness, that’s what.

you know how in blacephalon’s dex entry it says it slides up to humans to steal their energy? and that whole “humans are made from stars” thing and all that?

well. the life force that powers humans and some celestial pokémon is the same as the one found in stars. as such, since stars obviously don’t ACTUALLY fall in this world, theyyyyy… turn to humans.

they have been known to attack minior because those lil guys are just TEEMING with star energy as well, but often get driven off since yk. rock flying. fire ghost. type advantage…?

blacephalon are actually super competitive, so when they see any display of light they think is flashier than its own, they actively walk up to it and start blowing their brains out in an attempt to outperform the other. including other blacephalon! one was even seen putting on fireworks outside a particularly flashy shop window once, haha

blacephalon have very limited psychic powers, not enough to attack but enough to help them levitate off the ground and “fly” as seen in the anime! if a move tutor/tm manages to strengthen it, they can use psychic/psyshock hence it being in their moveset!

they’re actually really similar to gengar in terms of behaviour. both love to play pranks, both demand attention from their friends/trainers, both love to steal people’s souls and energy.

they love to perform and impress, and they love applause and adoration!

mind blown is actually an upgraded version of their usual “firework-explode-head” thing, designed to attack rather than to impress, hence most blacephalons not collapsing after like two fireworks. it takes away a LOT of their power though. hence the 50% hp drop

the lifespan of a blacephalon is unknown, though researchers theorise that they even fade out and die when their starlight runs out. that’s why if you keep a blacephalon in the real world, be sure to have it out of its pokeball at night so it can at least get some exposure to the stars outside. also be prepared to feel unusually tired in the morning because your alien clown might’ve felt a lil sleepy themselves last night and fed on your energy to stay awake

it is said they are born when two falling stars from their world cross paths and collide with one another, creating a beautiful explosion in the sky like a firework.

their ability when they’re in their world and not bathed in ultra energy is Flash Fire, with their hidden ability being Competitive!

OKAY THAT WAS A REALLY LONG RANT IM SO SORRY THERES PROBABLY GONNA BE MORE BUT THATS ALL THANK YOU 🫡

IRL Pokémon asks: blog "canon" edition!

Since everyone has varying ideas on what is and isn't canon to their blog, here's a chance to talk about your ideas! What's canon to the games and shows doesn't mean it's canon to you.

Are Pokémon able to use more than four moves?

Can legendaries breed?

Do sentient/sapient Pokémon exist?

Are Pokémon all "standard" as their official designs or is there variation to their appearance?

Do hybrid (cross-breed) Pokémon exist?

Can people have more than 6 Pokémon to a team?

Do all Pokémon come from eggs?

Does everyone believe in mythical Pokémon?

Is it normal for 10 year olds to start a Pokémon journey?

Can legendaries be caught?

Do human-pokémon hybrids exist?

How truthful is the Pokédex?

Does cubone come from kangaskhan?

Why are most Pokémon Professors named after trees?

Do Pokémon have levels?

Can Pokémon that evolve in other ways besides leveling up (stones, friendship, trading, ect.) evolve naturally without those means?

Do Pokémon understand human speech?

Can shiny Pokémon pass down the trait to offspring?

Do IRL animals exist?

Do real world countries exist?

Do regions have more Gyms than just the ones you can challenge in-game?

Why are shiny Pokémon called shiny in-universe?

Are Pokémon strictly the typing they have in canon?

Does defeating the champion make someone the new champion?

What's a headcanon or lore drop you've desperately wanted to talk about but haven't gotten the chance to?

[sepublic]

Makuta and Rahi

           I really have to speculate about the Makutas’ relationship with Rahi as a whole. It’s never quite defined within canon the purpose of Rahi’s existence in the Matoran Universe, did the Makuta ever consider this, and did it bother them? While Mata Nui created various sapient races with no-doubt clear-cut purposes as part of a larger machine… Did the Makuta ever feel insecurity over the seemingly pointless addition of the Rahi? Did they ever feel extraneous alongside their own creations?

           Especially since I can see a LOT of thought, passion, and creativity going into a lot of Rahi species and their designs, behaviors, the way they interact with one another… There’s a delicate thing that needs to be considered when designing an ecosystem, and that’s Balance. I have to wonder if that’s a concept that the Brotherhood of Makuta held dear to their hearts, especially given how inextricably tied it is to their creations.

           Thinking on it, I can better understand why the Makuta saw taking over the universe as just a mere extension of their pre-existing duties. Their ordained purpose in life had already been to create species who have specific niches, roles, and purposes to play… Mata Nui’s handling of sapient species was no different, right? You had Makuta actively working to improve upon pre-existing creations, so improving upon a fractured universe by uniting it just makes sense! The line is further blurred when one considers the presence of sapient rahi… And in that scenario, I guess it’s not too surprising that the Makuta saw themselves as not all that different from Mata Nui, in the end- Maybe even better.

           The creation of ecosystems also means establishing a cycle of life, which often means designing species with the intended purpose to be devoured and/or killed by other Rahi creations. That sort of lifestyle and mentality, raising and designing entire species for a specific purpose, one they both live and diefor… It can really create a God complex amongst some Makuta. They have literal divine justification in creating a ‘greater system’ where the lives of countless Rahi are meant to be sacrificed and hunted down, all to maintain a cycle of life, a specific balance.

           And considering their roles, the Makuta no doubt got used to the idea of culling populations in order to maintain an order and ‘balance’ within ecosystems. And with the line between Rahi and sapient species blurring… I can see, more and more, how the Makuta became so nonchalant to the idea of killing others for a ‘greater purpose’, and how this casual attitude just led to the Brotherhood becoming more and more desensitized- Until we have people like Icarax or Gorast, who outright revel in carnage. They were encouraged from creation to create species that were meant to die, or species that were meant to kill- Oftentimes both. And as one takes pride in their ability to fulfill this role, some end up taking pride in their creations’ ability to kill, and/or die…

           I’d even argue the Makuta are the Matoran Universe equivalent to the Great Beings, as amoral scientists who saw ruling the world as just a natural extension of their pre-existing duties, and themselves as the best candidates for the job. After all, the Archives Massacre taught them that it was necessary to kill a few, in order to save the rest… Aside from Teridax having always been genuinely terrible, I can see why his role as a Zoologist framed the way he perceived the situation. It wouldn’t have been much different to the nonchalance that comes from killing off an invasive species in droves, all to maintain an ecosystem- Or introducing predators whose sole purpose is to kill those creatures.

           I can also see this desensitization towards individual plights and smaller issues, all for the greater good, really getting to the Makuta. As they spread out following the Matoran Civil War, a lot of Makuta likely had a policy of just letting smaller incidents, chaos, and injustices occur without interference- So long as they didn’t interfere with the grand scheme of things. It’d be like turning a blind eye to a helpless prey being pursued by a hungry pack of predators- Sure, you feel sorry for that prey. But in the end, this is just nature, it’s just how it is… And those predators have to eat, man. It’s like how Zoologists, out in the wild, generally don’t interfere with the stuff that goes on around them, unless this is something threatening an entire ecosystem or species. I can see some Makuta coping with their roles by deciding that it’s downright immature to be caught up in the life of a single Rahi, learning not to be so attached to creatures that just come and go, living and dying, etc.

          I can see how their roles as ecosystem overseers led to the Makuta being discouraged from getting personally involved, nor closely attached to the actual subjects they were working with- And how this practice translated towards their oversight of the Matoran Universe, letting the Toa do the heavy-lifting of protecting society. I can see how they became resentful of the Toa, who were blessed to be but mere heroes and protectors, and received adulation for this; While the Makuta felt unappreciated as beings who had to make difficult choices for the greater good, and often sacrifice the lives of others for this purpose.

          No doubt, many coped by seeing the callous reality of their duties as being noble in its own sense, as is the idea of making the difficult call to kill others for the sake of a larger world. There must’ve been jealousy amongst the Makuta towards the Toa- Who were revered for fulfilling their roles, only for the Makuta to be vilified for doing the same. Don’t blame THEM for their detached manner of overseeing the universe, the Makuta were just doing what the Great Spirit told of them! And that could lead to resentment towards Mata Nui, for even making the Makuta to be like this…

           And when the League of Six Kingdoms fell, following the disappearance of the Barraki? It’s no wonder the Brotherhood of Makuta took over, they applied that same principle of enforcing a balance and functioning system, an interconnected web of interactions, and applied it on a grander yet similar scale- This time to the countless civilizations and sapient species of the Matoran Universe. Given how apathetic Mata Nui was towards maintaining the Matoran Universe, I can see how the Makuta thought themselves as better rulers.

          As Zoologists, they’d be intimately aware of the process of observing populations in their natural habitat, keeping an eye on them, herding them towards a desired path with a guiding hand. The Brotherhood probably saw itself as paying more attention to the goings-on of the Matoran Universe than the Great Spirit, and they were probably right! And it really does seem like common sense, that people who actually know more about the world they’re governing and more closely involved with it, should actually be running it VS some detached, apathetic Great Spirit that can’t even notice the formation of a League or Toa Empire in his own body, so long as it’s not directly affecting him.

           When you’re designing ecosystems, you have to take everything into account- So the Makuta likely saw themselves as more attentive, responsible, and even compassionate towards the Matoran Universe inhabitants, than their own god. Not to mention the idea of constantly manipulating the lives of being they see as lesser, more primitive, and not having the same rights nor intelligence as them… I can see some Makuta mistakenly dismissing the sapient species of the Matoran Universe as no different. Or at least, that same detached, patronizing attitude of treating others without regard to what THEY have to say, because they’re too dumb to consider the bigger picture… I can see how it was applied to beings like the Matoran.

          I can see why the Makuta saw the sapient species of their world, and ‘dumb animals’ as not being all that different… And on the flip-side, this naturally meant that just as Rahi were lesser beings to them, so were the other sapient species in the Matoran Universe. And it just led to the Makuta distancing themselves, creating that sense of detachment and superiority, that mentality that the ends justified the means… Being encouraged to create others with the purpose to kill and/or die, taking pride in one’s ability to create something that causes death, or satisfaction at the demise of something else…

          Not to mention, the diversity of Rahi may have exceeded that of sapient species, which not only influenced the Makutas’ fascination with shapeshifting and their creativity, but likely made them see themselves as being more clever and imaginative creators than Mata Nui himself. Working closely with the Great Spirit also made him seem much less distant to the Makuta, much more approachable… And thus so much more flawed and vulnerable. Especially if they knew exactly how a jeopardized system could easily throw Mata Nui’s health out of balance, how he was outright dependent on the lives of his ‘lesser beings’ and creations, while the Makuta lacked such a weakness and only continued to transcend, evolving past physical bodies.

           The Makuta, most of them, were terrible people. That much is not up for debate, and most of them really DID choose their own horrific paths. People like Gorast and Icarax enjoyed carnage far too much, while Teridax was just awful to an unprecedented degree. But it makes me consider Krika’s sadness, how he sees the Makuta as trapped to their fate, like their decisions to become conquerers and usurpers was merely inevitable… Because in the end, they were made for that. They were made to be Zoologists, and thus predisposed to traits that would better enable their purpose.

           Just as the role of the Toa made them predisposed to being heroic and beloved by others… One could argue that the Makuta were similarly fated in a sense, albeit doomed. They had a completely different purpose than the Toa, and that meant a different mentality, way of life, and handling of others… The Makuta weren’t made to necessarily care for others, and to even disregard the lives of some for a ‘greater good’, for a balance. They were placed in an environment and position that both encouraged and required the attitudes that led to their corruption, so I can see why Krika felt his fate as a traitor to the Great Spirit was inevitable- Because one can’t escape their reason for existence, nor can they escape Destiny. And, it’s funny that Krika becomes so resigned to the idea of being unable to escape one’s inherent nature… Because one can argue that the Makuta DID rise above that, alongside their intended purpose. They weren’t meant to take over the Matoran Universe as conquerers, yet they chose to act contrary to both the plans of the Great Spirit and Great Beings.

           And while Krika saw this lifestyle as a natural extension of their creators’ intended roles for them… There’s still the realization that they DID defy the plans of their makers, to an extent. To the point where they could outright rebel against them- Again, as a result of attitudes implanted by their creators, for the purpose of carrying out their assigned duties. But still… It’s not entirely hopeless, and that’s Krika’s downfall- He just sort of gave up. He was too much of a coward, too resigned, and too apathetic to make a difference. Krika saw one’s environment as dictating a person’s existence and identity, but I can see why- After all, with regards to the idea of evolution and adaptations, for many animals their environment literallyshapes what they are!

          And just as environments can be created by the Great Beings, so too can Rahi be made by the Makuta, with regards to how they’ll function in said environments. Krika lived by the idea that beings are dictated entirely by the circumstances they were made in… If his own Rahi could never rise above their environmental circumstances, then could Krika? Especially since he, too, is a creation of a higher being? Overall, I can see how Krika became so defeatist and cynical; At least until the last second, but by then it was too late. To Krika, beings’ lives are dictated by an unchangeable environment/situation, and the only way to survive is to adapt and conform to that environment, to live by what it dictates- There is no changing one’s situation, you are entirely subject to its whim and power. Perhaps it’s no wonder Krika became so disillusioned.

[nyxabird]

The Arkana Magician is probably one of the saddest characters I’ve seen.

I am the weirdest person because I think too hard about tiny side characters that are basically there just to move the plot along, and today has highlighted that because I’m crying over one of the tiniest like... seriously depressed.

So talks with my friend turned to the Pandora Black Magician/Arkana Dark Magician today, because I’m playing Duel Links and getting summon animations and that’s one I was missing. And I basically made myself completely depressed over this.

Also Memory World spoiler(s?) because this is going deep into talks about a certain someone. Since the English translation is the best known, I’ll use the English names for the post. (I’m used to using Japanese so forgive me if I slip up.)

For anyone who doesn’t know or doesn’t remember, the “Arkana Dark Magician” is sort of the mouthful title for the fake Magician we see in one of the duels in Battle City. It’s also sometimes called “Dark Magician (Arkana)” or “Dark Magician (Arkana Version)”. Or just sometimes Arkana Magician.

It’s this one, in the red armor.

Now the episode just seems like a typical throwaway copy fight whatever, tense and meaningful but nothing really new. Arkana is beaten, the story moves on, nobody thinks about him again.

Except. I started thinking about him. And where my mind went was really, really, sad. Most of this is going to be headcanon since this is barely if at all touched on in-universe, just fyi.

We have no evidence where he's from, but the most likely option is that he's a fake card. We have evidence for it -- Marik is making fake Ras, which seem to function fine as cards, it’s just their side effects boil down to “God is angry because fuck you for making copies”. And, you know, the art of the Arkana Magician is distinctly less quality than the other cards we see, hinting it’s not drawn with the same professionalism, hinting further it’s done by someone else.

You can actually see if you look at it carefully. It just looks off somehow, especially with the positioning of his arms and how the staff isn’t actually being held in his hand, it’s sort of... glued to his wrist. There’s just something very weird and not-right about it.

On top of the evidence of fake cards being made, we never see this version of the card again. We see other versions, but the fact this is a one-off unique version likely means it’s not something produced by Industrial Illusions.

So, you have Marik make a fake Dark Magician. All’s fine and dandy, except not quite no, because the Dark Magician isn’t just any card. It’s a card that was made when the High Priest Mahad fused his human soul with his ka, the manifestation of it, and basically turned himself into a Duel Monster. So you’re already playing with fire just making a fake of that.

But.

BUT.

IT GETS WORSE.

BECAUSE ALL OF ARKANA’S CARDS ARE ALIVE.

Arkana says this outright because his constant refrain is that you have to make your monsters fear you. He literally owns them, they’re his slaves, and he abused and frightens them. You wouldn’t do that for things you think are pieces of paper -- normal duelists believe in their decks and monsters but it’s like believing in your Roomba. You don’t think it’s actually sapient.

But Arkana does, he treats them like they are, and thus it’s pretty clear that his deck and cards are alive. (This is even further established by Yami himself, who tells Arkana his monsters are crying.) And thus the copy of the Dark Magician he gets is brought to life. Except it’s a fake copy, it can’t draw on the real Mahad’s spirit, so you now have this weird hybrid-Duel-Spirit-that’s-not-really-an-individual-spirit hanging around.

WHOOPS.

So the Arkana Magician is this brand new baby spirit, wide-eyed and (probably) innocent, and then he gets handed to a complete psychopath who literally abuses him and treats him like an unfeeling tool. Of course he goes psychotic under that sort of treatment. He’s been “alive” for not even a year most likely, and the only other people besides himself that he knows are his owner (who is an abusive shitbag) and the other monsters (who are also slaves, but considered under him). So he’s in this weird limbo of being worthless except as a weapon for Arkana to wield and yet somehow above the other monsters, meaning he’s basically isolated from the very start.

And what happens after this isolation and abuse? He gets pitted against Yami. With the real Dark Magician -- with Mahad. And he gets thrown into a duel where it’s made blatantly clear, with no room for misinterpretation, that he’s not the real thing. He’s a fake, a phony, a copy, an imposter. He’s beaten down, derided, and destroyed (sacrificed by Arkana himself, because he’s a tool, he exists to die for him, again and again). He existed to be a sword, that’s his purpose for being alive, and his blade just got shattered off the shield that is the real him. The real him who is loved by Yami, treated respectfully. It’s made, very painfully and bluntly clear, that he’s nothing more than a knock-off here, a thing that isn’t considered real or worth affection or care.

A knock-off that nobody actually WANTS. Because when Arkana loses, he goes insane, so of course he wouldn’t keep him. But Yami doesn’t take him either. We don’t know for sure why, though honestly, with what evidence we have, it seems very much like the Arkana Magician just slipped their mind. Arkana gets fucked over by Marik so he can’t free himself, so Yugi takes over and frees him, Marik shows up to flip them the double-bird, Arkana basically goes completely insane, and then everyone finally shows up and Yugi is just so done with all this insanity right now that it’s slipped him and Yami’s minds.

Which... honestly, I get. Yugi is a teenager, Yami only has a group of teenagers to model his feelings/handling of things on. I don’t blame them for forgetting. But even if I don’t blame them, even if I think no one’s at fault here, it’s still pretty heartless and definitely heartbreaking.

“But Nyx!” you say. “He was hostile and an asshole, why would they take him with them?” To which I ask you to remember that Yugi nearly lost a foot of what very little height he had in order to save Arkana. And also, why is Kaiba hanging around? How did Yugi befriend Jounouchi again? At this point it’s pretty clear that Yugi’s bar for “this person is too evil to be my friend” is set high enough I’m fairly certain that a giraffe wouldn’t have to do more than slightly duck to get under it.

We have no idea what happens after that, but like... knowing the card is real, the Spirit World is real, and yet he’s a fake made off a real monster the options we can see aren’t really good. It’s actually pretty likely that he’s just... trapped in the card forever, since he isn’t real on his own -- at best he’s a tiny fragment of Mahad’s soul (which seems like a very likely option since he’s inherited Mahad’s skin color and makeup), at worst he’s a false imitation of a spirit that isn’t any more real than the “Mexican” food at Taco Bell. Either way, it’s likely he can’t pass on to the Spirit World. Which means he’s just... stuck, in the card. Forever. Completely alone because Pandora can’t use him, Yami didn’t take him, and nobody wants him.

He’s “lived” for such a short time and yet everyone he ever met hated him. To Pandora, he was a tool to be used at Arkana’s whims, hurt if he ever did something “wrong”, and as the episode shows he was fucking terrified of Arkana for it (and likely hated him in turn). To Yami, he was an opponent, a fake of Yami’s beloved Dark Magician (or at the very least took Yami’s feelings to be that, if nothing else). We don’t know what Mahad thinks of him, but quite frankly I doubt it’s anything good considering Mahad strictly serves the Pharaoh and his reincarnations and here is this knock-off street bazaar him serving an insane asshole that’s trying to kill said Pharaoh.

This poor fucker was doomed from the very beginning. And it breaks my heart that in the end, even though he was a victim and never asked for this, he probably got punished just as much as everyone else because he got left behind to rot, trapped in a card in likely complete solitude until he goes insane himself or the card’s destroyed and he can die. Honestly, for as much abuse as he got from Pandora, rotting in solitude is a far worse fate for someone who never deserved it.

[primrose-path-of-dalliance]

summary:

Modern D&D AU. Caleb settled in for a slow morning at the library, only to be interrupted by a very harried tiefling woman.

It was the first weekday of winter break, meaning that the university campus would be as barren of sapient life as the Barbed Fields. Thus, having to come in for work anyway would have been a slow torture—if Caleb worked anywhere other than a library.

It was already peaceful and quiet, nary a sound of keyboards clacking or students snoring through a power nap. Bliss to his ears.

Caleb did a brisk route around the shelves, grabbing books along the way, until he returned to the front desk with a stack of reading material. He didn't smile at the books as he set them down, per se. After all, it still would've been nicer to read at home with Frumpkin purring in his lap. But this was good, too.

He was a third of the way into the first book of the stack, a treatise by Halas Lutagran on the necromantic foundations of healing magic, when he heard the entrance doors open.

He looked up, brow furrowing, just in time to flinch at a loud yell.

"Beaaaaaaaaau! I need your help, where are you?"

A very blue, pretty tiefling woman flounced into the main hall, dark blue skirts swirling in with the bracing winter wind outside. Instinctively, Caleb wrapped himself with a free arm despite still wearing his coat. The cold did not agree with him these days.

She spun around to face the front desk, mouth open for more enthusiastic yelling, and stopped. "Oh."

He wasn't sure what expression he was making, but he was pretty sure it involved a grimace and a raised eyebrow. "Hello."

"Um." The woman fidgeted with a braid in her short hair, gratefully looking ashamed for a brief second before she bounced over to the desk. The multiple layers of skirt on her hips genuinely gave such an illusion when combined with her general air of enthusiasm. At least Caleb could assume she wasn't cold. "Is Beau here?"

"I am covering for her today. She is away on a trip."

"A trip?" the woman gasped. She threw her arms up in a huff. "She didn't say anything about a trip!"

"Since I only received the request last night, I can guess it was spontaneous."

She groaned. "Yeah, that sounds like her. I bet Dairon came over and kidnapped her, that would explain why I haven't gotten any texts back from her. She's really weird about not using phones when doing something 'important.'" She adds the last in a conspiratorial hush, eyes rolling.

"Right." Caleb's fingers in his book twitched. Would she leave?

Based on the begrudging but desperate look she gave him, after taking another moment for herself to grumble and cross her arms about Beauregard, he could only assume no. Inwardly, he sighed and tucked a pen from the counter into the book.

"So, look," she began, leaning over to brace her crossed arms on the counter. Caleb struggled not to draw back at the sudden proximity as she gazed up at him through her bangs. "I really need some help, please. I have a bird I'm bird-sitting because all of my roommates left to go home for the break except for me because I can't really go home for some complicated reasons I don't really want to get into but makes me really sad, and my roommate who owns the bird couldn't take the bird with her because her mom's boyfriend really hates birds—which, you'd think that would be a dealbreaker for the whole relationship, right, because who hates birds? But whatever, relationships are weird—so I have this bird now, and maybe I told my roommate that I can definitely take care of a bird because I didn't want her to worry about it and how hard could it be, right? Except I don't actually know anything about taking care of a bird and I was hoping Beau would be here because she knows how to take care of birds, she has a parakeet, too, except now she's not here because she probably got kidnapped by Dairon which means I won't even be able to call her for help because Dairon made her turn her phone off!"

At this point, the woman's arms were flying all over the counter as she gesticulated her effusive, supreme distress. One of her hands came dangerously close to slapping the stack of books Caleb had collected into oblivion.

And somehow, she had said all of those words in a few seconds without hardly breathing. He was still rebooting from reading a very engaging treatise less than a minute ago.

Subtly, Caleb shifted the stack of books away from her and worked his jaw.

"I do not know anything about caring for birds," he began.

The woman let out a long, horrified groan and buried her face in her arms. Her fingers went to bury themselves in blue locks.

"But," he said.

The woman's head flew back up, hope lighting her features.

Caleb stuttered at the abrupt heel-turn, and at the way happiness livened her round blue face much more pleasingly than despair. "But, erm, there are many books and computers here. I cannot swear to the accuracy of some of the books, which may be out-of-date or just old, but research is not too difficult. You can use one of the computers here to look for advice online."

The hope in her eyes dimmed a little as she pursed her lips, resting a cheek against a hand. "I mean, I thought about doing that at home. But I'm really worried about getting something wrong, and I don't know what articles are right or wrong either, you know."

Later, he would whack himself for being so weak for something as apparently simple as a charming visage. "I can help."

"Really?"

Caleb winced. Goodbye, Halas treatise. "I have a lot of experience with research. I can tell you if something appears accurate."

"That would be so helpful, thank you!"

She was beaming at him. It was very warm. He looked down at the floor, prayed to the gods he hadn't begun to flush, and said, "Okay, let me show you to the computer room."

Several hours later, the tiefling woman too had a stack of reading material.

"Really, thank you so much," she gushed, stopping on her heel to turn to Caleb as he returned to his spot behind the front desk. "You've saved my life—" she patted the top of the stack of printed articles "—and probably the life of Kiri, too."

"Oh, I would not say that." Caleb massaged his forearm, fingers flexing tight. "I sincerely doubt Kiri would have died under your care. I think you are cleverer than you give yourself credit for."

Her smile back was just as warm as the last sixty-two times she gave it to him. "Thanks, Caleb."

Caleb blinked, and then remembered for the fifth time about his nametag. He was so forgetful now for some reason. "It is my job."

"Still. Thanks."

He offered a tentative smile back.

"Oh gods, wait." The woman shuffled the stack of papers around until she cradled it with a single arm, chin on top pressing it in place, and stuck out a hand to Caleb. She was still grinning at him somehow, and the entire effect was unbearably adorable. "I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Jester. It was really nice to meet you."

He was helpless to resist. He took her hand and shook it. It was cool to the touch. "My name is Caleb. As you already know."

She giggled. The papers under her chin rustled. "Yup. You're really warm, you know."

"Ah, ja." Caleb tucked his hand into his coat pocket and tried not to blush for the thirty-fourth time. "I run hot."

Jester took a few steps back toward the exit, again rearranging the papers until she was holding them in both arms again. She paused and pursed her lips for half a second before asking, "Do you work tomorrow, too?"

"All day."

She nodded decisively. "Then tomorrow I'm coming back and you can meet Kiri, okay?"

"I... okay."

"Okay!"

She beamed at him. He smiled back and waved. She also waved, and then yelped and fumbled to keep the top papers from fluttering off as Caleb not-so-successfully stifled his snickers.

Finally she left, winter winds swirling in again in her wake.

Caleb rubbed his arms as he stared out the door after her, smile still lingering on his lips. Then he sighed, looked down at the counter, and put his elbows down to bury his hot face in his equally hot palms. "Fuck me," he mumbled into his hands.

[bluekayanite]

SU(:F) theory: Is it (really) over?

To me, that ending was kinda... unsatisfying, and not just because there was a lack of finding a Pink Diamond separate from Steven (AGAIN). ^_^;  Like, for some reason, I Am My Monster didn't feel that... intense, somehow?  I mean, maybe it was the not-too-dark lighting, or the fact that the ep wasn't focused on Steven's POV (which I guess is interesting, but it also made the ep feel odd to me).  Or maybe it's because there wasn't much in the way of a battle.  But whatever the case, it just didn't fit my expectations, tension-wise. ^_^;

However, Is say that the BIGGEST issue for me is that there's still so much left to uncover.  I've previously mentioned [a short list of mysteries that haven't been solved], and I don't think that SU:F touched upon any of them.  I think I'll reiterate, add well as adding to it:

What happened to the other lions?  How did Rose get them in the first place?

The mystery of Amethyst having ears when most Gems do not.

The magic lizards that Lion kept eating, for Pete's sake! >.<

We still haven't really seen the colonies.

We haven't seen this building:

That book in Rose's "junk pile" still seems important.

WHAT WAS IN THE CHEST IN LION'S MANE?! O.O

We still know so little about Gem culture, esp. folklore, celebrations, history outside colonizing, etc.

We STILL don't really know what Gems made by/for White are like.

Yellow's extraction chamber hasn't actually been explained.

We still don't know what happened to Pink's court.

There are STILL multiple timeline conflicts: When Pink (supposedly) had each Pearl + Amethyst incubation periods, at least.

Did Pearl belong to White at some point (even if she doesn't remember)?

A song was teased via Blue, and we still haven't heard the whole thing.

For some stuff I haven't mentioned before, I kind of expect gender politics to be brought up via Gems, esp. the uncorrupted ones: Mother Centipeedle (Gem Glow) + "That's not a leg!" (The Kindergarten Kid) seem like foreshadowing to me.  Plus, Jasper, Larimar, and Snowflake Obsidian all seem like they could be non-binary in some way.  Not to mention those two Gems that Yellow was working on.

Speaking of the Centipeedle, we still haven't seen how Centi's doing, and I REALLY wanna see how Centi's doing. 3=  I mean, she was featured in the opening, so I kind of expected her to be featured in the show, again.

I doubt that many (formerly) elite Gems are happy with all the social changes, i.e. they don't like the idea of "lesser" Gems suddenly being equal to them, and I bet that a lot of then don't like the Diamonds giving up command, either.  (I did notice that it was primarily common Gems and "off-colors" featured in Homeworld Bound, being all happy, particularly in the tour group and whatnot - mostly from Famethyst, and/or the uncorrupted Gems.  Seems like it could be a piece of foreshadowing.)

And for something uber-serious, I HIGHLY doubt that the Diamonds went around stomping out life on so many planets without making some enemies.  I mean, obviously Earth has sapient species, I think odds are that some other planets - namely colonies - had sapient life, too.  White even alluded to this.

...And I'm willing to bet that at least one of those races or there has not been completely wiped out, and would be seriously powerful. ^_^;  At least, I think at least one of them would have friends that would (now) be powerful, and would be up for taking advantage of how all the Gem armies have now been disbanded. =D;

But yeah, I'd like to see sapient species on other planets, in general. ^_^

...Aaaand then there's pretty much everything else I've mentioned under the "rose quartz wasn't pink diamond" tag. ^_^;  I mean, sure, a fair amount of it has been genuinely disproven, particularly when it comes to when (or I guess you could say "if," at least for some cases) as well as how a lot of it would it would happen.  A lot of it is also seeming a lot more unlikely.  Still, there are a lot of things that still seem like they still need to be addressed, not the least of which being how little details of Pink's appearance just keep on changing.

Even just in the movie, there's like a dozen different ways or so that her appearance varies - 15+ in the series, overall.  It's to the point where it seems heavily like they're using different models of her for different shots!

But yeah... there's still so much I wanna know. ;.;

Like I mentioned, some of those things do seem like foreshadowing - hints of things that are to be touched on later, and NOT to be simply left unresolved. ^_^:  That said, they do give me some hope that things will continue.

And personally, I do think that I Am My Monster brought up another (possible) mystery:

I do wonder... what exactly does White mean by this?  How would White hurting Pink result in Pink hurting Spinel?   And SPECIFICALLY White (she's the only Diamond who didn't say we/us and entirely blamed herself) - I mean, sure what the others did probably started with her, aaaand maybe she has a tendency to put everything on herself (and that’s where Pearl got it), but I think this might mean something that White did specifically.

AFAIK, Pink/Rose didn't intentionally try to hurt anyone ("else"), even with the fact that she kept on being hurt.  So why would there be an exception for Spinel?  Particularly one that White would know/feel guilty about?

If you've been following me then you might be able to guess where I'm going with this: To me, it sounds like White might be slipping on the fact that she hid the real Pink on Earth's moon and used "Modify Memory" at an epic level; if White kept Pink from returning, Spinel would've been left alone FAR longer than Pink had intended. =(

...Also, the Diamonds STILL aren't going for an actual hug, even though this seems like a more-than-appropriate time to so.

Heck, they're essentially the only ones who didn't (besides maybe Connie - Lion and the Cluster don't count).  Even Spinel managed one, and she had to stretch like CRAZY to do so. XD;

EDIT: One of the particularly-strong reasons why I consider this noteworthy is because White actually ran up with wide-open arms.

(Say... is Blue waterbending herself over the water instead of running?  I believe she is. =3)

But yeah... I haven't heard anything, but I'm holding onto hope that there will still be something more... and not just because I'm still hoping that the REAL Pink will be released from the moon.  (Though that is certainly a part of it. XD)  Like, maybe there'll be another series called "Steven Universe Returns" or something.  It certainly seems like an appropriate title, at least. X3