#number of canon species: 41

[vickyvicarious]

Beetle Bracket

The substack is over now, it's time to be honest. None of us truly needed The Beetle in our lives. And do you know what we need even less? That's right:

The Beetle Sexyman* Bracket!

*gender, species, and probably even sexiness-neutral

That said, let's subject ourselves to this anyway.

There will be a grand total of five rounds, at the end of which the burning question will finally be answered: who is sexiest in Richard Marsh's The Beetle?

The Beetle Bracket is complete! See below for our final competitor's trophies, and below the cut for number breakdowns/writeups of each round.

Round One Breakdown

In the exact opposite of a shocking twist, Mr. Lindon was absolutely demolished by Train. Out of 130 votes, he got only 0.8%, compared to Train's whopping 90%. Excluding em-dash votes, that adds up to 117 for votes for Train and a measly 1 for Mr. Lindon.

Perhaps the biggest challenge this round was telling the contestants apart (at least in the wonderful accompanying art). However, people pulled through for Edwards, deeming that his ability to survive Sydney is the sexier quality. Out of 55 votes, Edwards won with 52.7%, compared to Peter's 27.3%. Excluding em-dash votes, that's 29 votes for Edwards, and 15 for Peter.

Brick Guy aimed his stones at the voters' hearts, it seems! Out of 58 votes, he won handily with 87.9%, while Mrs. Henderson netted a mere 5.2%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 51 votes for Brick Guy, and 3 for Mrs. Henderson.

Another easy victory! The Flirty Constable was confirmed far sexier than Louisa Coleman, who could only disapprove out her window. Out of 47 votes, he got 83%, against Louisa Coleman's 8.5%. Excluding em-dash votes, that's 38 votes for Brick Guy, and 4 for Louisa Coleman.

We always knew this would be the real nail-biter of Round One, and it didn't disappoint! The vote was the closest by far, and both contestants exchanged the winning spot multiple times, but in the end Cat narrowly eked out a win... true to life, at least in my experience of cat vs. carpet battles. Out of 152 votes, Cat won with 44.7%, against Carpet's 42.1%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 68 votes for Cat, and 64 for Carpet.

One last gimme to finish us off this round. Out of 65 votes, Glove Seller won with 80%, Matthews trailing at 15.4%. Excluding em-dash votes, that adds up to 52 votes for Glove Seller, and 10 for Matthews.

Round Two Breakdown

Look, he's no Superman - Robert Holt stood no chance against this runaway Train, it seems. Out of 102 votes, it barreled to victory with 58.8% against Bobert's 31.4%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 60 votes for the train, and 32 for Holt.

Nearly everyone agrees that No One is sexier than Augustus Champnell! No, not like that. I mean, the detective is significantly less sexy than the mere concept of no one at all. Out of 64 votes, No One handily won with 81.3% against Augustus's 9.4%. Excluding em-dash votes, that is 52 votes for No One, and 6 for Augustus Champnell.

Marjorie Lindon may have three men canonically head-over-heels for her, but neither Edwards nor Tumblr count among those numbers - though this was the closest match this round. Out of 41 votes, he quickly defeated her with 48.8% against her 31.7%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 20 votes for Edwards and 13 for Marjorie.

Percy Woodville doesn't want to fight - but luckily the voters were willing to do so for him! Out of 43 votes, he took 58.1%, compared to Brick Guy's 30.2%. Excluding em-dash votes, that becomes 25 votes for Percy, and 13 for Brick Guy.

The Beetle has many mystical abilities. Chief of these, it seems, is being literally the only main character to survive their first round in the sexyman contest! Speaks to the (lack of) sexiness in Marsh's writing, I suppose. Out of 104 votes, The Beetle won easily with 66.3%, while the Flirty Policeman only had 13.5%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 69 votes for Theb (nice), and 14 for the policeman.

He survived it twice, thanks to Edwards and The Beetle (more worthy competitors according to this round), but the third time seems to have been the charm. Sydney Atherton was absolutely slaughtered by Atherton's Magic Vapour! Out of 47 votes, the murdergas got 72.3% compared to Sydney's 17%. Excluding em-dash votes, that adds up to 34 votes for the vapour, and only 8 for its creator.

The Cat is no longer just lurking outside Paul Lessingham's house in hopes of pets and food. Oh no, it's shaping up to be a fierce competitor indeed! Out of 58 votes, it won easily with 58.6%, versus Paul's 29.3%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 34 votes for our favorite feline, and only 17 for the erstwhile statesman.

Glove Seller took an early lead, and Dora Grayling simply never caught up. Honestly, she'd probably be fine with it, she only cares about Sydney anyway. Out of 74 votes, Glove Seller easily won with 47.3%, Dora only getting 33.8%. Excluding em-dash votes, that equals 35 for Glove Seller, and 25 for Dora.

Round Three Breakdown

In any other sexyman bracket this matchup might not have meant so much, but I think we all understand these were some top contenders who both deserve our respect. Still, only one could continue on... and with the narrowest margin of victory in the entire bracket thus far, that turned out to be the Train! Out of 56 votes, it won with 46.4% against No One's 41.1%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 26 votes for Train, and 23 for No One. (Cat vs. Carpet had a difference of 4 votes, being the second-closest match. I'm loving that the fiercest battles are the ones with no people involved.)

Percy Woodville's charms carried the day once again, this time with a rather dramatic lead. I'm sure he's much more surprised than we are. Out of 38 votes, he had 78.9%, leaving Edwards in the dust with 10.5%. Excluding em-dash votes, that adds up to 30 votes for Percy, and 4 for Edwards.

Perhaps it's The Beetle's sheer unbridled charisma, perhaps it's the fact that the vapour has 'Atherton' in the name... Either way, this round was a slam dunk for our favorite coleoptera, proving that at least in this case canon was onto something. Out of 83 votes, The Beetle took 72.3% while Atherton's Magic Vapour could only muster up 13.3%. Excluding em-dash votes, that equals 60 for Theb, and just 11 for the vapour.

Well, it had a good run... but in the end the Cat just didn't know what to do in the face of that many gloves, just like everyone else Glove Seller has come up against. (It's fine, I'm officially declaring that she adopted it. These matches only end in death when the loser sucks.) Out of 52 votes, Glove Seller won with 53.8% versus Cat's 40.4%. Excluding em-dash votes, that would be 28 for Glove Seller, and 21 for the kitty.

Round Four Breakdown

He put up a good fight, and managed to close the initial gap somewhat, but in the end Percy just didn't have the requisite sexiness to defeat the mighty Train. Out of 63 votes, it won with 60.3%, against Percy's 28.6%. Excluding em-dash votes, that equals 38 votes for Train, and 18 for Percy.

Glove Seller may be many things (to us; she is admittedly very few things in canon), but apparently those do not include immunity to The Beetle. Winning with their narrowest margin yet, they still easily took over half of all votes! Out of 47 votes, Theb won with 63.8% versus Glove Seller's 23.4%. Excluding em-dash votes, that makes 30 votes for the Beetle, and 11 for Glove Seller.

As per vast majority vote, there will now be a third-place match next round. Apologies to the three of you who didn't want it, feel free to seek out your nearest hypnotist bugperson and ask them to erase the memories of whatever the results may be from your mind.

Final Round Breakdown

It seems that we are all the Train fiends today. At least for this one particular train. Out of 128 votes, it took the win with a solid 56.3%, against The Beetle's 31.3%. Excluding em-dash votes, that adds up to 72 votes for Train, and 40 for the Beetle. It seems some things are just meant to be. Theb will simply have to fly away with the silver, for now...

While the finale results were accurate to canon, that's not the case for third place! Percy Woodville made one final effort and overtook Glove Seller's early lead. Out of 57 votes, he won with 47.4%, against Glove Seller's 31.6%. Excluding em-dash votes, that equals 27 votes for Percy and 18 for Glove Seller. Honestly, I think she'd be proud of him, and if my official stance means anything to you, then you should know that Glove Wins (aka Persally aka this ship) is beetle bracket canon in my heart.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 27- Part 14

Now, if there are no further interruptions, we continue on to our true destination…

Back again at Coral Ward. Now, if I remember right, the specific warehouse Amaria was talking about was…

Here! Exactly! That is certainly a boat! A bit dirty on the bottom, but no surprise given the conditions of the lake.

Are we actually just doing this? Can Xera actually drive this?

She can???? Okay! Alright! Xera is licensed to handle a boat! That's canon now, I guess!

Also, why the heck is this music so sad? I just got here! No one's even dead, I think!

Anyways, this is as far as we go for the time being. But next time, I'm sure we'll get more action! Whether it be fighting Team Meteor and stopping the next PULSE, or challenging Kiki and getting the fifth Gym Badge, or maybe a bit of both, there are sure to be some big battles in the near future. So, look forward to that! And I'll see you all in the next installment!

CURRENT TEAM:

Riptide

Species: Feraligatr

Gender: Male

Level: 40

Ability: Sheer Force*

Item: Quick Claw

Brave nature; Somewhat vain. (Hey, guess who found out the Pokémon's characteristics can change?)

Glare

Species: Arbok

Gender: Female

Level: 40

Ability: Intimidate

Item: Protective Pads

Naughty nature; Likes to run.

Bloom

Species: Roserade

Gender: Male

Level: 41

Ability: Technician*

Item: Big Root 

Docile nature; Somewhat vain.

Prong

Species: Vikavolt

Gender: Female

Level: 40

Ability: Levitate

Item: Insect Plate

Rash nature; Loves to eat.

Crater

Species: Camerupt

Gender: Female

Level: 40

Ability: Magma Armor

Item: Quick Claw

Hardy nature; Often scatters things.

Kirin

Species: Girafarig

Gender: Female

Level: 40

Ability: Sap Sipper*

Item: Odd Incense

Quirky nature; Impetuous and silly.

CURRENT BOXES:

NUMBER OF RELOADS: 19

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[the-shinentist]

Archive / Timeline

(These are listed from oldest to newest, in numbered order that bounces between asks and story points. Asks will also have emojis by them linking to what character they were asked towards. Emojis can be found on character profiles.) Story points 1 - Travel: Part 1 2 - Travel: Part 2 9 - New Adventures: Part 1 10 - New Adventures: Part 2 11 - New Adventures: Part 3 18 - Runaway: Part 1 21 - Runaway: Part 2 27 - Runaway: Part 3 29 - Runaway: Part 4 Asks 3 - What has been your favorite shiny to research? 🖊️ 4 - Why do you suppose Paldea has a higher shiny rate? 🖊️ 5 - Think you'll finally get a new shiny in Paldea? 🖊️ 6 - What's so special about shiny pokemon? 🖊️ 7 - How rare would it be to find a shiny, two-headed eevee? 🖊️ 8 - What is your dream shiny pokemon? 🖊️ 12 - Why do the green one have horns? She's spicy 💚 13 - Congrats, professor! How's the skwovet doing? 🖊️🍲 14 - Why do you enjoy shiny pokemon so much? 🖊️ 15 - Does Mathias treat you well? Are you happy? 💚✨ 19 - What was it like growing up alongside Mathias? 💚 23 - What is it like being shiny? 💚 34 - What makes shiny pokemon so special? 🖊️ 44 - How do Espeon/Sylveon evolve? (Very sweet moment) ✨💚 46 - Esmeralda gets a compliment 💚 47 - How is the skwovet holding up? 🖊️ Magic Munday 16 - Esmeralda and Arthur species swap 17 - Mathias as an eevee 20 - Mathias gender-swap 31 - Item dump, poor Arthur 32 - Mathias gains Rowlett seeds Lore Tidbits / Misc 22 - Are Esmeralda and Arthur close? 24 - Were Essy and Arthur evolved, or caught? 25 - Non-canon animatic (Death TW) 26 - Paldea Rivals reveal! 28 - Pride doodle 30 - Mathias/Esmeralda Schlatt redraw 33 - Arthur had the Grimace shake.. 35 - Arthur gets more stickers from Hestau! 36 - All the planned Eeveelutions sneak peek! 37 - The one vaporeon is a chimera, what's up with that? 38 - Is the shiny gene linked to any other appearance genes? 39 - What's up with the eevee's tail? 41 - Do albinism, melanism, etc. exist in your universe? 42 - Is there any possible romance planned? 43 - Mathias meets Professor Sycamore (non-canon) 45 - Throwing confetti at Mathias

[silverior968]

Here are the cleaned up floorplans because I spent a lot of time on them in an incredible display of autism and want people to see them (click for better quality)

[Image ID: The first picture is a floorplan of the first floor of the Midnight Hotel. The top left corner has the explanations of different symbols, triangles for doors, rectangles on the outer side of the wall for windows and red x-marks for sigil escape routes. The floorplan is numbered, the numbers go as follows: 1. Porch 2. Lobby 3. Reception 4. Stairs 5. Elevator 6. Staff corridor 7. Storage room 8. Staff room 9. Dining hall/lounge 10. Table 11. Shelf 12. Alcove 13. Grand piano 14. Kitchen 15. Walk-in freezer 16. Various kitchen things 17. Staff room type 1 (1-2) 18. Bed 19. Toilet 20. Desk 21. Closet space 22. Staff room type 2 (3-5) 23. Greenhouse (staff part) 24. Various vegetables 25. Various stored things 26. Kitchenette. There are escape routes in all of the rooms/ End ID]

Notable rooms on this floor include: 1. The lobby, complete with reception desk with emergency controls for the hotel, and a public bathroom. 2. The dining hall/lounge with several tables, a bookshelf and an alcove with a grand piano. 3. The kitchen, complete with a walk-in freezer. 4. The staff rooms. The ones on the first floor are quite small, and mostly meant for employee's that are only staying for a very short time. The Midnight Hotel is a surprisingly safe workplace (nobody wants to be shitty to employees when their boss is literally Anton Shudder) that pays decently and lets you see the world, so it's popular among young sorcerers who might only stay for a few months before moving onto something else. All rooms have a bed, a desk, a closet and a small bathroom. 5. The Alcove. The alcove is a part of the dining hall, and has a grand piano. Guests may play it, and Anton will do that sometimes as well, but only when there aren't that many guests around. 6. The employee room. This is where the staff spends their breaks and downtime. They have a small kitchenette for making tea and such.

[Image ID: The floorplan for the second floor of the Midnight Hotel. The same symbols apply, except there are two more: blacked out rectangles for stained glass and blue lines for places where the roof is lower. The floorplan is numbered as follows: 27: Guest room 1 28. Guest room 2 29. Staff quarters 6 30. Guest room 3 31. Guest room 4 32. Staff room 7 33. Staff room 8 34. Guest room 5 35. Staff room 9 36. Staff room 10 37. Guest room 6 38. Greenhouse (guest access) 39. Various plants. Sigil escape routes are placed in every room / End ID]

There aren't many notable rooms, except the part of the greenhouse that is accessible to guests. The vegetables are kept separate to prevent tampering. Also, the hotel has no garden because I don't think Anton would intentionally bring invasive species to vulnerable ecosystems. Some of the guest rooms have bigger beds and some of them have twin beds to accommodate a variety of people. Also, the escape route system is designed entirely with sigils for several reasons. 1. Easily accessible to everyone. 2. One way so intruders can't get it. 3. Saves me so much work

[Image ID: The floorplans of the 3rd floor of the Midnight Hotel. The symbols are the same, but there's a new one, a pink line for raised floors. The numbers 41-57 have guest rooms 7 to 23, and number 58 is the roof. There are escape route sigils in every room. / End ID]

Nothing notable on this floor, except some of the closets have sliding doors because they wouldn't work otherwise. Also every time I asked myself why I would do this to myself I imagined Anton doing the same, since he's the in-universe creator of the hotel.

[Image ID: The floorplans for the canon 4th floor and canon attic of the Midnight Hotel. The symbols are the same, except the pink lines representing a higher floor are replaced with green lines for a lower floor. The rooms are numbered and go as follows: 59. Remnants 60. Storage 61. This is where Anton lives 62. Hotel main control room 63. Ladder. There is only one escape route./ End ID]

This is where the timeline splits. In this universe Anton lives in a pretty small space on his own. He has a small kitchenette, because he thinks it would be bad practice to cook his own stuff in the hotel kitchen. He helps the kitchen staff out occasionally, and sometimes eats with the guests or rest of the staff. There's only one fire escape as this floor is off-limits to everyone except Anton, and in the event of a fire he wouldn't leave until he was sure the building was empty, and by then he's on a different floor. There is still one escape route, just in case someone gets stuck there. The main control room is like the heart and brain of the hotel.

[Image ID: The same floorplan, with slight alterations. The numbers now go: 59. Remnants 60. This is where Anton AND Larrikin live (smileyface) 61. Living room 62. Kitchen 63. Bedroom 64. Couch 65. Cat scratching post 66. TV table 67. Bookshelf 68. Hotel main control room 69. Ladder 70. Storage. There are 3 escape routes now. / End ID]

This time both Anton and Larrikin live here, and they have a bigger apartment because they're gonna live there forever. It's a cozy little place. There's more escape routes because Larrikin would need to get the cats out. Anyways they live happily together and Anton actually practices self care. Everyone is happy :). Also as a thank you for reading this far is that Anton and Larrikin's ship name could have been Ladder. I think about it every day. I mean shudderkin is a great name but imagine how funny Ladder would be. If you read this far reblog this with the tag #laddernation

Everyone's favorite building! (Based on complete floorplans I made)

[Image ID: A digital painting of the Midnight Hotel, a light-colored gothic-style building with dark roof tiling, placed in a snowy forest clearing during blue hour. The moon shines in the sky, and the windows glow golden, except for a few stained glass windows featuring different celestial bodies in shades of blue and purple. /End ID]

[rwby-redux]

Amendment

Grimm: Species

To be added onto or altered.

Alabastet, Mauropanthera pardus Andras, Argyrostrix obsidens Anguilline, Vizzinichthys stridens Apathy, Lorem ipsum Attercop, Arthrodeimos repens Aurochs, Brontotaurus septimus Bandersnatch, Ammognathus leo Basilisk, Maurosaurus aquacurrens Beowolf, Sarcocanis umbricola Beringel, Daemopithecus nox Blind Worm, Cyclognathus caecus Boarbatusk, Hyocalydon gyrans Brachia, Campoteuthis dira Capyre, Photiachrios irruens Cenitaur, Entekapoda ventriosa Centinel, Scolopendrakon custos Charybdis, Roufichtragnatha mordax Chimera, Ailuropteryx polyops Chorus Beast, Spiculingua obtundens Cingrenada, Sphaerarma vapida Cockatrice, Calcatrix phallodont Creep, Lepiderpeton octonyx Death Stalker, Osteostega aculaureata Dreadnought, Bathycetus ossifragus Dromedon, Erimolania virosputans Elegy, Carmen cygni Elytrap, Entomocheirus tardus Enfield, Ailuraetus lycipes Felifiend, Anthrovenator felinus Fen Feilong, Cetioserpens palustris Flotsam, Carcharianax leucodon Galvanist, Scatharipelta fulmipartiens Gargoyle, Signifex madefaciens Geist, Eidolarion formafurans Goliath, Archaeotherium vagum Grendel, Aglaeca umbrambulans Griffon, Gryps sciopterus Grimalkin, Noctifelis procellipes Haozhenjiu, Acanthystrix decidua Hartless, Elapholania magna Helion, Aetotitan corpitollax Hellcat, Trocholeon polypodes Hellhound, Stygiocyon pictus Hobbesgoblin, Mauropanthera tigris Hydra, Deronatrix polycephala Imp, Bestiola bucculenta Isbjorn, Pagarctos eburneus Ixodida, Velonagnathus tenax Jackalope, Lagoceras herrickorum Jetsam, Syntrivichthys hyponaus Juggernaut, Canonautilus latens King Taijitu, Basiliscophis dicephalus Lagartodile, Stipesuchus necis Lamentia, Selachobates arenicolus Lancer, Vespiturba falcifer Lepice, Lagochion boreicola Leviathan, Cetiostega borealis Long Tongue, Hastalingua aliena Manticore, Ailuropteryx caudicens Marellen, Hydrotherium neptunum Megoliath, Cryotherium atliensis Mesmereyes, Maurhipidura matiphoros Monstra, Beluacetus volans Mortiposa, Skoros luciphagus Necromancer, Secariinsectum cadavifer Needleback, Echinaranea scrupulosa Nemagi, Dasyptoma mephitis Nevermore, Infernavis corvinus Nightmare, Bellomen raptans Nuckelavee, Teratohippus longibrachiatus Ouroboa, Cyclophion fodiens Paralykeet, Electropsitta candida Peryton, Elaphopteryx borgesi Pestilouse, Aspidentomon chiliades Preying Mantis, Kopidocheirus acutus Ravager, Mimochiroptera confluens Razorwing, Oxyoptera cataegistriga Rotweiler, Haemocyon morbifer Sabyr, Xiphodontoides atrum Scapegoat, Tragos apopompaios Sea Feilong, Cetioserpens fulminatus Seafret, Caligopontus cantans Seer, Xenomedusa coronata Seraph, Pluvocator quadripterus Shryke, Impalatrum stokeri Sphere Fisher, Velocentrus grex Sphinx, Ailuropteryx major Stolas, Pallastrix oculofurax Suchian, Rypansuchus flens Sulfur Fish, Pyrura coacervans Sunshorner, Lampsinympha resplendens Swarmer, Pantomenos asticum Tempest, Xenomedusa electrica Terrapin, Cryptochelon insulensis Teryx, Erythropteryx velox Tiamat, Lampsichthys dolichosomatus Trawl-Kite, Altumbra perlabens Tsavo, Mauropanthera leo Typhang, Thyellophis auriactans Tyrant, Hesperomyrmex purgamenticeps Undertaker, Cryptatalpa caeca Ursa, Hylarctos phloivorous Userper, Ceratophion venans Virovultr, Auredax solfur Warverine, Psychragrimion atrox Whisp, Phasmafax mendax Wickhed, Elapholania candelabrifera Wojtek, Vounarctos incendiarius Wringwyrm, Echidnascolex constrictor Wyvern, Euophis dinostomatus Ziraph, Laquelingua tricephala

[j4gm]

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

[myevilmouse]

Ahsoka was almost an adult when Luke was born you're fucking disgusting pairing them together lmao

Hello anon and thank you for the “ask” although I guess it’s a complaint more than an ask.  Still I would like to address your comment and I sincerely thank you for shooting it my way.

I think this is an excellent opportunity to discuss real world double-standards in age differences, and explain why I wrote the Ahsoka/Luke pairing in the first place!  Let’s leave aside all the typical arguments about two consenting adults and the fact that age is just a number, etc.  Let’s also leave aside all the species issues (Do Togruta age the same as humans?  Have a similar lifespan?  Is it OK for 700 year old Yoda to bang a 600 year old?  What about species that attain adulthood at younger “standard galactic” ages?).  You know, anon, it’s Star Wars so it’s patently ridiculous to place “real world” anything on interspecies dating, but let’s do it as a fun exercise.

It appears from your comment that you find the idea of an older woman and a younger man together offensive no matter the situation, since you refer to Ahsoka’s age “when Luke was born,” not when I hooked them up in the story. 

So, if, for example, Ahsoka was 60 and Luke was 43 or 44, it seems you would still have an issue.According to canon, Ahsoka is approximately 16 or 17 years older than Luke, so in my fic that would put him around 25 and her around 41 (post-Endor but not too much post-Endor).  Luke Skywalker, at this point, is a Jedi Knight, has saved the galaxy a few times, and certainly appears to be a fully mature adult human male when we see him flipping around and battling evil space wizards in ROTJ.  Mature (and smart) enough to not be taken advantage of by a sexual predator, let’s agree.Leia, similarly, is the same age as Luke, and according to canon is kissing a man 13 years her senior.I’m guessing you don’t have a problem with that?

And therein lies the double standard and hypocrisy of the argument that women have had to deal with for years.  What makes it OK for Han and Leia to have a healthy, adult relationship with a significant age difference, but squicks you about Luke in a similar situation?  Is it those extra few years that make all the difference?  Or just culturally acceptable in your brain for old dudes to bang young chicks but Force forbid an older lady find a guy whose sexual peak lines up with her own?  Or do you fall into the camp that likes to infantilize men like Luke Skywalker who display vulnerability and compassion counter to outdated macho heroic stereotypes, making you uncomfortable with thinking about him as a masculine or sexual being?  Luke and Leia are continuing a nice Skywalker tradition of disregarding age when love comes knocking. Some people freaked out about Anakin hooking up with Padme.  Their age difference was only 5 years, but the idea of a 12 year old with a 17 year old is definitely upsetting, because we are missing that critical element at those ages in the human species–maturity, adulthood.  No one wants that element when we are talking about a CHILD, anon.  I don’t care if the age difference is 30 or 4 years, if someone is not a consenting adult, yeah, be squicked, run the other way.But once we’re in to AOTC territory though, it ain’t but a thang, because Anakin was 19 years old at the time, and Padme was 24, and oh, that’s all ok now, isn’t it?  (FYI the correct answer is YES, it’s all okay now).I hadn’t ever considered Luke/Ahsoka, and when it was discussed on a server, some people had the same attitude as you, anon.  They were like UGH gross.  And I was like, wait a minute, age is the LEAST of the things that would be challenging to this ship.  There’s so much emotional baggage related to Anakin and their relationships to him, I think that would make a much more compelling argument as to why Luke and Ahsoka may wish to reconsider romantic entanglement.

But you went after the age difference, and that makes me sad and proves the point that I was addressing by writing the ship in the first place.  Why let age limit your potential for joy?  For romance?  For finding “the one”?  Luke deserves happiness, and why couldn’t Ahsoka make him happy (and vice versa)?  They have a lot in common, and if they were open enough about the challenges and pitfalls inherent in the psychology attached to their relationship, these two powerful amazing people could likely overcome the “daddy/Darth issues” that would get in the way of happily ever after.There would be a lot of fun angst to write as they figure it out, of course, and I am 100% here for that.

But if you want to get even more enraged by older women getting some Luke action, please allow me to point you to my fic Endure where Mon Mothma and Luke are paired.  And she’s 27 years his senior, and you know what?  I don’t care.  He’s an adult, he knows what he’s doing, and if they want to make sweet therapeutic love, good for them!  Only a close-minded, repressed, and judgmentally selfish person would want to deny love, comfort and intimacy to Luke Skywalker, no matter what age adult is giving it to him.

Oh, and by the way, it’s FanFic!  None of this shit is actually Important. ;)

[angsty-violet]

Right, so in my opinion, they actually have very similar portrayals of the vastness of space just different levels of technology.

In Stargate, the Milky Way and Pegasus are two neighboring galaxies. In real life, they technically are too because they based it on real star placements. The Pegasus galaxy is a dwarf galaxy right next to the Andromeda galaxy.

In Star Trek they have one galaxy seperated into four quandrants. Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma. Map for reference.

Now, on to technology. Hyperdrive versus Warp. Basically, it's the same thing. In all of Star Trek canon, we see that some species can and do travel between galaxies. In canon however, there is what they call the Galatic Barrier which prevents people from coming in and out of the Milky Way (hence why nothing outside has really been mapped.)

In most classic Trek, Warp Nine is the fastest stable warp they've achieved. Hyperdrive is basically the equivalent of say warp forty. If they could use the higher versions of Warp they would be able to move much faster within their own galaxy. Even if it was just Warp Twelve.

Now, Star Trek does have an equivalency to Stargates, and that's stable, reoccurring wormholes. There are like a handful of them at most. And some of them only reoccur like a decade later. Which is why in Voyager they're always looking for another wormhole to get them home.

Which is what they do. Unfortunately Borg. I'm not going to put too many spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the end of the show, but yeah, Borg.

Now, Voyager absolutely could've gotten home much faster but they had some serious hurdles.

The original journey was slated for about 75 years. And took them through most of the Delta Quadrant and cut through the edge of the Beta quadrant closest to the center of the galaxy.

Again, Borg, was a huge one. They landed in Borg space (marked on the map.) The fastest route would've been to cross into the Gamma quadrant and take the DS9 wormhole back into the Alpha quadrant. But that meant crossing light years worth of Borg space. That would've been a much shorter plan. Maybe thirty years of continuous traveling. Shortened even further, if they had any of the other advantages of the original series. But they were one lone little ship and they couldn't take on that many Borg.

I could go on but more dedicated people than me have discussed why it took them seven years to go home. Back to the comparison.

In Stargate Pegasus is about 3 million light years away from Earth. Which funnily enough is actually about a million light years further than it is in reality.

Prometheus has the ability to travel at about 150 light years per hour. Daedalus as about 41 times that speed so somewhere around 6,100 light years per hour. Voyager has the ability to do about 130 per month. (These numbers were decided by people much more dedicated than me and no, I haven't math checked them.)

So the space itself is the same. Simply the rate at which they can move is the only difference between them.

Still, if Voyager had been given even just Prometheus' engine, she could've gotten home in 20 days. Given Daedalus' engine she could've gotten home in about 12 hours, depending on what happened with the Borg.

Now I personally think that Star Trek's tech level is a little more coherent and consistent and that to change it would mean and inherent shift in literally the entire universe. While changing Stargate's occasionally indecipherable tech would've actually filled in some of Atlantis' plot holes.

I could go on for days about this, but this post has already gotten so long I think I'll stop here.

ever find it interesting how differently different sci-fi shows use distance? in star trek (voyager) it took 7 years and would've taken several decades to get from one side of the milky way galaxy to the other. in stargate, you can travel anywhere in the universe in a second through the gate system, and it takes the Daedalus 3 weeks to get from the milky way galaxy to the Pegasus galaxy - and this is considered an inconveniently long commute. if Janeway had access to the gate system she would've gotten her crew home before anyone proclaimed them missing. it's insane.

[chuckling-chemist]

That Comprehensive Lusus Post: Mammals

The Quick Rundown:

Total Mammals: 1210 (30.25% of all lusii -- so 30%)

What I expected to see lots of (and did): Dogs and cats. Oh my God, dogs and cats. But dogs have a lot of variation, and cats are cute. So I expected this.

What I didn’t expected to see lots of (and didn’t): Whales/dolphins (cetacea). While there’s lots of variation like a dog (at least in whales), there’s only a few castes that most would give a whale or dolphin lusus to. Overall, there were 23 in the cetacea category, which is ~2% of all mammals and 0.5% of all lusii.

What I expected to see lots of (and didn’t):  Mongooses, Red and Giant Pandas and Okapis. There actually weren’t any Okapis, and while I didn’t expect many, I expected enough that I made a giraffidae category instead of just throwing Giraffes under other. The lack of pandas and mongooses legitimately caught me off guard. Mongooses/Red Pandas make up 0.33% of all mammals. Giant Pandas make up 0.5% of all mammals.

What I didn’t expect to see lots of (and did): I’m actually surprised how common sheep (sheep/ram) and cattle (cows/bulls/ox) in particular came up. I would have imagined canon Homestuck having both a ram and a fairy-bull would have discouraged more people, as I know a lot of those critique blogs would criticize someone for happening to use a lusus used in canon.

What I wish I saw more of: Okapis. 

Alright, nothing too fancy with mammals, now to start breaking this stuff down

(larger version of the pie chart here)

CANINES

Final Counts

Dogs: 96

Foxes: 58

Wolves: 41

Maned Wolf: 10

Jackal: 10

Coyote: 5

Dingo: 3

Dhole: 1

Top 5 Dogs

Dog (nondescript) = 18

German Shepherd/Chihuahua = 6

Bulldog = 5

Pomeranian/Samoyed = 4

Rottweiler/Corgi/Weiner Dog = 3

Top 3 Foxes

Fox (nondescript) = 30

Fennec Fox = 10

Red Fox = 7

Other canine notes

While wolves have a high count, most wolves were nondescript. The next highest were dire wolves, with 6.  All other wolves were no higher than a count of 2

There were a huge amount of variability among dogs. If someone wants to see the whole list, please message me.

Maned wolves acquired their own category by being neither fox nor wolf

FELINES

Big Cat: 64

Wild Cat: 59

House Cat/Nondescript Cat: 51

Top 3 Big Cats

Lion = 19

Tiger = 17

Sabertooth Tiger = 7

Top 3 Wild Cats

Mountain Lion = 20

Cheetah = 11

Lynx = 10

Other Feline Notes

Much like the high wolf count vs. low variability, the lack of top count for house cats is due to most being generic house cats, or only having a count of 1 for the specification

My favorite house cat was the person who had Schrodinger's Cat for a lusus.

BOVIDAE (cattle, sheep, goats, etc., very much a lot of your farm animals)

Sheep: 39

Cattle: 31

Goat: 26

Antelope: 11

Buffalo: 4

Bison: 3

Yak: 3

Bovidae Notes

If anyone would like to see the breakdowns of any bovidae, please message me. The only really interesting breakdown I found (i.e: at least 3 notably larger categories than the rest) I found were cattle, and there weren’t much more than 3 specifics anyway, and it’s hard to make a top 3 out of...3 -- btw, this applies to any of these that I don’t include a Top 3 of, since most of these were largely nondescript or limited to 1 or 2 per grouping.

RODENT

Rat: 29

Mouse: 16

Chinchilla: 9

Porcupine: 9

Squirrel: 8

Beaver: 4 

Chipmunk: 3

Guinea Pig: 2

Hamster: 1

Jeroba: 1

Vole: 1

Patagonian Mara: 1

DEER

Deer: 43

Reindeer: 6

Dik dik: 4

Elk: 4

Moose: 3

MUSTELIDAE (Weasels, badgers, wolverines, etc., your trickster noodles)

Otter: 15

Badger: 13

Weasel: 12

Polecat: 11

Wolverine: 6

Marten: 5

Mink: 1

LAGOMORPH: (Rabbits and hares)

Rabbit: 48

Hare: 6

MARSUPIAL

Opossum: 10

Kangaroo: 7

Possum: 4

Tasmanian Devil: 4

Koala: 4

Tasmanian Tiger: 3

Wombat: 3

Numbat: 1

Wallaby: 1

EQUINES

Horse: 28

Donkey: 3

Mule: 3

Pony: 2

Zebra: 1

Quagga: 1

Equine Notes:

Most horses were nondescript, so I didn’t do a top count. If you’re curious, almost all specifications were draft horses. Namely: clydesdales. 

Both ponies were shetland ponies

It’s funny to me that there was only 1 zebra in all 4000 lusii, considering Hiveswap/Friendsim features Zebruh Coddak, who has a zebra lusus.

PRIMATE

Monkey: 21

Ape: 8

Lorisid: 2

Top 3 Monkeys

Ring Tailed Lemur = 4

Capuchin Monkey/Monkey (Nondescript) = 3

Chimpanzee/Spider Monkey/Macaques = 2

Primate Notes

Monkeys were the first count where a nondescript monkey is lower than a specific species, while there are multiple species (so not including something like the lorisids, where it’s unlikely to have a nondescript lorisid)

SWINE

Boar: 18

Pig: 7

Warthog: 2

PINNIPED

Seal: 16

Walrus: 6

Sea Lion: 4

CETACEA (Whales and Dolphins)

Whale: 12

Dolphin: 11

Cetacea Notes

As stated above, I’m pretty sure the low numbers here is due to whales/dolphins making better fits for seadwellers than pretty much any other troll. That’s understandable, in the scheme of things

For those who may not know, you may be wondering why manatees aren’t listed here. That’s because manatees aren’t related to whales and dolphins! Manatees are found in the Sirenia family.

RACCOON-LIKE

Raccoon: 13

Red Panda: 4

Coati: 3

PILOSA

Sloth: 10

Anteater: 5

MOLE-LIKE

Mole: 8

Shrew: 3

Gopher: 1

Solenodon: 1

GIRAFFIDAE 

This would have been Giraffes and okapis...if I found any okapi lusii.

Giraffe: 10

MONOTREME (Egg-Laying)

Platypus: 9

Echidna: 1

ODD UNGULATE

Rhino: 7

Tapir: 1

HERPESTIDAE

Mongoose: 4

Meerkat: 2

CAMELID

Camel: 3

Alpaca: 1

Llama: 1

OTHER MAMMAL

Everything that couldn’t be categorized into a supergroup. With the exception of giraffe, because seriously I thought okapis of those would come up. Simultaneously, I wasn’t expecting the Sirenia group to have more than the camels.

Bear: 44

Bats: 42

Hyena: 26

Armadillo: 12

Hedgehog: 9

Skunk: 6

Manatee: 5

Hippopotamus: 2

Pangolin: 2

Civet: 2

Dugong: 1

Stellar's Sea Cow: 1

Fossa: 1

Top 3 Bears

Bear (Nondescript) = 25

Brown Bear (includes grizzlies) = 8

Panda Bear = 6

Top 3 Bats

Bat (Nondescript) = 24

Vampire Bat = 7

Fruit Bat = 4

Overall Notes

There was honestly more variation than I expected to some degree. When I started doing this, I had to add the odd ungulate category. And in hindsight, I should have retroactively added a Sirenia category.

Unsurprisingly, common pets in North America is the most common. Not that such is a problem: Homestuck’s filled with American slang and written by an American. It’s just like how Changeling the Dreaming mentions puka fae should generally be common pets.  

In general - and this is a trend across the board - a nondescript version is more common than a specific one. This is applicable both to species where there’s not many variants and species with lots of variants. However, the likelihood of specification is ultimately very much creator-based. i.e: Some creators gave whole names (e.g: Valaris Blacknose Sheep, Long Tailed Weasel, Hungarian Puli Dog) and some gave simple names (Sheep, Weasel, Dog). There’s nothing wrong with either one, I just found it interesting how it fell.

You’ll notice mutations like 6 legged or 4 eyed don’t come up. Because this was listing species and not mutations, these were largely ignored. Except for “9 tailed fox”. I listed those separately because I wasn’t sure if they were referencing back to myth or not.

After listing all of these, I might go back and figure out exactly how many extinct species there are.

If you’re looking for something no one’s ever done, I suggest pulling from the Camelid or Mongoose family. Or an Okapi. All I’m saying...unholy combination of a zebra, a deer, and a giraffe.

Anyway, that’s the big stuff for mammals! Next up, I’ll be counting all the birds.

[corellianangel]

Fan Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

May contain minor/some spoilers after the cut.

I suspect that Solo: A Star Wars Story might be a bit like its title character. A bit rough at the start, maybe shady, pretty good-looking, and definitely out to get your money. But, as it goes on, it becomes more and more apparent how good and truly nostalgic and lovable it is.

This is a film that “nobody wanted.” Which means...what? I wanted it. When I saw Star Wars ANH, I wanted to know all about that cool Solo guy. And finally, 41 years later, I got my wish. And yeah… I’m mostly happy. After Last Jedi, I was pretty much done with the franchise, so it’s not like I went in with high hopes.

Solo is a relatively low stakes reprieve from the “we must save the world/galaxy/universe” all-or-nothing epic trope that has plagued us for the last few years. This is an adventure, a coming of age, and a western heist. Stakes are high, but only for the characters you are relating with onscreen, making it a curious addition to this year’s blockbusters.

Make no mistake; This is a love-letter to original trilogy Star Wars fans. It’s Han Solo in an Indiana Jones style adventure ( and what could be more fun than that).

4 out of 5 stars.

The first minute of Solo is exactly how a movie about the titular character should begin. But then it immediately lags, then even more so under ill-paced exposition. As soon Han goes solo though, it gains momentum. Then a short few minutes later as Woody Harrelson appears, things get rolling outright.

Alden Ehrenreich takes a bit of time to slide into Han’s scuffed boots, both onscreen and in our fan hearts. But when he does, it works wonderfully. He’s not the sexy gruff cynic Harrison Ford portrayed. No, he’s a “Kid,” who's got dreams. He’s a romantic. He’s wide-eyed, immature, and even petulant at times. But like Harrison’s portrayal, he’s arrogant, talented, goofy, jealous, easily embarrassed and will gladly spin a terrible lie. And oh yes… he can turn it on. Not at first, no… that’s really awkward ( more on that with Emilia). He’s not Harrison Ford by a long shot, but when given the chance later in the film, he makes a scene his own, and it’s HOT.

Unfortunately though, Alden is easily five inches shorter than 6’ 1” Harrison. And it’s glaringly obvious (especially to me, as I am quite a tall person). Sadly, Alden’s 1” platform 2”+ heel boots can only add so much. Otherwise, I’m satisfied with his portrayal. Alden’s a great actor, he had huge boots to fill, and I think he’s really been treated unfairly by the fans. Give the kid a chance, he might win you over.

Donald Glover IS Lando Calrissian though.  He’s sexy, sauve and even a bit silly ( in all the right ways… make no mistake).  I daresay Mr.Glover has taken Billy Dee William’s place in my heart as the epitome of Lando. Whether he’s coming on to Han, or Qi’ra or some unspecified alien species, he’s a pansexual on the level of Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones. An arrogant playboy badass, who loves all the finest things. He is willing to enjoy everything life has to offer, and why not? It’s hard not to love him as a result. Lando movie, anyone?

Tobias Beckett is everything Han wants to be. Beckett is also in love with fellow crook Val, and his attachment to her is cemented firmly in a couple of scenes, which unlike the Han/Qi’ra scenes–have great chemistry. And Woody Harrelson’s portrayal of yet another grizzled mentor is stunning. I found him much more appealing than Harrelson’s equivalent character from Hunger Games. Though the mantel is starting to wear. Don’t get me wrong. I adore Woody Harrelson. His being in this film gave me a reason to think I might just like it. I’m just not sure I want to see him as yet another badass mentor after this.

When Thandie Newton appeared in Beloved back in 1998, I was an instant fan. I’d seen her before in a few other flicks, but she blew that one out of the water as the title character. Since then she had worked steadily in a number of critically acclaimed roles. I was absolutely thrilled to see her in this as Val. And utterly heartbroken that she was totally underused. When Val is onscreen, she overshadows everyone else, even Beckett. It’s a shame we don’t see more of her than we do. Boo!

Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra…Hmm.  She’s cute, charming, and tries her hand at swordplay here. But honestly, the Queen of Dragons is a poor fit. The original casting call was for anything other than yet another white brunette. And with amazing ladies like Tessa Thompson in the running, why oh why did we end up with Emilia? If not racism (God, I hope not); Ang’s answer: Think $$$, from Game of Thrones fans in theatre seats. I can think of no other reason. Her chemistry with Alden is tepid at best ( and any of that comes much, much later). I feel bad for Emilia here. I think she was miscast, and that tarnish will always stay with the fans. ( P.s. : the three adult heterosexual males I watched the movie with, were over-the-moon smitten with her. To each his own. I guess…)

On to the non-humans...

Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca is physically brilliant. He’s stolen my heart as Chewie from the lovely Peter Mayhew (sorry Pete) over the last three movies. But honestly, we discover nothing new about Chewbacca in this. Zero. It’s rather unfortunate. I wish I could say more. But we learn more about Chewie in episode three than this. A missed opportunity. Sorry Chewie. For some reason Disney put your character in the doghouse here.

L3-37 is another definite weak spot in Solo. We have a snarky female droid (yay!) as a droid-rights advocate (cool!).  But it’s so completely overwrought. Only Lando’s constant eye rolls save this character from being as ridiculous as Jar Jar Binks. Which is another shame, because I felt she fills in the current canon equivalent of Lando’s copilot droid Vuffi Raa, from the EU/Legends novels from waaay back in the 1980’s, (interestingly they are both pilots, are both self-aware droids and have vaguely parallel fates) Some editing issues arise as far as L3′s character is concerned too. She’ll be leaning, casually watching,  while droids are being slaughtered in front of her, but only interferes with other robots later in the same scene? Why?? Were the first dead droids not good enough for her to save? It’s inconsistent, poor editing; and that really hurts the character. Sorry Phoebe Waller-Bridge, you did great job with what you had. I’m not sure that the script/editing was as good as you deserved.

The spaceship the Millennium Falcon is 100% a full character in this too. Without giving too much away, she represents her pilots as they sit at the helm. She’s treated with more respect - reverence even -  in this, than any other film. And I can say this is her movie as much as it is Han’s. Millennium Falcon fans, you are in for a treat!

And the bad guys...or one guy anyways....

Paul Bettany is chilling and utterly convincing as the gangster Dryden Vos. He also has much better chemistry with Qi’ra than Han.  I’m fairly certain this is mainly due to Paul’s astonishing acting ability.  He first came to my attention as the title character in the darkly funny UK crime film Gangster No.1. I was floored by him then and he’s still blowing me away, even as the rather challenging character Vision in the MCU. Bettany does not disappoint in Solo either. He took over this role with zero preparation, with the weight of replacing another respected actor at the last minute in an extremely troubled production. And the optics of having a white European actor taking over from an African-american are...ermm...not the best. He pulls it off, though. But I can’t help but wonder what Michael K Williams would have brought to the role. Vos is a soulless psychopath under Bettany, not unlike his character in Gangster No.1.  Would Williams have brought the tragic–almost romantic deep spirit and inner strength he brought to his gangster Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Vos instead? It’s rather sad we will never know.

I don’t think I can say much else about the other antagonist(s) without spoiling a bunch. But let’s just say...wow! Well done! Surprises and fan service all around!

There is something missing here too. We never see Han as an imperial pilot. Nor the promised Shakespeare-inspired comedic comic book characters that Ron Howard teased last fall.  These gems may be reserved for DVD releases, but I feel Han’s missing academy stint is definitely a gap in this story. And the movie lacks because of it.

Importantly, I do recommend seeing this in IMAX 2D as it is a very dark and muted film.

The usual amazing, special effects, costumes and sets we’ve come to expect from the Star Wars film franchise are all present here.  The styling is different from the previous films, as it takes place about halfway between Episode Three and Rogue One.  It’s neat to see the evolution of the Empire’s gear. 

And the easter eggs are everywhere; prequels, Rebels, Clone Wars, Star Tours ( the Disney Park ride), the comic books from the 1970′s and 80′s, the EU/Legends Han Solo novels by Brian Daley, the Lando Calrissian novels from the same era are especially referenced numerous times. Even the Indiana Jones franchise gets a significantly placed nod.

To say the least, the fan-service is strong with this one.

But not the Force. Not at all. None of that simple tricks and nonsense here at all.

Because I’m a pretty hard-core fan, I pre-bought two showings on initial release. The first time I saw Solo, I was unsure if I actually liked it, but it seemed to be a decent film.  The second viewing ( the same night) was an absolute joy. Times three and four were with different groups of adults, and they all had a blast. Five was with a group of 13 year old girls, and they all enjoyed it too.

So let’s call my rating of Solo then, 4 out of 5 stars. 

Honestly I don’t get the backlash against it.  Don’t take your Last Jedi hate out on this. It’s a fun ride with decent jokes and no space-boob-milk monsters—honest!

And if you think Solo offers nothing different, new, or imaginative. You are 99% correct...Remember, we got that full package of “different and innovative” in Last Jedi. If that’s your schtick, watch that one instead then.

Oh, and one more thing- that 1%?... two words:

Shower scene.

[humblydefiant]

I was tagged by @self-absorbed-pretty-boy Thanks! (and I’m sorry this too me sooo long to do) Though I give you fair warning. I can never give simple answers. You may regret the tag. LOL

1. coke or pepsi: coke (oh, well that was simple)

2. disney or dreamworks: either really, though if going by sheer number of good movies I’d say disney

3. coffee or tea: tea - in fact I’m that stereotypical southerner you’ve heard about (if you live in the U.S. that is) that loves sweet tea. Though I’ve tried to stop drinking it so much. I don’t like coffee.

4. books or movies: theoretically books... though I don’t read very much. Weird, I know

5. windows or mac: Windows, though I can’t say I’m a fan.

6. dc or marvel: I guess Marvel. All the ones that I can think of that I like are mostly Marvel characters. I don’t really pay that much attention though.

7. x-box or playstation: Playstation! Did I mention I think windows sucks so kinda steer clear of their console. 

8. dragon age or mass effect: Slightly Mass Effect. I LOVE Dragon Age. In fact, I loved it before I had even played ME. But considering that all of the writing I do (I make it sound like its a lot) is ME and that ME has mshenko. Yeah. ME. Definitely. And now Andromeda!!!

9. night owl or early riser: Used to be night owl but the older I get the better my bed looks earlier in the eve

10. cards or chess: cards. I’m not tactical enough for chess.

11. chocolate or vanilla: CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s my life basically.

12. vans or converse: Neither. I’m a New Balance kind of guy. They actually make some of their shoes here in the States so I’m loyal.

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: Well, soooooo... I haven’t played Dragon Age Inquisition yet. I just recently got a PS4 (so I can play Andromeda) but it’s definitely on my radar. I’m coming for your Dorian... you just keep your pretty ass right where it is.

14. fluff or angst: Fluff, angst, smut... I love it all! Just give it to me baby

15. beach or forest: I live in the forest so, yeah, that one. But I love the beach too

16. dogs or cats: I love both though I’d say I’m a smidge bit more attached to cats. However, can’t have a cat any more cause hubby says no. :(

17. clear skies or rain: Clear skies. It makes me feel better. Unless I can stay inside and snooze while listening to the rain.

18. cooking or eating out: Er... either. Both. I don’t love cooking but I don’t hate it. And it saves money.

19. spicy food or mild food: Mild. I like to be able to taste my food. And not feel like I need to drink a fire hydrant.

20. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: Halloween is fun but can I just make a confession: I hate trying to put together a costume. It’s like stressful. But I LOVE Christmas (though it carries its own special stress to). Nothing like a roaring fire while staring at the tree.

21. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: Too cold. I despise being hot. 

22. if you could have a superpower, what would it be: Being invisible. That would be sooooo much fun.

23. animation or live action: I dunno. Is the story good? Otherwise I don’t care.

24. paragon or renegade: Paragon. I try to play Renegade. I really do. It’s so hard tho.

25. baths or showers: Showers

26. team cap or team ironman: Meh. Either is fine. I enjoy both. Ironman makes me laugh but he was kind of a dick in that movie.

27. fantasy or sci-fi: See question 23.

28. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they: I guess so, but can’t really think of any right now

29. youtube or netflix: Netflix. No contest.

30. harry potter or percyjackson: Have never seen/read Percy Jackson, so Harry.

31. when you feel accomplished: I haven’t felt that yet...

32. star wars or star trek: Both?

33. paperback books or hardback books: E-books

34. horror or rom-com: Again, if they are good I am game. Though I’m not a big fan of either genre on the whole. Oh, what about a horror rom-com.

35. tv shows or movies: I love both. Though a really great tv show has so much more, so I guess there is that

36. favorite animal: I don’t really know. Crap, I’m failing this test.

37. favorite genre of music: Pop. I’m so vanilla.

38. least favorite book: Anything by Anne Rice 

39. favourite season: If I had to pick, I’d way Winter

40. song that’s currently stuck in your head: It changes moment to moment, no single song right now, thank god

41. what kind of pyjama’s do you wear: just my undies

42. How many existential crises do you have on an average day: I try to limit them to 3 per week

43. If you can only choose one song to be played at your funeral, what would it be: Angel by Sarah McLachlan

44. Favourite theme song to a TV show: Aww geez there are some really great ones. But I will go with Sense8

45. Harry Potter movies or books: I... ahem... haven’t read many of the books. so movies

46. You can make your OTP become canon but you’ll forget that tumblr exists. Will you do it? Nah. I like tumblr though I know it has its problems. But I’ve met so many great people on here. Plus, I don’t want to force my ship on others so...

47. What are your favourite flowers? Oh wow. I like have so little botanical knowledge. I just like colorful ones.

48. Is there a language you really want to learn? Spanish and German

my question 49. if you could save one species from extinction, which one would you choose? Bees. I would say humans but the earth would probably be better off without us.

I’m too tired and lazy right now to tag anyone. So it is open season!

[paler-than-thou]

Odds for Fianna and evens for Hailin and all the letters for both. Long one but do it 83

Oh holy shit, Anon XD

Gonna do actual Ultimate Canon versions of these two, so @koto056 will probably be the only one to find this interesting 8D well, except you, Anon, unless you are actually Koto in disguise *eyeballs*

OK SO THIS IS GOING UNDER A CUT TO SAVE Y’ALL’S DASHES BECAUSE THIS IS LONG.

F I A N N A (The Black Alchemist)

1. What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

About 5 minutes. Fianna is always moving, fidgeting, making, destroying, building, anything other than just...nothing. He can’t hack being bored or still.

3.How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

Hah. He doesn’t sleep unless he passes out, mostly. He actively avoids it, but if he absolutely has to, he’ll read. And read. And read. And then give up and get back up again. It helps that he’s not exactly mortal or human, so generally unless he’s in a physical form he doesn’t need to sleep.

5.How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Very. It takes a lot of work to get him to trust you, and very little for that trust to be broken, and he doesn’t do second chances.

7.What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

Very little, because unless he’s in a certain area of the plane he represents, he doesn’t really remember being alive or having a past. For the eons he’s been the Alchemist, however, he and his opposite sit reminiscing for simpler times over regular cups of tea.

9.Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

Like a sailor, and nope.

11.How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

Badly. If it’s one thing the Alchemist has it’s a rock-solid kind of certainty about everything, despite being the Aspect of Chaos and avatar of the Abyss. There are patterns, no matter how chaotic, and there are Rules that even the two Aspects have to follow. If he gets confused, then something is Not Right With The Multiverse (never with him, he’s always perfect, right?) and it makes him grouchy and more than a little bitchy.

13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

Black, and yes. Honestly, he can make anything look good no matter what it is, but black is generally his instinctive go-to colour. He makes bad jokes about how it hides the blood from sacrifices.

15.How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

Usually on the spot. He’s a very quick thinker, and given to adapting easily to any change at all - the upside to being the Master of Chaos and a manipulator. It does have its downsides though, in that sometimes he should really think about what he’s saying before he says it when the situation doesn’t ask for quick-thinking or a silver tongue.

17.Are they easily embarrassed?

Oh god, no. 

19.What is their favorite number?

Pi, because he’s an awkward asshole.

21.Why do they get up in the morning?

To keep the universe from exploding, if you asked him. Mostly to see what trouble he can cause and to stop the Beyond from destroying his and his opposite’s magnum opus.

23.How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?

Usually as confusion, when he (eventually) starts to feel the emotion. Him and the Metatron aren’t supposed to be able to feel emotions, at least not on a mortal level, so when he starts envying his creations, mostly it comes out as ‘what the hell is this’ and frustration that he doesn’t understand.

25.What are their thoughts on marriage?

Waste of time and effort, unless it serves a purpose. Can’t understand why mortals would do it, but is endlessly amused they found a way to turn love into a legally-binding contract.

27.What causes them to feel dread?

Not much, except the impending manifestation of the Beyond coming to wreck his shit.

29.Do they usually live up to their own ideals?

He doesn’t have any, really. He lives very much in the present and future and his ideals will change with mood/events/the wind, so I suppose in that respect he kind of does? He’s never still and he hates stagnation, and he sees having fixed ideals as a sign of it. In other words, he’s true Chaotic XD

31. Who are they the most glad to have met?

It’s a toss-up between Metatron (his opposite) and Mathaar (Master of the Gates). Out of the beings/people he’s created, he’s most ‘glad’ to have got to know his Eternal of Death, Hailin (AKA his second in command).

33.Could they be considered lazy?

Nope, as much as he does a lot to make his job as easy as possible (to him, to everyone else it just seems to complicate matters) the Alchemist is very much not lazy.

35.How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?

He doesn’t exactly have ‘friends’, though he’s very supportive of Mathaar’s ‘little adventures’ while finding them a source of amusement and gossip with his opposite. He doesn’t really know how to be supportive - what he does with his creations would be more like manipulation. This means he can have spectacular insert-foot-in-mouth moments, and is left going ‘What did I do?’

37.Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)?

Nope. He’s a god, with perfect memory.

39.How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people?

Depends on the flaw. There are some things that get his back right up - Ascari’s know-it-all attitude and anyone’s patronisation comes to mind, and he expects respect - or fear, either one - from those who are aware of what he is (though only if he’s actually earned it, he has issues with getting undeserved respect) - but as he tends to attract the misfits and the flawed to his side he is probably one of the most tolerant things in the entire multiverse.

41.How do they feel about children?

He regards his creations as his ‘children’, and has also occasionally fathered/borne children for his and his opposite’s Games. As the Alchemist, he’s unmoved by them and regards them mostly as pawns, but as his very mortal side Fianna he’s very much all about being a good father-figure and absolutely adores kids.

43.If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so?

“Sex is nothing more than a tool.” How do you assign a sexuality to something that is a manifestation of a state of being? He doesn’t have one in the same respect as a mortal would, though as Fianna, he’d state pansexual. The Final World they’ve created has all manners of species on, and his only rule is ‘able to - and above the age of - consent in their species’. 

Letters:

A) Why are you excited about this character?

The Alchemist is one of my longest-standing RP characters and one that has spawned SO MANY RPs XD He’s a lot of fun to play and a challenge, despite being close to me as a person in attitude. I love getting inside his head and under his skin.

B) What inspired you to create them?

I’m not actually sure. I created him as a story character and when we started expanding on the story, I sorta plonked him in as what amounted to an NPC at the time. He was a plot-pivot, something that occasionally turned up to sort something out, and slowly he pretty much gained sentience and started getting more and more involved.

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

Oh god no. The character has a habit of changing any story he’s in to fit around him, not the other way round. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not XD

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

Pretty much. It’s evolved and refined over the years but it’s mostly the same as it was when I first dragged him up. He’s gained a few scars and lost a few extra details he didn’t need, but yeah.

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

I...honestly don’t know. I mean the Aspect side of him, hell no. He’d infuriate me endlessly and his arrogance would wind me the hell up. His mortal side? Probably. He’s very close to me as a person, as I said, and he’s someone I’d want to protect. As to whether or not either side would get on with me? Pfft, fuck knows, he’s the Aspect of Chaos for a reason.

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

Bit of excitement, bit of trepidation, bit of pride. Excitement because I love writing/playing him, trepidation because I want to get him as true to himself and what’s in my head as I can, pride because he’s lasted so long and come so far without me cocking him up too much.

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

A lot of them, honestly. He has a very complicated and fluid moral compass and it doesn’t really match up to mine, and he’s not exactly bothered about people. If he were human, he’d pretty much be clocked as a psychopath within minutes of meeting him, and as a god it’s elevated to a terrifying level. He’s not really got many redeeming qualities at first, though they are there...just very, very hidden.

H) What trait do you admire most?

His sheer determination. He doesn’t let anything stop him from getting his goal, and if something tries, he pauses, works out how to deal with it and then just keeps on going. That and his ability to actually ask for help and to offer it to those few he considers ‘friends’.

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

Hell no! All the AUs!

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

Nope. Could say the Canon wouldn’t exist without him. Meta!

H A I L I N (The Eternal of Death)

2. How easy is it for your character to laugh?

Depends. He’s not really one for laughter, or emotion really, though as some will point out his little snorts are practically belly-laughs for him.

4.How easy is it to earn their trust?

It’s not. At all. He’s slow to trust, the only exceptions being when someone else he trusts implicitly has stated that whoever it is is worthy of it. Once he does trust, though, he is incredibly fiercely loyal.

6.Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

Flexible as hell and more of a hindrance than a help. This includes laws of nature. Can’t be a Necromancer and adhere to them, really...

8. What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child?

Probably to stop swapping places with his identical twin. They did that a lot.

10.What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

Hailin lies a lot sometimes. It comes of being the Alchemist’s second in command and being almost as manipulative as him. He refuses to lie to those he cares about - omit the truth, but that’s it. He couldn’t name a lie he remembers the most, and it never haunts him, unless he had to lie to someone he loved *coughEnglaeveuscough*. That particular one will haunt him til his final days.

12. How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

Frown, bitch at Veus about it, get it scratched. That or use his magic to get it.

14.What animal do they fear most?

Hailin really isn’t afraid of most physical things. He dislikes horses, though he’s a good rider, and he’s not truly afraid of anything - why should he be when he can simply drain the life out of it?

16.What makes their stomach turn?

Again, not much. Torturing children, for some reason, really bothers him despite his penchant for breaking innocents. Probably something to do with his upbringing ¬¬

18. What embarrasses them?

The fact he’s so tiny and when people discover he cares for someone. He doesn’t like emotion much.

20.If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

“Romantic is my love for Veus. Platonic is my love for Bilai, and familial is my love for my adopted parents.” He’s not great at explaining emotion, mostly confused by it as he’s really not good at expressing it either, so he’d have to use examples of the people he knew to break it down - and even then some of those lines are blurred.

22.How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?

Luckily Hailin doesn’t get jealous very much, because he is as possessive as fuck. It would be very easy, if it weren’t for other factors, for him to become close to abusive - but luckily a) he can’t be passive-aggressive if he tried and b) he can’t bring himself to hurt the people he loves like that. It’s his brother that has the issues with jealousy.

24. Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom?

Oh god yes. He can be gloriously TMI about it sometimes and flirts with most things - despite his leanings and who he serves Hailin is a very sexual person. Even dead. 

26.What is their preferred mode of transportation?

Either teleportation or his beloved soul-bike. He likes engines of all kinds, and his bike is his baby.

28. Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?

No. He hates being lied to or manipulated.

30.Who do they most regret meeting?

This one is...complicated. On his really bad moments, he hates that he met Ascari as she pushed him into apprenticing to the Alchemist to learn what he needed and was broken for it, but recognises when he’s more with it that it was something that needed to happen and that he dearly loves his adopted mother. Otherwise, he both regrets and loves that he met the Alchemist - he needed the control and the power the Aspect gave him but he always is a little regretful of what he lost on the way.

32.Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?

He has an in-joke with Englaeveus about necrophilia, but otherwise, not really.

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?

Very. On the occasions he feels guilt, it eats at him and it’s near-impossible to get him to shake it off even when whatever he’s guilty about has been forgiven.

36.Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap?

As far as he’s concerned, it happens to other people. The fact he’s completely in love and in a semi-poly relationship is neither here nor there.

38.What memory do they revisit the most often?

Much like the man he calls master, he doesn’t tend to linger in the past much, but his first meeting with Englaeveus and his life in Auria tend to be the ones he thinks of most.

40.How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

He’s very aware of his own flaws, but also very unapologetic about them. If they get in his way, he will do what he can to fix them, but otherwise, he doesn’t care.

42.How badly do they want to reach their end goal?

Very, but he’s very patient. It’ll get there. He would just like it sooner rather than later.

Letters:

A) Why are you excited about this character?

Hailin is actually my oldest-standing RP character ^^ He’s my arrogant little shit and someone I love channelling my dead-pan sarcasm through. I always get a little bouncy when I get to dig him out of his labs.

B) What inspired you to create them?

Originally, he was a character for WoW, and I wanted to create a Blood Elf paladin that wasn’t ye typical tall and pretty belf. I came up with Hailin - short, muscular, angry and cynical with added arrogance. Later on in the Wrath expansion, he became a Death Knight, and the Hail we all know and love was cemented as a character.

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

I did at first - he didn’t quite fit into the world I put him in when me and Koto started building it - but after a few pokes he fit right in as the Eternal of Death :D

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

He’s changed a little, through him becoming an Undead and varying IC things happening to him, but largely it’s been the same formula. Problematic dead smol with attitude and half a face and an engine.

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

I’d like to say I would, but I don’t think I could put bets on that XD He’s a little too cold - lol - for me, and I think he’d frighten me a little too much. I doubt he’d really register me on his radar.

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

Pure excitement, really. He’s so much a part of me at this point that I don’t have any fear of playing him right, and when my mood matches up to him it’s so much fun to play him.

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

I don’t think any of them really do thanks to his control of himself and his emotions. His want to hurt makes me a little uncomfortable, as does his manipulations, but he only ever does what he sees as necessary - once he gets what he needs, he stops.

H) What trait do you admire most?

His loyalty and the depths he’ll go for those he loves - and the fact that when he does love, he loves with every single particle of himself.

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

Pffff, no. Do you have any idea how many versions of this guy I have now?

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

A little, but it was more we hadn’t expected the RP to become the monster it has so we hadn’t done much world-building. Once we actually sat down and started doing that, it all fell into place nicely.

[corixus]

Microcosms in the hand

Everything is sculpture

Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the twentieth century’s most important sculptors, also famous for his iconic furniture, lighting, ceramics, architecture and set designs for dancer Martha Graham.  His work was photographed in 2016 by artist Leah Raintree for her project ‘Another Land: After Noguchi’, shown at the Noguchi Museum,   In it Raintree creates her own version of ‘astrophotography’ by rendering Noguchi’s work with stones as distant microcosms in space.  Some of these photographs can be seen on line under the title ‘Space and Noguchi- iconic sculptures or microcosms in space’ ?

Raintree’s project was inspired by the European Space Agency’s study of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and in particular the photographs taken by the Rosetta space probe on its approach to 67P .  The artist photographed a small granite stone at the center of the Noguchi gallery, reimagining it as an asteroid (Fig 1). She took this concept to the museum’s collection where she discovered an affinity with Noguchi’s stone sculptures.  His work celebrates the qualities of rock, enhancing rather than shying away from fractures and imperfections that seem to show the geological passage of time.  Noguchi believed, as the Japanese tend to, that rock and stone are microcosms with a lifecycle that they should be allowed to experience in full.

Fig 1 Rock exhibit: Noguchi Museum

It is Raintree’s clever lighting and framing that turns each of Nogochi’s 'objets trouvés' into distant celestial objects or uncharted microcosms in the vastness of space.  The project is a fitting homage to Isamu Noguchi, who once said “Everything is sculpture.”  This was also the philosophy of Max Ernst , who saw biomorphic microcosms in pebbles.

Biomorphic art

“Everything is sculpture.”  was also the motto of the surrealist Max Ernst , who saw biomorphic microcosms in pebbles.  Biomorphic comes from combining the Greek words ‘bios’, meaning life, and ‘morphe’, meaning form.  The term was coined in 1935 by the British writer Geoffrey Grigson and subsequently used by Alfred H. Barr in the catalogue of his 1936 exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art. Barr borrowed Grigson's term without acknowledgement and noted that "The shape of the square confronts the silhouette of the amoeba." The term seems to have come into use around the 1930s to describe the imagery in the more abstract types of surrealist painting and sculpture

Biomorphist art focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology. Biomorphism has connections with Surrealism and Art Nouveau. The three leading figures of the Art Nouveau movement, Antoni Gaudí, Hector Guimard, and Victor Horta, were influenced by biomorphism. Even in the expressionist designs of Hermann Finsterlin, Rudolf Steiner, and Erich Mendelsohn, we find the same influence.  Matisse's seminal painting Le bonheur de vivre (The joy of Life), from 1905 can be cited as an important precedent.

The Tate Gallery's online glossary article on biomorphic form specifies that while these forms are abstract, they "refer to, or evoke, living forms...". The article goes on to list Joan Miró, Jean Arp, Henry Moore, and Barbara Hepworth as examples of artists whose work epitomizes the use of biomorphic form.  Biomorphism is also seen in modern industrial design, such as the work of Isamu Noguchi, whose Noguchi table is considered an icon of industrial design.

Max Ernst,was a leading member of the Surrealist movement and like other members he was interested in the serendipity of 'objets trouvés'.  His painted pebbles are model artistic design elements  based on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms (Fig 2).

Fig 2  Painted carved pebbles: Max Ernst

In his artistic works, Ernst attempts to uncover the mysteries of the creative process within himself.  This search emphasised the contact between materials, as well as the transformation of everyday materials, in order to arrive at an image that signified some sort of collective consciousness (Figs 3 & 4).  He left it to a new generation of artists to grapple with this fundamental artistic question which is about how to penetrate the problems of artistic cognition by letting go of the canons of traditional art.

Fig 3 Pottery bowl: North American Anasazi culture (circa 11th century)

Fig 4 Murano glass bowl

Biomorphism taken to its extreme attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices (Fig 5).

Fig 5 Motor cycle: biomorphic design

Biodiversity ‘etched’ in pebbles

On some beaches throughout the world it is possible to find pebbles, derived from intertidal reefs of soft sedimentary rocks, which are riddled with holes.  One of the animals responsible for making holes in rock is an elongated rock boring bivalve mollusc.  Known as piddocks these molluscs, live out in the mid-tide and low-tide zones.  Piddocks make their rocky burrows either by using acid to dissolve the rock or mechanically scraping it away.  Based on estimates at Lyme Regis, UK piddocks are capable of removing up to 41% of the shore substratum to a depth of 85 mm over their lifespan (12 years).  Their burrowing activities significantly compromise the structural stability of the soft rock shores and so contribute to bioerosion.

When boring molluscs die, depending on their size, their burrows become shelters for encrusting animals such as sponges and moss animals, marine worms, rocklice, small snails, tiny sea stars, and crabs. Some of these creatures may make a permanent home in the abandoned hole, while others may simply shelter briefly from heavy surf, the drying rays of the sun or a carnivore on the hunt.  On a longer time scale, the tidal erosion of the reef eventually results in a well worn storm tossed pebble being cast up on the beach to become part of the cabinet of curiosities of the human beachcomber, who selects it for its mindful qualities.  Holding a holey pebble in the hand connects the collector to the amazing dynamics of biodiversity below the waves.

The zoology

Rock boring molluscs begin life as free-floating larvae and eventually settle onto a soft rock and take hold with their muscular foot. The two shells have file-like ridges on the outside, and the animal drills its way into the rock by contracting its muscles to spin the shell first one direction, then the other. The bivalve continues to enlarge its cone-shaped burrow until it is large enough to conceal it.  During high tide it protrudes its fleshy siphon out the open end of the hole, which may be just half an inch wide, to obtain food and discharge waste.

Fossils of boring bivalves date from the Cretaceous period. The boring habit is thought to have evolved along two different paths [9]. In one path, the bivalves were attached to hard substrata by means of spun threads, but could still move using their foot. Thus they scraped at the substrata with their shell. In the other path, they evolved from species that burrowed in soft substrata such as sand. During the course of evolution, they gradually started to burrow in harder materials.

Barnea candida, commonly known as the white piddock (Fig 6), is one of the common British rock boring molluscs.   It  is a member of the family Pholadidae and makes its burrow in soft rock, peat and clay. It drills its burrow mechanically. During the course of evolution Barnea has developed a number of adaptations to accommodate its rock-boring lifestyle. Boring species occur in eight different superfamilies:   The shipworms Teredo (Pholadacea) are wood-boring bivalves [1].  Barnea (Pholadacea) [2,3], Zirphaea (Adesmacea) and Petricola (Veneracea) [4,5] are examples of species that make their burrow in clay, soft rock and peat. Martesia striata (Pholadacea) is able to perforate PVC pipes [6], which gives it an economic significance because severe damage can occur within a year of it becoming attached to the surface.

Fig 6 The white piddock

Some philosophy

This blog was initiated by finding a small holey pebble on a Welsh beach at Oxwich Bay.  The process of rendering it digitally can be traced in the following three images (Figs 7, 8, 9),  The sequence records an exercise in existential creativity.  Existentialism owes its name to its emphasis on “existence”. For all the thinkers mentioned above, regardless of their differences, existence indicates the special way in which human beings are in the world, in contrast with other beings. For the existentialists, the human being is “more” than what it is.  Not only does the human being know that it is, but, on the basis of this fundamental knowledge, this being can choose how it will “use” its own being, and thus how it will relate to the world. “Existence” is thus closely related to freedom in the sense of an active engagement in the world through a lived perspective .  In his 1945 essay, "Cézanne's Doubt," Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1907-61).examined Paul Cézanne's investigations into the phenomena of visual perception. Merleau-Ponty argued that through his paintings, Cézanne discovered that "the lived perspective, that which we actually perceive, is not a geometric or photographic one."  In other words, art is not an exact science but a means of capturing the complexities of what the mind’s eye observes through an existential crack in a normal mode of thinking about our relationship with the world and how it can be expressed.  

Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem” has a line, “there is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.” This is a metaphor used by Wendy Miller and Gene Cohen in their book, Sky Above Clouds. They talk about the existential crack not only letting in light but also being the way in which the darkness of vulnerability enters human lives. As Miller states, “It’s as if a crack has opened in the landscape, exposing strata that have always been there but have never been part of life’s landscape on the surface”.  A diagnosis of cancer can open a crack onto darkness,  The discovery of a distinctive pebble on the beach can light up a new mental landscape that releases artistic creativity beyond the bounds of professional convention.

Fig 7 Rendered pebble I

Fig 8 Rendered pebble II

Fig 9 Rendered pebble III

Postscript

 If you feel your purpose in life is to make something that will outlive you, it doesn’t matter as much that your body’s only temporary.  Indirectly, some part of you will still remain as an existential creative achievement and an avenue for symbolic immortality, particularly among individuals who value creativity, 

http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/9/76/2947/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-005-1582-0

http://thechromologist.com/space-noguchi-iconic-sculptures-microcosms-space/

http://paperity.org/p/46802210/adaptation-to-rock-boring-in-botula-and-lithophaga-lamellibranchia-mytilidae-with-a