#reptiles are the best

[lupucs]

Susie spills the tea... ☕ Or should I say, chalk, moss and apple-scented shampoo?

(Watch with sound 🔊 Music: Kevin MacLeod - Itty Bitty 8 Bit)

[norithelord]

Syzoth ready to help on this xmas :3

[omg-snakes]

Annelida is the only one of my Palmettos who got the forehead patch like their mom, Best Donut.

Here's Best Donut on her 'gotcha day' for comparison:

[minda0627]

zesty 🐊 & smokey bear ☁️

[critter-creature-or-beast]

Submitted for classification by @metal-requiem

"Ziptie my corn snake?"

[skunkes]

staring at me after i closed up my duffel bag right in front of her eyes

[buttered-toasty]

POV u visit early Angband

.

.

Oh to be carrying around a very small dragon at all times. Shame more real reptiles do not let you do this to them

[shiresome]

NITARA I LOVE YOU

if i was in charge of mortal kombat i would have ashrah come to the realization that killing with her blade is never going to free her soul and then like. a gasp sound effect like in a sitcom will play and then nitara will regain possession of the heart of vaeternus. and then she'll give this heart to ashrah and they'll properly rebuild vaeternus together and ashrah would not only be freed of her tether to the neatherrealm but she could ascend to protector god of vaeternus and nitara could lead it and they would be in love and then theres like fireworks and rainbows and theres butterflies and clouds shaped like hearts and

no I will never ever stop drawing reptile like that !!!!!

[zzthekaiju]

Best of the Reptiles in Media - 6 - Tyrantis

And here I am again at this! And this time, we're going to the wonderful world of independent literature!

Let me set the scene: Imagine a T-rex, except he's the size of a large building, fights like Heart from a few entries ago, has the personality and love for fighting of Son Goku, and the mannerisms of Showa Godzilla and Gamera?

You get the star of The Atomic Time Of Monsters (A.T.O.M) by William Cope (better known as @tyrantisterror), Tyrantis!

(all art here is by Cope)

For context, the world A.T.O.M takes place in is an alternate history in which most dinosaurs are the ancestors of not birds, but crocodiles. Thus, they all look like the large, lumbering scaly beasts that went out of date around the 70s. And as if that wasn't enough, they're referred to as Retrosaurs. Already, we have an exceptionally tongue-in-cheek bit of worldbuilding to get us excited. Even as someone who loathes seeing outdated depictions of dinosaurs in modern media, I'm always a-okay to see it as an actual intentional choice instead of a lazy one (*cough* *cough* Jurassic World *cough*).

Anyhow, Tyrantis is one of those Retrosaurs. Specifically, a Manospondylus Gigas (based on the outdated look of T-Rex). However, like Godzilla, he's a mutated version. You see, A.T.O.M is a throwback/affectionate parody of monster movies from the 50s, albeit one that turns several of the tropes on their heads. One that it plays a bit straighter is how nuclear testing unleashes monstrous creatures from their slumber. Here, that happens, and it unleashes a huge earthquake that opens up caves leading to an unforeseen hollow earth, where Tyrantis lives.

And this is where the story officially begins, with an underdog female paleontologist named Mina Lerna finding Tyrantis within Hollow Mountain, Montana (there are a LOT of shout-outs in this duology).

Tyrantis had me sold as a character right from the start. You see, several scenes are written from his point of view, and instead of some mindless killer of man like so many giant movie monsters were back in the day, he is instead an inquisitive, naive, and downright kindhearted fellow who's first instinct upon seeing a screaming human in his presence is to try and cheer her up by taking her back to her "herd" (with limited success).

This kaiju is, overall, adorably awesome. Despite his size and power, he approaches almost every creature with one or both of two questions on his mind: "Can I fight it?" and "Can we be friends?" Both books are 90% Tyrantis running into one kaiju after another, and either befriending them, getting into fights, or even both. And it's a joy to see most of the other kaiju (such as Gorgolisk and Tricerak) come around and see him as their friend too. My favorite interactions are between him and the massive spider Bobo, who's this world's stand-in for Mothra.

But Cope doesn't just stop at making Tyrantis a big friendly kaiju, though that would already be enough for him to warrant an entry in my top ten favorite characters ever. Sprinkled into Big Green's mannerisms are tics that you would expect from a reptile. The most prominent of these are him moving his limbs in a circular motion as a sign of hospitality. It's so cute to imagine such a big and intimidating creature doing that. It also helps Tyrantis avert the "all animals are dogs" trope that seems to follow every non-conventional friendly animal in fiction. I mean, I don't mind that too much, but it's a nice change of pace.

Of course, Tyrantis wouldn't be a perfect kaiju if he couldn't fight as well. Every battle he gets into paints him as more than just a bite-happy bruiser (though that's certainly a go-to strategy for him). He's surprisingly capable of strategy at times, albeit while in the middle of a fight instead of before. And yes, he has a breath weapon (fire, specifically). Also, as one might guess from his personality, he's a great team player.

But ultimately, it's his relationship with main character Lerna that brings it all together. For our constantly underestimated heroine, Tyrantis represents everything the people of yesterday couldn't ever seem to see: that making brash judgements based on a first glance is wrong. He gives her the ability to prove her mettle as an amazing scientist and the bridge between our understanding of the amazing kaiju. And on top of that, he's just a really good friend to those tiny little things that seem to like him more and more with each year. Even the military commander character warms up to him almost instantly (I'm talking about General Sherman, one of my favorite humans in the duology).

A.T.O.M takes the overblown machismo and chauvinistic attitude of the 50s apart piece by piece. Aside from having human protagonists who rebel against the status quo, Tyrantis demonstrates how being tough is sometimes necessary, but being empathetic and kind as well is what really makes a strong creature. By being his charmingly and adorably good-natured self, he makes more friends than enemies, and they all have his back throughout all the increasingly crazy adventures they have.

Plus, he's got his own theme song in the second story. Someone outta make a cover of that already!

(And maybe an animated adaptation? Please? Maybe we could make it the next big indie animation thing? Just putting that out there.)

(art by me)

[sandelion]

doing some cleaning and campbells was trying to figure out if i had foods Campbells '21 0.1 Albino Eryx colubrinus

[pokemonunderdogtournament]

Best Underdog of Classification: Other Reptiles 🏷️ 🐊

Round 1 - Match 1

Our Contestants:

This poll is part of an event that allows the early eliminees from the main tournament have more time in the spotlight!

[prismaticsaltedink]

She do a lil' wiggle.

Among other silly things.

@theunimpairedcondition @nyobody @red-lyrium-renaissance @schmordy-blog

[omg-snakes]

[raverswifts]

syzoth the type of guy to say “me and my girl don’t argue. she tells me to shut up and i do”

[krokaxe]

Combing around the archives and I found this Fallout throwback from 2022.

I've put her intro under the cut for anybody who'd like a little read on Gillespie's vibes. The fic has since been deleted from Ao3 but archives really are a wonder.

A creature waits at the base of the memorial.  From a distance Lars had assumed it to be a horse, equine at any rate, but the place its soft nose should be is hard and set. Its reptilian nostrils italic slits above a set of long, scissor sharp jaws. Its dark, scaly hide would be better described as mottled, but it is as alive and real as Gus. It stares at Lars in near perfect stillness as he slides out of the saddle. Hairless, all ridged scales and crested feathers, it's a colour closer to an inkblot than anything else he could compare it to. There is an elongated, cadaverous quality to the beast that has it look voracious even at rest— its three-toed, draconic feet has Lars linger for a beat too long. It might be horse-like in proportion, but his comparisons fall short when he spots its reptilian tail.

It hisses, dropping its lower jaw as much as it can against the secondary strap keeping its mouth shut. Lars catches sight of a dark tongue and row upon row of needle thin teeth, thus a hefty step away from what looks like a demon attempting to poorly impersonate a horse. It has only indents instead of ears and a feathered, spined crest where a mane ought to be— the feathers on its head and puff in warning as it jerks against its tethering rope. All that black leather does nothing to have Lars believe it's truly domesticated but, edging forwards, he gingerly offers his knuckles in an attempt to settle its nerves. Gus wickers as he sets his ears back against his head. Lars mutters in reply, “I know.” The beast snaps its teeth at his hand until he opts to tentatively offer out a piece of jerky from Gus’ saddle pack. It cranes its neck forward to sniff, nostrils flaring, then peels back its mouth to gingerly snap it away with its teeth. That does the trick. Whipping its head back to open its cavernous mouth, it devours the jerky without any real need to chew, then looks at Lars expectantly. Turning its head to stare at him with one of its high cut, yellow eyes, it cocks its jaw and clacks its teeth impatiently. Lars feeds it the rest of his travel portion. Some habits die hard. Getting close enough to run his hand over the arch of its neck, Lars squints at the silver plate on the animal’s bridle strap. “Gillespie,” he murmurs out loud. The creature lacks any visible ear flaps, but he figures they would perk them up at the sound of its name. It might be an abhorrent thing, perhaps the same creed as Deathclaws or Nightstalkers in terms of spliced horror, but it is loved regardless. It chitters a soft ticking breath through its teeth, feathered neck shuddering as Lars runs his hand over its scales. “Somebody loves you,” he murmurs. Gillespie inhales the smell of jerky from his fingers, then tries to bite at his flannel sleeve in a greedy request for more. Gus snorts, jealous. “Be mindful of her tongue.” The voice has Lars freeze. It's measured, calculated, maybe even cold. “She may take fancy with your fingers."

[realsparrowboy]

I WAS FUCKING BAWLING MY EYES OUT ABOUT RIGATONI AND MAC FUCKING LOOKS AT ME LIKE THIS

GOD I FUCKIGN LOVE MY SON SO MUCH I WOULD SRSLY DIE FOR HIM