#so being able to do it natively is fantastic!!

[mysticorset]

I have spent the last 2 days perusing the extended documentation of the current state of CSS specifications.

Sometimes my hyperfixation will activate on the most ridiculous and objectively boring topics. But also I am EXTREMELY hyped about the recent additions of color() and :has(). (which are not really that recently added but I don't typically spend much time on the minutiae of coding language development)

[prettyinpwn]

Stan Pines: A Masterclass in Character Writing and Symbolism AKA Stan is Godly, Literally (GF Writing Analysis Pt. 5)

If you're interested in reading a similar writing analysis on Ford Pines, please visit this page.

I've wanted to write a post on Stan for a long time, because I'm going to make a bold claim: he is THE best written character in Gravity Falls. I literally have never been able to find a flaw with his writing, and the reason? Not only does he have the markers of quality I mentioned in my post about Ford's writing (a want, need, character arc, realistic flaws), but...

I would also argue he is THE main protagonist and hero of Gravity Falls if I had to pin it down to just one, and his character arc matches the external conflict, that being Bill Cipher and the theme of growing up vs. staying in childhood and ego vs. selflessness, in ways that are just - and I'm not exaggerating - poetic. And the best part is, he had a lot more time and attention in the spotlight in the show than Ford, so everything I mentioned in the other post that was good about Ford's writing, ramp that up x100 for Stan.

His character also touches on multiple other fantastic themes: breaking generational trauma, healing broken familial relationships that seem unfixable, redemption, the misunderstanding of the family "fuckup" (although Stan is not that in the least, but that's part of his character arc), positive masculinity, true brotherhood, self-love, self-identity, and probably a million others I'm missing and will find out even just as I write this.

As for the godly part, well... you'll just have to read to the end. And no, I'm not kidding or exaggerating, either.

Okay, okay, gushing aside, let's get to the analysis. I'm not sure this will be as neatly structured as Ford's was, but there are just so many damn good things about Stan's writing that it's hard to stick to just one point. Let us begin.

Stan's Backstory: I Am Not Ford and That's Bad + Protecting/Providing for Family > Everything Else

So as I discussed in my post about Ford linked above, much of Stan's childhood revolved around Ford. His entire existence as a child was summed up by one question: how do I compare to Ford? This is especially emphasized in how their father, Filbrick, treated them. One of the end credits ciphers in the show reads as follows:

"A STUBBORN TOUGH NEW JERSEY NATIVE, FILBRICK WASN’T TOO CREATIVE, HAVING TWINS WAS NOT HIS PLAN, SO HE JUST SHRUGGED AND NAMED BOTH STAN."

Haha, very funny. But OUCH. Imagine knowing that your whole name is your name, was because your father only expected one son and was too lazy to come up with anything else. So literally, Stan doesn't even have his own name - his own identity - technically. Stan also was apparently the second twin born, so came in "second" even from birth, and being Ford's (either identical or very similar fraternal) twin, well... it's hard for someone to untie their identity from their brother's with those factors surrounding them as a kid.

There are many other factors that illustrate my point (Ford got Filbrick's name as his middle name, the way Filbrick literally put Stan on the lawn for sale as a kid for failing a test, etc). All in all, Ford receives their father's love, Stan does not, although we could argue that this isn't that great for Ford, not really, as I did in my post on his writing. Because it's a love that comes with a, "I'd also like to use you." attached (just like Bill, gee).

All in all, it's very obvious from all these context clues that Ford was the beloved one, and Stan was the unexpected one, from birth to the end of Gravity Falls, where he uses that to his advantage - albeit in a different context - to defeat Bill Cipher.

Worse yet, Stan happened to have a twin that was extremely smart and talented in a way that was easily noticed. Ford is a Golden Child, as I described in his own writing analysis post, and siblings of the golden child like Stan? Well... the other sibling(s) are often the Scapegoat. As the source in the last sentence states, the Scapegoat is "often blamed for family mistakes, discarded, neglected, and has been gaslighted into believing it was their fault. The scapegoated child is usually assigned at a young age and often carries this role through to adulthood and never loses the unfortunate title.". This can highly affect the Scapegoat's self-esteem, even into adulthood.

This page also covers the Golden Child vs. Scapegoat dynamic. Pay attention to these quotes from this source:

"You are the one the parent will come after when things are going wrong."

"You are subjected to their emotional and verbal abuse the most."

"You may even feel like you need to fix your broken family."

Also, take into account these panels from the comic, Lost Legends, released after Gravity Falls ended:

Yikes. A child doesn't say these things unless a parent has taught them that everything they do is wrong and they are lesser than their sibling. This kid's noticed how Filbrick looks with pride at Ford, but not him. And here's the thing: the item Stan stole in this comic that made Filbrick mad? Stan did it to clean it to make his father proud. Sound familiar? In the events of Gravity Falls, Stan works on the portal for thirty years and gets Ford back, and he gets... yelled at for it. Stan always has good intentions. Although, Ford has a point in the above comic panel: Stan does take shortcuts that get him into trouble. He did almost get jailed by the US government and end the universe to save Ford.

But this is a consistent theme with Stan's character throughout the show. Even WE as the audience first see Stan the way his family did - a conniving scoundrel and money-grubbing criminal - but through the events of the show, just as Stan's family starts to realize it, even when Stan does things that seem bad, like stealing radioactive waste, working on a portal described as a potential cause of the end of the world, has a ton of different identities, etc... we find out Stan had good intentions all along.

Even Stan's greediness? That need for money? That also stemmed from the same good intentions, because how ELSE was he going to afford Ford's mortgage to keep the Shack in order to keep working on bringing him home? It was also likely something ingrained into him from when he was kicked out. Because Filbrick told him, basically, until you make us the money that Ford losing his chance at West Coast Tech cost us, GTFO. Literally. :'(

So Stan... really IS not what he seems. He seems like a fuckup, a criminal, a liar, and a greedy conman. But really... he's a family defender, protector, and supporter. Want to have your mind blown? Intentional or not, let's look at the very first scene we see Stan in in the series:

"Oh look, I'm a monster!"

"Just kidding, I'm not. I'm someone else under what looks like a monster."

Yes. Stan's whole character arc is foreshadowed in like... three seconds in the first episode. The very first time we see him. Not just his arc, but also his role as someone that seems deceptively evil but is actually good. And not just the arc that Ford and Dipper take from distrusting Stan to finally understanding his good intentions, but also the realization WE as viewers have about Stan as we follow the story. Additionally - which we'll get into later - it's symbolic of Stan's internal character arc he takes across the series of realizing he himself isn't the monster that his father planted in his mind as a child, but a good person worthy of love.

All of that... in a few seconds of animation. If that wasn't intentional, then DAMN did the writing gods smile on the Gravity Falls team the day they planned this scene. Back to the point about who Stan really is: the family "fuckup" (not really, but we'll get to that later), and a family defender and protector. This is the true core of Stan's character throughout the whole series. Not only was he Ford's defender as a child, protecting him from bullies, but you know those scenes the fandom universally agrees on were Stan at his most badass? Ahem...

"Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!"

"Turn around and look at me, you one-eyed demon! You're a real wise-guy, but you made one fatal mistake: you messed with my family."

Yeah. Look at what Stan is doing in EVERY single one of these scenes: protecting his family. And as bad as Filbrick was, just like I explained in the post I made about Ford's writing... Filbrick also passed down some things to Stan that make him the hero he is. And it's also stuff that Stan passes down to Dipper:

Yeah, it kinda sucked for Dipper at the time. Was it a perfect way of teaching a child to be tough? Er, no, although another mark of a well-written character is that they can make mistakes and have flaws; Stan's not perfect. And the fandom has criticized the way Stan passed down this lesson to Dipper, because it can be considered very similar to the way Filbrick passed it down to Stan. But look what it did: when the world fights and threatens his family, just like Stan, Dipper fights back. With punches, too:

So... to summarize this first part: Stan was taught from childhood "I'm not Ford, and that's bad. I am a monster unworthy of love that always messes up.", and his role is a family protector, which started with how he protected Ford from bullies as a child. This is the core of his self-identity. So let's get into the writing techniques that make a well-written character that I discussed in Ford's writing analysis post...

Stan's Core Want vs. Need

I'll quote my explanation of want vs. need from my own post on Ford I made about a year ago:

"When I took writing classes in college (and over years of writing in general and drooling over writing advice podcasts and blogs), I found that the best method for me, personally, when it comes to crafting characters is to focus on two major things:

1. Their want.

2. Their need.

On the surface, these look like the same things, but in character writing, they can be vastly different. For example, say that you have a character that greatly desires fame and recognition. They want these things.

But what’s the real reason behind it? Is it because they had a parent that was famous and want to live up to their example? Is it because they want to be adored by people? Is it because they were told they’d never amount to anything by someone and want to prove them wrong?

This real reason behind it all is the core need. Yes, they want fame and recognition, but they need it because, say, they have low self-esteem and need copious amounts of outside validation to boost it.

Tied to this need is usually a backstory reason (sometimes called their wound). Say your hypothetical character was bullied a lot as a child. Or abused by a parent. Etc. Whatever the wound was, it caused a big, painful hole in their heart that they try to fill and fix with their want.

So they go on a journey. The want is often the external journey. The need is often the core journey / character arc. Our example character seeks fame and recognition on an external journey, but deep inside, they realize they need something else, which is to understand that their past trauma/wound doesn’t define them, and fame and recognition will not be the balm they expect it will be. Often, they realize they had what they needed all along. They grow past their flaws associated with their seeking this want through understanding and instead pursuing the need."

I'll summarize Stan's character writing using these concepts right here, like I did for Ford in his analysis post:

“I want to be Ford because I want to be loved like he is, and I want to protect those I care about and do the right thing. But what I need is to realize is that who I am - not Ford, but Stan - was good enough all along, proven by how I've always protected those I care about, and I never NEEDED to be Ford in the first place. This stems from a wound from my childhood where I was a scapegoat child treated like a fuckup who never did anything right and could never measure up to Ford, and was conditioned to think that being like Ford was a ticket to earn familial love. I had what I needed all along: myself, because I am good enough and worthy of love, despite what my father taught me."

Stan's Arc: I Am Not Ford... and That's Okay

AKA Stan's arc is basically: learning to love yourself and be yourself, even when you were conditioned to think you have no value. Don't believe me? Guess what Stan does for thirty years: pretends to be Ford. And he literally does it by pretending to have died. He "kills" Stanley Pines AKA himself in a staged car crash to become Stanford Pines.

And guess how he defeats Bill? By pretending to be Ford. His greatest weakness is actually his strength, and then he flips it: he reveals to Bill that he's not Ford, he's actually Stan. And THAT'S when the antagonist of Gravity Falls is truly defeated - an antagonist that represents stasis, lack of change, and with The Book of Bill's context, an antagonist that never freed himself from his own past - is when Stan learns to accept himself and admit who he really is and learns to let the past go. And it's telling that this is what he says when he does it:

"Heh. Guess I was good for something after all." AKA: "Yeah, fuck what Pa said about me."

There it is. The moment of Stan realizing his father was wrong, and he was wrong for thinking himself a fuckup all those years. And this is the expression he pulls at this moment of realization; at the peak of his character arc, all while burning in flames like a phoenix reborn. It sounds corny when I put it that way, but LITERALLY, all the fire symbolism feels like it wasn't foreshadowing Stan's death, but his rebirth as himself after pretending to be Ford all those years. He's not burning who he is, he's burning away who he thought - who he was told - he was. Funny that it takes place in the mind, huh?

This is the face of a man who is at peace and finally loves himself for the first time in his life. That ain't just his mind burning. That's him punching his demon that's haunted him and his brother their whole lives, protecting his family as always, and, symbolically, punching a demon that represents the show's overall antagonist of the shackles of staying stuck in the past, forgiveness, and the value of moving on. He literally punches the antagonist - staying stuck in the past - to pieces and THAT'S when he wins.

Also, can we talk about how Bill and Filbrick share color schemes, and Filbrick even has a brick-like pattern in his suit (also, I mean... come on, he's got 'brick' in his name)? I'll let you make your own conclusion about what that means for Stan's character arc:

It's also telling that Bill Cipher's backstory is that he burned his home dimension and loved ones - including his family - to ashes. The Axolotl - Gravity Falls' equivalent of basically God, from what I can tell - says himself about Bill in one of the books released outside of the show:

"Saw his own dimension burn. Misses home and can't return. Says he's happy. He's a liar. Blame the arson for the fire."

Bill misses home. He wants the past and to hold onto his family, just like Stan and Mabel do. Isn't it funny how whenever Bill shows up... time stops?

And look what Bill says in Weirdmageddon: "This party never stops! Time is dead and meaning has no meaning!"

Time stopped. He just wants fun. He's almost like a child that never grew up. And... look at what it was that Stan wrecked in A Tale of Two Stans as a teenager:

A perpetual motion machine. That thing that's not supposed to stop, just like time. Stan 'breaking' time by wanting to hold Ford in the past, with him, instead of leaving him to go to college while Stan was stuck in the past/Glass Shard Beach? That's what broke their brotherhood.

But what makes Stan a hero, and Bill a villain, is that he lets go of the past and his childhood. Bill never does. And he's defeated when Stan lets go of the past, something Bill never did. Why? Because he has family to make facing the future easier. He has familial and self love. Bill doesn't, because he killed his own. (Sorry, got off track again, but Stan's arc and story ties so deeply to the other characters' and the main themes that it's hard not to take some detours, because it illustrates just how well-written Stan is. Gravity Falls' story IS his story.).

Wanna know something cute? Wanna know how Stan realized he had worth during that scene after he defeats Bill? Why I'm betting the show runners showed Stan clutching to a picture of Dipper and Mabel as this happens? I'll give you one guess why Dipper and Mabel are so important to Stan, and why he clutches to their photo even as his mind is burning apart in the finale:

They're the first family members since Ford (whose love he'd lost) who loved Stan for who he was, not for who they thought he should have been. Mabel trusting Stan in Not What He Seems is basically the first damn time Stan's heard in thirty plus years from a family member that, "Hey, I trust you have good intentions and aren't just a lying fuckup. You're not a monster. You're not what you seem.".

Also, he's protecting his family. That always makes him happy, too, of course.

Ego Death and the "Stan is Godly" Part

Yep, we're taking this analysis post train all the way to "damn this is deep and PrettyinPwn is likely crazy for noticing it" station. The only reason I'm tacking this part on is that I saw a Q&A with Hirsch recently that sparked my attention. He was on his The Book of Bill tour, and someone asked if there was anyone more powerful than Bill in Gravity Falls lore. Of course, Hirsch said the Axolotl, but what he said about what Bill vs. the Axolotl stands for caught my eye:

The video in question. The question and answer starts around 21:22. The quote I want to point out is, though, is what we learn about these two beings:

Hirsch: "Bill's weaknesses in terms of his overconfidence, his ego, and his lack of ability to focus on one thing at a time are things that a being that has no ego, thinks on a long scale, and does have empathy is actually stronger than him because of those things."

So when we boil the conflict of Bill vs. the Axolotl down to simple terms - what makes evil vs. good in the Gravity Falls universe - is this: ego and selfishness vs. no ego and empathy.

Guess which characters wrestle with these themes? The correct answer is: ALL of them. But especially Stan and Ford. This is really what their conflict is about at the core. They both struggled with ego and selfishness, and that's when - in the story - they lose most. But they win when they choose selflessness and empathy. When they... drum roll, please... partake in ego death.

Well, let's describe an ego death. First, we must define what an ego is (source for all of the following quotes):

Ego: "The ego is a sense of self that you develop at a young age." and, "-relates to your feelings about your own importance and abilities.".

*cough "I'm the family fuckup and poor man's version of Ford because that's what people taught me to believe in my youth." cough*

And an ego death "-is the (often instantaneous) realization that you are not truly the things you've identified with, and the "ego" or sense of self you've created in your mind is a fabrication. In some instances, it can offer a profound feeling of peace and connectedness with all that is, as the walls of separation the ego creates come crumbling down."

*cough "I'm not Ford's poor copy, I'm not a fuckup, I have worth, and I realize this in my literal mind as I pull this expression-

-of total peace as the walls of my mind literally BURN around me" cough*

And, "When one comes through on the other side having released all the things they've identified with, with only their true spirit left, Kaiser says, they begin to live from a place of pure love."

*cough "I'll hold a picture of the ones I love and realize self-love as my mind burns around me because this is who I really am: a man who protects and loves my family and my family loves me" cough*

Cheeky asides, well... aside, are you seeing what I'm getting at, folks? Look, I can't prove that Hirsch and crew intended all this, but in my opinion: you wanna know why there are so many gags of Stan or versions of him melting or burning in the show? Why fire is such an important symbol surrounding him? Why there are so many times he's killed his own identity and became a "new" man again and again and again, be it as a young grifter, or as a drifter who became his brother to bring him back again, or as an old man who "killed" his own mind to save the world and his memories returned?

Because it's ego death. The rebirth of true self from a lie you were living. That's literally what Stan's arc is a metaphor for. Even better, he reaches his character arc's zenith when he does this:

That's not an old man punching a stupid little bastard. That's an old man punching what threatens his family, punching his own past, punching his own demons, punching his brother's demon, punching his prior identity, and - given that we know that Bill is a symbol of ego now - punching the personification of literal ego and letting it burn. There are, let's count, seven symbolic meanings in that punch at the very least. Maybe eight if you count that the rightside-up triangle is the alchemical symbol for fire, and by Stan beating it, it's symbolism of his defeating the fire that's eating his memories AKA why he gets his memories back. I could find more, probably.

And yes, the chubby old conman we love so much - and is the opposite of spiritual both in action and in Hirsch's words (he's said Stan is an atheist as an adult) literally has a character arc where he attains spiritual enlightenment that aligns with the god of the Gravity Falls universe - the Axolotl, who has no ego as Hirsch said - hidden under many layers of symbolism. I don't know if Hirsch and the writing crew planned this with Stan, but holy damn... this is what I meant when I said that Stan is the best written character in Gravity Falls, even if this part was unintentional. There are just so many layers of meaning here.

And the best part? Stan was this hero all along. Everything we cheer him on for - be it punching zombies to protect his niblings or spending three decades of his life trying to get his brother back - is when he's being selfless and empathetic. We love Stan as a character because he has a big heart. He's a good person because, as we described above, he is - through beating ego in a universe where its god represents a lack of ego - godly.

No, fangirls, put the sexy Hunkle art down. I mean literally spiritually godly in the Gravity Falls universe, at least in the way good and evil is portrayed in the themes and worldbuilding. No, I'm not exaggerating, either. Let's return to that quote about the Axolotl's powers and why he's stronger than Bill:

"-that a being that has no ego, thinks on a long scale, and does have empathy is actually stronger than him (Bill) because of those things."

Well... guess what Stan does? He loses his ego so hard he regularly kills his own identity multiple times in his life and goes through a symbolic ego death, he thinks on a long scale (thirty years long), and is empathetic and selfless to the point of sacrifice. And the Axolotl in real life lore? Xolotl, the god of Aztec myth? Guess what he's a god of (source):

Why I highlighted "vulture"? Honestly, this is just a neat little thing I wanted to point out, and was a part of a massive theory I was writing about Stan and Bill that sadly never came to fruition (although I may return to it someday), but here's a hint: what was Stan and Ford's school mascot in New Jersey?

I'll let you take away from all the above what you will. Let's just say: there are a LOT of similarities between Stan and the Axolotl and its real life god counterpart, Xolotl. Does that that mean he's literally the Axolotl when I say he's godly in the Gravity Falls setting? Maybe not.

Here's one last odd something that caught my eye. This is also a leftover from that theory I mentioned above, but I'll just... leave this here, because I don't think anyone else has ever pointed it out before and it expands on what I've been talking about:

Stan in the opening. The first time we see this guy, technically. He's sitting in his favorite chair. And as we all know, he turns to look at something. But just where the hell does he turn to look?

Half of you are like, "Well, what? What's he looking at?". There's a blue glow to his right, and you know what that blue glow is? The tank, which happens to have...

Could be a coincidence, maybe unintentional, but it's... kind of odd, not gonna lie. To have a character that embodies the traits of the setting's god look over at the setting's god the first time viewers see him. Just... a bit strange... and Xolotl was also a shapeshifter god, and given that Stan goes through so many identities in his life... and axolotls are able to regenerate limbs and so are a symbol of healing and rebirth like Stan - whose whole story is about healing and having multiple "rebirths" - is...

Anyways, I've gotten far off track mentioning things from that theory just for fun that I never posted. I may still post it, so I won't spoil all of it or list any more of the very odd coincidences between Stan and the Axolotl, but all you need to know from this post is that Stan shares a lot of similarities with his setting's god in symbolism, and embodies the power of the Axolotl AKA godliness in the Gravity Falls universe: no ego, selflessness, and knowing how to play a long game, because those are exactly the traits he uses to defeat Bill, as well as the traits that help him resolve his character arc wound.

So... now what?

I'm not really sure what to put here, to be honest. This post was a lot more meandering than Ford's was, but that's because there are so many different aspects of Stan's writing that are amazing, especially in symbolism. I hope it was coherent and made sense. A part of me was considering leaving out the ego death and Axolotl parts, but I thought it interesting enough to keep in. Let me know your thoughts!

[cuntyglam]

alien romulus, andy, racism, and why robots are autistic

this is an introspective into how the alien series treats artificial humans, also known as synthetics, and how sci-fi portrays androids in general. alien romulus spoilers under cut. written by a native autistic and disabled fan <3

andy from alien romulus is an artificial human that is constantly being seen as less because of his race (artificial human) and who often portrays autistic characteristics. these characteristics include an aversion to loud sounds, difficulty reading social cues, and a special interest in dad jokes.

his behavior is explained by him being a “damaged” artificial human, which is somewhat disappointing. it’s disappointing that these traits that so many of us autistic people have are considered flaws in the context of the movie.

his sister, who is human, takes him for granted and chooses her life over his, even though he shows emotions and was apart of her family. even though it isn’t outright stated, this kind of reminds me how sometimes we as autistic people are seen as a burden on our families, despite us being able to care for ourselves.

once andy gets rook’s chip inserted he becomes “better”. “better” motor skills, “better” intelligence, and “better” everything. but yet, he still portrays autistic characteristics. he doesn’t go from autistic to not autistic, he just starts displaying different autistic traits. he is very knowledgeable about tech, aliens, and the human body, while being very objective about what the right thing to do is. instead of being a very empathetic person, he is a very practical and calculating person, which i think is super interesting.

honestly, i think it would have been really interesting to see him be the sole survivor. to have him get his revenge on the sister that betrayed him and the world who bullied him for his raise and ability.

okay now to androids, synthetics, and robots as a whole. robots are seen as cold and emotionless, similarly to how autistic people are seen, so many ai and robot characters are autistic coded. robots don’t have compassion or empathy in the eyes of the general public, same as autistic people. many autistic people have reclaimed robot characters to represent us, and i think that’s fantastic !!

i specifically love artificial humans in the alien franchise because they showcase so much depth and empathy, while still displaying autistic traits. and beyond that, most of these artificial humans are enslaved by a corporation (weyland yutani), and despite direct programming from their oppressors, most artificial humans end up doing the right moral thing in the end, further proving their humanity. despite being technically non human, i genuinely think they’re good autistic representation. do i like the way that the characters around them treat them ? no. but i think that might be the point. the point is that these characters are ableist and racist and shouldn’t be considered morally correct. i think that the writers could convey this in a better way though.

okay. racism discussion time. several times throughout this series we encounter artificial humans, and almost every time they have to correct their peers on the right terminology to use for them. as a native person who has had to tell multiple people (coworkers, professors, etc.) not to call me an indian, this really stuck with me growing up, and i still think it’s interesting to this day. in alien: romulus andy’s sister uses “synthetic” to refer to him MULTIPLE TIMES, after he’s stated that he prefers artificial human. this is important, because even though he’s family she still does not fully understand what he goes through and she does not respect his identity or boundaries.

there are also multiple instances throughout the series where characters (our beloved ripley included) have prejudice against artificial humans because of bad experiences with artificial humans in the past. this causes human characters to attack and/or harass artificial humans who they have just met for no other reason than their race. in alien: romulus we see a character be hostile towards andy because another unrelated artificial human made a choice to save the many over the few, and his mother died. this is a choice that many humans would make and would not be blamed for. this reflects the real world, where people of color are blamed for almost every choice they make, while white folks can make the same choices and not be criticized.

in conclusion, i love the character of andy and i think him and the alien franchise as a whole is so interesting. let me know if you want a deep dive into the themes of sexual violence, birth, and motherhood in the alien series !! i’ve done a whole research paper on it, and my college admissions essay was about the alien queen, so i know quite a lot !! i hope this drives a lot more fans towards the alien fandom and i hope a bunch more merch comes out !! yippee !!

[randoimago]

Hi, I really enjoyed your post about the Korean reader. Can you write Duwang gang with russian s/o? I would like at least someone to write something similar with my national colouring, if you are not comfortable with it then don't worry about it and ignore the request.

Anyway thank you and good luck◉⁠‿⁠◉

Fandom: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Character(s): Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, Rohan

Note(s): I shall do my best! I also don't know much about Russian culture, but hopefully Google doesn't steer me wrong

Josuke

History and Geography aren't really his strong suits in school (he's not awful, it's just boring). So he likes hearing you talk about your home if you want. Josuke likes to compare stories.

Since he's not on the best of terms with Rohan, he tries to slowly learn Russian to talk to you in it. And he's also happy to help you with any Japanese that you might be struggling with too.

Josuke does wonder how you're doing adjusting to Japan. Sure, he knows Russia isn't a winter wonderland like stereotypes say, but Japan can get humid as all hell in the summer and really hopes you aren't dying of the temperature. He'll do his best to come up with ways to keep you cool.

Koichi

This sweet boy is asking if you're alright, Japan is a long way from home. If you're homesick then perhaps he can find some restaurant that has food similar to what Russia has. Maybe Tonio could whip up something since he's a talented chef!

Koichi is also fascinated to hear about your home too. He knows of some historical things when it comes to Russia due to his history class. And he definitely tried to learn more when he started dating you.

Being "friends" with Rohan has it's perks as Koichi is going to try to learn Russian so he can talk to you in that language. He wouldn't mind if you'd prefer to help teach him, but he likes the idea of being able to communicate with you in your native language fluently.

Okuyasu

Firstly, he asks where Russia is. He's not exactly the smartest tool in the shed. Of course he knows what Russia is (albeit more of the stereotypes with it), but he has no idea where it'd be on a map besides being some frozen wasteland (again, stereotypes).

He likes hearing about your home though. Listening to you talk about it and the things you did growing up is very interesting. Comparing childhood songs or games is something that he does often (he likes reminiscing about happier times with his family).

If you tell Okuyasu about the employed cats that Russia has then he's amazed. He's heard mythologies surrounding cats and he does own Stray Cat now and wonders if he'd be able to employ her somehow…

Rohan

Well, first thing he's doing when he learns you're Russian is asking what you know about the Baba Yaga. It just seems like some folklore that would be fantastic to reference and put into some manga series.

Rohan is pretty well traveled so he's been to Russia a couple times. He enjoys talking to you about your homeland and how it differs from Japan.

He most likely does use the stories you have of Russia for help with his manga. He'd use his stand, but he actually likes you so he's fine with listening to you talk about your childhood and things that you grew up with in Russia while he takes notes.

Taglist: @abellaheart-blog @joestarfoundation

[ca-suffit]

im sorry your takes are generally pretty great and i appreciate the space you make in fandom but i find the dismissal around lestat's queerness to be diminishing.

louis is a fantastic gay character and u r right about how he represents his queerness which is fabulously. he is mother he is fashion he is wife, a lot, and lestat is a lot more masc in aspects of their dynamic. louis also struggles with it, had internalized homophobia, and his relationship to his sexuality is fraught. now you can have that complexity and still be a "gay icon" sure but what i see here is a gay man existing. not every gay man existing has to be ~iconic~. louis is working on himself.

lestat is a different person and is going out there to make a mark on culture actively, regardless of why. he's not putting on a dress for five seconds (which btw was still pretty impactful in context but ok), he is being meaningfully gnc and making art. this is what queer culture is. it's frustrating to see this element diminished like it's just a meme or a bunch of people being thirsty.

im all for critiquing fandom being weirdos about it but i think the showrunners are doing something spectacular and pretending like fans are making lestat into something he is not just isn't the vibe.

reading this made me realize that I left out a sentence in this ask, so it did come off differently than I intended. I'd meant to say there's already been a lot of exploration of characters / ppl like lestat, but there's never been a character like louis before. I wasn't rly ever talking about lestat's queerness itself, I was talking about how he's prioritized bcuz he's white.

if u personally identity with him in this then that's ur right to, obviously. no group is a monolith and I was never trying to say one way is more "right" than the other. I rly do apologize if it came across like that, cuz I can see why it did.

"he's not putting on a dress for five seconds (which btw was still pretty impactful in context but ok)"

I don't rly know what u mean here bcuz within the show, nobody comments on the dress. ppl react to the baby but everything we know of the dress otherwise was only revealed by carol cutshall bts. I don't know what impact ur meaning here. to the tv audience, sure, but the NOLA audience?? or is it the fact he designed it in the first place.

tbh the thing I most noticed was that once again a white, european immigrant got to be center stage in an event that louis, as a black, louisiana native, isn't (like the card game lestat already had a place at more favored than louis earlier in S1). he also was able to wear that dress in public without public scorn (being european prbly helped here too, he's "other'd" but not the same way as louis is "other'd" for being black), which is something louis could never have done and actually survived at all. it's not that lestat doesn't experience homophobia otherwise, but he's still got a lot more room to confront it than louis, claudia, or armand would have, as ppl who would be confronting homophobia *and* racism with no access to white privilege (claudia literally dies in the same hour we see lestat confront a homophobe otherwise on his and louis' behalf and "win").

idk what they're going to explore for S3 yet, but what we've seen so far is....not that deep tbh. it's not even especially "queer." we're aware he is so we know it is, but straight men have worn makeup and flashy outfits and done homoerotic shit as musicians before too. very often. nothing we've seen from lestat so far has been pushing any boundary as a queer artist or making any kind of statement. I'm not trying to sound like a total bitch here, but a lot of what ur saying is pushing this white fandom agenda of the "importance" of so much that any white, queer character does that....just isn't. lestat's image and sound is taking a lot from other ppl in real music history who *were* doing groundbreaking things at the time, straight or not, but what he's doing is just wearing it as a costume rn. his lyrics even say "I'm an actor / in my makeup." like I said, S3 in full will bring more to the table, obviously, but for what we've seen so far....this hasn't said anything in any objective way that's "deep." u can still like it and identity with it, but idk how u'd argue that it's doing anything tbh. ur welcome to do it tho, I'm not trying to shut down the conversation here. I'm just giving my perspective. I *do* actually think this is stuff we should talk about exactly *bcuz* fandom rides so hard for it all the time. it should be explored why that is, what's the logic behind it. I rly am interested.

edit: wanted to add too that p much everyone we see in this show is queer and creative so literally why is nobody ever saying all this about louis' photography, claudia's acting and interest in fashion (or her general observations on the world thru so many diaries that are referenced in multiple ways as she's not around anymore to speak otherwise), armand's theatre work, madeleine's dressmaking. that's usually why ppl comment on lestat, bcuz he's the most noticed and praised but he's literally not the only one doing it at all.

[matan4il]

Idk if you know who Noah Schnapp is but I feel so sad for him. He seems like a sweet kid and The internet has been sending him death threats and trying to get him fired because he’s pro Israel/anti Hamas. Noah is gay and Jewish the two groups Hamas hates the most of course he’s not gonna support them

Hi Nonnie!

I do know who Noah is. I think he seems like a nice guy, I was really happy for him when he was able to come out as gay, and get such a positive reaction, first from his family, then from the public.

He visited Israel back in July, almost 3 months before Oct 7, and already he was getting attacked simply for that. I think it's SICK in the worst way possible, that Jewish people are getting harassed for even simply visiting their ancestral land, and it's the kind of racism we wouldn't see turned on ANY other marginalized group in the US. Kids of Mexican descent don't get attacked simply for visiting Mexico, African Americans don't get vilified for visting Africa, no matter what people think of these countries. It's anti-Jewish racism to do this to Jews, and it should be loudly called out and condemned. Noah was brave to post about this visit, he was brave to explicitly say he had never felt as alive as he did visiting his ancestral land, and getting to know fellow young Jews here, but he shouldn't have to be.

By now, however, as the attacks on him intensified since Hamas' massacre, and Noah's continued support for Israel, of native Jewish rights in our land, and calling out Hamas for being the vile organization they are (you're right, it is vile to Jews AND to gay people. In fact, it's an organization that should be vile to ANYONE who claims to care about human rights), he's deleted most of his posts from his visit here on his IG, only one remains, and he removed the caption for that one, which is that one that IIRC said he's never felt more alive. Now there's no caption, and it's still apparently taking a lot out of him to simply keep it up on his account.

He did try to backtrack, IDK to what a degree he might have been pressured to. He's certainly not the first Jewish celeb I've seen having to do that, and later admitting they were motivated by fear and harssment. The "kind" anti-Israel crowd is definitely implying Noah is only doing it due to Stranger Things' new season which is about to be released. I'm afraid whatever the reason, he's about to find out that if the antisemites can't tokenize you to use you against other Jews, then you're forever a "bad Jew," and nothing you say will ever change that. On the way, I guess he'll disappoint many Jewish followers, who looked up to him when he was one of the few celebs, even more so one of a handful of young celebs, to stand by Israel. The anti-Israel crowd claims to be persecuted, silenced and bullied, but as far as I can tell, especially with young people like him, they're the ones doing the persecuting, silencing and bullying. I'm really saddened that he felt he had to backtrack his support of Israel, to a great degree because it tells me just how severe the attack and pressure on him must be, and I just don't want any Jew to suffer.

But this actually brings me to another, maybe more important point: just because celebrities have a bigger stage than the rest of us, it doesn't mean they know more about politics than others. If Noah, as a Jew, could safely speak about his experiences as a young Jewish man, I think that would be fantastic, just like I think it's great whenever a queer celeb comes out of their own accord and shares some of their experiences. It's a really sad thing to realize that in 2024, it's safer to talk about being gay, and to speak up for gay rights, than to be Jewish and speak against antisemitism, or about Jewish experiences, or for Jewish rights. But beyond sharing personal experiences, celebrities don't understand a conflict as complex as the Israeli-Arab one, and with as much history as this one has, more than the average Tiktoker. Neither one is an authority, and neither one should be who people go to for their political views. The fact that people look at Tiktokers as any kind of authority, or have expectations from celebs regarding political views and bully them for the "wrong" ones (based on what Tiktokers said) is a part of what has gone horribly wrong with modern society.

The internet was supposed to help us fight misinformation through the availability of facts. Instead, we see repeatedly how what is true falls prey to what is viral.

Sending big hugs, and I hope you're doing good! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[anipgarden]

What Kind of Plants to Add

This is my sixth post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert–just an enthusiast–but I hope something you find here helps! 

I’d love to be able to give a quick and easy list of things to add, but frankly I can’t do that. I can strongly encourage you, however, to look at these categories of plants and do further research to discover what’s native to your area, so you can plant things that’ll have the most impact in your particular area.

With that being said, I will mention a few plants as examples. This is in no way, shape, or form me telling you that you have to or even should buy these specific plants. Not every plant works well in every place in every garden, not to even mention across countries. Above all, if you’re wondering what plants you should be adding, I can wholeheartedly say plants that are native to your area--or at least nonnative non-invasive.

Flowers

Flowers are some of the most common ways people work to increase biodiversity in their gardens, and who can blame them? Seeing pops of color out your window, and directly seeing the impact via butterflies and bees visiting the garden? It’s a win-win for us and the wildlife!

Flowers--especially native wildflowers--are a quick, easy, and cheap way to increase wildlife traffic in your garden. Perennial gardens are more likely to get you the most bang for your buck, as they’ll come back year after year if you treat them well. But don’t dismiss annuals--if you get ones that easily reseed, they’ll eagerly return on their own! If you can, do your best to ensure that the flowers you plant all have different blooming periods--that way, your garden can support wildlife throughout the year instead of for just one brief season. 

Flowers are environmental super boosters. Their nectar and pollen can feed insects and birds, their stems and leaves can provide nesting materials for all sorts of creatures, and their seeds are a popular food source among birds at all times of the year.

Climbing Plants

Climbing plants can be fantastic options for maximizing your impact. If you have limited ground space, growing up can provide interest as well as additional habitat for all kinds of creatures.

Training plants up a trellis, fence, or bare wall offers food, shelter, and habitat. Trumpet vines, passionflowers, honeysuckles, and more will provide sweet nectar for pollinators as well as nesting and hiding spaces for other wildlife like birds, bugs, and lizards. Do note that in some cases, climbing plants can actually affect the structural integrity of walls and roofs if allowed to climb too much and too far along a house, so be careful. 

Bushes/Shrubs

Bushes provide shelter for creatures, which then provides hunting grounds for other animals. Their fallen leaves and petals can be food and shelter for detritivores, amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals--and they also provide good cover for moving around the garden, for creatures who like to stay hidden. They can be a bit more pricey to obtain--unless you get cuttings or seeds and are willing to wait--but they’ll definitely be worth it, and they’re typically low-maintenance once they’re established.

Bonus points if you get a flowering and fruiting bush, like bottlebrush, serviceberry, lilac, or others. This’ll make your bushes not only a place of shelter, but a food source as well--and depending on the kind you pick, may be food for you too! Making a garden border with a series of bushes can be a great option to providing lots of habitat, if you can manage it.

Shrubs with pithy or hollow stems are excellent options for supporting solitary bees. Some examples you could look into are elderberry, raspberry, blackberry, or sumac.

Trees

Trees have a high up-front cost and take awhile to grow, but once they’re settled in place they provide crucial habitat to all kinds of creatures! Insects will be attracted to flowers they may provide, or to nest in the wood. Others may eat the leaves as food, or use them as nesting materials. Birds will perch and nest in trees, and feed off the fruits and seeds and insects that also use the tree. Squirrels also use trees as nesting places, piling up dead leaves into huge clusters to raise their young in, and will absolutely feast on any nuts the tree may provide. Mice, badgers, and more will feast on fallen fruits or seeds, and bats roost in the trunks when given the chance. Detritivores eat fallen leaves and decomposing fruits, providing further food for hunting creatures. Trees can also be good for us--they help block out noise and air pollution, and are the poster child for taking CO2 and making it breathable oxygen. Not to mention they can provide plenty of food for us, too. Nesting grounds, hunting grounds, shelter from weather, and more--trees are, in my opinion, likely to be the best way to boost biodiversity long-term. If you can get your hands on a sapling for cheap and can care for it for awhile, I’d definitely give it a shot! Make sure the tree won’t get too big for where you’re growing it, though--you’ve definitely gotta plan for the long-term before you plant any. 

Some trees can be grown in containers. Though they won’t become gigantic branching behemoths, they’ll still do their part to support all the life that depends on them. Growing a tree from seed may take awhile, but could be an easy option to getting one if you have the patience--the trees are more than happy to help you, as they drop tons of seeds and fruit in fall for you to gather. 

Groundcover

Bare soil is the enemy of microbial life in the soil, and while small pockets of bare soil can be great nesting places for bees and other insects, having swaths of empty soil should be avoided. Groundcover plants grow low to the ground in a sprawling habit, and will often spread quite easily on their own. This is a great way to provide shelter, keep soil temperatures cool, block out weeds, and give your soil life a chance to thrive.

Sometimes, ground covers don’t even have to be planted in the ground. Shallow-rooted plants like succulents, ferns, and alyssum can be planted into cracks in stone walls, and moss can be planted by making moss graffiti and painting it onto a surface. As with climbing plants, do make sure that you don’t cause extra damage to important walls and housing foundations.

Host Plants

Host plants get their own section, because plants of all kinds can be host plants for different creatures! It’s common to think only flowers can be host plants in the beginning, but in reality, many bushes and trees are host plants to dozens of species of butterflies and moths. Honestly, I feel that factor's not talked about enough. Look up what insects live in your area and what kind of host plants they need, and plant some if you can! Bonus points if you can plant a variety of them--I know that there’s hundreds of kinds of milkweed, each one flowering and leafing up around different times of the year. Planting several varieties of milkweed, then, would provide monarchs with food through several seasons, allowing many more of them to grow up in your garden!

Nectar Plants

Plants that provide nectar to insects is a great foundation to increasing biodiversity! This is, of course, many native wildflowers (and even nonnative wildflowers, though be sure they aren’t invasives who’ll do more harm than good), but many native bushes, vines, and trees will also provide nectar to hungry pollinators! 

Keystone Species

To be frank, some plants can have a bigger impact than others in a landscape. By all means, every bit helps, but if you want to boost biodiversity quickly there are a few plants that can essentially serve as the backbone of local ecosystems that you can grow in anything from a balcony pot to a small patch of your backyard. These plants can be different depending on where you are, so do your research to find out what would be best to grow in your area. If you can’t get them all? That’s alright! But even hitting just a few of these target species really can do a lot.

That’s the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about things to keep in mind/continue to do once you get plants in the ground! Until then, I hope this advice was helpful! Feel free to reply with any questions, your success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!

[disasterbijupiter]

Aaaaah, the new G Gundam story's first chapter is here!!

Although I am not fluent in Japanese, I can speak and read/write it a fair bit, and so I decided I really want to try my best to make an English translation! ... I'm not sure if I will be able to keep up with it, but I'm going to try for now starting with the beginning/prologue of the first chapter! ^_^

(For anyone who doesn't know, there's a new written "side story" being published on the official website in honor of the 30th anniversary, written by the original director! Here is the actual link.)

Anyways, I wasn't sure what to expect for this, but so far it already features:

The whole gang immediately getting drunk together. Amazing.

Wong drinking wine and being pathetic. Yes, fantastic.

Martial arts giving people ridiculously over-the-top, unexplained super powers. Check.

So... It is already better than I thought it was going to be. 😂

Here is my translation of Chapter 1's first section! (I will be breaking it down into scenes/parts to make it easier.) Also, if anyone, especially any Japanese native speakers or anyone who's fluent, has corrections or suggestions, feel free to lemme know!

Episode 1:

— Long ago in Guyana………

Master: “Is the Gundam Fight the right path………?”

The voice echoes in the dark, like a faint guiding light amid the blackness.

Master: “I would like to ask you, siblings, for the answer.”

Two disciples sit before their master.

Elder sister disciple: “………………”

Younger brother disciple: “………………”

However, there is no response from the two disciples.

Master: “Many Gundam Tournaments have taken place……… I would have liked to have been able to find the answer myself, but………”

Interrupting the master’s sad murmur, the elder sister disciple replies.

Elder sister disciple: “In that case, Master, why don’t I become your eyes and take a look at the Gundam Fight?”

Those words are filled with love and determination to work hard for her master.

Master: “You will go for me?”

Elder sister disciple: “Yes.”

Younger brother disciple: “Well then, I’ll come with you.”

Elder sister disciple: “No, you stay here to assist Master.”

The older sister speaks kindly to the younger brother disciple.

Younger brother disciple: “But………”

The master smiles happily at the words of these two who care about each other.

Master: “Yes, I would appreciate if you could do that for me.”

Younger brother disciple: “Yes………”

The younger brother disciple shyly agrees… wishing he had been the one to take on the mission first.

Master: “Now, let me give you this………”

The master places his own fist over the fist of the elder sister disciple.

Elder sister disciple: “……… This is………”

Master: “It might be a bit soon, but it’s good to have this in order to navigate the world…”

The elder sister disciple’s fist begins to glow, and the younger brother disciple gazes at both of their fists with admiration in his eyes.

Younger brother disciple: “Ah………”

On the elder sister disciple’s fist shines the “King of Hearts” emblem.

(continue to next part)

[butcherlarry]

Clark Kent Head Canons-Animal Rescue Edition

During my lunch break yesterday, I saw this post about how skunks are only native in the Americas and how someone had to tackle their international college roommate from messing with a skunk when they saw one for the first time. As I spent time in the cooler at work, the idea fermented inside my head of Clark doing the same thing with Kara when she first sees any Earth animal. He knows she's indestructible, but it still gives him a heart attack when he sees her try to befriend a grizzly bear. He also doesn't want to get stinky when she DOES see a skunk. Maybe he has a childhood memory of running into one when he was younger, and getting a tomato juice bath was no fun. Although, I don't think the tomato juice bath actually works, it only gets rid of some of the smell and covers it up with the tomato smell. RIP baby Clark, covered in tomato juice, his super smell was probably going crazy that day.

As I pondered this idea more, I figured the Supers would be fantastic animal handlers, especially when it comes to wildlife rescue (I have been watching too much Urban Rescue Ranch and raptor/bird rescue/rehab videos on YouTube, so that's been on my brain). It would be easy for them to spot and catch whatever animal they've been called out to rescue (super hearing and super vision would come in handy for that). And when taking care of the animals, they would be able to pick up easily on when the animal was stressing out. Plus, x-ray vision to see if there are any broken bones or other injuries! They would also never have to worry about being harmed by the frightened animals since they are pretty much indestructible.

I shouted this idea at the lovely @januariat, and was delighted to find out from them that this is close to being canon in the comics, Clark has a rescue for alien animals in his Fortress of Solitude:

(Thank you for the comic panel evidence januariat!!)

This got my brain going AGAIN. If you are a regular viewer of the Urban Rescue Ranch videos, you know that Ben (the guy who runs the rescue) has a murderous rhea named Kevin. It pleases me to no end to think that Clark also has a murderous alien animal in his FoS rescue. He named them "Lex" though.

This thought awoken another memory in me of a post I read, but this time about a guy who is a husband to a crane, meaning that he works in the rescue/conservation group that's trying to increase this crane species low population. This one female crane (named Walnut) hates all her male crane suitors (the post said that she killed 5 of them. But that might be an exaggeration), but she will do a mating dance with this one human guy instead. So essentially, this guy is "married" to this female crane. They do the mating dance and he'll artificially inseminate her so she can lay eggs. I enjoy the thought that Clark also has a rare female alien animal that he's trying to increase the population of, but the alien animal hates all the males he brings of that species and only does a mating dance she sees Clark. Clark names that one "Bruce" (of course).

Anyway, there needs to be more of this content in the world, whether it's in the DC universe or an AU. Now that I think about it, that would be a cute meet cute for smol Superbat (Damian and Jon). Damian brings in an injured animal for Jon to rehabilitate, and it all builds up from there. Up to you if it's no capes/powers, with capes/powers, an alien animal, or earth animal. I just think it's a cute idea :D

Feel free to add any ideas you have about the Supers and them rescuing animals! I would love to hear them!

[joju-but-trek]

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 5: Observer's Paradox

This is the real quantumania.

A quarter of the way through the season, and things keep getting more interesting. I'm enjoying the ride overall. Specifically this episode, we got a lot of classic Star Trek shenanigans done in a new and interesting way, and they still add to the overall narrative even if they're tonally very different to last episode. I'm enjoying that the show is able to do so many different genres of Trek while still building out a coherent story. 9/10.

This episode was great for building out background lore. We get an episode revolving around Cetacean Ops, and some backfill on Chakotay. The Cetacean Ops move was genius because it keeps getting brought up, but finally being able to actually see a whale onscreen because animation allows for it is such a good move. They played with it in Lower Decks, but it was never the point of the episode.

We also got some answers on Chakotay's tribe. There's an offhand mention that he's from the Nicarao people, fixing an issue that Voyager had where he was Generic Native American from a fictional "Rubber Tree People". I appreciate that there's a fix, and I am going to do more research on the Nicarao. For anyone interested in a good article about the Chakotay problem from before the fix, here's the article that made me start looking.

This was also a great episode for Rok, really digging into her insecurities about being associated with the rest of the crew right now. I like this arc for Rok, and Rylee Alazraqui really sells the part. She also got to spend a ton of time talking to a whale, which seems like a perk.

The idea that the episode revolved around trying to understand Murf was a good concept also. It gave room for Gwyn and Jankom to try their respective skills before throwing it to Rok, who solved it with a combination of technical knowledge and empathy. There was also the cute moment of Dal and Gwyn watching Rok get excited and reacting to it that just solidified that these characters love each other.

Janeway's plot with trying to destroy the wormhole was very in line with classic Trek stories about Bad Admirals. I'm not sure how I feel about it being Jellico specifically who ordered it - Jellico works in a specific context in Trek stories and I'm not convinced that this is it - but it does work. I like to think that in a utopian world where we had more time in an episode we would have seen Janeway struggle with the decision more, but for what we got in a show where she isn't and shouldn't be the main character it was a great version of it.

We also got the Doctor getting excited about a bad holonovel he wrote, which was fun. I do have questions about how the Doctor de- and re-materializes with the Mobile Emitter on, but I'm willing to poke at that later in fan forums.

And at the end of the episode we get Gwyn teleporting through space to get visions in a visually fantastic sequence. My favorite part of that beat, though, is her and Dal discussing it and their reactions to each other. It's feeding the shippers, and it's working. I can get behind this.

In conclusion: Rok is amazing, Maj'el needs to ditch those jerks, and I guess we're doing Gwyn/Dal now.

[quackitytheduck]

Do you know enough about karmaland to recommend how to watch it/who to watch

ok ftr im not a native spanish speaker nor was i able to watch a lot of the later streams bc of school but i absolutely would recommend it, although if you dont understand spanish then it is going to be so much harder to get through it now that k5 is over and the fandom has completely chilled out. that being said

the answer is yes i would recommend it its a fantastic story with some questionable choices that the fandom found some very interesting and extreme arguments in but that we inevitably have to live with. theres a ton of new streamers that ive been exposed to that im still watching even after k5 is over. story wise i highly recommend quackity and luzu as they are the most popular and lore-heavy ones, i also must mention sapo peta who unfortunately i cant remember the twitch user of rn (if i find it later ill edit this post) and the wonderful rubius aka elrubius on twitch they are all fantastic. but if u havent been involved in the hispanic mc community before u should look up a list of the ccs and check them out to see whos personality really clicks w u, unlike the dsmp for me i only stuck w a few povs.

quackity has untranslated vods on his spanish vods channel, elalexquackity vods, luzu has stream highlights which are surprisingly effective which is also what most members do, these are all the sapo peta vods i could find, its pretty much the same for all members except q i believe w the stream highlights. theres also vegetta777 who i rec watching with rubius' pov if u end up going that way. yeah ok i think thats it

neway rip titi 💔💔 miss u bb

also i really am not the best person to go to for karmaland stuff so uhh go ask @honkq

[blazescompendium]

Blaze's Compendium entry #2: Zhu Tun She: A pig? A snake? Both!?

This is a very mysterious creature, that supposedly has been spotted during the Song Dynasty, in China. (This being between 10th and 13th century)

Zhu Tun She (which means literally something like ''Snake Pig'' in Chinese) was described as a demon or monster snake, but it had four legs and behaved like a pig but violently, making squeaking noises. Some sources say it was covered in scaled and hair.

This specific creature caught my attention some years ago, and was one of the first Megaten Demons that i wanted to research by my own, because i found it very interesting. I ended up going to a Chinese Book Store in my city to research it, but it was relatively unknown even for natives. The internet has surprisingly few information about this demon, and since i do not speak Chinese, there's a huge language barrier. Still, i went on.

The most widely spread tale about Zhu Tun She in the west and Chinese web, is that it appeared during the Song Dynasty attacking peasants and soldiers, and (maybe) sometimes eating them. It was supposedly defeated by an officer who was also a magician, and managed to kill it.

From my initial superficial research in the topic, as well my more detailed one, it seems this creature is not a recurrent one. They are different from more recurrent characters, that have their own tales and whatnot. As far as i could pinpoint, at least, Zhu Tun She had just a small tale from a very specific time period. It's valid thought, that i affirm once again i am not a Chinese speaker, so if the creature appeared in other literary works, i was not able to read nor find it.

Zhu Tun She in Demi Kids. Sorry i stacked them...

The origins of the beast came from the Yijianzhi, a collection of folkloric and fantastic tales written during the Song Dynasty. This series of tales contained originally hundreds of chapters, which were complied by Hong Mai, a prolific writer from the time. Its believed that the first chapter was from around 1161, and the other ones from around 1198.

Hong Mai (1123 - 1202) was an author that decided to collect this old stories in a book. He gave the name Yijianzhi in honor to the author Yijian, which wrote according on tales he himself heard, according to Taoist Texts.

The Yijanzhi by itself is very interesting. It contains multitudes of texts, that travels around a lot of topics. From gods, to ghosts, to revenge stories, kings, fantasy, some bizarre stuff, and most important: Fantastical creatures that inhabit those legends.

In case you want to read the book... I have good and bad news: The good news is that it received a partial translation to English in 2018, i have read this version. It's called Records of The Listener and it's a simple and very rewarding read. There's also a 2007 version of partial translation. Both are properly archived and you can read it online.

The bad news is that, they are just a partial translation, many tales are missing and the Zhu Tun She one is among those missing. We do, however have a summarized version, this version was extracted from me from Chinese sources, but you can also find it on the western web. I used software to translate it, so please forgive me if i get something wrong. (See below)

But before, let's discuss it's origins a bit:

While the source mostly associated with the story, was the elusive Shigeru Mizuki book ''Dictionary of Chinese Demons'', and probably the same Kaneko took it from. There's hardly English sources about this demon, which made it very hard to research about it not being a native Chinese speaker, or at least knowing a bit of the language.

Me and some friends even pondered about it being made up by Mizuki, since it has happened before with other creatures. But with the help of the Chinese Web, i could pin down exactly where this tale was originally from:

-This was present in the book Siqu Quanshu. It's a compendium from the Qing Dynasty that contained some chapters of the Yijian Zhi including this one, you can read in it's entirety online here. (If you can read Chinese. If you can't, i will provide a translation below do not fear.)

The indexation in this book is as follows:

Siqu Quanshu -> Yijian Zhi -> 戊卷03 ( volume 3) - It's unclear how was it's original index in its original source.

(Thanks u/storiesti for helping me finding it)

The compendium in question was commissioned by the emperor Qianlong, and it's how this tales survived. That's important, because many Yijian Zhi chapters simply did not survived to the modern age, and the way some of them did was being republished in works such as that. So, at the very least it was not made up by Mizuki or anyone in the internet.

So... What was this story about then? What was our little piggy's tale?

Here's a brief version of it, translated via software, sorry it was the best i could do:

In the stationed army at Jiankang, there was a officer named Cheng Jun who was very experienced in the "forbidden spells" technique, especially in subduing demon snakes. This incident seems to have happened in the 23rd year of the Shaoxing period. (1130 AD) One evening, when the army was training outside the south gate, a snake suddenly appeared in a bamboo woods. The snake was as thick as a pestle, about three feet long, covered in fur, with four legs, just like a demon. When it appeared, it would make a sound like a pig and chase after people while making this noise, running as if it were going to devour them. People could only panic and flee with no way to deal with it. At this moment, someone nearby found a horse stable and quickly used it to trap the snake, then reported the matter to the commander. The commander immediately sent someone to investigate and also commanded Cheng Jun, who was famous for subduing spirit snakes, to take care of the snake. After a while, Cheng Jun arrived; as soon as he saw it, he recognized the shape of the demon snake under the horse stable. He said, "This is called 'Zhu Tun She', a type of demon snake that kills people once they get entangled by it." After that, Cheng Jun blew air from above the horse stable and began to use his spells. Soon, Cheng Jun commanded someone to open the horse stable, and they saw the demon snake curled up and motionless. Cheng Jun then closed the horse stable again, deeply inhaled as if he was absorbing moonlight, and then blew air from above the stable three more times. Afterwards, Cheng Jun commanded someone to open the horse stable again, and they saw that the demon snake had turned into a puddle of blood.

A.. lot happened here as you can see.

Shigeru Mizuki's depiction of the Zhu Tun She.

It's unclear how common this demon was supposed to be in that tale, since Cheng was able to identify it pretty easily, and was known to defeat monsters like that all the time.

But that is how far it goes, the creature was (to my knowledge) never mentioned again, and made brief appearances in popular media. I don't know how it ended up in Mizuki's table, but he helped to popularize it since most of sources end up in his book. This is of course because it's way more accessible to read a book from the 1990s than an old scroll from 1130s.

Zhu Tun She differs from other critters i'v researched about, because there's few to no nuance in its existence. There's no moral to the tale, there's nothing to explain it as well, it seems like a cryptid from the old world, or just an elaborated fictional tale to amuse the emperor.

My personal theory is that: If it was not made up to amuse the Emperor, it was probably a very weird capybara or something like that. Who knows?

Still it's a very fascinating demon, a creature that would be terrifying to find alone in a bamboo forest for sure. But the best part of this study was to find more about the work where it came from, the Yijian Zhi. This books are simply amazing.

It's a collection of tales from old China, some supernatural, others just common tales. Still, they are very brief and entertaining also shedding some light into old China, full of myths and stories. As i said, there's a partial translation to English available to buy, or read online! Go check it out.

As for our pig friend, i could not find out if it had other apparitions in Chinese folklore, as mentioned before. It seems Zhu Tun She was an very isolated incident, and has only known by us because someone republished the tale many years later.

You see, snakes are beings very present in Human collective consciousness. Snakes were natural predators to early humans, many of us are born with innate fear of snakes. Snake monsters, demons and gods are part of lots of cultures around the world. The Quetzalcoatl in Central America, the Hydra in Greek Mythology, Orochi in Japanese mythology. In Northeastern Brazil there's a tale of a Feathered monster Snake called ''The Lapa's Feathered Snake''. This is just some of them, while many other exist.

As our ancestral predator and a very dangerous creature, snakes ended up taking a lot of space in our minds.

It's possible that other creatures similar to Zhu Tun She have been written, but could be lost to time. Who knows? There's indeed many other snake demons around the world, so our pig friend here is not alone!

I'd like to thank sorenblr for helping me getting attention to this research, and also Atmaflare for literally accompanying me during this research. @sorenblr and @atmaflare thank you!

Hope you all enjoyed!

Sources: -Siqu Quanshu: Some Yijian Zhi tales (Original Chinese book where the tale is currently available, brought from the Yijian Zhi books)

-The Dictionary of Chinese Demons (Shigeru Mizuki, could not find it for buying but its the source parroted throughout the web.)

[northwest-cryptid]

I do honestly think it's really interesting how willing people are to look past things they dislike when it's being used/done by someone they do, but they'll still attack individuals for the same shit.

Like "AI is bad" unless it's being done by someone like Dougdoug, in which case most people are largely able to look past the idea that AI is bad, this is likely because it's being used in such a way where the AI is very obvious and open; and because it's being used for comedy. The thing is, anyone using AI has the ability to use it in this way; but the concept that "AI can be used ethically and in a fun way that doesn't hurt people" isn't considered on a larger scale. It becomes more of an "AI is bad, but if you're popular enough to get away with it; have fun."

Or "Chocolate is literally created via slave labor, buying or enjoying chocolate contributes to slavery." Unless you're that guy who makes chocolate sculptures for tiktok and shit. In which case we'll just focus on the fact you're weaving chocolate or something, and not pay any mind to the sheer amount of chocolate you're using and the fact that this likely covers more money going to the same slave labor chocolate production as like 100 individuals buying a kitkat on lunch because they want a snack. People look past all of this because the art he makes with chocolate is undeniably impressive and fun to watch.

Don't even get me started on "racism is bad, portraying minorities as stereotypes and especially making them antagonistic in media is wrong..." Unless you're Mihoyo in which case you'll find extreme success with Genshin Impact despite literally referencing Native American people for your main fodder enemies; people are willing to look past this because I guess the game is fun and the waifus are hot? I don't know man I don't play racist games.

Misogyny is wrong and sexism in the workplace, or as a cultural norm needs to be dealt with; and indie companies need to be held to the same professional standards as anyone else; but if you're ProjectMoon you get a weird pass on throwing such a shitstorm that you not only get your game momentarily boycott but you also can't handle your business connections well enough to manage not having an entire webcomic shut down. Yea WonderLab is now lost media congratulations, the whole of your shitty business dealings came to light; underpaying staff and treating third parties like garbage because "you're just a little indie company uwu" when you've been raking in the big bucks for a while now. Don't worry though because your audience is too attached to [Blorbo From My Games] to give you any real backlash that will negatively effect your company.

So like, what then? Am I saying we should demonize all these people?

Well no actually that's not the case, though I DO think you should boycott Genshin on the grounds it IS racist; and you absolutely should boycott Limbus Company until the company behind it can get their act together and stop being sexist assholes and generally a shitty company.

That being said, if you think I'm trying to attack dougdoug or the chocolate man who's name escapes me at the moment; you can't be further from my point. My point here is to stop attacking people overall; seek solutions to the problem without attacking the individuals. If you see me, as a single individual buying a kitkat on my lunch break; this is not the time to inform me that I'm somehow contributing to slavery before you go off and reblog "he's weaving chocolate!?!?!" As if that's not literally far worse than what I'm doing.

"But I CAN effect what YOU'RE doing, I can't tell him he's contributing to slavery and make him stop!" Why not?

I mean seriously why the fuck not? You understand these people are only given power by the viewers who support them right? The people who buy their products, the people who give them money.

If he can find a way of supporting businesses that don't use or profit from slave labor then great that's a fantastic change. Similar to how Dougdoug not only writes most of his own scripts but uses AI in such a way that it's ethical, it doesn't involve stealing or victims.

The take away there should be that it's possible to use these things in a way that doesn't hurt people, this is why I think it's different from companies like Mihoyo and ProjectMoon as much as taking any shots at ProjectMoon sucks as a fan of their games; I think sexism and anti-capitalism is more important than some blorbo from my games. That's why I'm not only not spending money on Limbus, but I'm not even playing; I refuse to inflate their user numbers and give them the marketability. I refuse to tell them that doing wrong doesn't have consequences.

"Yea but are you actually doing anything? Does it actually matter?" Well yes and no, yes because if I don't do anything then nothing will happen, nothing will change; nothing will get better. However no because I'm just one person, and if you've ever worked retail and heard the classic "you just lost a customer!" You know as well as I that one person on their own doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of it all when it comes to things like overall company success. However if we all keep giving these racist, sexist, and just generally scummy companies our money and time and activity to market; because "I'm just one person" then nothing is ever going to snowball into a noticeable amount of people.

Boycotts don't work unless a majority of people participate; and I'm sorry but the reason these companies make what they make is to pander to your impulse, to your attention; they prey on your weakness to not be able to break free from them.

That's WHY Genshin has so many waifus and husbandos and bullshit like that; they prey on your inability to control your emotions and thus you will continue to spend money for a chance to obtain your favorite characters and once you do you have an attachment to them; you spent god knows how much money to get them; you invested so much time in getting the currency to roll/pull/draw for them.

That's WHY Limbus Company writes the characters and content they do; because they know you're too invested now; they aren't worried about a silly boycott because they've seen it won't matter. They already know all they need to do is keep releasing more content, and you'll keep playing, you'll keep spending money on it; you'll keep getting hype for whatever comes next. It doesn't matter if you think they're a sexist company, if you think they're capitalist scum; because you're still playing their game, you're still giving them money, you're still supporting them.

This is even true of Tumblr, and it's what I always say when people bring up the fact tumblr isn't listening to anyone telling them about the whole issue of transphobia on this site.

Yea of course tumblr isn't going to listen to you, you're still here. They don't care what you say as long as you still use their site; so long as you still provide them with content, so long as you still inflate their numbers and make their site profitable. You can do whatever you want they're not going to care; if you actually make a big enough stink to make the site unmarketable they'll just precisely ban you, remove the evidence; and move on. They won't ban everyone; if they did that they wouldn't have content; they're only going to lift a finger to bring down the hammer where it absolutely must be done.

Tumblr's CEO went off site to attack a trans girl and while everyone complains about it, we're all still fucking here aren't we? So they absolutely do not care that you know, they absolutely do not care that you're talking about it. In fact god knows that if a post like this ever got super popular and my voice started to matter; I'd just be banned, I'd just be removed with surgical precision; ensuring they leave enough of you all here to keep the ecosystem alive and well so they remain profitable.

I think people point fingers and accuse and blame and throw shade way too much, I don't get on people for AI bullshit for a lot of reasons; but the biggest is that if someone is misusing AI that's the fault of the individual; the person actually doing the theft; not the AI, you don't blame a hammer for breaking a vase; you blame whoever swung it.

Tumblr is a melting pot of various people with various views on things and it's so tiresome to see these sort of half baked moral points getting thrown around "hey if you're not boycotting this you're bad and wrong and a horrible person" okay great, you're not boycotting things I think you should be though so does that make YOU a bad person? It's all fucking relative and honestly unless everyone bands together to make change it's not going to happen, so either agree on something and stick to it; band together and better the world around you; or stop attacking each other for the sins of big companies.

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

So, I was looking at animals native to Texas, and it says that Japanese macaques were introduced to a sanctuary in Frio County.

I was wondering if you knew why that was done? I see that Japanese macaques are listed as LC on the conservation list, so I'm assuming it wasn't for conservation efforts, but I see no other reason to introduce them to a whole new area like that.

Its actually an interesting story. Born Free Primate Sanctuary is one of the worlds largest monkey sanctuaries, and right now they are at capacity housing 600 individuals on 186 acres.

The sanctuary started in the 1970s when a rancher whose primatologist daughter was studying macaques in Japan heard that as a result of humans feeding them, the macaque population had multiplied to the point where many had migrated to Kyoto and were becoming problem animals for residents. The Japanese government was going to cull the population, which is why Edward Dryden offered to take 150 macaques from Japan to live on his Texas ranch.

Now to be honest, this probably wasn't ideal. This was someone with a soft spot for animals who just wanted to help, but didn't have experience caring for primates. Luckily, a lot of land and presumably consulting with his daughter who was somewhat of an expert means that the relocated macaques did well in Texas despite needing to adjust to the climate.

Of course nowadays, you can't just have a couple hundred monkeys even if you're doing a pretty good job of looking after them. The mid 90s saw a huge fundraiser to buy more land for the sanctuary, and in 1999 the Animal Protection Institute took over managing the sanctuary to help them expand their reach so that more monkeys could live and thrive on the expanded grounds.

This was a terrific move, because now many of the sanctuaries residents are victims of the pet trade and wildlife trafficking who are able to have a chance at a better life. Texas is one of the worst states for exotic wild animal "pets", so the fact that this sanctuary exists to take them in and educate people on the damage of owning pet monkeys is fantastic. They are dedicated to education and to providing the best in captive quality of life. Despite them being referred to as a "free roam" sanctuary above, the residents are in enclosures to contain them to the sanctuary, the biggest of which is 52 acres! With an enclosure that massive, the monkeys are living essentially in nature just with the necessary supports from samctuary staff.

Additionally, to protect the residents (many of whom were traumatized from being pets, roadside attractions, and test subjects) the sanctuary is not open to the public. However, you can still see the monkeys online through the sanctuaries website and social media. They have 11 different species from descendents of the original macaque population to vervets and baboons!

Going in to research this place I was worried it would be bad, but I was happy to be surprised by a history of dedicated primate love. You can learn more and support the sanctuary through their website (linked above). 🐒💖

It should be noted Born Free is an international anti-captivity animal rights organization and while we support Born Free Primate Sanctuary we do not support the entirety of Born Free's many campaigns.

[leebrontide]

Growing a tea garden?

Full disclosure, I once had an actual Camellia sinensis tree that I loved dearly and flowered for me and was such a joy. But I misunderstood some aspects of taking care of it, and after 2 years, I lost it, which was tragic. I've yet to find another one in an in-person shop near me, so I remain tea-less, technically.

BUT, last summer I found out that there's something called New Jersey Tea. Which, despite the English name, is native to a lot of northern North America, including my own area. And native planting is always a thrilling bonus for me.

Look at it! It's so pretty!

Perfect for a combo native prairie/English cottage garden vibe that's going to go well with all our fruit plants. Being native it's not fussy and I can mostly plant it and forget it, which is ideal. Plus it's a pollinator favorite.

There's a sort of mostly-dug-up garden along the back porch because the previous owners took some apparently massive rhubarbs with them. It's a sunny spot with some decent soil, so a good spot for a garden, and plus then you'd be hanging out with these nice, aromatic plants.

Supposedly, when it's fresh the leaves have an almost wintergreen taste, but when dried it tastes like a spiced black tea. It has no caffeine. It was also supposedly a huge favorite during the US revolution, when tea imports were difficult.

So, then I started thinking about what OTHER plants I can use for making tea that will grow in my frigid home climate.

Canadian Ginger

Just like now New Jersey Tea has no particular relation to Camelia, this is nothing to do with the tropical grown ginger, which is the ginger you probably think of. BUT, it has a deeper ginger taste.

Swamp Mallow Hibiscus

So, again, you think of Hibiscus as being tropical. I only thought to check because one of my neighbors has a bigass deep red hibiscus that's been flowering away every summer for years. Apparently it's some kind of hybrid situation that lets them grow here.

I thought this sort of coloration would look better with the kind of garden I've got going, since I don't want to look tropical.

I adore hibiscus tea. It's tangy, it's colorful. It's refreshing. but I'll be honest, I haven't been able to find any reviews of what the flavor of these hybrids is. If you happen to know, please pass on your knowledge to me.

Fireball Bee Balm

This may shock you, but bee balm is another very pollinator friendly plant. I'm looking to get the fireball type specifically because I like this crimson color. the more common colors are between lavender and hot pink, which are not so much my jam. Plus, it's another native plant to my area!

They have the added bonus of being on the short side, and bunnies don't really like them, so they can form a perimeter around my tea garden to protect the other plants. We have a serious lack of predators in my neighborhood and the rabbits are OUT OF CONTROL. Last winter they ate every one of my cherry shrubs and my entire raspberry bramble down to the ground at the old house. I don't know what we need to do to get some birds of prey over here but we could use them.

Bee balm flavor is a little mint, a little oregano, and a little bit citrus, so that's a natural for tea.

Rose Hips

Apparently you CAN look up which kinds of roses have the tastiest rosehips! Rose hips are the seed of the rose, are in the same botanical family as apples. These are a few of the tastier heirloom varieties I've located. I likely won't plant all three of them. My porch isn't that big and I want to leave a lot of room for the new jersey tea.

Rosehips are lightly floral and tart/citrusy and are a fantastic source of vitamin C. You can of course also eat the flowers, but I don't plan to. My grandma always wore tea-rose perfume and I don't really want to drink a tea that feels like drinking how gramma smelled.

The two lefthand roses are both tree roses (from the middle ages!!), the one on the right is much more low-growing. So I suspect how I end up arranging these will determine which we get.

Anise Hyssop

Proper anise (the flavor for licorice) also doesn't grow here, BUT, anise hyssop has a similar flavor from the mint family. Again, it's usually a purple or pink color, but I CAN find it in an apricot tone, which I love.

Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle

Native to IA, not MN but still in the general right biome and so pretty resilient here. I only found out in researching tea gardens that the flowers make for tasty, very sweet, lightly floral tea! I knew you could drink the nectar out of them but this was news to me. And, of course, they make everything around them smell amazing.

I have 16 feet to work with, so plenty of room for plants.

A few other plants that wont be in the garden proper are raspberries, whose leaves have a milder and easy to store version of the fruit flavor, and mint. Both of these though are tremendously prone to conquering any area around them, and so they need some extra containment. We don't really do year-round container gardening here because the roots freeze and kill almost anything. But, the boulevard between the front sidewalk and the street, under the big maple tree, is slated for mint seeding in the spring, and the side garden already has raspberries I'll tell you about on another day.

Chamomile, lavender and echinacea all grow here and are thought to make tasty and healthful tea but...I don't like the flavor of any of them, so they aren't invited.

If you have other plants to suggest, let me know!

[pawborough]

December 2022 Check In

[ID: A banner with a nature background. Winnipeg, a longhair in a wheelchair who is holding a frypan, is to the left, and a gray female shorthair is to the right. The Paw Borough logo is in the middle, with a button that says “DECEMBER 2022” under it. End ID.]

Greetings!

It’s been one month since our Kickstarter, and we have fantastic news to share with all of our wonderful backers!

Not only were we funded in this campaign, but we’re in talks with an investor who’s keen to seal the deal! We are not disclosing the details currently, and the technicals are still being finalized (so we’d be remiss to promise any specifics as of yet), but with these funds we are able to widely expand our initial vision for launch; including, but not limited to, establishing a mobile application! Thank you all for your continuing support, and for your patience as we regroup and prepare for production with this unprecedented funding.

Within the coming months, we will have clarity on what is to come! As of now, we’ve been up to our noses in budget work and mechanic layouts as we figure where these funds will appropriately go. It’s taken some time, but next month we hope to update with specifics on numbers for the content that will be available at launch and in beta! (number of breeds, number of accessories, etc)

With that out of the way, we bring some new visuals!

First off, the color wheel. We have a confession to make: in an effort to add a comprehensive range, we’ve added 76 new colors, as opposed to the promised 74. We just felt a select few were missing! This brings our total to 153 colors. We also changed “dog” to “shepherd” and adjusted the palette.

Below is a chart of the base color for each palette. Next month, we are releasing the full palettes! The second chart highlights the new colors in red text.

[ID: Two images showing the complete Paw Borough color wheel. Both photos feature a wheel of 153 colors. Inside the wheel is the Paw Borough logo and the text, "+76 new colors! 153 total!" Under the wheel are 3 columns listing each color's base swatch, name, and hex code. In the second image, the new additions are written in red text. End ID.]

 (Patch notes: added red)

It simply wouldn’t be winter without the reindeer, elk, or caribou! Native to the Sol Borough, check out these finalized renderings of the Prancers, a mix of the Snowfoot and snowy deer. (Note: The coloring is for concept purposes, and is not necessarily indicative of the final coloring!)

[ID: Final renderings of the Prancer breed. It is a muscular, long-furred cat with hooves on the back legs and a deer-like nose. The kitten and female have stubs on their foreheads, and the male has antlers. End ID.]

To those of you who are awaiting an email from us regarding add-ons, do not fret! This week, emails will be sent en masse. We again thank you for your patience, as this exciting funding news has left us re-formatting our production plans to account for the newfound responsibility. We intend to exercise a great deal of care in appropriate distribution.

Lastly, to answer the question: when will you update the demo with the new colors?

Unknown as of yet! We are looking to change our shading to dynamically shift colors, and we are potentially re-structuring the coding. Considering that we are now looking at building a native source code for android, IOS, and browser capability, we have to turn our focus towards how this will be done. Once we have an understanding on building the application to account for mobile and browser use, we can focus on asset production.

To summarize: We’ve been given an investment to do more at launch and are taking time to budget it. Here is a first look at the color expansion, and the finalized renderings of the Prancers!

What to expect next month: 

The full palettes of the entire color wheel (used to determine different gene colors.)

A look at the user page and layout of a user’s camp and how it functions.

A breakdown estimation of the number of items and general content that will be available during beta and at launch.

We may have more to share, but here’s what to look out for in January!

Have a wonderful week!

With Love,

The Paw Borough Team