#something about the flying squid species

[toothpaste-for-the-skin]

Now that I’m actually back from vacation I can draw all the shit I thought of during 🫡

Wish I didn’t have to play in a 2 day Splatoon tournament tomorrow LMAO

[dogtoling]

Wait if only mammals are extinct, what kind of amphibians or bugs and crap do you think they have in squid world? We know they have regular boring birds but I think a weird frog could be fun. What do you think

This is a common misconception about Splatoon, it's not *JUST* mammals that are extinct. The mass extinction wave between the human and mollusc era does involve all mammals, but it also involves a lot of other land animals, mostly vertebrates. For example the tortoise and the crane that are depicted in Inkopolis Square - neither of which are mammals.

(from this interview). This is absolutely not widespread information as I think this interview is the only place it has ever been brought up lol

The giant statues in general seem to have a pattern of depicting animals that are extinct in the Mollusc Era (in the case of the chicken in Splatsville, this is very confusing). So really at this point when it comes to any vertebrate we haven't explicitly seen in Splatoon I would err on them being extinct rather than out there just because they're not mammals. (There are frog sounds at Brinewater Springs, so those are probably fine!)

When it comes to bugs, though, there's at least 30 species of bugs we've catalogued that either outright appear or are heavily implied to exist in the Splatoon world - though many of them are preserved specimens in the museum (and ported from Animal Crossing, which doesn't exactly confirm whether or not they are extant). The consensus seems to be that bugs survived the extinction event much better than vertebrates did, though.

When it comes to the wildlife in Splatoon, it seems that marine animals did most of the evolving while land animals, if not extinct, also didn't change much at all. So I would expect nature to consist mostly of what used to be marine creatures, mostly crustaceans and something like less evolved fish and urchins, with the occasional surviving mostly unchanged bird sprinkled in there. Every now and then you can find oddities that might have you do a double take. Like the flying scallop - yes, this is an evolved scallop.

[trekbait]

Cosmozoans you wish you could pet

As you venture out into the galaxy, it's not all humanoids you know. Our universe is full of space-born life known as Cosmozoans. These creatures fly around the depths of space living their best lives and occasionally getting into crazy scrapes when a starship flies by. And you know what? A bunch are SO CUTE! We did a poll of our team to find out which ones we want to take home and snuggle with (not accounting for size). 

So get out your EV suit, we’re here to pet space’s cutest lifeforms!

Gekli

These snuggly babies might get a bit close to your ship’s fusion reactors but there’s no denying how touchy-feely they can get. One, nicknamed ‘Junior’, was suckling off the Enterprise D until its kindred were found in a nearby asteroid belt. In our books, it can’t be blamed for thinking the Enterprise was mommy.

Farpoint creature

Maybe we’re pushing cuddly by including a jellyfish, but our local Benzite here, Mandiks, insisted. But what is undeniable is how beautiful and glorious these creatures are in their natural forms. When we say natural forms; well they also double as space vessels. So I guess you can cuddle them from the inside?

Gormagander

Sometimes given the misnomer, “space whale”, this majestic creature is endangered due to them being so obsessed with eating that they forget to reproduce. A feeling some of our readers may sympathise with. The bonus is adopting it in an official refuge will help protect them from hunters; so adopt a whale to save the whales!

Crystalline Entity

This handsome snowflake of awesome proportions might consume whole planets or all organic matter on a regular basis, but it has also consumed our affections. Just be sure to get your graviton pulses at the right rate or it may get confused as to where it’s dinner is.

Verugament

These gorgeous bioluminescent organisms migrate through space looking for new breeding grounds (they seem a lot better at that than the Gormagander; take notes, readers. We know you've been without, for seven years about). While easily small enough to get your arms around, they can deliver painful electric shocks and are considered by Bal here to be “icky” given their goopy texture. That's not for everyone, but they're definitely cute.

Gomtuu

Much like the aforementioned Farpoint creature, Gomtuu are sentiment organic space vessels who can communicate telepathically. These creatures share something with cats; the ability and will to defend their boundaries. Get too close without permission and you may find yourself caught up in an energy wave capable of destroying a Warbird. My cat is still more fierce about being petted without warning, however (incidentally, from our last pet poll it seems you lot are all about your cats too! Congratulations, we have readers of culture).

Rytonian

These little squid babies, again on the list thanks to Mandiks’ love of marine-looking life (we are told they have quite an aquarium at home), are formed from the gravity well inside nebulae. Large swarms may be formed during intense energy waves. Don’t you just want to boop their… their… I don’t see a nose but that won’t stop me booping them.

Tardigrade

These little creatures are a bit more of a huggable size. They’re interdimensional creatures who can incorporate other forms of DNA within their own and warp across the galaxy: your chief engineer can eat their heart out! (that's a human expression I'm told, we do not advise they actually do that). They’re friendly but fearsome in self-defence so absolutely do not be late with their dinner! 

Disclaimer

We could include a great number of other entities such as the telepathic pitcher plant, Zetarians, Beta Renner cloud, Calamarain, Species 8472, Cosmic cloud, Nucleogenic cloud, space amoeba, and so on but we figure we have to draw the line at petting somewhere and have gone with the most common humanoid feelings on the matter. Do correct us though if you want to hug the space amoeba!

Follow us for more guides to your galaxy!

[thesmallmeggles]

Surf Rock Merfolk/Ocean Creatures AU

It's merfolk time! 🧜🧜‍♂️🧜‍♀️

Credit to Discord Buddies for some suggestions

Believe it or not, this all started from seeing @black-performer-blog 's Rain World crossover art. Though I have seen @rinto190 and @indigo-grimoire 's Mermay pieces. (And they are great 💙)

General Plot: Renown marine biologist Roxanne Vandelay vanishes on an expedition near Vandelay Island. Peppermint assembles a team to locate her.

🎸 Chai - Goldfish or Guppy? (Not 100% certain) Gains siren qualities through 🐟ocean magic🐟 (impressive considering he's freshwater)

(Cannot post guppy image because I reached the post photo limit)

🛠️ Peppermint - human marine biologist like her mom

🐱 808 - Catfish robot (as in catfish or half cat, half fish? It's Up To You!~)

Here's an actual catfish regardless.

💻 Macaron - Whale Shark. Worked closely with Roxanne before her disappearance.

🖍️ CNMN - Diving Robot (think something like OceanOne)

⚡ Rekka - Electric Ray (Other ideas I considered were shark, orca, and electric eel. I really wanted electricity though.) Maybe not the exact species pictured below but Sea pancake...

🍍 Zanzo - Octopus 🐙 Giant Pacific Octopus more specifically. (He's already been introduced in an earlier post lol)

Bonus Lionfish! (The Alternative)

🌪️ Korsica - Selkie (aka the reason why this AU isn't a true mermaid AU). Seal maiden, prominent in Celtic and Norse folklore.

🍹 Mimosa - Flying Fish. (The only traditional merperson besides Chai) Also has siren qualities.

🐺 Roquefort - Sand Tiger Shark (Recommeded by a Discord Friend @psychangels . My first thought was Dogfish for the funnies)

☕ Kale - Originally human, turned himself into Vampire Squid through, you guessed it, 🐟ocean magic🐟. Only Chai is unaware of the fact (Because he never asked).

That's about all I have for the AU so far. I may revisit this for MerMay 2024 (or sooner). No promises though

As with Shadows Across The Moon (Horror-Fantasy AU), you are welcome to build off of this

[cannot-stop-twinkling]

Greetings, Shiny One!

I've heard that you enjoy cheese! Well, it just so happens that I do, too! That being said, I have a cheese-related question for ya :]

Have you ever heard of (or tried) Casu Martzu? Colloquially, it's known as "rotten cheese" because of the very specific fermentation process it goes through that involves letting a species of cheese fly larvae eat through it. However, if you don't like bugs, I'd advise against looking it up!! They are very much involved in the reasons as to why it's dangerous!

Alright, that is all! Thank you for taking time to listen to a humble squid rant about cheese :D

Regards, Ink 🦑

Non, I have not and it does not seem like something I would enjoy.

[freakartack]

hey i'm that dumbass who said ur art reminded me of cow snd chicken again!! i've been reading your theories about the biology of the orbulon species (which i absolutely adore btw, as a massive fan of speculative biology and just biology in general lmao) and that made me curious, what do you think his anatomys like? by that i refer to organs n stuff, like do you think he has internal systems to perform life functions somewhat like how humans do? and how'd they work if he does have em? apologies if i worded this in a convoluted manner im just Very Interested

LOLLLL if i could frame the cow and chicken comparison i would have. Anyways thank you! I am very happy you enjoy my insane orbiology raving. Speculating upon orbulon's biology is the funnest thing ever because nobody who writes official orbulon lore gives a shit about that. they're just like yeah he likes frozen french fries and he doesn't poop. He can teleport and he has 300iq. And then schmucks like me run around in circles trying to fit all of those random incongruous statements into a coherent creature. It's great

I have thought about orbulorgans before but i have not made a orbulon xray because there is some soul searching i have to do. Here are the pins on my ever-expanding corkboard

Some important things to note throughout are that orbulon does not 1) shit 2) fuck. The latter is no big deal but the first one is a big ole spanner in the works because most things indeed shit. If he did i could just contort the innards of a squid into his body shape but he doesn't. In addition to cephalopods i also lean on jellyfish a lot wrt his life cycle, which is great because jellyfish also don't poop. Unfortunately both ways they do expel waste is not that great. Warioware has a lot of grossout humor but at what point do we fly too close to the sun? At what point do we fall? (Some people like the theory that his digestive system just obliterates whatever enters it, thus removing the need for waste altogether. This is a simple and neat solution but i am neither of those things and so this question continues to keep me up at night.)

Orbulon's brain situation was swiftly addressed in move it where it is revealed that it looks like this: 🧠. Simple enough. This is another example of warioware devs putting the appropriate amount of thought into their cartoon wario alien and me not doing that because prior to them giving him a regular degular brain emoji a top question on my mind was "does orbulon have a decentralized nervous system?" I guess if i wanted to i could argue that they only showed us ONE of his brains so we don't know what's going on in the rest of him but the way he behaves doesn't necessarily imply anything of the sort. I'm just being silly.

The age old question: "Do you think orbulon has an open circulatory system or closed"!!!! This is the question all warioware fans have asked themselves. For a creature as brainy as he, you would think it would be closed, to better direct the flow of "blood" (or his equivalent) to his highly demanding brain(s). I'm hesitant to dwell on the question of whether he even needs oxygen or some other element for this because unfortunately everyone in this cast has casually been out there in space so. Cartoon physics wins this time.

Sorry if this answer is disappointing because it does kind of amount to "i don't know". But i do think. If i do make a orbulon cross-section it will probabaly be a lot funnier than this just to keep up the tradition of funny cross-sections in wario games because I do like the mystery and the anarchy of it all. He's deranged. He says something offhand about his third appendix and the crygors lose their minds

[umichenginabroad]

The Great Barrier Reef (Week 5)

After a very memorable trip to Singapore and Bali, it was time to visit the Great Barrier Reef with my summer class. But first, Lauren and I had to take a train from Brisbane to Hervey Bay where we would meet up with our class and fly out to Lady Elliot Island (LEI). The day we had in the 3rd largest Australian city consisted of a lot of walking through the city streets, spotting spiders in the Botanical Garden, and philosophizing about human nature as usual. 

We were eager to get on our first Australian train that would take us to Hervey Bay, but after reaching the first stop and halting for the next 3 hours, we had started to lose hope. Apparently a tree had fallen down onto power lines which fell onto the tracks up north, preventing our train from moving forward. Southeast Queensland is notorious for having bad thunderstorms and flooding. With the canceled train and nowhere to stay, all we could do was wait patiently and hope that the train company would coordinate accommodation for us and secure us a train ride for the following day. Luckily, the train company followed through and we got to spend an extra day in Brisbane which we used to walk around some more and then watch Mean Girls in theater (I highly recommend giving it a watch). Seeing how patient and cooperative all the Australians were during all the train chaos was very inspiring and a testament to the lax culture Aussies embrace. Isolated from the rest of the world, people here seem to prioritize self-care and community instead of work and politics. When the weather is this nice all the time, I sure can’t blame them. Soon enough, we found ourselves in Hervey Bay, and then on one of the smallest planes I have ever laid my eyes on for just 12 passengers to get to LEI. 

Just like that, I found myself standing on a tiny island that would take only 45 minutes to walk around. 

A picture of LEI from the plane.

LEI is the southernmost point of the Great Barrier Reef and it’s known to be a breeding ground for almost 100 different species of birds, 3 species of turtle, as well as countless fish, rays, sharks, and so much more. It’s also home to an eco-resort dedicated to educating visitors about the surrounding coral reefs and wildlife while being fully self-sustainable. Through my class, we got behind-the-scenes tours from staff to learn about the sustainable practices used on the island including solar panels for energy, a water desalination and filtration system, and even a composting machine that could take any thrown out food from the buffet and turn it into fertilizer. In our spare time, students were free to snorkel, scuba dive, and explore as much as we wanted. Within the first 2 minutes of my first snorkeling adventure, I watched a small shark swim right below me, saw countless fish, and witnessed the beauty of an underwater world I never could have imagined. I had no idea that coral reefs came in every color from yellow to green to purple and that sea turtles use their flippers to itch their faces just like my dog, Roni, uses his paw when he has something in his eye. I watched a line of baby squid float side-by-side without a care in the world and a baby turtle poop as if performing for us eager snorkelers. I was introduced to over a dozen different turtles over the days and learned that my favorite part about turtle-watching was seeing them come up for air and poke their little heads up out of the water while they’re massive shells floated at the surface. Each shark I saw (all about the size of a dolphin or smaller) reminded me of their beauty and surprisingly calm nature, but impressive speed and agility. I also laid eyes on barracuda as well as a stingray in their natural habitat and I overcame my fear of scuba diving as I made my first dive down 12 meters! The experience was thrilling, but showed me that I could see the same beauty while floating at the water’s surface – a more comfortable location for a mild claustrophobe. 

A screenshot from a video where a shark swims under a turtle we were watching! 

All in all, the quick 5-day trip was one I will never forget and one that I will never fail to recommend to any future Australia-travelers (just don't forget to bring a hat to protect you from the bird poop!).

 Cheers!

David Bayer

Biomedical Engineering

University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia

[cru5h-cascades]

OC Biology Updates

So a few of my Splatoon OCs have unique biology so I decided to make a post explaining their abilities.

Hybrid Octolings (Anyo & Toby's Section)

Hybrid octolings were created by the Octarian military in attempt to make better soldiers, their first hybrid being Anyo and Toby's mother, Blythe Kelly. Since Blythe was basically patient zero, the scientists working with the Octarian military wanted to monitor her to see if it actually was a good idea to make hybrids, so Blythe wasn't enlisted into the Octarian army and was monitored until she was 18. Since nothing went wrong, more hybrids were made until sometime before the events of Splatoon 2. Hybrids made by Octarian scientists start off as a tentacle from a single species of octopus and then gets injected with another species' DNA. After a certain period of time the tentacle instantly gains an octoling form and thus a hybrid is born. However, hybrids can also cut off portions of their hair to create their own child as well. Scientist-made hybrids possess both species' abilites while the abilities hybrid-made ones will tend to vary in strength.

Blue-Ringed Octarians (Anyo, Toby, and Orion's Section)

Octopian blue-ringed Octarians will quickly learn that they need to wear gloves in order to prevent the unnessisary spread of their venom (it was said that the venom of blue-ringed Octarians mixed with their ink, making their entire body venomous), however this isn't entirely true. Sure these Octarians have lethal venom that can even spread by simply touching something, but it doesn't mean they need to wear gloves 24/7. Blue-ringed octarians can channel their venom into any part of their body, meaning they can touch things without killing them. Spreading venom by touch will slowly kill victims while biting them will kill them way faster, especially if venom is channeled primarily into the teeth, killing victims instantly. Most surface dwelling Octarians will find out about their contol over their venom eventually (if they lived in Octopia) and will quickly abandon their gloves.

Ghost Octolings (and Bigfin Squids?) (April's Section)

Ghost octolings (there has only ever been ghost octopus type octolings) are a rare type of octoling that has only ever existed on the surface. These octolings originated from somewhere around what remained of Hawaii and spread across the world (they were curious about what else was out there outside of their homeland), however once more and more showed up, other sea creatures seeked to hunt these octolings because of their unique ability to maintian their humanoid and swim form after being splatted. Once splatted, a ghost octoling's soul turns into a ghostly version of themselves, allowing them to fly, levitate stuff, and walk through walls. Ghost octolings can go into their ghost forms willingly, but not for a long time since it takes a lot out of them however when splatted they can maintain their ghost form for however long they want (exept for when they're hooked up to a nearby respawn point, then they'll be sucked into it in order to respawn). Bigfin squid-type inklings also have these abilities however they can also disquise themselves to look like the living in the presence of ink in the area (due to their superior amount of tentacles), however that affect will wear out in a certain amount of time and will run out faster if they use the ink covering them. Both ghost octolings and bigfin inklings have a decreased need for food and both species tend to appear to have a lighter ink color than they're using.

Queen Salmonlings (Kandi's Section)

Queen salmonlings are a type of king salmonid that take on a more humanoid form and can become a larger and more terrifying version of their humanoid form when they want/need to. They also have a lesser salmonid form for their swim form. Typically female salmonids become queens but sometimes males can, too. This form can be achived in high-stress situations in which the salmonid will transform into their king form. Once disaster is averted, they'll shrink back into their normal humanoid form. This is the only kind of salmonid that can respawn.

[activate-shadow-of-the-window]

Hear on the Wind how the Pendulum Swings

Caesar - Dear Wormwood - The Oh Hellos

-

Chapter 2 of Cracking like a dry branch in a westward wind, in which Impulse does proper research to settle his nervousness about the suspiciously familiar newcomers.

Available on AO3 here.

-

Impulse was concerned.

Impulse was concerned.

The hoofed messenger from Great Acacia had brought unexpected news from the north: ships from the west had come. Ships that looked concernedly like his own secret outrigger projects. Ships painted with designs that, though smoother and less intricate, were very similar to his own nation’s swirling scrollwork. Ships that carried people dressed in the colorful robes of the jungle, who drank watermelon juice and built with bamboo and treated coca beans like gold. Just like the People of the Labyrinth. They even claimed to come from ‘the Emerald Lands’, an ancient name for his own realm.

The only real difference between these new ‘Emeraldians’ and Impulse’s own subjects were their species; his people were mostly ocelots, while the newcomers bore the wings and feathers of parrots. And this is what had him so concerned.

The feeling had been, well, not quite eating away at him, but persistently butting at the edge of his mind, always lurking, always there. And now, a month too late and a month too soon, he decided to do something about it.

“Oh, my lord! I was not informed that you were going to visit today,” the librarian stammered as he strode through the doorway, “Please do let me know if you wish to find anything.”

Impulse smiled warmly at the sable furred ocelot. “Oh, thank you! I’m looking for the history section, the more ancient the better.”

The librarian’s tail twitched. “Oh, of course my lord! If you would follow me?”

They wound through the tall bamboo shelves, passing sections marked by hanging signs in glowing ink, a new addition. The librarian stopped at a section marked by a cherrywood sign, of all things, labeled ‘History - Ancient to the Fifth Emperor’.

“Ah, perfect! Thank you—“ Impulse glanced at their name tag “—Yin. I may take some books today. Could you please tell me where the carts are?”

Yinpan squeaked that she’d be more than willing to get a cart, and after scurrying off, Impulse walked down the wide aisle, eyes flickering over spines. Most of the books here were wood bound, as leather was considered too flimsy to hold such large volumes. Almost all of their titles were long-winded and descriptive, from The Oldest of Times from Before the Finishing of the Complex, and what Treaties and Trade Deals Occured Then, to On the Trade and Transportation of the Earliest Known Times, from the Humble Melon to the Rich Coco Beans of the Trees. But Impulse wasn’t looking for economic history; no, he sought the thin sets of journals that recounted the wars from the perspectives of generals and civilians alike.

One little volume, War with the Monks and the Ocean Folk, barely three hundred pages and smaller than his (admittedly large) hand, told of how instrumental the “flying corps of parrots” were to “suppressing the squids and dolphins” and driving back the “hard-footed monks of Acacia”.

Another, Raids and Farming during Wartime, mentioned the “soaring vibrant ones” who “snatched up whole melons in their talons”. Nearly fifty pages (over half the book) were devoted to the description of a dead “bird-man’s” anatomy, from his mostly human face, to the feathers on his arms and legs, and his absurd wingspan.

Everyone, from farmers to soldiers, artisans to prisoners-of-war, casually spoke about these parrot-folk like they were no different from the ocelots. They seemed to be a normal part of life in the ancient past.

“My lord?”

Impulse looked up, seeing Yin with the cart, and another, taller librarian he did not recognize. He straightened from his crouch. “Oh, thank you, Yin. I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize you. Your name is..?”

“Hanlen, my lord. Yin told me that you were interested in ancient history. I am the current curator of this part of the Library.”

“Oh! Thank you, Han, and thank you, Yin, for bringing them over.”

“O-Of course, my lord!” Yin swiftly bowed and scurried away again.

“She’s a bright girl, my lord,” Han commented, as Impulse loaded the books onto the cart. “A trade specialist, but a bright one nonetheless.”

“Brightness is always welcome, and trade specialists in particular. Goodness knows we need more help navigating that ‘fraction market’ up in Metropolis.”

Han leaned over the cart, reading the titles of the books Impulse had chosen. “But you are not reading of trade, my lord. War accounts?”

“Yeah, the oldest ones I could find. Pre-gunpowder and pre-redstone.”

“If I may ask, why are you interested in such ancient history? Surely you have no need for pre-powder cavalry tactics or farming practices, my lord.”

Impulse nodded. “No, that’s not why I chose them. It’s because they mention parrot-folk.”

Han suddenly straightened, their formerly swishing tail going still. “Parrot-folk? If my lord wishes to know about them… Would like to come to my office?”

Impulse was slightly surprised by the offer; he was anticipating a long and sleepless night of pouring over the volumes. “Oh, yes, thank you! Er, should I take the cart?”

“No need, my lord,” Han replied, “The necessary texts are already in my rooms.”

-

Han, being an imperial scholar and a curator on top of that, had very nice rooms within the Parchment Ring of the Labyrinth. Even Impulse was impressed with the scrollworked bookcases and writing desk, cluttered as they were.

“Ah, I apologize for the mess, my lord,” Han sputtered, hurriedly gathering up loose sheets and notebooks. “I always try to clean, but everything returns the next day.”

Impulse smiled and motioned for them to calm down. “Don’t worry, Han. Without Tayshe and Ransung, my study would be this cluttered, if not more so. I can never quite commit to an organization system.”

Han smiled for a moment, an expression that lit up their long-whiskered face, before it returned to careful neutrality. They plopped a large pile of thin books on the writing desk, swooped up in their flurry of gathering. Impulse approached the pile, seeing the first title for an instant before Han snatched it up. A Comprehensive Guide to the Parrot-Folk of the Jeweled Jungle.

“If I may assume so,” Han said as they flipped through the pages, “This has something to do with the messenger from Great Acacia. Pardon my bluntness, my lord, but the newcomers she mentioned must be parrot-folk, or else somehow connected to that species, else you would have sought a more well-documented historical period to study.”

“Well, yes. Priestess Pearl’s message said that a parrot-folk man named Grian of the Sunset, a noble from the Emerald Lands, has arrived on Mainland with several hundred civilians and soldiers aboard boats called catamarans. He is in a tentative alliance with Cub Fan of the Voidstars, who has given him the Teal Cove to make his own. He has no wish to colonize Mainland, but is apparently, er, ‘escaping responsibility’.”

Unlike most of the court, Han didn’t flinch at the sudden influx of information. Impulse had a tendency to treat his subjects like friends, which was a flaw more often than not. But Han seemed to take his demeanor in stride. At the very least, they didn’t seem to notice, making noncommittal noises as practiced fingers turned pages.

“Ah, here.” Han placed the book flat on its spine, displaying a full spread of remarkably lifelike sketches and paintings of parrot-folk. “The parrot-folk are a species endemic to deep, tropical jungles, not unlike our own. Bright like jewels and with a voice seemingly designed for song, wherever they travel shall become vibrant and joyous for the duration of their stay, and for as long as the memory remains. They are particularly skilled in building tall structures, as their ability to fly lets them construct far higher than any scaffolding could ever reach.”

Han pointed at a sketch that compared a parrot-folk with an ocelot. “As you can see, the parrot-folk are shorter on average than ocelots, but they have proportionally longer limbs and more compact torsos. Their wings usually appear oversized when compared to their bodies, but they must be large to allow for flight. Parrot-folk fighting styles take advantage of their increased reach—“

“Ah, Han,” Impulse interjected, “This is all good information, and I would like to learn far more at a later time, but… well, my priority is to find out why these parrot-folk’s whole deal seems so similar to the Labyrinth’s, in terms of art and clothes and customs. It’s just been, well, poking at me ever since the messenger arrived.”

The scholar’s head whipped up so suddenly Impulse was afraid that their earrings would go flying. “Oh, I’m so sorry, my lord! I get caught up in the information. It is my fault, and—“

Impulse cut them off again. “No, it’s not your fault, Han! I didn’t tell you exactly what I was looking for, I was too vague. And it is good to know about the specialities of parrot-folk, if they really will be our new northern neighbors.”

Han was still wide-eyed, still in a state of slight shock, but they shook it off quickly enough. In an instant, their face was a mask again, not as much as a whisker out of place. “R-Right then, my lord. Parrot-folk culture…”

They shut A Comprehensive Guide, sorting through the stack and withdrawing two extremely thin books: The Art of Decoration and Jewel Feathers.

Han cleared their throat as they flipped through both books simultaneously, before landing on pages in both that compared the style of parrot-folk carvings with that of the ocelots, as well as the ice wolves and hoofed folk.

“As you can see, both parrot-folk and ocelot carving styles feature simple lines, both straight and curving, used to form stylized plants, animals, and objects. The main difference is the degree of scrollworking; ocelot carvings are far more intricate and detailed, while parrot-folk carvings are simple yet expressive. Both styles are frequently painted, though that of the parrot-folk is usually more limited in palette. The relative similarity of these two styles may indicate that either A); one is a derivative of the other, or B); they are both derivatives of some other style. The fact that parrot-folk and ocelots share habitats and other cultural elements can lend credence to either theory.”

Han looked up from the books, having seemingly forgotten about Impulse. “D-Does that answer your… poking, my lord?”

Impulse nodded. “Yes, it does. Thank you for your time, Hanlen. If you ever have trouble with your research or academic pursuits, please don’t be afraid to ask for my help. You’ve certainly done as much for me!”

He grasped Han’s hand without pause, smiling and shaking it before he left with hardly a backwards glance.

-

Impulse too sent out messengers that day, hardly a month since Grian Sunset had arrived. To Pearl, of course; as an ally, she had a right to know about his discoveries. And to Cub, since he was protecting the parrot-folk. But he also penned letters to the far east, to the civilizations that didn’t bother with what was happening in Evergreen or Livingstone as long as the emeralds and terracotta kept flowing.

The emperor rubbed his head. Perhaps Pearl was right; these parrots would change the civilizations as he knew them, starting with his sleep schedule.

-

A figure sits in her long gown, slumped over a desk where two letters in two different hands seem to be conspiring against them. Impulse’s notice was welcome, if a bit late, and did much to explain the utter chicken scratch of the other missive, written on the back of a hilariously inaccurate map of Mainland.

“One barge of wool in yellow, teal, light blue, orange, white, and gray,” they recite from memory, “As quickly as you can. Didn’t even bother with a proper introduction! Shake the civilizations to their foundations, indeed!”

-

A far leaner and more ragged figure lounges across the tangle of metal and vines that serves as his throne, holding a letter up to the faltering light of a redstone lamp. He peers through the thick, unnecessary glasses that weigh heavy on his nose to read the writing.

“New neighbors? From the other continent? I wonder what they’re planning… and if they’d help us…”

-

A much bulkier and rather tall figure gazes out the purple tinted windows of their stronghold, face obscured by their bone white helmet. A half-crumpled, half smoothed out letter is grasped delicately in one gauntleted hand; the other is reflexively twitching around the sword at their hip.

“The first parrot-folk in ages, and he’s a possible heir to the Verdant Crown. Just my luck! At least Scar wasn’t exaggerating this time.”

[nonbinarytoast]

Oh you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.

Penguins make up Spheniscidae family, which is their own family entirely. Because of their strange features that have only been adapted by penguins specifically, they don’t fit into any other family of bird.

Only one species of penguin, the Galapagos penguin, is found in the northern hemisphere. Galapagos penguins are only found on the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador, and they currently fall under endangered. They live in the Galapagos because of Humboldt and Cromwell currents, which are surprisingly cool waters despite their tropical occurrence. Usually Galapagos penguins have a lifespan of twenty y are but from a joint effort of climate change, plastic pollution, and new predators introduced into their habitat that life expectancy has been greatly reduced.

Penguins have something called countershaded feathers, meaning they have dark plumage on their backs and light plumage on their bellies. This helps them blend in with the water since anything looking from above would see their feathers and think it was blackness from the deep, and anything looking from below would think it was sun rays.

They not only feed on fish and krill but also certain types of squid, which they catch using their spiked tongues and the spines on the roves rooves if their mouths so that when they catch something it’s can’t escape.

Penguins first appeared on earth 60 million years ago around what is now Australia and New Zealand. The first ever penguin species is called Kupoupou stilwelli, and arrived during the Paleocene epoch when there was no ice cap on the South Pole. This penguin was the first time modern penguins features started to evolve in birds.

The largest penguin species today is the emperor penguin, standing at 1.1 meters (3ft, 7inches) and weighing 35kg (77lbs) on average.

The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue penguin, an all known as the fairy penguin. They stand around a foot tall and weigh 1.2-1.3kg (2.6-2.9lbs).

Larger species of penguin tend to inhabit cooler climates while smaller penguins tend to inhabit warmer climates.

There is an extinct genus of penguin called Palaeeudyptes, which were giant penguins, all larger than the penguins we think of today. The smallest of the four species in this genus was about the size of an emperor penguin while the largest species, Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, was 2meters (6.6ft) tall and weighed up to 116kg (256lbs). Fossils of them have been found from almost 35 million years ago.

Penguins closest relative is the albatross, as they originated from the same seabird. Penguins first dived into the water from the sky, but slowly lost the ability to fly and became fully land and sea creatures.

Penguins mate in strange ways. Some species mate for life but others stay with their partner for mating season, raise their chicks, and then go off with a different partner next mating season.

Penguins winds have the same bone structure as the wings of flying birds, but with shorter bones to allow for them to be used as flippers instead.

Penguins feathers are specially designed so that they can trap air under the plumage, insuring isolation and warmth when a penguin is underwater hunting. This air trap also lets the penguins swim up for air easier since the air gives the penguins an extra level of buoyancy.

The fastest penguin in the world is the gentoo penguin, which can swim at up to 36km (22miles) per hour. They can also dive up to depths of 200meters (660ft).

Penguins often slide on their bellies, using their feet to propel them forward. This method of transportation is called tobogganing, and it’s more energy efficient for the penguins than waddling or hopping across the snow or rocks.

Their eyes are so well adjusted to the water that they are actually nearsighted in land.

They can drink saltwater because of something they have called a supraorbital gland. This filters excess salt from the bloodstream into their nose, causing them to sneeze after they drink and causing the snot from that sneeze to be incredibly salty. (I do want to know the scientist who tasted it yes)

1 in 50,000 penguins is born with a rare genetic mutation called Isabellinism. This makes their feathers brown instead of black and is not the same as albinism, though it does cause the same fate of a quick death since they are not as well camouflaged.

Penguins have no fear of humans and will often approach people. Because of their cold and hostile climate, they have never had a reason to fear humans since humans have never lived near them long enough to hunt them. In fact, they are some of the only animals in Antarctica and they have no predators on land, meaning if you are on land they are not scared of you. The only land predators they had were sled dogs we would take to Antarctica, but dogs have been banned from going ever since we made technology good enough to explore without them. Penguins d not usually come within 9ft of a human they just met, though they will watch you from outside of that range.

My favorite species of penguin is the chinstrap penguin, named for the fact that they have a pattern in the feathers on their head making it look like they have a chinstrap.

so, birds huh.

My life long goal is to become an ornithologist and study penguins in Antarctica

[learnyouabiology]

Fun Fact: Some Animals Move (and sometimes fly) with Jet Propulsion

As a child, I pretty much always pictured jet propulsion as involving some sort of... fire. You know, like a rocket! Or like the speed boost in racing games! So when a professor mentioned in a lecture that squid can get around with “jet propulsion”, for a second, I pictured something like this:

To my amazement, this is absolutely, 100% how they do it!

No, no I’m kidding. April Fools and such, I swear that squid don’t use fire to power their jet propulsion! Not yet, anyways. I can dream.

Jet propulsion does not actually need to involve fire unfortunately. You can also achieve jet propulsion by sitting in a rolly chair and letting off a fire extinguisher, or by standing on a skateboard and holding a really strong fan, or blowing up a balloon, not tying off the end, and releasing it (on purpose or by accident).

Importantly, you can also achieve jet propulsion by being in water and shooting water behind you.

Basically, jet propulsion is moving forward by directing a jet of fluid in the opposite direction. Something-something, Newton’s Third Law, this isn’t a Physics Fun Fact. However, in nature, jet propulsion is exclusively* found in aquatic animals, because water is more readily available than fire, fire extinguishers, or big fans.

*there are almost always exceptions in nature, and I would be thrilled if someone found an exception to this. Especially if that exception uses fire. 

There’s a few different species which use jet propulsion, but perhaps the most famous are cephalopods, like octopuses and squids. They achieve jet propulsion by taking in water, holding it in their mantle, and then shooting it fast out of their siphon to get a burst of speed. They’re really good at this! One species, the flying squid famously uses this jet propulsion to fly more than 30 metres in 3 seconds.

I am a lover of bugs, and as such, my personal favourite example of an animal using jet propulsion is dragonfly nymphs. You may have recently seen a popular post confidently declaring the “dragonflies use their butts to go fast”, which is like... technically true? Kind of? But not while flying. See, before dragonflies can fly, they are “nymphs” which are basically wingless juveniles/ pre-adults that live in the water. These critters take a bunch of water in through their butt (the highly scientific word for “the ‘out’ door of their digestive tract”), and then expel it with such force that they shoot forwards! They often use this for escaping predators, since it’s faster than the usual methods of getting around. They also breath through their butt, because that’s where the gills are stored. It’s a multi-purpose orifice! The best kind of orifice there is.

There are lots of animals that use jet propulsion, and I could spend about 10000 words gushing about each of them, so instead I’ll try to summarise a few of my favourites in a picture:

kudos to Robertson et al. 2019 for making it look like the clam is farting, unironically a 10/10 decision, and also to Yalçınkaya et al. 2016 for one of my favourite diagrams of a squid in anything ever. Other pics: x, x, x

Of course, this also inspires some biomimicry, and people have been designing robots after these neat little critters:

This has been Fun Fact Friday!

[dogtoling]

With these Octoling sub species being confirmed by Nintendo, I wonder if/when we will get ones for Inklings.

For some reason I haven't thought about that yet (still waiting for cuttlefish) but holy shit YEAH. I REALLY hope they're doing that at some point. Getting two octolings clearly based off of existing cool octopus species is making me hopeful that they'll do the same for squid, but squid also rarely have markings setting them apart rather than something way more subtle like size, fin shape, overall body shape or claws... and I don't really see them giving inklings hooks. And with body shape, idk, how do you convey changes like that without going super off model when the character design is basically human with squid hair. (What I'm trying to say is that they're clearly conveying different species through the tentacles, and squid tentacles very rarely have anything notable going on pattern-wise).

So overall I feel like the likelihood of them doing overall squid subspecies is lower because a lot of what they would do with squid would have to be going seriously off model, because slight changes like different tentacle colors or even fin shapes can just be chalked down to be different traits within basic Inklings (take Frye for example). With octopuses we're lucky to have a lot of iconic octopuses have very distinct patterns but the same overall body shape, so the devs have an easy time just putting those patterns on an Octoling and it conveys the idea through. With squids, you can definitely make species clear, but a lot of the identification comes from things like external photophores, really long mantle, weird fins, transparent body, scary suckers and whatever. Out of any squid, I could see them maybe doing japanese flying squid or firefly squid, but... both of those are already candidates for what Inklings ARE. So again idk how they could do that and clearly convey that "hey this is meant to be a different species" when Inklings already have so much random variety.

[okami-zero]

4, 7 and 21 for the weirdly specific asks :)

Man, these ARE oddly specific. xD

4. Mythical creature you think/believe is real? Tough one. Are we talking "real" as in "discovered the critter this was based on" or real as in REAL? Because, for instance, giant squids? Thought to be figments of imaginative sailors' minds for ages. Then we got footage. And remains that look like piles of blech, but that's what happens when you depressurize animals made to exists leagues and leagues beneath the surface of the ocean.

Hard to nail down a specific critter, because I am a skeptical believer - I don't think we've seen everything yet, and maybe some are better at hiding, who knows? And there are so many myths, both hopeful and terrifying out there. Gonna go the safe route and say ghosts.

I know they aren't technically mythological, but for as specific as some other of these questions are, this one is too open-ended and broad. :P NOPE! PUMP THE BRAKES! The "Midnight Special". Might be stretching the limits of "mythological", but bear with me.

As I was writing the answer to the next question, I was typing about why I like sharks - and I remember a tale from when I was a wee lad living with my parents in Cuba, on the Guantanamo Bay base (well, not ON the base, but you know what I mean). Anyhow, my dad was in the Navy and he was invited to go for a flight over the bay with a buddy to see if they could spot the "Midnight Special", which was the name given to this supposedly MASSIVE shark (a hammerhead, supposedly? I think?). Dad ended up having some other obligation or something and couldn't go. But when his buddy got back, he said he saw it, and "They should put numbers on the side of that thing!" which would be sailor-speak for "Dang, that bitch is huge!" Because you put numbers on the big ships. So, yea. I'll put the "Midnight Special" for my answer there. x3

7. What animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium? Sharks. And penguins. And rays of all types. It has been some time since I have gone to the aquarium (Baltimore's not that far, but you need to plan a day and etc. etc.), but I have been a few times. I like sharks because they are an interesting species (see above), and despite getting a bad rap due to movies and fiction (look, I love JAWS, don't get me wrong, but it is not a bastion of scientific information. And do NOT get me started on SHARKNADO... -_-)

And penguins, I mean, come on. They're penguins. What's not to love? Build fancy nests with pebbles to impress their mate, super fast swimmers, always dressed for a party, what's not to love? xD

And rays are just cool. Like, they're just flying around in the ocean, doing their thing. Looks like they're always smiling. Relaxing to watch.

21. A number that weirds you out? Okay, this question, given to a math nerd. xD But I have an answer. And some of you aren't going to like it. The number that weirds me out is i. No, you did not read that wrong.

In advanced algebra, i is an imaginary, complex number. It is a variable that is the square root of -1. Because, at some point, some dude was running numbers and this was needed to fill a gap or came up as a solution. Since it cannot exist anywhere except on paper, it's kind of an eldritch horror in the numbers world. So yea, i weirds me out.

[dragonthunders01]

It always gets me about mammals just stop evolving, previous groups die out and we only have left the Poggle, the equivalent of a tuatara for a mammal living isolated in the north Austra-beringian giant mountains being harvested by Eusocial spiders.

And it all sounds really poorly planned because the format that TFIW present its worldbuilding is very limited and ambiguous, they can only afford to show three or four specific species per ecosystem.

Then the remaining vertebrates die out implied by a mass extinction in 100 m.y. implied in the episode of the great plateau by volcanic activity which got me like "even small reptiles?" for years.

I always wondered if the choice of killing them all was mostly for having a more strange and unique settling where something as alien as a land squid, flying fish and other things could evolve... or maybe because they though that groups could just vanish leaving no descendant, based on something like trilobites, eurypterids or marine reptiles. Maybe would be added in this idea dinosaurs and synapsids, although with them you see the tendency of the majority die out and a handful of survivors being able to thrive and eventually recover, taking again in new forms (Birds as a branch of surviving theropods, mammals as a branch of surviving cynodonts).

This is probably why I feel the idea of "tetrapods die out" seems so implausible at this point, even if you have a mass extinction at the level of the K/Pg or the P/Tr that small handful of survivors will likely recover fast and diversify again before any land squid could take out. The ideal scenarios where TFIW 200 m.y. world would work is a total wipe out of land life that annihilate any competitor that could recover.

kinda the opposite of your field but how do you feel about The Future is Wild? a lot of the proposed creatures seem like they were designed to seem weird more than to be plausible

that's pretty much my main takeaway. I also thought that their choices in what would live till when were... weaksauce

[harveybwabbit92]

Invader Zim: Elite Guardians AU Pt. 2

The following is a non-profit fan-based story, Invader ZiM  is owned by Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon please support the official release, I gain no profit nor do I own anything other than OCs and whatever spouts from my imagination!

------------------------------

A another month passed Zim started looking less like wrinkled worm and more like an Irken, Red and Purple were running low on money, Repairing the cruiser was getting more difficult, whenever they fixed something, another thing would break or scavengers would sneak in and take whatever wasn't bolted down, that's when the Elites came to the conclusion that maybe they should look for work. So they started bounty hunting for the local constabulary.

What choice did they have? if they were ever gonna get off this rock and find Cradle 2-117. Bounty hunting was the way to go, The Cruiser was a lost beyond repair, but there were a lot of ships for sale in Meeko; the problem was finding who was willing to sell a ship to them, The citizens were still cold towards them, Again. Neither Red and Purple could understand why? They soon got answer in the most unconventional way, they'd come back from a job, Some nut job thought it was good splice a giant spider with a squid and than super sizing it!

Red was shooting the thing with his Plasma gun while Purple striking it with his photon axe, meanwhile Zim was happily skipping around the battlefield, narrowly missing being crushed or shot at, Red noticed the smeet hopping around. "Zim! get out of the way!" Red dodges a tentacle swinging for him. "You're gonna get hurt!" He barked the smeet just stared at him blankly before smiling "Rwed!" he cheered waving at him, Red facepalmed. "Hi!" he waved back before going back to fighting, Zim went back to his little skipping game dodging death at every corner, only stopping when he saw a large beetle crawling around on the sand, the smeet crouched down just as Purple was thrown off the Squider and sent crashing into the wall behind Zim.

The purple eyed elite sat up with a groan; rubbing his head looked at Zim and did a double take when he saw the smeet eating a beetle, Purple jumped to his feet rushed over to the smeet trying to pry his mouth open. "Naw, no, no. Spit it out, spit out! c'mon!" he lightly slapped Zim's back and the smeet spat up bug guts Purple grimaced. "Disgusting!" he huffed giving the smeet some ration wafers and went back to helping Red fight, Zim calmly sat out of the way to eat and watch his 'Brothers' fight the monster, by the end of the battle Red and Purple were covered in ink and teal colored guts, and their wallets were a good chunk heavier, when they woke up this morning...

Later when they got back to the cruiser both Red felt something was off, there was scent in the air he didn't recognize at first he thought it was the Squider guts, but as they got closer to their wreck... it became more apparent that someone or something was in there, Purple noticed it too he and Red exchanged a look; the red clad elite set Zim down and shush him, the smeet copied him and nodded, Purple dispatched his PAK legs and went in from above while Red followed and hid in the doorway of the engine room, his first thought was it was just another scavenger looking for scrap, but by now everyone nearby knew this ship was occupied and stayed clear of it, Red peeked into the engine room and saw a hooded figure fidgeting around with the power core. 

Red's eyes narrowed as he tried to get a better look and saw this person reading off what looked like an engineering manual, he saw Purple getting into position, they could hear this person mumbling to themselves. "Okay... now shut down switch Y and detach port Q?...wait no, um..." the guards looked at each other and nodded, Purple jumped from the ceiling; landing in front of the intruder catching them completely off guard. "What the fu-" they saw the purple eyed Irken reach for a his stunned baton and panicked. "Shite!" they yelped and went to run only to get pistol whipped from behind by Red knocking them out. 

Red and Purple were perplexed when they tied them up removed the intruders hood and made sure they didn't have weapons, they've never seen an alien like them before...  they had this weird long stringy stuff on their head that was soft to the touch, but stood out out most of all was how tall they were... Both Irkens just barely came up to the intruder's chin. "Whoa! They're almost the same height as Tallest Miyuki!" Purple said stunned while Red shook his head. "No... Miyuki is definitely taller..." he insisted but then again they haven't seen Tallest Miyuki in months! So they couldn't exactly make a comparison.

While the two were prattled about Miyuki and the intruder's heights, neither noticed Zim wander in the smeet looked between the bickering Elites before noticing the stranger sitting against the wall. His pink eyes lit up as he curiously approached the unconscious alien, He saw the long fuzzy stuff on their head and immediately grabbed it and started tugging which roused the trespasser awake.

Red and Purple tenses at the unknown voice cut into their conversation they looked and saw Zim swinging off the alien's... mane? "Ow..ow! quit it! They try to jerked their head away from Zim's grasp. "Oww, Seriously kid stop it!" They growled Red snapped out of his stupor and quickly picked up Zim. "Don't talk to him like that!" He spat glaring at the intruder, who glared back their e/c eyes looked odd too, but Red was more focused on whether or not they were a threat or not.

"Who are you? What are you?" he huffed along with Purple butting in. "And why do you want our power core?" the alien winced a the purple one's shrill voice. " if I tell you will you untie me?" they asked hopeful, the Irkens were silent, and the intruder took their silence as a hard "maybe."

"My name is Y/n, I’m a human female, My ship crashed few clicks north from here, the power core was always little spotty, and it finally gave up the ghost. So I went out looking for a replacement, looked around Meeko and other crash sites, before finding a power signal that lead me to... I thought it was it was a derelict ship!"

"Does this ship derelict look to you?!"

"Well... yeah? I mean look around, your ship is in pieces! it'll obviously never fly again, I'm surprised your core was even intact!"

"How did you even get in? we have security measures!"

Y/n looked bemused before something clicked in her head, she cocked her head towards the front of the ship. "Oh! the giant hole in your hull, with the lasers and forcefield? yeah, I think your motion sensors and hard light generator is offline, I walked right through it" Purple looked like he was going to cry seeing as he was the one who rigged that forcefield up. " that and your front door was wi... was.." Your voice suddenly trailed off, Red and Purple watched your demeanor change as something caught your eye, it took a moment for Red to notice you were staring at the Irken symbol on their armor.

"Shite... You slaver scum!" both Irkens jumped back startled by your sudden outburst. "What are you planning to do with that kid?! huh? did you kidnap him too?" You growled Red and Purple looked at each other stunned. "What are you talking about?" Red asked you just glared him in disgust. "Don't play fucking coy with me! I’ve seen your damn ship going around ransacking outposts around the system and kidnapping people!" Red and Purple were at loss here, 2-117 was overtaken by Slavers? well, at least now they knew why almost everyone on Greedo was so hostile towards them!

There was a tense stare down between the trio, You watched as the two "slavers" got into a huddle, you heard the numbers "2-117..." being mumbled then Red one was saying something the Purple one disagreed with. "No, oh no no no! We're not taking in another stray!" the purple hissed vehemently. "She's the our ticket off this rock, we're doing it!" They turned to look at you.

"What?" you hissed as the Red clad alien silently handed the kid over to his Purple counterpart who glared at him, you tensed up as he walked up to you. "Calm down and just listen alright?" Red guy explained they’re not slavers, but Elite guards from Irk sent to investigate and retrieve a missing Nursery ship called Cradle 2-117 that had been skyjacked a few months ago, the only lead they have is Zim, who Red found malnourished and wandering around in a trash dump.... Now you.

You of course were bit skeptical about this whole situation, what with being tied up and all! but, then Purple told you to take a good look at Zim, the kid was same species as them: Irken. "How many other Irkens have you seen wandering the Tarn system?" You realized never, you have never seen an Irken in Tarn before, so maybe they were telling the truth? then Purple got you attention again "Where was the last place you saw that ship?" You paused thing back to were you saw the Irken ship, it wasn’t hard to forget considering how unique it looked. 

"I think it was headed to Planet Nyree? that’s a two week journey from here." Both Irken elites looked each other hopeful, finally a real lead! "However I'd suggest getting a new ship, I don’t think this one will taking off anytime soon." They hear the ship groan as a panel falls out of the ceiling, landing a little too close to you then you'd like, Red looks at Purple whose shoulders slumped, knowing what was coming, You were confused as Red reach around behind you and untied you. "Okay! New plan, we need a ship and you need a power core, let’s make a deal..." and that's how you gained three new crew members aboard the Cardinal.

[rimalovegood]

Pokemon AU: The Seven Brothers as Pokemon trainers

A few years ago I made a similar set of headcanon’s for the MysMe characters and what kind of team they’d had if they were pokemon trainer and to this day it’s one of my favorite things I’ve written so I decided to do something similar for the Obey Me! characters.

(Since Tumblr hates links I’ll later reblog this with the source I used for the trainer ID’s but the Deviantart user is on each picture anyways)

Elite four member Lucifer wants to fight…

-The last and most powerful member of the Elite four, if you want to challenge Diavolo you have to very literally go through him and he has a team to be feared.

-Hydreigon and Houndoom are loosely based on Cerberus so I think they fit him very well, also they are known to be very aggressive when defied, just like Lucifer.

-Oricorio was a gift from Diavolo, he was really exicited about the idea of having matching pokemon with Lucifer and Barbatos and he chose the sensu form because it’s elegancy reminded him of Lucifer.

-Speaking of elegancy Persian and Tsareena are elegant royalty-like pokemon that give a prideful aura which fits Lucifer pretty well.

-Salamence it’s a little more difficult to explain. For this headcanon I asked friends that are pokemon fans but know nothing about otomes which pokemon reminded them of the deathly sins and the answer for pride was Salamence… at first I didn’t see it but the earlier stages of Salamence’s only wish it’s flying so on their final stage when it finally can fly there are proud of their wings. Also I can see Lucifer Salamence as reminder of his grief, a pokemon who left the ground and went into the sky for the angel that fell from there.

Elite four member Mammon wants to fight…

-he thinks being an Elite Four member is too much work but is also very proud of being one of the top trainers of the Devildom... just a little salty about being the first member thought; he knows he cannot beat Lucifer or Barbatos but surely he can beat Simeon, can’t he? (no, he can’t)

-His ace, Crobat is based a lot on how he is defined as a character. Zubat is a pokemon that’s usually looked down on and is often associated with evil teams but how does it evolves to Crobat and becomes it’s most powerful self? Throught friendship…and idk that reminds me a lot of Mammon.

-Sableye and Meowth are based on his sin. Sableye is known for tealing jewel (a very good companion for the avatar of greed) and Meowth is supposed to attract money.

-We all know this guy is a gambler and nobody can beat him at gambling, well, what’s the biggest prize you can get on pokemon casino on the older games? Yes, Porygon.

-Slowbro ended up on his team somewhat by accident, Mammon heard slowpoke tails were considered a delicatessen and not only that they grew back afterwards so he saw having one as a good investment….the problem was that just after he caught his slowpoke a Shellder attacked them and bit Slowpoke’s tail making it evolve into Slowbro.

-Scrafty has a similar aesthetic and it’s quick to get into fights, I figured out it would go well with Mammon.

Gym Leader Leviathan wants to fight…

-The water type gym leader, he is famous for the complex riddles every challenger must answer before even getting the chance to fight him.

-Has an old rivalry with Mammon and low key believes he should be on the elite four on his place

- As you might have guessed Seviper and Goldeen are inspired on Henry 1.0 and 2.0; he loves all his team but these two are the ones he had had for the longest and his favorites.

-Toxapex is basically Levi in pokemon form, a water/poison pokemon that when threatened hides on their shell and sends poison around, much like how Levi hides from the world on his room and acts all tsundere.

-For Levi raising one of the weakest pokemon into Gyarados was like farming on one of his MMORPGs and as he would do on one of those he completely outdid himself to the point it became his most powerful pokemon and the one every trainer fears whenever they enter his gym.

- Both Skrelp and Tentacruel are poison and water types and fit his character aesthetic pretty well (If you guessed the other reason why I chose Tentacruel you are reading too much Levi fancfiction….And I’m too)

Gym Leader Satan wants to fight…

-The leader of the Psychic type gym. His gym is themed around an escape room and only the ones who can solve the mystery can challenge the leader.

-Before becoming a gym leader he traveled through a lot of regions learning all he could about pokemon so his team includes species he caught on a bunch of different places.

-the psychic type is often associated with intelligence and knowledge so I think it fits him well.

-There is no much to say about Galarian rapidash, it’s a psychic unicorn. He had to have one.

-Alakazam is known to be more intelligent than humans, a fitting partner for someone who believes knowledge is power

-Grumpig and Darmanitan are inspired on his sin. Grumpig has very powerful psychic power that he unleash upon angered and Darmanitan is a very calm pokemon when he is on zen mode but unleash all his wrath when it goes into blaze mode.

-Satan it’s not only book smart, he is also an adventurer so of course he’d feel attracted to the mysterious Sigilyph  usually found on ancient ruins and inspired on the Nazca lines.

-the last member of the team was a little more difficult to pick. Gallade is basically a white knight which is a weird thing to call a demon but if there is one that can act as one that’s Satan

Gym Leader Asmodeus wants to fight…

-Fairy type gym leader, he is also part time a contest trainer and he is really good at it.

-of course he only surrounds himself by pokemon as beautiful as himself.

-Asmo’s personality is based on the duality between his sweet and beautiful exterior and his darker side he keeps well hidden. Most of his pokemon show this but particularly Mimikyu, a pokemon that in its desire to be loved takes the appearance of the famous Pikachu.

-Hatterene just like Asmo has power over people’s feelings and on it’s design it reminds me so much of Asmo I had to make it his ace.

-Aromatisse is a pokemon based on perfume, cancan dancers and plague doctors. It likes being the center of attention as much as Asmo, so they’d get along well

-Shiinotic, Mawile and Gliscor represent his most dangerous side, not for nothing his animal is an scorpion. Both Shiinotic and Mawile are pokemon that are beautiful to look at but if you get too close you’d get either poisoned or biten…and well, Gligar is a literal scorpion (Sorry, the plot doesn’t give us much to work wih on this side, Asmo’s content tent to focus on his more “look I’m beautiful” side)

Gym Leader Beelzebub wants to fight…

-Normal type gym leader

-His team just like him looks bulky but they are a bunch of sweethearts.

-Tauros was inspired on his horns and the way he barrels like a bull when angered

-I know Greedent literally had greed on the name but it represents his gluttony as Greedent is known for hoarding and eating all food available.

-Munchlax had a similar reason behind, they eat a lot but are also very active. Much like Beel.

-Beel caught a little Teddyursa when younger because he thought it was cute and he loved seeing the little bear napping along Belphie. As they trained and grew stronger Teddyursa evolved on his most powerful pokemon, Ursaring.

-Miltank was a gift from Belphie, the younger twin figured Beel would enjoy having a limitless fountain of food with him.

-Cutiefly, I know this one doesn’t like it belongs on the team but it’s a cutie and a fly so I have to give one to Beel.

Gym Leader Belphegor wants to fight…

-Dark type gym leader (you all know why)

-Komala lives all its life asleep hugging a log like it’s a pillow, if that doesn’t scream Belphie I don’t know what.

-Musharna is a pokemon that’s said to bring good dreams, the same way Belphie got Miltank for Beel, Beel caught Musharna to take care of Belphie.

-Zoroark and Liepard are known for being tricksters and liars, much like Belphie enjoys pranking Lucifer and on the beginning hides his true nature from the MC. Inkay was chosen for a very similar reason he is a cute squid but has the potential to turn into the very dangerous Malamar.

-I’m going to get angsty and spoiler-ry on this one so consider yourself warned. Absol is believed to attract disaster and misery just like Belphie blames himself for what happened to Lilith and avoids peolple because of his guilt to the point he ends up causing real misery when he killed MC.

The undatebles coming soon...