#warning from space

[silveragelovechild]

I just came across a reference to a Japanese movie from the 1950s - “Warning from Space”. It was released in January, 1956. It featured starfish-like aliens that want to help Earth.

The aliens look remarkably like Starro the Conqueror from DC Comics. It first appeared in The Brave and the Bold#28 (March 1960) which also introduced the Justice League of America.

I wonder if either Gardner Fox or Mike Sekowsky saw Warning from Space and swiped its design?

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (February 4-10, 2024)

Zoe Tunnell's Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special for IDW was everything I wanted it to be and more. While the kaiju are essential to the story, the focus is on the rivalry-turned-romance between an EDF captain and an independent kaiju researcher, which unfolds wonderfully across multiple attacks. Kaiju researchers have decried a military-first approach since 1954, of course, but Piper Simmons goes a step further by questioning whether an explosion in defense spending on shiny super-weapons is just making the problem worse. Essential reading.

Shout Factory! TV added seven vintage Toei tokusatsu titles out of nowhere, all in Japanese with English subtitles. Magic Serpent (retitled Dragon Showdown) is probably the most familiar and of-interest title to kaiju fans, but there's also Planet Prince (the first of two films edited together and dubbed under the title Prince of Space), Invasion of the Neptune Men, Watari: The Ninja Boy, Ninja Scope, and The Golden Bat. Earlier today, we learned that they're all being released in a Blu-ray set as well—but more on that in the next column.

Here's a new CG short called Daikaiju vs. the Giant Girl (we are ignoring the typo in the thumbnail/video title). Great action, and I had to check the credits to confirm it was completely computer-animated.

When Titanic Creations first announced its articulated Gorgo figure, I was less than confident they'd be able to deliver on their promise of a graphic novel sequel to the film. Well, work on it seems to be progressing well, although at some point along the way it became a prequel instead. Artist Patrick McEvoy posted on his Facebook that the comic is fully inked. The company is also rather boldly setting it in the same universe as their original kaiju graphic novel Soul War, also illustrated by McEvoy.

Warning from Space has a surprisingly large role in this Martin Scorsese-directed Squarespace ad. Leave it to the world's foremost Marvel hater to have me watching and enjoying a Super Bowl commercial.

I don't often post X-Plus news, but this Bagan figure based on his appearance in Godziban seemed noteworthy. They're also releasing a figure based specifically on the giant Cybot Godzilla animatronic from The Return of Godzilla, with the Shonen Rick limited edition including a small Shockirus.

[seacavepuzzle]

Warning from Space (1956)

[teledyn]

They omit to say just how far they go up in the sky…

[wahwealth]

Aliens masquerade as humans to warn us that a runaway planet is on a collision course with earth, click here to enjoy.

[ink-the-artist]

house tour :)

bonus art, lossy versions of the first 2 gifs

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 209

Now Jason was planning on, well, a lot of things, when he came back to Gotham. He had a lot of plans, several of which had to do with the old man and even more that had to do with cleaning up Crime Alley, making it safer and all that. 

What he was not planning on was to find some sort of lab in the basement of where he was planning on setting up a safehouse. Nor was he planning on finding several literal children in cages inside said lab. Oh and Lazarus Waters- but children! With muzzles! Being experimented on!

Now he’d like to say he had a plan in what happened next, but if he’s honest everything had gone Green and he didn’t remember what happened next, only that he’s back home with said children and covered in blood. Oh and everything smells of smoke. 

… And apparently there’s more of these things dotted around Crime Alley with the rest of these kids, er, siblings? Family? Fright does mean family? Okay kids, he’s not turning into Bruce but you can stay here while he deals with this… however long that takes. 

He better not be turning into Bruce he swears-

[tokumon]

Pairains, the starfish-like aliens from planet Paira

Warning From Space (1956)

[improper-use-of-germx]

On a crew where most members go through some kind of heat, it's good to have a human around. Even if humans have a bit of a wild reputation, it's good to know that there's always one person on board who can take care of business without any biological interruptions.

Some humans can offer more than just covering a few shifts, though. Turns out when you're 120 million lightyears from your home planet, it's handy to have a species as notoriously horny and risk-seeking as we are.

[tk-sketches]

animated commission for brick-brooke! (character belongs to commissioner's friend)

[randomdeinonychus]

The movie on page 12, with the giant starfish alien is Warning From Space. In the movie the aliens are roughly human sized--to the point that one of them is altered to become a human woman--but for some reason the promo image depicts them as a daikaiju. It also implies they are invaders, when they are actually benevolent.

I definitely recommend checking out the Blu-ray from Arrow Video if you can find it.

I picked up some kind of catalogue from Recycled Books in Denton a few weeks ago. I cant read a word of Japanese so I thought I would scan it and post it online since I have access to a decent scanner at work. If possible I would like to know what it is and if there is a translation available somewhere. For now its just a cool piece of kaiju memorabilia.

Ill tag what movies I can identify, I would like to know which movie is on page 12 though.

[l-in-the-light]

About his "trigger warnings"

I mentioned here on tumblr that I used to have a number one favourite book writer. I guess not anymore. After all the SA allegations and other stories that got leaked by people around him (his collegues, co-workers etc.), I realized he's an abusive asshole and I owe you all to say that openly here. And some of the assaults date back decades now, which means he didn't just wake up one day and changed into an asshole, he most likely was always one.

I read the foreword to his book Trigger Warning again. I feel like I took a peek beyond his fake persona there. He writes about trigger warnings like it's some exotic curious little trend that kids on the internet came up with, finds it a bit peculiar like a daddy trying to understand their kid's hobbies, then proceeds to use them like a funny teasers for his short stories ("can you find the big tentacle hidden among the pages somewhere?"), only to finish it all up with a punch straight to your face: real life doesn't have trigger warnings, so always watch out for yourself. On the surface level? This all sounds like a slightly misguided, maybe even witty intro. Nothing is said with malice, right? And yet, the message underneath it all was always to discredit trigger warnings as a concept. That's why that delivery line is at the very end of that intro. You're supposed to be lulled into agreeing how silly it all is. I dunno if he did it on purpose or did it without thinking much about it, by habit, but that intention is there and it's disguised with concern and attempts to sound kind. A peek beyond the nice guy mask. No wonder I could never finish that anthology of short stories. The cognitive dissonance caused by the foreword sticked with me like a bad aftertaste. My intuition told me this was all wrong, I just couldn't find the words to express it.

And you know why it works so well as a disguise and why we tend to believe he didn't do it on purpose? Because hey, he just said the facts, the truth! Reality indeed doesn't have any trigger warnings, what's wrong with saying that! Yes, that statement is true. Using real statements in carefully woven context to sell a lie, is an example of an excellent manipulation. So allow me to untangle it or, in other words, to reveal the magic trick behind it.

Why do trigger warnings exist? Isn't Gaiman right, aren't they counterproductive, you might think, because by avoiding triggers you will never get better at dealing with them? Indeed, here's the catch, because the answer isn't a simple yes or no here. Yes, often to recover from trauma, you need to expose yourself to it in some way - like for example, through exposure therapy (or even just classic psychotherapy). But also No, because there's no rule that says you will officially recover only after you're fine reading fiction about sexual assault (for example)! Some triggers will dimnish, some will not, and the best you can do for the latter is to avoid them altogether. Triggers are extremely personal, but you can learn to manage them, in ways that respect your own boundaries, but never by giving up your right to selfcare. You see the difference?

Back to therapy bit for a moment. To recover, often you need to go through with it. But here's the thing - you do it in *controlled environment*, accompanied by a specialist that is there to help and calm you down afterwards. And you only start to do that once you feel *ready* to face it. Now compare it to a situation of reading a book (yes, a book, which usually never has any trigger warnings, because that's such a silly fanfiction thing). You come upon your trigger without any warning, preparation or support around you, you're left with the aftermath of possible panic attack or other symptoms completely on your own. It might take you weeks to recover from it, because perhaps you weren't yet in any therapy that could help you manage your triggers more effectively. But then you tell yourself it's fine, minimizing your own emotional reactions, because *it was just a book*. But, you realize, even years later you still remember it and you might finally accept the harsh truth that you're still not fine with it.

Now imagine same situation, but the book did have trigger warnings listed. For example, about sexual abuse. You would see that and leave the bookstore without the book, because you would know you're not *ready* for that. And it's fine not to be ready, be it yet or ever. This is about consent and selfcare, both are essential to process through trauma and recover. The books without trigger warnings rob selfcare, consent and a choice from us. They teach us we should always ignore our triggers and push through. It's sadly a reality that is widely accepted so Gaiman is right, nothing in reality will flash you a warning. But he's also wrong: it doesn't mean we can't make the life a tiny bit easier for those of us who are traumatized, instead of leaving them with all of that on their very own. This part, he doesn't want you to even consider. He doesn't want you to imagine the positive side of living in a world in which real books warn you about triggers, because then it would prove that it *can* become a reality in which real things (like books) warn you of triggers. They can't shield you from everything, but that's also not the point: it's just to make some things feel more safe, for everybody.

(As a side note, being triggered is not the same as stepping outside your comfort zone - those are two different matters! Though yes, stepping outside your comfort zone in an extreme way CAN become traumatic as the result as well).

I guess Neil Gaiman just thinks some people are too sensitive and should just get over themselves. You don't need those warnings, they won't protect you anyway. Have you tried not getting traumatized? How dare you think your selfcare is more important than reading my questionable fantasies? You're missing out if you skip my book (that has no proper trigger warnings) and you have only yourself to blame! I provide you a safe environment to explore your traumatic triggers, you should be grateful! And how is your book providing a safe environment exactly, author? Did you even try to put a safety net there for your reader? Do you even care? Of course you don't. But you will pretend like you do: by providing a very ingenuine effort that is mostly meant to be a pat on your own back for cleverly dismissing the very concept of trigger warnings, while pretending to play along with it and exposing their lack of power in the process. Disguised as a coincidence, lack of understanding or unskillful attempt written by a slightly ignorant daddy-like figure. What an irony that you do it by nearly surgically focusing on the blind spots of the concept, proving at the same time you do know the mechanism behind it pretty well. You knew what you were doing and how you were doing it.

Or at least, this is how I see it: I might be wrong on the details, but I'm sure I caught the gist of the manipulative behaviour there. An abuser always wants you to step out of your comfort zone, get surprised by a trigger, and to make sure you're outside your safety net. Because then you're an easier target, more likely to agree to harmful things (be it real actions or just harmful beliefs delivered to you by the author of a book, like in case of *trigger warnings being pointless*). They want to groom you into thinking that you're just being silly and see things that aren't there.

Trigger Warning's foreword is exactly that and I feel disgusted, now that I finally recognize my own feelings about it. I probably didn't find words for it before, because I wanted to believe Gaiman had good intentions behind it, they just didn't work out very well. Except that was never the case and that's why it never felt right. That good intention was never there, but it sure *looked* like it was. Also it took me way too long to realize people do things like that on purpose. You know what, Gaiman? Thanks to gaslighting efforts like yours it took me also way too many years to accept that selfcare IS OKAY.

So many people now think nothing was ever genuine about Neil Gaiman because his nice guy mask slipped. A mask he used to hide his autism behind and appear neurotypical/feel accepted thanks to it. Whenever a really advanced mask like that slips, the cognitive dissonance becomes a huge gap between a mask and actual self in perception of other people. Still, your autism is not an excuse for things you do and say, and definitely doesn't excuse assault as simple miscommunication - and yes, he did try to justify lack of consent this way. "I'm autistic, I read the body language wrong and wasn't even aware of it". Hey, you could have, like, asked. There's no shame in getting confirmation in words :P but it's just a poor excuse anyway, the truth is he didn't care if it was wanted or not, as long as he got adoration and powertripping thrill out of that, and that's the best case scenario here.

I believe the allegations. I won't be able to read Gaiman's books anymore, I honestly can't see them the same way I used to anymore. I loved Coraline and The Graveyard Book, and Smoke and Mirrors. I feel disgusted knowing that he openly claimed to be a feminist while at the same time assaulted so many people and used emotional manipulation so they won't #metoo him. He even went as far as to claim "always believe the victims", but once the allegations flew his way, what did he do? Blamed the victims, even called them mentally ill! I also feel now like his books are also just full of deception, meant to hide harmful beliefs under quirky words and imaginative tales. And I might never be able to stop feeling this way and I don't owe him a second chance anyway.

Good Omens stays in my heart though, because sir Terry Pratchett put a lot of work into it and it shows. I feel like I would show him disrespect if I discarded it. Let's say it becomes a Gaiman Who Might Have Been But Never Was, for me.

[seacavepuzzle]

Toyomi Karita in Warning from Space (1956)

[mothmanavenue]

can i confess something else that will absolutely get me stoned in the town square since im dropping my unpopular opinions. I don’t like altean broadsword Lance. i already disliked red paladin Lance. the broadsword was like rubbing salt in the wound. why couldn’t he have his own niche. why was his character development just making him keith. i understand that it was like “he accepts that he doesn’t have to be a leader and excels as a co-leader and you can find happiness that way yada yada yada”. but you could’ve done that without making him keith. also now give him something unique, cool, that falls in line with his sniper bit. i’m not saying just give him another gun, im saying give him something quiet and lethal. like a garotte. yeah i want garotte lance.

i yap a lot more in my notes by the way if you were interested in other unpopular opinions. don’t send me hate messages or comments i won’t read it and will block viciously i also will not be debating this this is my hill to die on <3

[itsstilltru]

Chronic Pain Icon

\/ warning flashing lights \/

[therandomcantina]

controversial opinion, but i absolutely hate dogs if they’re untrained.

yeah, he’s adorable, he’s incredibly cute and fluffy. but he also has zero concept of no, doesn’t listen to you at all, barks constantly, jumps on me incessantly, and is kind of a menace.

if you can’t even get your dog to come to you so you can put him outside when someone uncomfortable with dogs comes over… you have a problem.