#learning from Sci Fi

[t-leaves]

Okay lads put your nichest dr in the tags. Yap to your hearts content. (If it is a fandom please elaborate!) GO!

[plaguedoctormemes]

I’m not smart or well-read enough to give a ton of examples but after learning that fantasy (as a genre) originated as more of a sci-fi setting with some aesthetic familiarity to the real-life medieval period my patience for people talking about “historical accuracy” ranging from justifying the lack of women and minorities in their settings to bitching about highly-specific nitpicky details of ‘medieval’ clothing and culture (once again, applied to a FANTASY setting) has plummeted to 0%

Yes, you heard that exactly. Fantasy nowadays is its own defined genre, but at its core, ‘fantasy’ as we know it is derived from an essentially classic sci-fi perspective. With all of the uses that people use for sci-fi as well: a creative vessel where someone created a whole alternative world with the means to comment on or criticize our current world.

[tblsomedoodles]

I got done making my christmas presents so i started cooking up some og stuff for kicks. Then i got handed some MORE presents to make up so this thing has to go in the slow cooker for a bit to slowly drive me insane.

i want to do a whole little intro comic for this dude but, alas, that will have to wait. for now have this wip of my beloved farm hand (named Mer, They/It) who's exceptionally shitty at their job but loves doing it anyways.

[skitskatdacat63]

Paul Atreides is sooooo T.E. Lawrence coded

[mariocki]

Pathfinders in Space (ABC, 1960)

"Now, the remainder of us have fifteen hours of oxygen left. That leaves fifteen hours in which to complete our research here."

"Well, what's the good of all that if you can't come back with it?"

"The moon never destroys her treasures, Henderson. We shall leave a record and it'll be preserved in the vacuum of the caves. And the future expeditions you mentioned, they will find it."

[knightowl-studios]

Bioluminescent cave-bun-creatures! Some preliminary concept sketches I threw together and prettied up in Clip Studio back in August, both to push my creature design skills and as a bit of a tailored portfolio piece.

I plan to draw more of them eventually, and already have some modifications in mind. (Ex: making their feets more dextrous and less blunted.)

Also inspired partly by the absolutely amazing work of @ / jayrockin! If you haven't seen their work before and enjoy speculative biology or sci-fi worldbuilding, you should absolutely go give 'em a look.

Note transcripts below cut!

From left to right, top to bottom:

Subterranean Earth fauna are largely blind...but in a different world, wildlife could use bioluminescence instead, like earth deepsea creatures.

Cartiliginous fans with large bioluminescent "eyes"; these act as both a distraction and an intimidation tactic (caterpillar style ;D)

Fans regrow easily and are designed to be lost. They can also be angled or waved, -> and folded backward to accommodate tight spaces.

Tapetum lucidum [in eyes], to take advantage of other organisms' bioluminescence.

Neck can turn 180 degrees, like owls

Insectivore

Small teeth, but sharp; resemble possum teeth

Paw pads are "sticky", in the same way as gecko's; this is mostly for traction, though, and can't facilitate hardcore climbing

Claws assist with traction in slippery cave environs

Conflicts are brutal - fights for territory or mating rights focus on damaging the fans, as without them an individual's chances of survival decrease

Behavior overall is reclusive, but dauntless.

While they rely heavily on their fans first, when push comes to shove, they have a reputation for being recklessly bold.

[shoechoe]

also no offense but a lot of the time you can really easily tell when an IHNMAIMS fan knows nothing about harlan ellison or his other work

[transcarcinization]

i basically exclusively read sci-fi nowadays mostly bc i like reading sci-fi and nonfiction but college has sapped my energy for nonfiction as entertainment. i have to read so many papers and articles all the time. and every time i'm like wow i could read this 400 pg book about mushrooms there's a voice in the back of my head going 'or you could read something actually relevant to your education' but then i don't

[boyswillbebutch]

AUGSJDHJDHJHHJHHHHGHGHGHG FICTIONAL NICHE COUPLE CANON COUPLE SAVE ME. T4t bother constance and hober mallow real guys i was there/silly

[luckytaxi]

just watched arrival, genuinely such such such a good movie. it’s a slow start but those last 30ish minutes where everything starts clicking and you realize it’s intentional is just *deep breath*

[burningflash]

My parents' bedside tables

[phagodyke]

weekend melancholy is starting to kick in >~<

[beeapocalypse]

speculative bio is absolutely NOT my wheelhouse which is why alamanni is the way it is for the most part but i want to lean a bit into that for drakes bc they are the only sentient species with absolutely no eldritch / thulite meddling in their biology

[colombinna]

researching automatons for a d&d thing and wow it truly is something how the human inabilitiy to emotionally distinguish real from fiction/artificial shaped the way we create. We've really always have been obsessed with making guys out of inorganic materials huh

[inkovert]

something that really grinds my gears as I venture into other writing/bookish spaces is the fact that people have to apologize when stating their opinions/personal preferences when it comes to what they read or consume for fear of offending The Majority. Like there's this sudden hyper-defensive stance that fans or certain groups of people take about what they love and if someone else god forbid states (on their OWN account or a comment thread mind you, with others who agree with them) that they prefer not to consume those things or they don't love it as much as those people do then these people suddenly feel attacked??

Like. Imagine me obsessing over a show that I've binged a million times and then someone across the globe whispers the words "eh I don't really like that show, it feels overhyped and I don't get why people like it. I prefer this other show to that' and I DIVE ACROSS THE OCEAN to be like 'You're entitled to like that other show, but I don't get why you have to put down my show that I love so much in order to say that. Like that's just very rude of you to even verbalize that opinion in your own space of living and existing that's nowhere near my space of living and existing.'

Like??? People?? Do we not see how mad that is?? THAT'S what's happening in the book community rn and we're treating that like it's normal, I don't know. I get that people can cross a line when stating an opinion or make generalizations about people who consume certain things, but...I don't need someone else's validation to love what I love? If they don't like it or think I'm weird or whatever for liking it that's their problem (and their opinion)??? It doesn't say anything about me or change how I feel about the things I like? And if I'm around people who are bashing what I enjoy and I don't want to see that then maybe just...click away? delete their comment? click unfollow? follow more people who like what you love to drown it out? idk. People are entitled to not like what you love, that's what makes us all beautifully diverse. idk.

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

So I was trying to remember stuff about Battlestar Galactica because I haven’t seen it since I was like 15 and most of what I remember from the episodes are the pilot (which we just rewatched and I’ve seen several times), the Fire in Space episode because I thought it was cool (?!?) and that episode where Apollo gets sent to Terra in disguise to try and prevent a nuclear war or something.

Anyway I was thinking about that last one and trying to remember how Apollo ended up disguised and on Terra in the first place and accidentally unlocked a core memory of the show which was THIS WEIRD THING:

the FUDGE was this thing and what were these people on about. why weren’t they more helpful. why does their ship look Like That. why is it glowing?! why did they keep kidnapping people?!