#scientists are just a bunch of nerds and I love it!

[mickis16]

Loki: Elskan min, guess what!

Peter: What? I can tell something exciting happened! Did you get a new dagger to stab Thor with?

Loki: No, even better!

Peter: Even better than- okay I give up. Tell me!

Loki: Scientists has named a dinosaur after me!

Peter: No way!

Loki: Yes way! Check out for yourself! Look, they even call me an Iconic Norse God, I’m an icon!

Peter: That’s so cool! You know, ceratopsians happened to be my favorite clade of dinosaurs!

Loki: Aww, you’re just saying that because one of them is named after me~😏

Tony: Hey! No one’s named a dinosaur after me!

Stephen: When they find an iron plated dinosaur that obviously lacked any sort of impulse control, I’m sure you’ll be the first person that comes to mind

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on Sonic 3!

On December 10th, 2018, I was on the last day of a trip to Milwaukee. The night before, I'd attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Jake, who I've known since high school. Even though half of us were sick the whole trip, it was a great time. Derek had asked the wedding DJ to play "One Week" as the first request of the night, and proceeded to lip sync the entire song on the dance floor. On that cold winter morning in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home, Derek and I groggily checked Twitter on our phones and saw the shocking news: Paramount had teased the design for Sonic from their upcoming live action film. Even in silhouette, the shape of his face and the realistic curvature of his limbs made him look like a grotesque little homunculus. This movie was going to suck.

Six years later, I've now seen the third entry in what's become a hugely successful Sonic film franchise. It features Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in a fairly faithful adaptation of his story from Sonic Adventure 2. At the time of writing, it currently sits at a whopping 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vying for the title of the best-reviewed theatrically released video game movie of all time. Critics are saying nice things about the emotional journey of Shadow the Hedgehog. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day.

I, too, have now seen this movie, and... yeah, it's pretty good.

I'm gonna get deep into spoilers here, so I'll just say up front that I liked the movie. It feels like just about the best possible execution of this version of Sonic. But that's also damning it with faint praise, depending on who you ask.

If you're a fan of the games who didn't like the second movie, you probably won't get much out of this one, either, unless you just really love Shadow so much that nothing else in the movie matters to you. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for this film series. It's still got a heaping helping of broad comedy, cheap pop culture references, bad one-liners, and characterization that diverges greatly from the source material. This is not high art, nor is it a direct adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. If you're the kind of person who hates this portrayal of Sonic and Eggman, or a lore nerd who'll hate that they let Shadow do Chaos Control without an Emerald, then just don't bother with this.

On the other hand, if you did enjoy the last movie, then you'll probably have a fun time here, too. Shadow is very cool. The action is the best it's ever been. There's a bit more focus on characters from the games, and less on human characters invented for the movies—with the exception of Agent Stone, who's in this a lot because everyone likes him. There's a lot of SA2 fanservice. They even play "Live and Learn." It's a fun time! Be sure to stick around through the end credits.

And now, to dig deeper, let's get into the spoilers! I'm gonna jump around a lot and talk about different aspects of the movie, spoiling everything along the way.

Shadow and his reams of lore

Here's the main thing you came for: Shadow is great in this! They really did him justice. Keanu Reeves is extremely solid in the role. He can be a bit flat as an actor sometimes, but I think he did well here. He can be tough and menacing, but he can also be earnest and emotionally vulnerable. Good casting call. Excited at the prospect of seeing more of him in the future.

Really, as a Sonic Lore Nerd I'm most interested in discussing the changes they made to Shadow's backstory. I'm sure there will be many fans upset with the changes, but for the sake of streamlining a complicated backstory that was subject to a bunch of retcons and multiple layers of amnesia and fitting it into a 110-minute movie, I think they generally made smart choices.

For one, Gerald didn't create Shadow using Black Arms DNA, because Gerald didn't create Shadow at all! Instead, Shadow arrived on Earth inside a meteor, and Gerald was merely the prominent GUN scientist who studied him after he was captured. (That meteor does have very strong Black Arms vibes, though, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of them exploring that stuff in the future.) This simplifies things a lot and allows Shadow to be a direct foil for Sonic, kind of a version of our hero who was treated as a lab rat and lost the only human he considered family instead of finding happiness like Sonic has. Then later Shadow hurts Tom and Sonic wants revenge, and it mirrors Shadow's feelings about Maria, and after they fight they can empathize with each other over this, Shadow sees the error of his ways and helps save the world, yada yada yada. You get it. People predicted 95% of this movie's plot from the trailers, but it's effective.

Likewise, all of the stuff about creating Shadow as the ultimate life form who's immune to all disease to cure Maria's illness is completely cut out. Shadow's still called the ultimate life form, but he's treated as more of an energy source than a genetic research project here, playing off of the stuff about Eggman wanting to harness Sonic's natural Chaos Energy in the movies. The original intent behind the ultimate life form project was always hard to explain in the games and doesn't even come up that much, so I don't blame them for cutting it.

Because Gerald isn't doing genetic experiments and creating artificial life, the Biolizard also doesn't exist. It does, however, appear in an old monster movie Shadow and Maria watch in a montage, with Shadow later commenting that he worries he's a monster like the one he saw in the movie. That's a clever way to include it, I think.

The ARK sort of exists. There was no space colony back in the '70s, all of the events of Shadow's flashbacks just took place at a secret GUN base on Earth. Fair enough for a version of the story ostensibly set in the real world. The big space laser in the third act of the film is obviously supposed to evoke the ARK, but it's referred to as simply the Eclipse Cannon. It's still not a full-blown space colony, just a weapon of mass destruction Gerald designed for GUN in exchange for his release (while also secretly planning to use it to blow up the planet in an act of revenge). I am, however, pleased to report that the Eclipse Cannon still has a giant Eggman face on it.

And as for Maria: I like her in this! She's obviously not going to get a ton of screentime, and she's always going to be a very straightforward character, but she's more playful and lively here. She teases Shadow for being grumpy and plays with him a lot. She feels less like this perfect embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and more like an actual kid. She's still not a complex character, but it works.

And the most important question: do they show a child getting shot and killed by the military? The answer is almost. In the flashback, GUN soldiers chase Maria, Shadow, and Gerald and ready their guns, but the young Commander Walters (who's in his 20s rather than being a kid) grabs them and tries to stop them from firing on a child. In the chaos, a soldier fires, missing Maria but hitting a generator that then blows up and kills Maria. So, y'know, close enough I suppose.

So, yes, many of the details change here, but they captured the gist of Shadow's story from SA2. The emotional core is there. I will say, though, I almost feel like Shadow isn't in this movie as much as I thought he'd be? I think he's used effectively in all of his scenes, and they make room for his backstory, and BOY does he get to kick ass in his fights, but for much of the middle part of the movie he's overshadowed by Ivo and Gerald. Though this might be a compromise to leave more screentime for...

Tails and Knuckles

I'm relieved to report that Tails and Knuckles both get a good amount of cool stuff to do in this! They don't feel like an afterthought.

I was worried that Tails in particular would completely fall by the wayside, since even his debut movie didn't entirely know what to do with him. But he's good here. He pretty much just feels like the Tails from the games at this point, especially since they dropped that fawning admiration he had for Sonic with that running gag of him going "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could do that!" He often chimes in as the one who wants Team Sonic to stick together when Sonic and Knuckles bicker. He particularly gets to shine in the Mission Impossible-inspired heist sequence at the GUN headquarters in London that serves as the climax of the second act, which feels like it was tailor made to let him shine as the tech guy of the team. He also gets several opportunities to swoop in and catch someone for a save in an action scene. He's good in this!

Knuckles is... fine. He's definitely fallen into the role of the comic relief dumb bruiser since joining the good guys, but he's at least a little better than he was in his own streaming show. The jokes lean more into him just being really brash about his strength and skill, rather than him being this archaic warrior who doesn't understand anything about the modern world. He also gets a few more serious bits in the back third of the movie where he gets to shine a little more, so overall it evens out to him being fine. They could've done way worse.

As for the relevance of the Knuckles show: Knuckles is now said to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, like in the games, though with no Angel Island this amounts to him hiding it somewhere for safekeeping. It's eventually revealed that he just gave it to Wade, who gets exactly one scene (sorry, Wade-heads) for a joke about him using the Master Emerald as a hockey puck. So, the miniseries explained why Knuckles has a connection with Wade. That's it! Also I think Knuckles might use the Flames of Disaster a bit in fights, but they never called the technique out by name, so I never really thought about it. So, yeah, the six-episode streaming miniseries about Wade bowling has zero meaningful relevance to the Shadow movie. Who could have seen this coming?

Miscellaneous humans

For that matter, the human supporting cast is MASSIVELY downplayed in this one. Tom and Maddie are there for two key sequences (the beginning of the movie and the GUN HQ heist), but otherwise they disappear for long stretches of the movie. They don't go to Japan in act I, nor do they go to space in act III, and there's no subplot for them during those periods, either. There's nothing like the wedding subplot in Sonic 2 where they'd constantly cut back to Hawaii for comic relief with the humans and only reveal why this was relevant to the plot near the end. (There's also no random dance battle in Siberia.) If a human character is here, it's because they have something to contribute to the plot right away. Most people will probably consider this an improvement, and I'd certainly say it makes for a much tighter script, though I have to remind everyone that I thought the wedding being a GUN sting operation was such a funny twist that I'm a defender of the Hawaii subplot.

On the subject of Tom, something funny I've noticed is that they've just completely downplayed the fact that Tom and Wade are cops. Tom being a cop never comes up once. Wade being a cop only gets referenced via the fact that he's practicing hockey on the roof of the police station in his one scene, but he's not in uniform or anything. They clearly got the memo that we don't want Sonic to hang out with cops.

Here's something else funny: Rachel and Randall got character posters, but they're actually not in the movie! Not technically, anyway. During the heist sequence at GUN HQ, Tom and Maddie use some gadgets Tails invented to holographically disguise themselves as those other characters. But the real Rachel and Randall never show up in the flesh. It's a very odd way to shoehorn the actors into the movie. (Jojo is also absent. They did not give her Amy's role of being the girl who reminds Shadow of Maria. Instead they just let Sonic have the big heart to heart with Shadow that makes him switch sides.)

You know who IS in this movie? Krysten Ritter. Not as the voice of Rouge, as the fandom once hoped, but as a director for GUN. She gets like three scenes and she feels completely checked out the whole time. Can't say I blame her! She's not really a character, just a plot necessity. Commander Walters dies in Japan but gives Sonic one of two keycards needed to activate the Eclipse Cannon, and then Ritter's character assumes Sonic stole it and labels him a bad guy. So that's why they have to break into GUN HQ in the second act instead of just talking things out with them. Still, I am at least relieved that Sonic doesn't work with GUN for most of the movie.

I gotta be honest: when Walters pulled a credit card-shaped object out of his pocket, I thought he was about to give Sonic another Olive Garden gift card as his final act before dying. Part of me wishes that happened.

The supporting human character in this who really gets to shine is Agent Stone, which I'm sure most fans will agree was the correct choice. There's a LOT of Agent Stone in this. He's good. I don't have much to say about him, but he's fun as usual.

But, of course, the ones who steal the show are Jim Carrey, and his costar Jim Carrey.

The Robotniks

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I can actually see movie Robotnik as Robotnik. I think with this third and final entry in the Jim Carrey Robotnik Trilogy, I've landed on... yeah, that's just Jim Carrey playing a Jim Carrey character. He's absolutely having fun with the role, and I enjoyed watching him, but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I'm a millennial who grew up watching Jim Carrey movies. If you didn't like him before, this movie will probably be nails on a chalkboard to you, because now there are two of him.

Ivo's arc here leans very heavily into the fact that he grew up as an orphan and never knew his family, a thing offhandedly mentioned in the first movie that's never been a thing for any other version of the character. Here, he learns that he has a living grandfather who's also a mad scientist, and it feels like a hole in his heart has been filled. It certainly makes sense for a place to take this version of the character, and it fits with the movie's themes of finding and losing family, but the cartoonish, childlike affection Ivo feels towards Gerald and all the scenes of them frolicking and dancing together have basically nothing to do with the characters from the games. He's a fun villain for this movie, but he's overwhelmingly used as comic relief this time rather than as a serious threat. He doesn't particularly feel like Sega's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the arch nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog who'd take over the world with an army of robots and a fleet of airships in the span of a day if Sonic wasn't around to stop him. He's a guy who lives in a big crab robot and has some drones. He has more in common with Carrey's depictions of the Grinch or the Riddler or Count Olaf than Dr. Eggman. Though he does, at least, finally get his outfit from the games by the end of the movie. So that's something. And also he's in a fat suit now. They only make jokes at the expense of his weight a little. Hooray...?

Gerald, meanwhile, is... largely the same character as movie Eggman, but older, so they can make jokes about him having saggy flesh and smelling funny and needing dentures. (Also, his voice kind of sounds like Homer Simpson sometimes?) To his credit, Carrey absolutely nails the handful of more serious scenes Gerald gets, whether it's Maria's death or his sinister turn when he reveals that he actually wants to destroy the Earth. But then it's right back to goofs about there being two of the same guy. Even the final battle features a lot of slapstick shenanigans with the two Robotniks fighting each other. I was able to enjoy the absurdity of it all, but if the humor doesn't land for you the dual Jim Carrey schtick is a hell of a lot of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more Gerald than Shadow in the movie, when you go and tally up their screentime. I was able to enjoy the sheer absurdity of it, but your mileage will vary.

I will, however, say that the split screen stuff they do with the two Carreys is EXTREMELY impressive, from a filmmaking perspective. They were absolutely flexing with their ability to pull the effect off. They don't rely on cheap tricks like cutting a lot, or having shot/reverse shot scenes where you're looking at the back of a body double's head. Instead they have a lot of long takes where the two Robotniks are talking to each other, you can see both of their faces, and they'll even hug and touch each other a lot, and the whole time the conversation maintains a natural pace like it really is two actors playing off of each other. It's really well done. It's an incredibly silly idea, but boy did they commit to it.

Sonic

I've hardly said anything about Sonic himself in all of this. It's his movie, isn't it! Well... I don't know, he's fine.

I feel like movie Sonic is a known quantity at this point, and either you like this take on the character or you don't. There was some speculation early on that this was supposed to be a younger Sonic who would grow into being the character we know from the games and comics, the one who's still got lots of quips but is also kind of aloof and cool, a free spirit who goes where the wind takes him, a figure the other characters look up to. And... no, that didn't happen. Once again he gets more serious as the stakes are raised, and he's totally badass when he goes Super, but the rest of the time he's still a little goober with tons of generic one-liners who learns schmaltzy lessons about the importance of family. He's still constantly going to undercut the tension of most scenes by cracking a pop culture reference that will make the average American parent go "haha I've heard of that." I don't think they're ever gonna change that. I think this just what the writers think Sonic is like.

And, again, for what it is, it's fine. He's a little annoying. You already know how you feel about movie Sonic. This third entry won't change that. But they do, at least, have him say "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here!" before jumping out of a helicopter. As my thoughts on the climax will show, I am not immune to fanservice.

The climax

God, the climax is SOOOOO fucking good. It's fantastic. Easily the best action these movies have ever done.

Rather than saving Super Shadow for the team-up with Sonic at the end, they have both of them go Super to fight each other first, and they just go full DBZ with it, fighting across the entire planet. It absolutely rules. I think this is the new coolest fight the two of them have had in anything ever. And then they have to stop the Eclipse Cannon together, and sure, there's no Biolizard. But Gerald DOES release a swarm of GUN Hunter robots, and the ensuing space battle turns into some Gundam shit. It's good! It's so good!!! The movie's flaws kind of melt away for me here when I'm watching Super Shadow take out an army of robots with Chaos Spears on the big screen. What a timeline we're living in.

And yes, they play "Live and Learn." They had to. They knew the assignment. They actually play a slight remix, but it's still got the original vocals, so it's perfectly recognizable. Actually, the tune of the song is used as a leitmotif for Shadow throughout the movie, first introduced via an acoustic guitar version played by Maria, and I really love that. I've been begging these movies to use more music from the games the whole time, and I'm glad they finally did so here. (They also use the traditional level clear jingle early in the film, and Eggman's theme from SA2 is very briefly used as a ringtone.)

... Anyway, uh, meanwhile Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles straight up just kill Gerald to save the world? They unceremoniously knock him into an energy field at the end of their slapstick fight aboard the Eclipse Cannon and he disintegrates like he hit a bugzapper. It's over in an instant. It's not graphic or anything, but it's, like... I didn't expect them to show it, or for it to be such a casual murder! Eggman has one quip about it and then immediately moves on.

Shortly after this, Eggman and Shadow sacrifice themselves to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow's sacrifice doesn't stick, obviously (he's revealed to be alive by the end of the second stinger—pretend to be shocked), but Eggman's probably dead dead. I seriously doubt Jim Carrey's gonna come out of retirement for these movies again. His final moments before the big explosion are also SO dragged out and belabored. He has a dramatic final line like ten times in a row. It really just feels like the series saying goodbye to Carrey. And, again, it feels like a fitting enough end for this Eggman's arc, but it's an odd adaptation of the character from the games.

And so, that's what we're left with. This is far from Sonic Adventure 2: The Movie. It's not that, though there are many, many references made to that game in particular. It's a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that has a similar tone and style, but Shadow and Gerald are in it, and Shadow gets some really cool fights, and there's a liiiiiittle more focus on stuff from the games than last time, and the script's a little tighter. If that sounds fun to you, you will have fun with this. I know I did. If it doesn't, you're probably better off waiting for them to inevitably do an animated reboot whenever this live action series runs out of steam.

It hasn't quite run out of steam yet, though...

The post-credits scenes, and the future

One of the big questions going into this was: what's next? How do they top a Shadow movie with heavy Sonic Adventure 2 overtones, in terms of hype for the fans? How do you fill Eggman's shoes after Carrey retires, for real this time? There are still more fan favorite rival characters to get through, but how many movies in a row can they introduce a furry foe for Sonic who inevitably turns good and helps him stop a larger threat by the end? And when the hell are we gonna see the girls?

Well, we now have our answer, and it's one I'm cautiously excited for: a whole army of Metal Sonics, and Amy!

Yes, Amy! Finally!! It's an absolute crime that we've gone three whole movies and a streaming miniseries without including the female lead of the series. I've complained about this ad nauseum (and also the fact that they cut Rouge from the story). But at least now they're finally doing something about it.

But now the question is, how will they characterize Amy? Sega's struggled with her for years, and there's a million different directions you can take her. Her one scene here has her smashing a bunch of Metal Sonics and wearing a cloak for the sake of a dramatic reveal, which gives her the vibes of a mysterious, badass action girl. This is, of course, completely different from how Sonic and Amy met in the games. What will her personality be like? She doesn't speak here, so who will they get to play her? Where did she come from? Will she even have a crush on Sonic? All of these have yet to be determined. So, like, I'm hyped to finally see Amy, a character who should've been in the movies from the start, but they could so easily end up playing it safe with an incredibly boring girlboss version of Amy who's no fun at all. We'll have to wait and see.

(My prediction: they're going to try to cast either Zendaya or Ariana as Amy.)

Metal Sonic, likewise, is very exciting, and he looks perfect. He looks just like the design from the games. But the question is: what will they do with this army of Metals? Will they be lead by one main Metal Sonic, perhaps Neo Metal Sonic, who gets to be a proper bad guy? Will they take some cues from Sonic CD, Heroes, and the OVA, or do something completely original? Where did they come from? Were they activated as a failsafe after Eggman died? Did they and Amy come from some sort of bad future, riffing on Sonic CD's time travel? Will they explore the fact that Metal wants to be the one and only Sonic? Or will they just be an army of disposable robot grunts for Sonic and friends to mow down like it's a Dynasty Warriors game, while some other villain takes center stage?

It could go so many different ways, and some prospects are more exciting than others. I mean, the Knuckles show had endless possibilities for what it could do with him, and none of the options on my bingo card were "Pachacamac's ghost tells him to help Wade win a bowling tournament." And while I'm a sicko who thinks it's funny that the Knuckles show is what it is, forgive me for keeping my hype about Amy and Metal Sonic in check here until we learn more.

Regardless of what they do, it'll still be hard to top the hype of Shadow, and it'll be hard to fill Jim Carrey's shoes for general audiences. So despite this clear statement of intent, I have no idea what the future of this film franchise holds. But regardless of what they do, I can say one thing for certain: the kids in my theater were hyped as hell for it. They popped off over Metal Sonic, and they were screaming their heads off with excitement over Amy. I heard a teenage girl on the opposite end of my row of seats say "finally!" over Amy's reveal, verbalizing my exact thoughts. She also said that this movie was "peak," though it diverged from the games, and she hoped they'd do a movie with Silver and Blaze someday.

The kids are gonna be okay.

[avelera]

"A face and look that is immediately rage-inducing for much of the population"

what did s1 jayce do to all these people lol. i wasn't in the fandom at the time an this seems insane to me, he was always cute and earnest!!

I think it was a combination of people ascribing League Jayce “Giopara” personality to Jayce (unfairly) and the fact that Arcane Jayce is sort of set up to seem like a privileged douchebag who ignores Viktor and falls in love with the power and prestige of politics.

It’s all one big fake out, a subverted corruption story. But the plot of Arcane does a lot of sleight of hand with Jayce to make him seem like a jerk and then flips it on you in S2 when he dodges his corruption arc and becomes totally focused on Viktor, whereas Viktor ends up headlong into a true corruption arc that’s disguised as looking like a good thing at first (with the healing and the cult I mean).

I’ve said many times that Jayce is one of the most fascinating characters in Arcane because he’s the ONLY one whose character design contradicts his inner life. Everyone else looks like who they are. Vi looks tough and she is tough. Silco looks like a villain and he is a villain. Viktor looks like a consumptive Victorian scientist and he IS a consumptive Victorian scientist.

But Jayce looks like a football player. He looks like Prince Charming crossed over with Superman. He is upsettingly handsome and upsettingly muscular and he gets in front of a crowd and gives a big flashy speech that betrays his ideals and his partner and then he appears to soak up the audiences applause after. He plays the corruption game and he gets manipulated into attacking the Undercity, where a kid dies, and he’s got the kind of face that reminds you of every popular guy who ever beat you up in school, or the magazine model who you could only hopelessly compare yourself to who made you feel small.

But that’s not who Jayce is and it’s so WILD how much his appearance is a contradiction. He the opposite of the skinny kid who wants to be an athlete. He’s built like an athlete but wants to be a nerd taken seriously for his research. He’s not a jock, he’s a blacksmith, a tinkerer who happens to tinker with things that build muscle. He’s more at home in the lab and Viktor is the center of his whole life and he just wants to help people the way a mage once helped him and he gets dragged around by more powerful forces while trying to do that. He’s ready to kill himself when he shames his family and has his life’s work, his ability to help others, taken away from him. He’s ready to sacrifice his whole career when Hextech puts people in danger if it means protecting Viktor. He’s ready to literally OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT if it means saving Viktor’s life and he tells a bunch of rich asshole councilors to fuck off when they think they can keep exploiting Zaun while also ignoring it.

He’s such a wild contradiction and S2 really brings it into focus, though the hints are there in S1. I’m obsessed with him.

[ckret2]

How about Scaramouche in general?

thanks for indulging my obvious baiting to get someone to ask about my Scaramouche headcanons, sorry it took me two days to write lmao. This ended up being a quick overview of his life all the way from being designed to the moment he decides picking a fight with Jack is a wise life choice.

so first to recap the headcanons I've already mentioned: Scaramouche's robot line was based off the X-model. Since the X-49 experiment found that the robot with emotions was a better killer and survived longer, Scaramouche's line got emotions.

Since X-49 held back and eventually retired due to guilt and a developing conscience, Scaramouche's line didn't get remorse or a conscience. It's no coincidence that he's Scaramouche the Merciless.

Since X-49 could be motivated to battle by loyalty/love/devotion, Scara's line kept the capacity for emotional attachments; but they don't want the bots bringing home stray dogs or eloping with some cute waitress bot, so they came pre-programmed with absolute loyalty... to Aku.

As far as we can see, Scaramouche's only ambition is to become and then remain Aku's #1 assassin. He mentions he'll get paid but he doesn't act motivated by the pay. We don't see him demonstrate any goals outside "do the thing Aku would want"—not even "do what Aku would want (so that I can get what I want)." What he wants is to do what Aku wants him to. That's aaall preprogrammed, baby.

Since this means his line was designed after Aku was told about the experiment with X-49, Scaramouche is somewhere under 50 years old.

in another recent post I mentioned that, since Aku's self-declared title is shogun of sorrow, it stands to reason that at some point he had an army of samurai, since that's literally what "shogun" means. Samurai were his thing until Jack came along. Now everybody's like ohhh THE samurai is Aku's enemy. Is the "shogun" title that he gave himself a minute after being born a joke to you??

Anyway—if he's used samurai before, at some point he'd go "I should fight fire with fire. Make me some samurai robot assassins." Not just to fight Jack, but like, if they work out, eventually they can be sent after him. So the scientists made a line of samurai robot assassins, pre-programmed them with combat techniques, then further trained them like they did that ninja robot.

And gave them matching commedia dell'arte names even though that has nothing to do with the samurai theme. Maybe the scientists were using them as code names in case anyone was spying on their project, maybe they were tired of the samurai theme, maybe the lead scientist was just a big theater nerd. So you've got Scaramouche, but somewhere out there are also a bunch of other similar-looking emotional robot assassins with names like Harlequin, Pierrot, Colombina, Pantalone, etc.

Scaramouche starts out looking and acting identically to the rest of his line: a dead serious bot with a kasa hat and robe and katana. And much like X-49, the samurai dell'arte got sent out into the world to kill, they started amassing experiences... they developed personalities.

over his first few years he acquires:

– A purple coat. his original robe got torn, he had to pick up something in a nearby town, he never requested a replacement for his original robe. To his knowledge, at this point he doesn't currently have any "tastes" or "opinions." But the coat. It compels him. In truth he probably would've latched onto whatever outfit he picked up first—pinstripe suit, sundress, clown costume, doesn't matter. He latches onto it because it's the first thing he ever chose for himself rather than had assigned to him.

– A fascination with jazz music. Latent code left over from X-49. like half the samurai dell'arte end up getting into jazz music. The other half do not get it at all.

– that accent. Not the ski-ba-bop-ba-dopping. The nasally inflection and cadence underneath. Picked it up from a neighbor. He got an apartment for in between jobs, and the Dead Serious Bot schtick meant he didn't do a lot of talking while working (and when he was home, he kinda just sat quietly in his room listening to jazz records contemplating life and waiting for a personality to develop). until he developed a little extroversion, he got more practice talking with his chatty neighbor than in the rest of his life combined.

– a new sword. His original sword broke, as long skinny blades that are approximately as hard as their wielder's skin eventually do. He went shopping for a new one. He knew what kinds of swords he was trained to use. He saw those swords. He also saw a goddamn scimitar. He got a goddamn scimitar.

– a dagger. He was having trouble learning how to wield a goddamn scimitar in the field.

– heeled boots; like Jack, he made the discovery that these are surprisingly effective for his line of work. Unlike Jack, he's secure enough in his robo-masculinity to keep rocking them even though women wear them too.

– structural modifications to his face so he can play wind instruments. Just as a hobby. Half the samurai dell'arte went "when we're not working we should form a JAZZ BAND." Sometimes they have jam sessions in local jazz clubs. (he wanted to play trumpet. Everyone wanted to play trumpet. fucking Harlequin got trumpet ugh. in retrospect he's glad he went with flute, he likes flute better.)

– A disconcertingly chipper personality, for a professional serial killer. never formally learns to dance but he's getting more extravagant with his body language—twirls and flourishes. he's still got all that precise combat training that he was preprogrammed with and trained in; but he's starting to care about how he looks doing his job. He likes what he does. He's good at what he does. He's ✨perky✨

– Singing training. Now he's ski-ba-bop-ba-dopping. By this point, he's got a fully-developed personality and sense of style. He's recognizably the Scaramouche the Merciless we know and love.

– A position on Aku's top assassins leaderboard. He's finally reached #1000! He stagnates there.

– a sudden raging dissatisfaction with the limitations of mere metal. He could be so much more, so much better, so much WORSE, if he wasn't held back by swords and armor.

– Training in how to use music to perform magic. It was not intended to be used for violence, but it turns out that part is pretty easy. bam now he's a wizard. You know how rare robot wizards are?

– structural modifications to let him use his voice for magic.

– A position in the top 100!

– a feud with the other members of the jazz band. The trumpeter is just jealous he's not the most impressive bot in the band anymore, now that the flutist is a better killer and better vocalist than the rest of them combined. Scaramouche doesn't know why the rest of the band took Harl's side, that guy's a jerk.

– A scarf. Because he liked it. He's now capable of getting things just because he likes them. It calls attention to his best asset, babe.

– Aku's phone number.

– An insufferable fucking ego (related to previous point).

– a dagger that makes things explode. Custom made, cost a pretty penny, Scaramouche helped with the design himself, it's got music magic woven in to boost that tuning fork trick it does. At this point, Aku's deep in his "oh who cares if Jack's still out there, I don't, I won't even send anyone to kill him, what does it matter anyway" phase; but Scaramouche remembers what his model was originally built for. For most of his life, that goal seemed so distant as to be totally abstract—but now...? He'd like to find out what a magic dagger can do to a magic sword.

– and finally... the numero uno spot, baby. 😎

By the time Scaramouche earns the long-coveted Aku's fave position, he's fully evolved into his own person. Out of everything he started with—his face, his voice, his clothes, his skills, his weaponry—the only part of him that's still recognizable is... his hat. same damn hat he started with. never changed it.

("gee puff did you come up with this whole long elaborate headcanon just to explain why scaramouche has a kasa?" shut up)

at some point he started to select his own targets rather than wait for them to be assigned. If you wanna make it to the top and stay there, you've gotta take initiative! He knows Aku would want somebody dead and they happen to be nearby, he goes after them—doesn't check if there's a bounty yet, doesn't check if another assassin in Aku's direct employ has already been assigned to the job. Never got in trouble for it; as long as the target ends up dead, Aku thinks it's funny if one of his assassins poaches a job from another. You snooze you lose.

Only target he was ever discouraged from pursuing was Samurai Jack. He got told don't bother. Aku's sick and tired of losing his best warriors, assassins, and mercenaries by throwing them against that impenetrable brick wall, and this particular 'bot shows a lot of promise, Aku would rather keep him on the roster for a while. Plus sometimes he texts Aku memes. Aku kind of likes the memes.

What Scaramouche hears is don't bother; you're not good enough to take him down.

And that's about the time Scaramouche starts plotting to slaughter a whole town and pile the corpses into a smoke signal.

[coin-snatcher]

"Angel's madness" AU

strange name isn't it? Anyways I have an AU idea for Gravity Falls!!! (Because why not?)

So basically, the AU takes place a year or two before Ford meets Bill, during the time when he was just studying the falls. Everything up until that point is the same as canon, except for oneee... tiny... detail.

Stanley Pines dies.

Probably not original, but he didn't kill himself. Rico did that for him! Stan finally got caught by the guy (so ooc) and was murdered, but not before he got his eyes ripped out or something.

And, because I can't process watching a character I love die, HE COMES BACK AS A FRIGGIN' ANGEL! Due to the aftermath of having his eyes ripped out and probably a bunch more injuries on him, and the trauma of dying and returning to life, Stanley goes mad! Yipe!

Since Stanley has now perished and returned to end literally anything due to his madness, he starts causing multiple disappearances (Don't worry, he's just a silly little angel with silly little powers), killing each member of the gang he was once apart of, Rico going last because Stan wants him to suffer.

After all the murder, Stan is slowly drawn towards Gravity Falls due it the place being a weirdness magnet. He haunts the dreams of anyone he chooses, but...

He finds Ford hanging around Gravity Falls.

It brings some lost and broken part back to Stan. A... protective side. The same one he had when he was protecting Ford from bullies in the past.

And so, with barely enough sanity, he decided: "I'm going to become one of those guardian angel type guys!" And proceeded to start visiting Ford in his dreams, along with protecting Ford whenever the nerd is in danger.

--

Lemme explain about what happens in Ford's dreams whenever Stan decides to hop in. The dream always starts out like any other dream, but Ford always saw a strange version of Stan in the distance, his eyes bandaged and just... watching him.

whenever Stan protects Ford in the real world, he doesn't show himself, only doing so if Ford is in a really bad situation. (which is sometimes, but Ford doesn't really see WHO is saving him.)

And after a few times of Ford being saved, he starts to wonder: "What the heck? Am I being protected by a ghost?". Being a silly scientist guy, Ford starts doing experiments, trying to understand / see the ghost. Most fail, but one works, and Ford saw a glimpse of Stan.

Yeah, perceive this however you want, but i'm just going to put an image of Stan here. Since I don't believe in myself to actually draw the guy, i'll just make him in GL2! (Forgot to mention that Stan kinda acts like a ghost, only Ford can see him if Stan so desires)

There ya go! err.. enjoy. Also, plz credit if used or something!

[novafest]

ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ᴏᴘ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀꜱ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍʜᴀ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ…

I mean have any of yall ever thought about it? here’s my take on it

PART 1: avengers

────୨ৎ──── ────୨ৎ────

Captain America

I mean #1 he is a SUPER-SOLDIER he is a 90 year old man inside a 30 year olds body because he basically can’t die. Super strength, intelligence, incredible combat abilities…THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS. Again he’s an american hero hence his name Captain America.

BACKSTORY: he was born quirkless so he joined the army to help instead. Decided he wanted to be a part of something bigger so he decided to be a little science experiment. Ended up getting a quirk which is his ability to not die and super strength.

IRON MAN

Parents used to think he was quirkless until he just become extremely smart. His quirk is extremely advanced intelligence. He has a bunch of different suits and is just disgustingly smart like it’s insane. Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist.

BACKSTORY: late quirk bloomer, randomly became extremely smart so that was just his quirk I guess. Become an engineer and made all this technology and weapons for the military until he started selling to the wrong people, giving himself a bad name. He then became to create his own suits to fight against villains. Lastly, started the hero group known as the Avengers.

THE HULK

Oh my sweet Bruce Banner. This nerd wanted nothing to do with the hero wild but here he is! Big and green and mean. His quirk was easier to handle when he was younger, considering he didn’t get as mad as often and he could control it himself too. He’s a scientist and astrophysicist, hero on the side. Forced into this Avengers bs.

BACKSTORY: Bruce was a sweet boy who loved science and also heroes. He was bullied for his quirk being “villain like” his anger getting to the best of him. Learning to control it took a while, but soft music and touches from Black Widow calm him down.

HAWKEYE

His quirk is just amazing. Literally WALKING AIMBOT. Never misses, never has, never will. His Bow and Arrow becoming his best friend, never missing a target no matter where he’s looking. He’s also learned to manufacture many different kinds of arrows. Some that explode on impact, some that catch on fire, some that release poison. It’s all game for him!

BACKSTORY: He used to think his quirk wasn’t strong, so he become and agent for a team working under the government. He was then captured and tortured, finally breaking free he learned his quirk is more important and stronger than he thought.

THOR

Just imagine he’s not a god here, he’s just a big ass guy. His parents were both heroes, his brother Loki being adopted but becoming a villain. He was bigger, stronger, more handsome, he was just the favorite. That’s what killed Loki. Thor: Thunder hero. That sounded great to him.

BACKSTORY: Coming from a wealthy family, he gained his father’s quirk. He was given his hammer as a family heirloom, passed down many generations. He had grueling training to harness his ability to control lightning and thunder. His hammer is what harnesses his power, only if you’ve never lied can you hold his hammer. (Like in the movies, no one can lift it but him.)

BLACK WIDOW

Oh my poor traumatized queen. From Russia, quirkless, joined the same team as Hawkeye as an agent. She was tortured and almost killed, but Hawkeye saved her. She decided that she wanted to become the first quirkless hero. Her amazing combat skills being unmatched.

BACKSTORY: She became a hero after wanting to show quirkless people they can also become a hero (deku ahh shit). Her unparalleled ability to use military grade equipment and combat is amazing. Her and Hawkeye went through the same thing as agents.

. . . . . ╰──╮ ╭──╯ . . . . .

ANYWAYYYY i thought this was a cute lil idea bc i was watching some avengers movies

LMK IF YOU WANT A PART 2

remember to go check out my wattpad and read my slowburn okay byeeeee 🥰🥰

[angelbunny-arts]

Behold,,,,. Every hermit design I’ve created over the past year and a bit: with heights and chibi versions of wings included>:D

Species, fun Details and height sorted version under the cut !!

- Grian

A parrot avian in some universes, a shapeshifted watcher in others, it’s a 50/50 which one I decided to go with

Avians in my mind take on the wing patterns of a bird they connect with, which usually happens at around 18-23. Instead of facial hair they grow feathers around their cheeks and in their hair.

His earring is a present from mumbo ^^

The gold detailing on his wings have the watcher symbol and suns on it, and his shoes have suns too! (why suns you may ask? “Grian” is the Irish word for sun, and according to my myth/history nerd friend there was an Irish sun goddess named Grian)

-Mumbo jumbo

An albino enderman

He dyes his hair because it looks cool, you can see a bit of his natural roots

A feather keychain on his belt from Grian

- GtwScar

A half-allay

He’s got heterochromia with the HOTGUY colours>:)

His ears and canine teeth are rounded! In contrast to half-vexes who’s features are sharper

Him and cub have matching vex magic earrings

His design is probably the one that keeps to the original skin the least, but it also happens to be one of my favourites to draw so

- Cubfan

A half-vex

I don’t have much to say here, he’s just kinda silly? I suppose there’s the fact that I decided that convex gets a diamond as their shape, so he’s got some of that detailing

He was originally supposed to have glasses however I am terrible at remembering glasses even though I wear them so they just kinda vanished

His hair is probably one of the most fun to colour too:D

- Geminitay

An elf (the antlers are accessories)

She’s got a whole bunch of little leaves everywhere:DD and some cute gold detailing too, otherwise a pretty simple design with not much to say on it

-impulse

Just a regular dude tbh he’s just a guy/pos

He’s got five visible places where I’ve snuck an “i” on him (but there’s one more on the bottom of his shoes)

The yellow In his hair also matches with my skizz, who has blue in his hair

- Pearl

Either a human or an avian, it’s another 50/50 and depends on what I went for with Grian as well if I have him included

If I go the avian route, her wings are small and usually kept under her jacket.

The moon detailing changes with the moon phase! Her hair also gets more floaty depending on how full the moon is

The knot on her shirt is in the shape of a moth

- Tango

A soot fairy, they’re known for working with and manipulating fire and creating machinery.

He’s got heels and he’s absolutely slaying. That’s really it I can’t pick my favourite detail it’s all fantastic. Look at it

I looked at fire/firemen vests for his jacket? That’s a fun fact

- Docm77

A creeper/goat hybrid

There’s like.. so many butterfly motifs on this man it’s fantastic. I also love the horizontal pupil

He looks like a mix between a tired dad and a mad scientist, which was initially not what I was going for but I’m keeping it

————

And, as promised, the height check (for people that are the same height I put whoever looked taller first)

(also disclaimer I made most of these heights up and are not accurate to the ccs)

[qoldenskies]

I love getting to write Donnie swearing in food and scientists, it’s so fun to play with

Just like imagining him being slightly disappointed in something and going “ah butter noodles…” all despondently or screaming “LEMON MERINGUE” because Leo startled him is so hilarious. Same with him angrily muttering a bunch of scientists’ full government names after stubbing his toe or angrily fixing things his brothers broke for the 10th time that week. Also calling everyone dum-dums

I love how he can be so verbose and so silly at the same time, top tier versatility

OH YEAH FRRRR some of donnie's verbal quirks force me to actually think when i write him which sucks because i dropped out of school for a reason and am a literature nerd exclusively. but i also fw it

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Common Vs. Scientific Names: Which is Better?

Originally posted on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/common-vs-scientific-names-which-is-better/.

I have a confession to make: my memory for scientific names is spotty at best. My brain is like that dog with selective hearing, who will ignore you when you try to get them to come back inside, but practically teleports to the kitchen when you say the word “bacon”. Sometimes I can rattle off binomial nomenclature with nary an error, but it’s all too common for the mental Rolodex in my head to fail to flip to the right card, even when the organism I’m talking about is right in front of me. (It happens with common names, too, so this isn’t just a binary issue of common vs. scientific names, and there’s a good chance that my AuDHD is at least partly to blame.)

“You want the scientific name for African painted dogs? Sure, let me just pull that up for yo–BALL!!!!!!!”

I would probably retain a lot more of at least some group of living beings if I had gotten a degree in biology or botany or some related field, where a lot of your foundational work requires you to not just memorize but use family, genus, and species names on a regular basis. Because my natural history education (outside of my Oregon Naturalist training) has largely been autodidactic, and relied quite a bit on layperson-friendly scientific texts, I didn’t have that pressure on me to constantly spout off formalized Latin. Of course, I have my favorite species–Canis latrans (coyote), Thuja plicata (western red cedar), Lactarius deliciosus (saffron milkcap) easily come to mind. But most of the time I just have to pull out my phone to look up the scientific names of what I’m looking at, even if I’ve done so before.

(Read the rest of the article under the cut.)

Certainly there are people whose professions require them to know those scientific names as well as their own, and the immense amount of time they spend studying their subjects mean they end up remembering both common and scientific names out of sheer familiarity. Moreover, common names vary from language to language, and so binomial nomenclature is a common tongue among scientists around the world studying the same group of organisms.

I’m not in that milieu, of course. Does this hurt my work as a naturalist? Not really. Most of the time I am engaging with the general public, and while there are certainly my fellow nerds who love learning about common vs. scientific names, most of my students, readers, and tour participants are content with the common names of various life forms. I imagine I would have a tougher time in an academic setting where I’m primarily working with people for whom Latin genus and species are (metaphorical) chapter and verse.

That being said, I think that “common vs. scientific names” is an unnecessary dichotomy. Both have their uses, to include in science communication with the general public. Laypeople are more likely to recognize and remember common names in their language because they use words they’ve already encountered. However, scientific names require them to memorize terms in Latin, a dead language that (unlike yours truly) most people did not take for their language requirements in high school. Recognition and retention are going to be tougher in an unfamiliar language, and so common names are generally more user-friendly.

As a naturalist, while common names are easier for me to pull out of my spotty memory, scientific names are crucial for me to understand the relationships among various beings. Knowing two very similar species are in the same genus tells me that they are close cousins, rather than products of convergent evolution. Understanding that there are over 30,000 species within the family Asteraceae means that I’m very often right when I surmise a new-to-me wildflower “just kinda looks like an Asteraceae“. And while I’m not going to bore a casual tour group by spouting a bunch of binomial terms, it is nice to pull one out now and then, especially if pointing out those aforementioned relationships among species.

So really in the end, the common vs. scientific names thing isn’t so much a case of either/or, but both/and. Each has its own strengths and uses, and you’re certainly welcome to make use of both as you see fit. But don’t stress if you can’t remember every scientific name of every living thing you run across. For the everyday naturalist, learn the names of your nature neighbors that make the most sense to you, and are best for connecting to these amazing beings around you.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider preordering my book The Everyday Naturalist, taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, or checking out my other articles! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[digo3d]

*rises from the grave*

OH WOE G1 MONSTER HIGH HEADCANONS BE UPON YE PART 1 CORE GHOULS

Frankie:

Probably genderfluid tibbiaych bro looked at the gender binary and was physically repulsed

Doesn't feel pain like they should but they have no idea what pain is in the first place so they don't know that they should be worried??

CAN AND WILL STRIKE YOU WITH A BOLT OF ELECTRICITY IF YOU PISS THEM OFF GET SMOTE

Wound up with a prosthetic leg after a few days because the old one ran off in their sleep and their parents had no spare body parts

Says 'smh my head' unironically not knowing they're saying 'shaking my head my head' and defo thinks 'lol' legitimately means 'lots of love'

Made out of the normie scientist from Escape from Skull Shores defo

Draculaura

Everyone calls her Drac for short and her dad gets confused every time because he's also called 'Drac' for short

TWO APPLES TALL FUCKING MINISCULE YOU COULD BLOW HER AWAY IN A GUST OF WIND

Webisodes voice because yes eats you

Defo drinks some variation of the plasma fruits from Sims 4

Constantly jokes about watching the rise and fall of Screamerica during her lifetime

Daddy's girl defo

Clawdeen

I am an Autistic Clawdeen truther fight me

Needs glasses but wears contacts because getting different glasses for each outfit is money the Wolfs do not have

Werewolf powers are enhanced when she's locked the fuck in she can and will chuck an entire table at you if you dare throw off her groove

Still a mythology nerd from because why the hell not

Will roast the fuck out of your outfit and make you a whole new outfit in the span of a day because she wants everybody to slay

Has her own allowance specifically for all the shampoo she uses

Lagoona

More crocodilian than anything I am a reptile Lagoona supremacist

Breathes through her skin like an amphibian as well as having lungs, thus needs very specific brands of lotion to breathe right and wears as little clothing as the dress code allows

Aboriginal and Maori because ough Mattel is a bunch of cowards for not doing that

Teeth built for crunching crustaceans like a pufferfish's; also really good for crunching bones as a snack and humbling the fuck out of Clawd

BEEFY I LOVE MUSCULAR WOMEN

ADHD inattentive variety she's just like me fr

System of a Drown fan defo

Pansexual she/they queen hell yeah

Did somebody say bellybutton piercing and nose piercing? Nobody? Oh well fuck you she has piercings

Cleo

Will defo curse you at the slightest inconvenience but only enough to slightly inconvenience you in return, e.g. only being able to find one sock when getting dressed and barely not having enough milk for your cereal

Secretly goated at Fortnite she will default dance on you after shredding your ass

Can control swarms of locusts and beetles GO MY SCARAB

Technically made out of sand so she can't get turned to stone by Deuce or other gorgons/similar spells

Hands out gold coins as tips ignoring that most places don't take them as currency

Always has emergency bandages in her locker for herself or otherwise

Ghoulia

Powerscaler by accident

Uses crutches most of the time because of zombification nuking her mobility

Autistic and nonverbal; uses her EyePad to communicate and will call you a dickhead in the TTS voice

Cosplayer defo

Died in the 50's when comic books were really starting to get popular and took that to the grave

Probably died of some disease idk it was the 50's they were still puttin' lead in everything

[dorkicon]

G1 Wheeljack for the character asks? 🥺

Send Me a Character

And I will tell you my:

First impression

well i liked jacky from the outset i guess. sometimes its enough to just have a neat design

Impression now

still like him. i love how...utterly goofy he is. i dont really talk about it enough, but i think the voice work in g1 does a lot to add character, and wj is particularly memorable to me for whatever reason. thanks chris latta!

and...this is a bit silly, but i like that hes not a nerd HAHAH...like its cool that he can be a super genius or whatever and still be rough and tumble

Favorite moment

when he and ratchet invented the dinobots for like no reason. another thing that makes me laugh is when they made buster a robo suit in the comics and prime is like ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIIIIIINDS

this is also a very funny bit of animation to me

Idea for a story

ok . hear me out.

"His knack for creating wild new gadgets has earned him a "mad scientist" reputation and their deadly effectiveness has earned him the respect of friends and enemies alike."

^quote via his transformers universe bio

so. theoretical team up episode scenario where he works together with the decepticon science division (shockwave and the constructicons?) and everyones like. trying to play it cool in front of this guy they all really respect HAHAHAH yknow. even though theyre big bad decepticons.

Unpopular opinion

i dont care about wheeljack/ratchet in a romantic sense. sorry

Favorite relationship

eheh. well um. i drew a bunch of shockwave/wheeljack on instagram a good while back. i think its a shame you dont really see it anymore...boss its a good crackship...

Favorite headcanon

i think his light up finials have a practical use. they light up whenever he speaks so...i imagine he could use them while hes working on his projects yknow. for extra light. i like to image he hums or something to keep them lit.

[stupidlittlespirit]

Hello!!!

First of all, I’m the silent follower type, but your writing is the best I’ve ever read so I had to at least tell you that your stories are getting me through the craziness of life right now, so thank you for another AMAZING CHAPTER 🙏🏻💕 (literally in love with Ford but also really wanted Stan to just demolish Ford for being a total jerk to reader this whole time😅)

ANYWAY….

Second of all, I’m actually a microbiologist who works with bacteria and viruses everyday so I’m nerding out over this entire plot. The thought of “alien” bacteria literally makes my brain go into overdrive. OBSESSED.

Third, I just wanted to help you clarify one little thing from the last chapter about all the science stuff. (You’re doing an amazing job btw for someone who is looking things up as you go!) - Lymphocytes are actually a whole category of immune cells including T-Cells (which there are a bunch of different varieties of); B-cells (and then plasma cells which are the mature form of B-cell… which are different from blood plasma… it’s confusing); and NK cells (natural k!ller cells, which deal with viruses). Different types of lymphocytes can actually deal with bacteria, viruses, and even fungi and parasites, so Ford was technically incorrect in that lymphocyte counts being low indicated that the illness has to be bacterial bc lymphocytes don’t exclusively deal with viruses. Both CD4-helper T-cell and B-cell levels would be raised for a bacterial infection, while CD8-cytotoxic T-cells and NK cell levels would be lower.

This stuff is super confusing and I literally only know this because I had to take a whole class about it. The human immune system is insanely complex and you’re doing an AMAZING job! Plus we can just say that FORD messed it up bc he’s being a poopy butthead to reader…

Anyway, hope this helps! It’s definitely not a criticism in any way! This story is outstanding and I can’t wait to see what happens next!!!!! 😊

LISTEN OKAY

I know I fucked it up. I fucked up a lot of the science in that chapter. I'm doing extra work to cover my mistakes now in the next one, so now I gotta reap what I've sown.

asjkdskjjd no it's okay, I appreciate you telling me. I'll probably go back in and change that bit to make it correct. I'm trying to make sure the science for the next chapter is more sound, but because I'm working in reverse and with made-up alien stuff, I'm doing a bit of jiggery-pokery with it all. Hopefully that way it covers over the issues if I make a mistake.

This stuff is hard as fuck dude. It's not super important to me to get everything 100% but I never planned to have so many legit scientists get invested in this fic so now I have to put on my big boy pants and avoid looking (more) dumb. I originally was just going to make everything up but as I got closer to the end of the fic I realised that I was going to need to actually explain everything and because of who Ford is, he'd be doing it in a very technical way. So..... This has been a steep learning curve and a new experience. But hey, that's what life is all about right?

*visibly shaking, tears in my eyes* riGHT??????

[lover-of-mine]

I think some of these BT shippers really think all of this is way more serious than it is and that we’re all more powerful than we are (themselves included)

They think Tim is going to punish us for “harassing” them about Buddie but reward them with Tommy main for…whatever it is they’re doing.

They think we hacked Lou and all we did is post a weird tweet and block a bunch of people but yet we hacked ALL OF DISNEY for one deleted scene.

Y’all were just a bunch of nerds posting our opinions on the internet calm down 😂

Though I suppose if your first experience in fandom is the utter chaos that happened because of Lou’s cameos you might come away with an inflated sense of power.

Well, urban legend at my university used to say that once we finish the degree (I have a bachelor's in computer science) we enter a worldwide low-level threat watchlist, so maybe I am dangerous? oaksoaksokaosk (this is a joke, I mean, there is talk about the watchlist but I am one of millions of computer scientists on the planet, doubt is that serious)

But seriously, the hypocrisy of it all. If the internet craziness was going to end up in punishment, they would punish both sides and like, I don't know, get rid of Tommy and make Buck end up with groovyheels because she showed up at the station with a 6-year-old with Buck's birthmark or whatever.

We are somehow hacking instagrams, and twitters, and all of Disney for a fucking show. Like, what? Look, I love the show and I want canon buddie, but I'm not gonna risk going to actual prison because of it. Think for 2 seconds, maybe? We are all a bunch of nobodies with internet access yelling at the void. We get no say on anything. We have no power. None.

The cameos gave them this idea that they could manipulate canon at their will, but Lou has no power either. He's not a writer. No one here has any control over anything. But somehow now we are hacking one of the most powerful corporations on the planet for a ship war while Ryan takes over control of the show with the power of his abs? Be fucking for real.

[a-tale-of-legends]

who are your favorite from scarlet & violet and what are your personal head cannons about them by the way?? thanks for listening to my thoughts

Hmmmm. My favorite characters? Hard to say bc I like a lot of em! But I have to say it's the kiddos ( Paldea gang + kitakami siblings). Despite it being....almost a year? I think???? Probably more??? God I can't keep track of time for shit- it's been a while since SV came out is what I'm saying. And despite that hcs still....flimsy for me right now. Though this is a thing in general I am very indecisive with how I want to characterize a character lol. But I think I have a few solid ones!

Arven - Decent to high spice tolerance! Adding with the knowledge that the guy just loves outdoors and camping, I think he started eating tamato berries as a means to keep his body warm, which developed into a decent spider tolerance. No where as extreme as Crispin I think.

Nemona - This is somewhat canon, but I think she's just really good with kids lol. She's super encouraging and despite her Nemona-isms, she's actually a pretty good listener! Though her optimism and her general hard time reading the room can often make it difficult with people around her age, but with younger kids, sometimes it's exactly what they need to pick themselves up again! If I didn't already think of Nemona as the next top champion, I think she would actually be a really good teacher.

Penny- Honestly making a hc for Penny now is a bit harder, bc most of the stuff that was hc'd are kinda canon now lmao. Peony's kid? Canon. Sweet tooth? Canon. Girl liker? Pretty much canon yeah. Like this girl has it all. I guess the only thing that hasn't been explicitly said was that she's trans? So. Yeah there's that. Outside of that I think she's actually really into magical girl anime. Really liked madoka magika. Yes I am saying this bc my sibling is a big fan and reminds me of Penny sometimes so. Yeah 👍

Kieran- Goth Kieran Goth Kieran Goth Kieran, do you Understand. Do you see my Vision. Despite chilling out by the end of indigo disk, I think he still has a slight competitive streak. He isn't a pushover anymore, and he still likes to, you know. Win. So. He had Competitive for his ability lol. Also I think he takes up mask crafting :)

Carmine- Listen to me. Scientist Carmine. Battle Scientist Carmine. Do you understand. She literally studied under Briar about the terrastilazation phenomenon, and has gone to a bunch of places as is. What's stopping her from researching mega evolution? Z-moves? Other battle stuff? I am a firm believer that Carmine is a fucking NERD, and she WILL study battle science,I swear it to you. Ahem. Yeah, I think she'll like studying it lol.

And that's all I have for now! Thanks for the ask anon and thank YOU for sharing your thoughts ! They were very cool to see :D

[natteryaktoad]

Weiss, Day 2, Part 4

Penny: Pascal! How are you? How's Tycho? And the twins? All getting bigger by the day?

Pascal: They sure are! You should come out for Tycho's birthday next week.

Penny: I'd love to! What are you up to now? Do you want to hang out with me?

Penny: Did you know scientists think laughing when you get tickled could be your brain's defence mechanism?

Pascal: I did not know that... so um... does that mean we probably shouldn't tickle people?

Penny: Oh, I'd never thought of that! I like tickling... I'll have to do some research! Good thing we have a computer now - before that I had to rely on magazines we subscribed to for research, and the occational trip to the Bigg City Library when Uncle Homer was working out that way and would let me ride along in his patrol car.

Pascal: Oh wait, this is slow dancing. Is this a date?

Penny: It can be if you want it to be. I think you're one of the coolest people I've ever met, Pascal, and I would very much like to be on a date with you.

Pascal: I've never been on one of those before.

Penny: Nor had I, until I met Rhett. It's just a bunch of social conventions, really.

Penny: One of the social conventions that dates often include is kissing. May I kiss you?

Pascal: Yes...

Pascal: Now, I know I haven't dated before because I'm a massive nerd-

Penny: Oh now, nerds are super hot!

Pascal: Well, most of the people around me growing up didn't think so. I tried to kiss someone once but she rejected me. But what I was saying is, how come someone as awesome as you hadn't dated before Rhett?

Penny: Well, honestly, until recently there wasn't anyone in town to date. Uncle Homer and Mr Beech are both married, and Scot's way too young. So until the Harts and Manns came to town, there wasn't anyone.

Pascal: Is it weird to say I like your trousers?

Penny: It's not weird! And thank you - I made them myself! I had two old pairs and one had a hole in the left knee, and the other had a hole in the right pocket and I thought it was a waste to get rid of two half-good pairs of jeans so I sewed the good halves together and now I have these!

Penny: Mooooore tickling!

When Rhett walked off without letting her ask him home to meet Maia, Penny decided to do something more fun with her day than wait around for Rhett to deign to see his daughter.

So when she spotted double-bolter Pascal, she thought she might as well ask him on a date.

[fearcrowz]

What is something that each station gossips about in the facility?

Security division is very professional and keeps to themselves. You don't hear much from the red suits.

Science division is a bunch of scientist nerds who get more worked up over sciencey things than who is dating or losing their job over who. Percy is the one that would be all nosey into that stuff.

Medical division is also professional, especially since there is very few staff. Though Dr. Penrick, Thaddeus' creator enjoys hearing the new deets as he is just a silly old man that has a fun time listening to the youngin's.

Human R. also has few staff but that doesn't mean Nel doesn't like listening in like any girl. They love the juicy gossip and they often wonder if its just for her to fit in.

Waste division, who has the most workers, is all over that juicy gossip. About their coworkers, about the AI Leads, sometimes a little whisper about the big boss if they are feeling extra brave. Repo ignores them as long as they are working.

And Mechanics division, they gossip but mostly behind Clip's back. They are the most judgemental sassy group of people and I like to blame Clip for it. It's fun to gossip behind someone's back if its their boss they are gossiping about, according to them.