#I'm so glad you asked questions

[keferon]

The tac net crash chapter is one of my favorites so far~

Ah and. Guess what. I just discovered that including this post, I made 50 pieces of fanart for Mistakes on mistakes until.. I’m so sane and normal about this story can you tell👍

[nipuni]

Quick poll! Which of these David Tennant characters that I haven't drawn before should I doodle next

[kedreeva]

Sorry about the color mix up. I appreciate the reply and additional info! I guess bc I know nothing about peafowl (and the fact i dont breed any type of animal), I'm having a hard time understanding how being sterile would be unethical. I do somewhat get the shortened life span. I really would like to understand this, I just sometimes need stuff explained like I'm 5.

Up front, there's no "somewhat get" to a shortened lifespan being caused by a mutation in captive populations. If an animal is capable of living 20+ years (and some live 30+ or even 40+!) and some non-essential mutation is causing them to live 7-9 years, it's flat out absolutely unethical to breed that mutation, full stop, regardless of anything else going on. That's indicative of a MAJOR problem in their genetics. There's NO ethical reason to breed that because humans like how it looks. So, even without the sterility, these birds would 100% be unethical to produce.

The short answer on sterility is this: we don't know WHY they are sterile, but they shouldn't be, and that means something has gone wrong. When something goes wrong with an animal, and it's something genetic that can be passed on, the ONLY responsible and ethical thing for a breeder to do is to stop using that animal for breeding and closely monitor any already-produced offspring for signs of the problem, and likely not breed them, either.

The longer more complicated answer is this: sometimes it's possible to separate the problem from the aesthetic when it comes to morphs, like it was for cameo + blindness, but sometimes it's NOT, like it wasn't for spider + head wobble for ball pythons. In those instances, it's... difficult. Because you're LIKELY going to produce animals that suffer the same problem as their parent(s), in the attempt to separate the problem from the aesthetic, and sometimes that's ALL you're going to produce. As a breeder, it's your absolute responsibility to NOT release the offspring into the general population, where the problem may be replicated without control, and to keep or cull the affected individuals if the problem cannot be separated from the aesthetic, or AT BEST find them guaranteed pet-only homes that will NEVER breed them.

Sometimes the problem IS purely aesthetic or harmless, like it was for pied in peafowl, and sometimes it's not, like it was for vitiligo in peafowl. The problem comes when you ASSUME a mutation is the first, and treat it like the first when it's really the second. This has caused FAR reaching consequences in the peafowl community, and I'm sure in others, where now the autoimmune disease that first bronze had has been passed into genpop by folks who thought they were breeding a harmless new variation of pied. Hybrid animals are often sterile (not in peafowl though, hybrid cristatus-muticus birds are fertile) because of a mismatch in chromosome pairing numbers, and often that's harmless. So, in some cases sterility is not an issue because it's the expected result or is otherwise harmless... but in the case of peafowl, it's NOT an expected result and we don't know if it's caused by something harmless or not.

Some species, like mice and horses and cattle and dogs, genetic testing and DNA mapping done with millions of dollars has proven that while some stuff isn't purely aesthetic, it also doesn't cause harm to the animal in a way that affects quality of life or that can be adapted for in captive care. For example, in chickens, the frizzle gene causes curled feathers in single copy and an absence of feathers in double copy. This gene is considered ethical to produce IF the breeding is done responsibly by putting a single copy bird over a zero copy bird, which produces smooth coats and frizzle coats, but it is unethical to produce double frizzles (called "frazzles") because frazzles cannot thermoregulate, can easily sunburn, and easily suffer skin injury during normal chicken activity.

For peafowl, we have NO genetic testing. We do not have the genome mapped. As far as I know there's a research group working on it (mostly for green peafowl though, in conservation efforts), but that's not remotely finished or available to the public to test anything. We don't know where any of the morph mutations sit, or what is causing them or if they do anything beyond just change the color. Sometimes color mutations are the result of malfunctions in enzymes. For charcoal specifically, we don't know what the mutation does, besides what we can observe on the outside- the birds have half or less the lifespan of normal birds, poor feather quality, and the hens are sterile. Is the sterility harmless like it is in some hybrid animals, or is it actually a major organ failing? Is it the only major organ that fails due to this mutation, or is it just the first sign of their shortened lives? Is it some deficiency in something the birds need to be healthy? Does it hurt the bird? We don't know, but we do know the mutation and the problems (multiple, please do NOT forget that this is one OF MORE THAN ONE problems) can't be separated, and so until we do know why and whether it's harmless or not, the ONLY ethical response to seeing a problem in a major organ's function linked inextricably to a mutation in color is to not propagate that mutation. If someone wanted to fork over the millions it takes to sequence and map genomes and then determine exactly what is going on with peafowl, that would be nice and good, but I don't see that happening. When I win the lottery big, I'll be doing it, but til then we can only follow normal breeding guidelines

Also, to put this into perspective... peafowl mature sexually around 3 years old. They are chicks until the turn of the new year following their hatch. They are yearlings that year, and immature 2yo next year. They aren't actually considered fully grown until 6 years old, and should live another 14+ years. Charcoal birds die a 1-3 years after full maturity. Is it a coincidence that they fail to thrive shortly after full sexual maturity, or is it linked? Again, we don't know. We don't know if the sterility is fine or if it's just a symptom of something worse.

Even without the sterility, though, charcoal has enough issues it would be unethical. If it was JUST sterility, with no other deleterious effects, then maybe it would be different. But it's not.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Happy Wednesday, Aerie! I'm loving the Mer Roadtrip AU, you're an incredible writer <3 I can't wait to see Neil's daring escape. Angel Neil for this week, as always, and I hope it gives you less trouble this week. I'm slowly collecting more questions I come up with about the AU in a silly little text file, so one day I can send you another ask (yes, Angel Neil consumes my thoughts on occasion). I hope you have a lovely week (even if it sometimes feels hard to get anything done, there's always the next day, yk?)

WIP Wednesday (5/8) | Guardian Angel Neil AU (Part 185)

On Friday night, Andrew finds himself perched on the back of the couch waiting for everyone else to put the finishing touches on their atrocious costumes. Well, he and Kevin are already done, but Nicky is debating whether he should wear the eyepatch that came with his pirate-suit.

“I sincerely think it’s a bad idea,” Kevin says from beside Andrew. He is sitting on the couch the correct way, but looking over the back of it at Nicky. He looks completely normal, his ‘costume’ even worse than Andrew’s. And sure to be lost by the end of the night. “I mean, you’re driving.”

“I think he could get us there with it on,” Andrew says, grinning. “It would be a fun challenge for you.”

“No, Kevin’s right,” Nicky says, tossing the strip of fabric onto the counter. “Besides, it would mess up my makeup.”

“I can’t believe that’s the problem you have with it,” Kevin mutters. But Andrew understands Nicky’s concern. His eyeshadow actually looks sort of good, a lot of smoky black with a bit of orange glitter mixed in. Andrew doesn’t know makeup terms. He’s never worn it himself, except for a tiny bit of eyeliner he tried once in Cass’s bathroom. He scrubbed it off immediately after.

“I can’t believe your costume is a tiny piece of plastic in your pocket,” Nicky pouts.

Kevin sighs. “Why would I pay forty bucks for a shitty cape and a vial of fake blood when the plastic fangs suffice? It makes no sense to spend a lot of money for one night!”

“You’ll get married in an exy uniform, won’t you?” Nicky asks, shaking his head. The parrot pinned to his shoulder flops around a bit making the bird look drunk. “I mean, you’re almost as bad as Andrew over here.”

Andrew is offended. He would never get married in an exy anything. He wouldn’t get married, period.

“At least my costume is visible,” Andrew says, pointing to the top of his head where sits a headband with a couple of pokey little horns sticking out of his hair.

“Barely,” Nicky tuts. “You need a haircut, you can barely see them. Where’s the tail?”

“I am not wearing something that sticks off my ass. Ever. Especially not at Eden’s.” Andrew says, holding his hands up. “Kevin, would you like to borrow it?”

“No,” Kevin snaps. “The teeth are fine.”

[gophergal]

I know fuck all about tf2 except for character names. Most I got is you and a few other mutuals posts, and they're 10/10. How does the game..... work exactly? Like is there plot? Is it first person shooter sort of thing? Is there a tf1?

I could google it but that's not nearly as fun

OH BOY GET READY FOR THE B I G R AM B L E

WHAT THE FUCK IS TF2?

It's a team based first person shooter published by Valve (of portal and half life fame) in 2007 with nine classes to choose from, each with strengths countered by other classes (for example, the Spy is often a counter against the Sniper and Engineer. Respectively, by picking off the Sniper with a quick, stealthy backstab or by destroying the Engineer's machines). The game has been free to play since 2009 (i think. grain of salt please), and has a healthy playerbase to this day, aside from the bots. But not every tf2 fan actually plays the game. I play sometimes, but mostly just rotate the characters in my brain like a microwave burrito.

It is ALSO, however, a multimedia franchise. Aside from the game, which shows off worldbuilding and characterization through the environment and character dialogue (as well as the update announcement flyers on the official blog), there are also animated shorts and comics created by Valve that further flesh out the world and characters of TF2. Frankly, I think you should give the Meet The Team shorts a go if nothing else. They're iconic. It's hard to pick favorites, but I'm partial to Meet the Medic (obviously), Meet the Engineer (which I can quote verbatim), and Meet the Sniper.

Broadly, the world and aesthetics of TF2 are based on 60's/70's cold war thrillers and spy movies. Think James Bond and the Manchurian Candidate. These impeccable vibes are then wrapped neatly in a cartoony artstyle that wasn't common at the time (and arguably still isn't. I'm pretending that fortnight doesnt exist, as is custom). On a related note, the soundtrack FUCKS SEVERELY. Like. They just DO. They have influence from Jazz, Funk, and miltary marching songs, with more specific influences for individual characters (ex: country western for engineer, polka for medic, and bagpipes for demoman)

An important thing to note is that every class is a play on some stereotype from the movies that inspired the vibes:

Heavy Weapons Guy is a husky ruskie and a man of few words, but he has hidden depths. He's a family man, most importantly, and has been supporting and protecting his mother and younger sisters since his father was killed when he was a teenager. He has a close bond with the Medic and speaks highly of the Engineer ("Engineer is credit to team!"). In a debatably canon piece of dialogue from TellTale's Poker Night At The Inventory, he is revealed to have a PhD in Russian Literature.

Engineer is a texan with 11 PhDs in hard science. He exudes southern hospitality and seems like the most sane man on the team. He also takes great joy in the death and destruction his weapons cause, and ALSO helps the Medic in performing deeply unethical experiments that go against the laws of nature for curiosity sake. He's the third in a line of engineers, btw, and his grandfather basically conquered death. Which isn't super relevant, but I feel is a good lead in to some of the wackier elements of this world I would like to mention.

And every character is like this to some degree. Some more so than others- Soldier is basically just "how american can a man be before it starts impacting his mental health" and Pyro is unknown in terms of nationality, gender, and background

TF2 has a plot by the way! Yes, there is a reason for these many dudes in funny hats to be fighting. They are fighting over gravel. Yeah. So, these two brothers are fighting over land willed to them by their father (who died in the 1890's) which is largely useless aside from having a lot of gravel. Their names are Redmond and Blutarch Mann, and they're the ceos of their own corporations. Reliable Excavation & Demolitions (RED) and Builder's League United (BLU) respectively. They each hired mercenaries to fight a proxy war for them with the goal of owning it all. All the while, a third party, The Administrator, has been playing both sides of the Gravel War to keep it going as long as possible. Why? It's a mystery...

RAPID FIRE TF2 WORLDBUILDING BULLSHITTERY BE UPON YE:

(most of this is just stupid shit that was made up for Pure Random Funny HaHa and has very little bearing on the plot, but tells you a LOT about the tone of the franchise)

Rocket Jumping (that is, shooting a rocket propelled grenade at your feet and crouch-jumping at the same time to launch yourself into the air) was a technique pioneered by Shakespearicles, the STRONGEST POET TO EVER LIVE. He also invented the concept of a Second Floor in a building

Btw, stairs were not invented when the second floor was invented. I want you to take a wild guess how people got to the second floor before stairs were invented. (hint: it involves explosives)

Stairs were invented by Abraham Lincoln. He died due to rocket jumping up said stairs which caused him to accelerate rapidly into a wall. He was also the first Pyro in the 1890s.

New Zealand sank below the ocean sometime in the 40's. By which I mean it was intentionally sank because a Jor-el knockoff believed that the world was ending and that going underwater was the only way to save the nation.

CisMpreg exists. This fact is Medic's fault.

OK But What About Team Fortress 1?

So, its. Not complicated but it's not exactly simple. Quick answer, the original TF game has nothing to do with TF2. Team Fortress was originally a mod for the game Quake and has the same basic gameplay premise as it's successors (team based FPS with 9 classes) and quite a few maps have actually been remade for TF2. It was released in 1996, so, as TF2 was taking A Very Long Time to complete, Valve released a sort of... updated version that was meant to hold fans over. It uses the half life 2 engine, I believe, and was released in 1999. It is called Team Fortress Classic and it's only a LITTLE confusing to research I swear.

TFC takes place in the same universe as TF2, but in the 1930's instead of the 60's. Ignore the scifi/modern looking tech. Don't worry about it. This has no bearing on TFC, really, because it was only confirmed in one of the comics released in 2014. The TFC team matters to the comic plot, but is otherwise kinda just. there. Like, they only exist in the Mann Co No More story line and otherwise just exist.

Fun fact: TFC (the game) was updated to change the ingame class models to more accurately represent the appearance given to them in the comics.

For example, look at the glow up given to the TFC Medic! (original on the left, updated on the right)

In Conclusion:

I will be surprised anyone actually reads all of this, but that is my rambling summary of what in the fuck TF2 is. To be fair, the game is richly detailed but also kinda sparse at the same time. Its all vibes and interpretation my dude. Honestly I think what has made TF2 so popular and long lasting (lore wise) is related to what early FNAF games had going on

[kesoyotes]

@tmaynt Challenge: Day 25 - Your Turtlesona! (+ OCs!)

was clawing at the walls for this day to come ... ft my newly created turtlesona, Kes, and my two oldest and most favorite TMNT OCs, Vulpecula and Conor!

refs below the cut

[aeb-art]

is this out of character? yeah a little, but i'm laughing so

finally got to draw @8um8le's mall toons again 🥺💕 i missed them so much

[b4kuch1n]

I actually for real feel like my phone's scanning quality has dropped monumentally while I was away on thing so that's a fun thing to figure out now. anyways

[nouverx]

Thanks for making and sharing such wonderful artwork, it always brightens my day to get a notification that you posted something new ^^

[blackbackedjackal]

I hate this new wave of impossibility with shelters

When my cat cookie had her last oops litter we tried to surrender them to the local shelter cause we figured theyd find homes easier that way BUT the shelter wanted $400 per kitten plus several "interviews" with the kittens over the course of like 3 months before they would even think of taking them, and if they decided against taking the kittens you were down $400x however many kittens (in my case it would of been $1200) and the kittens would be like 6 months old and at that point you might as well just keep them all and get them all desexed instead of taking them to the pound to surrender them at all

We ended up rehoming them via facebook and two of them went to the same home a week apart

They...wanted you to pay $400 to surrender animals to them??? That alone is insane but an extended interview period with the kittens as well? Are they applying to work there like what the fuck?

[pigeonstab]

SURPRISE ATTACK!!!

Coming in to get you!! and remind you how cool you are, you make the best outfit designs and have such funny and interesting ideas and the way you draw everybody is super pretty!! :D

waaaaa T T thank you!!!!

Ur the coolest <3

[deoidesign]

Deo, Deo, Wait Deo.

First of all, HII i love your comic!

And Second of all! What do you MEAN the "vampire hunter" is an "other"??? Was that in the comic? Did i forget about something??? This is very plausible, my memory is horrible. Do we actually know what's his deal? Or was it hinted and perhaps went over my head?? My eyes are wide open, filled with wonder, and ears are listening 👁️👁️

it's not any sort of canon moment you could have picked up on or something you could have missed, don't worry!

That relationship chart is sort of just a little bit of the "what's going on in my head while I'm writing" and a part of that is that to me, I see people like witches and vampire hunters as partially intertwined with the concept of the supernatural. They are human, but they are defined by their relationship to the supernatural, in a way that makes them almost something other than human.

so he is "other" because he's a vampire hunter. Whether this is due to bloodline, his book, some sense he developed or trained, or just a choice he made is up for interpretation, but that's why I marked him as such!

I would also likely mark Eleanor as half other for the same reason!

[shakooo]

hi pookie

firstly HOW ARE YOU HOW HAVE YOU BEEN I NEED TO KNOW, secindly wish you get well ADN thirdly

what about your Christmas Wishes? maybe there's something you wish for to get or pass??? or idk something other

OMGOMG HIII MATT 😭💖 HOW HAVE YOU BEEN???? first of all i'm pretty busy to be honest hahaha, i think it's one of the most saturated Christmases i've ever had but uhm i'm not complaining 😌 (i want to start the new year with quite a few things jaljskaja)

second AAAAW THANSK A LOT🫂‼️ i'm already much better compared to wednesday or thursday AAAGHh i still have a little cough but i can handle it 🤧

and third, woah uhmmm yep that is a somewhat difficult question jalsjakja normally i don't have very well defined Christmas wishes, you know

maybe i'll ask that next year i can buy a new tablet...and continue meeting nice people 😊💖

i dont know AAAAAAJAKSJKAJA Christmas wishes are always difficult for me

AND YOURS??? which are your wishes?? 😼

[thecatinthepurplepants]

having Malevolent Thots once more and tbh I ADORE trans!Arthur headcanons as much as the next guy being A Trans myself but for one reason above most others because it makes me giggle to think about

that reason is John, with his very limited/spotty at best understanding of humans and human biology seeing a dick and balls on a naked cis man for the first time and Arthur doesnt know what the fuck is happening when John fucking SHRIEKS "EEEOOOUUGH WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING HANGING OFF THAT MAN??!?!?"

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Went to the bookstore today and asked about their mythology section and this frickin guy had the gall to be like "Yeah it's over here, but these are really dense and difficult so let me show you the children's mythology section." I was so baffled I didn't say anything. Normally I would've been very offended, but I couldn't help but laugh because I was like "I've been reading those massive textbook-esque mythology books since I was a literal child as research for my novel, sir. But sure, show me the kid's section, I like reading kids' books too."

[thresholdbb]

You know what I like? Star Trek