#but its so incredibly niche it's very unlikely

[tepli-mravenci]

Oh to have the time and energy (and equipment) to make multihour video essays about extremely niche topics

[arkus-rhapsode]

Manga Recommendation: Tower Dungeon

So looks like Arkus Rhapsode is here to recommend another fantasy manga after the last one. So this time we're going for a bit of a different flavor with the series Tower Dungeon by by Tsutomu Nihei who you may know as the creator of Blame! and Knights of Sidonia.

Now I've known about this series for a bit even though it is relatively new. Having only started last year in Monthly Shonen Sirius. But I remember its announcement from people like Manga Mogul and hearing Makoto Yukimura (Author of the incredible Vinland Saga) recommending it. Now I always loved Sword and sorcery so I was gonna read it eventually, but it just wasn't translated. However, now being able to read the available chapters, I can say this is a very different type of fantasy series.

The premise is very basic: An evil sorcerer has killed a nation's king and kidnapped a Princess and now the royal knights need to ascend the "Dragon Tower" to save her. One battalion has conscripted a young man named Yuva for assisting troops medically has found he has impressive strength. Now Yuva must strengthen himself for the journey ahead as they explore the deadly tower.

Now like all simple premise stories, the real strength is in execution. And unlike the other fantasy series I've talked about before which have bucked the trend of "RPG fantasy" be leaning more into a traditionalist fantasy stories a la Tolkien, this goes for the more realist fantasy of something like Berserk or Dark Souls.

The world of Tower Dungeon may have things like magic and dragons, but it is a dingy, dirty, and lacks any frills. Knights wear heavy armor and people are covered in blood and scars from their adventures.

The mighty Dragon Tower itself? The most iconic thing about this series and the basis of the adventure? Looks like this. This isn't an opulent tower, this is a massive imposing structure where monsters dwell.

However, unlike some grim dark or edgy fantasies, this world isn't indulgent in its darkness. The violence and death are never cool or cheap. They are simply the way the world is. Even when magic exists, the world is still like Medieval Europe and all the "joys" that come from it.

The people as well are similar. These aren't romanticized or polished fantasy archetypes that often come with the idea of a Dungeons and Dragons style adventure, these feel like average joes plucked off the streets having to do a job. If you are say a fan of something like Chainsaw Man, this sort of post modern emphasis on people acting like regular weirdos and not some "anime characters." And I think that is something quite nice that even in a fantastical world, we can see our regular selves in them.

But that's just the story, what about the art? Well if you've noticed this series does have a very minimalist style. Something similar to that of Land of the Lustrous or Chainsaw Man. These almost scratchy and not the most detailed designs that make use of their simplicity to create this very unique atmosphere.

Creature designs themselves are less fantastical and more grody. Feeling as if they come from an off shoot of man rather than some majestic beast. Right down to the cat people.

This series is still new and sadly hasn't been officially translated yet. I've had to use mangadex to read this, so my heart goes out to the translator team. I can understand that this may be a niche that's not for everyone, but its something that feels like such a good sign for fantasy as a genre. A genre that I think has somewhat been stagnated in popular belief with the greater emphasis on Urban Action manga and the reliance on escapist fantasy anime like isekai. To see a more dirty but down to earth take on the premise, I highly recommend it.

[operafantomet]

POTO DUBAI

Lifting up a question from a previous post:

"Any comments on the Dubai production? From what I have seen on Instagram, the colour palette of costumes is strangely muted, it looks a bit drab as a result, unlike the opulent original. Cheaper no doubt, but looks about 10-15 years too late in terms of silhouettes. Erik’s organ in its rocky niche is a nice gothic touch"

The current Middle East Tour started its life as a sit-down production in Romania in 2015, with design by Andrew Riley. The same production opened in Norway in 2018, but then massively vamped, with pimped sets, a new and fierce chandelier, and an overall upgraded costume design. This production continued to Greece, and now the Middle East, closing in Dubai as we speak and heading to Kuwait Bulgaria next.

I agree that the palette is fairly muted. It's an incredibly blue production, if anything. There were scenes I would have wanted a splash of colour, of red, of green, of pink, of yellow. After two hours there is a certain blue overdose. The overall mood is this:

But I like the set design a lot. Moody and monumental but still with enough blank spaces where the imagination can kick in. And very much a nod to the Palais Garnier throughout, but other angles and details than Bjørnson's design. I am especially fond of the ever-present Garnier-esque proscenium and chandelier, as well as the "torn" drum-structure featuring the organ or dome on the other side, and a diagonal staircase on the other side.

The mock operas and the glittering mirrored hall for Masquerade are the only to break the "blueness". Here's the main look for Il Muto:

And the two main looks for Masquerade, the first being very golden, and the second very red.

As for the costume design being a bit "late" for when POTO is traditionally set - yes. I've done two off-hand interviews with people involved in this production. One of them told me that it was the London office encouraging non-replica productions to seek out other time periods, other styles, other looks, to not become Maria Bjørnson blueprints. That is why you have inter-war style in Estonia, non-defined or modern-day style in Finland, Serbia and Bulgaria, 1860s movie clone in Poland, and Edwardian/Belle Epoque in this particular production.

(there ARE non-replica production doing full-blown Victorian, hereunder Hungary, Czech Republic and the Mediterranean version, so it doesn't seem to be set in stone. But the word used was encouraged, not demanded)

There also seems to be a will to do things opposite of the original. "So the Phantom wears his mask on the right side? Then we'll go left!"... "Oh, so Christine is a brunette? Then we go blonde!"... "Oh, so Meg is a blonde? Then we go brunette!"... Yeah.

I hope that answered your questions/comments and gave some links and stuff to explore further :)

[anarchy-and-piglins]

Random bird facts! (Mostly about birds from my country cause that's all I really know but they're really weird birds here so you get some neat facts!) . My country's airforce mascot is the Kiwi bird. A very well known, FLIGHTLESS bird. Which I will never not find funny. . When we were trying (and failing) to do a flag design referendum, one of the actual flags proposed was a clip art and ms paint rendition of a Kiwi bird with laser beams being shot out of its eyes. Sadly, that option did not make it to the final voting stage. But it got close. . Kiwi birds lay a single egg that is roughly about 2/3rds of its total body mass. The thing is MASSIVE for it's size! How it doesn't kill the bird is still a mystery. . Kiwi bird feathers are very similar to fur, they have WHISKERS, they take up the same evolutionary niche of most rodents, and their nostrils are at the tip of their beak rather than the base like most other birds. The point of the nostrils being there is to help them sniff out little grubs and fruits in the leaf litter on the forest floor, but it also has proven useful during floods as they will simply flip their beak up like a snorkle and bob their way to dry ground. They're not great at swimming but they are great at floating. . Kiwi birds are nocturnal and watching them play on trail cams and nightvision cams is incredibly entertaining, they are so goofy, highly recommend. . Most of my country's birds are flightless as the islands they live on were mostly predator free until the introduction of humans. Due to the isolation, they all ended up evolving to take up a lot of evolutionary niches that would normally be filled by other animals. We have birds that are very similar to rodents and we used to have bird that took up the grazing/hunting niche that looked like massive ostriches called Moas, they most likely hunted smaller birds and grazed on ferns and grasses, and the only thing that dared to hunt them before humans was a giant fuck off eagle that was known as the largest eagle in earth's history called the Haast eagle. Sadly they both went extinct but we still have viable dna stored in labs so....could possibly bring them back? Maybe? Not sure if that's a good idea as they probably wouldn't do well with humans.

. We have the world's only alpine parrot! The Kea! They're our equivalent to crows as they are just as intelligent, but like if a crow had a knife and knew how to use it cause Keas have massive beaks and no fear of humans and have been recorded tearing open CARS to get inside because they saw something they wanted. Tourists are often told to NOT feed the Keas and keep all shiny objects and food hidden in the trunk of the car so the Keas won't see it through the windshield because they CAN and WILL destroy your car/purse/vehicle/bags/etc... to get what they want. They are not actively malicious btw, they're just like toddlers with inhuman strength and no sense of boundaries. They're very curious and playful, again they're very similar to crows and ravens, and they love playing in the snow! . We also have Kaka's, the Keas slightly more shy and better behaved cousin. Only slightly though. I got bit by one who saw I hid a bag of chips in my backpack and it landed on me to try and undo the sipper on it so I wrapped my arms around the bag to hold it shut and it literally looked at me and slowly pinched my arm with it's beak while staring at me like "open the bag, OPEN THE BAG! I want treats!!! How dare!" Didn't break skin but still, little guy was basically threatening to eat me if I didn't give my chips.

. Kakapo are our super endangered flightless parrots that look like fuzzy green melons I swear. There's been attempts to try and get them repopulated but unfortunately, unlike the Kea and Kaka, Kakapo are very....stupid when it comes to reproducing and I will not say more.

. We have giant fucking pigeons called Kereru and they are notoriously bad at flying to the point there are warning signs on roads near where they live that warn drivers of them potentially falling out of the sky.

. The majority of our birds are named after Pokemon naming conventions! As in Pokemon are named after the sound they make, and our birds are too! If you listen to their songs or the sounds they make (such as with the Kereru, it's mostly quiet but it has a whistle feather that makes a sound when it flies which is the sound it's named for) they sound very similar to their names! I think it's cool!

. We have burrowing penguins.

OH THESE ARE WONDERFUL!

I actually knew quite a bit about the Kiwi bird because I did a presentation on them in middle school for some reason (we all had to pick an animal and I was a weird kid I guess) but I love the bird facts :D thank you!

[valyrfia]

no actually ur so right. as someone who have been in primarily mlm fandom spaces as an afab person the rampant feminization that goes on with charles especially is crazy. ive been pretty public on my dislike of this characterization if charles because of like exactly what you said (which is excluding my own experience being feminized and treated poorly because of my more masculine gender expression). it makes me pretty uncomfortable to see this in specifically fandom spaces and incredibly uncomfortable so see outside if those places.

just to add, im not against feminization (i actually enjoy it a lot when its like niche kink stuff) but the way it is in formula 1 rpf is unlike anything else ive seen in other fandoms.

I agree, it is CRAZY to see how this has somehow become the default characterisation. I agree with your not being against feminisation as an entire concept and when done well it's fun but rather just....why does it seem to be the default? It's bizarre. On a note that I'm sure is entirely unrelated, someone pointed out to me the other day that (although a small valiant group of us are trying to change it) F/M genderbend is far more common than F/F genderbend in F1 RPF....I'm just going to leave that stat there and you can make your own conclusions but considering I got this anon when I posted only F/F Lestappen stuff for a couple of days like two months ago....

Yeah, it's a little disheartening and is part of the reason why I think I'm so anti the feminisation of Charles as a default characterisation. Fanfiction can be whatever you want it to be, but it has always been a queer space but I've seen it time and time again that when a queer ship becomes popular, people are more desperate to consume it within a hetnorm structure. I haven't just seen it with F1 RPF, there's been a big rise of this over the past half a decade or so which I think is due to the consumption of mlm content becoming widely accepted amongst gen z, but in a way that almost straightwashes queer relationships. I remember when RWRB came out and I watched it when I was home for a bit in the summer with a group of girls I knew from high school as part of an effort to be social, and it was so bizarre. Not only did I witness first hand them obsessively rewinding to watch the kiss and the sex scenes, while exclaiming "that's so hot", but they were obsessed with trying to guess which of them would top and which of them would bottom, and for me most damningly, I made a throwaway comment about Uma Thurman in a suit being very hot (tame compared to what they were saying) and I was met with silence and weird sideways looks or a retort of "Alex in a suit is so hot!". It was a little bit of a humbling experience, to see them root for LGBT acceptance for the hot characters on the screen but be blatantly uncomfortable by actual queer expression in their presence.

I'll be honest I've experienced similar things when I talk about F1, and I think that that's because F1 as a fandom space has really exploded in growth in the past couple of years and thus the newer mlm ships within it, especially the popular ones like Carlando and Lestappen, have been subject to this straightwashing more strongly than other older fandom spaces.

As you said I have zero issue with it when it's a conscious choice on the behalf of the creator, but when it becomes the 'norm' within fanon and people complain when roles are reversed, well, it really rubs me the wrong way. I'm interested to hear your continued thoughts if you have them!

[arminreindl]

Ultrastenos: Narrow Snouted Mekosuchine?

So this one comes with a pretty big disclaimer. Ultrastenos, evenmoreso than any other mekosuchine, is incomplete and enigmatic. Whereas animals like Mekosuchus at least bolster a long research history or at least somewhat complete remains of specific body parts, Ultrastenos is both new and fragmentary. This, combined with ongoing research, means that this reconstruction is just a preliminary one based on current publications and should not be taken as gospel.

Ultrastenos is best known through assorted skull fragments and crania, notably part of the quadrate and quadratojugal, the occiput (back of the skull), an incomplete lower jaw, misc. postcrania like a tibia and vertebrae and some referred skull tables.

Already we enter some weirdness as the type material all stems from the Low Lion Site of the Riversleigh WHA, while the skull tables are from the White Hunter Site (also Riversleigh). Tho they are roughly of the same age, both being late Oligocene, but they are still different localities.

As is apparent both from my recon and the mandible, the lower jaw of Ultrastenos constricted weirdly rapidly, broad at the back and yet narrow towards the front (thus its name, which just means "extremly narrow").

A key issue here is that we don't know how long the rostrum was. We only have it up to the fourth-last tooth, so how long the snout would have continued we don't know. The idea that the snout was short has been entertained, but is deemed unlikely given that the mandible is very shallow. This would instead be more in line with long-snouted animals like gharials.

Size is another point of question. The type material is very small, only about two meters is what I recovered and the paper notes it's "only about as big as a freshwater crocodile", which matches fairly well I'd say. But it is not known whether or not the specimen was actually an adult, so we may find larger individuals in the future.

Which brings us to the disclaimer.

In 2023's "Migrations, diversifications and extinctions: the evolutionary history of crocodyliforms in Australasia", the confusion and uncertainty of Ultrastenos is once more brought up. Some of what is written is what you'd expect, which is that it's enigmatic and the interpretations of Stein et. al. need more research. Logical so far, its undeniably fragmentary and the interpretation is undeniably speculative. The fact that its phylogenetic placement among mekosuchines is a mess is likewise not a surprise. The original tree differs A LOT from more recent results, while the only other tree that included Ultrastenos is that of Rio and Mannion, which I generally avoid personally.

But the interesting nugget is that apparently, a close relative has been found since then which might have a big impact. But this research is still in prep courtesy of Adam Yates (who I've been told will publish the description of the Alcoota Baru soon enough). So will my recon become obsolete? Probably. But I'll update it accordingly once the time comes.

But lets briefly let go of safety and scepticism and consider the possibility that it really was a long-snouted mekosuchine. Aside from some of the anatomical clues like the shallow mandible, sameish teeth and narrow snout, a longirostrine croc would be expected, from the region, would it not? After all, long snouts evolved many times separately in crocs and despite having an incredibly diverse croc fauna, Australia is shockingly lacking in those. The only examples currently known are the Miocene Harpacochampsa, the Pliocene to Pleistocene Gunggamarandu and the current freshwater crocodile. The former two are gharials the later a crocodylid.

Furthermore, the White Hunter Site, if you remember prior posts, was positively teeming with mekosuchines of all different niches. Large semi-aquatic predators like Baru, small semi-aquatic ones like "Baru" huberi and terrestrial forms like Mekosuchus and Quinkana. So to fit in, Ultrastenos must have done something differently, and conveniently a longirostrine nische is still open. So why not.

Illustrations by Joschua Knüppe and Ashley Patch

So that's it. Ultrastenos, the enigmatic, possibly longirostrine mekosuchine of the Riversleigh. Will this post age badly? Maybe, maybe not, we'll see. Wikipedia: Ultrastenos - Wikipedia Primary sources: Stein, Michael; Hand, Suzanne J.; Archer, Michael (26 May 2016). "A new crocodile displaying extreme constriction of the mandible, from the late Oligocene of Riversleigh, Australia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (5): e1179041. doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1179041 Ristevski, J.; Willis, P.M.A.; Yates, A.M.; White, M.A.; Hart, L.J.; Stein, M.D.; Price, G.J.; Salisbury, S.W. (2023). "Migrations, diversifications and extinctions: the evolutionary history of crocodyliforms in Australasia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology: 1–46. doi:10.1080/03115518.2023.2201319. S2CID 258878554

[powwidge]

You reblogged stuff from both my wc blog AND my danmei/tgcf blog which is how i got here buut im now here to a ask an extremely specific NICHE question

if hualian, beefleaf and fengqing were warrior cats what would their individual wc names be in your personal opinion :3c (Cause ive thought about this in my spare time myself)

I'm dying. Drop the blogs. Don't be shy. Psppspss. I'm very into both tgcf and waca. Omfg.

Since I'm mainly a beefleafer let's start wirh them, but.

Shi Qingxuan: let's not fool ourselves, she'd 100% be a kittypet, then fall in love with hx, decide to join the clans, and cause havoc. I'd imagine her kittypett name could be sth sorta compatible though (...unlike. bellaleaf .), like Puff maybe? Cuz I feel lkke Puffleaf would be very cute and fitting

He Xuan: I think we oughta opt for the obvious "Blackpool" here n call it a day. Anyways I can actually imagine him being a medicine cat cuz he DID use to be a scholar n all and also romance between a medicine cat and kittypet? Let's go

Xie Lian: I'd opt for some kind of flower name + the -heart suffix def. Some kind of white flower, but my brain is a little empty rn so make of that what u will- also he should be deputy under Jun Wu so he can receive his trauma accordingly

Hua Cheng: torn between using crimson and rain here ngl. Crimsonrain mifht actyally work bur that sounds kind of stupid. I feel like maybe Crimsonclaw would work becayse it'd scare everyone like "IS HE VIOLENT???" and Hua cheng is like "in theory no because I'm a softie in practice if u hurt gege, yes :D" or maybe sth like Rainfire? I'm indecisive, so

Feng Xin: is like to opt for sth that's brown because in my head he's just brown???? If that makes sense??? I might go for Woodpelt with him since most "pelt" cats seem to be a bit aggressive, so it'd fit- also he's the kost annoying warrior ever I bet he's like. Overachiever, hunts from morning to night, gets injured 24/7 becayse of it, probably voluntarily does mouse bile tick elder duty. (I love him really)

Mu Qing: can I say Crowfeather? Can I? Becayse they both jusg rlly wanna be loved bur fail at expressing that unless driven into a corner? No? No??? Goddamnit. I'd actually like to go for something incredibly soft wirh Mu qing just so that some cats at gatherings would go "oh my god xxx is such a pretty name whY DID YOU JUST CLAW MY EARS OFF DUDE ITS A GATHERING" as for the name. Uh. I'm elly mad rhat any berries just have such stupidly long names rlly. Maybe Current since they don't have the berry suffix? (Is it Currant? God I don't remmeber. Those rply small sour berries that r either red or black. Currant I think. English isn't my first language Im sorry HAJSKSKS) sth like Currantflower maybe; stuff that makes people expect a she-cat who's a forever queen whos super kind n then they meet mu qing (and rlly their assumption is right, he's just tsundere)

Ok im sordy I sont think u wanted THAT extensive of an answer !!!!!!!!! All I can say in my defense is I've got autism 🙏🏻 all insults to the charactwrs r said with tons of love btw I love all of these idiots very dearly. Jun wu included. Sadly. I think that one mifht be a bir invalid. Hmm.

[libelelle]

Honeycreepers? 👀

YAYYYYY YAY THANK YOU FOR ENABLING ME

alright so honeycreepers are these really cool birds native to the islands of Hawai‘i and they are INTERESTING. so many reasons why but one of them is that they have some extreme adaptations to their environment. famously extreme.

this is an Asian rosefinch

specifically a Chinese white browed rosefinch but that's not important. this is a rosefinch.

now a long LONG time ago, a rosefinch from Asia made an huge flight from Asia to the islands of Hawai‘i. this rosefinch species became the ancestor of a HUGE variety of birds.

evolution like this is pretty common. islands are a hotspot for evolution because of the isolated and unique environments. I could talk so much about that. anyways what's incredible about this is that the descendants look like this

ADAPTIVE RADIATION!

Rosefinches were one of 14 species of birds who originally settled on the islands, and make up the islands native bird species. the islands were pretty new and had very little diversity so there was a LOT of work to do

with so many niches to fill, these birds got to work. they took up roles in the ecosystem that were taken by other animals on the mainland. over time they started to evolve, emphasizing certain traits that allowed them to fill these new roles better.

take for example the ‘I‘iwi. the ‘I‘iwi is this angel

when the rosefinch arrived, there were no bees, so one of the roles they needed to fill was that of pollination. this bird evolved a long curved beak via coevolution (alongside the flowers of the islands) this allows them to reach deep inside the flowers to get nectar, and the flower will have it's sexual organs positioned to leave pollen on their foreheads. then they go to the next flower and deposit it and boom! pollination! the shape also makes it less straining to reach in.

another example: ‘Akiapōlā‘au, ‘Aki for short.

LOOK AT THAT BEAST. anywyas this one fulfills a fantastic and essential role: a woodpeckers.

which like. ??? with that beak???? but yeah. as you can see the bottom mandible is very straight and solid, not unlike a woodpecker. how they do it is they open up wide, angle their upper mandible out of the way and hit the bottom one against the wood of the tree! they look like they're screaming : )

they're very effective too! like the sapsuckers, which are woodpeckers, they'll peck holes into trees and use them as sap well, which are also used by other birds as well

the other honeycreepers are similar, adapting to fill the roles of warblers (insectivores) or to eat fruit and nuts. its fascinating and a beautiful example of evolution and adaptation and it is so damn cool

most of the information here was taken from this book by Douglas Pratt and the information and knowledge I knew from before. mostly from the book though.

DISCLAIMER. I am not a biologist I am an enthusiast. if I got something wrong tell me. anywyas thanks for letting me ramble I LOVE BIRDS

[tianshiisdead]

Hello again! Back to asking you some more questions out of curiosity! You’re answers have always been so detailed and insightful!

After seeing a few posts of yours, I wanted to ask, why do you ship China/ Mongolia? It’s a fairly unliked, or at least unpopular ship in the English Hetalia fandom, so I’m curious to see your perspective? That, and how do you imagine their dynamic?

Hii! I'm so glad my answers have been good, I love talking so thank you for the questions! I'm sorry about how long this reply is, its pretty rambly

quick disclaimer: these r my opinions and thoughts, there r sensitive topics and such here as well that I try to treat carefully

SHORT ANSWER

(ignore the 'show' lol it's jus fav x fav)

LONG ANSWER (warning. its pretty long)

Hmmm to be honest, the simplest answer is just that I like and ship everyone with China who is my fav, I really like Mongolia, they have shared history, so I smash them together and call it a ship LOL

It's also bc I like Chinese history and the Yuan dynasty is a pretty prominent dynasty. Plus it's incredibly funny to me to see China bounced from one foreign ruler to the next in that little pocket of time where a part of China passed from Mongolic to Tungusic rulers while the Song dynasty grew and then shrank until it was finally fully conquered by Kublai Khan + going with the headcanon that nation-tans lived with their conquerers, I think China chilling with Mongolia during the Yuan dynasty is a fun image. It's a little difficult to write about because Mongolia (and, less relevantly, China as well) like, fractured a lot? It's not a single line of successive nations, and modern groupings and borders haven't always been this way ofc, so it's always a little hard to parse that in Hetalia terms. But it's fun to think about : )

Also, I will say I follow mainly Japanese artists on twitter and there's surprisingly a rather developed niche of Mongolia/China shippers

Dynamics

Dynamic wise, I focus on old history, but I like a variety of things! ぴよEX from pixiv has some really fun historical comics, the super serious Mongolian Empire and arrogant but expressive China are really cute when interacting, their casual day to day dynamic and interactions despite the situation are fun too. As a big China fan from a purely Hetalia point of view abt an event from many centuries ago, there's a feeling like 'wow he put a lot of effort into conquering China huh he tried really hard lol that's kind of cute... also he was the only one to Truly Have all of China until Qing dynasty came along... the Khitans and Jurchens all tried but were unable to fully conquer China... it was only Him 🥺'

I personally really love clingy China who reminisces about the old days and Mongolia who's a little tired of it, even though it's very unrealistic because the Yuan dynasty obviously wasn't a fun time for Yaoyao and then the Qing dynasty. ALSO was not a fun time for him haha so what would he even reminisce about... it exists in my heart though, a nebulous 'yeah maybe they hang out sometimes and China gets jealous over stupid shit and reminisces thru nostalgia lenses about how he once sat side by side with Mongolia and Mongolia tries to focus on the meal and not on the yandere beside him'. I also have a specific image in my head of Mongolian empire era Mongolia walking around with Song dynasty China tagging along to complain about stuff despite the lack of friendliness between their respective nations. Ahistorical but fun! The few Mongolia/China fics I've read in the English fandom that aren't openly anti-shipping are rather angsty fics about the Yuan dynasty, and though I can see why, I think it's much more entertaining to see their coexistence and casual day-to-day interactions in the ~century that the Yuan dynasty lasted, China's annoying peppiness, Mongolia half-listening to his flights of fancy while doing Big Ruling Things, etc. In general, the base of the ship for me is 'tall, annoyed, and serious x small, annoying, and expressive'. Like the first image I doodled specifically for this ask lol

Its place in English fandom

On the topic of popularity, I can understand why it's not as popular in the English fandom tbh the history between the countries has been very antagonistic and fraught w violence, esp in modern history, the 1900s and Mongolia's struggle for independence and such. and culturally there aren't that many similarities, aside from what's left over from the past rule's influence on culture and then there's a bit of cultural influence up north ofc. And then the topic of Inner Mongolia, as well as ethnic tensions... I'm not really in a place to comment and I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to say anything, so this is just an acknowledgment it exists and also that it in my experience influences the English fandom, which, I mean good for them doing some research and staying away from sensitive topics and potentially offensive depictions

also the people who ship Mongolia ships in the English fandom tend to be Mongolia biases, and this ship is more of a China fan ship if that makes any sense? Like, if you liked Mongolia you might ship him with like, Tibet, have something fluffy and sweet and not... this toxic ship fraught with recent suffering, but if you like China there's a bigger chance of shipping him with Mongolia focusing on the Yuan dynasty. A bit of bullying for our fav little arrogant old guy. Meanwhile, there aren't that many China mains in the English fandom and the ones who are out there tend to ship him with yt ppl and focus on either AUs or modern history with a focus on China/western relations 😅 which I mean, fine, I do as well dsjjghfljk but fun historical ships like Mongolia/China aren't really popular.

Qing Dynasty rambles, kinda off topic

Another thing: the Qing dynasty! Okay so, I've read like. at least one english fic that had China turned into an oppressive little dickhead in this time period, but IMO and it's a very very personal and subjective thing, I don't think having China, that is Yaoyao, being the main force in the Qing dynasty makes much sense. This isn't like Yaoyao apologia LMAO it's more like, if each distinct and separate people and culture have their own nation-tan, I don't see why Manchu wouldn't. We may be sinicized now and I consider myself Chinese, but we are still a distinct people to the Han and Manchu were NOT Chinese back then!! It should also be noted that while the Manchu ruling class encouraged the mindset of a diverse China, 'Manchu Mongol Han' (满蒙汉) type thing, they were still conquerors who conquered China, Mongolia, and then a bunch of other places, and there was a hierarchy involved that had Han Chinese below Manchu. There were Han (and Mongolians and other ppl) who were promoted and integrated into the banner system or given Manchu clans or whatever and they were allowed to send their daughters in as concubines but the upper class was generally Manchu and there was a (failed) effort to retain traditional culture, meaning it can't be taken as 'Manchuria was consumed' sort of integration. Shoving 'well China was not in charge of China' in there kind of... changes the dynamics of Mongolia and aph China a little? Another, maybe more important point, is that Mongolia being conquered by the Qing dynasty in many cases wasn't initially a China Mongolia thing so much as a Manchu/Jurchen tribes vs Mongolian groups sort of thing, some groups fought with the Manchu, others were allied w Manchu Qing for protection against other groups, also iirc there were enmity/alliances left over from when Manchu were a bunch of little Jurchen tribes who either fought with the nearby Mongolic groups or turned to certain Mongolic groups for trade and alliances as protection. Like I get that in modern times HOW exactly the conquering went down doesn't matter as much as that it did and at that time China was the main force even ruled by outside conquerors, especially because the Qing dynasty is acknowledged as Chinese and the current country is a direct successor state to the successor state of this dynasty, but Hetalia content that directly addresses this history should take it into account. It's sort of like hmmm the Yuan dynasty's attack on Japan?

Of course, this is a sensitive topic! Lots of violence. Sooo it's the sort of thing that I'm hesitant to make 'content' about, but I do think about it sometimes. How would the relations go down? Idk bc Qing dynasty isn't one of my preferred periods for Mongolia/China but I thought I'd include it anyways since I've seen this era around in the English fandom and I had a Hot Take I wanted to express. It would be an interesting dynamic, though, bc then China goes hard trying to keep Mongolia in the republic era which was VERY VERY ruled by Han who were miffed about centuries of oppression under Manchu rule, lots of anti ethnic minority sentiment arose from that and the, ah, other events going on in during the late 1800s and early 1900s. so it's like... as a country it makes sense but how do you fit this into the characters? It's not like the characters have to like what's happening in their country of course, but I'd like to situate them in the time and atmosphere nonetheless. It's also a situation where China was getting hella brutalized during the late Qing/Republic era by western powers and Japan, so the usual line about this era for it is 'wow poor baby : (' which I admit I love, but it does leave Mongolia, any and all suppression of culture, and its independence movement by the wayside. A country and its systems can be very complicated because everything happens all the time and there's like a billion people involved but then u gotta find a way to balance it within these individual characters which is hard!! I've read so many fics in this era and it always focuses on a few specific character/country relations and inevitably leaves many big things out, everything just happens all the time huh!

I guess the timeline would be roughly:

Stirrings of trouble -> Manchuria gathering. some Jurchen groups are directly allied with Mongolian groups for protection while other Jurchen groups waged war on them and the Ming dynasty so this is awkward -> wowee China has been conquered uwu Yaoyao enters another Jin dynasty -> battle with Mongolia ig? or talks of alliance? The same thing applies to pre-Manchu unification, it's hard when all the different groups represented by one dude are doing different things and it's hard to say who gets the nation-tan -> ok now Qing dynasty is at its largest. China and Mongolia are both under Manchu rule, Mongolia has a bit more status but China gets kept closer to the rulers and in the palace cause obvious reasons. Do they interact? probably sometimes? i'd have to do more research on the details -> oh no the westies have arrived to do a bit of war and opium -> China has attacked and gotten rid of Manchuria, preferably while crying for the spice, but now that he has Mongolia he doesn't want to let go : ( misery -> and the rest is history. i guess

Closing

I'm sorry if nothing makes sense but I started writing and editing at midnight and I can see daylight through the windows so I'll leave it here

Finally: here's a link to PiyoEX's Mongolia/China compilation! There's a bunch of short comics about the Mongolian Empire/Song Dynasty part of history, some Russia Mongolia China, and one timeline of events with Mongolia celebrating Yuan dynasty, China celebrating Ming dynasty, and both of them side eyeing the new guy for the Qing dynasty dksljhgf

To be honest I don't usually think too deeply about this ship aside from teehee funny 1100s AD interactions and wow what if they went out in modern times and Mongolia had a horrible time and China couldn't stop clinging to his arm like a bug! And ofc that one irl video where China was thanking Mongolia for some sheep the gov sent, and some dude sang this song of thanks that was autotuned to hell, but the ship has a lot of potential for exploration, though it's sensitive and hard to handle correctly imo

[wibble-wobbegong]

HIII . very important question that only u, resident freak and mike expert and also great friend, can answer for me. if u were to design a furry based on mike (so, of his character, not one he would make himself) what animal would it b ?

im very very torn between wolf (he is the pack leader and all that), some kind of dog but idk enough abt dog breeds to really know which he should b, possibly some kind of hound dog? like the really big ones w big floppy ears. the ones they use as guard dogs. OR somethijg really niche and weird like a maned wolf or fossa or smth.

all i really know is if i make him a dog its gotta b one w floppy ears bcuz that's Literally what his hair looks like. big fluffy floppy puppy ears. OH actually now that im thinking abt it smth like a great dane could also work? possibly??

if it influences ur opinion at all, im 98% sure im making will a bunny bcuz his fear response is freeze (like bunnies), his liddol teef of course, and he seems shy and skittish but can b Very sassy like a lot of rabbits. also i luv the idea of big scary guard dog mike standing somewhere being all moody and standoff-ish but as soon as he sees little fuzzy bunny will, his tail starts wagging. bcuz thats really cute. and also basically canon

(also if u have any other opinions on what any other st characters would b as furries i would luv to hear them !!! can b the main party or some of the teens or even adults, basically whoever u can think of)

mj, once again, you’re completely correct. if you’re leaning towards wolf, i would honestly go with the maned wolf because it has the lanky features we associate with mike and the big ears (WHICH THISE BEING HIS HAIR IS SO REAL!) but it definitely isn’t a weak creature. mike himself isn’t very bulky or muscular, but still an incredible opponent and strong. the maned wolf has two known predators; the puma and domestic dogs.

not to be insane but the domestic dogs… society… maned wolved are neither wolf nor fox, unlike domestic dogs which descended from wolves… he’s not a fox either though just like how he doesn’t Truly fit with what eddie expects of his hellfire members even though he tries to… but the dogs will eat him alive if he tries to be one of them so he only sees himself fitting amongst animals which will not outright harm him.. but maned wolved aren’t built for the same environment as most foxes…

ANYWAY maned wolf is a 10/10 choice

i went to look at my list of obscure animals to throw out another idea and i forgot i put manes wolf on there lol. if i had to suggest something else it’d be the devil’s flower mantis :)

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Dec 21)

Happy Holidays! I've been spending my winter break watching anime like a loser. Some things never change...

I will be updating some stuff from my previous entry on this list (which was at the beginning of the season I think).

Series (mostly seasonal)

Wandering Son

This anime felt like a manga preview, and I'm not complaining. I just think they left it unfinished. Unfortunately, I don't think we would ever be able to get a continuation with this considering that it was allegedly "not well received" (although winning some awards). Alas, I enjoyed my time watching it and being called out during a few (a lot) of parts regarding puberty and gender identity. Its incredibly slow pace and pastel-like art style were very fitting. I would recommend it, but you do need to be in a certain mood to watch it (as it has very little comedy).

Spy x Family Season 2

Yeah, it's very good. I don't think I liked the tennis arc nearly as much as everyone else, but I still like this season a lot. I feel like everyone is either planning on watching or is watching it, so I won't spend too much time on this one.

Chainsaw Man

I do get the hype. This is a great show, but I honestly think this show is an 8/10. I think a lot of the supposed relatability of the main character is lost on me (aroace). It's a cool world with very interesting characters. The morally gray atmosphere and characters are refreshing to see from a Shonen Jump manga (where friendship is always the answer), and the art is absolutely amazing (yes, even the CG is pretty good). But I think something is missing for me (can't figure out what it is).

Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita

Yeah man, this show is sh*t. I already talked about it at length, but I also gave it a 5.5/10, so I think my friend's comment about me being a clown is incredibly realistic unlike having a structured magic system in this anime. Oh well, I guess if you like Yuichiro Umehara doing ASMR cringy lines, this show will definitely be on your list, but I was shaking my screen and cringing 70% of the time while watching this show.

Cool Doji Danshi

This show made an appearance on my "take" on the portrayal of social anxiety and pretty privilege in anime, but I feel like I'd need to watch it and finish it in a really specific mood where I wouldn't think even puddle-deep.

Pop Team Epic Season 2

That last episode was literally a 19-minute buildup for one punchline that was... alright. Yuuichi Nakamura dubs live-action actor Yuuichi Nakamura. Besides that, the episode doesn't hold any value to people who haven't watched the type of show it's parodying (me). The rest of the show is incredibly niche in terms of humour, but at least this show is aware that it's sh*t. There were a few moments that made me smile and maybe let out a chuckle, but watching Pop Team Epic is pretty much like buying a huge bag of trail mix just for the M&Ms.

Mob Psycho III

This is an absolute masterpiece. I didn't think the show could top the previous season, but here we are. I rated it a 10/10 even if Bones didn't animate a few things (it still felt incredibly cohesive). The only thing that brought it down was the Sakurai scandal, but that isn't any fault of the anime.

Bocchi the Rock!

You know, I really should've watched this before writing that post on social anxiety in anime because "she's just like me fr fr". Despite being over-the-top (this is anime), I find this interpretation, while drawn for comedic value, still incredibly realistic for its subject matter. Not only that, but it's got some good tunes and is like the antithesis to K-On (guys, these shows aren't remotely similar when you look beyond the superficial traits). Anyways, there's an incredibly good video about why it's good on YouTube already. I relate to Bocchi a lot (almost too much), so I'd highly recommend it for that alone, but I wouldn't blame you if you ducked out because she was too relatable. Also, I'd like to give a shoutout to the seiyuu who make this anime so much fun, especially Yoshino Aoyama who made that glitch scream.

Movies

Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare

This movie looked incredibly promising because of its creator, Io Sakisaka, who also wrote Ao Haru Ride. Despite not actually liking the Ao Haru Ride anime, I figured it was definitely worth a shot. What I got was a manga recap that was incredibly rushed and poorly paced (one summer festival lasts maybe 3 minutes before it abruptly changes setting). The character motivations make little sense, and they seem very shallow in terms of development, which makes their relationships feel incredibly half-assed. These things are crucial for shoujo romance anime, which are built on empathy and connections between characters. Although the genre can feel melodramatic at times, when given the proper time and care, the melodrama is far more palatable. However, even if the proper time and care were given, part of the plot is just a common p*rn plot. No joke. They even have the step-sibling trope, which is yikes. Overall, it was a very mediocre movie that did not meet my expectations at all.

Umibe no Etranger

When describing this movie, my friend said it sounded like "a cry for help." That's not inaccurate, and I would be lying if I said that this movie didn't annoy me at times. This movie is incredibly short and fast-paced, and at first, I thought this was caused by a similar issue to the previous entry, but surprisingly, the manga follows a very similar structure and pace. However, there were a few lines that were cut that didn't make sense to exclude (but it doesn't heavily impact the main storyline). The rating system also lied to me calling this PG-13 when there is an explicit scene in there (between two adults). I don't like how they make some BL characters incredibly whiny (especially when we're supposed to believe they're consenting adults). I feel like this movie really lacked proper development and time. The side characters were only given names and maybe one trait each, and I feel like they really could've done more with this story. Alas, the soundtrack was great, which helped elevate it, and the setting (Okinawa) looks great and full of life. There is a sequel manga, but I feel like making this film entailed that we would be more attached to these characters by the end so we would be encouraged to go read the manga.

Summer Ghost

This is another very short movie, and it really ain't that deep. Everything in this movie is predictable. Every single plot twist is like Dora the Explorer and didn't shock me, and ironically, I think they should've closed one of the plots better because it arguably looks like MC did not report something he was supposed to and may have just incriminated himself by putting his hands on evidence that should've been at least shown to eventually be in police possession. Anyways, the soundtrack carries this movie to no end, and the voice acting was also good. This is revealed early on, but MC is not explicitly mentioned to be close to death unlike the other two characters, so his ability to connect with the titular Summer Ghost makes less sense than it needs to.

Eve no Jikan

Technically, this has an ONA and a movie version with both being nearly the same minus a few scenes that should've just been included in the movie version (it would've added less than 10 minutes overall, I think). Because of this, you are kind of required to watch both to get the full story. Some comedic moments in this anime feel out of place since the story tells a tale similar to Hal (another movie about an android). It tells little tidbit tales of androids and how they get along with the humans they have been purchased by. There are a few episodes that stand out to me (4 and 6 of the ONA). It's the best watch out of this category (although that isn't saying a whole lot). It was thought-provoking and had some great voice acting, but I would've really liked a continuation. It felt like a passion project through and through (it's an original with no source material), so if you're interested in human-android relation like the previously mentioned Hal or Plastic Memories, give this package a shot.

[layla-lynx]

Some Signalis OC stuff I’ve been working on! Ive put . So much thought into LIR so have this “brief” summary based off of the game’s entries for Replika and their faults.

———————————————————————

"L.I.R." "Langstrecken Informationsspezialist Replika"

"Leierschwänze"

(Long-Range Information Specialist replika)

Type: Generation 4 Low-Tech Bioresonance Specialist

Frame: Biomechanical with Polyethylene Shell and Bullet-Resistant Armor Plating

Height: 223 cm

Once the cutting-edge of Bioresonance technology, the Leierschwänze is now handily outstripped by units such as the Falke and especially the Kolibri. Despite this it preforms its role adequately and as such remains in service in its niche. That role being the conveyance and retrieval of highly sensitive or technical information at both range and speed, utilizing bioresonant frequencies to surpass the capabilities of radio communications. Unlike Kolibiri they are not in constant communication with one-another, their connections most be established and maintained. The Leierschwänze is aided in this through an advanced Eidetic memory system, able to recall and replicate information in any form near-perfectly. While intended as non-combatants, the delicate nature of their work often places them on the front lines and aboard high-value naval vessels, and are thusly designed combat-capable. Their relatively large frames are packed with backup recording and transmitting equipment to augment their capabilities.

--CLASSIFIED INFORMATION--Commander Eyes Only--

Previous Experience with this Replika model has given us insight into irregularities in their behavior that stem from the original neural patterns used for this unit. Due to the sensitive nature of this information, this document should be destroyed after reading.

Leierschwänze are known to be neurotic and display tendencies in line with OCD. In specific they will triple and quadruple-check the contents of their (invariably infallible) memories for the vital messages they send and receive. Despite this, they rarely lapse into outright instability. An early-warning sign of such instability mounting is the development of Echolalia or Palilalia. If this is not curbed the unit should be IMMEDIATELY field-decommissioned through whatever method is deemed most efficient, as to prevent the compulsive repetition of sensitive information in insecure channels. They enjoy books and reading but are less discerning. Propaganda serials are easy to acquire and more than sufficient for stabilization. They will socialize primarily with other more solitary units with small or singular cadre sizes such as Adler units, as well as the other members of their long-distance network. They get on poorly with Kolibri, their more basic method of bioresonant communication jarring and discordant to Kolibri.

———————————————————————

While this is general LIR information, I do have a specific LIR oc named Rose who I will also probably talk about at length at some point! Rose is both pathetic and adorable and loves her Kolibri girlfriend, Iris, very much. This is despite the incredible amount of difficulty their relationship poses the both of them. As should be expected from Signalis they have a tragic and complicated little story. Also do forgive me if any part of this entry here includes some sort of lore mistake I kind of take and leave things as I choose.

[canmom]

were you the one who posted that cool 4 part essay on why today's anomation looks worse (with cels being solid colors, difficult to make them look bad, todays anime is comped to hell and back, etc)? I keep searching for it but can't find it somehow :(

Afraid not, though that sounds like an interesting essay!

But since that's a topic I find interesting, let me give you my thoughts on it ^^'

I'd say for my part that a reason cel animation often looks so much better is not so much to do with overuse of compositing effects (though, that can definitely do a lot to ruin a shot!) so much as...

the fact that cleanup (douga) is usually done at a fairly low resolution (720p is common) as essentially pixel art and then upscaled, which results in distinctly blurry lines and a loss of the precise texture in the linework and subtle grain in the cels that were characteristic of traditional animation.

lack of strong colour direction, and the limitations of TV colour spaces - I don't know too much about this but apparently there are certain restrictions on the colours you can use in TV animation that leads to a lot of very bland palettes

shitty background painting that overuses digital shortcuts like texture fills, and goes way too hard on lighting effects. it's not that digital paintings are necessarily worse than physical media, but in an industry in a state of overproduction and endemic crunch that's constantly squeezed for time...

One interesting trend that's come in with a lot of recent shounen shows such as Ousama Ranking, Demon Slayer and even recent One Piece is to start using rougher, more textured lines, almost like they're going for the look of traditional cleanup and even overshooting and exaggerating a bit. But hey, it's definitely distinctive.

Anyway, it's absolutely possible to make a beautiful shot with a digital pipeline. Look at anything by KyoAni, Trigger or 4C, or certain recent Science Saru works like Eizouken or Heike Monogatari, or Made in Abyss, Wonder Egg Priority (despite how it ended up collapsing under its own weight), later Makoto Shinkai films (an interesting case because he's probably the main culprit behind the rise of heavy compositing, but works like Your Name make a much stronger case for it than most examples)... You can also go for extreme compositing effects as an aesthetic in its own right as in Ufotable's Fate works.

The other issue is that, well, we're not making a like for like comparison. The works from the 80s and 90s that tend to get remembered are the absolute best works, while today we're in a situation of overproduction and we're aware of all the works that are... unlikely to be remembered, lets say. All the same, there's definitely a certain quality to even the cheaper end of the bubble era work that seems to have been lost.

So that's my current thought on it. I definitely miss the look of old cel style... you can sort of simulate it digitally (there was a short in Star Wars Visions that went for a very 80s look) but it's a lot of work that will just make your video play worse with modern compression algorithms, just to be appreciated by a relatively niche group of fans so I can see why they don't. And of course, what really made those great older works was... a strong aesthetic vision, incredibly strong drawing, creative layouts and timing... things that certainly still exist despite the pressures of modern breakneck productions, the push to higher line count leading to a proliferation of overworked animation directors, the crumbling of the layout system, etc.

Anyway if you find that article, send it my way! Would be curious!

[regicidal-optimism]

just finished reading your madoka magica au and OHHHHHUGHAHHAGHH ITS SONGOOD. like. extremely extremely niche I can't believe someone other than me has even thought abt this concept. It gets at the tragedy of it all in a very canon typical way that's not grimdark. and like I was prepared to giggle a bit at them qll being girls but it fr read very naturally bc of the au context while still staying true to their characters!! 10/10 I'm obsessed

do you have any references for how you imaging their magi outfits bc I rlly wanna draw some

thank you!!! I love these fucked up girls so much it is so important to me how dumb and teenaged they all are and I'm so so glad you enjoyed.

as for designs, this might get long so I'm putting it under a cut.

QUACKITY wanted to look like an adult, and had a 13-14 year old's idea of what that meant. Her puella magi outfit is a very short blue minidress, possibly with some sort of jacket covering her shoulders but still way more revealing than you'd hope considering how young she was when she designed it. After she moves out of Georgie's house she cuts off her hair and switches to something that looks more like the Las Nevadas skin.

WIL, in the puella magi AU, is not obsessed with Hamilton; that's a motif for a different sort of story. Instead, she is obsessed with Sailor Moon. She's dressed like a sailor senshi, with accents in navy blue and maroon like the L'manberg uniform.

PHIL, unlike canon Philza, is not going around in Kisuke Urahara cosplay. This is shoujo we're commenting on. Her puella magi outfit is a palette swap of Utena Tenjou. Motifs include coffins and water; when she was younger they included roses.

DREAM looks like she came out of a superhero movie. The overall vibe is that she thinks she looks incredibly badass and has not given a whit of thought to how any of this would actually work if it was real clothes and not a construct. There's a lot of black leather involved; it is only due to magic that despite living in Florida she isn't constantly overheating.

SOPHIE has not given any of this very much thought. She wears mostly black and white and it looks kinda like a sports uniform?

KARLA is into eyesore colors. Nothing else about the outfit is as important as the fact that it looks like a small child got into Stuart Semple's pigments. She's also into OTGW and broadly looks like a slightly quaint cartoon character.

GEORGIE is wearing something that doesn't look like a hero out of any genre but is incredibly pretty. It's probably more like a frothy lolita dress than a disney princess gown but that's the spectrum we're on.

CLEMENTINE looks like a teenage cartoon hero. Red dress, broadsword. She's not that complicated.

SCHLATT in her everyday life dresses like a high-powered businesswoman (she runs an MLM). However, she contracted when she was a teenager, and badly misunderstood the point of Wonder Woman. Her heels are high enough that if she were wearing real clothes and not a magical construct she would constantly be breaking her ankles.

Now, for people who have not appeared in the series yet but are so so dear to me:

TECHNOBLADE is a lifelong member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and her puella magi gear is extremely realistic medieval armor; she has registered heraldry the details of which I can provide if you want them. She also has a sword and it is not her magic weapon, she just actually has a sword and knows how to use it the regular way.

RANBOO has Waardenburg syndrome; their hair looks like they got an emo split dye but actually it just grows like that. She has one brown and one green eye and coordinates her hearing aids to match. Xir magical girl outfit is black-and-white split down the middle, approximately the same shape on both sides but it looks like you stitched together the left half of one dress and the right half of a completely different one.

MINA, aka Ghostbur, is not a magical girl. She mostly doesn't wear Wil's clothes; she's not that into anime.

[iamnotarobin]

and then i didn’t really answer because i spent the next hour and a half pretending to be narrating a nature documentary about genshin impact characters

this is the fruit of my labors

kokomi, a descendant of the ancient species ‘barbara,’ is set apart from her predecessor by a variety of specialized abilities that allow her to more effectively fill the exact same niche

kokomi has many evolutionary advantages over the barbara, such as a symbiotic relationship with a specific species of jellyfish known as the ‘bake-kurage’ and the ability to secrete a protective, jelly-like coating. even so, kokomis remain on the brink of extinction, due to their low reproductive rate in comparison to the barbara

the barbara is a primitive species, first appearing in the fossil record over 400 million years ago. the barbara most commonly fills the role of ‘healer’ in which she will provide a valuable source of nutrients to other, stronger characters in exchange for protection.

fascinatingly, the barbara has also split into two more groups, that, while not considered by scientists to be separate species, fill their own, entirely unique roles within a party of characters. the older of the two is known as the ‘main-dps barbara’ and sacrifices her ability to entice other characters to protect her in order to protect herself. this barbara uses the water she filters to create nutrients and expels it through her ‘catalyst,’ which is, in truth, a modified blowhole, violently enough to tear through flesh. the newer group, the ‘sub-dps barbara’ or, as it is more commonly known, the ‘clam barbara’, was evolved only recently, with the first population explosion of the ‘kokomi,’ a relative of the barbara. the ‘clam barbara’ is in fact a misnomer, as the ‘clam barbara’ is not in fact a clam. rather, the barbara exploited the very same niche opened by the kokomi for her own benefit, and was able to do so due to their incredibly similar morphology. the clam barbara, like the kokomi, consumes an explosive clam that evolved deep in the inazuman sea, allowing the clam barbara to preform her duty of creating nutrients while occasionally using her highly developed forelimbs to create pressurized bubbles of shrapnel using the pieces of the clam she has not been able to digest.

the ‘thoma’ has often been described as a variant of the ‘tartaglia’ due to their incredibly similar appearance, but this is a misconception. in reality, the ‘thoma’ and ‘tartaglia’ are from completely different branches of the genshin impact evolutionary tree, and can be described as an excellent example of convergent evolution, which is the phenomena of two separate species evolving to share a common trait that did not exist in their last common ancestor, often because the trait has proved evolutionarily successful.

the ‘tartaglia’ can be described as a ‘false sword user’ given that he operates as if he had the short, sharp appendages colloquially called ‘swords’ when he in fact does not, and only creates the same effect using a strange technique scientists have yet to fully understand. the tartaglia instead possesses a largely vestigial ‘bow’ or flexible bone lined with sturdy tendons used to propel projectiles. many tartaglias have been observed attempting to use this bow for its intended purpose, but none of them seem particularly good at it. whether their skills with a bow have deteriorated with the creation of the false swords, or if it is this lack of skill that pressured them to create an alternative method, it is still unknown.

the ‘beidou’ is an ambush predator originating from the seas of liyue. this unique organism will cloak herself in a lining of electricity and sit in wait for hours, often going days or weeks without food, waiting for her prey to approach. the beidou is unlike many other ambush predators in that she exclusively preys on her own predators, using a powerful swipe of her heavy claymore bone to simultaneously electrocute and slash at the approaching predator.

the anemo family is perhaps one of the most overlooked due to its ’primitive’ and ‘neutral’ nature, but it also contains some of the best examples of organisms who have stretched their biology to its absolute limit. one example is an ancient species known as the ‘sucrose.’ the sucrose usually fulfills a supportive, mutualistic role, providing the chemical known as ‘elemental mastery’ in large quantities to her hosts in exchange for nutrients and protection. the sucrose also defined another niche within the ecosystem, that of the ‘anemo driver’ where, in addition to providing elemental mastery to the other members of her party, the sucrose will also actively use her own supply of elemental mastery to create powerful reactions with other elements when exposed to air. another one of the oldest anemo characters, thought extinct until recent sightings, is the ‘venti.’ the venti is a relative of the sucrose, and because of this the sucrose’s catalyst shaped lungs can be seen mirrored in the venti’s ‘bow,’ an external lung covered in a thin layer of bone. the venti uses these incredibly powerful lungs to exhale strong air currents on which he can use to fly, and uses them to inhale and create a vacuum-like vortex that can trap predators. the venti commonly also possesses a filter within his external lung that infuses the air with elemental mastery, increasing both his own potential for danger as well as other members of his party.

often considered to fill the same niche as the venti, the ‘kazuha’ is descended from a branch of ‘jeans’ that migrated to inazuma. the jean and the kazuha are set apart from the sucrose and the venti by their use of a sword as their main offensive strategy, which is made entirely of tough bones and does not contain a lung. instead, the jean and kazuha possess special pores which they can use to expel air, though the pores are less effective and thus they are able to do this less frequently than the sucrose and venti. the kazuha, while similar to the venti in his ability to use blasts of air to pull objects in like a vacuum and propel himself into the air, possesses a unique adaptation that allows him to temporarily absorb elements from his environment and use them to attack. the kazuha also possesses the ability to create a large swirl of wind around himself using a single, incredibly powerful current expelled from the forelimb from which his sword protrudes.

[schfiftytwo]

On Spring Vibes

Whoo, so much for trying to be consistent. In my defense (to the void) there is a significant amount of stuff going on at work, and with some of our senior folks leaving for the green pastures of multimillion (tbh at this point its multibillion, damn capitalism working as god intended) dollar firms, the reshuffling, big ticket things, and random fires have a fervor unlike anything I've seen before. Super interesting stuff, thankful that I'm helping out on meaningful things, happy that it's fulfilling, good that some of it is public, all of that blah blah blah, it's busy folks.

But. Let's take back a bit of time and see what's cooking. Today, I want to write about something that I've gabbed with friends and close colleagues about for what has to be years now - my reflections on springtime. Now, this could go any number of ways. I could talk about the weather, I could talk about the new flowers and leaves (and weeds, fuck the weeds man) sprouting up around the neighborhood, people getting more uppity to be outside, etc etc, and yeah I guess that's all relevant for springtime, but not what's on my mind.

The thing that I'm getting at is a bit less concrete - springtime as a vibe. And the vibe I've been most interested in is springtime as a set of realizations, reminders, and feelings unique to this time of year. Why these specific musings?

It's because it's commencement season. For the uninitiated (and really it shouldn't come as a surprise), I have always loved school and the idea of schooling. The pure pursuit of learning, being surrounded by a properly insane mix of brilliance and stupidity, finding your niche, and at base finding what it is that makes you tick inside and outside the classroom stands as one of the great memories and milestones of my life. Indeed, if I wasn't so pressed to, you know, pay bills, I would have dove headfirst into being a professor (shouts to my incredibly lucky classmates who actually did that - god damn you guys, what a life).

Anyway - the consumation of all that effort, all that discovery, the season of commencement, has always been a very special time of year for me (sue me), and usually results in me thinking a bit more wistfully than I usually do. In some ways a lot of the vibe I'm trying to put into words is pure sentiment, excess romanticism. The faces of elation of closing one chapter and opening another, the burst of the pinnacle of youth before the stupendous fall of adulthood, the photographs, the regalia, the pomp and circumstance, the pantomime and pageantry - I simply cannot get enough, and I am lucky that I've been able to enmesh myself in many commencements - both my own, and those of my friends and family.

In another way, and perhaps what is more to the point, the vibe also represents a view toward the unknown - what I mean by realizations, reminders, and feelings. The example that comes to mind is perhaps unique to my line of work, and how it stacks up with that of my colleagues with a different kind of "D" after their name. For us lawyers, commencement (and really the years of law school as a singular experience) is a representation of the next chapter, a start toward the bar, that first job, that first time you get a chance to prove you're a grown up. For me and many of my peers, that all centered around biglaw - becoming corporate sharks, prowling the mean streets of DC, NYC, Chicago, LA, Miami, Austin, Toronto, etc, closing deals, popping off demand letters, standing up in federal court and playing our best unflappable selves (god how insufferable we must have been - but has anything really changed lol). For others, it was about doing justice - defending the little guy, or more often than not going after the bad guy (who also happened to usually be the little guy). Perhaps more noble pursuits, but tinged with that cloying badge of authority, the aura of importance.

The comparison (and I promise I'll get to the point here, dear void), and what more often than not brought me to a point of poignancy, was what I saw both with my peers who decided to do the real doctor thing and devote their lives to saving lives. The MDs in my life are suspiciously plentiful - my very first love from those days when I didn't even know what kind of person I wanted to be is now a prominent attending physician in a hospital that is affiliated with that one famous school in Boston (yeah, that one), and even my peers in my current circles who went the MD route have done exceptionally well for themselves - wait, am I the odd one out? They're helping people and I...well I guess made the rich guys and gals of the world just a bit richer. Fuck.

Anyway. The thrust of their lives is what I'm focused on. Take for instance match day for MDs - the day where medical school kids, after decades of hard work, sweat, tears, boundless insecurity, and constant ironborn perseverance, find out where they will spend the next four years post grad as resident physicians (yes, just like Scrubs or House, but also 1000% not like that). Every school memorializes that day - livestreams of the reveal, interviews with students, countless photos of students, their families, their loved ones, their children (!) in still moments of pure, often tearful joy at this next chapter. I matched in orthopedic surgery at UChicago. I matched in internal medicine at Baylor. I matched in cardiology at Columbia (wink wink to the A+E readers, can't stop won't stop). Even my mother, a physician in her own right, recalls the day she matched - an event she described to me as one of the happiest and scariest days of her life, one that established the start of a long and fulfilling career in the service of others.

Now. Why bring this up? I'm not a doctor (or at least not that kind of doctor), why would I care about what my well-heeled peers get to do? Don't I have better things to do?

Well, that's exactly it, no? Better things to do. I share this because for years, my predictably slime person attitude was all about the flair and spectacle - god damn, I love the forest green of your Harvard divinity loops signifying you're now a hot shit MD. Fuck me, your Stanford overcoat gown with the green inlay makes you look like a fearsome yet benevolent medical wizard, a young Yen Sid with a penchant for healing. That hospital you're going to is legendary, isn't that one super famous doctor there who did this and that. Never did I give a real substantive thought to what that all really meant, once the spectacle wrapped, the gowns and trappings packed away, the photos developed and framed, the memories faded into those clouds in the deep crevasses of our brain.

Why is that? Simple - for me and my closest cadre, none of us had any inkling about the pursuit of helping people. We were excited about being unreasonably compensated in all the right ways, wining and dining, getting suited up to fuck shit up, being young and reckless and meme-worthy but still rocking it. Respectable drive for a young lawyer maybe, but...just tinged with something that I can only describe as a sad shallowness. Not even the promise of pro bono work (which none of us did btw - we were too busy helping rich folks get richer) was enticing enough to convince us otherwise, or even pretend we could enlighten ourselves in a meaningful way.

Tying it up, what is the point here? Did I get lost again?

No, not really. The point is that during this time of emergence, of new beginnings, I am always reminded of what my beginning was, and how...truly fruitless it was in practice. How excited I was to be important, and how quickly I realized how unimportant I was, even amid the trappings and corridors where I knew important things (including important things I did!) were happening. Meanwhile, my peers who went another route, one more noble, whether it was to do justice, or to really help people - to hone their craft, ease suffering, be meaningful, had begun in earnest. Maybe I had a lovely office, incredibly quippy coworkers who I trusted and swore by as a result of deep trauma bonding during shit work weeks (of which there were so, so many lol), maybe I was objectively wealthy, but...

I just...didn't think I'd realize so quickly how little that all meant. How much it affected me, changed me, made me into someone I didn't like, someone my now-wife resented?

What could have been if I had been smarter, more willing to let my talent be in the service of actually deserving people. If I had been brave enough to do something that wasn't solely focused on the flair of it all.

That, dear void, is the point. Why I do what I do now, why I have committed myself to helping others (because yes, I do work for you after all), not only to better myself, but perhaps to convince myself that I can remedy what time I wasted trying to be a shill. Every year, I remind myself that this is why it (work?) matters, why I matter, why this pursuit of mine, my love of what I do day in and day out is and always will be worth it. It has to, after all.

Why would anyone in their right mind be a lawyer if it wasn't truly meaningful?

Springtime vibes indeed. Cheers, folks.