#especially since they're reptiles not mammals

[number-one-shadisper-shipper]

Another Sonic OC of mine

Ma Crocodile

This is Vector's mom, Victrola the Crocodile (but she insists everyone calls her Ma). She's the most Grandma-y old southern lady you will ever meet, an absolute sweetheart that can still put you in your place if need be. She raised Vector as a single mom, and absolutely adores her grandbabies (Espio and Charmy, and later Cream)

Fun facts:

Loves music

Carries her purse with her at all times (it has candy in it for her grandbabies)

Is very Pentecostal and will start praying over you in tongues if given half a chance

Makes Christmas gifts for the Chaotix every (including Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray)

Is the only person who has ever made Shadow the Hedgehog apologize (he almost sideswiped her on his motorcycle and she took her purse to him while lecturing him on manners. Once he said sorry, she gave him a piece of candy)

Close-ups:

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Mammal bias is esp rampant in the pet community. I've had pet reptiles and spiders/tarantulas since I was about 10 and being told right to me face that the animals I cared for and cherished were gross and weird and some even "jokingly" staid they would gladly stomp on.

Nothing against dogs and cats but if you wouldn't say that about someone's dog or cat why would you say that to anyone who loves their pets?

Yup yup yup. Honestly, I've always known mammal bias was a thing, and when I majored in biology it was shoved down my throat, but I kind of figured its scope was limited or not really that damaging until I got my pet birds.

Apartments list themselves as pet friendly, but they only ever mean cats and dogs (and good luck trying to find ones that have other pets listed as okay online - same for temporary lodging)

Vets are usually only trained in cats and dogs, and it is impossible to find vets for other species close by - sometimes, at all - fish literally are done a major disservice alone

Homes and group living areas like townhouses, apartment buildings, etc. are not built with the safety of non-catdog pets in mind. How many have linked ventilation systems, which would endanger birds to emissions from other homes?

Service animals can only be dogs. Because dogs were literally bred to be our obedient servants. Never mind that other animals are more intelligent, and can also be trained. Just dogs.

Heck, cats and dogs even form a binary! Are you a cat lover or a dog lover? If you say neither, you get weird looks, and are accused of hating animals! Even though that's only two animals out of the billions!

And of course there's the death threats. Whether its someone threatening to kill someone's pet tarantula, to stomp on their snake, or eat their chicken, that just comes up again and again.

Cats and Dogs are elevated to essentially human status, because they are companion animals in our society and seen as part of the family. But no one can fathom that other pets are seen as family, too, that we'd like the same level of care and respect given to them.

like take this example: many people suggest eating non-cat/dog pets on the internet, and they're hardly ever called out or criticized. "It's just a joke!" and all that. Never mind these pets are beloved animals, and not actually a threat to anyone. Meanwhile, outdoor cats are actively causing ecological collapse. But if you suggest any form of aggressive population control - not of people's pets, of feral cats - you get called a monster. These aren't even beloved animals, just the *concept* of a cat is enough to make people lose their heads. this is a blatant double standard. an actively damaging double standard.

anyways if you want a non cat/dog pet remember to research vets and housing rules for your area before you accidentally screw yourself.

I would be remiss if I didn't add an afterthought that while small mammal pets and other mammals other than cats and dogs do have better vet treatment and some other benefits thanks to mammal bias, they often face similar struggles, and this hierarchy for pets really has cats and dogs on a pedestal lording over everyone else - including rabbits, hamsters, and especially mice and rats, and all other mammal pets as well as pets in other groups.

I hate cat-dog supremacy so much it sends me into a blind rage. Like, there isn't a 24-hr emergency vet for birds within three hours of me. I either have to drive that long or wait till my (hour away!) daytime vet opens up if I have an emergency. Birds can bleed out fast. This is just negligence. And there are so many animals, not only birds, that have been bred for captivity and rely on us. It is irresponsible and cruel that we designate them second-class pet...izens.

oof, you probably didn't expect this long of a ramble, I'll leave it off there.

[soylent-crocodile]

Faller (Monster)

(ISOPOD by Anastasia Berseneva)

CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12

(As the name may suggest, these were built from the ground up as an terrestrial whalefall specialists, with the various giant beasties of pathfinder substituting for whales. I actually used fallers as a placeholder name but got attached to it, so here they are! They're up there in CR so that a caravan of five of them puts up a genuine threat for someone who might fight an Adult Red Dragon.

Also I don't love this art for fallers, but it was the most buggy of the bipedal isopods i could find.)

Fallers are wandering nomads who specialize in feeding on the carcasses of great beasts, such as giants, dragons, and large dinosaurs. They live in family groups of up to a dozen individuals and have no leader, employing an anarchic decision making process that may see these groups splitting and reforming as different individuals take different paths. A faller caravan’s lifestyle consists of divining the location to various monster falls and then traveling, possibly hundreds of miles, to such a banquet. Upon reaching such a corpse, they will claim it, defend it, and slowly harvest and feed off it until such a time as it grows thin and they must move on to fresher falls. It’s noteworthy that, due to their powerful innate divination magic, a group of fallers may set camp for a death before it occurs. Generally, these divinations hold true, and fallers find a warm corpse at their destination, but twists of fate are not unheard of, and fallers are generally prepared for battle if need be. Fallers are frequently seen ushering giant flies, which serve as a combination of pet and mount, enabling them to engage flying enemies and scout high-up or hard to reach places. These flys are surprisingly docile and loyal in a faller’s hands. 

Fallers are known to come into conflict with adventuring parties over the spoils of the latter’s conflicts; adventurers regularly stake claim to the loot and parts of a particularly dangerous foe, but fallers consider themselves owed the rewards of such a struggle, and practically speaking, are often unable to relocate to a new corpse before the threat of starvation looms. Unfortunately for many adventurers, fallers are trained combatants, and a particularly undiplomatic group of them may spell doom for an adventuring party soon after a proud triumph. Finally, fallers have been known to come into conflict with the cultures dragons and similar great beings surround themselves with; claiming the corpse of a lone dinosaur is one thing, but disassembling and eating a corpse may be less welcome when it’s the corpse of an important leader or respected member of a community. For this reason, cultures led by dragons frequently adopt a kill-on-sight principle for fallers, and kobolds in particular are known to litter a faller’s anticipated path with the most lethal and cruel traps they can manage. 

Despite this, faller’s oracular abilities are also known to a few peoples, and some cultures seek out such beings to ask questions, sometimes deliberately luring them by killing a large animal. Fallers are a practical and isolationist type, however, and must be provided some benefit to expend their divining abilities; especially since such abilities are necessary for their way of life.

Fallers' endonym is a series of rasps and hisses unpronounceable to the average mammal or reptile.

This hunched over biped has a hard, segmented shell on its back, a number of segmented limbs, and large black eyes.

Misc- CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12 Init:+4 Senses: Perception:+22 Scent, Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:22(+6) Dex:19(+4) Con:23(+6) Int:15(+2) Wis:24(+7) Cha:16(+3) BAB:+12/+7/+2 Space:5ft Reach:5ft Defense- HP:138(12d10+54) AC:24(+4 Dex, +2 Armor, +8 Natural) Fort:+12 Ref:+12 Will:+15 CMD:38 Resist: Acid 10, Cold 10 Immunity: Disease Special Defenses: DR2/Bludgeoning Offense- mwk Glaive +19/+14/+9(1d10+9/x3) or Net +18(Entangle, 10ft) or 2 Claw +16(1d6+6 plus trip) CMB:+18 (+2 Racial bonus to trip) Speed:30ft Special Attacks: Studied Target +3 (Attack, Damage, Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival; Move or Swift Action) Feats- Great Fortitude, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Vital Strike, Power Attack (-4/+8), Quick Draw Skills- Climb +15, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +14, Knowledge (Geography) +14, Knowledge (Nature) +14, Perception +22, Ride +13, Survival +22 Spell-like Abilities- (Caster Level 11, Concentration +14) Augury, Invisibility Purge, Sanctify Corpse 3/day Dispel Magic, Find the Path 1/day Divination 1/week Special Qualities- Ferocity Ecology- Environment- Any Languages- Faller Organization- Pair (2), Caravan (4-6 Fallers, 0-3 Giant Horseflies) Treasure- Standard Special Abilities- Studied Target (Ex)- A faller may use the Studied Target ability as a 10th level Slayer.

[goobbgoober]

Damn, since my Kremy post, I've been thinking a lot about the other anthro creatures in the Witchkight campaign. Like Hootsie, Frost, and Torbek specifically, but like, also the npcs they meet. Like the snake couple was actually my favorite ever, I love them, most accurate anthro characters ever.

When it comes to Hootsie, I can't fault the way they play her, again because I know most people don't interact with birds, let alone birds of prey. I remember that moment when Gricko reunites with Hootsie, some of the noises specifically that she makes are just so not owl noises. The rat snacks, however, 100% accurate, great horned owls love rat snacks in my experience.

When it comes to animals like her that are 2 very different species combined, it can be very hard to figure out how to combine them efficiently. Like, you have to consider bone structure and organs, bur especially when combining birds/reptiles with mammals, there's alway the question of where the fur stops and the feathers/scales begin. I imagine Hootsie to be fully feathered and her paws bone structure actually mimics that of bird feet. Problem with bird hybrid creatures is that birds have hollow bones (actually porous) but they're incredibly easy to break. For many birds, a broken wing can spell death in the wild. Because they're bones are so delicate, it's so hard for the bone to heal properly. Many rescued birds have a higher likelihood of healing properly, but it's not always guaranteed.

But Hootsie probably doesn't have bird bones because she doesn't need them to fly or anything.

I can do a frost and torbek post eventually, but idk if I really need to, mostly because Derek plays Frost pretty well, I think he incorporates cat things in well (though I'd love to see Frost go swimming and very much enjoy it like tigers do) and Torbek isn't really a specific species of animal, so I can't really compare to a specific animal.

[otiksimr]

Ello ello!!! Just wanted to say I absolutely love your style, you have such a good sense of shape and anatomy! Especially your dragons! Is there any particular references you look at for design/structure inspiration?

I always feel bad when people ask me for anatomy advice because I'll be honest, I don't know either buddy.

I go for straight vibes man, if something doesn't look or feel right that's a sign to change it.

That being said iNaturalist. Good for searching up references real quickly for animals and general nature stuff.

Canids and felines are real good references for dragon anatomy. I know since they're reptiles you should probably use reptiles but mammals are more fun to work with for me. ALSO ALSO look at pictures of birds in flight and try and recreate those with dragons instead, it helps you get a feel for how they should look like in midair.

Remember, when midair the legs should be kind of tucked into the body.

[bluegekk0]

Mossbag made a new video 'Exploring the Pale King's Anatomy' and the first thing I thought about was you. lol

Hahahah yeah I think FPK is a little bit too out there anatomy wise to ever be considered by Mossbag. From what I've seen he mostly stuck to an analysis similar to what Mebi did, which makes perfect sense for the canon.

---

I go fully with the idea that most of the characters in the AU have actual skeletal structures, which is probably a bit unusual since from what I noticed most people stick to a more insect like direction. Makes sense I guess, though I'm still in the "bug is just a term and doesn't necessarily mean they're insects, some of them are just inspired by real life bugs" camp. Perhaps one of the first civilizations was actually more insect-like in origin, so the term "bug" stuck around even for species that are far more similar to other IRL animal groups. Or maybe "bug" in their universe has a completely different etymological origin so it doesn't even mean anything close to "insect". I mean, it is just three letters, so it just being a coincidence that it means "insect" in the English language is definitely a possibility. It's not like there are no words across languages who look the same but have different meanings, right?

So in the AU, "bug" is just a general term to use for everyone in the language used in Hallownest (and possibly more, if they come from the same language family), like "person" is for us.

The downside: well, it gets a little tiring having to explain my interpretation, since it isn't something a lot of people think (at least to my knowledge), and you could argue it's more convoluted than in needs to be (probably true). The upside is that, if it is such a broad term, then it doesn't discriminate against anyone in their world who doesn't look like an insect. Everyone gets called "a bug", regardless of their anatomy, their species and their ancestry. Which definitely fits FPK's wish to unite everyone under his rule (and because he looks nothing like an insect himself), though I don't think he was the one who started using the term that way, it just happened to fit his vision.

Of course, I won't go arguing about this cause I realize it is a bit of an unpopular take, but for the AU that's what I'm going with. Which means that every time someone calls my AU characters (especially FPK and Grimm) "insects", part of me is like... Have you seen them? I keep it to myself and it doesn't actually bother me, I just think it's a bit funny to see people call my very clearly mammal looking Grimm an insect, probably just because that's what they're used to haha

---

But I got a little carried away. I might check the video in full one day, though I tend to stay away from canon-friendly analyses these days. Not because I think my interpretations are better, no, I think they're all valid, it's just hard for me to separate my own thoughts from such interpretations, especially if they're very different to what I envisioned. Makes me go "no that's not how I see it at all" instead of just reading through it as its own thing. Does that make sense? I hope it does, and I hope it doesn't come off as rude or dismissive. My brain is just a bit hard to cooperate with 😭

Though I will say, I do appreciate Mossbag pointing out that Wyrm is a term connected to dragons and other reptiles, and not just worms. I guess that's one thing FPK has in common with that analysis. That, and having bones i suppose, though I haven't watched the entire video so I only know that Mossbag mentioned bones, I don't know what his final conclusion was.

[robbie-roo]

oh man I wad gonna make a super cool science / zoology post and I forgot I took an edible and now I can't remember anything

like I can I know what I wanna talk about but I can't think hard enough to explain to people who may not have the background knowledge

like do you know what a phylogenetic tree is? because if you do- THEY RESTRUCTURED AVIAN PHYLOGENY BECAUSE OF WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING

W H O L E. GENOME.

which for birds is over 8.1 BILLION base pairs and they did the ENTIRE GENOME that's coding and non coding that's all the viral history, mitochondrial dna, and all the ancestral history like that's so fucking coooooool but anyways they redid the phylogenetic tree!!!

and we were surprisingly close before this study (which like JUST came out- I'll try to find it when I'm sober) but now we have things like flamingos and pigeons or hawks/owls/eagles being all shifted around- I'll try to explain this later when I can THINK

also guys. I need to stress again how cool the WHOLE genome sequencing thing is especially in birds!!!

birds are ANCIENT much older than mammals I mean they're reptiles after all but with that comes like a fuck ton of genomic data

majority of these strands are "non coding" which means they just kinda exist and don't do any work but this is also composed of your genomic HISTORY which means it has your viral data

viruses inject their DNA sequences into your chromosomes and then they get replicated by asexual reproduction and those slow gradual injections of these viruses over time will change the phenotypic traits- that's what evolution is! (kinda- don't forget that babies also combine new DNA together so then you have mom/dad and their viral history allllllll mixing together- kinda?? man idk)

do you catch what I'm throwing here??? this shows the history of all viruses since the age of birds!!! (kinda... sorta? don't think about it too hard- I'm not! I can't think)

jeez I got off topic.... but the point is (I think) that they have 8.1 billion base pairs in a modern bird wanna know how many a human has? a human who can be like 100x the size of one of those little bitty bir-

guys, we have 3 billion.

THREE

and birds have 8.1!!!!

science is cool- don't do drugs kids

peace

-xoxo,

rob dog <3

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Is snake/reptile neurology understood or studied at all? I was just curious how much we know about snake brains.

Also mammals have a part of their brain (the limbic system I think?) that is called the reptilian brain… is that a real thing we have in common with reptiles or were they just trying to say like basic instincts and picked on reptiles?

Great question. Reptile neurology is still a developing field, and there's a lot we still have yet to study! Most studies on reptile neurology have been done within the past decade. We know that reptile brain structure is comparitively very simple, and we know that past science has indeed classified reptile brains as "primitive" because they lack the complexity of mammalian brains.

It's true that the "reptilian brain" is indeed the term we use to refer to the most basic parts of the vertebrate brain, responsible for basic instincts like eating and breathing. The limbic system - that's the mammalian brain! - is responsible for behavior and emotional processes in mammals.

That said, though, I and many other herpetologists don't believe it's fair to describe reptile brains as primitive just because they're comparitively simple. Especially in recent years, we've learned a lot about how reptiles experience their world, and even if they don't experience emotions like we do, we know that reptile brains are capable of many things we've long since attributed to more complex mammalian brains. This includes social instincts, like we see in garter snakes, and more complex reasoning skills, like we see in reptiles that can be trained and enjoy playing just for the sake of having fun.

We still have a lot to learn about reptile neurology! If you're interested, check out this great article from Current Biology on reptile brains. It's written in accessible language and is a great primer for anyone intersted in reptile neurology!

[crying-fantasies]

Creatorhood

Masterlist

IDW beast wars or the planet/colony of Eukaris wasn't as focused on as I was expecting.

Still, it gives me a lot of changes to go crazy over a whole new lore and AU.

Let's get it in this way, what could be seen of Eukaris is that they're divided in what they call tribes or clans, most of the mechs and femmes belong to one of the four main tribes depending in their alt mode as in the scale walker tribe (the reptile like ones), the wave walker tribe (the ones that have water oriented alt modes), the cloud walker tribe (the ones that can fly) and the fur walker tribe (the ones with, well, fur, maybe mammals as majority).

And then we've Airazor and Tigatron, a couple of outcast that choose one another in sacred conjunx ritual over their different tribes, which means leaving your tribe or choosing a conjunx of another clan is frowned upon since we can clearly see how Dinobot shut up Tigatron in a harsh manner even when the last one tried to be calm, it can be noticed how Tigatron takes it with such boredom, which shows it's not the first time it happens, and how Airazor reacts (totally and rightfully mad), it's obvious this is an everyday matter and everyone just goes along with it.

It is supposed that like in any other titan colony Eukaris has it's own hot spot, a couple, group or a single mech could go there and have a sparkling, a new spark that is going to take form and live on the custom of their tribe.

What could be the odds to have a sparkling that doesn't belong to their mentors frame or clan?

How would other mechs and femmes act upon this, as in, what would happen if a fur walker has a scale walker? Would the tribe expulse the pair or they would handle the sparkling to the respective tribe even when the mentor is trying to stop it?

That's something that bugs me, in bad manner for sure, especially when I think of Terraformer AU! Cheetor.

Being torn between being happy and terrified by such a joyful occasion, looking at his future cub's spark rest in your hands that starts to bleed, he doesn't care that even the circuits in his servos are exposed when he embraces you to his chest plate, burn skin and charred fur smell reaching his sensible nose and making it ache, still there is happiness that drips along around you, while he nuzzles his face over your head, purring contently when the first bits of protoform start to form around the new spark, his whole clan singing and congratulating you both when the spark gives off it's first pulse in the new body.

He is so happy, so content, he let's you rest with leaves and medicine around your hands, exhausted by the miracle of helping bring new life, mindful of how long it'll take for you to heal back, he'll take things over his own new repaired servos, brushing off any other tribe members that try to help him, taking care of the sparkling that starts to move little servos around, still not showing any discernable face or distinctive feature, but it was okay, his sparkling was supposed to take more time since you, his conjunx endurae, were human.

His happiness is what makes him overlook the first sound his sparkling does with a new formed intake, a hissing sound that takes Cheetor for surprise along with the little fangs, he is in beast form with his sparkling previously recharging over his big and soft paws, promptly cooing over his sparkling and proceed with a very affectionate grooming with his glossa, singing praises of how his sparkling is going to be such a brave warrior and hunter when the first sound out of the voice box is a hiss, such a fearless young cub that is already showing powerful fangs!

He notices, along the next days, how his sparkling likes to be warm than most other sparklings in the tribe, other bots tell him that's normal, but he only takes it as in a big favor to be close to him, close to you, and he can't really take his optics off the image of his little cub in a woven carrier made of vegetable fiber that strings the sparkling to your chest or the way you gently rock your body to get the feisty little fellow to sleep while he bites the woven plants before Cheetor stops the attack, he likes so much to see you carrying the baby, as you called the sparkling.

"Still not choosing a name?" you called out to him, looking how many datapads were scattered around him.

"I want the designation to be as accurate as possible" Cheetor beamed to you, taking advantage of his place seated on the floor to be in perfect place to kiss your neck, sparkling recharging over your little chest, "I'm going to the final round with Earthquake, Lionaxe or Flame claws"

"You aren't sure if bitty here is going to be a feline or whatever else" you laugh wholeheartedly, and in any other occasion Cheetor would've basked in the sound, but you are worried by the face he pulls, "hey, it ain't going to be that bad" you take his helm in your hands, kissing him softly, "dog, elephant, unicorn, whatever comes, we'll be proud" you tell him and he hears you with all his attention, he doesn't even want to think of any other possibility, his sparkling is a fur walker, Cheetor is sure, his feisty little cub.

That's what he says to himself, repeating like a mantra when he wakes up to the feeling of something moving strangely along his midsection just to find a big and long tail moving around the berth, in any other occasion he could be proud, just like when the bitty showed clawed servos that Cheetor proudly compared to his.

He couldn't compare his tail to the one his sparkling had, sleeping soundly while pressed to you in search of your warm body and keeping your beating heart near, in that moment, Cheetor could feel the dreariness of the situation, wake you up with an expression that showed his fear and how a plan was forming on his mind, you could only try to hear his explanation to what was happening, or to be more honest, what was going to happen when others got to see the sparkling.

Everyone noticed, as it seem, the different smell couldn't be covered by his own or yours, the sparkling own EM field reaching out.

"NO!" He cried out loud your name, hearing your own pleads, you calling out to him when a mech of the Scale walker tribe tried to take you away with your sparkling being protected by your soft, vulnerable body, telling you to come along for the benefit of your child, almost dragging you away, "No, please no, Optimus, do something, please!" Eukaris can sometimes be a harsh place, still reigned by old traditions that come from Onyx Prime's time, never once Cheetor questioned it, but now he can only try to move and reach out to you two, his own tribe holding him down and telling him this was for the best, how his cub would be better off within it's own kind and that you, as the carrier, should stay with your sparkling given the little mech's uniqueness.

He couldn't do anything, looking at Optimus, the leader of his clan, with pleading optics, but his great and strong leader could only do so much, his own human cub at his side, looking torn in what was happening and closing his dark eyes when the beastformer started to cry out loud for mercy, crying for his conjunx and his sparkling.

Such a thing have never happened before, sometimes the sparkling did have a different alt mode than the mentors, sure, but that was easily detected from the get go or the very first days, taking the sparkling to the correct tribe if needed.

Cheetor and you had yours for almost a complete solar rotation cycle when you were separated, that didn't change most of it, he was going to be there for his cub, not caring if he had to leave his own tribe behind and take you away from the other, lone groups were a thing, way more exposed to the dangerous environment and the idea of having a sparkling in those circumstances was suicidal, but he was going to get back his family or die trying.

Cheetor was at the edge of entering Megatron's domain when Primal stopped him and gave him another solution that he couldn't believe at first, but he was grateful, so, so grateful when you were returned to him and he could embrace you and his cub again after Primal made the announcement of his decision, leaving the Fur walker tribe and making his very own, one that could be joined by any eukarian that wanted to do so, some fur walkers joined him, most remained, and it was only a matter of time for all the outcasts to join too with a beastformer with the title of Primal.

It was going to be difficult, that was for sure, even finding a new territory was hard, but everything was paying off at the end of the day when he created a new home for you all, way more bigger than before taking in mind how big his sparkling already was, the scale walkers said something about a fast growing process and bigger appetite, but you two would get across the challenge.

"CHEETOR" your voice could be heard from a great distance, making him drop his hunt in the door of the hut and run to you.

"What?! Are you okay?! Something wrong?!"

"The baby changed, a baby snake, lizard, erm, I don't know!"

And maybe old traditions weren't so wrong when you hurriedly call for help when Viperus took a bite on Cheetor's tail and refused to let go, minutes later showing that your baby had poison when your conjunx was as stiff as a fallen log and foam was coming out his intake, still, the scale walkers that joined your outcast tribe helped just in time with their knowledge in poisonous chemicals.

It wouldn't be the last time Viperus poisoned Cheetor, but it was the first time that was unintentional.

[themightymoose]

Speaking of poly, I keep thinking how species-wise Vinnie is different from the rest of them. Today we're talking normal pet universe where he's the only reptile surrounded by mammals and certain things come with that.

First of all is his coldbloodness (? is that a word?). That guy's default setting is to be cold. Sure, he can warm himself up temporarily as long as he has active source of warmth (ehem ehem such as warmblooded pets) but that's about it. They just don't understand what's it like being cold by default and having to seek heat because he doesn't produce it on his own. Worse yet, whenever they touch him they have to feel just how cold he is, so do they really enjoy giving him hugs etc?

Not to mention, he's pretty much out for like 3-4 months of a year missing out so much stuff and interactions (well, this only works if the whole hibernation not exactly hibernation is really a thing for him).

Second is his lack of fur. Man, he'd love to have fur, thing looks cozy and warm! Not to mention soft, he touched it before after all, he knows it. And scales? Those are just rough and sticky! Again, he has to question if his partners like touching those especially since each of them has 5 other pets who are much more pleasant when it comes to touching them.

I mean, people sure do seem to favor mammals cause they're cute, soft, cuddly, warm and whatever. No one really cooes at him and tells him he's cute or wants to give him treats just because. So why wouldn't literal mammals in his group favor everyone besides him too? He's aware of his gross behavior too. He sheds skin sometimes. He eats literal flies and garbage. His literal limb falls off sometimes too. Not exactly the most attractive of behaviours, are those?

The point is, they just seem to have so many advantages over him just because they were born as mammals romatic-partners wise too, and what does he have? Sticking to walls...? Minka can pretty much do that and she's not a reptile. All I'm saying is that he's a reptile surrounded by mammals, and some differences and envy could come out of this.

ooooohhhhh yes!!! I love it when characters are jealous over how good someone seems to have it. They don't know what it's like to always be so cold, don't know what it's like to be ignored in favor of their other friends, and they most definitely don't know what it's like to lose a limb!

I can just imagine one of the pets would be venting to Vinnie about something (Zoe about her love life, Russell complaining about how messy everyone always is, etc.) And Vinnie just has to bite his tongue because he knows that the moment he opens his mouth, bad stuff will definitely follow. Why should they have the right to complain about anything when they're actually wanted and considered cute??? If only if they knew how good they have it...

[saspitite]

Needlessly Pedantic Answers to Worldbuilding Questions that Don't Matter That Much to Begin With, Episode #1:

why is everyone in your fictional world an animal? what do they eat? are there any non-sapient animals? is it more of a "Zootopia or Beastars" type situation? how does anatomy change across certain species?

so as nobody may know, i write about a lot of fictional worlds and one of them is your standard diverse furry society. while these are quite fun to mess around with, they tend to bring up a lot of questions (that technically don't matter too much, i mean you're just telling a fictional story for god's sake) about how the world works. and there's especially a lot of questions raised in my case because my world doesn't just feature mammals, but also reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and so on, so you wonder how differently they live, if at all. i'm gonna be evil and answer all of those questions that exactly -2 people have asked today!

1: why is everyone an animal?

of course, the real reason is because it's fun to explore stories and create characters that aren't human, and it's especially a fun opportunity to experiment with character design! but for a more in-universe reason, the gods like to take inspiration from each other and will tend to build off of each other's ideas. this world was made by the wandering god Belet, who became inspired after visiting several worlds of other gods. they were curious about creating a world where multiple sapient species exist, since it was a common trend in other worlds for only one dominant species existing at a time.

2. what do they eat?

naturally, all species are vegetarian, although some areas of the world have gotten to the point of inventing artificial foods adjacent to plant-based meat. the idea of cannibalism or killing other people to eat hasn't really been explored due to being kinda... dubious. but i guess it's up in the air. although it may sound weird, the practice of selling one's own dairy products and other non-meat animal products is quite normalized. it's basically just seen as the same level of normal as selling any other food items you make.

3. are there any non-sapient animals?

so far? nope. but that might get retconned in the future, i dunno. i haven't published enough about this world so i'm still able to reconsider if i wanted to. but as of right now, basically every single organism from the animalia kingdom is anthropomorphized, with a few exceptions. (exceptions usually being organisms i have no clue how to anthropomorphize lmao)

4. is it more of a "zootopia or beastars" type situation?

to expand on this question, it's basically asking for more information on how society functions and how fucked it is, if at all. initially i said it was going to be a utopia of sorts- i retconned that, lol, because it seems like i can't ever write about a truly happy world. it's definitely one of my better worlds to live in, but it's by no means perfect. i wouldn't say it's Beastars levels of messed up (black markets selling dubious meat and carnal instincts telling you to eat your friends) but it's probably not as cutesy as, say, Zootopia is on the surface level, although i do like how it tackled systemic racism and whatnot. i guess it's somewhere in between. there isn't anything going on that's straight out of a psychological horror movie but there's definitely inequality and tension everywhere.

5. how does anatomy change across certain species?

outside of the very obvious base change of every animal becoming anthropomorphic and thus more human-like, there's a couple other changes, such as necessary internal anatomy shifting around so all creatures can live on land properly, plus the ability to be able to speak the same languages, stuff like that. arthropods are a bit trickier (like oh my god so much would have to change) but i usually just explain that they're built different and call it a day. for my sanity. cold blooded animals are able to somewhat thermoregulate on their own, but will still largely rely on their surroundings. if you're cold, they're cold. wrap your lizard girls in blankets. also, all animals are similarly sized, but some tend to be slightly larger/smaller on average depending on the species. like, an old elephant man is gonna be MUCH taller than a moth lady lol.

oh, and an extremely unnecessary addition that i only expanded on because of the fact that i had to face the logical issue of giving my reptile characters boobs: non-mammalian animals will still tend to have visible "breasts" due to having the general silhouette of a human, but they don't produce milk or function at all outside of looks. some non-mammalians prefer to get their "breast" tissue surgically removed due to the fact that it serves basically no purpose for them.

that's about where the biological similarities end, though. when it comes to reproduction, biological compatibility largely follows the same odds as it would in the real world, so you sadly won't see many wolf/komodo dragon hybrids hanging out. this also tends to be a source of interspecies-relationship discrimination, and not to mention eugenics...

some miscellaneous tidbits:

-in terms of technology and resources, i'd say this world is about as advanced, if not a little more than our own. it's no sci-fi paradise but there are some significant advancements made that definitely outdo us, such as the research and technology poured into environment conservation and space exploration (the latter of which may or may not be one of the main topics of a story i'm working on... :3)

-trans healthcare is also reasonably advanced, although that doesn't imply there's less transphobia.

-yes, there's probably some unique version of veganism in this world, but instead of not eating animals it'd be like... fungi. or certain types of plants. or maybe even animal products anyways, despite the fact that they're normalized, for one reason or another.

-ohhhh clothes work so differently depending on what kind of animal you are. but i cannot get into that here. not without going insane. just know that i have been thinking about it a lot. there are entire different kinds of clothing for certain body types, just not the definition of body type you'd initially think of. there's specific clothing for the winged. the tailed and the non-tailed. the quilled. the feathered. the slimed. its insane

[spinnysocks]

random tlg species customs, stereotypes & thoughts!

under the cut bc Long Post :)

while mammals and birds are more likely to celebrate their birthdays, reptiles know when they are born but aren't typically as enthusiastic. mammals & birds aren't born with fully developed brains and have to be taught by their parents, while reptiles just crack outta the egg ready to go lmao. some reptile parents may raise their young though. for example crocodile floats teaching the younger members. i also think hodari is the sorta guy to celebrate his birthday with his friends, he deserves it :)

speaking of parents, young mammals and birds need caregivers to survive to adulthood. many people have talked about this headcanon before and it's certainly a great one: the baby hyenas- janja, chungu, cheezi, possibly nne and tano too- were the children of shenzi's clan, and would have been defenceless after they disappeared. mzingo and his parliament caring for them is so cute, especially as vultures are known to be devoted parents. explains why they're so close! and possibly why mzingo was quick to accept jasiri as prime minister

since we never saw jackals before the lion guard, i'm going to make an assumption that they've always been living in the outlands. the only way they know how to survive is to steal, to the point that it's part of their customs and what reirei & goigoi teach their kids to do, likely leading them believe it's right. which is fair if you have no other way of getting food. but we really deserved to see a jackal redemption in the show, and subsequently it would be interesting to see how their personalities and behaviours changed if they didn't have to steal to survive anymore. cause like, jackals are some of the best animal parents you can get. reirei and goigoi's kids could be some of the best animals there could be if raised with the right values. also when watching the first jackal episode i SO felt that dogo had the POTENTIAL to be 'good'

thinking of that, stereotypes of certain species are interesting. alongside hyenas, snakes seem to have a bad reputation too, with the only two known about being allied with evil lions. but the reason this is intriguing is that ushari once lived in the pridelands- hell, he even attended the kupatana celebration and smiled with timon & pumbaa. yet, after he's had enough of being disrespected, no one questions the fact that he changed from good to bad. perhaps the evil lion + snake trope is more of a Power Hungry + Revenge Wanting trope that fell upon scar and ushari, paved by the Evil Lion + Snake from the past. though while scar's reasoning is jealousy, you can argue ushari has a legitimate justification for turning to scar's side. snakes are likely disrespected and it leads them to bad places. ushari deserved respect and redemption, not death. i feel like that's something jasiri tries to explore and sympathise with outlanders who may receive the same negative impressions- kenge and sumu, for instance. maybe the skinks, beshte seemed to trust them but otherwise they're immediately thought of as being on the bad side

[quitealotofsodapop]

The isekai idea sketches, ignore how miserable the guy looks and my bad sence of humor

ignore the kobold ask too

Ref.

OC DRAWINGS!?

TYSM!!! <3

I love your Kobold designs - somewhere between dogs and rodents with human characteristics. They likely have very little fur save for those living in places where there's harsh winters.

DnD has them be lizard-like, so I'm wondering if that would translate into them being "mammal-like reptiles" (my main inspo being Cynodonts), having all the physical traits of mammals save for the fact that they lay eggs.

In mythology they could take the form of feline and mustelid animals like martens and "wet-looking cats", basically any creature that could make its home underground. Some old accounts put them at the height of a human four-year old/toddler. Short dudes.

One cool design I've seen is by the amazing @pocketss; who I believe has the best depiction of goblins ever.

Communal and hard-working, they often get looked over or taken advantage of by the other races. They are closest to humans, and will frequently "adopt" themselves into a household - especially if the humans decided to build their home just above a kobold burrow. This led to the perception that they are "house-spirits", depite the fact that they pay rent.

Kobolds are interesting creatures to think about mythology-wise, since they're prevalent all over mainland Europe in someway, and influenced a lot of modern culture. The name for the ore "Cobalt" even derives its name from "Kobold" - the toxic ore's effect blamed on magic. Now I'm thinking they would have a preference for deep blues.

One old phrase; "laugh like a kobold" means to laugh openly and heartily. Which makes me think of this photo of a pair of mole;

And SEKAI, MY BOY!!

That feel when you get tossed into a fantasy setting but you got cerebral palsy and spinal bifida, and the demon you tried to make a deal with is now stuck in the inactive parts of your brain and wants to rip the world apart.

Sekai is pissed. He misses everything to do with living in a modern metropolis. He misses snacks he didn't even care about. He misses bathrooms with toilet paper. His shitty futon. Watching tv. Public transport.

Once he finds what asshole caused him to be here, he's punching him.

I love how you've drawn his baggy clothing and his messy hair. Not one for personal grooming he is. The way his clothes bows to his form is so cool. My dude still has the backpack he had on when he got isekai-d on the subway.

And Wormwood extending out of him like branches is such an amazing concept. Wormwood is somewhere between a nature spirit and a symbiote - all goopy on his own, but when anchored becomes something "else".

if Sekai's life ever gets truly threatened and Wormwood is forced to "take the reins"; they would transform into something that don't look natural to anyone.

Other Character: "What in the gods name is that!?" Sekai, transformed: "Sorry, I got a parasite."

I have so many thoughts about fantasy and how someone who "very much doesn't want to be there* would deal with it.

[zyuna-arts]

COMMON BIRDS OF SINGAPORE

I had this idea lingering in my mind for some time as I always wanted to showcase some of the wildlife found in my urban country. I decided to bring this idea to life after I realised Easter was around the corner and I could do something bird/egg-themed! Each adorable birb will be debuting as small prints (collage pieces) and individual water-resistant stickers for @martsuri.sg and later available on my online st0re 🌸

I had fun researching these birds, especially finding out what their eggs looked like 👀 I drew the fluffy chicken at first and then the crow, then realised the chicken didn't match the rest in terms of style since I drew the rest of birds in their adult colouration :") I didn't want to scrap the chicken, so left it as is. Those brown markings were based off red junglefowl chicks.

I have a soft spot for rock doves/pigeons and crows! They're often overlooked or get a bad rep but I love them a lot. They're just misunderstood.

I've seen most of these featured species in person before, especially spotted and zebra doves! There's also black-naped orioles I often see in my neighbourhood. As of posting this, I've yet to see any Asian koels in person despite hearing them all the time 👀 I read a theory somewhere since they're such sneaky (and lazy) parents, they prefer to hide where you can't see them but can hear them loud and clear, much to the dismay of many locals who call them 'annoying'. I even heard a man yelling "QUIET!!!" to a male koel and he actually did (keep quiet) for a while... 😔 They've also been nicknamed the 'uwu bird' after the calls that only adult male Asian koels make.

Pink-necked green pigeons (PNG pigeons as I like to call them) have made wholesome headlines in local nature news in the past few years where couples decided to nest in potted plants and outdoor areas of human homes. Despite the unusual location, those homeowners were kind and understanding enough to let the PNG pigeon families raise their young till it was time to leave.

I really enjoyed creating this series! Originally I thought of making the Asian koels wear crow hoodies as a nod to them being brood parasites but scrapped the idea as it wouldn't fit with the style. Perhaps I may do that some other time in another project!

I realised the birds in part 2 aren't as skrunkly as the birds in part 1 but I hope you still like them nonetheless ❤️ I may do a part 3 for birds, otherwise I hope to expand on other common animals in Singapore like reptiles and mammals in the future (:

SOCIALS: Linktree

Original Art © zyuna

(DON’T REPOST/USE)

[leffee]

what do you wish Vinnie would’ve had in the show?

favorite Vinnie dance move?

Oh boy, that's an interesting one. Well, first of all, a few smaller things like:

more songs, solo or a duet with someone, I especially crave Vinnie and Zoe duet. Songs where most/all pets sing are great of course, but often you can't hear each individual vocal hence I want something where I can hear him well. We all know he's a great singer B)

basically just more interactions with other pets apart from Sunil. I love my Vinnie/Sunil interactions of course, but after season 1 it seems those two just were glued to each other a lot and there was not many moments when he was interating alone with some other pet because they were always paired together

I'm not sure if that counts for your question, but there is one thing that I haven't seen anyone mention ever - his voice changed between first and second season, did anyone notice that and just never said anything or do I just pay too much attention to him? The voice actor remained the same of course, but it's like? A different tone? Really, if you compare Vinnie's voice from season 1 and any other season he sounds different and I'll be honest, I liked the season 1 voice more, so if it was up to me, I'd leave it like that.

I think that's all of the smaller things, I could maybe add here that I would personally redesign him a bit, but idk if that's what you're asking for so I'll leave it at that.

Now for bigger things that I would have loved to see with him:

this is a classic episode trope but I would have so loved to see it: Vinnie (stupid character [ugh]) by some means gets smarter (like a classic bonk on the head or something) and for an entire episode he and Russell compete against each other intelligence-wise, with Russell being considered the smartest pet Vinnie would want to beat him, and he does. Of course, by the end he somehow returns to his normal self and misses when he was smarter, thinking that he was much better than

another thing is from an actual epsiode, that episode being "Why Can’t We Be Friends?". When watching this episode for the first time I was so sure this was going to be Vinnie episode, with this beggining who could blame me, it pointed at that. Well, it turned out it was more so Sunil's episode, which tbh back then I was delighted about because he was then my favourite character. I still love him of course, but now, I would have loved if this episode (or some other one) was about Vinnie dealing with this whole "I want to eat flies and it's in my nature to catch them and because of my instincts I make a mess which pisses my friends" conflict.

While we're at it, also more emphasis on him being a reptile surrounded by mammals. There's a lot of potential here, you know? He could very easily get jealous of them: they're warm-blooded and so don't have to make double-efforts to be warm, which to him is a luxury; usually people like mammals more and think they're cuter, reptilies on the other hand are cold to the touch, scaly and sticky not all that cute; and what I mentioned before - they have families and he (maybe) does not. All in all, jealousy potential

speaking of which, I would have loved if there was something like that with his dancing. Let him be jealous, or even better - dissapointed when seeing someone else be a better dancer than him - someone who doesn't put nearly as much effort as he does and yet they're better. The thing is, there was very much an episode that could have easily done that - "Plane it on Rio!" when Minka was the one who lead the whole dancing part. It would have been so easy for Vinnie to have some sort of thought process that would go like this: "Wait, Minka is good at dancing and leading us? That would normally be me... A-And she never really dances, she's into painting, how come she's better than me?" or, different but similar scenario that plays with the same thing: one pet, let's say Russell, since in the "in the loop" episode he was shows learning other pets' talents, wanted Vinnie to give him some dancing lessons. So Vinnie does, but very soon he notices that Russell is better than him, he doesn't trip, and once he gains confidence in dancing after some practice he can do various moves easily. Vinnie has been practicing for years and it turns out that all it takes for someone to beat him are just a few days? Oh, the potential disappointment. I love it

Well shit, that's just a lot of angst, sorry :'(. I could probably go on, but I figured that's enough for now, I hope these answer your question because I'm honestly not sure xd.

Favourite dance move? Probably moonwalk, he did it a few times and I think it's great. But I also like when he breaks into some breakdance moves. There might be more that I can't think about on the spot, but if I do I think I will just reblog it and add it. It's important info after all :}.

[kaleidoscope1967eyes]

Tell me about the animals

greetings 👀

i have a million (not really) different ungulates that i love, but i'm especially fond of horses and giraffes!

since cetaceans are technically ungulates, i'll mention that my favorites are belugas and narwhals

on the topic of mammals, i had a HUGE big cat phase when i was younger--my favorites are cheetahs, snowy leopards, clouded leopards, and tigers (but i really do love all of them)

bears. BEARS. my sister says i look like a polar bear, and as a small child, i wanted to be one when i grew up

ok who didn't go through a wolf phase

my favorite monkeys are golden lion tamarins! they're so pretty

also i adore gibbons. they're perfect. there's one named after luke skywalker.

even though ferrets are objectively difficult pets, they're so so sweet and i adore them

ANYWAY bird time--kingfishers and swans my beloved <3 something about water birds...

on the topic of reptiles, sunbeam snakes are so pretty!!

i think there are probably more but feel free to ask