recrut

[yellowvixen]

Sol!Knuckles could also be a thylacine, as they are also called "tasmanian tigers" or "tasmanian wolves" due to their similarities to said species despite being from different family and genus

Also, like the real life echidnas, they inhabited Australia prior to their extinction

Oohhh that's a good one!!! Then her being the last of her kind would make a lot of sense... Australian too I like that!! Many many ideas, I might try draw a bunch and see which I like more!!

[doverstar]

Heyo! I'm sending this around to a few people in an effort to get to know them better, but I'm curious: is there an animal that is either a favorite or that you know a lot about? And if so, could you tell me about it?

Hiiiii! This is a great idea. No one ever asks this Very Important Question anymore in my life. As a child and kind of in my bloodstream, my favorite animal was always a lion. (I also like squirrels, cats, and cows.) But my most secret favorite animal (like an off-to-the-side favorite animal) is the thylacine, and yes, I can tell you about it! They're extinct! :)))) because! we suck! :)))))))))) They were also referred to as Tasmanian Tigers, but they're not canines or felines in spite of their looks; they're actually marsupials. Like kangaroos.

They were cream/tan/brown, and they came from Australia, Tasmania (of course), and New Guinea. They had pouches just like kangaroos do, and these ridiculously-cool mouths that could open crazy-wide. The widest the species is recorded to have stretched its jaws (as far as I've researched) was 80 degrees! Their footprints were way more symmetrical than that of foxes' prints or other, similar prints. They made "cay-yip" or sometimes "hop-hop-hop" sounds, or long winding calls to each other. Big carnivores. Big snoots. They were pushed out of their habitats by British settlers at first, and then hunted down mostly because local farmers thought they were eating their farm animals. (But also for sport.) They did like birds, and chickens, but even though their bite range was big, most of their known prey tended to be on the smaller side. The last known thylacine's name was rumored to have been Benjamin (that's it up there!) and in 1936, it froze to death in captivity because some idiot forgot to let it in where it was warm for the night. It may have been female, though; the name and male status were both kinda a myth. But that thylacine did die due to neglect at the Hobart Zoo. Scientists in have been trying to clone the thylacine from a dead fetus for years, but obviously it's super expensive, super unnatural, and super not-gonna-work. In my opinion. Of course I wish it would, but I just don't think that's quite how the Lord designed animals and their life cycle to work. People like to post hazy Youtube videos trying to say they've spotted a thylacine out there in the wild, but none of these videos are proven and as far as we all know, thylacines are long-gone. I first found out about them on a trip to Washington D.C., when we went to one of the museums and they had the thylacine's model blocked off in the dark behind a black gauze curtain. You could press a button and the light would come on above it, showing it to you behind the curtain, and explaining what it was and how it's extinct now. I was super fascinated because it's not often you see an animal you've never seen before, anywhere, onscreen or in-person. And then I spent the rest of the night researching it and now it's one of my favorites. The thylacine makes an appearance in all of my just-for-me original stories I write. I want a thylacine stuffed animal for Christmas.

[postwarlevi]

Hey! Aw your cat is super cute! I love cats! Had two myself until a year and a few months ago. Cats are the best and yours looks like a cute little rascal.

Also the Tasmanian tiger is a cool animal! I like it, too. And sabretooth tigers.

Also thank you for your reblog. It’s my first fic and I love your work so it really means a lot to me. I just started writing yesterday 🥺🥺

Evening Kia! Nice to meet you!

Ah thank you! I love my bad kitty so much. He's so rotten and causes trouble but loves his humans. The youngest cat picked up all his bad habits so now there's double trouble! I hope if your situation allowed you can have kitties again. I'd be so lonely without them!

The Tasmanian tigers looked awesome! I've only looked them up a little. Apparently a university is trying to actually recreate it?! I don't know what all that will entail, and while it's sad they aren't around anymore, I'm not sure how I feel about something like that? We'll see, I guess.

And you're welcome! It was very sweet. Welcome to the world of fanfic, it's crazy here haha. It can be a little scary, try not to put too much pressure on yourself (we all do it anyway, I think) and just go for it! Happy writing!

[ace-aro-taku]

The Pink Moscato Dream of 23

So NYE I drank an entire bottle of Barefoot Pink Moscato, 9%. I've never done this before and after the dream I had, I won't be doing it for a while.

There has always been this thing with me that if I eat chocolate, or anything with a high enough sugar content before I go to sleep, I get weird ass dreams. This time I was drunk and built a Lego set.

This is the dream that follows:

I was at work, like I just got there and I'm ready to do my job. It gets fuzzy but about lunch time, this mist, as if the sprinklers in the building came on to prevent a fire, started to come down. My boss started to freak out. The fire alarm started to go off and we had to evacuate.

I grab my phone and my wallet just in case and we, my team and I, head outside but instead we're going to our second building.

I somehow end up in the loading dock of the 2nd building (of which I've never been to IRL, but it looks kinda like a tunnel you drive through with lights) and we're all trying to get inside to the offices. The layout Is all weird and it isn't right.

My whole building is now going to our departments in these hallway looking rooms. But not all of my co workers are in the room but some anime lookin' characters are in their place.

A screen turns on as if a villain is broadcasting what happened and in this high school looking cafeteria (which we don't have in my building IRL) we're more anime looking characters and some people I knew at work. They were drugged with the food and the place caught on fire there. They knew that they were going to be killed but due to the drug in their systems, fate took them.

The remaining people were now being hunted down by these creatures that were a mix of Pit Bulls and Cougars. Their snouts could extend to reach their prey (they kinda remind me of Tasmanian Tigers only Irish Wolfhound size and their snouts like Afghan Hounds). One got in the room. But being an animal lover, I was able to get the good scritches behind their years making them purr and roll around like a cat until I grabbed their snout, pulled back, used my foot to choke them out, then tossed them over my shoulder.

I did this a few more times until it was cut to shot like in an anime of one of my Coworkers saw suction cup-like disks on the glass table. Shot back to me and I'm looking at this collection of TVs like you'd see in a security room and this One Piece big mama lookin' (and I've never seen one piece) character was teaming up with this villain lady.

The Big Mama demon thing would appear in the room, Villain lady would put the suction cup in her own set of security TVs and as she pulled, Big Mama Demon punched the screen out from the inside, meaning whoever was inside, died.

I knew my room was coming soon and I was trying to find an exit. Double doors show up and Big Mama Demon is in the room. I yell at my group to follow as I bust open the doors and we jump down to outside, the creatures I knocked out earlier snapping and barking, knowing they can't make the jump.

It gets fuzzy again.

But then I'm back at the cafeteria in my main building but it's like a mall food court now with a salad bar. I know the greeter and some of the customers but it feels like my time is limited. I'm part of a team now that scavenges for food or has to go outside of this tunnel system. I remember having to step outside and I eventually meet up with some of my coworkers but it's not the same.

I'm standing on this dirt mound and there is like a newly built community around me as if what happened with those poisonings, started a chain reaction of something or it was already happening and we were just the next ones on the list.

I woke up after that. But holy shit I've never dreamed of anything this extremely detailed in a long time. I'm going to stay away from alcohol for a while. I'm gonna nurse this hangover.

[sanscestships]

“Escapee” Asylum Zoo RedvBlue (Oneshot, RedxDustxClassicxBlue)

Created on: 10/26/20

Requested by: @pigeons-just-pigeons, i feel really stressed out right now by school and im going to try calming my nerves with writing. also apparently she really likes FeralVerse-

(WARNING: hella longer than usual. maybe cuz its 4 people instead of 2-)

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Classic didn't know how to feel about the situation. About alternate versions of himself just suddenly getting mutated and now he has to work with more versions of himself to find a cure. Really, the whole thing sounds like one of those animes Alphys watches.

Unfortunately, it was real. And he was dealing with it. Of course, Paps didn't know a thing and the kiddo was covering him while the player was inactive. Must be either a busy day or night for them probably.

The skeleton sighed, starting to feel himself drift off and slump against the couch in the lounge. Though he should probably be more concerned, he couldn't help himself but to want to take another nap for the day. He'd already done a skeleton of work, taking Nightmare on a patrol to see if any more mutants have popped up. And yes.

That alone, was enough for him to last the day.

See, just dealing with Nightmare can be tiring. Though he definitely won't speak to you nor act like a rabid animal the rest do. He'll continuously sass and growl at you, occasionally tripping or slapping you with the tendrils that start above his paws. Then there's patrols, where you actually have to walk around. And with Nightmare! Which means a LOT of tripping! Then there's dealing with the situation if you DO run into another mutant and...

Well, at least it's mostly Nightmare who has to tussle with em. After all, to fight a mutant you usually need another mutant.

Sometimes when Nightmare REALLY trips Ink, the colorful artist will complain and grumble that Nightmare's lucky to be alive. But Classic always thought it was the other way around. If Nightmare hadn't still been sane after the mutation, they all probably would've been bitten by now. Really, the only times they've ever had to help Nightmare hold down a mutant was with Cross and Dust.

Cross had been driven insane by the OVERWRITE soul, massive trauma from his AU, and weak condition from the aftermath of the fighting. Dust had been driven insane long before he killed everyone but hadn't acted upon it and mutated until he'd reached his breaking point.

To think he could've ended up like that if he'd done the same as Dust. Well...

Technically he did, since Dust is him from an alternate timeline.

"ORIGINAL ME!" A chuckle escaped his teeth as he opened an eye socket to see the adorable version of him, Blue. Blue had always been one of his favorite alternates out of the bunch, seeing as he was basically a mix of himself and Paps. Still likes puns

(A/N so no one gets mixed up, Sans from UnderSwap canonically still likes puns. its a very popular headcanon that he doesn't. carry on.)

but is just as sweet and thoughtful as his bro. Really, he could never get mad or tired of the little blueberry. "THERE YOU ARE! I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU!"

"Is there somethin' ya need Berry?" The nickname had been out of his mouth before he could even think about what he'd said. And once he did, he could feel his skull tint with blue. Really? A nickname for a nickname? Jeez, what was with him now when he was around the little warrior?

"Actually Classic," he cocked his skull to the side, becoming more curious when his normally energetic alternate began to fiddle with his hands. "I was actually hoping you'd come with me today to check on Red and Dust. That's okay, right?"

Shit, he could feel the arrows striking his soul. First at the names "Red" and "Dust" before getting the final strike when Blue had looked up at him with those sky blue eyelights. As odd as it was, he couldn't help but enjoy the company of the edgy jackal-fennec fox. And really, he could absolutely relate to the insane grey wolf-tasmanian devil too. After all, he would definitely go insane too if he had to deal with hundreds of consecutive genocides.

Wait... Didn't he technically- NEVERMIND WE'RE NOT GOING THERE WITH THE WEIRD ALTERNATE TIMELINE LOGIC.

"Sure, I don't mind." With his signature lazy grin on his face, he began to follow Blue to the common enclosure room. This was the big room where multiple enclosures were put together. Though Ink was hesitant about the idea, Dream and Blue agreed that maybe it would help to have them all in the same room. Maybe being close to another in the same situation would make them feel more comfortable they had said.

Though some of them did enjoy each other's company, Classic thought he was right to assume Fell really didn't. While most of the others had big, terrifying animals, Fell was a mix of two animals that generally survived with their wits and willy physique.

Therefore, he really, really did not appreciate being shoved in the same room as a six-legged and two-tailed goop cat, a winged bengal tiger, and a bird clawed panther.

Now they were in the room, lit with colorful lights from the color planed windows above the enclosures. Something Ink had put up so the room wouldn't be as dull. The cracked glass of the cages were hit with more growls and roars as they walked to the quietest of the cages.

"Hey Fell."

A rumble came from the cage, and soon taps against the metal ground as the red eyed beast came out to the glass. He glanced behind us, making eye contact with Error before growling. Blue frowned, turning around in time to see Error snarl back in response as he began to try and calm the canine down.

"Sorry pal, didn't know that you weren't red-y for us yet." The canine stopped, staring back at him as he began to continue. Suddenly there was red everywhere, with a loud blare. Immediately, all of the mutants in the room except for Nightmare and Fell began to snarl and roar.

"Uhhhh... Guys?" Dream's voice came onto the intercom as the two skeletons glanced at each other. Oh boy, this couldn't be good. "Uh, I kind of went to Dust's enclosure to clean when I accidentally... Let him out?"

Ok, that was not good.

"Dusty's out of his enclosure?!" Blue jumped up, immediately running out the door.

"Wait, Blue!" Classic jumped up, starting to try and follow him before he heard a loud thud next to him. Turning, he saw Fell jumping at the glass, barking and howling at him. "Fell, what's wrong?"

He didn't stop. He just kept banging on the glass, barking and yelling. The original couldn't understand why though. Fell's never been as active as the other mutants. Like him, he tended to be lazy and just laid about in his enclosure unless provoked. But when someone came too close, he usually just pretended to threaten to bite them. Now here he was, just being nearly as loud as the others.

He didn't know what to do. Was Fell trying to warn him of something? Was he trying to tell him something important? He didn't know why he was suddenly so active, but he knew it had to be for a good reason if it was making him jump and bark like this.

"Heya pal, I want you to calm down," he tried to smoothen his voice so he didn't scare the canine, starting to move towards the enclosure controls. "I'm going to let you out. And I want you to stay calm. I'm sure the others know your mostly just bark and no bite, but I'm pretty sure they still won't feel safe knowing you're on the prowl unless you can prove you're not hostile. Okay?"

Really, he was doing his best not to talk to him while he was teaching a 5 year old. If he remembered anything about Fell before the mutation, it was that he got offended and ticked easily. Finally getting Fell to look calm, he pressed the switch that opened the glass door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dust couldn't find Blue.

He couldn't find Fell or Classic either.

Who cares about that little blue mongrel and the toothy loser? His brother whispered to him. There are many caged, helpless, powerful monsters here Sans. We must find them. And we must kill them. We need more power brother. More LOVE.

He wanted to listen to his brother. He really did. He knew for a fact that Papyrus would never lie or misguide him. But he also knew that he wouldn't be able to focus on the job unless he knew where the three were. If they truly were powerful, than even if caged he'd have to focus if he wanted to be able to harvest them for LOVE.

Very well brother, I will trust your judgement.

He began to prowl around, sniffing the air to pick up a scent. He knew he needed to pick up as many scents as possible to work fast. There was much to be done: differentiate Fell, Classic, and Blue's scents from the others, locate the three as soon as possible, sneak off, kill the others, make sure Blue doesn't give him the puppy eyes or croc tears for killing most of his friends...

On second though, maybe the last one is basically inevitable.

"Dusty!"

He could feel himself basically jump up, starting to immediately run towards where he heard his blueberry's voice. Guess he didn't need to pick up on his scent in the first place. That'll make his job a little bit easier.

Don't forget to kill everyone else brother. We need to become more powerful. We need more LOVE. Do not let anyone distract you from the mission.

I know Paps. I know.

He knew at some point he was going to have to kill them too. After all, he'd killed everyone else. But he definitely didn't want to do it now. Someday, when he finds the will to give them the painless mercy of death.

But that day wasn't today.

Making a sharp turn, he'd finally found the blue scarfed skeleton. He knew he'd have to act calm though, to not scare him. Though many of them probably didn't know this, he wasn't actually as gone as Cross was.

Yes, he knew Cross's name. He picked it up from a conversation when they were trying to move him into his enclosure for the first time.

Ah yes, when that stupid oreo on legs nearly bit his blueberry.

He'll be the first to go.

(A/N i love Cross guys. i really do. i swear-)

"Dusty," he could hear the warning tone in his voice as he looked up at the skeleton before him. "I know that look on your face Dusty. No murder."

He didn't mean to let out a small whine. Probably his animal instincts. What did Sci say he was again? A "grey wolf" and "tasmanian devil"? What the hell even was a "tasmanian devil" anyway? It sounds like some sort of dog that failed to serve Satan.

"Dusty, no murder." Blue had repeated himself, beginning to pet the hooded beast's head as they both perked up to panting heard from behind Blue. Running into view were Classic, and Fell. How convenient, the three he was looking for came right to him.

Now onto "find a way to get away from the loves of his life and butcher everyone else in a totally non-yandere way".

Oh boy Alphys's anime ways are starting to get to him.

He could feel the rumbles in his non-existent throat, leaning his head more into Blue's hand. God, he knew this was just his animal instincts acting up but god his gloved hand behind his ecto ears felt GREAT. Was it like this for all dogs? Lucky bastards. He was glad he'd killed all of the dogs first. (Minus the Annoying Dog. That thing is impossible to track down. Much less kill.)

"Huh, looks like you've got him wrapped around your finger. When'd you learn to even to make him even wag his tail like that?" Wait, wagging tail? He glanced behind him to see that his ecto tail was indeed wagging. Huh. It must've started while he was thinking about dogs and didn't notice.

Brother, you're getting off task and distracted. How will you kill the others before they put you back into your cage if you keep letting yourself be treated like this? His brother did not look too pleased that he had not gained any LOVE yet. Then again, it'd been Ink knows how long since he'd been out. Much less killed anyone.

As Classic approached Blue to talk, Fell had coiled himself around the original's legs. Fell didn't feel comfortable around him and it was obvious why. After all, he knew that the hooded figure was at LEAST LV20.

Dust couldn't help but to respect the other. He survived abuse from his own brother, the monster around him, and had probably had his own fair share of Genocides too. He couldn't imagine his own brother disowning and abusing him too.

But of course brother, I'd never do anything to harm you. And Dust knew his brother was telling the truth. After all, Paps would never lie to him either.

His brother wouldn't.

He could feel his tail curl around the guard in training as the rubbing intensified, starting to lay down. After all, did he really need to kill them all now? It had already been established that he was absolutely capable of easily breaking out of his fortified cell. He could always just do it again. And if they set up guards, no problem. He'll kill them too. Extra EXP. In fact, he should probably wait until they do add more guards for him to kill.

Plus, he felt like hanging around these three a bit more.

Yet Papyrus still lingered... Whispering suggestions in his ears...

[cryptidarticles]

Cryptid Article’s Cryptid Categories

The definition of cryptid is, “Any creature that may or may not exist. Sightings of various cryptids have been reported, but their reality has not been proved”. Which leaves a lot of room for creatures and sightings to be labeled as a cryptid! 

If you ask people’s personal opinion on what a cryptid is you’ll get all sorts of answers. Some will say it’s creatures reported extinct that are still seen, or perhaps an undocumented new species, some will say urban legends, and some will say supernatural creatures! What people focus on is usually personal preference, but plenty of people are like me, I love to hear about all of them!

I love hearing about new species, misplaced animals, the supernatural, the extraterrestrial, everything! 

The purpose of this article is to write down all the different categories of cryptids I’ve noticed, and tell you some examples! 

The Science Side

The science side is composed of different creatures and theories that are based on things we already know. They’re not more likely to exist, it’s just every theory is based in the natural and explained. The science side falls into (three) categories:

The End? 

These creatures are real creatures! Documented even! The problem is that these creatures were reported extinct (sometimes millions of years ago), but sightings are still being reported! The most famous of these creatures is the Thylacine, also known as the tasmanian tiger, a marsupial that went extinct in 1936. It was still considered endangered until the 1980s, and many people believe the creature still exists today. There have been many sightings, even a few blurry photographs, all the way up to 2019! 

Other cryptids that fit this category include Megalodon, an ancient giant shark that went extinct millions of years ago; the American Hyena, a type of hyena in america that went extinct over 700,00 years ago; the passenger pigeon, a bird that went extinct in 1914; the Dodo Bird, a flightless bird that went extinct in 1681; and the eastern cougar, reported extinct in 1938. All of these have reported sightings ranging from very recent to relatively recent. 

Possibly

These creatures have little documentation and are not proven to exist, but the main theory is that they’re a new/unique species. Tons of sightings have poured in for these creatures, photos and videos have been taken, but their existence is still up for debate. The most famous of these is the Sasquatch, also known as BigFoot, and is described as a bipedal hairy creature assumed to be a unique species. 

Other cryptids include the Loch Ness Monster, a large creature residing in Loch Ness, there are actually lots of lake, river, and ocean monsters that fit this category; the skunk ape, similar to BigFoot except with black hair and very stinky and spotted in the south eastern US; Ahool, said to be a giant bat/ape-like creature that flies and attacks people in Indonesia; this is also a popular theory for the Beast of Gevaudan, a creature that attacked and killed many people in France; the Cactus Cat, a prickly cat that loved to drink cactus juice and emitted a haunting wail; There’s also multiple sightings of Dogmen, the most popular being the Beast of Bray Road. All of these have a main theory being they’re a new species. 

Wrong Place Wrong Time

These creatures have plenty of sightings, quite a few pictures, even some videos. Some of these creatures are even well known! The problem is these creatures were spotted in the wrong place, by that I mean they were found far away from their natural habitat. The most popular theory is that these animals were taken as exotic pets, but then were released when the burden became too much. The most popular of the is Alien Big Cats, these are lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, etc. seen throughout Britain. 

Another creature of this type is the Phantom Kangaroo, typically described as a normal kangaroo, sometimes described as a giant kangaroo. It’s been spotted all over America and even a few times in Britain. There’s been quite a few photos and sightings but none have been captured. The most popular theory is that it’s an abandoned exotic pet or an escaped zoo animal. 

You Ain’t From Around Here

These cryptids have lots of sightings, pictures, and videos, and the most popular theory is that they’re not of this world! Just like science side they’re not more likely to exist, there just based on something we’re not 100% sure about but plenty of people are trying to understand better. 

Creatures From Outer Space

This is probably an obvious one, extraterrestrial life is life not from earth but presumably outer space. Many people believe aliens exist, as massive and expansive as our universe is it’s hard to believe we’re the only alive and conscious beings. There have been dozens upon dozens of sightings, pictures, and videos, some of these sightings dating back centuries. There is still debate about whether or not we’ve actually been visited by aliens. 

It’s hard to pick a most popular or well known alien, they’ve become very mainstream and are probably the most well known cryptid alongside bigfoot and nessie. A very popular alien is The Grays, the aliens described in the Roswell UFO Incident, when reportedly there was a UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico. A witness reported seeing aliens corpses, and described them as short, gray, large heads, slitted eyes and nose, and usually naked. 

Other well known aliens include The Flatwoods Monster, a strange creature that appeared in the woods where something crashed; The Hopkinsville Goblins, after seeing something crash into the woods a group of small creatures appeared and harassed a family; the Dover Demon, a small humanoid creature that multiple people reported seeing; the Fresno Nightwalker, strange tall figures that have been seen walking around; Indrid Cold, a strange human-like figure with a wide grin, he stalked quite a few people; The Brown Mountain Lights, strange lights in north carolina that are believed to possibly be aliens; Pascagoula Elephant Men, strange creatures that abducted two men. All of these have the main theory of being creatures from outer space. 

The Multiverse 

These are creatures that have been sighted that are believed to be from an alternate dimension. For some reason, or maybe by accident, these creatures have appeared in our world. Some of these creatures disappear as soon as they appear, believed to have gone back to their own dimension. Some of these creatures bring chaos with them, reports will pop up of supernatural and extraterrestrial encounters in the area. Not much is known about these creatures or where they come from, but it proposes a possible answer to why it’s so hard to find anything out. 

The most popular creature is the Mothman, a winged creature that terrified West Virginia and captures many people’s attention today. There are many theories for what exactly Mothman is but one that has emerged and gained some traction is that he’s an interdimensional creature. Some people suggest that he is a creature more powerful than anything in this dimension, and is able to travel back and forth between different dimensions. Some people have also suggested his strange nature is what caused so many poltergeist, UFO, and alien encounters in the area at the time, and also tons of electrical and radio malfunctions. 

Another popular creature is the Grafton Monster, a strange white creature with no apparent head. A man spotted the Grafton Monster on the side of the road and quickly sped off, when he came back with his friends the beast was gone, only an indent in the grass where it sat was left. The men couldn’t find any footprints. People wonder if this is because the creature vanished into another dimension.

A lot of creatures with extraterrestrial as their most popular theory are starting to be considered for the interdimensional theory. The Dover Demon, mentioned before, is being considered; the Chupacabra, a creature that feeds on the blog of livestock, is being examined; Dogmen, also mentioned before, are also being reviewed; The Flatwoods Monster is being evaluated; even Bigfoot is being assessed to see if there’s a possibility he’s from another dimension. 

The Supernatural Side

These creatures fall into what we know even less about, something beyond our understanding. These sightings and theories aren’t based on science, or are at least based science we don’t understand yet. These creatures come from mythology with modern sightings, or just come from unexplainable sightings. These creatures are reported to have strange attributes and abilities, and can be incredibly dangerous. 

Ghosties

This is sort of a square and rectangle situation, some cryptids are believed to be ghosts but not all ghosts are considered cryptids. These cryptids have strange attributes, sometimes being see through or randomly disappearing, and sometimes bringing bad luck and fear. The first creature that comes to mind is the Black Shuck, haunting the british isles the Black Shuck is a large black dog with one red eye. Said to appear and disappear randomly, if you see the Black Shuck you’ll either perish soon or have terrible luck. 

This follows closely with the tale of the Black Dog, a similar ghostly canine but with both eyes. It can bring death and misfortune, but it can also guide and protect people. This apparition has been seen all over. One notable instance is the Tennessee Ghost Dog, a large black dog known to growl and bite people. Locals report hearing its howls at night. 

There’s also the red ghost, a strange camel typically seen with a creature on it’s back. It’s said to appear and attack people, leaving only trampled bodies and cloven hoof prints behind. It’s said the footprints soon stop, like the creature vanished in mid air. 

Then there’s the Black Cat of Killakee, a black cat who haunted people living and working on a house. The cat would appear in places it shouldn’t, locked rooms and random hallways. The cat would hiss and growl at anyone who looked at it. The couple who owned the house did an exorcism and the cat disappeared, until someone held a seance and the cat came back full force. 

These creatures are sometimes believed to be strange species, or merely superstitions and hoaxes, but many people believe these are haunting creatures. 

Hey Demons, It’s Me, Ya Boy

I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself

These are creatures that are typically believed to be violent and dangerous creatures, even more so than Ghosties. They’re typically described as terrifying demons with strange appearances and powerful abilities. These creatures are also known to attack people on sight. One of the most famous creatures in this category is the Jersey Devil, a creature in sighted in Pine Barrens, New Jersey. The creature is described as having a goat head, bat wings, arms with clawed hands, legs with hooves, and a forked tail, it also has a piercing scream. Legend has it that Mother Leeds was a witch, and when birthing her 13th child she cried out and cursed it. The child was born normal but soon changed into a terrifying creature, cursed to roam the Pine Barrens. 

Another creature that fits this category is the Lone Pine Mountain Devil, spotted in the mountains of the southwest. It’s described as being large, furry, multiple wings, and multiple sharp fangs. The most clear description came from a priest who survived an attack on his convoy. He was the only survivor, and described the creatures as horrifying demons who slaughtered everyone except him. 

Goatmen have been spotted in multiple areas, but many people assume they’re demons. What they all have in common is appearing as half-men, half-goats, and being very aggressive. The Pope Lick Monster, one of the more popular goatmen, is said to attack people. Legend has it that it used to be a man who sold his soul to satan for power. 

There’s also The Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square, a strange creature hiding in a building on Berkeley Square. It’s described as a cosmic horror, a strange slimy and formless creature, the only defining feature being tentacles. It tends to burst into people’s rooms and strangles them and drags their corpse to the basement. Many say it’s a demon infesting the building. 

So these are my cryptid categories! Obviously these will be interpreted differently from person to person, and what seems more likely to exist will change from person to person too! 

I always love to learn about other people’s opinions and beliefs on cryptids, feel free to share yours! Do you have different categories that weren’t included in this post? Do you have a favorite cryptid that falls into these categories? What’s your favorite category?

[frangipanidownunder]

Returning the Past: Part 5

Mulder and Scully are honeymooning in Far North Queensland. Much to Scully’s chagrin, Mulder has delved headlong into a mysterious case of strange lights, Tasmanian tiger sightings and abductions. It’s not long, before they run into trouble…

Read part 1, part 2 part 3 and part 4.

The facility ‘Eddie Romero House’ was ensconced behind a security fence. She frowned at the recurrence of the name. Years of being an investigator made it impossible to think of coincidences and serendipitous happenstance. Years of being an investigator on The X-Files showed her that even the smallest of coincidences was likely to be anything bug.

Sunlight filtered through menacing clouds and pinged off the metal pickets. Mulder buzzed the intercom and itched at the skin on his arms. A security guard walked from the main building to stand outside the gate.

              “We’re looking to talk to somebody in charge,” Mulder said.

              “Do you have an appointment?”

              “It’s urgent we speak to somebody. It could be a matter of life and death.”

              Scully looked at the ground, impacted red dirt crumbling at her footfalls. Mulder’s flair for the dramatic, coupled with this dogged insistence often got them entry into secure facilities but the guard didn’t seem impressed. They had no badges to flash, they had American accents, they had no jurisdiction.

              “Professor Callow is in meetings. He won’t be available until tomorrow.”

              “Callow?” Scully said, looking at Mulder. He did the customary slow blink that told her he was on the same page as her. “We’re friends of his daughter’s. Please tell him it’s urgent that he speak with us.”

              The guard lifted the radio to his mouth and static crackled. She rubbed the back of her neck and Mulder paced. A pair of green and red parrots screeched past. A vehicle reversed from a steel shed to the left of the main facility, stirring up a plume of dust.

              “He says he’ll see you. Follow me.”

 Professor Callow was seated behind a wooden desk bearing all the hallmarks of an office that hadn’t seen a change in twenty years. A Rolodex next to a rotary dial phone, a blotter pad, a stationery holder filled with Biros, pencils, a plastic ruler, Tippex. There was a framed photo of two men, one a younger Callow, rifle propped against his shoulder, standing over the corpse of a large animal that Scully couldn’t make out. She peered at its familiarity, then recalled the crumpled version of the photo on Steph Callow’s living room floor. There were glass cabinets along each wall, containing skeletal remains and stuffed animals with blank eyes and dull fur. Faded posters on the wall depicted a variety of Australian marsupials, and directly behind the Professor’s chair was a map of Queensland.

              “You know my daughter somehow?” he said, his accent clear-cut English.

              “She took us on a walk through the Daintree.” Scully looked at a poster of endangered and extinct animals. Toolache wallaby – bearing similar markings to the kangaroos they’d seen that first morning, broad faced bandicoot, lesser bilby. She checked out the small signs propped up against the stuffed creatures, Eastern hare wallaby, brush-tailed bettong.

              “She was a promising zoologist, she had a knack for research. Stephanie studied hard. It’s a shame.”

There was something tight about the older man, Scully thought. Something closed off. She’d seen the same thing when Mulder was returned. An outward show of vagueness that really just covered up an inability to articulate the heart of the issue. He was scared.

“What’s a shame?” Mulder asked, picking up a jar from a shelf. He held the jar out as he continued to challenge the professor, rattling the brown seed pod inside it so that it drummed with each word he spoke. “That Steph became a tour guide and not a Professor, like you?”

“No, no. It’s…her mother…the family. It was difficult. For all of us, but for Stephanie, a teenager at the time, it was. Well, she struggled.” Callow took the jar from him and set it back on the desk. His hands trembled.

“Your wife, Steph’s mother, what happened to her?” Scully watched the way he sucked in a deep, long breath, chest puffing out. The seed inside the jar, labelled Idiospermum australiense was pale yellow on the outside and a ridged red inside, reminded her of a golden apricot and she kept her eyes on it while Callow sunk back into his chair.

“She disappeared. Just vanished.”  Callow’s voice was shallow, like he’d told the story so many times it was just a rote response.

She looked back at Mulder, pressing her teeth into her lower lip. She wondered if they would ever relate any of their own history like that, without the passion, without the fire needed to continually reach for justice.

“Miriam went out to buy milk and never came back. We…just carried on. You do, don’t you? But Stephanie was never the same. Went to university in Tasmania, as far away from here as she could get. She worked hard but the spark, the passion for it had gone. After she graduated she went on a gap year to South America and when she came back she couldn’t settle. She told me once that being a tour guide was a way of always looking for her mother. As though she might just find her out there in the bush somewhere all these years later,” he smiled sadly. “She likes being outdoors. Just like her mother.”

“Have you heard from her recently, Stephanie?” Scully stepped towards him. “She’s missing, Professor Callow.”

Callow shook his head, an absent expression clouding his eyes. “I’m afraid that Stephanie has often gone ‘walkabout’ as they say in these parts.”

“We were with her when a group of men dragged her into a four-wheel-drive and we haven’t seen her since. The police don’t seem interested. Her house…there was a disturbance there.”

The old man pushed himself up from his desk, knuckles turning white. “She kept some strange company too. Abductees, she called them. She was adamant she’d been abducted too. Told me fantastic tales of being on board UFOs and lights in the forest. Crazy stuff. Nobody believes that kind of thing, do they?” Callow looked at Mulder and Scully lowered her gaze, breathing through the awkward silence.

“What did you make of her company? TasTiger Tours,” Mulder said, not rising to the bait.

“Taking tourists to see thylacines in the Daintree? When she told me what she was doing I told her that people would either see her as a lunatic or a scam artist. But it seems I was wrong. There are plenty of fools…” He stopped and Mulder offered him a accepting grin. “Sorry. You are entitled to spend your dollars any way you see fit, but Tasmanian tigers have been extinct for decades and most certainly did not inhabit tropical rainforest.”

“And yet both Dr Scully and I have seen thylacines in recent days. One was inside your daughter’s home.”

Professor Callow blanched and held on to the edge of the desk. “In Stephanie’s house? That’s impossible.”

“It wasn’t so long ago that this facility was being funded to research thylacine DNA with a view to potentially reviving the species. It’s not much of a stretch to consider that the animals might have escaped and thrived in the wild.”

Callow sighed and shook his head. “You sound like Stephanie. She had a penchant for the arcane. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d faked her own abduction by this group of men, simply to get my attention. I’ve suggested she see someone, you know, a psychiatrist to help her with her troubles, but she wouldn’t be told. She seems to be a lost cause.”

Mulder continued to talk, despite the old man walking past him to the door. “There are precedents where animals have created their own enclaves in non-native regions. The fabled big cat stories around the world can be explained in this way.”

Callow opened the office door. “What you say is true, Mr Mulder. And I may agree, except for the fact that my project never created a single live specimen. The trials all failed.”

Mulder swigged from the water bottle as she drove. The light outside was weak and grey. “What do you think, Scully. Is he involved?”

              “He was frightened, Mulder.  I saw a man cowed not just by the weight of his wife and daughter being missing, but by fear.”

              “He certainly knows more than he was letting on, Scully.”

              She watched him lean his head against the window. “You need to rest, Mulder. You still look like you’re running a fever.”

              “I’m fine. I just need to clear my head to think. Callow’s experiments didn’t yield a live thylacine, according to him. Yet we know they exist. What would be the purpose of recreating extinct animal lines, Scully? Where does that fit in with the abductions, the lights? And why would the police dismiss the case? Even if Steph was well known in these parts as someone with a psychiatric history, why deny she even existed?”

              “I’ve been thinking about that too, Mulder. And did you notice the name of the guard at the front gate?”

              He turned to her, cheeks flaming. “No, what was it?”

              “Galea. Same as the police officer.”

 They drove to the police station. The car park was deserted. Grey clouds pushed low over their heads and Scully scratched at the back of her neck. Mulder was slow to get out of the car. A sheen of sweat sparkled across his brow. She walked up the steps and rapped at the door. No answer.

              “Do you get a weird feeling, Mulder?”

              He didn’t answer but mopped at his forehead with the back of his hand. His chest rose and fell laboriously. She twisted the handle and pushed at the door. It didn’t budge. “If this is a joke, I don’t like the Australian sense of humour. Mulder,” she said, stepping back down to where he was leaning against the car door. “Get back in the car, out of the heat. Drink the water. I’m going around the back.”

              She knew he was sick when he complied without complaint. There were garden beds either side of the building, leaf litter piled high. Tall palms swayed on the increasing breeze and a pair of bird of paradise plants pecked at the empty air with their resplendent bronze beaks. The windows of the house were covered in cobwebs and the side door was locked. How had they not noticed the state of the place when they spoke with Officer Galea? Who were the other people in the building? Were there other people? She peered through the dirty glass of the back door but saw nothing but the marks of a building that hadn’t been inhabited for a while.

A car engine caught her attention and she hurried back round. A small blue SUV swung into the gravelled space next to their hire car and a middle-aged couple got out.

“If you’re looking for the police station, you need to head back that way, to Port Douglas. This one hasn’t been used for a few years now.”

“We were looking for Officer Galea,” Scully said, keeping an eye on Mulder, who was leaning his face against the window.

The woman shrugged. “The last copper here was Sergeant Blythman and she left to have a baby. That baby’s at primary school now. We just tidy up the yard. Len, give me that fertiliser. Those plants need a good feed.”

Scully opened the driver’s side door, but turned back to the couple. “Have you ever seen strange lights in this area? Blue lights?”

“You’re Americans.” Len joined his wife.

“We’re here on our honeymoon,” Scully said, as much to remind herself as to inform the couple. “We came here to report a crime here just the other day. Now it’s empty.”

The couple continued to remove gardening equipment from the back of the car.

“Who is Eddie Romero?” Scully asked. “It’s the name of a local research facility. It’s the name of one of the forest tracks. Our accommodation is Romero Sands.”

“He’s no-one special,” the woman said. “Enjoy your honeymoon. Go swimming. Do some bushwalking, but don’t stray off the tourist tracks. Have a nice time. Go home to your families.”

“Do you know Steph Callow?”

The woman exchanged looks with her husband. “Who are you?”

Mulder got out of the car, his body sagging. “What’s going on in this town? What are you afraid of?”

“We’re not scared,” the woman said, straightening up. “We’re just invisible. Nobody listens to us. They just want people to come here, spend their money. The tourist dollars rule. It’s like that film with the sharks, isn’t it, Len? You know the one, where the mayor of the island won’t shut the beaches down for the long weekend.”

“Jaws,” Scully said, looking over at Mulder. “Have people been hurt here? Killed?”

The woman looked at Len. “They’ve disappeared. But the government people say that they just lost their way, the forest is dangerous if you’re not careful.” She walked up to Scully and took her hand. “You two look like lovely young people. You don’t need anything like that happening to you. It’s the worst thing. People go missing and you never know what’s happened. You live every day like they might just come home and fling their coat across the hall and sit on their favourite chair and ask for a cup of tea, you know? It’s cruel, is what it is. Hope and dreams. It’s just cruel.” She rolled her lips together and took a long, slow breath. “You take care now. Come on, Len. It’s going to rain soon. Let’s spread this stuff and get home.”

 Mulder groaned in his sleep, deep guttural sounds that held fear. She often wondered how he processed all that happened to him. Besides the abject terror of the abduction, he had faced the death penalty. They had spent months on the run, looking over their shoulders, living out of cheap motels and even cheaper cars. He held it in, he held it together, mostly. She knew he thought he had to be strong for her, as she did for him. They both drove for days wearing their stoicism like armour. Back then, she knew the day would come where one of them would crack. She lay odds that it would be her first. That she would flip tables and throw away the hair dye and the Walmart underwear. That she would call her mother and write her brother. That she would tell Mulder she didn’t really love him and that she was leaving. That she would lie to save him. To save them both.

But in a long-forgotten town, in a long forgotten state, she returned with two bags of groceries and found him balled up in the corner of the darkened room, furniture broken around him, sobbing. The bags dropped to the floor and split open spilling the tins and packets in front of her. She let him cry against her chest until his tears soaked her vest. He didn’t talk, didn’t need to. She was grateful for that desolate place, grateful for the onerous skies and the stares of the townsfolk, grateful for the one store and flickering neon motel sign, grateful for the gritty coffee and the faulty ice machine. It drew out his sorrow and suffering and pushed hers down. She would never leave him. She would never lie to him.

 Now, she dabbed his brow with a cool washcloth, then pressed it around the back of her neck, easing the itch there. Wherever Steph Callow had gone, the dark forces in the forest were responsible. But with Mulder tossing fitfully by her side, there was no way they could go forward with any kind of investigation. She’d have to find a doctor’s surgery in the morning. He needed treatment.

“The light was so bright, Scully. It was so bright it felt like my eyes had been sliced open and silver was poured inside.” He pushed himself up and bunched the sheet across his lap. His voice was groggy, his skin tacky to touch. She gave him water. “I dreamt that Steph Callow was there with me, on that ship, Scully. She was trapped too, helpless and that bright light burned her and she burst into flames.”

While Scully made tea, he played with the remote, and a news anchor read out details of a mysterious death locally.

A member of the public called in the discovery of the body. At this stage, the police have not issued any details of the circumstances or the victim but there is a presence at Eddie Romero House.

“It’s Professor Callow,” Mulder said, calling her back to the bedroom. “He’s been killed.”

[furby-official]

A List of Animals I would really like to see in Jamaa someday:

Currently living animals:

Cows/Bulls/Yaks

Pallas Cats

Snakes (or really any new reptile, there isn’t enough!)

A large species of frog or toad? (I like ‘em owo)

Sand cats

Dogs? (not entirely sure how it would work or what breed to use, maybe I’ll make an edit someday with how I personally would implement them.)

Fennec Foxes, Grey Foxes, Blanford’s Foxes (any small fox would work, really.)

Moose (Hopefully the pet is a sign!)

Puffins (Kinda because of the flash browser.)

Walruses

Tasmanian Devils

Dholes

Maned Wolves (They’d probably look incredible in AJ’s style.)

Galápagos Tortoise (Or any tortoise, I just want one!)

Extinct Animals (How cool would these be?):

Thylacine/Tasmanian Tigers

Dodo birds

[drferox]

How often do you see/treat snakebite victims? I live in AZ, and snake bites, while not especially common, aren't exactly an unknown factor here. There's also a vaccine for rattlesnake bites... but it's also super expensive, and from I've heard it doesn't really work well enough to justify using it for my own dogs. Thoughts?

Mate, our snakes are an entirely different kettle of fish. For one, we don’t have rattlesnakes, and I really couldn’t comment with authority on how their venom works, but I understand it’s haemotoxic and causes necrosis.

(This fellow was at the Rattlesnake Museum in New Mexico when we visited last year)

Australian venomous snakes, on the other hand, are quite different. White rattlesnakes belong to the viper group, our venomous snakes are elapids.

(Taipan by XLerate at Wikipedia)

The venom of our snakes, depending on which species did the biting, contain neurotoxins (affect nerves), myotoxins (affect muscle), pro-coagulants (make blood clot), anti-coagulants (make blood not clot), nephrotoxins (affect kidney) and cytotoxins (affect cells in general). They do a whole mess of things.

(If you go to wikipedia, Australia had 5/10 of the most venomous snakes in the world, and 4 of the others are sea snakes)

Now, I deliberately don’t work anywhere near the inland taipan, but I did work in Tasmania and venomous snakes on smaller islands are typically bigger and have more potent venom than mainland counterparts. Tiger snakes were our biggest problem, and Tasmanian Tiger Snake bites required 2x the antivenom of mainland bites, and bites from snakes on the small islands off the coast of Tasmania would require 4x to 6x. At $500, at cost, per vial of antivenom, these were expensive to treat.

Tiger snake bite symptoms typically go a bit like this

Acute signs: Vomiting, salivation, fast breathing, collapse. Pets may initially seem to recover from this though, but its only going to get worse from here.

Paralytic signs: a little while later (under 2 hours) we might see paralysis, altered breathing, bleeding from bite, kidney failure, destruction of red blood cells and destruction or muscle cells.

Cats seem to be partially resistant to the venom, either by being more agile and getting bitten less, or just dying before they make it home and get to be presented to a vet clinic. Once actually treated though, they seem to recover a bit better than dogs, possibly because they cope with the rhabdomyolysis better.

All of this happens over hours, so it’s not enough time for the immune system to generate a response. I doubt we’d ever have a vaccine for Australian snake bites, but our combined tiger-brown antivenoms will treat venom from anything other than death adders.

I don’t see snake bites very commonly now in suburbia, but I suspect that’s because we have more brown snakes and less tiger snakes here. We have some very big brown snakes in the parks and golf courses around here, but they prefer to run away than to bite.

[curluphoney]

Tag Game

 I was tagged by @keverbloom to do this so here we goooo....

Rules: Answer the questions and tag 20 people you want to get to know better (probably won’t tag 20 people but its okay.. it’s fine)

Name: Cecelia, but literally everyone calls me Lucy (thanks Nan)

Gender: Female

Height: 5′6...?

Star Sign: Sagittarius  

Sexuality: Heterosexual 

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Favorite Animal: Sea otter (that’s my patronus too) or Tasmanian Tiger

Average Hours of Sleep: 6-8, but I’ve gotten maybe around 3 1/2 hours of sleep this week 

Dogs or Cats: DOGS.

How Many Blankets I Sleep With: 2...sometimes 5, depending on how cold it is outside since my bedroom window isn’t sealed. ugh. 

Dream Trip: Scotland-Ireland-Germany

Dream Job: I feel like a lil kid saying this but I wanna be a vet, I’ve worked with animals since I was a tot and I’ve always loved it. 

When I Made This Account: Late 2015?

Why I Made This Account: To post my photography but that went outta the window quick

Number of Followers: 4,000 

Reason For URL: idk.  I play Bluegrass and I live in a place where there are giant brown bears?

I taaaag... @polyleos @chaoticvalis @lostinillusions96 @niktav @can-you-not-see @hon3yandthemoon @walden-west @mellamoblake @scantile @rpeeze  @angelculture @onlyhomealone

[getseriouser]

20 THOUGHTS: Sorry Harry, pretty sure Rachel already moved to Seattle and married Mike???

AND we thought we had nothing to offer on the Royal Wedding.

As far as we can tell it was a joyous occasion to celebrate one single family’s reign over not just the UK but anyone still under the monarchical Commonwealth heavily improved by the inclusion of a batty Bishop from Chicago who added real flavour to the pomp and circumstance.

Bless him.

Otherwise, in the real world, one club from Tullamarine tagged themselves out of the Royal Rumble and one from Royal Parade tagged themselves in... 

And yes, I know, wresting fans, you don’t tag yourself out of a Royal Rumble, but it meant we could use the word royal another couple of times, given the week’s events, oh never mind, onto the week in footy:

 1.    Let us start with the Bombers. Saw it mid-week from John Worsfold in his demeanour and it carried on into the game on the weekend. There appears to be the emergence of a real edginess to the team. It’s almost as if they’ve flicked a switch, finally moving on from this ‘recovery’ mode, a forced developmental phase, feeling the effects of those year-long suspensions. It felt like last week and then in their win over Geelong they became a serious side that no longer had any excuse or hangover from that period where expectations were lowered – now it’s about being taken seriously with no lingering effects of that time. Game faces. Desire, want, effort. Their coach is no longer helping a club out of travesty and is now demanding ruthless excellence. Let’s see where they go now.

2.    Also, their form line shows great promise. In that whilst they have lowered their colours in their loss to Carlton, on Anzac Day, etc., they have shown to be capable of competing with the better sides. Only West Coast, Port Adelaide and Essendon have three wins against teams currently in the top eight. That’s something to build from. Their six losses to date will hurt their chances but on paper this is a list good enough to make finals and win one, their task will be to try and get there from this far back.

3.    A small exercise to gauge form and credibility from nine rounds in, given some teams have had easier draws, or some teams have cashed in accruing wins against the bottom clubs: if we attribute 18 points for every team who has beaten West Coast right down to 1 point for defeating Carlton, and tally it all up, it makes for interesting reading. Even though Melbourne has won twice as many games as Essendon, because the Bombers have defeated the Crows, Power and Cats, they would be higher on this form ladder; the Dees yes have defeated the Roos but aside from that their other wins are against the current bottom five. Sydney would leapfrog Richmond because they defeated the Eagles in Perth, the Tigers got spanked at their attempt. Everyone else is largely where they sit on the real ladder give or take a few spots, so for those clubs their ladder position is somewhat validated. But interesting that Melbourne and Essendon essentially swap, despite how we ‘think’ they are going.

4.    Last one on the Bombers, sorry Cats fans (positive couple on you next), Devon Smith continues to lead the way. Last week we spoke about his pressure and if his teammates could follow in behind. Another ten tackles on the weekend, moves into no.1 in the league now, but this time he had plenty of support and that showed in the result. He would be All-Australian squad for sure right now.

5.    Onto their opponents on Saturday, couple positive and then a negative. Firstly Tim Kelly, out of the Rising Star calculations because of age but he is the best first-year player by far. The 23 year-old, a second round pick last year (Geelong took Lachie Fogarty ahead of him) after coming second in the Sandover, looks like a 100-game veteran from the get go. One of the Cats’ most important onballers already, averaging 22 touches, five inside 50s, four tackles and four clearances a game, he is a bonafide AFL jet. Great recruiting.

6.    Just want to touch on a sliding doors moment out of the continual fallout in the life of Bomber Thompson. We all know the Essendon drugs scandal has left such a lasting impact, for life, for so many involved, but without the intervention of someone like Brian Cook, this scandal could have so easily played out down at Geelong instead. Thompson got Stephen Dank into the Cats’ football program back when he was senior coach but stronger heads within their tent, whilst sticking with Bomber which ultimately proved a masterstroke, gave Dank the boot for grounds probably very clear in hindsight. When Bomber moved on and joined the very inexperienced Hird at Essendon, a club who didn’t have the ‘strength’ of leadership like Geelong with Cook, Frank Costa, etc., Bomber played the ‘Dank card’ again, no-one intervened, and the most tormented chapter of one of the league’s great clubs ensued. Given the state of affairs with Geelong at the time, had Dank stayed at Kardinia Park it could have almost undone that club, so if it was Brian Cook who intervened, bloody hell, that’s massive.

7.    Pointed out on one of the Monday night football programs that this marvel that is having Dangerfield and Selwood joined by Ablett in the centre square is far from being the effective weapon the rest of the comp thought it would. They have started 14 centre bounces so far this year for only three successful clearances. That’s bizarre. Mind you, they have only started so few together because with the likes of Kelly, Mitch Duncan and others, the luxury of Dangerfield or Ablett down forward is a weapon in itself.

8.    China. Why are we taking some of our national culture over and trying to make that work in their backyard? How narcissistic of us! I mean it’s not like, shoe on the other foot, we let them, say, I dunno, bring their cuisine here and put a gazillion takeaway outlets on every corner, selling whatever it is they make, rice or meat or something, in something as preposterous as rectangle, clear, containers…. So that analogy doesn’t work, but nor does footy in China. Kochie. Bin it please. Nobody is bothered. But I am now definitely having beef and black bean for lunch, how delicious?

9.    Carlton had their pants pulled down on Sunday by a Dees team that, yes, as we said, hasn’t beaten tonnes, but to their credit have been as impressive as a top-eight fancy can be in dispatching those lower clubs. But for the Blues, it is not all doom and gloom. This is still a young group who yes, will cop it this week, but we were piling into Essendon only seven days earlier so it can so quickly change. Plus, missing their two best players on the weekend, Charlie Curnow and Sam Docherty, the latter out for the rest of the season of course, they possess a very rusty captain, and are playing a lot of youth which is always a rollercoaster ride in itself – the kids were good for the Dees on Sunday but not so much were the Blues’ kids the same time.

10.Now St Kilda. Let’s be honest, Collingwood did not at all play well. The Pies don’t for whatever reason play Etihad with any alacrity (a home game against the Bulldogs this week at the same venue is anything but a home game) but even though they almost went a final quarter goalless under a roof, they had no troubles with getting the four points in reality. On talent, you could argue the Saints really struggle to stack up with any other club, so when their President still holds top four ambitions, either there’s a lot of untapped chemistry still to propel his team up the ladder or they desperately need a big fish or two to take the rest of the playing list there. Not good.

11. And as for old mate Tim Membrey, a horror two weeks. Kicked 1.8, so many of them were straightforward set shots that he has missed to all sides of the goals, so it’s not just a bad slice or hook, everything’s going wrong. If he doesn’t have a good week in front of the sticks this week I fear he will need to be dropped to find form. Which is a shame because everything else in his game is ok for playing inside 50 in a poor side, getting plenty of touches and taking good catches. It’s just the finishing.

12.On the flip side, gee, Jack Darling, a legitimate star is born. Always thought he was a bit flaky, happy to do the easy bits and be a ‘foil’, but overshadowing Josh Kennedy in a side that’s winning well is no small feat. Working very hard, showing as good a hands as any in the comp, and if you look at the last two premiers, a forward, in form, of Jack Darling size is part of the perfect recipe.

13.Getting way too far ahead of ourselves in May, but the Eagles are packing out that new stadium just nicely week in week out, so some home finals there would be another level, especially if the Eagles are able to host some deep into September. The game is in good nick in Perth and Adelaide, job well done.

14.As for finals, top four, at this point, we’d be pretty happy pencilling in, in very strong HB lead, Richmond, West Coast, Sydney and Adelaide, in no order. The reigning premier look good things to be thereabouts again, their opponents on Sunday look better still, the Swans might be better than the Eagles, and the Crows, doing really well thus far given their injury list to show that 2017 can still be bettered.

15.So, for the final four spots, Melbourne despite the form we exposed above has the talent to convert a 6-3 record into at least 8th, Port Adelaide, probably, then we’d be thinking two of Geelong, Hawthorn, North, Collingwood and GWS. 13 wins, or at least 12 and a half if your GWS, is what you’ll need. The Roos and Pies have the kinder draws in that group – that win for North up in Sydney will be enormous come the end of August.

16. Speaking of North. Hobart. Why are we there? This column is not against Tasmanian footy, not at all, we love Tasmanian footy like Rafael Nadal liked pottery class at high school, but less than 10k there on a lovely Saturday afternoon at Bellerive. Yes, North probably gets a better cheque for the game than if there’d been a crowd twice the size at Etihad, but clearly the locals are showing that they will turn up for their own mob but no-one else. The Hurricanes games in the BBL sell out, so the Taswegians are giving the Roos lip service.

17.Can we then get a Tassie team eventually? Not soon. Here’s why. 18 teams is possibly too many, which I’ll mention next, so we aren’t close to 19, 20 teams in expansion, it would then need to be an existing team moving south. Well how about North themselves? Now they didn’t take a massive package to head to the Gold Coast, so why take something smaller to cross Bass Strait, they are actually ok without being strong at the moment off-field, debt free, and only some on-field success away from a possessing a reasonable membership base. So, unless the league bails on the Suns or Giants such is the mess they find themselves in, sorry Tassie, no dice.

18.State of the game, have we got too many teams? Have we considered that the declining visual of the game has been pretty much aligned to going from 16 to 18 teams? 44 more players each week take the park in our wonderous, elite competition, that prior to would have been found in reserves footy. You think about the fringe players in the lower teams, be it youngsters who are getting games too soon, or guys at their second or third clubs now getting regular gigs, these players would just not be featuring pre-expansion. The talent pool definitely doesn’t extend to filling say 20 good, quality sides each week, we know this, so have we pushed the boat out too far by heading to Surfers Paradise and the Municipality of the Greater Western Sydney Shire Council?

19.Some non-footy to finish, firstly the cut lunches thrown at AAMI Park last Saturday. Yes, we’ve probably rightly outlawed physical violence in all our codes, but how about the nostril flaring, trouser-buckle adjusting taking place in the commentary box to lounge rooms everywhere when Curtis Scott, the 20-year-old Melbourne Storm centre, landed a couple beauties on the yappy Dylan Walker from Manly. He only got a two game suspension for that too, so given the arousal he gave red-blooded footy fans who yearn for the biff, and probably the extra couple thousand Insta DMs from the fairer sex who like a bad boy, I say a good weekend’s work to you, young Curtis.

20. And lastly, ice hockey. The NHL expanded from 30 to 31 teams this season, becoming the first major league to set up camp in Las Vegas. The expansion process was different to what we see in AFL, essentially each of the existing 30 teams could ‘protect’ ten of their roster from the Vegas franchise who then picked one ‘unprotected’ player from each club to create theirs. A bunch of misfits, average players, no stars, who would battle to be relevant and competitive in year one. This week though they defeated Winnipeg four games to one in their best of seven series to be crowned Western Conference champions and will play Tampa Bay or Washington next week for the infamous Stanley Cup. 500-1 at the start of the season to win the whole thing, and if they win four more games they will do just that. The kind of stuff they make movies about. Less of the dancing minions and talking safari animals, more movies like this please. Amazing story.

(originally published May 23)

[kristipetersenschoonover]

The Extinct Species Graveyard at the Bronx Zoo’s BOO AT THE ZOO Event was fascinating–and sad.

Nathan and I love to visit the Bronx Zoo, which is just about an hour from our house—it’s like being on vacation for a day, and it could be said the zoo is part of our lives (we’ve “financially adopted” many of their animals over the years, everything from a bat to a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach we named Mountain King). Since we’re members, we try to make it down for the zoo’s special events throughout the year.

October brought Boo at the Zoo: weekends full of activities such as a beer garden, pumpkin carving demonstration, not-really hay rides, marshmallow roasting pits, candy trails, a corn maze—and my favorite, a Haunted Forest in the abandoned World of Darkness Building. Little known fact about me? It was my first-ever walk-through Haunted House, and I did pretty well!

It was lots of fun to see kids in costume.

Look who I ran into in New York City!

…and to visit our hissing cockroach, Mountain King.

My Valentine’s Day Gift to Nathan

Check out Mountain King! He is clearly aptly named. Look how large he is compared to the others, and a spectacular gold color (which you can’t really see in this terrible light).

The exhibit that struck me most was the Extinct Species Graveyard, which was set up in a little-used grove of trees next to The Mouse House. It wasn’t there for a Halloween thrill, nor was it there as just another decoration to fill up space; it seemed part educational, and part memorial. I was surprised by the profound sense of sadness I felt as we wandered through the headstones.

Here’s a tour!

The graveyard was located on a perfect, flat, shady — and unused the rest of the year — spot next to The Mouse House.

The area where this was set up made it feel real.

Officially discovered in the late 1600s, the Falkland Islands Wolf’s tame nature spelled its doom—it hadn’t learned to fear humans, so settlers could easily trick it into coming close enough to kill it. They were hunted for meat and fur, and were considered threatening to sheep. The last one was killed in West Falkland in 1876. For a thorough history (that looks to be well-researched—loads of legitimate sources, here), visit http://messybeast.com/extinct/warrah.htm

Passenger Pigeons were abundant in the 19th century, and tales of their titanic flocks—they took over entire forests, appeared thick as waterfalls, and left entire towns blanketed in feces—are just plain hard to believe. They were basically hunted out of extinction, both for their meat by starving frontiersman, and because they were a nuisance: they competed with farm animals for foodstuffs, among other things. Once the railroads came into being, there was no stopping hunters and trappers from sporting these animals right out of existence. The last known Passenger Pigeon’s name was the Cincinnati Zoo’s Martha, and she died in September of 1914. For more information, check out Audubon’s “Why the Passenger Pigeon Went Extinct” here: http://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2014/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct

The Tasmanian Tiger was killed off on the Australian mainland by widespread hunting, but survived on Tasmania until the last one died in a zoo in the 1930s. Australians haven’t given up on the hope that this thylacine is still alive, however—to this day, reports of sightings are frequent, and even a recent episode of Expedition Unknown had Josh Gates out hunting for it. Initially, scientists had proposed many theories for the creature’s extinction on Tasmania, although there is new evidence to suggest that it was a changing climate that was the culprit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/28/mystery-disappeared-tasmanian-tiger-finally-solved/.

The story of the last authenticated Labrador Duck’s demise is rather sad http://www.chemunghistory.com/pages/labradorduck.html, but literally, almost nothing is known about this bird—its breeding was done in such remote areas (it’s suspected way up in Greenland) that it died out almost before we noticed. Apparently once prevalent on Long Island Sound, we do know, thanks to a journal called Arctic Zoology in 1785, that a specimen was sent from Connecticut to England (see where I got this from here: https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/labduc/introduction). Not very exciting, but there is one ornithologist who made it his mission to visit every single specimen (there are 55) left in existence, which he details in his book The Curse of the Labrador Duck. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-curse-of-the-labrador-duck-16641319/

Probably the poster child for extinction, the Dodo Bird has something in common with the Falkland Island Wolf—it had no fear of humans, because it had never had to fear anything before. Although it’s widely held that sailors arriving on the island of Mauritius, near Madagascar, hunted them and ate their eggs, another theory suggests that it was the cats, rats, pigs and other animals the sailors brought with them went feral. Read more in a Forbes Magazine Quora reprint, “What Happened to the Last Dodo Bird?” here. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/09/20/what-happened-to-the-last-dodo-bird/#2eb2d48e9c2b

The Pig-footed Bandicoot, an adorable little Australian marsupial, is believed to have not survived the introduction of European cattle, as that would’ve cause a major change to the environment and the availability of food. Although the last verified individual was seen in the early 1900s, there’s photographic, video and audio evidence to suggest the creature may still be alive and well…sounds a little far-fetched to me, but judge for yourself: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2007/04/pig-footed-bandicoot-rises-dead

Related to today’s manatees and dugongs, Steller’s Sea Cow, indigenous to the northern Pacific, were hunted to extinction in the 1700s by Russian and European fur traders. Another theory floating around out there attributes the final blow for this species to the stress on the sea otter population which caused a rise in sea urchins which caused a depletion of kelp—the Steller’s main foodstuff. More information here: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/04/pleistoseacow/522831/

The Golden Toad lived in Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest and was declared officially extinct in 2004. This animal was unique in that males were a dazzling orange, but the females came in many different colors, among them yellow and green. For a long time it was thought that global warming killed these stunning animals, but now they think it might’ve been a fungus: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/03/global-warming-didnt-kill-golden-toad

In another case of “we didn’t realize what we were doing,” the Quagga, which was indigenous to South Africa, died out in the late 1800s. Like many other animals of the plains, they were ruthlessly hunted—they were regarded as competitors for the same food as sheep and goats. What’s come to light is that they were not a separate species of zebra, but a subspecies of the zebra we all know and love. There is a revival project going on in South Africa, which you can read more about here: https://quaggaproject.org/

The Greak Auk—which I’ve seen referred to as “the original penguin”—was scattered all over the northern Atlantic, and was exploited for its eggs, feathers, oil, and fat. Archeological finds also suggest that it was important to ancient maritime peoples. The saddest story, though, is the one of the crew of a ship which tied the bird’s feet together and attempted to take it home. When a violent storm hit, the sailors were certain it was the work of the “devil bird” they’d brought on board, so they stoned it to death. An extensive history in Smithsonian Magazine’s “When the Last of the Great Auks Died, It Was by the Crush of a Fisherman’s Boot,” here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/with-crush-fisherman-boot-the-last-great-auks-died-180951982/

The Carolina Parakeet’s story is especially tragic, because it was the only species of parrot native to the United States. The last known wild specimen was killed in 1904, and the last captive one died in a zoo in 1918. This bird had a few causes of death: habitat loss, the pet and fashion trades, and farming. There’s a pretty extensive discussion in Audubon’s “The Last Carolina Parakeet” here: http://johnjames.audubon.org/last-carolina-parakeet

I’ve always had an affinity for toads, so here I played around with getting a selfie. Not great.

Me and the toad’s ass. Nathan took this one.

Nathan loves the Tasmanian Tiger. So this is the one he chose to pose with.

The Bronx Zoo’s Extinct Species Graveyard Nathan and I love to visit the Bronx Zoo, which is just about an hour from our house—it’s like being on vacation for a day, and it could be said the zoo is part of our lives (we’ve “financially adopted” many of their animals over the years, everything from a bat to a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach we named Mountain King).

[dbamountaineer]

Two nights stay in the dorm was over and our stuff were all packed back in our backpacks again. Last day of the trip came, a signal that our trip is almost over in few hours. Three days was not enough to see the whole island of Tasmania but I am already thankful I had a chance to see some part of it. I wished my holiday will be longer, but I was not in Australia for touring but for work so I cannot really extend my holiday plan. I am lucky enough for having a chance to see the island even for just few days. Though it was the last day tour of the group, I was looking forward on that day like it was first day. Main reason of my excitement was because of Cradle Mountain, as mountain always amaze me whether I see it from a distance or up-close. I was delighted when I learned that the group will do a bit of trekking and bush walking in one of the famous national park in the island and in Australia.

Cradle Mountain

From Tullah (the place we stayed the two nights in Tasmania), we drove towards Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and we stayed in the road for at least an hour. On our way, I watched the surroundings attentively in my window and before we reached the parking area, there was a part of the road that we passed where I saw a seemingly endless wilderness.  I felt I can’t get enough of what I am seeing at that time and I felt an overwhelming contentment in my heart for just being there at that moment. I cannot comprehend that I am actually seeing nature, vast space and remoteness of the place. My wandering thoughts stopped after the van parked near Dove Lake. We got off the vehicle from the parking and as we wait for the group to reassemble, we stopped near Dove Lake, a lake with amazing beautiful background of Cradle Mountain. After enjoying the lake up close, we started the trek and bush walk.

Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain

  With Dove Lake Boatshed

We trekked Marions Lookout which is a great spot to see Cradle Mountain closer from the top. It is the same spot to see Dove Lake and Crater Lake which offers scenic views from the lookout and have 360 degree view of national park’s wilderness. The group had a great time not only for taking photos in the lookout but having fun in posing and jumping with beautiful scenery that surrounds everyone.

  Dove Lake

Cradle Mountain

  Crater Lake

      Cradle Mountain-Lake St Claire National Park

When we had enough in enjoying the scenery of the national parks wilderness from the lookout, we trekked down and continued bush walking.  What great about the walk was we had a chance to see the beauty and remoteness of the place. The group followed the walking tracks in placed in the park and along the walks we spotted a wombat. Our walks continue as we reached the considered historical accommodation in Cradle Mountain which is Waldheim Chalet.

  Waldheim Chalet

Waldheim Chalet is a restored or replica of the rustic homes of couple whom discovered the Cradle Mountain – Gustav and Kate Weindorfer. The said accommodation is the nearest one in the national park.

Sheffield – Town of Murals

After hiking in Cradle Mountain, we drove to Sheffield – a town of Murals where we took our lunch. After lunch, we walked around a bit and we found that its title of being Town of Murals is proven to be true and it stand on its title which made Sheffield an interesting place to visit.

Below are some of the murals that I was able to capture during the visit.

Stillness and Warmth

First mural painted for town’s mural project which completed last 1986. The painting portrays Gustav Weindorfer who made effort to make Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair  a National Park.

Masonic Lodge Symbols

This mural (left) by John Lendis features some of the symbols found in a Freemason’s Lodge painted last 1992.

The Hardest Years

Mural that depicts the typical rural life through a farmer and painted last year 2000 by Paul Wood and Mary Clancy.

No Boundaries (Left) and Still Free (Right)

“No Boundaries” by Alicia Swiderski which inspired by children’s play.

“Still Free” by Keith & Loretta Sommer and Winner of the Peoples’ Choice Award at Mural Fest 2013

Food Bowl

Demonstration mural at Mural Fest 2012 by Julian Bale & Others.

“Hide and Seek”, “Poetic Stanza”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, & “Searching the Heart”

From Mural Fest 2013 (left to right):

“Hide and Seek” which painted by Loren Wiffin with the concept of the imagination wild and free.

“Poetic Stanza” created by Shannon Crees with thematic concerns of exotic surrealism and the boundless potential for beauty in utopian landscapes.

“Bonnie and Clyde” by John Eathorne and Leanne Tamas with the idea of Tasmanian convict woman breaks free, her cat awaits, both just a whisker away from the wild, both about to do a certain amount of unescourted roaming, while in their eyes, magic resides.

“Searching the Heart” by Heather Sprott with concept of Nature itself is “freedom unrestrained”

Forth Falls

The mural depicts the second and most spectacular of a series of seven falls which once cascaded down Forth Falls Creek and flowed into the Forth River. Painted by John Lendis in year 1990.

Tigers and Devils

Painted by John Lendis last year 2000.

Christian Heritage

The historical roots of each Christian denomination in Kentish along with approximately 140 people are depicted in this mural. Created by Cheyne Purdue last 1988.

Here are other of snapshots around Sheffield.

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Deloraine / Red Hills – 41 Degrees Salmon 

Our last stop before we ended the last day tour was a salmon farm called 41 Degrees Salmon where we had a chance to taste some of its salmon. After tasting experience, the group had some fun with the farm’s dog named George.

Then, we headed to Launceston, where I stayed for the night before flying back to Melbourne the next morning, while some of the group ended their trip back to Hobart. Before I wrapped up my day, I had dinner in one of the diners in the city and had a bit of night walk just around my accommodation, it was a quiet night indeed in Launceston.

  Tasmania (Day 3) : From Cradle Mountain to Sheffield to Deloraine Two nights stay in the dorm was over and our stuff were all packed back in our backpacks again.

[uberlanding]

I survived the man flu ! And then we left Launceston and had an amazing time in Tasmania! We also managed to find a pic of our seal buddy above and thought you’d like to have a laugh.

So, TASMANIA! This Australian island state is truly wonderful. The state is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. It’s roughly the size of Ireland, if you haven’t been to Ireland, this information doesn’t help you, sorry.

Tasmania’s “Last of the Aboriginals”, she looks so pissed because she has every right to be

It was also colonized by the Brits, they arrived and swiftly went on to wipe out several thousand aboriginal Tasmanians in very grim ways. One story in particular, of Truganini, was especially saddening. Not so wonderful after all.

Ok, this got dark pretty quickly, but I’d rather mention it, than pretend it’s been always unicorns and rainbows over here. Now you know. Let’s move on.

    We only booked ouselves in for 3 weeks and thought we’d get bored quickly. We were wrong! Beyond every corner is something new to discover here in Tassie (apart from more grim stories). As mentioned in Week 1 we started off with the Bay of Fires. From here we went to Derby, via the Little Blue Lake.

The Little Blue Lake, it’s blue because it was an old mine and there’s acidy water in it. Maybe don’t skinny dip here..

Weird moss near the Little Blue Lake, it probably glows in the dark..

Derby was definitely one of our favourite camp spots, very very quaint!

Further on to a hike where we got completely lost. We backtracked and evaded being on the news as your classic German backpacker disaster story.. Ralph Falls are allegedly the most beautiful waterfalls in Tasmania, maybe only beaten by Russel Falls which we plan to see in the next week.

The figurines were carved out of the tree branches and lacquered to preserve them

One of the war memorial life size figures we came across

Another war memorial wood cutting guy, amazing handywork

Loved this warning site with some political lore on it..

Along the 4WD track to Ralph Falls is a hidden mine, you can’t go in (un)fortunately

Walking boards to protect local flora and even fauna

More weird moss and grass, it’s amazing what you see when you stop and look at the small stuff

This is on top of “Cash’s Lookout”, but it could also be the titanic..

Ralph Falls! Go here if you’re in tassie!

Cheeeeeeese! We love cheese!

Freycinet National Park

We ventured on towards Freycinet National Park. It’s a magical place to watch the sunrise, go for a hike and explore wine glass bay. Oh and to be a feast for mosquitos, so you better come prepared.

On the way back we took a quick detour to Bluestone Bay, a beautiful spot you can only get to with a 4WD like ours or a regular car that you really hate and / or want to damage badly.

A roo and a little roo if you look closely

That one time I woke up before Lydia to see the sunrise!

Sunrise from Isaac’s Point

Bluestone Bay, amazing place, hard to reach without a decent 4WD and lift kit

Bluestone Bay has huge marble marbles

Bluestone Bay rock pool

Cheesy selfies for the family

Wine glass bay before a 30 minute hike down

After a 2hr hike I took a quick dip into wine glass bay

Wine glass bay, I love Kookaburras, they are like noble birds acting like cats, not gaf :)

  Are we there yet?

Now you probably think “wow, what a week!”, well, that was just Sunday to Tuesday…

We stayed for a few days at Alex & Jo’s place near Castle Forbes Bay, thanks a bunch for having us. We had an amazing dinner and Lydia raided Alex’s wine cellar (she regretted it the next day, ha!) ;)

I also got some exercise in by helping Alex splitting wooden logs. I have no idea how he manages this by himself and I am truly impressed!

Here’s a quick look into the next three days and then I’ll probably just put another post up later because it’s simply just too much for one big post and I’m on holidays after all, so I can do that right? Right! Enjoy! M

Tasmania is cool! But it’s also very cold.

These cheeky birds nested around the house. When you come close they give you the angry stare!

This is a teaser for a separate post about the amazing Hastings Caves!

Lydia made a new friend!

Thanks Alex, for letting us visit for a couple of days, it’s been beautiful!

Inky! Shy at first, then endless cuddles!

Me working with Alex on slitting big wooden logs, tough work, even with the hydraulic log splitter!

Venturing through some bush land in tassie whilst avoiding tiger snakes (we saw none!)

Beautiful view from Alex and Jo’s place!

One day, we’ll have a reading window like this :)

Thistles, they look great but are a pest and if you don’t get rid of them they triple in numbers for the next year..

Lydia retired my thongs (flip flops for you brits / americans!) I loved these but they had to go..

How beautiful is Tasmania? And here’s Week 2! I survived the man flu ! And then we left Launceston and had an amazing time in Tasmania!

[noahcopeland-blog]

I have feelings for a game no one cares about: Legend of Kay Anniversary

I just finished playing The Legend of Kay: Anniversary. 

So basically, this was a game from 2005 that I would have played that crap out of as a kid, expect it was PS2 only (I was a Gamecube kid).

So about a year ago, they remastered it and released it on Wii U. Saw it at GameStop, got serious Ty the Tasmanian Tiger vibes from the box art, and bought it instantly. I had literally no knowledge of this game before then. Never even heard of it, and I don’t think most people have either. But I’m happy to say that I have enjoyed it!

So here comes the part where I needlessly analyze this game that only 6 people have played. 

TONE/WRITING:

The game is about a cat named Kay whose land gets invaded by these nasty rats and gorillas who plan to enslave everyone. Kay, of course, takes it upon himself to stop it. The whole game takes place in a very Asian inspired world of martial arts and Buddhist temples.

But one thing that is striking is that this game is completely tone-deaf with it’s narrative direction. I get the vibe that they are three different departments with three different interpretations of what the story should feel like.

Voice Director/Casting Director: “This is for little kids, so that’s get an 8-year-old to voice our lead hero, and make all the other voices really goofy and cartoony!”

Script Writer: “Let’s go super edgey with this and make our characters swear and make brutal threats of murder and decapitation! Also, add in alcohol.” 

Game Director/Story Director: “Let’s go for a good, balanced tone. One that’s kid friendly, but not goofy and soft. Think 4Kids Ninja Turtles maybe.”

Really though, it seems like no one was one the same page here. You get the feeling that the game wanted to be right-in-the-center tonally, but the voice acting got pulled in the extreme kiddy direction and the dialogue got pulled in the opposite direction.

Seriously, the titular hero, Kay, is voiced but what sounds like a very young child and it’s kinda embarrassing. Then, out of a nowhere, Kay starts swearing (in a very cringey edge-lord way, too) and it’s couldn’t feel more juxtaposed. 

Who thought this was a good idea? Were these guys just riding off the Jak II hype wave? “Jak II was a platformer with swearing and it was successful!”

Maybe Jak II’s darker, humanoid world found a way to get away with it, but the world of Legend Of Kay, with its fuzzy fur-ball characters, just can’t pull it off.

GAMEPLAY

This game really feels straight out of 2005. Definitely from a bygone era. And you know what? It’s an era that I miss. Legend of Kay has what I would expect, and want. It’s a third-person mascot platformer with action and adventure elements. Platforming, powerups, puzzles, combat, combos, exploration, hidden goodies, and a bunch of other things that were standard tropes of the genre in the 2000′s before 3D platformers faded into unjust obscurity (only to be replaced by a tiring barrage of first-person shooters).

The final boss feels exactly the way a final boss should. It’s big, epic, and you feel the that whole game is leading up to it. It’s great sense of excitement when you’re fighting the last boss, and great sense of accomplishment when you beat it. Not saying that modern games don’t do this ever, but it seemed so much more like an unspoken rule back then. It was expected and you were disappointed if it wasn’t there. Over time, I feel like developers tried doing different things for their final boss, perhaps solely for the sake of “avoiding cliches.” 

Let’s talk about combat. I think you can judge a game’s combat system on a “pre-Arkham” and “post-Arkham” scale. This game, of course, is pre-Arkham, and the combat system is pretty unique. 

Basically, if you get some combos going, you enter a new state of combat, where you zip around freely from one foe to the next, simply to how Arkham would do it four years later (and get ridiculous amounts of praise for it). It’s hard to put into words, but there���s definitely an “aha!” moment when you get a feel for the combat. There’s certain flow to it that is almost zen. 

While the combat does get repetitive and is unfair at times, it’s still a neat system that I’d like to see another game try to perfect.

You start with a sword, but you get two other weapons throughout the game: a big fat hammer and a set of Wolverine-esque claws. You be able to upgrade these weapons too, making them stronger which is a nice sense of progression. However, the claws are pretty useless, despite looking really cool. Immediately after you get them, you’ll use them to cut some bamboo and then will likely never see them again. They suck in battle and are less powerful than your standard sword. Why?

Moving on, there are definitely some weird gameplay moments of clunkyness that would have been unacceptable even at the time. For example: If you pull yourself up from a ledge grab on a moving platform, the platform will just move on without you and you’ll “pull” yourself up onto nothing and just fall through thin air. 

There’s also these weird colored diamonds that you can collect to increase your score. But to my knowledge, your score does absolutely nothing. You get no bonus for having a high score. It is literally just a number. Why?

As mentioned earlier, the voice acting is just terrible, and it really hurts how long winded some of the characters can be. At times, they talk just to talk. They don’t say anything of real value. Almost every time you run into enemies, the game stops to give you a “cutscene.” And by “cutscene,” I mean you sit and watch the enemies stand still in a defensive stance while they say five or six lines about how they want to hurt/beat/kill you. 

But in an odd way, part of me likes that. It gets too long and repetitive because it happens nearly every fight, but I like the attempt to make your enemies feel like characters with personalities. 

Speaking of making enemies feel more real, Legend of Kay has an interesting obsession with perma-death. Seriously, if you kill an enemy, his corpse will lay there infinitely. You can leave an area, turn off the game, load back up the save, go back to the area, and his body will still be lying right where you killed it. It’s feels more grim that way. In other platformers of the time, you’d kill an enemy and their body would fade out or disappear in smoke. But in Legend of Kay, the perma-death makes you start to feel the weight of your actions. You can’t just kill something and sweep the body away to instantly forget about. Nope, that body will always be there. Dang, that is some heavy stuff for a 2005 platformer.

One last thing. Legend of Kay does something that I hate in video games.  After you beat the game, loading your save file puts you right before the final boss forever. I hate that. I’ve always appreciated it when game will load you back to the hub-world and let you see the world in peace. At the very least, give me a level select list and let me replay levels I didn’t 100%. That brings me to my next point of discussion.

REMASTER:

I get the vibe that this 2015 remaster version had almost zero budget. Seriously, look at the back cover of the box. It looks like it was made in Photoshop in 10 mins. I’m not exaggerating. 

It’s doesn’t look terrible, it just looks like it cost almost nothing to make. This is not the work of a graphic designer. This is one of the programmers making it the day before the game ships.

Look at the text! It’s a plain as it gets.

Compare it to the original 2005 box art.

I didn’t play the original, but I get the vibe that almost no changes were made to the gameplay. Certainly not any big ones. Aside from some up-res’d textures, this the original 2005 Legend of Kay, warts and all. There were a lot of little things here and there that would go a long way into improving the game. Simple things that I’d imagine would be easy fixes. But this ain’t Majora’s Mask on 3DS. This is a graphical fix only.

OVERALL

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Legend of Kay: Anniversary. It’s not going to happen, but I would love to see a new Ledgend of Kay game in 2017 or sometime in the future. This is a relatively forgotten franchise that I think could use new life. In fact, you could use it’s obscurity to your advantage. The world and characters are already built, but there are hardly any preconceived notions to worry about. 

As much as I hate this word, this experience was “nostalgic” for me in a special way. It’s a game I didn’t play as a kid, but feels 100% like a game I would have played as kid. It was great to take a trip back to 2000′s era gaming without re-playing through a game that I’ve already seen a hundred times. It’s a new experience from an old era. And boy, I do miss that era.

You’re alright, Legend of Kay. You’re alright. 

(Now bring on Yooka-Laylee)

[fragiilexa]

oooo do all the questions for the mun meme !! >:))))

Getting to know you Questions for the Mun!

🎂- When’s your birthday?

february 1st ( so less than a month !!! !! ! !!! )

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦- What’s your family like?

My family is chill, I love them all even though my dad is… mmmm, a word I don’t feel like using. But he’s okay sometimes. My Mom & Sister are lovely I love them even if me & my Sister always banter back & forth.

🐶- Favorite animal?

WolvES. ( & lowkey snakes even tho i know nothin about them O.O ) but also Sloths, & Tasmanian Tigers ( even though they’re extinct :(((( )

��- Favorite color(s)?

Pink, Coral, Blues & just like, soft pastel type colors.

🎥- Favorite movie?

Favorite movie? Mary Poppins, Moana, orrrr The Help.

📺- Favorite TV show?

Glee 4ever RIP.

🎞- Favorite cartoon/anime?

Hm, Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron.

🍔- Favorite food?

Chicken ( like any type of it tbh my mom say’s I will become a chicken 1 day. ) But like, my mom’s bbq chicken is lovely. 

🍦- Favorite ice cream flavor?

Chocolate. I’m so bland but it’s so good? Maybe Superman but I haven’t had that in forever.

🍭- Favorite candy?

Pixy Sticks orrr Twix orrrr like ring pops they’re fun!

🍸- Do you drink?

I’m not 21 yet so no & even when I turn 21 I doubt I will, no one in my family drinks so it’s not really a ‘thing’ here tbh

👣- What do you like to do in your spare time?

I write & I write & I also don’t write bc when there is spare time I just lay around & think about they fact I’m not doing anything & panic lmao. But also like, I love to listen to music & dance around & just try to be happy???

⚽️- Do you like any sports?

My Default is Football ‘cause I don’t watch anything else, but like it’s okay to watch I don’t mind at all.

🎮- Favorite video game(s)?

Idk is sims a video game?

⛪️- Are you religious?

Yes. Like, I am struggling somewhat but I am incredibly religious.

⌛️- Last thing you did before logging in?

I took a video of my Sister making dinner bc she got a new camera & we’re trying to capture more little moments / memories 

🎈- Share a childhood memory!

I once got in a bike accident and scraped all the skin off of my nose & lost some of my teeth & everyone called me Rudolph lmaO 

🛍- What was the last purchase you made for?

Last thing I bought was a long sleeve running shirt that had #blessed on it 

💸- If you had a billion dollars and could only spend it, what would you buy first?

I would give all the Money my mom needed to pay off our cars, house & bills & let her quit her job & I would probably spend some of it on a trip & definitely spend it to take myself to see friends out of state & then I think I’d just get another dog & bigger house bc that’s a shit ton of money.

🖌- Are you artsy?

I’d like to think so yes

❤️- How would you describe yourself?

Awkward, Quiet, really obsessed with writing & celebrities, Loyal af, Um?? I’d describe myself as this: ???????

💛- How do other people describe you?

I don’t know I’ve been told I’m patient, & that I am really nice to people who others might not be as open/friendly with.

⭕️- Favorite Pokemon?

Vulpix.

💠- what is the Most expensive thing you own?

Uh shit probably my laptop.

⚜- What is the most precious thing you own?

My Cat. 

🐻- Do you have any stuffed animals?

I… I have four… on my  b ed …. I have an owl & a skunk & a bear & pinky pie :(( 

🐝- Favorite season?

Fall or Summertime.

🐋- share a Weird/funny story?

Once when I was working at camp, on staff training week we stayed up really late & talked about angels & demons but I’m getting to the funny part ok. ok so we were in the dining area & we were all supposed to be in our rooms/sleeping and one of the cooks came & we all freaked out & ran upstairs to our rooms I swear that was the fastest I had ever run but it was hilarious