#the one thing consistent with Transformers at this point is transforming alien robots

[welcometomybraincomics]

Mother

Context! Context! Context!

I cannot state enough how much I love Mother. This one is actually a departure from Robits, what I call the Mother AU.

Setting: Vole and Streaker (named Lo-fi and Streaker at the time of writing) are not Cybertronians or created by them, but rather AI weapons made by the species invading Mother (the planet). At some point during their activation, they became sentient. They are deployed to help destroy Mother's guardians (her ambulatory plant children who imitate various creatures) and they are defeated. Sensing their sentience, Mother decides to turn the twins to her side. She enveloped them within her and breathed more life into them, granting them some semblance of free will (considering everything on Mother is sort of part of a hivemind, true free will is... not natural), imbuing them with loyalty and purpose (she revived them, they have now been charged with protecting her and her children), and blessing them with her mark (the mark of Mother is the evidence of plant life woven into the flesh/faux flesh).

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

He stared into the lifeless eyes of the creature squatting in the mist. It looked like nothing he had ever seen before: long skinny forelimbs swept the ground, leaving ripples in the shallow waters of the dark swamp as equally skinny hind legs held its frail body erect. A mop of wilting leaves brushed over its face and head, hanging low over the rest of its stark white form reminding Lo-Fi of a weeping willow. 

Its bone-white body stood out against the dark swamp, even surrounded by mist. It sat crouched behind the shriveled root of some long-dead tree that sank sadly into the black water beneath it.

It gave him an odd feeling, one he couldn't quite describe. It felt foreign, but not in the same way invaders did. Those felt like vermin scuttling across Mother's skin, sending chills up his spine and filling him with hot and ugly anger. This? It felt almost dangerous. Everything about it filled him with a deep sense of wrong like it did not belong on Mother. That couldn't be right though, Mother's mark hung from its head, the branches leaving just enough space for the eyes to peek through. It looked of Mother, but it felt indescribably wrong. It made him want to do nothing but run deep into the forest and hide under the safe roots of the Great Elders. He couldn't though. Its gaze held him in place, as though if he looked away, even for an instant, it would be upon him, crushing him with its menacing air. 

—-

For a little more context look at Robits, The Epic Train Wreck Dumpsterfire of a Transformers sidestory AU

So, he didn't run. He held its gaze, staring at it for what felt like hours. It tilted its head to the side, almost quizzically, its willow branches dragging through the water and causing a ripple that sounded impossibly loud in the silence of the misty bog. The creature lifted a forearm and began moving forward on its knuckles.

Its movement sent his systems into panic, trying to pull up his weapons and a monstrous sense of dread rose in his chest and pressed his back, crushing him from both sides. His servos clicked frantically, trying to transform into any sort of weaponry, but nothing happened. He felt his head heating up as his ventilation systems failed to activate. He frantically opened his vents hoping for cool air to naturally circulate through him, relieving his overheating circuits, but all that came in was an unmistakable feeling of death and decay.  

The creature brought its other arm forward, taking another step closer to the helplessly panicking mech when a twig snapped somewhere behind it and the whole world spun into darkness. Suddenly, Lo-Fi found himself sitting up, weapons drawn and ventilating hard. His head swung around manically, his eyes taking in the view of a bright clearing filled with sunlight and surrounded by tall, healthy trees filled with green leaves and beautiful flowers. He began to calm down, recognizing his surroundings. He was home. Deep in the heart of the forest, surrounded by life and sound which warmed his mechanical heart. He sucked in a deep breath and listened to the sounds of bird song, insect chirps, and the rustle of leaves that indicated someone was on the hunt. He exhaled and disengaged his weapons. 

He looked beside him to the sleeping form of his brother whose red plating reflected the sun in brilliant white beams. His arms were wrapped around the leafy pelt of Nex, whose feline eyes boreholes of concern through the blue mech as his brother snored peacefully.

"You alright?" She asked, one ear twitching in concern.

"Yeah, I think so." Lo-Fi answered, breathing shakily. His friend continued to stare at him in concern. "It was just a bad dream." He smiled trying to reassure her.

She slipped out of  Streaker's hold and stalked towards Lo-Fi. The red mech grumbled something at her leaving but rolled over to take the warm spot she had left in the grass and settled back into sleep, his wings twitching lightly in what was likely a dream of flying. "Must have been some dream for you to freak out like that." Nex mused, brushing herself comfortingly against Lo-Fi's blue metal before settling against his back and wrapping her tail around him. "Wanna talk about it?"

Lo-Fi could still feel the eyes of that thing staring into him with its dead, hollow eyes. He shivered all over, his plates clinging together as they each moved independently to try and shake the ugly feeling of those eyes. No way in hell he was going to relive that all again when he had just escaped it. He shook his head. “No, not right now. Anything but that now. I need something to distract me. How’s your training to become the Mammalian Elder going?” He asked, trying to change the subject.

Nex gave him a concerned look before answering.

~~~

By the time Streaker had woken up, his brother and Nex were neck-deep in a conversation about politics. Uhg, boring. He didn’t bother interrupting, knowing they would be too engrossed to even notice him, transformed and went to go find his charges. Surely, the insectoids would have something more interesting than politics to talk about. He scoffed at the thought as he dove through the clouds. Who would willingly talk about that? It was so boring and confusing, all it ever did was give everyone a headache. He sighed heavily as he flew over the forest and allowed the view to rip everything else from his mind. 

His charges were exactly where he thought he would find them. Right by the entrance to their cave already eating their breakfast. They had always been early risers. Said it had something to do with “getting the best grub,” what that had to do with getting up when the sun rises he had no idea. 

“Hey, sprouts,” He said, transforming from a plane back into his bipedal form and landing a few feet away from the two insectoids. “What are the plans for today?”

Shesq shrugged nibbling on an aphid. “Nothing much, just entering the last few lines of code for the suits and repairing the damage from the last attack.”

Skela nodded, shoving the last bites of whatever bug she had managed to capture into her mandibles. Streaker couldn’t be sure of what it was today, she never really stuck to a strict diet, but from what he saw from the air, it looked like she had nabbed a big one today. Somehow, between him spotting the sisters' camp and landing, she had managed to devour the entire thing. It was kind of scary how fast she ate. “We were hoping you and Elder Blue could help us with some of it. A lot of the code got corrupted by the foreigners and we can’t quite remember all of it.”

The mechanoid leaned against a tree and nodded. He had first-hand experience with the code corrupting virus their planet’s attackers had created to try and decommission the tech which protected Mother’s surface. Originally, that had only been he and his brother, but they had spent the last few decades constructing mechanical weapons and suits for the other defenders to use so the virus’s use had spread. Thankfully, they had taught most of the pilots and gunners the ins and outs of their weapon’s programming and mechanics so they didn’t have to travel halfway across the planet every time something broke. The sisters, however, were only sprouts, practically fresh out of the ground, their marks hadn’t even fully come in yet, so it was only logical that they would still need some help. “Yeah, of course. Lo-Fi’s doing something right now, but I can help.” He walked into the cave where two mech suits lay dormant, waiting for their next use. “I’ve got a firewall that we’ve been working on to repel the viruses too.” He climbed up on one of the mechs, straddling its neck so he would have a good hold, opened up an access panel on the back of its head, and typed in a few passwords, opening up the coding. “What are you guys stuck on?”

The gorls, for reference

[vodid]

my toxic trait is looking at your art and thinking that i could do that too. everytime i try drawing Transformers it ends up lookin like a pile of metal that got ran over by two semi trucks blasted to cybertron and back then got the shit beaten out of it by Optimus Prime himself 😭

but fr though, how do you do it? like what kinds of shapes are they made of? how do all their weird alien metal parts move?

what may work for my style might not for you, as i've unfortunately learned through my years of yearning for/trying out another artist's skill, and that's okay. but i am very honored to be that kind of artist to you 💗 beating yourself up for not being like me won't help you, though 🥹 your art is great, regardless of if it looks like mine or not. i'm going on 7 years of doing this after all! (also i started with bayverse of all things 😵)

and honestly, a lot of it is just experimenting and finding what's right for you, what you need to improve/improvise on, and what you want out of your art. for me, i found that i have a very difficult time actually getting that sharp, blocky industrial style of robots down and eventually opted for a more organic, squishier look. but i do maintain their proportions as they're wildly different from a human's ghsdfsjs

you're already off to a great start doing exactly what i did to learn: redrawing screenshots from the shows. i learned most of what i know from tfp, with a lot of bayverse and g1 mixed in there. it took me about two years of that before i felt confident enough to start making original art consistently. it takes time (and tbf, i was still learning how to art in general when i started. so you really are off to a great start)

this is the kind of art i made in 2017:

massively different from my art now, right? through all these screenshots, i'd test out new ways to draw and color. at one point, every piece i made was trying something new. and it was okay if it didn't work out. means i know what not to do next time lol generally though, i'd NEVER do lineart. i mostly focused on building up my sketching and coloring skills, as seen here in my 2018 art:

and that kind of fucked me over for life so now i am left with painting over the sketch 😂 i digress though

in all honesty i've spent my entire art career figuring out how the fuck all their weird alien metal parts move 💀 a lot of it is BSing, some is recycling the same poses to make things easier on yourself and the rest is studying studying studying. cannot tell you the amount of times i've rewatched certain bayverse scenes frame by frame to figure out how all their parts move in tandem — i still don't know! 😅 g1 was a nightmare to figure out because of its blocky simplicity and limited range of motion. it's still a struggle to this day haha

it's really difficult how to explain how exactly i draw transformers, as it's just... something i do nowadays. there's not a ridiculous amount of thought put into it since i've built up my skill. but here's generally how i sketch their bodies and what shapes i use:

the first is slightly different as its a more detailed approach than g1 so just imagine the arms are a little rounder — "marshmallow," as my brother would call it — like the sketches in the second (even if those are a little more advanced in the process than the first)

my best advice to you is to learn their proportions and articulation via redrawing screenshots — various ones! i chose the most dynamic poses for my megatron practices in 2018 to nail it in my head lol but yes shows like tfp and earthspark are great for that (you could probably even do with looking at the storyboard animations for earthspark to help!)

and remember, i'm still learning too! i'm not gonna pretend like i know what i'm doing. but i'm glad i inspire you :)

[crimson-ace-reviews]

Ultraman Blazar: Initial Thoughts

So as of this post, the first eight episodes of Ultraman Blazar have aired, so I thought I'd give my initial thoughts on it like I did with Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger. Of course, this means another plot summary.

One night, a leader of a military platoon named Gento (Played by Tomoya Warabino) is nearly killed by a giant monster, but unlike earlier Ultraman shows, the titular Ultraman Blazar already resides in him. After awakening his Ultraman powers and defeating the monster, Gento is recruited by Chief Retsu Haruno (Played by Masaya Kato) to lead a new military organization, the Special Kaiju Reaction Detachment, or SKaRD. Gento's team consists of Vice-Captain Teruaki Nagura (Played by Yuki Ito), a disciplined analyst who serves as mission control, Emi Aobe (Played by Himena Tsukimiya), a master of disguise who serves as the team's intelligence officer, Yasunobu Bando (Played by Hayate Kajihara), a skilled mechanic who created the giant robot designed to fight Monsters, Earth Garon, and Anri Minami (Played by Konomi Naito), one of Earth Garon's pilots who struggles to adapt to the less strict environment SKaRD operates under.

THE STORY

The writing for this season was meant to deviate from the usual style associated with the past few Ultraman seasons. For one thing, the titular Ultraman Blazar is shown to be more aggressive than past Ultras, not only forcing Gento to transform in Episode 1, but shouting and growling during a fight, almost like an animal. He still gets the job done and fights monsters, but there's an underlying mystery as to who he really is, making him even more of an enigma than the Ultras who also had mysteries surrounding their past, like Ginga, X, or Decker.

As for the episodes, while they're the usual monster of the week stories, but they're still enjoyable in their own ways. Episode 1 is dark and foreboding, Episodes 2 and 3 are more lighthearted and set up SKaRD as a team, Episode 4 has Emi go undercover at a chemical company almost like in a cop show, Episode 5 is back to the lighthearted antics involving a monster who accidentally had a pair of cannons installed on its back, Episode 6 is a serious story involving an alien who hijacks Earth Garon, and Episode 7 is the first of a two-parter exploring humanity's impact on the planet. There's genuinely a lot of variety with the writing here.

THE CHARACTERS

SKaRD is a pretty well-rounded cast, all things considered.

Gento being the team's leader is a first in the franchise, and it leads to a lot of interesting plotlines. He's shown to be someone who cares for his team, and wants things to be less formal than most military operations, but at the same time, you can see how good of a leader he is. He's also shown to be married and has a kid too, which also adds a little more to make him relatable to the audience. As for Blazar himself, while we don't know much right now, there are still moments that highlight how different of a fighter he is from past Ultras, coming across as a hunter than a hero.

Emi is easily my favorite character in the show. While not the actual second-in-command, she works as a foil for Gento, and the two have great chemistry together. You can genuinely buy their friendship the most out of the entire cast. I also love how good at espionage she is, showing she's more of a spy than a straight up fighter.

Anri is also a really solid character. I like how she struggles the most to adjust to being part of a team as informal as SKaRD, and genuinely lets her weaknesses show more often than not, like her social awkwardness or her disgust towards bugs.

Yatsunobu is a nice take on one of the franchise's character archetypes, the mechanic. While socially awkward at times to the point of talking with a washing machine (which he even named Cururu), he's not the bombastic or quirky mad scientist in the way characters like Ide, Doigaki, or Yuka are. He's a humble man who just loves working with machines.

Teruaki and Retsu are... kind of just there, for the most part. So far, neither of them have really gotten a focus episode, and don't have a lot in terms of personality. Other than that, it's a pretty solid cast of characters.

We also have tons of original monsters in this show, with only a single returning alien so far. The monsters are all pretty cool too. They have a very Showa-esque charm to them with their behavior, like Gedos trying to eat a bunch of processed fish, or Dorgo being a peaceful monster who just wants to sleep. They have their own memorable quirks that make them more than just things for Blazar to punch.

Overall, while I don't have a lot to say, I'm really interested in seeing where Blazar goes in the future.

[callgespenst]

Finished Media, October 2022

I've gotten a lot out of posting about whatever I've read/watched/played most recently, so I'm going to try doing it as a month to month thing on here. Here's what I was doing this past month!

Tiger and Bunny 2: The rare long-awaited sequel that didn't let down ten years worth of expectations. Getting stuck in Netflix jail really killed the hype, but what can you do? I think I liked the first cour better than the second, not that the second was bad, but it felt more like a movie plot stretched out into a season. Sure hope that the third season (if that's feasible, no idea what the numbers look like on this one) doesn't take as long to drop.

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, and the Witch's Ghost, and the Alien Invaders: apparently these were direct to video so I refer to them as OVAs, which is only reinforced by the solidly Japanese staff in the credits. All good fun. Alien Invaders was my favorite story, but Witch's Ghost had Tim Curry knocking it out of the park.

Powered Armor Dorvack: a 1984 robot cartoon that I never, ever thought I'd be able to watch with English subtitles. Two of the main mecha from the series got turned into Transformers (Whirl and Roadbuster), and that was all I knew about this going in. Lots of strong character episodes and a very unique last third. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone as their very first robot anime or anything, but if you're full up on the classics it's worth a look.

Fuuto PI: Fun enough on its own, but mostly I just want to rewatch Double now. If I hadn't sworn off the roleplay toys I would absolutely buy the Double Driver again.

Shawshank Redemption: putting this in the middle of the list really makes it stand out. I got married at the cabin shown in the opening scenes of the film where the guy's wife gets murdered, that's the main reason I wanted to see this. Sure wish America still consistently made movies like this.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night: The wonky voice acting is honestly extremely charming. Gameplay is still fun and nuanced several console generations later. Definitely want to play more from the series, but I think I'll save it for next spooky season.

One Piece Film Red: This was just a Macross movie. This is not a joke or an exaggeration. So I highly recommend it.

Dragon Ball (entire original manga): Rereading this all the way through as an adult was really eye-opening. Sure, you can really tell the points at which the editors told Toriyama "what the FUCK are you doing, buddy?" But it's still a great time, I got more than a little emotional at the climax of the final fight, even. I could probably write an essay about how Goku and Vegeta are the most mischaracterized dudes in the whole of western fandom, but not today.

That's everything! Here's what might be next:

Playing: Bayonetta 3

Watching: Witch from Mercury, Pop Team Epic, Do It Yourself!, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Reading: Happy Kanako's Killer Life. I might also (god help me) try and catch up on One Piece.

[swinglong]

Robotek cartoons 80

Robotek cartoons 80 full#

Robotek cartoons 80 series#

Robotek cartoons 80 free#

Robotek cartoons 80 torrent#

I think I'd pass out if you made me watch Insidious or whatever. I have to squint through some parts of the films, this is on another level. I've only played about the first twenty minutes, I just can't do it. Only problem is that I'm too much of a wuss for horror games. Made sure I got the Ripley edition with both DLC missions on the original Nostromo. Got Alien Isolation for my brithday the other day. that would be a daft and shitty thing to do. To be fair he probly didn't want to resurrect a thread that's been dead since last summer. I figured that maybe you should have checked the catalogue first:

Robotek cartoons 80 torrent#

Humanity is doomed as I'm simply incapable of holding back the torrent of battleships the aliens keep hurling at me. Recently I have been slogging away on XCOM: Enemy Within with the Long War mod. I figured I'd make an /e/ equivalent of that great, big /beat/ thread. That might be consistent with the Blue Lion emerging from the moat only to fall back.Friday 8:29 pm 19768 What are you playing right now?

Robotek cartoons 80 full#

I seem to recall that some of the episodes followed the pattern of Bad Guys attempting to block just one of the Lions from emerging for battle, with a goal of preventing formation of the full Voltron by all five Lions. The base was a castle surrounded by, but not under, water. I vaguely remember an episode where they got enough power to briefly bring the base above water and fire a few shots before having the robot shaped base fall back under water. That could be what would give you the impression that they came from underwater. Other lions, similar to the way black lion appears to fly faster than It is also shown to perform better underwater than the The base was a castle set on an island in the middle of a large lake ("moat") with an enormous retracting bridge:Įach of the 5 Lions emerged from the castle via a separate route the Blue Lion came out via the moat: The Blue Lion's hangar is located underneath the moat that surrounds I think their base was a giant robot, and was stuck under water, possibly in the ocean. Each Lion could fight separately, but all five could transform themselves into components (legs, arms, torso) that, put together, formed a larger humanoid mecha. Lion Voltron consisted of 5 Lion-shaped mecha, each piloted by a human. I believe the humans piloted smaller mechs, that were sort of transformers like (I think)

Robotek cartoons 80 series#

The series started running in 1984, and I believe Lion Voltron was the first variant to air. This could be Voltron, particularly the Lion Voltron variant. Trying to remember an 80s era anime cartoon that had mechs in it. Below is the Robotech Wiki link if you would like to learn more.

Robotek cartoons 80 free#

Episodes are easy to find online, or are currently free to Amazon Prime members. This is one of my all time favorite animes and I'll still go back and watch it from time to time. Additionally the smaller mechs were stationed aboard the SDF-1, a giant alien battlecruiser that could also change into a robotish/human form when necessary.Īt one point during the series the SDF-1 does make a landing in the ocean and is mostly underwater.(Blue Wind, Homecoming)Īt the end of the first season, the SDF-1 is again submerged in water after having been badly damaged over time, and in the last episode the crew manage to get just enough power to the ship to raise it from the water and fire at the enemy before crashing down again, with it's fall being cushioned by the water.(To the Stars) This was a an 80s era anime in which the mechs were piloted from the inside and were transformable from a fighter jet to a bipedal batteloid and a hybrid of the two in guardian mode. You are most likely thinking of Robotech.

[chaotic-galaxy-collective]

Alterhuman is a term that refers to someone who does not fit the traditional standard of what is considered human, and/or does not identify as human. This can include non-human system members and introjects, however it also includes singlets who don't quite fit the term human, or identify as non-human to an extent.

Otherkin refers to someone who identifies partially or wholly as something non-human, usually involuntarily.

Mythkin: identifying as something found in mythology, such as a unicorn, merperson, dragon, etc.

Divinekin: identifying as something with divine origin, such as an angel, demon, or other deity.

Faekin: identifying as any type of fae, such as fairies or elves.

Alienkin: identifying as an alien, or any non-earth being.

Robotkin: identifying as a robot, AI, or similar technology.

Objectkin: identifying as an object of some kind.

Conceptkin: identifying as a concept of some kind. This may overlap with fictionkin and musickin.

Musickin: identifying as a song, album, tune, or similar.

Plantkin: identifying as a tree, flower, or other plant.

Foodkin: identifying as a food of some kind.

Polykin: having multiple kintypes; identifying as multiple beings.

Halfkin or demikin: Those who identify partially as another species/a fictional being, rather than fully. A kin identity such as a Werewolfkin could be considered a halfkin under certain circumstances.

Therians or animalkin are people who feel their spirit is non-human, typically being an earthly animal. They are included under otherkin, though they describe those with more earthly-based spirits, and do not include creatures that are mythical, fictional, deities, magical, etc.

Therians may have animalistic impulses and instincts such as biting, hissing, scratching and panting, and they also may 'shift' and feel more animalistic at times, though not all therians shift. Some may engage in quadrobics (depending on the theriotype), wear faux tails, ears, and wings, and join therian packs to meet other members of the community.

Fictionkin (formerly known as mediakin) are those who identify as something found in fiction, including characters, species, glitches, etc. This may or may not be considered otherkin, since fictionkin includes human fictotypes, however it is typically included under the otherkin umbrella.

Some fictionkin believe they are reincarnated, some follow psychological beliefs for their identity, while some follow metaphysical beliefs (such as soul collecting.)

Hearted/Otherhearted/Fictionhearted

For the therian, otherkin and fictionkin community respectively, being ‘hearted is having a strong feeling of connection and kinship with a being. This differs from kin due to the fact that ‘hearted individuals identify with the creature, not as it.

Astral Shift

When someone’s astral body takes on the form of their kintypes during astral projection.

Aura Shift

When one’s aura takes on the shape of their kintypes.

Awakening

When Someone comes to the realization that they identify as nonhuman. This is not “becoming” or choosing to be a therian or kin, it is realizing what they were all along.

Berserker Shift

A type of deep mental shift where all human awareness is lost and the individual becomes their kintype completely (mentally, not physically.)

Bi-location Shift

A shift in which the shifter leaves their physical body and materializes elsewhere in the form of their kintype. Some people claim that the form is physical and can interact with objects, while others say it can not. This shift is a very controversial concept in the community.

Cladotherian

Someone who identifies as a whole clade of animals, rather than a specific species. For example, a feline cladotherian would identify as all species of felines, (tigers and bobcats and house cats etc...) or could be described as having a feline “essence,” without being able to narrow it down to a specific theriotype. They may have a few main forms, such as being a feline cladotherian that often has tiger and house cat shifts.

Contherian

A person who’s humanside and animalside are fully integrated, so they are in a consistent state of both human and animal at all times. They do not experience shifts because there is nothing to shift into.

Draconic

Describing the community of people who identify themselves as dragons spiritually or psychologically. Most of the old draconic community has merged with the ever-growing otherkin community.

Dream Shift

A dream Shift is when one is, or transforms into their theriotype in their dreams. When still searching for your kintype, dreams should be taken with a grain of salt, as they can often have other, non-literal meaning that’s not so obvious, and animal dreams do not always point to a kintype.

Emotional Shift

A shift that is triggered during certain emotions.

Greymuzzle

Someone who has been in the therian, otherkin or furry community for a long time and has a lot of wisdom and experience. This is not a self-given

Involuntary Shift

A shift that happens without conscious effort

Kintype/Kinself

The word used to describe the species or character one identifies as. Used mostly by otherkin and fictionkin.

Mental Shift

When one’s thoughts and behaviours change to resemble ones kintype. This can be anything from a mild animalistic urge, to a very strong shift in perception.

Paleotherian

A therianthrope that identifies as a creature that is extinct. Also can be called paleokin.

Phantom/Astral Limb

A phantom limb when one feels and receives sensory info from what feels like a limb when no such thing exists physically. This is experienced by amputees who have their limb, as well as therians and otherkin. The type that therians and otherkin feel specifically, are called supernumerary phantom limbs, because they feel limbs such as tails and wings that were never there in the first place, at least not in ones human life.

Phantom/Astral Limb Shift

A Phantom/Astral Limb shift is a Shift in which the kin feels the sensation of the body parts of their kintype, such as a cat therian feeling a tail, although there isn’t one there.

Polymorph

Not to be confused with polykin, a polymorph is someone who’s kintype shapeshifts into a vast array of forms, though they usually have a base form.

Polytherian/Polykin/Polywere

A polytherian, or, polykin is an individual who has more than one therio and/or kintype.

Psychological Therian/Kin

Someone who believes that their therianthropy/kinity stems from a psychological cause, such as abnormal brain wiring or imprinting.

Sensory Shift

A sensory shift is when a kins senses become heightened and more like that of their kintype. This is not a physical heightening of the senses (Senses can not be heightened beyond the limits of the human body,) but rather a heightened awareness of those senses, resulting in the person noticing them more.

Shapeshifterkin

Someone who has a kintype that is able to shift into other beings. This is not the same as actually claiming to be able to physically shift.

Shift

A change in state that causes one to become more like their kintype. There are many different kinds of shifts.

Species Dysphoria

A feeling of great discontentment/discomfort about ones human body. Feeling as if one was born the wrong species.

Spiritual Shift

When someone’s aura or astral body shifts into their kintype

Spiritual Therian/Otherkin

Someone who believes their therianthropy or kinity stems from spiritual causes.

Standard Therian/Otherkin

A therian or otherkin that only has one kintype.

Sun/syntherian

A suntherian is someone who’s theriotype is integrated in their personality. However, unlike contherians, they can have changes in mood that cause them to feel more or less non-human.

Synpath

Someone dwho identifies strongly with and has a deep connection to a creature. This is sometimes used interchangeably with otherhearted.

Therian Gear

Therian Gear are articles of clothing or accessories that some therians like to wear as a way of feeling more like their theriotype. They can be good relievers of dysphoria, but can also just be worn for fun. Some examples of Therian Gear would be a tail, an animal shirt, a therian necklace or a headband with animal ears attached. 

Theriomythic

An Uncommon term used to describe someone who identifies as a mythical creature such as a dragon or gryphon, but feels more wild and instinctual, and often finds it easier to relate to the therian than the otherkin community.

Vacillant Therian

A therian whose therioside is integrated so that shifts occur fluidly as if on a sliding scale.

Voluntary Shift

A shift that is induced through conscious effort.

[tyrantisterror]

I did a four part series of trivia posts when ATOM Volume 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us! came out, and that was pretty fun!  You can see that set of trivia posts here if you’d like.  I thought it’d be fun to do another now that ATOM Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth! is out - just one this time, because a lot of the trivia I talked about with Volume 1 still applies.

I’m gonna divide this into two sections: non-spoiler trivia, for things that really don’t give a lot of plot points away, and spoiler trivia, for things that DO give away major plot points.  I recommend not reading the spoiler trivia until after you’ve read Tyrantis Roams the Earth!, for obvious reasons, and will put the spoiler trivia under a cut.

Ok, let’s go!

- So if you read ATOM Volume 1, you probably noticed that the book is split not only into chapters, but “episodes,” which consist of four chapters a piece.  It’s kind of a nod to how the series owes a great deal of its DNA to various monster of the week shows, with Godzilla: the Series and The Godzilla Power Hour being obvious influences.  It also allowed me to pepper in some illustrations and cheesy b-movie style titles into each volume.

- The first “episode” of Volume 2, Tyrantis in Tokyo, pays explicit homage to the giant monster movies of Japan, perhaps even moreso than the chapters that came before it.  Given how much Japanese media influenced ATOM - from tokusatsu like the Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman franchises to anime like Digimon and Evangelion (hell, the title of this episode itself is a tip of the hat to Tenchi Muyo by way of one of its spinoffs) - it kind of felt obligatory that Tyrantis visit Japan and pay his respects.

- Tyrantis in Tokyo also fits in a tribute to another staple of Atomic Age pop culture: Rock and Roll.

- Kutulusca, the giant cephalopod that appears in Tyrantis in Tokyo, is one of the oldest kaiju in this series, dating back to the first iteration of Tyrantis’s story that I put to paper back in 2001 or so.  It’s changed a lot since then, but its fight with Tyrantis goes more or less the way it originally did.

- Old Meg, the giant placoderm/shark, and Nastadyne, the bipedal beetle, both owe their existence directly to Deviantart’s Godzilla fandom.  Old Meg originated as a dunkleosteus monster I submitted to a “create a Godzilla kaiju” contest held by Matt Frank, while Nastadyne is based on a Megalon redesign I made during the “redesign all the Godzilla kaiju” phase of DA’s kaiju fandom.

- The second episode, Tyrantis vs. the Red Menace, gets dark as we visit the USSR, which had enough REAL horror with atomic power in its history to make creature features seem a bit defanged by comparison.  It’s probably the episode with the strongest horror elements - ATOM’s always been influenced by Resident Evil, and this is probably where that influence shows the most strongly.

- It also features the first fully robotic mecha in the series, the mighty Herakoschei!  Its name is a combination of “Heracles” and “Koschei the Deathless,” with the former part being added by its Russian creators to make it seem a bit more international as they offer it to the U.N. in hopes of gaining aid for a very extreme kaiju problem they’ve developed.

- Most of Tyrantis vs. the Red Menace takes place in the Siberian Monster Zone.  Its name is a reference to the Lawless Monster Zone in Ultraman, which is such a cool fucking name I wish that I wish I could go back in time and steal it.

- The next episode, Tyrantis’s Revenge, is... full of spoilers, so we’ll move on for now.

- The penultimate episode, Tyrantis vs. the Martian Monsters, is a love letter to MANY different sci-fi stories that involve life on Mars, though the most prominent of them is of course The War of The Worlds (one of my top 3 favorite books) and its various adaptations.  From its tentacles sapient martians, the tripodal leader of the titular monsters whose name includes the word “ulla” which is uttered by said sapient martians, the plant monster made of red vines, the cylinder-shaped spacecraft the Martian monsters are sent to earth on, the copper-skinned stingray-esque flying martian who shoots lasers from its tail, and the fact that every chapter title in this episode is a quote from the book, the H.G. Wells influence is STRONG.

- The final episode, Invasion from Beyond!, is shamelessly inspired by Destroy All Monsters, although there’s a dash of “To Serve Men,” Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and The Day the Earth Stood Still mixed in as well.  It’s also sort of a tribute to my first “published” bit of a kaiju fiction - a rewrite of Destroy All Monsters that included EVERY Godzilla monster that had appeared at the time, which my middle school self wrote back in 2002 or so for Kaiju Headquarters, a kaiju fansite I’m not sure exists anymore.  Invasion from Beyond! is just as ambitious (but hopefully better executed) as my DAM Remake, with dozens upon dozens of different kaiju duking it out, earthlings vs. aliens.

- There were three different documents I made to outline the final battle of Invasion from Beyond!  It’s the largest episode of the series so far and more than half of it is that fucking fight.  My inner child is pleased, though, so hopefully you will be too.

Ok, that’s all I can share without spoilers.  READER BEWARE WHAT FOLLOWS BELOW THE CUT!

JUST MAKING SURE you know that SPOILERS will follow from here on out.  Read at your own peril!  YOU WERE WARNED!

(I’m gonna start with lighter ones just in case you scrolled too far and want to turn back)

- There’s a number of explicit Spielberg homages in ATOM Volume 2, from a “we need a bigger boat” joke during a chase with a giant shark to the fact that Invasion from Beyond! opens with a group of people flying to an island of monsters to review whether or not it should get more funding.

- When Tyrantis appears in the first chapter, I snuck in modified lyrics of The Godzilla Power Hour’s theme song.  “Up from the depths”... “several stories high”... “breathing fire”... “its head in the sky”... Tyrantis!  Tyrantis!  Tyrantis!

- The two rock bands in Tyrantis in Tokyo have real life inspirations ala Gwen Valentine, albeit a bit more muddled than hers.  The Cashews are inspired by The Peanuts (see what I did there), while The Thunder Lizards are a mix of The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper.  I wanted The Thunder Lizards to be more akin to the myth of a famous rock and roll band than the reality - less the real Beatles and more the Yellow Submarine cartoon version of them.

- The song The Thunder Lizards write for Tyrantis was written to fit the tune of “The Godzilla March” from Godzilla vs. Gigan, though ideally if someone made an actual song of it it would be its own song.  I got the idea from Over the Garden Wall, which used the Christmas song “O Holy Night” as a a starting point for “Come Wayward Souls.”

- Perry Martin, UNNO reporter and peer of Henry Robertson, is a nod to Raymond Burr, with his name being a combination of two of Burr’s most famous roles: Perry Mason, and Steve Martin from Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956).

- Dr. Rinko Tsuburaya is a few homages in one.  Her name comes from Rinko Kikuchi (who played Mako Mori in Pacific Rim), while her last name is obviously in homage of Eiji Tsuburaya.  Her being the daughter of an esteemed scientist is inspired by Emiko Yamane from the original Gojira.

- Nastadyne’s Burning Justice mode is named after a similar super mode from various Transformers cartoons, though it’s more directly inspired by the Shining/Burning Finger super move from G Gundam.

- Martians sending kaiju to different planets via shooting them out of cannons (with or without cylinder spaceships around them) is another War of the Worlds shoutout.  So is martians living on Venus after their homeworld was made uninhabitable, actually.

- Kurokame’s vocalizations are described as wails in explicit homage to Gamera.  His name can be translated as either “black tortoise” (a reference to the mythical guardian beast Genbu, which can also be construed as a Gamera reference thanks to Gamera: Advent of Irys implying Gamera and Genbu are one and the same) or a portmanteau of the Japanese words for crocodile and turtle - “crocturtle.”

- Burodon’s name is just a mangling of “burrow down.”  It also sounds vaguely like Baragon, who Burodon is loosely inspired by.  AND, since Burodon is sort of a knockoff/modified Baragon, that kinda makes him a reference to various monsters in Ultraman!

- The final battle of Tyrantis in Tokyo is sort of a hybrid of the finales of Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster and Destroy All Monsters.  

- The Japanese kaiju teaching Tyrantis the art of throwing rocks at your enemies is both a joke on the prominence of rock throwing in Japanese kaiju fights AND the tired trope of an American hero learning secret martial arts from a Japanese mentor ala Batman, Iron Fist, etc.  In this case, the secret martial art is throwing rocks at people.

- When introduced to Herakoschei and its pilot, we are told that the strain of piloting this early mecha is so intense that many pilots have died in the process, with the current one passing out on more than few occasions.  This is of course a Pacific Rim homage - sadly, no one invents drifting.

- Herakoschei’s design is a loose homage to Robby the Robot and Cherno Alpha, because big boxy robots are cool.

- The Writhing Flesh and ESPECIALLY Pathogen are both hugely influenced by Resident Evil and The Thing.  Giant body horror piles of raw flesh, tendrils, mismatched mouths and limbs may be a bit outside the main era of monster design ATOM homages, but they fit the themes and bring a nice contrast.

- I came up with Pathogen long before Corona but MAN it definitely feels different in 2021 to have a giant monster whose name is a synonym for disease driving other creatures crazy in a quarantine zone than it did when I plotted out the story in 2016.

- The chapter title “Hello, Old Foes” is a riff on “Goodbye, Old Friend”

- Minerva, the kaiju-fied clone of Dr. Lerna, is meant to be an homage to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, which is a genuinely good giant monster flick.  I am sure many of you will also believe I included her because I’m a pervert whose into tall women, but you’d be wrong!  I included the seven foot tall Russian mecha pilot Ludmilla Portnova because I’m a pervert whose into tall women.  Minerva’s inclusion was just coincidental, I swear!

- Since Promythigor is a play on the archetypal ape kaiju to contrast Tyrantis as a play on the archetypal fire-breathing reptile kaiju, their fight has a lot of nods to King Kong movies.  Promythigor attempts the famous jaw-snap maneuver of Kong (with less success), J.C. Clark paraphrases the “brute force vs. a thinking animal” line from the King Kong vs. Godzilla American cut, and Tyrantis slides down a mountain to knock Promythigor off his feet in a reversal of Kong doing the same in King Kong vs. Godzilla.

- Tyrantis sliding down a mountain on his tail doubles as a Godzilla vs. Megalon homage.

- Though Promythigor is the archetypal Ape and Tyrantis the archetypal Fire-Breathing Reptile, I think it’s fun to note that in some ways, Promythigor is the Godzilla equivalent in their matchup, and Tyrantis the Kong.  Promythigor has a slight size advantage, was scarred by humans performing unethical weapons technology, and is associated with violent explosions.  Tyrantis is a good-at-heart prehistoric beast who humanized in part by his unlikely friendship with a human woman.

- Of course, in the context of the famous quote from the American cut of King Kong vs. Godzilla, they remain in their archetypal lanes.  Promythigor is the more intelligent of the two (though not necessarily wiser), and Tyrantis is in many ways a brute reptile.  Their battle is a rebuttal of sorts to the assertion that Kong is the “better” animal because he is closer to human.  Promythigor’s near human creativity and emotions don’t make him the kinder/more benevolent monster, but instead fuel a very self-centered and destructive attitude that makes him the far more dangerous threat.  On the other hand, Tyrantis, who is less intelligent, limited in communication with others by his reptilian mindset and instincts, and simple in his thoughts and desires, is nonetheless a sweet creature that is easily dealt with when others consider his animal needs and mindset.  There’s a quote from Hellboy I love that probably sums up all of my writing thus far: “To be other than human does not mean the same as being less,” and that’s what the matchup between these two in particular tries to illustrate: the “less” human Tyrantis is nonetheless more benign than the “more” human Promythigor.

- Kraydi the psychic lizard began life as a soft sculpture I made of the Canyon Krayt Dragon from The Wildlife of Star Wars.  The sculpture didn’t look much like the illustration, but I liked how it came out, and so I made it an original monster named Kraydi (see what I did there).  Figuring out an explanation for that name in ATOM’s world was possibly the most difficult kaiju naming task in the series, but it worked out in the end.

- Kraydi and Promythigor having psychic powers is a result of my time on Godzilla fan forums in my middle school years.  Most of the forums had OC kaiju battle tournaments, and SO many of those kaiju had a wide array of beam weapons and psychic powers just to win the tournaments by beam-spamming and mind controlling their foes into oblivion.  There’s a special kind of rage you get when your original creation is beaten by “Fire Godzilla” because he has a genius level intellect and the power of unstoppable telekinesis.  Kraydi began as (and still is I suppose) my attempt to do a psychic kaiju well, while Promythigor’s villainy being tied to psychic powers being forced on him is sort of my passive aggressive commentary on people foisting powers on a monster without any real thematic reason for them.

- Henry Robertson and Dr. Praetorius chewing out the laziness of people giving kaiju completely unaltered names of mythic beasts will probably be seen as a jab at the Monsterverse and/or the numerous writers in the kaiju OC scene who do the same, but it’s ACTUALLY a jab at my past self, who had DOZENS of kaiju whose names were just Greek mythological figures verbatim.  There are dozens of kaiju named Hydra, Scylla, Charybdis, Chimera, etc., past me, try to make the names stand out!  Oh wait you did.  I mean, don’t pat yourself on the back too much, you still went with “Mothmanud” as a canon name and never came up with something better, but, like, good on ya for trying I guess.

- Dr. Praetorius takes his name from the evil mad scientis in Bride of Frankenstein, who basically has all the wicked traits that Universal’s Frankenstein downplayed in their take on Dr. Frankenstein.  Ironically, ATOM’s Dr. Praetorius is a bit less evil than his fellow mad scientists in ATOM.  I really like how his character turned out, he surprised me.

- Isaac Rossum, the pilot of the USA mecha Atomoton, is named for Isaac Aasimov, whose robot stories are to robot fiction what Lord of the Rings is to high fantasy.  His last name is a reference to Rossum’s Universal Robots, which is where the word “robot” came from.

- The unfortunate pilots of MechaTyrantis in ATOM Volumes 1 and 2 are all nods to Jurassic Park.  John Ludlow = John Hammond and Peter Ludlow, Ian Grant = Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant, Dennis Dodgson = Dennis Nedry and Lewis Dodgson.

- A good way to pitch Invasion from Beyond! would be “what if the staff and monsters were able to fight back when the Kilaaks tried to take over Monsterland?”

- Ok, here’s a fun joke that no one will get but me because it requires a very specific chain of logic based on some obscure and loosely connected nerd bullshit.  There’s a rocker in ATOM’s universe named Sebastian Haff, right?  One of his songs, “Darling Let’s Shimmy,” is referenced right before a mothmanud larva emerges from the ground in both ATOM Vol. 1 and 2.  Ok, so, in the Bubba Hotep, an aging Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff claims he is actually the real Elvis Presley, having changed places with the real Sebastian Haff as a sort of Prince and the Pauper deal that went wrong.  Got that?  Ok, so, in UFO folklore, a common joke is the theory that Elvis didn’t die, but was rather abducted by aliens (or he actually WAS an alien the whole time - the whole “Elvis didn’t die, he just went home” joke in Men in Black is a good example of this).  Ok?  Ok.  So, in ATOM’s universe, we can surmise that their equivalent of Elvis, whose name is Sebastian Haff, WAS abducted by aliens, and that his song “Darling Let’s Shimmy” is subconsciously influenced by his repressed memories from his time aboard the Beyonder spaceships, which is why it accidentally awoke a Mothmanud larva in Volume 1.  There’s a lot of bullshit jokes I put into ATOM, but this is perhaps the bullshittiest of them all.

- One of the most common bits of feedback on ATOM Volume 1 I got was “I kept waiting for something to eat Brick Rockwell, he’s such an asshole.”  And I had to smile and go, “Oh, yeah, guess he never got his, huh?” the whole time without letting on that he was going to die here all along!

- Dr. Lerna and Brick Rockwell’s nature as foils to each other is probably most apparent in Invasion from Beyond!, where both are given fairly similar situations - a nonhuman approaches them with a solution to a global crisis - and react to it very differently.  I worry that some people may think they both made the same choice and got different results, and that that’s hypocrisy on my part, but I hope I wrote it so you can see how their choices and situations actually differ in key ways, and why their decisions, while similar on the surface, are ultimately very different, and thus result in almost opposite outcomes.

- So, when I planned out this book in 2016, I swear I didn’t know about the Orca from 2019′s Godzilla King of the Monsters.  Having the plot hang around Dr. Lerna deciding whether or not to use a sonic device to rouse all the kaiju to save the earth was not INTENDED to be a Monsterverse reference - it came about from me looking at Pathfinder’s take on kaiju, who are all explicitly influenceable by music, and thinking, “Oh, wow, music and songs DO have a major connection with kaiju in a lot of media, I should do something with that.”  Whem KOTM came out a few days after Volume 1 came out I realized I was kinda fucked here, because the comparison was definitely going to be made, but I’d also set this all up already and you can’t just change suddenly to avoid looking like a copy cat and make a good story, so... I dunno, I leaned into it a bit, but it is what it is.

- While most people will probably think they’re a reference to the Reptoids of UFO folklore, the Reptodites are more inspired by the Dinosapien of speculative evolution fame and, even morso, by the Reptites from Chrono Trigger.  Me wanting to avoid the “lizard people control the government” conspiracy theory trope is one of the main reasons why Reptodites have this non-interference clause with humanity.

- Lieutenant Gray is a bunch of different humanoid aliens rolled into one - a little Hopskinville goblin, a little classic gray, a little this one weird alien with five-fingered zygodactyl hands, etc.

- There’s some Beyonder Mecha in this volume that are basically kaiju-fied versions of the Flatwoods Monster.  The species that built them ALSO engineered the Mothmanuds, because connecting Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster is fun!

- Pleprah is, obviously, a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater.

- Tyrantis’s brush with death, in addition to being so very anime, was inspired by my dad outlining how mythic heroes often have to travel to the underworld/land of the dead before they can finish their journey.  It’s one of the plot points that I’ve had planned for this series since middle school.

- I’m sure some will view it as hackneyed and corny, but as a person who’s battled with depression for decades, having Tyrantis’s choice to live be the big heroic turn of the finale was very important to me.  Tyrantis incorporates elements of a lot of imaginary friends I made as a kid, and in many ways he’s kind of the face of my more positive side in my head.  He’s been telling me to choose to live for a while, and while maybe to an outsider it may seem hackneyed, it’s just... very Tyrantis.  He chooses life and kindness in the face of pain and struggle.  That’s Tyrantis.

- Tyrantis’s powered up form is called “Hyper Mode,” which is another Gundam reference.  Originally it was a lot gaudier and involved him turning gold like a fuckin’ Super Saiyan.  I opted for something a little more toned down here.  

- Also, speaking of KOTM references, I decided to make Hyper Mode Tyrantis’s final duel with Pathogen be a sort of foil to Burning Godzilla’s final bout with Ghidorah in KOTM.  Instead of ravaging the city, Hyper Tyrantis’s pulse of energy rejuvenates his fallen allies, and as a result he is “crowned” not out of fear for his supremacy in the wake of killing a powerful enemy, but in gratitude for his kindness.  See?  Leaning into it!

- And now I can finally reveal that Yamaneon is ATOM’s equivalent of The Monolith Monsters - that is, a kaiju that is also a mineral.  I took the “strange continuously growing rock” thing in a very different direction, though, as unlike The Monolith Monsters, Yamaneon is actually alive.

- At various points in the pre-writing process, either Promythigor, MechaTyrantis, or both were going to die fighting Pathogen.  I ultimately decided to let them both live, with MechaTyrantis even getting his flesh and blood body back, because I think it’s more interesting and thematically consistent that way.  They get a chance to heal their wounds by changing their ways.

- The Great Beyonder and Dorazor both almost didn’t make the cut, as I felt they didn’t have the same pull as villains that Pathogen, Promythigor, and MechaTyrantis did.  But then I thought that could actually be the gag - build them up as the final boss, only to have Pathogen take their crown.  I want to explore post-face turn Dorazor a bit more, though.  We’ll have to see about that in a later volume.

- Volumes 1 and 2 make up what I call “The Ballad of Tyrantis Arc” for ATOM.  I call it that because Tyrantis’s storyline in these two volumes was patterend after Chivalric ballads like Yvain the Knight of the Lion.  Tyrantis, a heroic warrior who is kind but dumb of ass, learns of strange goings on outside his home and investigates.  During his journey into the unknown he falls in love with a powerful woman, whose favor he tries to win.  Through happenstance he is separated from his love and, distraught, wanders around fighting various foes to prove his worth, before finally returning to his love a better hero.  Invasion from Beyond! could even be seen as a sort of Morte d’Artur, with Tyrantis and a bunch of other kaiju heroes (including Nastadyne and Kemlasulla, who are built up as Hero Kaiju of Another Story) take part in a huge battle that threatens their idealic kingdom (of monsters).

- Volume 2 isn’t the end of ATOM, but it’s designed to work as an ending if you want to tap out here.  As a reader I feel a definitive ending is important, but as a writer I’m always tempted to revisit my beloved characters, so I feel giving closure while leaving a few doors open for possible future adventures is a good compromise between these positions.  There will be more ATOM stories, some (but not all!) following Tyrantis and Dr. Lerna, but if you want to know that Tyrantis and Dr. Lerna get an ending and the resolution to their arcs such a thing promises, here you go.  An ending, if not THE END.

[scope-dogg]

Genesis Climber Mospeada: Final Thoughts

Mospeada’s probably most notable for being one of the three anime series that was frankensteined together to make the Robotech saga, alongside the more famous Super Dimension Fortress Macross and the less well know Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross. However, it’s a series with a legacy of its own on its own merits in Japan and has had some degree of enduring popularity - the IP even has a new IP called Genesis Breaker in the works. So, is it good enough to warrant that?

In my opinion, only sort of. This is a series with some charismatic characters, cool mechanical designs, solid animation for its time and a great soundtrack, as well as an initially promising plot, but having just finished it I can’t help but feel like it didn’t quite stick the landing and ultimately didn’t manage to become something greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately a plot that feels half-baked is the chief culprit for this.

The plot setup is that the Earth is invaded by a mysterious alien species called the Inbit, who manage to completely force humanity’s governments and militaries from the surface of the planet entirely. Humanity rebuilds on its colonies on Mars and eventually launches an armada to reclaim Earth, only for their invasion to fail. Refusing to give in, they launch a second armada some time later. Lieutenant Stig Bernard is a soldier who is part of this second invasion. Re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere goes poorly, and while Stig makes it through, humanity’s force is scattered, and his fiancé Marlene is killed during the operation. Grieving and all alone, Stig nevertheless must gather his resolve and continue with his mission to attack Reflex Point, a location in North America believed to be the nexus of alien activity. Along the way, he’ll gather up a motley band of new allies who’ll join him in his quest.

The setup isn’t that exciting on the face of it, but it’s the details that make it initially intriguing. The first voice the anime airs is that of the Inbit themselves, as they travel through space as a flicker of mysterious light, invoking the names of unfamiliar deities as they make their way to Earth. The mystique this sets up around them was the one thing that drove me on through the early parts - I wanted to know more about these strange invaders. The series guards this mystique closely however. For a long time we see nothing of them save the exteriors of the crablike battle mecha they fight with, and they drop hints as to their true aims and natures a little too infrequently. Eventually the show does make serious developments with them, but it feels like it comes too little, too late. When the resolution of the war comes about in the last episode, the solution feels like a copout more than anything, and it feels like the opportunity was wasted. Most of the episodes of the show technically advance the plot by getting Stig and the gang close to Reflex Point but the stories involved episode to episode too often feel like side stories that don’t build the world in a significant enough way.

Thankfully, the main cast of characters is mostly pretty good. Stig is a bit of a hardass and sticks rigidly to his duties as a soldier, which sometimes leads him into unnecessary conflict with others, but he remains sympathetic as the loss of his fiancé weighs on him heavily. Probably the most competent and interesting member of the group is Yellow, who’s a male soldier who moonlights as a female singer. Many of the more interesting episodes feature him as the primary character. Ray and Houquet are Earth-born survivors of the Inbit occupation who join the group to help out regardless and have something of a romantic magnetism between each other, and Jim’s a mechanic who has to overcome his own fears to live up to his duty. These are all pretty good characters, but there’s one massive exception to this, that being Mint, a young girl who joins up early on and proceeds to ruin almost every scene she’s in with her obnoxious personality and loud, shrill voice. Her gimmick is that she awkwardly hits on almost every attractive male character she runs into, which is pretty uncomfortable because she’s obviously meant to be prepubescent. This character was such a mistake that she managed to sour my impressions of the show as a whole in record time. She provides little to no utility to the other group members and it makes no sense for them to take a young child with them into the thick of combat on a mission to assault the heavily guarded fortress of a hostile alien race. I know how this sounds, me bitching about a little kid character, but she really was just that bad.

The presentation, thankfully, is actually pretty good all round. It’s an old show that doesn’t do an amazing job of hiding it, for its time its quite solid. The mechanical designs are interesting - the Inbit’s crablike combat robots are fairely unique to look at for one, whereas the heavy hitter on the human side is the Legioss, a transforming fighter similar to Macross’ Valkyrie, albeit with a heavier, blockier profile. The most unique member of the mechanised cast is the namesake Mospeada, which are combat motorcycles that dynamically transform into heavily-armed power armour for their human riders. Animation featuring all of these is of a consistently solid level, and many of the battles are actually quite exciting. This is furthered by the fact that the show’s soundtrack is strong, including some really catchy and energetic vocal tracks.

As to whether this is worth a recommend or not, I’m a little on the fence. I definitely think this one’s more for people who appreciate the aesthetics of 80s mecha anime, because this one fits that bill really well. If you’re hear for an interesting plot, I think there are plenty of other shows that do the whole aspect of humans fighting mysterious aliens that do that schtick a fair bit better, most notably, and somewhat ironically, the original Macross.

Interestingly, there was an OVA called Love, Live, Alive released after the TV show. It’s set from the perspective of Yellow following the conclusion of the events of the series, as he looks back on everything that happened while performing at concerts. In effect, what that means is that it’s 50 minutes of the series’ more exciting battles and dramatic plot moments set to some of the best vocal tracks. If you’re on the fence about whether this show’s for you, but you don’t feel like taking a gamble on its 25-episode length, it might be worthwhile to just watch this OVA instead to get the super-digest version of it, though as a word of warning maybe it’s better to give it a miss if you suffer from photosensitive epilepsy.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #442

Top Ten Transformers Gimmicks

There was a time when I felt that this blog was pretty much wall-to-wall Robots in Disguise. Seems I couldn’t go more than two or three weeks without some list or another ranking my favourite Autobots, Decepticons, issues of the Marvel UK comic, issues of the IDW comic, my favourite artists, my favourite alternate modes, my favourite ways Optimus Prime came back from the dead… basically, what I’m saying is I used to write about Transformers quite a lot.

Recently, though? The last year or two? Not so much in the way of sentient mechanoids round these parts. I think partly this is a result of the ending of the original IDW continuity; whilst the rebooted Transformers comic is good, I must confess it hasn’t grabbed me the way the (for want of a better term) More Than Meets the Eye era did. I don’t think it possibly could; the interweaving continuity, the shared universe, the multi-layered world-building and puzzle-box writing, all combined to form a perfect storm around my most beloved of franchises. Did it go too deep, too dense? Occasionally. Did it end too soon, rushing into a climactic conclusion without the room to allow every plot twist and character death to sufficiently breathe? Yeah, a little. But on the whole it stuck the landing, not too shabby a feat for a galaxy-spanning epic that, under various creators, had managed to tell a more-or-less consistent story (papering over the cracks of several soft reboots) for over a decade at that point. As I’ve written before, I loved that Transformers so hard, it was almost inevitable that whatever came next would suffer by comparison, because by definition it could no longer be my Transformers.

So, yeah, that’s one reason. But another is, it’s been harder to think of things to write about. I’ve talked about favourite characters and stories; where else do I go but the increasingly obscure? However, I wanted to give it a try. Last weekend should have been TF Nation, the delightful Transformers convention held each year in Birmingham. I usually go; I gave last year a miss, but I’d been fully intending to make the trip again this year. And then 2020 happened, being all 2020 in our faces. This is a weekend where I might have shared my favourite moments from TFN! Pictures of cosplay! Of friends and creatives I admire! Of toys I can’t afford! But no; instead I’m watching my wife play Stardew Valley and writing this blog (which, I’ll be honest, is actually quite a pleasant way to spend the time, but let’s not get too deep into the weeds over here). Anyway, to celebrate TF Nation, and the stay-at-home “Big Broadcast of 2020” online show that they put on, I’m returning to the Nucleon Well once again with another Transformers-themed Top Ten.

This week: my favourite Transformers toy gimmicks!

Transformers, of course, are cars and whatnot that turn into robots or what-have-you, but across the years Hasbro has experimented with different modes and features to keep the toys fresh and unique, and also to sell a bunch of new ones to impressionable kids. Some of these are sublime; some, frankly, ridiculous. So this week I will explore my ten favourite ones; my ten favourite sub-brands of the franchise, so to speak. Some of these I think are genuinely fantastic as a concept; some, I just liked because it seemed cool, or was made cool by the fiction; and some are just daft crap that I enjoy. Make of it what you will! I’ve decided, incidentally, to focus on “gimmicks” here as being different modes of transformation, or other associated features, rather than define them by what they turn into. So there are no Insecticons or Dinobots, because whilst bugs and beasts are cool, really those are both normal types of Transformer that turn from one thing into another thing. Make sense?

Good. Now roll the eff out.

Combiners (1985): what’s better than one robot? How about, like, five or six, and they all clip together to form another massive robot? Clipping machines together to make bigger machines seems like a cornerstone of any sufficiently advanced civilisation, and whether we’re talking the complexity of OG combiner Devastator, the hot-swappable fun of the likes of the Aerialbots or Stunticons, or even Dreadwind and Darkwing combining in vehicle mode to form Dreadwing, it’s always great. Plus it makes you want to buy all the toys so you can make the big robot! Everyone’s a winner!

Headmasters (1987): robots whose heads – get this – come off and turn into little robots. What’s not to love? And the little robots (what are the heads) then can sit inside the big robots’ vehicle modes, and, like “drive” them and stuff. Although they had some plot gymnastics to perform to make sense of the fiction (quite why the heads had to be Nebulons and not just other Transformers I don’t know), but as a toy gimmick, they were fab. And that’s before you get to most-wanted Fortress Maximus, whose head turned into a robot whose head turned into a robot.

Pretenders (1988): man, I loved Pretenders, even if the concept outstripped the toys a lot of the time. Basically humanoid shells that hide Transformers, later iterations also allowed for animal shells, vehicle shells, even transforming shells; we got new versions of classic Transformers, and one of the all-time great villains in Thunderwing. All this despite the first lot of toys being bulky and awkward, and the whole idea of “disguising yourself as a thirty-foot human” being somewhat suspect in the first place.

Triple (and more!) Changers (1985): if a robot turning into a thing is cool, then turning into two things must be twice as cool, right? Right! Boggling the mind as to how this chunky figure could also be a car and a helicopter, Triple Changers were great, even if you ended up with a helicopter that really, really looked a lot like a car. Of course, they got bigger and better, with Six Changers, who turned into six different things that all looked a lot like each other.

Powermasters (1988): back to the “Masters” concept of little robots that interact with bigger robots (it’s such a shame Pretenders couldn’t have been “Disguise Masters” or something), the idea that the toys transformation – the big gimmick behind the whole range, remember – is unlocked by an “engine” robot is very cool, the smaller toy acting as a key. A tad clunkier than that, in real life, but still great fun, and of course it brought us one of the best toys of the eighties in Powermaster Optimus Prime.

Targetmasters (1987): robots turning into guns is quite cool, but for me the Targetmasters aren’t quite as successful as their other “Masters” siblings, probably because the guns aren’t quite that exciting to transform or play with. But the concept still rocks, and some of the toys were really good, and it was nice to see the Movie characters get folded into the line too.

Jumpstarters (1985): I loved the original Jumpstarters (Top Spin and Twintwist) because they were weird, with their sci-fi alien designs amidst a sea of Earth vehicles. But their gimmick was they transformed themselves. Pull ‘em back and they jump – literally – from vehicle to robot. Self-transforming Transformers are always cool, even if usually it means that their robot modes end up blocky and simple (Jumpstarters are the opposite, pretty cool robots with chunky and unreal vehicles). Also want to shout out other pull-back-and-go Transformers such as the Battlechargers (never had them, sadly) and the utterly, utterly fantastic Throttlebots. God, I love the Throttlebots. I had all six! How much did I rock.

Cities (1986): I guess now these guys are all called “Titans” aren’t they, and they have their own carved-out portion of the TF mythos. But back in the eighties, they were just big burly dudes, the biggest you could get; Transformers that turned into actual cities, playsets that the smaller Transformers could actually interact with. Metroplex was the OG city-bot, and we’d squint and pretend that he really was Autobot City from The Transformers: The Movie. Huge toys are always fun, of course, as are playsets for your other toys, so these ticket loads of boxes. Fortress Maximus, the later Autobot Headmaster base, was ginormous and never came out in the UK, giving him a mythic status few toys ever had; as I said above his head turned into a robot which had a head that turned into a robot, a sort of Babushka doll of robotic head-swapping. Shout-out too for any bot who had some kind of “base mode”, such as Powermaster Optimus Prime and his funky trailer.

Sparkabots/Firecons (1988): these were not necessarily the most fun toys to transform (the Sparkabots, anyway, I never had a Firecon), but their gimmick was cool – or rather hot. They breathed fire! Well, not really, of course; they sort of shot sparks, in what I thought was a slightly underwhelming fashion even as a seven-year-old. But having a Transformer that could, in some way, fire for real was a huge thrill. Also, Guzzle was always just legitimately cool.

Action Masters (1990): yep, I’m going there. What, did you think I’d have Micromasters on here?! Yeah, okay, the very concept of Transformers that don’t transform is inherently silly and counter-intuitive, but the toys themselves were cool, finally offering cartoon-accurate renditions of classic favourites, with nice articulation and fun vehicle playsets. There was definitely a sad sense of a brand in decline about them, but taken on their own, they were good, fun toys, full of character, and I’ve always thought they’d still be cool as a side-line to the main (actually transforming) toys.

I feel bad for slagging off Micromasters up there. They were good, I suppose, but their small fiddly nature and basic transformation just wasn’t as fun as some other toys. Plus there were so many, and they usually came in sets, so I never really had that same bond with individual characters that I got from other Transformers; they were probably the first toys I owned whose names I forgot. And they felt, even at the time, like such a response to Micro Machines that it was almost embarrassing. Action Masters were probably a response to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but at least, y’know, Soundwave didn’t come with nunchucks and a skateboard.

Anyway, I think we can all agree, Transformers are cool, and I should write about them even more.

[mk-wizard]

Transformer Factions Part 2

Hello, fans.

A while ago I did an entry on the Transformer factions we all know of and are most popular in Transformers lore. Today, I am now giving information on the factions that have fallen into obscurity or are very recent. This is part fact and part theory mostly because the following factions don’t have clear cut information about them. The data on them is either varying or bare bones depending on the continuity. All of the data I could find on them and go by is what you see and keep in mind, most of it is fan lore or theory that seems to make the most sense. Anyway, here it goes and hope you all get enlightened;

Junkions - They hail from the planet Junk and the designating traits of Junkions is that they always have predominantly orange or rust colouring, an orange insignia, reddish orange optics and the ability to heal almost instantaneously. Their most common body type is data and they have the natural ability to build or fix anything which is something that must have come naturally to them from living on planet Junk for so many years. Their culture consists of engineering, role playing or watching copious amounts of television. They are governed by a king and/or queen of which their firstborn is designated as the main heir to the throne of leadership of their planet and faction. Despite how they speak and act, Junkions are in fact one the most creative and resourceful of all Transformers. They are also very xenophobic and prefer to stay neutral as well as undisturbed especially when it comes to the war between Autobots and Decepticons though in the recent reign of Rodimus Prime, they have become open to getting involved in Cybertronian affairs as long as their ways and faction are treated respectfully. It is theorized that Junkions are the descendents of defective Autobots who were literally dumped onto the planet that would become Junk and over time, these misfits reclaimed dignity by forming their own faction, culture and society who would eventually banish all other Transformers from their planet. Since then, they have remained in isolation. Morally, Junkions are good, but just wish to be left alone or at the very least accepted and respected as equals to all other Transformers.

Predacons - While they were originally just a subset of Decepticons who had alien type frames who then became beast types with incredibly unique frames looking almost akin to mythological beasts, with time, Predacons became their own faction. The designating trait of a Predacon is that they are always beast types with doll or alien like qualities and their insect like navy blue insignia. Their alt modes are solely beasts though they tend to be most drawn to lizards, dinosaurs, arachnids, insects or predatory mythological beasts. Their society is split into several different communities which are mostly in disarray with no single leader so their society is mostly consumed by chaos and crime. The one community that is even closest to being orderly is the one that follows many of the Decepticon ways though with some differences and the Tripredacus Council which plots to control everything. So far, the Predacons have made little social progress and often still find themselves needing to rely on if not take orders from the Decepticon community. Depending on the generation, the Megatron/Megara either looked down on them or treated them like valuable members. It is very possible that in data, Predacons and Maximals (more on them next) are in fact the same because they both are essentially the same in appearance and optic colouring scheme needing only to change their insignia in order to convert from one faction to the other.

Maximals - Their ancestors were Autobots who beast types, but with time, they became their own unique faction. The designating traits of a Maximal is that they are a beast type with doll or alien qualities and their wolf like red insignia. Their alt modes are solely beasts though they tend to be most drawn to mammals, birds, fish and sometimes ethereal mythological beasts. Their society is democratic, tight knit and orderly. They are not warriors though they have basic combat training namely in the martial arts as they tend to be researchers, artists or clergy. They are also second class citizens to Autobots and while there are some seats in the Cybertronian senate for them, they have no real political or social power that equals Autobots meaning that by law, Autobots have dominion over them. This division extends to where Maximals are permitted to go or what they can use similarly to how humans at one time divided one another by colour. While they avoid war, it is no secret that their wish is to be treated as equals which has driven most Maximals to leave Cybertron, but during the reign of Rodimus Prime, it is very possible that their wish may get granted as he intends to change if not abolish many of the Autobot ways.

Pretenders - Possibly the most obscure faction of them all. They seem to be mini-cons, but their transforming ability acts more as the bot being within a disguise rather than in disguise. The bot themself doesn’t transform, but rather, they have a special highly evolved technorganic shell which transforms them from their skin to their muscle tissue as though they are wearing a suit. They also don’t need to scan anything to gain their “alt mode”. They need only to touch a subject and they don’t even need to share the same gender to start mimicking. And even with that single bit of genetic data from touch contact, they can change things little traits in their shell such as hair colour, optic colour, colour scheme, the clothes they wear and even appear older or younger. They even can change parts of their shell from appearing organic to technological or vice versa individually rather that their entire body all at once. The most unique trait of a pretender is that they cannot mimic the appearance of anything that isn’t alive or a person, and they are limited solely to their shape and size meaning they cannot become taller or shorter, or slimmer or wider at will. The designating traits of a Pretender is their unique transforming ability, they are always a doll type mini-con and their insignia looks like the very ancient version of the Autobot symbol (the one that used to smile as opposed to the current one that looks as though it is weeping). Like GoBots, they don’t rely on energon to live. Any fuel source including the organic kind will do. At one time, Pretenders were Autobots who merely transformed in a different way, but after the Autobot way became more corrupt and rigid over the years, they began to demand that all who identified as Autobots would transform in one specific way and reject all things organic. Since Pretenders were unable to reject their organic matter as it was literally a part of their biology, they were forcefully exiled as they were deemed as monstrosities. Currently, Pretenders can be found scattered all throughout the universe living among the people of the planet they inhabit in their own private communities practising their ways in secret. Their greatest wish is to be able to have a planet of their own to call home, and while they appreciate and accept Rodimus Prime alliance, they have politely declined his offer to return to Cybertron as they have long since stopped considering that as their planet.

Insecticons - They are a hybrid faction of Autobots and Decepticons who were beast types specifically insect types who with time evolved into their own faction entirely. The designating trait of an Insecticon is that they either have blue or red optics (sometimes both), they are always a beast type of insect nature, they always at least change into a robot and an insect, and their silver. Contrary to what people believe, there are no arachnids among Insecticons, and their insignia. They also tend to be complete wild cards depending on the type of insect they have the nature of. They can either be very friendly and pacifist not being warriors at all, complete barbarian who will attack anyone who invades their space or at times, just completely and entirely neutral just keeping to themselves to the point of coldness. They have been known to ally with almost every faction with the exception of Junkions who do not welcome anyone who isn’t a Junkion into their society and while they mostly inhabit Cybertron in today’s day and age since the beginning of Rodimus Prime’s reign as he lifted the exile on them, they can be found scattered throughout the universe. While some Insecticons consider Cybertron as their home, they do not have a designated planet to call their own nor are they interested in having one as they will accept any space they occupy as satisfactory. Usually, they will answer to any government on that planet or in close proximity, but sometimes, Insecticons have been known to follow a queen. They have no set culture or society and tend to be agnostic or atheist on average, though some tend to believe in Primus and follow the Cybertronian code.

[skimaskkass]

Pre - Jeri (album review) (breakbit music/ROFLTRAX classics #1) (re-formated)

https://jeri.bandcamp.com/album/pre A long time ago (2014ish) I slightly helped or maybe tried to help a label called Breakbit Music. I am no Breakbit Music master but maybe I will be one day. In the meantime I can reminisce about albums that are dear (or not) to my life as a music fan and other things. One of these albums is Pre by Jeri. I had heard someone I’m in contact with make a track similar to one of the tracks on this album, though not exactly. I wondered if she knew this album and she didn’t. I mention this because I am very proud of her because this album is not just dear to my heart but makes me realize more than 99% of music I listen to how special life and musical ability is.

The opening “Seq1″  is musical chaos to me. But it is not nonsense. It sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard some orangy (an alias Jeri had used earlier) tracks before and maybe this is a distillation of that. Jeri was a king of sampling and using them at the right moments. Every time that “woo!” plays you don’t know what to do and when it jumps out of the middle of a spaced out bar. It gets sandwiched by FM sounding percussion arpeggios with even more staccato drums and snares that without intentionally listening for a pattern doesn’t seem like there is one. It’s such a free track that somehow has order sonically is face melting. Musicians should take note how to create textures with the same sounds by placing them at different spaces like they are in this track. But remember this is just the intro. The next track “Toxic People” has this Nintendo 64 sounding echoing guitar over this seasick portable game system synth. It draws you in and the drums come in. The hi-hats sound like they could be on a high quality Amon Tobin track in their modulating pitches. The drums once again phase through different pitches, sounding irregular, FM sounding. Then this really low fidelity, reamped industrial drumming runs into the mix and the song’s baseline comes in (but it’s the kind of overwhelming thing that you hear in dubstep or grime tracks that just bubbles and soaks the mix (which is also somehow trombone that seems to have the suggestion of higher frequencies which maybe is why it coats the ears in ear candy)). The drums have sped up and become isolated. It sounds like industrial influenced ‘post-techno’ or something along those lines. Before you can make that thought the drums are run through a flanger. There’s a proper bassline that comes in that would fit a Nintendo 64 game (I will bring it up a lot). It’s wild. There’s reverb slowly being filled in the mix from the seasick synth. There’s some ring-mod sounding vocal cries and the track ends. “*SHOT*”: is playing and brace yourself for a lot of notes on this track. There is this percussive kind of 8-bit/bit crushed melody that sounds has the effect of dramatic fast horror movie-like piano playing. This track also has a sea sick synth. It sounds like howling ghosts now. The bass drums come in and are replaced with a bassline and then there is a ghost acid bassline and these ghost drums that are going at a fast tempo (ghost in this instance meaning low volume). It is at this point of the album where I say if you’ve ever been a fan of madness combat’s music. Listen to this album. It’s just bassline and the drums with some cuts of high pitched spooky sounds. There are these portamento woodblock sounds in the fast drums that might have echoing delay and/or vocoder on them but regardless they are an excellent detail. The 8-bit/bit crushed sound gets panned around and sounds ring modulated now. Every loop there are two slight notes that adds to the techno spinning inferno music, yeah it is quite tribal at this point. At 1:25 a great transition sound and more vocode-y drums and then this melody that I can’t describe the sound of. It’s like a synth lunatic singing as this synth squeal keeps pitching down. The piano stuff I was suggesting now completely reveals itself at a nickelodeon-fast speed...The track just keeps changing and changing and changing a bunch of distorted sounds come in over it and the after the bass kicks up and the sounds are being swiss-cheesed by distortion. The song falls into a loop where the drums change into that fm squeak and a formant camera-shutter with light melodies taken from sounds from before and it goes back to the consistent sound it started with. Except I notice a high pitched sound in the background now. The bassline bumps back and the percussion ghosts play in the background over a synth hi hat. The track ends. “Computer”: IDM crackling drums and deep town ball bounces over quiet strings. Insane synth 1 and 2 start descending both. Then gabber kicks and noise snare that are quiet play a hell-decent march over fm pads and synths that make creature-screams. Crackle and ball bounces come back and the synths. And back to the gabber hell-on-display.“Synop”: starts with a synthesized brass sound. A quiet high pitched pinging over absolutely beautiful resonant filter sweeping snares and expected character rich kicks. Then a really long melody starts playing that sounds like it’s for a Nintendo 64 game for robots. Then this high pitched club music melody comes in that I absolutely love. And a wandering synth robot starts to sing. It sounds like abstract vocoded vocals and high pitched hotel service bell sounds. There’s a high pitched sine wave sound that tells the robot to stop. Sometimes there’s some distortion in the robot’s singing. The music stops to focus on this part. It’s tremolo and then has a finish. There’s a lot relistening this track deserves. “Kesanspor”: starts with a formant synth for alien salsa over two notes of synth strings and a winding sound that’s revving up. Then a distorted roar. This complicated pad sound that sounds like 50 laser sounds suggesting a choir and an electronic church refrain synth ‘yeah’ are added.  A strange orchestral hit is added to the dead space between string sounds. This arcade sound that is loud but distant plays. There’s some hi-hats that come by to say hello. “Opalei”: Drums start: Kick drums that don’t sound like any kick drums I’ve ever heard personally. Noise snare and a synth-y but somehow metallic sound that’s almost a ‘hyuck’. At 0:05-00:6 there is a stutter in the drums that you gotta love the glitchiness of which is in the loop. Reverb-spaced out (a processed square-wave?) synth that suggests a string section come out. There’s harmonies of this sound and a pianoish, watery synth melody dripping nice through the mix. The melody loops and the drums switch up and then the melody goes to church organ mode and also formant squeals I’ve never heard before except maybe in a Rustie track. You now notice the side-chaining bass drum that is humble but starts rocking out to the magic. This is what bedroom producer synth-rock heaven sounds like. The synths go all filtery and flittery between high and mid tones. They start to take on a liquid quality as time slips. The string section comes back with a variation on the original melody, listen to that detail at the end of the sequence. It is a beautiful gated sound. Then a strange sound sneaks in that sounds like sitar and there are strumming sounds. “M0d”: A murderous string sound and a mid-range fm synth that’s like an electric guitar riff from DOOM over a kind of timpani drum beat. You’re getting ready to murder people to this song as wood block and congas add a playful touch to the track. There’s a slight high pitched triangle (the percussion instrument) sound there. Bursts of echo-y wavy synths start to add the melody to the track. The drums are now rock drums. There’s a turntablism sound at the end of the sequence. There is a slight variation to the sequence then a major one where it scales back and adds beautiful conga sounds and blatant triangle sounding noises with dynamic sound effect rustling noises. There is a cute synth doing a little boat toy whistle (it has an almost old video game / emulating-that-sound quality) after the echo-y wavy synths get more animated, excited and dramatic. I start to notice the bottle whistle sound. This sound starts to pan through the mix when more dramatic sounds are stripped back. Then the song switches up. The synth bludgeons that were echo-y and wavy go transform into searing hot jabs. N64-sounding acid bassline comes in. The bottle whistle transforms into an ore of noise. “Smoke Gogol”: Drums pan left and right. Acid like you’ve never heard it. Melodramatic portamento synths like cartoon character swoons. A sound like someone tapping on a stage mic to test it. Phone/Ringtone sounding synths and snares pan. It gets replaced with a resampled crossfaded type sound bobbing up and down from a low tone. The drums stand out more and variations abound including the phone sound pitched down. I noticed a synth pad that was behind the portamento synths when they came back. The structure is like poetry. First it goes A B A B then C D C D and loops back again. “Thez”: It sounds like a re-amped chop of When The Levee Breaks. Re-amped to make it sound just so beautiful. There’s that odd resampled sounding synth sound that seems to be speaking and singing to us. But that’s because there is a vocal sample in the background that’s grunting in an alien language. The synth goes up and now it really is singing. There is that constant note hammering way in the background that I love to hear in things in popular music. It gets isolated and moves up and down the scale with the drums. And then a N64 guitar comes in and acid nudges panned past you like you were driving past them. The guitar goes full wonky then the resampled sounding synth comes back. It is so unique. The resampled sound isolates and I notice the string sound that has been in the background maybe awhile. And in that isolating the sound shows you how wild it is. The track regains some layers and fades out like a dying candle. “Porta”: It sounds like a fm synth became a sad siren coming to retrieve a body. The snares are like snipps. The base drum sounds like a heavy object dropping on a metal plate. There’s another guitar-y sound. The track sounds like 5th gen video game music for a bad dream. There’s formant synths that harmonize with the siren. There’s a descending sound at the end you can hear at 1:30. It sounds like percussion of some kind. “Holtz IV”: Acid bassline that has an emulated sound quality to it which makes me think of it in a 5th gen gaming console. It’s on it’s own. Then this reggae melody string instrument comes in. More re-amped drums. More video-gamey sounds, this time an organ replaces the reggae melody. The organ comes back sounding more epic, perhaps it’s been layered multiple times. You gotta love it when it stutters. This is building up to the best part of the album for me. It’s not the medieval video game melody that comes in or the marching band beat that comes after it. Or the sick bass drum that comes in the second medieval melody starts. The drums flit around shortly as tastefully as any track of druqks. The glassy synth comes in (triangle wave I believe). And it’s one final surprise. There’s a bouncy club bass drum, I suppose it’s an 808. The squelching organ comes in to dance with the glassy arpeggio. Reverb at the end of the track. I didn’t know Jeri. We never talked. I knew a fair amount of the people on Breakbit Music though. He did a live set during the record label’s virtual music festival, ‘Bit Mania’. A pioneering thing for the early 2010s for sure. I remember the label’s founder mrSimon saying when the song Toxic People played something along the lines: “This is [jeri]? This sounds too good to be him”. Just a joke and Jeri said something in response. I know that being in that chatroom together was a privilege even though I never reached out to him like a fair amount of the people on the label. I didn’t really listen to the other albums under the name Jeri or too much of the Orangy stuff (which was too good to listen to imo). When I saw the cover for Pre I was entranced. It is beautiful and the album is... I view the outstanding musical genius of this album as a distant goal of what I want or imagine others to achieve as an artist. Anyone who can approach this kind of music should feel wonderful at their ability. People who know Jeri or are fans of him know that he passed away in 2014. I know his music will live on because of its power. But only if the effort is made to share it with the world.

[transformers-extrication]

Concerning the direction of the blog, I know I'm INCREDIBLY curious as to how the different Autobots and Decepticons develop their relationships with humanity and how the humans react to these decidedly non-human being from another world. As an artist, I'm curious how you thought to develop these different designs, and what the process was on figuring out the theme of the au and what it does to change the G1 era plotlines.

Fantastic question!The human side of things is... awkward, I outright tend to have problems being able to connect to human characters/stories when they’re alongside alien/inhuman characters as a whole, which is why I often don’t go to movies seeing as I’d only go for a non-human character/entity in said film.So this presents a challenge and issue to me as I want to work on the human element here, something I am thinking of keeping to a minimum, and even so, using my more favoured human characters.The already confirmed Astoria then maybe Carly and Agent Fowler.And that’s just the Autobots, the Decepticons don’t see any need to interact with humans other than to ‘get rid of them’ should there be any in the way, or given how Autobots do not want to hurt them, use them as shields.I want to make what I do do with the humans good.

Well with the designs I go in with the mindset of “giant alien robot” and go from there.They’re aliens, they’re robots they don’t have to have human faces to be ‘normal’ or a face that has only one eye be bad! Okay I just hate Empurata as being really boring and a stupid punishment. BUTReally I just try and use different shapes and joints in ways that would be appealing but also different, while maintaining some sort of ‘use’ to them.Like why the Seekers are still aerodynamic in build, or as he can become a train, Astrotrain is long and wiggly.The main key though is they’re ALIENS and also ROBOTS they can also TRANSFORM!They could be any sort of wild-ass shapes and looks! I just mash shapes together and then refine it down to what looks best and works in the characters best interest and “fits” their character.

Though I do also like to keep their look simple and more cartoony because I don’t like drawing lots of detail over and over.Otherwise characters like Cyclonus who, in-universe, are living abominations would look much more detailed and ‘weird’.

Figuring the theme of the AU was interesting yet also rather simple, It’s main arc generally focuses on a plot point I thought was interesting but never had much done with it, which in fairness could be a lot of G1 stuff haha. It was also initially going to be a one-off story featuring my favourite Unicronian trio going about and fixing everything, but I didn’t go anywhere with that.So also while I will be following a more G1 plotline I hope to make it a bit more consistent and serious (while also trying to maintain some of that goofy charm of the show) yet also interjecting new stories and different ideas here and there.For example: The Decepticons weren’t the main villain of the show in season 3 and sometimes didn’t even appear. What on Earth were they doing all that time? etc.

[earworkinggroup]

Hand-Antennas: Protocols from Extrasensory Aesthetics | 2017

20/10–19/11 2017 Exhibition @ Josef Sudek Studio, Prague Part of Fotograf Festival 2017  

more info

How to understand each other without words? How to perceive without the senses? How to change something from the inside? How to move someone remotely? 

HAND ANTENNAS

When Vilém Flusser – in his book Do universa technických obrazů (To the Universe of Technical Images) – says that today, when the world has disintegrated into abstracted points, we do not take things in our hands but rather control them by pressing buttons and keyboards, he actually describes new manual economics and a new attitude toward the world booming with the expansion of digital technologies. Hands represent a model of simple tools. They are extended by the form and function of these tools. But what if some devices are similar to hands, whether morphologically or functionally? The RUKA (Hand) antenna, whose name is an abbreviation of the names of its Czech inventors, František Kahuda and Aleš Rumler, resembles a hand not only with its name. As its creators say: “All psycho-energetic experiments prove that the head and hands–palms are parts of the human body emitting the most radiation [...].”  Under certain circumstances, “a hand with outstretched fingers acts like an antenna”. For “psycho-energetics” or “psychotronics”, the special relationship between the biological and the technical is symptomatic. Like Flusser’s buttons, psychotronic technologies and devices ask for a different way of dealing with things. The materialistic approach to seemingly immaterial phenomena brings unprecedented possibilities for communication and manipulation. In a way, the dreams of telepathy, telekinesis and telegnosis or clairvoyance come true in technical apparatuses available today. From the perspective of psychics, however, the current state does not mean meeting their goals, but rather a new challenge.

METHOD, DISCOURSE, INSTITUTIONS

Psychotronics is trying to establish itself as a new science and meet the methodological, discursive and institutional requirements to do so. In Czechoslovakia, the most ardent promoters of psychotronics included František Kahuda and Zdeněk Rejdák. The local parapsychological tradition adapted to new conditions, absorbing many ideas from the USSR. The very term of psychotronics expresses the intention to take a “more scientific” approach to the studied phenomena. While similar phenomena were historically explored mostly by curious individuals or interest groups, new professionalism reached official institutions as well. Since the late 1960s to the early 1990s, there was a number of psychotronic institutions in Czechoslovakia, including the Coordinating Group for the Research of Psychotronics, the Psychoenergetic Laboratory (PEL) at the Technical University (ČVUT) in Prague and later at the Institute of Chemical Technology (VŠCHT) in Prague (headed by Kahuda), the Research Institution for Psychotronics and Juvenology at the same institution (headed by Rejdák), the Section for the Research of Psychotronics at the Committee of Applied Cybernetics of the Czech Science and Technology Society (ČVTS), the Department of Experimental Psychotronics at the Research Institute of Animal Production, the Commission of Psychotronics of the Gerontological Society of the Slovak Medical Society, the Commission of the Slovak Council of the Czechoslovak Scientific and Technological Society for Psychotronics, and more. Since 1973, there were also conferences of the International Society for Psychotronics. The first edition was held in Prague on 18–22 June 1973.

In Czechoslovakia, the term psychotronics is promoted by Zdeněk Rejdák who refuses the term parapsychology. According to Rejdák, psychotronics includes telepathy, telekinesis and telegnosis. Rejdák also refers to his French colleague Fernando Clerc who says: “We already have electronics, cybernetics, stereotronics – and what do we still lack? We can suggest the term psychotronics for the phenomena using the energy emitted during the thought process and the energy carrying the impulse of the human will.” According to Clerc, “every one of us has the ability of certain, though extremely weak action at a distance. It will not be long before we can focus our will, safely protected from external influences, to run relays and servo motors.” František Kahuda distinguishes between the Western psychotronics, which tries to explain the phenomena studied with “known forms of energy”, and the Czechoslovak and Soviet psychoenergetics, which assumes the existence of a distinctive psychic or mental energy. However, Kahuda did not maintain this distinction consistently and even he later resorted to the concept of psychotronics. The idea of the specific nature of the Eastern concept of mental energy compared to the Western one is somewhat misleading: although the Soviet scientist N. I. Kobozev came with the theory of bio-energetic particles, the so-called psychones, the Soviets generally concentrated on physically explainable psychotronic phenomena (such as electrostatics and electromagnetism) and explored the relationship between parapsychological phenomena and the known types of radiation. Kahuda resonates with the Leninist theory of reflection, which sees the psyche “as an image (projection) of the objective reality”, as “the supreme product of the matter organized in a special way” which is “the result of the transformation of the energy of an external stimulus into to the fact of consciousness.” Moreover, Kahuda, referring to V. M. Bechterew and P. P. Lazarev, assumes that “the interactions in the process of thinking in the human nervous system energetically manifest themselves also outside the human brain”, as attested by cases of telekinesis or telepathy. The theory of mentions is supposed to complement scientific knowledge: it describes the “third signal system” (in addition to the two signal systems defined by I. P. Pavlov), “the fifth type of interaction” (in addition to the four types of interaction – nuclear, electromagnetic, weak nuclear and gravitational – studied by physics), and “the sixth sense” (called “temp” by Kahuda). Kahuda’s belief in the material mention character of mental energy is still a subject of disputes among those who are interested in psychotronics, as can be seen chielfy in the discussion about the nature of the telepathic transmission.

Rejdák describes psychotronics as an interdisciplinary discipline and puts it into the context with other sciences studying the aspects of psychotronic phenomena: physics, communication science, mathematics, cybernetics, psychology, psychiatry, medicine, neurophysiology, physiology, anthropology, geology, cosmobiology, sociology, and bionics. The “limit” nature of the studied phenomena asks for a certain interdisciplinary approach as the interdisciplinary dimension of research is emphasized both by Rejdák and Kahuda. Kahuda frames the discipline by the Marxist notion of “one science”, which includes physics, psychology and psychophysiology, biology and sociology. Like his Soviet colleague P. K. Anochin, he believes that the research on the brain must combine the findings of neurophysiology and behaviourism. He finds the “systemic approach” particularly suitable.

STR AND SHR 

According to its proponents, psychoenergetics will substantially influence the ongoing scientific and technological revolution. Kahuda predicts “that the first half of the twenty first century will be the age of a new, yet unknown, though existing mental energy. Its control as the highest value of man should have the form of an active intervention into the confident shaping of mental processes to form the human for the benefit of the future society in a more rational way than ever before.” Scientific knowledge and rational application of this mental energy will then ensure “not only technical and economic development, but also the elevation of interpersonal relationships in the advanced socialist society to the highest attainable level. The scientific and technological revolution also and, perhaps above all, concerns the man and all workers who make it possible.” A different view is held by Břetislav Kafka, sculptor and hypnotist from Červený Kostelec, in his book Člověk zítřka (The Man of Tomorrow, 1947): “Technical sciences take the man away from the human. They confirm his notion that progress is about having more perfect machines, not about being better today than we were yesterday.” According to Kafka, “the aim of humanity” is “material and spiritual well-being. Industrial civilization defers this aim. Modern civilization sacrificed the sense to the matter. The man had become accustomed to his life by repeating the same movement every day, by processing one element.” Zdeněk Rejdák, who used to visit Kafka like many others, later speaks of the need for a “scientific and human revolution”, which should complement and counterbalance the ongoing scientific and technological revolution if we do not want to “flood the world in the next century with mechanical and human robots and enhance the alienation and social decay”. In Rejdák’s model, the man and mankind stand in opposition to the dehumanizing technology although they are complementary with it. Kahuda’s psychoenergetic dialectical materialism and Rejdák’s psychotronic socialist humanism are quite similar.

 PSYCHOTRONICS, INFORMATION SCIENCE AND CYBERNETICS

Most generally speaking, psychotronics deals with unusual or unexplained types of information transmission. According to Valdemar Grešík, the last director of the Psychoenergetic Laboratory (PEL), closed in 1991, psychotronics “is based on the assumption that man is able to acquire and transmit information in other, so far unknown ways or paths. [...] To a great extent, diagnosing and looking for various objects and healing, all represent kinds of information transmission – in an energetic form, of course.” In this context, Kahuda speaks of “mental information science” which “lies in decoding the information encoded in substances. Such use of mental energy emitted by a psychic as a subject of an information process, when the energy has a similar role like the quanta of electromagnetic energy broadcast by an antenna in short wavelengths (radio microwaves) to the target subject, from which the wave is reflected and received in intermittent broadcast by an image tube which then receives the information about the observed object [...]. In this process, the quanta of mental energy function as a mental radar while the emitted clusters of mental energy are qualitatively directed to the object of the process, i.e. contain the required information in the form of instruction and query on the way to the target, and in the form of feedback response on the way back to the source (brain). The detection of the target during the mental reflection is not only about a mere physical reflection, but also about finding the qualitative characteristics of the detected object.” Moreover, according to Kahuda, the mentions – unlike the known particles – can penetrate any obstacle, which makes them suitable for the “action at a distance”. Before Kahuda, the striking parallelism of telepathy and radiocommunications was mentioned also by Upton Sinclair in Mental Radio (1930) and B.B. Kazinskij in Biological Radio communications (1962). The effort to clarify the physical nature of parapsychological phenomena and the recurrent recognition of similarities between these phenomena and technological apparatuses is also noteworthy. 

Kahuda says that “the use of a variety of devices for contactless communication with both the living and nonliving matter, using a psychophysical method, will certainly be very important one day”. According to Kahuda, the role of mentions is to transfer “quality-oriented information in various types of nonverbal mention communication”, including communication with animals and plants. Mental energy is supposed to be useful “especially in the area of communication, control, management, influencing various events”. This statement is strikingly reminiscent of the definition of cybernetics by Norbert Wiener as a science of control and communication in living organisms and machines. Besides the contemporary fascination with cybernetics (developed in the Easter Bloc since the late 1950s), there is also a certain structural similarity attracting the psychics. If hands in the eyes of psychics resemble antennas, the second key part of the human body, the head – and namely the brain, is obviously associated with computers. This comparison often occurs in the texts. Kahuda concludes that “man is not [unlike computers] only a ‘product’ of the social environment, a passive object of the internalized (interiorized) effects of the external environment, but uses its own self-regulatory system to create and change the external stimuli, to exteriorize them with ideas and work, thus actively influencing the world and acting as an active creature”.  At the First International Conference of Psychotronics, Rejdák presented his paper “Psychotronics reveals new possibilities for cybernetics” which concluded that psychotronics “can help cybernetics solve one of the most difficult tasks – to help teach machines to create”.

The context of psychotronics and cybernetics can be detected at multiple levels, as shown by American researchers Lynn Schroeder and Sheila Ostrander who described the state of Czechoslovak psychotronics in the late 1960s in Psychic Discoveries behind the Iron Curtain, describing the Czech experiment whose executors decided to “think of telepathy as a channel with such a high degree of noise that it almost drowns the entire message. Information theory knows the means to overcome the problem of noise, such as calculations indicating, among other things, how many repetitions of one bit of information is necessary for proper reception. The Czechs used these calculations when they asked two people to try to telepathically send messages in a binary code back and forth while the computer found the necessary formula according to information theory.”  In the experiment, telepathy reportedly proved to be more reliable than a field radio.

PYRAMIDS AND GENERATORS

Although psychics announce the immense impact of their discoveries in the near future, the practical application of the research is limited to relatively marginal cases. In 1959, one of the most important representatives of Czech psychotronics, radio engineer Karel Drbal won a patent for the “method for maintaining shaving knives and razors sharp” using small pyramids, made from for example, cardboard or plastic. To achieve the desired effect, it was necessary to orient the pyramids of certain shapes with respect to the Earth’s magnetic field. Drbal’s repeatedly applied for the patent which was allegedly granted to him only after the sceptical director of the Patent Office successfully used the invention himself. 

The present results exceed the expectations and concern. The most attention is raised by the possibility to use mental energy for military purposes. Psychotronics seems to be a very strategic weapon for the cold war. A CIA report says that psychotronic weapons would mean a “serious threat to the military, diplomatic and security functions of the enemy. Transmitted energy would be quiet and hardly detectable by electronics (although the Soviets claim to have developed efficient sensors of biological energy) and the only needed source of energy would be a human operator.” Given the scarcity of available information, the US agents took the East European psychotronic research very seriously.

In this regard, CIA reports and the StB (Czech state police) were considerably interested in the so-called psychotronic generators produced by Robert Pavlita in his workshop in Lázně Bělohrad since the 1940s. These are mostly metal objects of various sizes and shapes that can be charged with biological energy under certain conditions. The efficiency of the generator depends on the form and material. Pavlita sees his generators as a kind of bioenergetic batteries that can be effectively controlled and regulated thanks to this technical extension. Using the generators, he can, for example, magnetize wood in a scientifically inexplicable way. Pavlita, who works as a textile technician, suggests that the generators can be used to purify water heavily polluted, among other things, during the production of textiles. Pavlita and his daughter Jana demonstrated the generators at the First International Conference of Psychotronics in Prague in 1973 as part of the lecture titled “The inductive effect on the human body mass”.

DOWSING RODS AND COAL

In 1991, physicists Luděk Pekárek and Milan Rojko published an article where they wrote: “In the past few years, the promotion of dowsers on TV and the radio, in daily press and entertainment and popular magazines in our country has caused that the national committees issue trade licences even to dowsers. Recently, geopathic zones on land and in flats are marked not only by individuals but also cooperatives and private companies. During the First Republic, dowsing was not even listed as a recognized craft by the Trade Chamber.”  Since the late 1970s and 1980s, The Psychoenergetic Laboratory (PEL) conducted research on the possible use of dowsers in coalfields, and carried out projects like “Research of non-traditional methods of searching of anomalies in the mining front and quarry foothills and non-traditional forms of care for people in the North Bohemian brown coalfield” (for the North Bohemian brown coal mine in Most) or “Research on the protection of people in difficult mining conditions using mental energy”  (for the Research Institute in Ostrava-Radvanice). These projects reportedly belong to the most successful PEL projects. Based on one of Kahuda’s suggestions to “implement the psychoenergetic research in the 8th Five-Year Plan”, a “scientific and production telesthesic association Ostrava Most, with a joint scientific council and specialized workplaces in the Research Institute in Ostrava-Radvanice (VVUÚ) and the Research Institute of Brown Coal in Most (VÚHU)”, was supposed to be established. The attitude of psychics to dowsing is still far from clear and depends on its application, as evidenced by Zdeněk Rejdák who joined the discussion in the Education Club of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement (ROH) on physics and modernized superstition, held on 16 February 1989 by the Prague branch of the Union of Czechoslovak Mathematicians and Physicists. He said that marking “pathogenic zones in flats and prefabricated houses is for absolutely ‘untrustworthy and nonsensical’ and he thought that such activities should not be allowed and one should against protest against their authorization.”.

AUTOGRAPHY AND ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY

The techniques deployed in psychotronic research also include photography. Attention is also paid to various forms of autography and electrography that makes invisible forms of radiation visible. In the Czech society, there were some prerequisites for such an interest, as evidenced by references to the pioneer of autography, Bartoloměj Navrátil, who discovered the “New kind of electrical patterns” (published in Časopis pro pěstování matematiky a fyziky in 1889). A special place belongs to Kirlian photography, which was the subject of lectures of many speakers at the First International Conference of Psychotronic in Prague in 1973, including the Kirlians themselves. According to Kahuda, to explain the Kirlian effect, though proven in many experiments, one needs the “materialistic mention theory of fundamental material radiation”. Kahuda’s materialism, however, still pays attention to the social dimension, stating that the intensity and colouring of pictures of human organs depend on the mental state of man and vary “particularly according to the function of the man in nature and the society”.

One of the PEL research groups attempts to capture the mysterious radiation from Pavlita’s bio-generators on photosensitive material and experimentally prove the existence of mentions. These experiments are inspired by the research led by psychiatrist Jule Eisenbud in the Colorado Psychiatric Hospital in Denver in the 1960s. Eisenbud worked with psychic Ted Serios who used his psychic powers to create “thoughtography” on Polaroid film. Milan Smrž describes a series of experiments trying to capture mental energy on photosensitive paper in his research report for the project entitled “Physical chemical detection of mental energy” carried out by the PEL in 1980. On some photographic materials, there were strange spots, including “characteristic colons”. Although the report, written by Milan Smrž, mentions a number of inconclusive tests and does not provide a definite conclusion about the origin of the mysterious patterns, Kahuda summarizes the experiment in the darkroom in the following way: “To avoid doubt that it is the interaction of aura, existing in the space around the head of the psychic, with the film emulsion, and not a direct contact of the emulsion with the head surface, a film strip was inserted into a ‘crown’ made of stiff/drawing paper and deposited in the emulsion to the outside circumference of the crown, so that the fundamental primary mention radiation first passed through a strong paper barrier, then ionized the air in the gaps before the film emulsion, and continuously exposed the film emulsion with the resulting secondary photon radiation. This action took place simultaneously in the space around the head of the emitter. Different colours in different places of the film strip indicate various actions and functions of the human brain tissue at the time of exposure under the psychological and medical condition of the emitter. This function of the human aura could also be used in practice to distinguish between different kinds of the brain activity, similarly to the AG and EG [...].”

Vojtěch Märc

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Does Spider-Man NEED to be in a shared universe?

As of right now it seems as though Peter Parker is going to be out of the MCU and in his own entirely separate universe.

Most people have reacted negatively to this and one of the most frequently cited reasons for that is the inability of Spider-Man to interact with the wider MCU.

We can talk a lot about whether from a production and audience interest POV, there is any steam behind the idea of Spider-Man in his own separate universe again.

However I want to take a different angle with this and talk more broadly about the character rather than strictly just the movies.

Essentially I want to address whether or not Spider-Man truly NEEDS to be in a shared Marvel Universe at all or not?

Now look I’m not advocating Spider-Man pull a Transformers or ROM Space Knight and be pulled out of the Marvel Universe.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut from a creative POV strictly speaking...he really, really, really does not NEED to be in that universe.

There are advantages and disadvantages to that.

In a shared Marvel Universe Peter operates as the ‘heart’ of that universe as was the intention with Civil War 2006. He also has close ties to the F4, the First Family of the Marvel Universe and to Captain America who is more or less THE leader of the whole Marvel universe. His kinship with Daredevil in particular is a joy to behold and has rarely been used badly. His status as an outsider in the eyes of the more publically accepted Marvel heroes like the Avengers offers a great parallel to his initial life as an outsider in high school and helps to highlight part of Lee and Ditko’s conceit with the character, that he was atypical of the heroes who’d come before him.

On the other hand though...The Marvel Universe of the comics at least demands a shitton of suspension of disbelief because you have all this huge concepts co-existing with one another but also within a context of trying to keep the world relatively similar to our own, the world outside your window.

Sooner or later though this presents a challenge to the suspension of disbelief for guys like Spider-Man who’re not merely supposed to exist in a world relatively like our own with heroes, but in fact be relatively normal within it besides the fact that they are heroes.

But if Spider-Man is a superhero, lives in a world of heroes, and has interacted with so many of them inevitably you have to wilfully ignore the obvious facts that so many of his relatable problems in life could be fixed through the fantastical elements of the universe he lives in and is aware of.

Just one example would be if Aunt May was dying there would be at least half a dozen solutions to that problem. Magic, clones, suspended animation, time travel, healing factors, transferring her mind to a robotic body, extra terrestrial medical care and if all else fails resurrection and higher deities are a fact of life in the Marvel Universe and Peter knows it.

Now the way around this stuff is, in the context of the story you are telling, to simply treat such things as not existing and thus side step the issue.

Suspension of disbelief might stretch to ignoring all the older appearances of Reed Richards or Doctor Strange in Spider-Man’s history, but if they show up in an issue where Aunt May’s death is also a factor then having Peter ignore their abilities to obviously help is nonsensical.

All of this is leading me to saying that, for the most part, Spider-Man is actually able to be MORE realistic and cohesive if in his own isolated universe than if he is in the same universe as magicians and aliens.

When you watch the Raimi movies or the Spec cartoon you never really have to scratch your head over why Spider-Man couldn’t just do this or that to solve his problems because other than his own fairly grounded cast and villains those other solutions don’t exist.

Even having other heroes exist but still be fairly grounded presents problems as you always have to ignore or contrive a reason for their lack of help when Spider-Man needs it.

Moving on, let’s talk about Spider-Man’s ability to team up with other heroes.

Of course there have been whole ongoing series specifically about that...and they mostly suck.

Don’t believe me?

Okay, ask yourselves this, how many New Avengers, Avengers, Marvel Team Up, Avenging Spider-Man or Superior Spider-Man Team-Up stories starring Spider-Man make it into most top 10 or even top 20 Spider-Man stories of all time?

Not many if any at all.

How many of the top 10-20 Spidey stories could be regarded as team ups, as in Spider-Man himself is actively interacting with figures from the wider Marvel universe as opposed to people introduced in his own series? And we aren’t talking cameos either.

Again, not that many.

ASM #1 perhaps.

Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut, but that’s just giving Spider-Man someone to fight he’s not really teaming up with anyone, a juiced up Rhino could’ve done basically the same thing.

The Alien Costume Saga arguably

The Death of Jean DeWolff

Spider-Man vs. Wolverine.

Spider-Man/Human Torch

MAYBE ASM #500, though that was mostly a background feature a means to an end (sending Spidey time travelling) that could’ve been achieved by numerous other means.

Arguably the first Carnage story though that was also a background feature, the main focus was Spidey fighting Carnage and teaming up with Venom.

...I honestly can’t think of any more off the top of my head.

You see what I mean. Sure, providing villains for Peter to fight is a real advantage the wider Marvel Universe holds for Spider-Man but actually milking great stories from his ability to interact with other heroes, not so much.

In fact Daredevil and the Human Torch or F4 are the most reliable examples of Spider-Man team ups working out but not for nothing there are quite a few similarities between them and Peter.

It doesn’t help most of these stories happened so Marvel could grant exposure to lesser selling characters by having them show up with their A-list hero.

I think more significantly the reason there are so few great Spider-Man team up stories is because of the core concept powering Spider-Man as a character and a lot of his appeal.

He was created in large part to be the hero who could be you, the average joe, the character for whom Peter Parker and his regular life was as much, if not MORE, of a draw than the superheroics of Spider-Man.

The nature of superhero team ups though are that they emphasis the costumed identities over civilian identities. This is a limitation of page space a lot of the time, but it’s also because the characters look iconic when they are dressed in their outfits and seeing them together in their outfits is really the main ticket draw of team up stories. How many people want to see Cap, Iron Man and Spider-Man interacting but it’s just in their civilian identities? Not many I’d wager, it wouldn’t make for a very eye catching cover that’s for sure.

The end result is that at best you focus upon an explore merely one half of who these characters are (and in Peter’s case it is arguably the less interesting half) or it becomes incredibly generic, it’s just heroes with different outfits, powers, maybe speech patterns hitting each other or hitting bad guys together with no exploration of their personalities bouncing off of one another.

And hey that is fine as a change of pace but not as the default setting, hence MTU usually was the lesser of the Spider-Man titles.

If you look at most of the team up stories I listed, noticeably all of them DO explore who the characters (or at least Peter) are and involve a lot of page time to them out of costume, their personal lives and such.

This brings us back to Spidey’s appeal. Like I said a huge part of it is his regular life and a huge part of what makes that appealing is his personal life dramas with his amazing supporting cast. He is said to have the best supporting cast in comics and that’s absolutely true, but when combined with one of the best rogue’s galleries in comics is it any wonder he was so successful?

Because Spider-Man has such a robust group of characters to interact with in both his identities his world is already pretty populated and can already do a lot of character exploration. And honestly when you have so many options to explore the human condition in a way so similar to the lives we lead are you really worse off if you can’t also have Spider-Man go on wacky adventures to the Negative Zone too? Are you really going to tell me that any of the psychedelic crazy scenes from Doctor Strange 2016 are as impactful or as meaty as May and Peter just talking at a table in Spider-Man 2?

 Whether in the movies or in other media so long as Spider-Man has supporting cast and a strong villain pool to explore he’s got a universe to play in no matter what. This isn’t the case for a lot of Marvel heroes. Iron Man for instance does not have a great rogue’s gallery or villain pool, it’s why in every TV adaptation of the character he is either lumped in with other heroes so that collectively they have a lot on offer or in his solo shows the wider Marvel Universe plays a significant part. In Iron man’s 1990s cartoon Force Works were regular characters, in Iron man Armored Adventures Nick Fury and SHIELD were recurring characters and the finale of the show involved them, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk and others working together. The consistency of this with Iron Man points to his own series not being able to sustain itself without the wider Marvel Universe to support it.

 In contrast the majority of Spider-Man adaptations (which are much more numerous than any other Marvel character’s) either don’t feature characters outside his own series or they are relatively minimal. Even the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon which did feature a lot of guest characters and even did a Secret Wars adaptation, didn’t have most of it’s episodes involving guest stars.

 To return to the topic of Spider-Man’s concept and appeal, because the character was supposed to be more realistic and relatable, smaller scale more street level stories have been the preference by writers and fans and indeed his most celebrated outings have usually been cut from that cloth; even a lot of the well regarded team ups.

Because of this doing more personal stories works better for the character and a wider Marvel universe hurts that. Having Spidey be the ONLY hero in NYC and the scale be citywide creates if anything much greater dramatic impact in a story than saving the world or saving the universe. Big fish in a small pond situation I guess you could say.

Finally I’d add that Ditko himself didn’t really care for Spider-Man being in a wider universe.

In conclusion the notion that it would be inherently bad for Spider-Man to be ‘stuck in a smaller’ universe not connected to anything else is wrongheaded.

At best it simply offers some advantages but also some disadvantages.

However you wanna slice it though it’s absolutely not something Spider-Man NEEDS

[the-energon-hole]

Could I request some fall/autumn/halloween headcanons with tfp Smokescreen and Bee with their s/o's?

((A/N - I got stuck on this one, so I’m sorry if it seems a little off in anyway I had to adjust it so many times.))

Bumblebee

-”Oh, do you like that picture Bee?” You asked as you sat in an old lawn chair in the garage next to him. You were wrapped up in a nice warm blanket sipping a nice warm cup of coffee in your pajamas, it was a little self indulgent to do this with Bee, but the two of you decided that a night in could be relaxing and fun. No Decepticon Autobot War, no patrolling around the dusty old desert to keep watch for danger, and absolutely no one else but the two of you just sitting around and having a good chat. It was becoming a rarer and rarer commodity that the two of you would get time to yourselves beyond the little sneaks of affection you could squeeze in when there was down time at the base- it was nice to just sit and relax and talk to each other the way normal domestic partners were able to do, even if your relationship was far from normal. Bee beeped quizzically at you as he found one of your old photo albums lying on one of the workbenches in the small concrete room, you let him go through all your old photos… even if some of them hurt to look at and remember. The one he was asking about though was a fond memory you had from when you were younger and much more entrepid than you were now. It was a picture of you wrapped up in a warm and colorfully knitted scarf with mittens to match that were covering your hands, and as you had them thrown over your head there were leaves of so many varying colors flying around you in a messy fashion, some even sticking to your flushed looking face and to the dark beanie that covered your head. “That picture? Hmm… I can’t remember who took that one, but it was a trip I took up to the mountains so I could see the changing of the leaves for the first time. You don’t really experience seasons out here in the desert, so it was nice to be able to experience it at least once in my life.” Bee beeped at you quizzically again with a lot of inflection in his tone, and it finally hit you what he meant through his words… he had never experienced Autumn either. He hasn’t been able to see the world beyond the desert and the city the resides within it. It was then that you vowed to take him on the most amazing road trip once this whole war was over, you were going to show him the most amazing and beautiful places that the world has to offer.

-You sat cross legged on Bumblebee’s yellow and black hood as you examined a medium brown shipping box that was surprisingly light for its size. Bee beeped quizzically at you as you rotated the box in your hands as you shook it a little to try and guess what was inside. It was a package you ordered months ago and completely forgot about due to the fact you got swept up in an alien war between a species that consisted of giant robots- you argued that was a pretty fair reason to forget about your mail delivery on a consistent basis. Bee beeped at you again a little louder, which pulled you from you thoughts enough to chuckle and answer hks question- “Sorry, Bee, it looks like a package I ordered a while ago. I forgot what it was that I bought and I was trying to think of what it was that I could have ordered.” Bee responded with a noise of understanding as you adjusted yourself on the top of his hood so that you could properly open the box without making to much of a mess that you would have to clean up later. “Oh! This is the knitted Fall Ware I bought from that online designer I like” you exclaimed as you pulled out a plush looking scarf that was very soft to the touch, the next item you fished from the box was a sweater made of the same material that had a beautiful and artistic depiction of a tree losing its leaves that had changed to all different kinds of colors as they almost appeared to sway in the breeze on the still image on the piece of outerwear, and the last thing you pulled from the box was a cute little beanie that had a similar pattern to that of the sweater that was made of equally soft material. Bee beeped at you again as you wrapped the scarf around your neck in glee as you strokes at the fabric with your fingers, “These were fashion accessories that were apart of a bigger fall line by this internet designer, aren’t they cute? It’s a little too warm to wear them out here in the desert, but I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to snag myself a set when the time came.” Bee didn’t understand what you meant by fashion, but he was happy that you were happy about getting clothes that were meant to match the season of autumn. Besides, he thought you looked nice with all your new pieces of clothing- the warm colors matched your personality in a way he couldn’t describe, it was like a reflection of not only the changing of the season but also of who you were on the inside. 

-You sat in your driveway in your new Halloween costumes as you watched the sun orange and yellow sun begin to dip down over the horizon. You’d be surprised at the fact that this small town does have quite a population of children, young children specifically- the ones that like to dress up in fun costumes and run around and collect as much candy as their bags could carry. You always loved Halloween and being able to celebrate it when you were little, and now that you were older and able to give out sweets on your own, you found it endearing and cute to see all the little ones running around asking for candy. You had the driveway decorated in a small way- a few body parts here and a few spiders there, but the big focal point of your decorations was none other than the bot himself, Bumblebee! He stood there nervously as the first group of kids of the night ran up to him and marveled at the “decoration” while the parents asked how you managed to accomplish such an amazing feat of engineering. “How did you get it’s eyes to glow so bright?” “It makes sounds just like a real machine!” “Oh, wow! It’s so warm and not cold at all!” After the night went on for awhile, you noticed Bee was actually having a good time receiving so much attention- you knew he would like pretending to be a statue more than he thought, olus, it was a good reminder for him about what it was that he was fighting for here on earth. These kids, these families, these people all called this floating rock their home and had nowhere else to go in the entire universe- this was a good way to not only see what he was fighting for, but for him to feel appreciated by civilians without giving away the fact he was an alien machine from another galaxy. so many kids dropped by that there was almost a party there on your block, but as it grew later and passed their bedtimes the crowd of people began to dissipate as they all waved goodbye to both you and the “statue” you let out a sigh of relief as your street was once again empty with all the houses that had light in them begin to grow dim. “How’d you like your first Halloween, Bee?” You asked as he transformed back into a car so you could usher him back into the privacy of your garage. He beeped happily at you as he began to describe all the kind things those kids said about him when they came up to place their hands on his frame- he felt so warm and loved as they spewed kind words at him in a way he had never experienced before. It made you smile as he continued on and on about his whole experience as if you weren’t there to see it, and it warmed your heart so much as you politely sat and listened to him speak with great passion and love.

Smokescreen

-You sat inside Smokescreen’s quarters that was located in the Autobot base doing nothing more than making a huge mess out of the project you had began just a few hours ago, but then again, the whole fun of this project was to get messy and mushy while teaching him the wily ways of humanity on the side. “So, why are you making a big mess again?” Smokescreen asked you as you sat on his desk covered in orange stringy pumpkin guts as you were trying to make the most traditional Jack-O-Lantern you could from this small one you picked up from the grocery store, you sighed at his question again as you tried not to touch your face out of frustration because you were still very sticky, it was literally about the third time he had asked that question- “It’s an old Hallow’s Eve tradition that dates back generations of humanity. Some people say that these little guys are supposed to protect your home from the undead, and others say they are meant to light the way for the good spirits to come and find you and give you blessings…” You explained as you finally began to carve into the surface of the pumpkin with your carving knife. “And… You believe that?” He asked in a rather crude tone as he cut you off before you could even finish your story, but you know he didn’t mean it on purpose- he just didn’t understand human customs and traditions quite yet, so it was only natural for him to think that what you were doing was rather… alien. “Does it matter if I do or not?” you shot back at him in a lighthearted tone as you placed a small tealight candle into the now hallowed and carved out shell of the tiny pumpkin “The point is that it’s tradition- and this tradition in particular can bring a lot of happiness to people. It’s a fun family activity that helps everyone get into the mood of the season, you know?” You light the candle and closed the pumpkin up  to show Smokescreen what it was that you were trying to teach him about. It was nothing fancy, just your run of the mill goofy face with triangle eyes and a jagged mouth, but it seems Smokescreen just made a strange noise as he just couldn’t wrap his mind around the concept as he looked down into the face of the Jack-O-Lantern you just carved. “C’mon, help me with the next one you big grump.” You snickered as he made a face at you calling him a grump- you pulled out another round pumpkin that was much bigger than the last one that could really use a face- the point wasn’t for him to understand really, the point was for you two to finally spend some time together doing the things that you wanted to do instead of having to worry about the war that was going on outside of these walls, and he was just happy to be spending one on one time with the one person who understand him… even if he doesn’t understand you completely yet. Hew was trying to understand, and you really appreciated the effort, even if he did fall flat sometimes.

-”Thanks for taking me all the way out to the nearest coffee shop, Smokescreen” you said as you swirled the hot cup of liquid around in your cup as you sped down the freeway to head back to Jasper. You felt a sense of comfort when you felt the warm liquid swirl around in the paper cup that was in your hands, it was a little sappy, but you knew that this little cup of coffee guaranteed that you were going to have a great start to the new season (even if you didn’t really get to experience it due to living in a desert climate). “Anything for you, though, I have to say- it smells a little funny but also a little familiar… funny in a good way, I think?” He responded as you took a big whiff of your coffee through the small ventilation  hole on the top of the cup. Pumpkin Spice, for you it was the perfect sign to let you know that it was the changing of the season, a perfect way to remind you that the rest of the world is experiencing cooler and cooler weather while beginning to prep for the upcoming holiday season. “It’s a special kind of spice that uses seasonal vegetation to celebrate a successful year of harvest- it’s a very popular scent on top of flavor. I use it all the time in the house as a candle because it’s kind of comforting.” You told him as you took a sip of your slightly too hot coffee- you might have to wait for it to cool off just a touch before you can really enjoy all of the flavors in the bitter liquid. “That must be why it is familiar! It’s comforting for me too… it reminds me of you, and anything that reminds me of you always makes me feel better.” You made an ‘aww’ noise at his words ad you put your hand on his dashboard. You could hear his voice stutter a little bit as he made a noise of sucking in air “I-I mean, you know- I like you and stuff but I- ummm.” He was stumbling through his words as he was trying to articulate his thoughts- he was so bad with words and it was so endearing and adorable to you. “You care about me and it’s very sweet, but don’t worry, just because you spill your guts to me it doesn’t make you any less of a macho mech.” You heard him sigh in relief. “Good! I mean- not that I think that kind of thing matters or anything. I mean- it does matter, but it doesn’t also… I mean-” “Relax, Smokescreen your emotional secret is just between you, me, and this cup of coffee.” You cut him off as you raised your cup a little to signify a mock toast as you took another sip of your seasonal drink. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” You just chuckled as you got comfortable in the driver’s seat once more as you opted to just watch the dry scenery pass you by once more- you reminisced about never being able to truly see the colors of fall, but that was ok, so long as you were surrounded by the people and bots that loved you nothing else really mattered.

-You jumped in your seat as you placed your hand over your chest in a way to try and quell the dramatic beating that you could feel inside of it. Smokescreen made a surprised noise as well, but his reaction was less dramatic than yours, which made you laugh harder at your own silliness. You both sat in front of a projection screen in his room just watching old classic horror movies from the 80s, you have seen all of these movies so many times as they aired as reruns on TV or they are always playing in the background during this time of year in shopping malls and movie theaters alike. “This is pretty gruesome! Why would those two teenagers stop in the middle of the woods to exchange fluids?! There is a guy trying to kill you!” Smokescreen emphasized as he was having a hard time understanding why humans would willfully do sexual things when there is a crazed serial killer on the loose. “You know Smokey, though this is a fictional movie, it has been known that adrenaline can increase the libido in humans- so scary things can make humans a little frisky.” You explained as you watched the killer hack up the poor teenagers who were screaming and begging for their lives. You didn’t really think beyond the words that came out of your mouth, as you were pretty much used to explaining things like this to Smokescreen, but when you caught him staring at you it made your face begin to flush as you asked him what he was looking at you like that for. “Are you watching this movie to… get your… libido er- going?” you nearly choked on your own oxygen as you coughed and almost panicked at what it was that he was implying. “Of course not! It’s nearly Hallow’s Eve and I was simply trying to get into the spooky mood!” you exclaimed as you put your hands on your cheeks to feel just how warm your face hard really gotten. “Ah…” He replied as he shifted a little in his seat on his berth. “Does that disappoint you?” you asked in a stoic way as you saw your opportunity to try and force Smokescreen into being more open and honest with his feelings. “I-I mean… I don’t- I don’t know. Yes? No?” He stammered as he too tried to cover his face in embarrassment “I mean- I like you. I think you’re attractive and I mean- who wouldn’t want to lay with you? N-Not that I want to right now! I mean, if you want-” You just chuckled as your face began to return to it’s normal color as you watched him struggle to find the words that were stuck in his audio box. “I know what you mean Smokey, I was just teasing you, you big goof.”you said as you gave him a gentle punch on his his servo- it was the closest appendage to you that you could reach to emphasize that you were just playing around with him. “Ok, good! Good” he sighed as he tried his best to turn his focus back onto the movie and to not try and think about the jarring conversation he just had with you where he nearly let his whole spark just puke out all of the deepest thoughts he had locked up in his processor. It wasn’t the right time to talk about that yet, but when it will be, he hopes that he doesn’t stammer and lose track of his words like he did earlier.

(02/11/2019)

[twitchesandstitches]

Power Mods! - where they come from

But giving powers is no easy task.

For one thing, it’s hard to articulate the idea of a process or transformative to give someone superpowers. After all, what does that even mean? Abiltiies are not consistent across species, and a mundane capability to one species is the stuff of the gods to another. Long distance stamina and ability to recover from serious injuries is ordinary to humans, but to small rabbit-y aliens who will definitely die from a bad enough hit or can be exhausted in minutes, it’s awe inspiring.

And adding genuine amazing abilities are a whole other thing. Things like summoning weapons from mid-air, generating massive amounts of fire, digestive acids to consume even magic and souls; these are what is meant by power mods, or simply ‘powers’; things that would be considered superpowers in most settings with active superheroes. They might be literal superpowers derived from those who have them naturally, biological attributes and adaptations that get artificially amplified to incredible extremes (gliding wings resigned to enable actual flight with more back muscle and increased wing span), or artificially created chunks of magic tweaked to imbue the right kinds of changes in people to give them superpowers.

Therefore, there’s a good reason the only major factions in the setting to actually be using them is the MILF Fleet, the Cobalts, and a few shadowy organizations with real magical power. The main different here is that these groups all have access to magic, are on the move enough that they can meet new people and base new creations on them from study or contact with the things they encounter. The Cobalts devour interesting foes or have Vriska (or an underling acting on her behalf) suck them dry. The MILFs earn that power by getting the power-giver to consent to passing it onto them, or possibly devour them. While Sierra can just gobble up a foe and copy their powers, its a complex matter to make it a permanent addition to her stockpile; its usually easier for them to just get the other person to willingly pass that power onto them with Friendship and big smooches.

The MILF Fleet is mainly dependant on Sierra as the source of their powers; she acquires power ‘flavors’ (such as super strength, elemental control, and so on) and adds them to the stockpile. Other people in the fleet and then extract samples of those powers and begin to fashion new powers from them, adding them to other samples to create entirely new abilities. Over time, people that Sierra has imbued with the essence of the Matriatrix (collectively known as the endowed due to their enormous proportions and incredibly powerful abilities) can also do this; assume that any member of the fleet who qualifies as a MILF can do what she can do below, but less efficiently.

Sierra has two broad options when it comes to getting new stockpile options. The first is the most common; the power is a gift. The person with the original trait or power willingly gives it to her or another MILF from the fleet, which literally impregnates them with the power, and once they return to the ship, they can add it to Sierra’s stockpile directly. Otherwise Sierra absorbs it into herself, often through a kiss or an intimate moment, and can help produce it at some other point. The giver does not lose their power, though it might be weakened for some time depending on how much is given or the gulf in power between giver and recipient; if they are close in power, there is no real loss, but if the MILF is far more powerful (such as with an inexperienced giver), they are likely to suffer serious draining. Or even be outright absorbed into the MILF, to be reborn or ejected later after she heals the giver!

The second option is by taking it. Often this means consuming a villain or dangerous entity, digesting their powers, but this will take a long time to sort out the potentialities first. This is their least preferred option; they’d rather get more powers by earning love and friendship and spreading goodwill, but they can’t always do that. More pragmatically, the resulting powers are often much more limited and will have to be extensively refined and have the negative emotions of their acquisition churned out before anything can be done with them, or the power ups they might make later will definitely cause bad things to happen to them. Still, if there is a very useful power they can’t do without, or facing a dangerous foe who must be stopped no matter what, Sierra and the MILFs will consume them without a second thought; why not make themselves stronger from their defeat?

Other factions will have their own particular methods, depending on aesthetics, ranging from creating them from scratch (a very difficult and time consuming process, though potentially the most versatile and suitable for forces that don’t travel extensively), duplicating them from existing forms or users with minor tweaks and certainly weaker results as a form of internal balance, and extremely complex modifications or surgical alterations backed by magical infusion with a hint of otherworldly possession.

The MILF Fleet does all of those, depending on their whim. An important thing to understand aobut them is that they love weirdness and strangeness, thinking nothing of modding on a couple of extra arms or doing extremely strange things to their bodies in the name of Aesthetic, and the same applies to the powers they craft. Generally the finished results tend to take surgical modifications with a ton of magic being radiated into them, special food or drink that gradually alters their body to have that power, cybernetic replacements and parts installed into their bodies (up to and including full on robotization), or altering body secretions to induce their powers in others over time.

The powers in the stockpile, however, are the essence of that ability; you can’t just pull out Super Strength and pump it into someone until they can throw mountains around. The MILF Fleet has figured out ways to siphon ‘flavors’ of the different powers, mixing them together, and enhancing them to the point that they take on a life of their own, and at this point they can empower new people by being crafted into a consumable form, permanently granting those powers to anyone who uses them. This can be any form the creator pleases; food, drink, cybernetics, or even a procedure of some sort.

The most common way of making experimental or complex powers is to impregnante a MILF with the essence of the powers in question. By taking in the powers at a stockpile (or having the Matriatrix funnel it into her), she becomes pregnant with this energy; for several weeks (at minimum), the powers will mix and grow inside her, becoming more complex systems of magic and her fertile body empowering it. The more powerful her fertility magic is, the faster this process is. Her belly will grow progressively larger and larger, as well as give her the abilities that the new power will grant.

Eventually, the power will stabilize, and she can materialize it from her body, shaping it into a new form. She can craft it into anything she likes, in order to fully grant the power to someone else: she can work it into botanical forms and create seeds that grow into fruit-bearing trees that can then be refined into delicious treats, fierce monsters, or crafted into a specific procedure or machine (for cybernetics or weaponry). Any medium, item or form is suitable for this, and very individual. The most powerful ones can be reused, but the more this is done, the weaker the results get and they must grow to their full potential from scratch once installed.

Inexperienced MILFs tend to do an all-or-nothing result here, putting all the fruits of their work into a single creation. The most powerful create a lot when they do this, just as they can produce hundreds of children with ease. However, while they can churn out a ton of powers all at once, they are likely to be unstable, so they must choose whether they will be power-pregnant for a long time and have more and stable powers, or produce a lot of chaotic and uncertain abilities ASAP.

There are plenty of other ways to do it. Sometimes they don’t even need to get specific powers created in this fashion: a specific means of altering magic into someone is devised by studying how the power works, such as creating means of hyper-fertility or body expansion by studying how actively using the Matriartrix has enhanced Sierra’s own body, or the effects of the Thirteen Primes on beings; powers have been made by modifying magic to emulate their effects, or adapt them for different beings.

The MILFs have many other means to create powers (often involving their innate pregnancy powers in some fashion), and I’m open to suggestions on possibllities for what those powers are turned into. Magic trees that grow fruit that give you super strength? Massive beasts that must be ritually slain and consumed for powers? Long baths in a soothing magical chemical mix that alters you? It can all be there, and more!

Note that creating powers involves making sources of those powers. They’re not one-shots! You make that power once, what you’re actually creating is a means to keep empowering people, though a common limitation, to prevent overpowered nonsense, is that you start with a weak version of that power and must build up experience and skill with it over time.