#vine references? in 2023???

[guiiay]

denji vs. the racism devil

[holmes-ja]

And they were shipmates!!

ohmygod, they were shipmates

[styona]

I think that when Terzo and Omega were in their own little world on stage all the other ghouls were like 'wtf is this allowed? wtf is that allowed?'

[newtdrawz]

whatzvs rur opinii bo ngrapihing y intercept and slop which outsiders characters woudl have thay be their fwvorite math thing 💯💯❣️‼️‼️‼️‼️ (i got a 0 on a maht quiz for slope 😭 i hav to retake it now)

I for one,, am a math hater. I had to take a special help class for it (for literally all of jr. High and HS) 😭😭😭 AND I MISSED A CREDIT SO IM DOING IT ONLINE RN SO I HATE Y SLOPE X ABC INTERCEPT GRAPH and ykw, that's real of you cuz how do they even expect anyone to understand a math quiz 😭😭

Anyways I think Darry would,, I feel like he's pretty good at math,, what a NERD. He would def help Pony w/ his math hw (he would yell at him too LMAO) he'd help Johnny too but nicely lol but yeah I think Darry would really like/be pretty good at math,, or y slope whatever stuff idk I forgot what that was immediately after learning it 😭😭😭😭

Also good luck on the retake 🙏😞 sending all my brain cells (like 4) to you ✊🏻 you got this ‼️💪 never back down never what?

Never give up‼️💪🙏🙌🏼📊✏️📐🔢

[mantomhive]

oh my god do you remember when people were upset Sebastian was killing and mauling and assaulting people. "omg he hurt beast!" ya he is a demon that is literally the devil that's what he does hope this helps

oh nooooo the amoral demonic entity that is going to eat a child’s soul is not respecting women I can’t believe you’ve done this adam :(

[mochinomnoms]

A Floral Inconvenience

You came into Twisted Wonderland with nothing but the clothes on your back, a literally fiery cat, and an immune system not conditioned to handle the foreign antibodies in the air, earth, or water. It was honestly a miracle that you hadn’t caught some sort of incurable disease, probably because most diseases here required magical output to survive, like plants and water. You weren’t immune to your own feelings though, and magical disease and illnesses have a funny way of adapting themselves to their potential host. It was then that you found yourself prepared for springtime hay fever and allergies, after all pollen was pollen no matter where you were at. What was unexpected, and thus not prepared for, was the disease known as hanahaki, or the flower sickness. Long ago, there existed a family of mages that lived in a small mountain village deep within a jungle that was established by a family of mages. The family protected their village with fantastical and magical abilities, each unique and extraordinary as generation from generation grew. One of those mages, the Flower Bride, had the ability to grow a magnificent array of flora with just the wave of her hand! Flor de mayo, jacarandas, figs and vines all made their home with the Flower Bride. She had a heart so full of feelings, love for her home, family, and her beloved, of course, that her very emotions affected how dazzling those blooms were. The Flower Bride then decided that others should be able to demonstrate their love in the same beauteous display as she did: after all, who wouldn’t want their love developing into only the most lovely blooms? As such, hanahaki was born. Some see it was a blessing, a push, an opportunity for one to confront their feelings. It’s a realization that what they’re feeling is indeed true, the type of love that can only be achieved in fairytales. Others saw it as an inconvenience: after all, sometimes it just wasn’t the right time to confess your love, or they’d be coughing up petals mid-speech, kind of annoying honestly. Yet the sickness would continue until they acknowledge their feelings, the love died down, or it became a chronic illness. Officially dubbed hanahaki by researchers in the East, the disease was also referred to as the flower sickness, being twitterpated, and sometimes even the lovesick florae by the general population. The most commonly afflicted persons fit into two categories: the positively, without a doubt, enamored sort, the twitterpated or lovesick sort of folk. Or, they were the kind to bury their feelings deep deep down and just one day die. It wasn’t unique to any singular species either. It had adapted to afflict humans, beastmen, and even merfolk. Why, not even fae were immune despite their natural immunity to magical disease. Really, it shouldn’t have been any surprise that the emotionally stunted students of Night Raven College would be prime targets for their own bout of hanahaki.

An event to christen the creation of my blog! Please feel free to request or use for your own!

Requests Close 10/20/2023

Rules

Anyone can use this event and prompts on their own blog! Tag me in so I can read all your stories!

This event will be for TWST on my end, others are free to use for whatever they'd like!

All request will be up to 2000+ words, with a max of 3 characters per request.

Chose up one prompt for each character and indicate if you want romantic or platonic. You can also indicate if you want fluff, hurt/comfort, suggestive, etc.

No NSFW for this event (on my end at least, everyone else go nuts)

Reader will default to gender-neutral unless asked otherwise

Dialogue Prompts

“Why is your trash can full of flower petals? Are you secretly a botanist, or is there something you're not telling me?”

“So, I hear you've been coughing up daisies lately. Got any plans to enter the flower business?”

“You know you have it bad when you start sneezing petals every time your crush walks by. At least it's a colorful allergy!”

“I can't believe you're faking a cough just to get some attention. And you're using fake flowers for the petals? That's commitment!”

“I think the local florist is in love with me. Their shop is making a killing off my Hanahaki. Do you think they'll give me a discount?”

“You've got to stop sending secret admirer bouquets to yourself. The delivery guy is starting to think you have a dozen secret admirers.”

“I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but wearing petals in your hair is a whole new level of fashion statement.”

“I have a steady, loving partner. you on the other hand have a left hand and a sunflower cough.”

“Why'd I have to get a nose full of lilies? I'm allergic, this is so unfair.”

“You think with all the lavender on my head I could make my own syrup out of it?”

“No, I've been practicing my sleight of hand! Watch as I make a bouquet of tulips magically appear—ACK!”

“No, I haven't been growing marigolds out of my ass. Why would you even ask that?!”

“Here, your favorite flower! Hmm? Where'd I get them? Uh, I just found them, around…”

“I'd rather have the thorniest, pesticide ridden roses grow in my mouth before I'd ever admit having any sort of affection for them!”

“Sooo, are you gonna apologize for puking dahlias all over my breakfast?”

“I've never heard of a flower sickness, are you talking about seasonal allergies?”

“Look, even if confessing would let me get rid of the poppies, I'd rather not. Maybe I'll just learn how to make poppy seed muffins or something.”

“Is this normal here?” “Only for the emotionally unavailable folk.” “Ah, so it is.”

“Dude, are your freckles turning into baby's breath?” “AHH!”

“Aren't lotus flowers really good for your skin? Babeeey, I'm set for life—” “NOT WHEN THEY'RE GROWING OUT OF YOUR EARS!”

“Look, I care for you and want you to get laid, but imagine all the money we'd save on tea if you kept growing chamomile from your head.”

“Blehhhg…” “You know I always knew I'd be holding your hair back as you puked your stomach out at a party, I thought it be from the alcohol though, not flowers.”

“You know, some people pay a lot of money for Hanahaki bouquets, have you considered—OW! It was just a suggestion!”

“I'm so happy that you confessed first.” “Why?” “If I had to dig out another hydrangea petal from my teeth, I was gonna lose it.”

“Man, sunflowers have got to be the worst to be puking up.” “Nah man, it's roses and their thorns! They scrap up all up your gums, my dentist bill after was ridiculous!”

🌸 a floral inconvenience masterlist 🌸

gardenias & peonies: silver x f!reader – #13

stargazer lilies: sebek zigvolt x f!reader – #5

dahlias; zinnias & cosmos: ruggie bucchi, trey clover, [separate] x gn!reader - #15, #1

teonanácatl mushrooms: jade leech x gn!reader - #18

lavender roses: floyd leech x gn!reader - #14

lavender: azul ashengrotto x gn!reader - #18

marigold: vil schoenheit, platonic!ace trappola x gn!reader - #7 & #12

blue hydrangeas: idia shroud x f!reader - #24

baby's breath & red roses: riddle rosehearts x f!reader - #14 & #19 [QUEUED]

amaryllis: lilia vanrouge x gn!reader - #1 [PENDING]

carnations: leona kingscholar x gn!reader - #18 [PENDING]

asters; purple hydrangeas: ace trappola, jamil viper [spearate] x gn!reader - #22, #24 [PENDING]

gerbera daisies: trey clover x gn!reader - #3 [PENDING]

orange poppies & water lilies: azul ashengrotto x gn!reader - #17 [PENDING]

sunflowers: jack howl x gn!reader - #8 [PENDING]

chrysanthemums: jamil viper x gn! reader - #1 [PENDING]

green roses: malleus draconia x gn!reader - #13 & #14 [PENDING]

pink poppies & cala lilies: jamil viper x gn!reader - #17 & #22 [PENDING]

sunflowers: leona kingscholar x f!reader - #8 [PENDING]

BONUS:

azaleas, cornflowers, & white roses: ace trappola, deuce space [poly] x gn! reader - #6, #3, & #22 [PENDING]

[13thdoodle]

[ ECTOBERHAUNT 2023 BANNER ]

I'm doing the banner for this year's @ectoberhaunt event~ The theme is Science vs Magic

I had so much fun making this~ Sam get the fantasy AU fit while Tucker gets Cyber/futuristic style

Sketch Progress

I like the idea of Sam being a druid bc nature connection tm

And Tucker would vibe very well with fancy future stuffs. i was gonna draw him with a bigger puffer but I couldn't figured it out. I like the one we got here too so yay

Okay so I was a bit pressed on time while working on this so I couldn't do as much research and references as I should.

On Sam's part, the somewhat floating book was inspired on how genshin impact's catalysts have their books/weapon just floats and it looks fancy n magical n Sam deserve that honestly

Her glowing tattoo are highkey inspired of this beautiful Sam with tattoos art by @the-stove-is-on-fire Mine is nowhere close to that but that's my main inspiration for this

I was gonna give Tucker his usual orange sweater but I noticed a lot of neon or cyberpunk outfit relies on dark backdrop to pop.

And since the background color is gonna be bright yellow, I gotta put the dark color somewhere else. And his sweater would be the perfect spot to balance out all the brightness with a bit of darkness

And it matches with Sam too so it works out great uwu

The magic circles on their back were mostly there to balance out the composition bc it looks too empty as is, gotta spice it up a lil bit uwu But a direct halo would look.. too out there? I mean I can but like.. Sam is magic/fantasy based, why not lean on that n go for magic circles :D

Tucker's random bits on the background took the most out of me bc like.. its hard qwq I literally try to look up aesthetic bg to figure out how to work with his?? Eventually I just settle on less is more and added shadow under the bits to make em pops out against the orange

source

And for the color choices, I wanted the two of them to have purple, yellow, and green on them. The green color on to symbolize Danny bc I'm an Everlasting Trio shipper lmao

I wanted Sam to have some yellow and green on her magic, which kinda.. got covered with the whites honestly. But the greens stays with the vines so we'll go with that Tucker was harder to figure out, so I settle with him with blue and greens instead of purple qwq

In the end, only the green end up staying lmao It ends up unifying both sides so hell yea it all works out lol

[stonathanweek]

STONATHAN WEEK 2023 PROMPTS

Please click the read more to see more detailed explanations about the prompts!

~~ PROMPTS FOR WRITERS AND ARTISTS / PROMPTS FOR GIFMAKERS & VIDEO EDITORS ~~

Day 1 (Friday, July 21st): Scoops Ahoy! / Favourite Outfits

Scoops Ahoy!: Inspired by Steve's job in Season 3, this prompt refers to all Food Services AUs you can think of! You can stay close to canon with an Ice Cream Shop or you can get creative with a Coffee Shop, or a Cake Shop AU, or anything you might like, it's up to you!

Favourite Outfits: Show us your favourite outfits worn by Jonathan and Steve throughout the series! It doesn't have to be limited to scenes they've had together (because there isn't many, as we all know). You are free to play with different clips from different seasons! Maybe there's an outfit you think should make a return next season?

Day 2 (Saturday, July 22nd): Roommates AU / AUs

Roommates AU: And they were roommates... In Day 2 we invite you to explore Stonathan's dynamic as they share a living space and all the chaos that situation can bring!

AUs: This can be any sort of AU that you can come up with. Get creative with the video clips or photos you use! Images do not have to be limited to the show. Anything from Fantasy AUs, to Bookstore AUs, to Coffee shop AUs, to Dystopian AUs. The world is your oyster!

Day 3 (Sunday, July 23rd): Fake Dating AU / Parallels

Fake Dating AU: When the truth hides in a lie! Pretending to be together to fool the others was part of the plan, but the more time they spend together, the more... they want it to be real?

Parallels: We all know the Duffers and their love for patterns and parallels! However, parallels don’t need to stop with ST. This prompt is a challenge to find any parallels in the show or other media that connects to Steve and Jonathan!

Day 4 (Monday, July 24th): Fantasy AU / Colours

Fantasy AU: We've seen a lot in ST. We've seen Shadow Monsters, and Evil Vines, and little girls with superpowers, and Vecna. But we haven't seen it all. What about kingdoms, and dragons, and knights, and princes, and wizards, and mermaids, and shapeshifters? The options are endless! In a world where magic exists and royals rule the lands, what are Jonathan and Steve up to?

Colours: Colours are a big part of cinematography and character design, but here we wanna see your take! What colours represent Steve and Jonathan and their bumpy dynamic the best to you?

Day 5 (Tuesday, July 25th): Canon-verse / Steve & Jonathan + another character

Canon-verse: We all can agree we haven't gotten enough from Steve and Jonathan together in the show. Well, this is your chance to change that! With this prompt you can play around with the rules of canon. Maybe Stonathan got stranded in the Upside Down? Maybe there's some deleted scenes between seasons you want to explore? Or what happens after canon? There's many options!

Steve & Jonathan + another character: Friendships and relationships are one of the most important aspects of the show. Here you have the opportunity to explore some of the other dynamics that Steve and Jonathan have together with other characters, or dive into a dynamic/group that includes Stonathan and that you might like to see in S5!

Day 6 (Wednesday, July 26th): Music AU / Song Lyrics

Music AU: Music is a huge part of ST, so we couldn't not have a prompt that related to it. Bands, mixtapes, old record stores, etc. Anything you can think of that relates to music counts! Let Jonathan's music snobbery and Steve's mainstream taste shine this day!

Song Lyrics: Have some song lyrics that are just perfect for Steve and Jonathan? This is your time to shine!

Day 7 (Thursday, July 27th): Forced Proximity / Favourite Scene

Forced Proximity: Isn't it just inconvenient when for reasons out of your control you have to share a same space with someone you might not like so much, or someone who might not like you so much, or someone you might like too much, or just someone you haven't talked to in a long time, and it's just Awkward? Yup, it's the worst. But it's so much fun when it happens to the characters we love! Go wild with this one!

Favourite scene: Show us your favourite scene with Steve and Jonathan. We know there aren't many to choose from, but we'd love to see how creative you get with it! Show us your different styles and takes!

** No prompts are exclusive to any media! We made separate prompts for Gif Makers and Video Editors and Moodboard Creators so they could have a better prompt to work with given their type of media. That being said, to all Gif Makers, Video Editors and Moodboard Creators, feel free to choose any prompt of the day you would like to work with! **

[sillyfairygarden]

fairy once more 🌹 my c!hannah design is complete, full design process is under the cut :)

wrow it has been like 1.5 yr since my first c!hannie drawing 😭 ourgh i love her sosososo much. i really went back n forth on whether or not to actually complete this design, due to my... complicated and strenuous relationship with the dsmp... but after talking it out and going through these pieces i wanted to do it justice one last time :)

without further ado here is a (near-complete) history of my c!hannahxxrose design. i have included text descriptions since my handwriting is notoriously doctoral (bad):

DESIGN EVOLUTION:

In the beginning the design was very simple, and leaned heavily into the popular fanon. [pointing at image of c!hannah with leafy, thick foliage leaves from fall 2021: this was drawn before the event where c!hannah got her wings, aka i'm psychic teehee]

(i didn't really know much about her character, so these aren't tied to the canon and got scrapped!)

[pointing to a design of c!hannah with fairy wings from early 2022: this simple dress was a staple in my early design...]

Post-Elytramaggedeon:

her wings! i think when she lost them, it really drew me into pinning down a design for her. i toyed with the imagery of torn, tattered wings, but then turned to a more melted look. i love the multicolour spread of her wings, through over time her wing shape changes from a butterfly wing to a more dragonfly/fairy-style.

i toyed with the idea of her wings being torn off completely, but at the end it was more true to the imagery to have these massive, multicoloured wings, useless and tattered.

[text beneath a c!tinarose piece from march 2022: first time drawing c!tinarose B) very uninspired outfits. also, why does c!tina have little wings??? The line "he ripped your rings, my little fairy :(" lives in my head rent-free. I wasn't happy with how this came out.]

[text beneath a c!tinarose piece from july 2022: genuinely one of the best pieces i've ever done. c!tinarose nation 4 lyfe ✌️ Really nailed the melty, shredded wing design here!

Design Exploration:

While working on those [above] pieces in 2022, i started exploring different ideas for my c!hannah design.

[text pointing to a sketch from september 2022, where c!hannah has a large, tree-like arm: in this, c!hannah is a flower nymph whose body is apart of nature--the tree arm is borne! i LOVE asymmetrical designs. In my notes, i wrote: 'she draws her energy from nature to heal after losing her wings- in return, nature returns to claim her body... as time goes on, the bark grows.]

Concept: pre-DSMP design:

[text pointing to a sketch of c!hannah kneeling, hair wild with flowers and covered in climbing vines: a rosebush who becomes a girl-in her early days, she is more plant-like than human girl! i loved this hair. so fun.]

Introduction of Armour:

[text beneath multiple drawings of c!hannah from summer 2022, where she is wearing armour: in these sketches, i was feeling the urge to draw some armoured ladies-and so c!hannah became my victim!

i'm always craving sleek, feminine silhouettes in my armoured designs, without turning into battle corsets and bikinis.

at the same time as this, i was in the brainstorming/conceptual stages for other dsmp characters, and i wanted c!hannah to be unique from the generic, full-netherite design.]

Final Design:

A year and a half after my first art of her, and i collected the varying design elements from past pieces into one final concept!

Knightly yet feminine, strong but still wearing (literally) the scars of pain. I wasn't confident in ever finishing this, but then i heard that she gets her wings back after the 2023 """finale""" of the smp... it was time to bring closure to this character design that i have poured a whole part of myself into. This was the final sketch.

[text near a sketch of c!hannah's final design: flower spirit, mix armoured with flowers (utena core).]

for the final piece itself, i wanted to reference the colours of hannah's minecraft skin, while still adding that fantasy-knight element. the wings are trimmed, but still retained that beautiful, multicolour melty look. her tree arm is finally blossoming and blooming with pops of colour, to signify regrowth after the trauma of losing a piece of herself. her insignia is not for any nation, but for herself.

References:

The works of these illustrators greatly guided this design. Additionally, my peers and other artists who have drawn/interpreted c!hannah before <3 feminine, strong designs are so beautiful!

[not pictured are the works of JC Leyendecker, Jasmin Darnell, CLAMP, Thores Shibamoto, and my dear friend zma. their works orbit my head like a ceiling fan whenever i put the pen to paper <3)

a few things didn't end up making the cut (the cape from the final sketch, her other forms and ideas for pre-SMP, etc) but at this point, i am really excited to just stop looking at this piece LOL. it has been staring at me for forever. im very pleased with it and touched something special at seeing my own abilities, ambition, and concept designs grow within my own work. even if no one reads all 213445345 words of this, it's a wonderful capsule of the work i put into this design and im quite pleased.

aneeeways if any1 read this far i hope u like it 🙇 ok im going eepy now gnight ^^

[qianqiancandyjar]

Ninjavember 2023!

Here's completed version with a bunch of explaining below each picture! Just scroll down if you don't want to see me blabbering. (I tried to go short as much as possible)

(I have a lot of AUs and headcanons that only exist in my head and my sketchbooks. Forgive me for wanting to spill them out.)

Day 2: Randy was listening to music with earphones so he didn't know Theresa was sitting next to him. Imagine how embarrassed he would get when he knows.

Day 8: Tech-Ninja AU. It's about machinist Randy being set up by Mcfist for murdering the town hero Ninja with his invention, the Tech-Ninja armor. Then the spirit of the destroyed Nomicon travelled to his armor and become an AI, choosing him to be the next Ninja. So Randy accepted it and was determined to make up for what he caused, when nobody except Howard, the boss of Weinerman industries, trusted him.

Day 10: Apocalypse AU. It's about Randy lost the battle at the end of season 2 and became the prisoner of the Sorcerer. The Nomicon was handed to Howard before that, and they later recruited survivors to form a resistance against the Sorcerer. Then Randy was stanked, but instead of turning into a monster, he was brainwashed and given the power of creating his own red and black stank. And- You know what will happen. (Inspired by the Darkness of Randy Cunningham)

Day 13: Elemental trial AU. You can say it's my take on what will happen in season 3. The Carp god was under the cover of a random carpfish as Norisville mascot. After a series of events it was awaken and gave Randy the power of Ice Rage.

Day 14: I think there's more than just the blood of First Ninja's brothers, since nobody knows how to destank people at the beginning...

Day 17: The Warrior might have been living or sleeping there, waiting for some ninjas to wake him up or consult him about his forbidden arts. (Ha, It's kinda like Eclipsa in Star vs. the forces of Evil)

Day 18: Or it can be called the New Generation AU. In the future, Randy took the place of Messager as well as the Ninja Guardian, while Brent became the new Sword Smith and Sorceress became their main villain. I am not really good at designing OCs so there's no next ninja yet.

However, I read a fanfic of another fandom in the form of CYOA, and it gave me new idea: just let the reader be the next ninja, it will be fun, too. (Also, this AU was inspired by an RC9GN fanfic titled from the past to the future, where future Randy became Ninja Guardian. But I couldn't find it on fanfiction.net any more. Has anyone read it? I didn't dream about it, right?)

Day 19: During that time I got even crazier after I read Enter the Nomicon. It's hard to believe I had a crazy period of shipping Randicon, even for myself. Especially weird for me since I now have a completely different view about Nomicon (peek at my Yokai Ninja AU comics). Time really can change a person, wow.

Day 21: Yes, a whole page just for this headcanon. I used the screenshots in the show because it's too hard to draw. The barrier thing is kinda like the one that held Bill's power in the range of Gravity Falls.

Day 23: Danny: the Walking Air-Conditioner. Inspired by a chapter of Secret Quartet. Danny phased his hand through the scarf. Just imagine your friend put a cold hand inside your scarf in winter. *shiver*

Day 25: Besides Ninja vine ball, there are also spike ball, gas ball, sonic ball, rainbow illusion ball, tear ball and so on. I just pick the most common one from my ninja balls headcanons to put in here.

Day 27: You may see I prefer using numbers to refer episodes, because that's how I track and rewatch them. To be more specific, I list some keywords here: NomiRandy, First Ninja, Debbie, Tengu. As fellow RC9GN Fans I'm sure you get it.

Day 30: It's a half-baked AU thing. The flowers I tried to draw are rosemary?

Wow! I actually finished all the prompts! Thank you for holding the big event! @evilspiritweek

(I don't mind sharing more details about my AUs or headcanons. *wink*)

[zee-man-chatter]

Mainstream Media Is Avoiding the Big Story on Jeffrey Epstein and Sealed Court Documents

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 3, 2024 ~

Over the past week, more than a dozen of the biggest mainstream news outlets have published articles about the possibility of scandalous news breaking this week from the unsealing of documents in a federal court case involving the sex trafficker of minors, Jeffrey Epstein.

Typically, responsible news outlets wait for the actual news to break before hyping the possibility of it breaking. At 5:59 a.m. this morning, Newsweek updated the story as follows:

“Some on social media are speculating that the public disclosure of more than 150 names associated with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been delayed.

“Judge Loretta A. Preska signed an order on December 18 for the public release of the identities of more than 150 people mentioned in court documents from a now-settled 2015 civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre that centered on allegations that Epstein’s associate and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated her sexual abuse.

“Several prominent figures, including former President Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew are expected to be named. The list will also include sex abuse victims and Epstein’s employees.”

Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, and dozens of other prominent men in politics, finance and law have already been named, repeatedly, in the media as people who socialized or had suspect dealings with Epstein. So this is not a new story.

The real story that mainstream media refuses to investigate is why federal judges in New York have been allowed to secret away in sealed documents the puzzle pieces to how Epstein’s network of powerful men were able to run a sex trafficking ring for two decades with the “active participation” of the largest federally-insured bank in the United States, JPMorgan Chase; and right under the nose of its Chairman, CEO and media darling, Jamie Dimon.

This is the Big Story that has been left to wilt on the vine by the likes of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and their peers.

The answers to this Big Story will not be found in the documents slated to be unsealed by Judge Loretta Preska in the Virginia Giuffre case. They have been sealed and locked up tight in Judge Jed Rakoff’s courtroom after he oversaw multiple Epstein-related lawsuits brought against JPMorgan Chase in late 2022 and 2023.

One case, Jane Doe v JPMorgan Chase, was a class action on behalf of Epstein’s sex assault and sex trafficked victims. Judge Rakoff approved its settlement for $290 million despite objections from 17 Attorneys General and the settlement’s unconscionable terms that included releasing claims for “harm, injury, abuse, exploitation, or trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein or by any person who is in any way connected to or otherwise associated with Jeffrey Epstein, as well as any right to recovery on account thereof.” Claimants were also required to sign the release form before they learned if they would get a dime from the settlement.

Attorneys for the victims were not left in any such doubt. The settlement terms provided them with $87 million in legal fees and $2.5 million in expenses.

Releasing claims against “Any person who is in any way connected to or otherwise associated with Jeffrey Epstein” conveniently includes a number of billionaires referred by Epstein to JPMorgan Chase as clients. There are also literally hundreds of high-profile individuals that were listed in Epstein’s little black book that could be considered “connected” to him.

Many of the individuals listed in Epstein’s little black book – a total of 1,571 – have had important banking relationships with JPMorgan Chase. In a court filing on July 26 of last year by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands, which has since settled its Epstein-related case against JPMorgan Chase for $75 million, it listed the following individuals as people Epstein referred as clients to the bank: Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates; Google co-founder and billionaire Sergey Brin; the Sultan of Dubai, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem; media and real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman; and numerous others.

Epstein’s victims charged in their lawsuit that JPMorgan Chase had, for more than a decade, provided Epstein with cozy banking services, which included sluicing to him millions of dollars in hard cash from his accounts, sometimes as much as $40,000 to $80,000 a month. The bank failed to file the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) that it is legally required to file with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for those payments in cash. Epstein’s alleged quid pro quo with the bank included him referring valuable business deals and clients to JPMorgan Chase. These allegations were substantiated by 22 pages of internal bank emails released in the related case brought against the bank by the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A third Epstein-related case was brought against JPMorgan Chase in Rakoff’s court by two public pension funds that owned shares of JPMorgan Chase. That lawsuit named Dimon as a defendant as well as current and former members of JPMorgan Chase’s Board of Directors. It was brought by a prominent class action law firm on behalf of shareholders of the bank. The lawsuit’s theory of the case was that specific members of the Board of JPMorgan Chase “put their heads in the sand” and ignored that the bank had become a cash conduit for Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring because they were hoping that their own verifiable business ties to Epstein “would go unnoticed.” (We might add an attendant thesis: that Dimon takes very good care of his Board in return for them taking very good care of him.)

Mainstream media ignored the allegations that members of the JPMorgan Chase Board of Directors had business ties with Epstein and Judge Rakoff wasted no time in dismissing the case on technical grounds. (This was not the first time that a major scandal involving JPMorgan Chase received a news blackout by mainstream media.)

The other Big Story is why after 18 years of police and FBI investigations of Epstein and his wide sex trafficking ring, the U.S. Department of Justice has brought criminal charges against only two people: Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

There is also no indication, at present, that the Justice Department is preparing to bring a criminal case against JPMorgan Chase, despite its recidivist history of felony charges (including two felony counts for money laundering) and a former FBI agent’s statement on how the bank “impeded” a criminal investigation of Epstein. (See: New Court Documents Suggest the Justice Department Under Four Presidents Covered Up Jeffrey Epstein’s Money Laundering at JPMorgan Chase.)

Two different stories, draw your own conclusions, the rabbit hole goes pretty deep.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 25/02/2023

BELIEBERDANSEN

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Caramelldansen (CA Version) - Caramellagirls

Ripped by DiamondBrickZ

With Season 8 officially in gear, it means I'm going to have to play a bit of catch-up with it in terms of coverage on here! All other prior Seasons have over 30 posts each on here - you can check for yourself on the pinned post! - but Season 8 still sits at just a single one, with Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab. Well, today marks the second ever Season 8 post, covering its first surprise event - BELIEBERDANSEN and the Justin Bieber takeover.

The idea of cringe culture in how it relates to SiIvaGunner's history is a really fascinating topic, and one I covered back on mlp racism anthem (comix zone arrange) in pretty good detail. To summarize, there was a time early in the channel's life where a good number of the references and jokes were made in rather poor taste - where the crux of the joke was to point and laugh at the weird and different parts of the internet, to have trolled the audience with something "cringe". The feel of internet discussion has changed a lot in the years since 2016, though, and it generally feels as if we're far more accepting, more nostalgic and intrigued by the stranger parts of the internet, rather than blatantly antagonistic. Be it with "dead" memes like in Corridors of Vine and Wario's Hampster Mine, or with phenomena that are still ongoing like with Hidden Headtoilets (skibidi toree 2), the SiIvaGunner channel and community tend to take a far more...playful stance to things nowadays. If something is to be loathed in SiIvaGunner nowadays, it has to truly earn it through its presence on the channel: the Yankin'/Astronaut in the Ocean wars of Season 5, as talked about in Aquarium in the Ocean and Knowledge of the Depths are the clearest example of that.

With all of that in mind, I don't really know why I was still surprised over how much fun the Justin Bieber event wound up being! The event, on February 19, 2024, celebrated the 14th anniversary of Justin Bieber's infamous release "Baby", a song that lit early internet ablaze with exaggerated vitriol way back when. And yeah, a bit of that resentment could still be seen in the comments section - its a fair bit more justified given how much Bieber himself has changed since the song - but overall, the rips made during the event all put a really fun spin on this otherwise overplayed song! I recommend you all give the event a listen if you haven't been keeping tabs this month, but BELIEBERDANSEN is really just one pick amidst a plethora of other excellent ones. That, and as said in Caramariodansen - any song mashed up with Caramelldansen is bound to become funny.

Honestly though, it wasn't a blind pick, and I may just be a little bit biased toward the aforementioned song in particular. Caramelldansen, if you weren't aware, is a Nightcore-ified version/remix of a Swedish pop song - and I, Mel, the writer of this blog, am Swedish. That draws me to any Caramelldansen rip on its own, and the concept of BELIEBERDANSEN alone is just very funny, a mashup of two absolute juggernauts of early "obnoxious" internet culture. Yet ripper DiamondBrickZ went the extra mile beyond just making this a mashup - at the point where the choruses of both songs begin, Bieber's Baby vocals are sentence-mixed to the original Swedish vocals of Caramelldansen. I of course have no idea what the creative process behind this was, especially due to the not knowing much about DiamondBrickZ as a person, but as a Swedish listener myself I have to say: This is SHOCKINGLY well done and still sounds wholly legible as Swedish speech. Like, the rest of the mashup is great: I love the use of the repeated "Baby's" almost acting as a choir during the instrumental break after the chorus, and the use of Ludacris' feature during the midway point of the song is perfectly placed, but like...the sentence mixing genuinely caught me completely off guard in the best way possible - memories of Season 1's double-rugpull in Be Cool, Be Wild, and Be My Girl came flowing back. It's just the cherry on top of an already fantastically creative mashup idea that was excellently done, and turned BELIEBERDANSEN into the absolute highlight of the event for me.

[milkywayan]

Hey! I saw your post about the historical garments you made in 2023. First, holy cow! Second, I had a question about the green dress you made for your Christmas party. I’ve been attracted lately to historical embroidery, and I’m curious about the vines you have in the sleeves and chest parts of the dress. It looks fabulous.

How difficult was that to embroider? Do you know of any books or online articles that you’d reference to learn more about the process?

Congratulations on all your fantastic creations, and good luck with your journey into making modern apparel!

Hei! I am also very curious about medieval embroidery and currently try and look at every extant ones I find to see how they did it

For my dress, the embroidery was quite easy actually! It just took a long time, but it was also the first time I did embroidery

this is all the embroidery I've done, i just free hand drew the shapes on woth pencil and then followed it with the embroidery

and here is a detail! you can see it is basically just 3 different embroidery stitches. Idk if they were used in medieval times already, as this dress is more history-bounding than anything really historical

I literally just scrolled through pinterest and looked at short tutorials and stuff like that, there is soooo much out there! I find videos more helpful than books because I see what is being done 'in action'

[house-of-stone-at-sunrise]

Spotify Wrapped 2023: The Rose

The Rose steps deliberately into frame next to the burning house at her fingertips. Off-camera The Rose steps back from the house closer to the bundle of flowers blooming at the intersection of Sunset & Vine. (Question: can an American tell me if there's actually a Stop sign on this intersection?)

The Rose is a figure clad in a patch-worked version of all of The ME! suits over a pink shirt with a large pink rose hiding their face, there is a ring visible on their right pinky finger. Pink roses are said to represent; love, beauty, gratitude, grace and femininity. Pinky rings are a classic "hiding in plain sight" queer signal [1] as is tailored menswear worn by women. And Me! has the classic "one of these things is not like the others, Like a rainbow with all of the colors" lyric from Lover.

The Rose seems as if they're standing guard, first by moving in to stand by the burning house, and then by looming over the street/stop sign next to the three Dahlias. There are at least eleven references to Roses in Taylors songs, but no Dahlias. The word Dahlia means valley flowers, and in 'flower language' it represents: fresh starts, diversity, kindness in the face of adversity, and a commitment to goodness, the pink varieties in particular represent feminine beauty. [2]

The obvious song references are to ME! via the outfit, and to Gorgeous via the street names. Gorgeous is either a song about initiating a new romantic relationship while you have a beard, or, a song about cheating on your boyfriend. "I got a boyfriend, he's older than us. He's in the club doing, I don't know what … guess I'll just stumble on home to my cats alone unless, you wanna come along?" I've always interpreted it as the former and the flower symbolism (fresh starts, diversity, and feminine beauty) seem to back up that interpretation.

A goldfish (a symbol of the fishbowl of public life) hovers near The Rose, while a mirror ball bops over the dahlias, reflecting back at whomever looks in that direction.

So does The Rose represent the part of herself hiding in plain sight, protecting The House (her empire,) and whoever/whatever relationships are represented by the Dahlias by remaining masked and providing plausible deniability?

I made a list so I may as well share it...

Song references to flowers from Debut to Midnights:

Should’ve said No "Strange to think the songs we used to sing the smiles, the flowers, everything is gone"

Our Song "I almost didn't notice all the roses" (orange roses)

Christmas Must be Something More "Would you still wanna kiss without mistletoe" "please take down the mistletoe"

Back to December "you gave me roses and I left them there to die"

Superman "Right here wishing the flowers were from you"

The Lucky One "Chose the Rose Garden"

Blank Space "Rose garden filled with thorns"

Wildest Dreams "Red lips & rosey cheeks"

Clean "the flowers that we grew together died of thirst"

Don’t Blame Me "I once was poison ivy but now I’m your daisy"

Call It What You Want "All my flowers grew back as thorns"

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince "running through rose thorns"

Cornelia Street "a place on Cornelia St" (note cornelias are flowers)

The Lakes "I want to watch wisteria grow" "a red rose grew out of ice frozen ground"

Gold Rush "rose blush"

Maroon "carnations that you thought were roses, that's us." "Your roommate's cheap-ass screw top rosé"

Lavender Haze "lavender haze creeping up on me"

You're on Your Own Kid "So long, Daisy May"

The Great War "My knuckles were bruised like violets" "All that bloodshed, crimson clover" "Place a poppy in my hair There's no morning glory"

Slut! "love thorns all over this rose"

Flowers in TS lyrics: roses, mistletoe, poison ivy, daisies, cornelias, wisteria, carnations, lavender, violets, crimson clover, poppy, morning glory.

Please let me know if you see any floral references I've missed?

[1] https://www.vogue.com/article/why-i-started-wearing-a-signet-pinky-ring

[2] https://warwickdahlias.com/shop/dahlias/anna-cornelia/

[finn-m-corvex]

Jaya Week 2023 Day 5: Dance

So guess what guys, we're now two days behind! Yippee! Gonna do my best to get caught up today, but we'll see what happens. This one was hard at first because I didn't have an idea, and then it hit me, and once I started I couldn't really stop. It was great! Although it did turn out a little spicier than I intended, but I guess that's just what I was in the mood to write today. Oh well! COLE AND VANIA ARE PLATONIC IN THIS BY THE WAY DO NOT TAG AS CONIA OR I WILL COMMIT UNSPEAKABLE ACTS!

Words: 2.3k

TWs: POSSIBLE underage alcohol consumption (I personally headcanon them to be around 21 by Master of the Mountain but just in case), alcohol mention, sex reference (NOTHING explicit but implied), making out, Jay in a suit and Nya in a dress appreciation

[REUPLOAD]

Jay shuffled from his spot in the corner of the large ballroom, watching as dozens of dancers paired up on the floor to perform a gracious waltz. The citizens of Shintaro were more graceful than most of the people he had seen in Ninjago, their alabaster skin shining in the lights of the grand chandelier hanging over their heads. It was the night after they had defeated the Skull Sorceror; Vania’s coronation would be the next morning.

The ballroom itself was beyond gorgeous, just like the rest of the Ivory City. Gold trim wrapped itself in intricate patterns across the walls, creeping up the pillars in the room like glimmering vines. Marble statues stood solemnly at attention in all four corners, each depicting an ancient war hero from Shintaro’s past. Vania had promised Cole to have a statue of his mother commissioned to sit in the grand hall. The floor had been freshly polished, and Jay knew that he would’ve been upset to see the dress shoes scuffing it up if he were one of the workers.

He swirled a glass of punch in his hands; he had promised Nya that he wouldn’t drink until later, not that Jay had been planning on getting wasted. Scanning the room with a careful eye, Jay quickly realized that he and Zane were the only team members in the room at the moment.

Where was everyone else?

Cole jumpscared him from behind, making Jay shout and almost spill his drink all over an older man. The blue ninja apologized profusely before glaring at his best friend.

“Was that really necessary?” Jay grumbled, putting his drink down on the table next to him.

“You know the answer to that,” Cole snickered, and Jay had to remind himself that he was in public. He couldn’t just tackle Cole and start an all-out brawl.

Jay sighed, turning to fully face the earth ninja. “Where did you run off to?”

Shrugging, Cole snatched up Jay’s discarded glass and took a swig. “Vania needed some help with something, why?”

“I haven’t seen Nya in a while,” Jay admitted, taking the glass back after Cole complained about the lack of alcohol. “I’m starting to get worried.”

“Oh, there’s no need to worry about her. She’s getting ready with Lloyd and Kai,” Cole explained kindly, bumping Jay’s shoulder. “Nya’ll be out soon. Here, come and mingle with me, you always like meeting new people.”

That was a lie, and Jay saw the distraction for what it was, but it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. Hoping he wouldn’t regret it, Jay allowed Cole to whisk him away from his spot against the wall and into the well-dressed crowd.

Almost immediately, he regretted it.

Sticking as close to Cole’s side as a burr, Jay dutifully did his best to fend off the Shintaroans’ advances. More than a few of the single women on the floor approached him with flirtatious winks and tantilizing grins, all of them asking him in the sweetest tones to dance with them for the night. No one approached Cole, because everyone knew that as soon as Vania was ready and amongst the crowd he would be her dance partner, and no one wanted to upset the new queen.

Jay grimaced when yet another lady tried to attach herself to his arm. “I’m sorry, but I’m really not interested.”

Huffing, the lady turned away, muttering something about how pretty boys like him shouldn’t be on the floor if they didn’t want to dance. It made Jay’s blood start to boil, and he said something to Cole as the man walked from group to group to exchange pleasantries.

“I just need Nya to get out here, already.” Jay was saying, giving a hard stare to any women who looked his way for too long. Younger him would’ve been ecstatic at all of the attention he was garnering without really considering the implications, but older him was much wiser. And engaged.

“And yet we both know that she’ll have your head if you try to rush her,” Cole said, grabbing up a glass of actual wine and taking a small sip. He must’ve been getting nervous too, Jay noted. Usually he was the best of the human team members at holding off on the liquor. 

“True.” Jay conceded, readjusting his tie around his neck. His blue suit was starting to feel suffocating, and Jay really came to realize that he and Cole were sticking out like sore thumbs with their darker suits in the sea of light creams and beiges, with many of the older folks wearing snow-white. Hopefully they weren’t violating some ancient dress code of Shintaro by not wearing anything in white.

Cole held the glass out to him, and Jay hesitated to take it. “Maybe you just need to loosen up a bit-”

You’re not the one who's taken, Jay thought sourly, but he noticed that Cole’s gaze wasn’t on him anymore. Instead, his onyx eyes were fixated on the other side of the room, unblinking. Jay could see the fondness in his face, and he turned to see what all of the commotion was about.

Vania had made her first appearance of the night, dressed in a flowing white dress with a train long enough to cover the entirety of Jay’s parents’ trailer. Golden thread was weaved throughout, nice complimenting the jewelry she was wearing and the large placeholder crown on her head. Her kind face was caked in makeup, but Jay could only really tell because he did makeup himself. She was breathtaking as she came strolling down the stairs that led to her chambers; maybe not Jay’s kind of breathtaking, but beautiful nonetheless.

“That’s my cue, buddy,” Cole said, looking slightly apologetic, “but hey, there’s a spot over by the punch table if you don’t want anyone to bother you.”

“Of course, because I love the punch table,” Jay griped, but he kinew he was only being difficult because it was just him again. His heart sank a little when Cole walked away, even if Jay knew that being Vania’s dance partner was a much more prestigious position than being with his best friend.  The table wasn’t far, and Jay quickly reclaimed his post on the closest pillar, sipping actual wine this time to try and soothe his nerves.

Watching the people clear the dance floor for the future queen, Jay marvelled at how gracefully his best friend moved; for being the master of arguably the most rigid of their elements, Cole had some of the most fluid movement on the team. The only ones who could truly best him were Jay himself and Nya, but that was mostly because lightning and water granted them natural flow that couldn’t really be bested. Cole also didn’t have the build to take advantage of his flexible movement, having inherited the classic earth elemental body and not the lithe and poise that Lou possessed.

He and Vania made a good pair, Jay had decided as he watched them dance. Their styles complimented each other well, and Cole looked like he was having the time of his life. Jay knew that Cole wasn’t attracted to her and never would be, but he was glad to see the ravenette enjoying himself regardless. It would be good for Cole to finally have some friends outside of the Ninja group.

Suddenly, it felt like the world had stopped spinning. Everyone in the room turned to watch the new figure descending down the stairs, and Jay could feel his already unsteady heartbeat speed up upon seeing her.

“Nya!” Vania exclaimed, leaving Cole on the dance floor and rushing to the foot of the stairs to greet the water ninja.

Jay wanted to follow, but his jaw had dropped onto the floor with his feet frozen on the ground. His Yang looked absolutely gorgeous, dressed in what must’ve been the only blue dress in Vania’s wardrobe. It was a light and shimmering aqua, the light refracting off of the fabric and making Nya look like she was shining. Her gray heels clicked on the floor when she landed at the bottom of the steps, her hands covered with silken gloves that stretched to her elbows. Her hair was flowing down her back like a waterfall in large ringlets; it was a sight that Jay didn’t get to see very often, but he cherished it every time he did.

Looking past Vania’s shoulder, Nya locked eyes with him, and his heart stuttered from the small smile that graced her lips. Vania noticed, giving Nya a slight smirk as they parted ways, Nya walking towards her Yin and Vania taking Cole’s arm to rejoin him on the dance floor.

Fixing up his tie and putting his hair back into place, Jay suddenly felt very underdressed. He had thought his simple three-piece suit would be enough (it’s not like he had many options anyway), but if Nya was going to start showing him up like that then he might have to up his game.

Walking out to meet her felt like Jay was in a fairytale, the Prince Charming finally meeting Cinderella for the first time. Ignoring the stares of all the ladies who had been hitting on him, Jay stopped in front of Nya, whose heels propped her up to only an inch or so below his line of sight.

He took her outstretched hand and gave it a kiss with a bow. “May I have this dance, my lady?”

Nya pretended to contemplate the question. “I suppose you may, my lovely gentleman.”

“Only yours,” Jay said happily, taking her hand and spinning her around as the music started back up. They were finally going to get to dance!

Playing Dancey Pants had been a great decision, Jay decided as they twirled around the room, mostly because he knew there was no way in the Cursed Realm he would’ve been able to keep up with everyone else otherwise. He vaguely registered Kai and Lloyd coming down the stairs and joining the celebration, in a red and green suit respectively. Kai had made a beeline for Zane on the other side of the room, offering to dance with him so the nindroid wouldn’t have to keep standing off to the side. Lloyd had joined Cole and Vania, switching off with the earth ninja in an odd three-way dance that made Jay’s head spin if he stared at it for too long.

A kiss was pressed to his lips and Jay startled. Oh, right. He was dancing too.

Thankfully his Yang only giggled, quickly compensating for his misstep and keeping their rhythm. “You with me, Jay?”

“I am,” he answered smoothly. He pressed his own kiss to Nya’s lips, deeper this time, letting his hand slide down her waist. She made a small noise, letting her own hand cup the back of his neck and mess with the baby hairs on his nape. There was a suspicious sparkle in her when they parted, and Jay was very suddenly reminded of the fact that he had been drinking. Nya had probably tasted the fruitiness of the alcohol on his breath.

“Did you start drinking without me?” Nya was actually pouting, and Jay had to restrain his belly laugh to a hearty chuckle, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“My nerves were getting to me,” he admitted, “and I didn’t want that to ruin our night. I hope you don’t mind.”

“As long as you get me something, I don’t care,” Nya said with a wink, and Jay already knew that some very promiscuous things were going to go down tonight.

He was quick to snatch a wine glass off of a passing tray, holding it out to Nya with one of his signature grins like an offering. Nya took it with a smile of her own, chugging it and gracefully putting it on the table next to them. Jay hadn’t realized that she was directing them to the far side of the room where the least people were located, including the rest of their group.

Nya slid her hand down to his waist, hooking one of her thumbs in his belt loop and letting the rest of her fingers drum against his thigh. Her other hand rested on Jay’s cheek, and he shuddered when she ran her thumb  across his jaw. She was a little red in the face, and Jay was suddenly a little suspicious of how much she may have had to drink.

“Did you drink before you got down here?” he asked quietly, his own hand coming to rest on her shoulder, brushing against her collarbone.

She hummed. “A little. Kai got me a shot of whiskey from the kitchen, or that’s what I hope it was. They’ve got some strong stuff in Shintaro.”

“They gotta deal with the isolation somehow,” Jay quipped, and his heart soared when Nya chuckled. “You sure you should be drinking any more, then? We still have to leave tomorrow.”

“All the more reason to let loose tonight and have a little fun,” without warning, she shot forward and caught his lips with hers, and Jay was more than happy to let himself get lost in the current that was his Yang. They swayed with the music, and he felt Nya’s body press closer to his like two puzzle pieces. Her hand buried itself in his hair, pulling when he ran his tongue across her lower lip. With one hand on her hip and the other on her back, Jay forced himself to pull away, ignoring the way his mouth tingled from his element in favor of staring at Nya in all of her half-drunken and quite eager glory.

“We need some privacy for this part,” he whispered, starting to pull her away to where their quarters were located. He ignored Lloyd and Zane’s questioning looks, Kai’s face of unbridled disgust and Cole’s enthusiastic thumbs-up in favor of pulling Nya along beside him. “I have a different kind of dance in mind.”

[philippinewildlifeart]

What is a cross between a Pokemon Bulbasaur and a Rafflesia flower? A Rafflesaur! 

This species is 𝘙𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘦, which is a result of a Bulbasaur born on Mt. Balukbok in Nueva Ecija: the only place in the world where 𝘙𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘦 flowers have been found (Galindon et al., 2016).

Scientists have long known that tetrastigma vines in the forest are the only hosts of Rafflesia flowers. Rafflesia like 𝘙. 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘦 grow inside these vines and eventually reveal their blooming flowers. They are “parasitic” or dependent on tetrastigma vines for survival, but they also depend on pollinators like flies to reproduce.

It was recently discovered that Bulbasaurs are a “host Pokemon” for Rafflesia flowers (Philippine Wildlife Art 2023). Not much is known about their symbiotic relationship, because not many scientists are Pokemon experts yet.

Though the Pokemon Vileplume is known to be a rafflesia-inspired species, the Rafflesaur is the only species known to exist in the forests of the Philippines. We must protect our forests, so that we can gather more information about our elusive Philippine Rafflesaurs.

Reference:

Galindon et al., 2016. Rafflesia consueloae (Rafflesiaceae), the smallest among giants; a new species from Luzon Island, Philippines.