#viridi posts

[velociheroviridi]

finally watched Blue Beetle today and honestly it was so good. it also made me cry 3 or 4 times. Rude.

buuuut it's been giving me thoughts, cuz this is like the first DCEU movie to delve into the more so "second generation superheros." Cuz ya know you have Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, etc, all first generation superheros (Captain Marvel/Shazam can be argued to be a mix of both), but here's Jaime, the second/third person to take on the Blue Beetle identity AND is 22yo, much younger than the others. Anyways tho, this is to say, this sparked thoughts of more movies with second generation superheroes and ofc my mind went to the Nightwing movie they mentioned possibly one day being a thing years ago, and me and my so started discussing and BASICALLY, if I was in charge of the DCEU, this is what I would do Batfam-wise:

Release a Batman and Robin movie with Tim as Robin (since in Justice League they showed that Jason is already dead)

Then release a Nightwing movie, since he'd already be kind of introduced in the Batman and Robin one

Then a Batgirl movie, but with Steph since it would be too late for Barbara, and they already fumbled with Cass's char in Birds of Prey (unless they're willing to have a redo) - and since Tim is currently Robin, you could also have Stephanie's step in as Robin included

Then a Red Hood movie, since Jason would have obviously been discussed and introduced in Tim's movie since it's so intertwined with his origin

Then a Son of Batfam movie introducing Damian and having Tim move on to Red Robin

Then perhaps an Oracle movie or Signal movie, idk Oracle could come before Damian's

Then a possible Batfam movie, including the previously mentioned chars plus maybe Luke Fox, Selena, and maybe bring in Clayface and Harley? Or you could keep it more low-key with just the main members and kinda have all the previous movie mesh together and see them all actually interact with each other, that would be fantastic actually. Like a whole "you've seen them individually but get ready for a movie with ALL the superheroes you love" and it can be half family comedy ya know? I'm in love with this idea now, I need it

Then perhaps a Batman incorporated movie introducing all the members of that

Here me out: Nightwing 2: Titans with all the ogs involved like Donna. and then you gotta have Wally

Ok so this is as far as my brain has thought but like...c'mon guys, c'mon DC, PLS

[cilundi]

I'm finally on my knees The stupid pride recedes

[azuhreidii-arts]

03.22.12 / 12.19.86

Happy 10th anniversary and 36th anniversary to Kid Icarus: Uprising and to the Kid Icarus franchise as a whole~ ✨🎂

So...remember that “placeholder” art I posted for KI:U’s 10th earlier this year because I said I had something else planned? Welp, it’s this. xD

Stuff got in the way so I kinda just merged it together with KI’s anniversary lol

[teka-chat]

my last art of 2023, here's a Goldie !

[silversrantsandrambles]

Kid Icarus

sometimes I'm a little scared to interact with Kid Icarus on tumblr because I started with Kid Icarus ONCE.

And that lead to cropped p*rn of Dark Pit.

I don't wanna go through that mental pain again, I have no idea who to follow when it comes to kiu, for Fma I just followed meme blogs. For warrior cats I just followed mainly character accounts.

But I have no clue where the hell to start with kiu man, like. Do I start with fanfiction, art, headcanons?

I'm not sure if I should just stalk the tag and figure out how everyone acts before doing something that embarrasses myself.

also the ships scare me SOMETIMES- don't even ask why I just get confused easily. //Also hhhh yeah- I don't understand the appeal of Pit x Dark Pit to some people but you do you I guess//

[len-drawsart]

:>

[soap-dispenser-tom]

Pit, passing by Dark Pit and Viridi: Good morning, tsunderes!

Dark Pit: Good morning, can’t fly.

[kirstenonic05]

I've never seen your art before, Kirsten! Do you have any I could see?

Bold of you to assume I can draw XD

Here's some of my favs, excuse the horrible quality I tend to draw in the margins of my books (Half of these are AUs too lol)

OC Ref Sheet for Lysami:

Ventus:

And a million AUs

[velociheroviridi]

it's crazy to think about how long comic book characters have been around for

Dick Grayson was created in 1940

There's probably been tons of kids, adults, and older people who were just obsessed with him as I am now

It's just crazy to know that I probably share the same favorite character with people who lived such different lives than me

A soldier in WW2, one of the first astronauts to go to the moon, a kid enjoying color tv for the first time - it's possible any of them could have loved the same character I, so many years later, do now

And that's just so heartwarming and cool and wack all at the same time

[kaitopitoo]

kid icarus uprising college au pilot

[kerra-and-company]

Apparently, it is “thinking about Nisha and xyr mother” hours, and of how xe ended up building xyr walls when xe was younger.

Nisha was afraid often--xe has anxiety, and xe hadn’t learned coping mechanisms, or how to deal with any of it. And xyr mother saw this and was afraid for xem, as any parent might be for a child of theirs who is going to face additional difficulties in the world.

But that fear, for her, meant asking questions, and “are you sure you’re okay” questions, and constant subtext of her concern for xem with the background drumbeat of her fear in xyr head via the Dream. It wasn’t a good way to deal with it. It wasn’t healthy, for her or for Nisha.

And Nisha loved xyr mother so much. So much. Xe would have burned the world down for her if she’d asked. Nisha wanted xyr mother not to have to be afraid, but xe had no way how to help xemself in any way that was healthy, and xe didn’t know how to address the situation outright. Xyr mother addressed it in subtext nearly always, like it was a harmful and terrifying secret that shouldn’t be spoken.

So, following the track of unhealthy coping mechanisms, Nisha decided to literally shut xemself off from feeling anything. If xe pretended hard enough not to feel anything, then xe wouldn’t feel fear, and xe would be safe, and xyr mother wouldn’t have to be afraid for xem.

And then, after two years of this, xyr mother sacrifices herself to save Nisha and Rel, and Nisha has no idea how to deal with it but to listen to what xyr mother wanted, like xe always did. So xe takes Rel, who’s absolutely in shock, and flees Maguuma, holding the scraps of xemself together.

When Nisha and Rel end up in the Priory, Nisha is trying so desperately to be strong. Xe has to be the rock, xe has to be okay, xe has to make sure Rel is safe because they’re all each other has now. Xe has always loved xyr brother, but this specific form of bordering-on-codependency-type attachment is new to this time period. And then Rel leaves, on his own, because he’s not happy in the Priory headquarters, and xe is adrift as hell.

But xe meets Cio and Sieran, and for the first time in xyr entire life, xe has real friends. People outside of any family dynamic who choose to care about xem, who don’t walk on eggshells with xem, who really, legitimately, truly want to know xem. And the walls start to crumble, just a little.

[realpokemon]

Hello~! I've already posted this, but I thought you'd like to see it as well~!

This is my Sprigatito Viridis~! (Viri for short~) I'm normally a Bug type trainer, but I was gifted this kitten a while back~! He's three soy sauce long~! (Not counting tail~) Isn't he precious~? ✨️

ok if ive done my math correctly. one day your meowscarada should be about 24 soy sauce tall

[herpsandbirds]

What is your favorite species of fruit dove?? I just learned about them and they look so cool👀

I really cannot pick a favorite, I love this group of beautiful doves so much.

Some favorites are the Golden, Jambu, Yellow-bibbed, Superb, Orange, Rose-crowned, and Pink-headed.

Herps and Birds (and More) (Posts tagged fruit dove) (tumblr.com)

Do y'all have a favorite?

Here's one I haven't posted yet...

Claret-breasted Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus viridis), male, family Columbidae, order Columbiformes, Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea

photograph by Alexander Babych

[skywardmajora]

i need more viridi coded posts. she deserves it

[arminreindl]

Fossil Crocs of 2022

For what its worth, its been a great year for fossil Pseudosuchians, many of which didn't get a lot of attention because people always assume its just "another crocodile". We'll go through them by the order of appearance in the fossil record, or in other words oldest to youngest. Better grab some popcorn and the drink of your choice, cause this is going to be a long one.

Mambawakale

Starting off is Mambawakale ruhuhu (Ruhuhu Basin Crocodile Ancestor in Kiswahili) from the middle Triassic Manda Beds of Tanzania. The fossils for this guy had been known since at least the 1960s, after which it was named Pallisteria angustimentum, a name that was never officially published however. It was a large animal, its skull 75 centimeters long attached to what was likely an animal similar in build to what we think of for "rauisuchians", given that it sits at the base of Paracrocodylomorpha. The below life reconstructoin was done by the fantastic Gabriel Ugueto with Steve Irwin inserted in post by me, tho its not rigorously scaled it gives a general idea of the animal's size.

We can then skip over the Jurassic (no new crocs from that period) and straight into the Cretaceous, specifically the Albian some 100 million years ago.

Yanjisuchus

Yanjisuchus longshanensis (Yanji City Crocodile from the Longshan Hill) was a paralligatorid, a group of Neosuchians I fully admitt I'm not too well aquainted with. Its fossils, which include a partial skull, vertebrae osteoderms, ribs, parts of the shoulder girdle and front limbs, were discovered in the Longjing Formation in what is now north-eastern China.

Confractosuchus

One I can decidedly talk more about is Confractosuchus sauroktonos (Lizard Eating Broken Crocodile) from the Australian Winton Formation, home to animals such as Isisfordia, Australovenator and Diamantinasaurus. The genus name refers to the fact that the skull is squashed to hell and back, but its the species name thats interesting. "Lizard eating" in this case refers to the fact that this 2.5 meter long basal Eusuchian was found with preserved stomach contents. Said stomach contents being the bones of a small ornithopod dinosaur as the press release art by Julius Csotonyi enthusiastically shows. The other image here not from the paper was drawn by Joschua Knüppe (@knuppitalism-with-ue ) showing a definitely more relaxed individual.

Eptalofosuchus

We did know about this guy for a bit longer as the pre-proof has been out since 2021, but lets include it anyways because I wasn't on Tumblr last year. Eptalofosuchus viridi (Green Seven Hills Crocodile) is not a crocodile in the strict sense but a Notosuchian, a cousin to the more typical Neosuchians. This animal is known from a single distinct lower jaw that belonged to a rather small creature. Among Notosuchians, Eptalofosuchus is most closely related to "advanced Notosuchians", specifically Sphagesauridae. We also know that it wasn't alone, as described alongside it are fossils of an unnamed baurusuchid (a large carnivore) and a peirosaurid, a more basal Notosuchian. Finally, both parts of the scientific name allude to the Uberaba Formation, specifically the nickname of Uberaba being “the city of the seven hills” and the green color of the sediments there. Life reconstruction of the little guy was done by the always incredible Júlia d'Oliveira.

Titanochampsa

Sticking to South America we have Titanochampsa iorii (Ior's Titan Crocodile). A significant find no doubt tho with an estimated size between 2.98–5.88 m (sizable I admitt) based on very scant remains perhaps a little bit hasty. Alas we only have the skull table of this animal, so the precise size can still vary as you can see. But it is still a fascinating one due to the fact that its the ONLY non-Notosuchian from the Bauru Group. Cretaceous South America is almost synonymous with these mostly terrestrial crocodyliforms but surprisingly lacking a diverse semi-aquatic croc fauna. Being at the very least a Neosuchian, possibly Eusuchian, Titanochampsa seems to have filled this niche. Given that the big terrestrial Baurusuchids had relatively weak bites and reached a length of at most 4 meters, this presents an interesting contrast with the strong bite force of the potentially larger semi-aquatic Titanochampsa. And would you look at that, press release art by Júlia once again.

Eurycephalosuchus

One final croc for the Mesozoic, Eurycephalosuchus gannanensis is an animal I covered very recently so I'll keep things brief. Stemming from the Maastrichtian Hekou Formation in south eastern China, Eurycephalosuchus was a very small species of orientalosuchine. Orientalosuchina is recovered as a group of early alligatoroids in the paper, tho talking to Adam Yates (who's croc phylogeny is my go-to) there is a chance they might be closer to crocodiloids. Regardless, Eurycephalosuchus was a small animal with large teeth towards the front of the skull, blunt teeth in the back and an overall very short face (tho there is slight compression so its not 1:1 like the fossil). Over on twitter people started comparing it to DnD Kobolds, leading to the below artwork by Manusuchus (@ mmujicam2000; full body of course highly speculative lmao)

Qianshanosuchus

Following the cataclysm that was KPG, crocs held on and in China we next meet Qianshanosuchus youngi (Young's Qianshan Basin Crocodile). It's another tricky one. While important as being the first crocodyloid from Paleocene China, the material, as you could guess based on the tiny size, is that of a juvenile (I now realize this being kinda ironic given the small but adult croc above). So the phylogeny is hard to nail down and gave different results. Still it could hold significance in our understanding how crocodyloids spread around the world and entered Europe after KPG. Below a quick comparison of the material with my hand.

Coming up a duo of two new species but not new genera, I also didn't really go deep into their publication as with some of the others so I'll try to stay brief

Maomingosuchus acutirostris

Maomingosuchus acutirostris (Acute Snouted Maoming Crocodile) is a new species of the already established genus Maomingosuchus from China. This new species however, differentiated amongst other things by having a pointed, not rounded, premaxilla stems from the Eocene of northern Vietnam. The skull is about 55 cm long giving us a medium sized tomistomines. Like Qianshanosuchus, M. acutirostris could have implications for the dispersal of crocodilians, in this case the spread of tomistomines from Europe to Asia, which the authors suggest happened thrice. That being said it should be noted that, between the two main ideas of what tomistomines are, the paper goes with them being a sister group to crocs and unrelated to modern gharials as Lee and Yates suggest (the later idea like I said I am more drawn towards).

Diplocynodon kochi

Another new species in a familiar genus, Diplocynodon kochi (Koch's Double Dog Tooth) is the latest in a long list of Diplocynodon species, a genus of alligatoroid very prominent in the Paleogene of Europe. This newest species from Transylvania is known from some well preserved skull material and was recovered as being one of the most derived members of its genus. With a size of 1.76 meters it was a medium sized Diplocynodon species and small by our modern standards. What is interesting is that the fossilw as recovered from shallow marine sediments. This is unusual in so far that alligatoroids are not especially known for their salt tolerance. Tho there's exceptions like Deinosuchus, alligators usually don't venture into salt water unlike crocodiles. Still, given the shallow water and the ability of large adult Mississippie Alligators to tolerate brackish water, it might have occasionally entered coastal waters. It is noted that the skull is in such good condition that it couldn't have been transported for a very long time.

Kinyang

Back to new genera we got Kinyang (derived from various Nilotic terms for crocodile), a genus of "giant" dwarf crocodile from the Miocene of Kenya. Now this guy doesn't just introduce one new species but two: Kinyang mabokoensis (Maboko Island Crocodile) and Kinyang tchernovi (Tchernov's Crocodile). Occuring in western and northern Kenya, Kinyang was a prime example over the prominence osteolaemines (dwarf crocodiles) had in the early Cenozoic prior to the takeover of crocodylines. Kinyang was surprisingly large and had a robust, blunt skull with several traits clearly setting it apart from any modern species. Still there is some clues that could be taken. Given the robust nature and more widened skull rather than V-shaped, its likely that it went after prey as big or even bigger than itself. They appear to have inhabited the shores of lakes located in open forests and woodlands. Alas this might have been their doom too. Osteolaemines are known to build nests made of foliage and with Africa growing increasingly dryer around this point in earths history, both change in prey and environment could have been factors that drove the dwarf crocodiles into the rainforests they inhabit today while the more dry resistant Crocodylus took over their rolle in the grasslands. The first image shows all three known skulls, the second is a quick composite of the cranium and mandible of K. mabokoensis I put together before the third image was published (ironic) by Christopher Brochu.

Almost done, only two more to go.

Sacacosuchus

On the other side of the world, specifically the Sacaco locality of Peru's Pisco Formation (among others) we have Sacacosuchus cordovai (Córdova's Sacaco Crocodile). A medium sized and longirostrine "tomistomine" gharial, here is where we come in conflict between the crocodylid and gavialoid model of what these guys are. Earlier with Maomingosuchus you had the idea that tomistomines were related to crocodylids, well here we have tomistomines being a paraphyletic group leading up to derived gharials. There is some significance to Sacacosuchus for seemingly showing that gharials entered South America on two separate occassions, but imo that's not the coolest thing about it. No instead I prefer to talk about the fact that its not just a marine gharial, living in the coastal waters of the Pacific, but that it coexisted with a second gharial showing perfectly how they specialise in different things. While the contemporary Piscogavialis was notably larger (about 7 meters) it had a very narrow and long snout, better adapted at catching fish. Sacacosuchus meanwhile was only 4.3 meters long, but with much more robust jaws, showing that it was much more of a generalist than its relative. This is well shown in the reconstruction by Javier "Canelita" Herbozo, tho it doesn't show the immense size difference. The third iamge shows Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi with the material and the fourth illustration by Gabriel Ugueto does not feature Sacaco, but the much more gracile Piscogavialis.

Hanyusuchus

The final one, Hanyusuchus sinensis (Han Yu's Crocodile from China) is the youngest crocodile described this year. How young? Well the OLDEST records of the species date to the Chinese Bronze Age, 4.000 BC, while the most recent records indicate that it went extinct in the 15th century. Hanyusuchus is a large tomistomine with a length between 5.43–6.19 meters and, if historical reports are to be believed, a big appetite. Stories tell of large crocodiles in Southern China attacking livestock, deer, boats and even killing humans while other reports suggest that these animals were used to fill moats and fed with prisoners. Despite appearing relatively narrow snouted, people often underestimate just how dangerous such animals could be. Even the modern false gharial has reports of it attacking and eating humans. Unsurprisingly, in addition to spawning some unique folklore (like crocodiles turning into tigers during autumn), this lead to humans attacking and killing these animals in retaliation. Fossils from the Bronze Age bear the clear marks of human attacks with cut marks focused around the animals head and the neck. Given the age of this material humans likely used bronze axes to kill and decapitate Hanyusuchus, drying their heads afterwards. Things didn't get better later in history. Han Yu, poet and politician and namesake of the genus, once demanded that the crocodiles leave the Han River delta before threatening to kill them. Later in history soldiers were sent to kill them in masses to avenge the death of a child. Eventually all of this, coupled with habitat loss, lead to the extinction of Hanyusuchus a mere 600 years ago. The below reconstructions were done by Hikaru Amemiya and Joschua Knüppe respectively.

And that is basically every crocodile officially published in 2022 (I think). Personally, I think its been a fantastic year for Pseudosuchian taxa, with some unique and fascinating additions.

[len-drawsart]

Viridi!!