Cerulean Diamond real, so i'm inclined to say Asmodeus from Obey me. Him and Cater are shockingly similar i swear (doesn't help he's one of my faves lmao)

Cerulean Diamond is not real‼️‼️

HOWEVER. HOWEVER. ASMO???

*smacks my hands on your shoulders, before sobbing*

I’M NOT PREDICTABLEEEEEE!!!!! I’M NOTTTTT!!!!!!

I freaking, freaking loved Asmo. So so so so much, holy. Like the man??? Yes???

AW BUT LIKE YOU’LL SHIP ME WITH HIM??? BAJAMSKKWKWKW I GOT THE VIBES TO PULL ASMO????

LESGOOOOOOO!!!

Etho doodles in which I let my inner dinosaur nerd take over 😔 and also have no idea how to shade

Get it cause he's old and washed up haha... ok but actual raptor Etho hybrid justification below cut

To be honest the main reason was because I really wanted a hybrid in the mix who wasn't some furry creature and a reptile or amphibian or smth instead. Etho still ended up feathered but whatever it's close enough! But for ACTUAL reasoning:

He does feel damn ancient, like an old deity of the mcyt space that no one can dislike. Dinosaurs are the same!! They're old but still thought of with great fascination and fondness, everyone loves dinosaurs...

Dinosaurs are ever so mysterious, as many advancements as we make there's still so much we don't know. Just as we know jackshit about mister Kakashi skin man. Also, there are so many incomplete skeletons out there. I didn't have a particular species in mind for Etho, because where's the mystery in that? He can be one of those 5% skeleton 95% speculation dinosaurs like this guy!! Missing jaw and all

"I'm a runner, not a protector" - so, a raptor, or more specifically the Dromaeosauridae family, which literally has "running/runner" in its name

But! I'm always a fan of stuff going against its nature, especially in this case! Etho states he's not a runner yet protects his allies rather fiercely even in total silence. Eg refusing to kill Cleo in SL or to give away Tango's location during the LimL manhunt, same for Grian in SL. He was a bit flaky in 3L I think? And he only started to have genuine care for allies in LL with Bdubs? Though he is still very much a runner in many cases like during the LL Wither fight. Research also strongly suggests that most if not all raptors were solitary hunters, and the way I see Etho (through my shamefully limited watchtime of his POVs...) he feels a lot like someone who ultimately only trusts himself at the start even if he's pleasant and allying with others, and doesn't seem to think he can carry his weight in groups though he doesn't voice this a lot. That's just how Etho is, very composed, but it feels like there's an insecurity there, showcased especially in SL but again I haven't seen almost any of his POVs in full so maybe I'm talking out of my ass!! Sorry ethogirls I'm only a sidegig ethogirl myself... But yeah tldr to me he gives off the vibe of an otherwise solitary animal struggling to find 100% sure footing in a pack. In whichever ways he does go against his nature, its not usually made a show of

At the mention of a raptor, a lot of people will probably think of the glamourized Jurassic Park Velociraptors. But those awesome guys from the movies are actually the size of chickens. In general though, dinosaurs tend to be a bit.. exaggerated in media, despite how inherently fascinating they already are. And I think it fits Etho because we all know how the Lifers seem to fear and mancrush on him when he's just some dork with perfect capability to become pathetic at a moment's notice. Still, he's a clearly skilled player and still respected without question Etho's not some killer machine like some people make dinosaurs out to be. He's just a fellow creature fulfilling his role in the ecosystem 👍

dinosaurs are cool

The hook-like sickle claws on the feet... something something fishing rod

I swear I'm not turning all my Lifers into hybrids I'm not!! Still plenty normal humans in the mix I swear....... But Etho is such a radical dude, I really wanted to do something more for him. The whole Kitsune thing that I often see associated with him is really cool. I don't actually know the reasoning for it but I assume something something naruto, but also, him being this ancient mythical cryptid who people know so little about, you know? It makes SO much sense. So anyway I turned him into a dinosaur instead rawr

As a herbivore advocate I also considered stuff like the triceratops (known for how they protect themselves and their own) but nah the raptor symbolism...

this isn’t related to the current allegations but did you say a RAPTOR???? Like you had a whole ass bird on you wild having a conversation with a drunk dude???? Incredible

Oh god I've had so much shit go on with drunk people with raptors on gloves.

It happens at various events, and dear god you have no idea how stupid drunk people are until you've had a bird on glove and drunk people all around. So many fucking people would try to pet the eagle without a single goddamn thought in their brains.

Also have had guys & girls grab me (or try to) out of excitement for the bird, or thinking that the bird was attacking me. Or try to offering me alcohol, including pushing it into my hand why I was underage & again had a bird on glove.

In basically all these interactions, the people meant well, they were often very happy and sweet. But some of them were fucking terrifying. It's just that drunk people are fucking dumb and don't think a single goddamn thing through. They also have like no goddamn impulse control AND WILL LOSE THEIR GODDAMN FINGERS IF THEY DON'T STOP TRYING TO PET THE EAGLE.

This is a lot of stuff. I’m sorry.

I have a big PN3 idea that I wanted to turn into a long comic series, actually. It’d have a new bad guy structure that takes the “diving for understanding in terrible people” thing a bit further. And also starting to tackle the influence of bigger societal influences on the behavior of individuals. A big chunk of the character development is Lili (now a teenager) having to learn hard adult realities about fighting the good fight as she tries to take on a bigger role in the Psychonauts. It’s not just about removing the one bad guy anymore. The Psychonauts as an institution is also under threat, so the stakes are huge and everyone’s kinda being pushed further toward the edge (but especially Lili and Raz, who see this as their home).

It’s also about contending with lasting traumas from PN 1 and 2. Ford and Lucy have passed away (or, astral projected out of their bodies forever on accident depending on who you ask), and the circumstances of it bring up a new layer of issues on both the PN and Aquato sides—also tying up some stuff there from PN 2 that I wanted to look at. Like Frazie’s temptation and reluctance to let herself be psychic or Bob’s relationship with Truman. Raz himself, also a teenager, is grappling with all that stuff he felt like he was too young to process before, plus stuff about growing up. Even though it was a terrible thing to do, Raz can now better understand why Ford did what he did and wonders if he honestly would have done any better. He’s realizing in his own actions that you sometimes can’t avoid making a choice with nasty consequences, reinforced by the villain. And that has stuff to do with his family too, re: parents and siblings trying to keep the pack safe and together with unhealthy force. Dogen’s also a main character, trying to get over the fear that he’s a disaster waiting to happen and seize his own agency in things to protect the place that has been helping him recover.

It all sounds very grim on paper, but I have a plan to get it to tie together and work out based on the theme of getting to the roots of the status quo and changing it rather than bending to it.

Also, there’d be new fun enemies like Anxiety (buzzardlike) and Guilt (leech/serpentlike), which look like cousins of Panic Attacks and Regrets. They start out as little worms and crows but evolve into death-rolling alligators and dive-bombing raptors as things escalate. And changing the kids’ skillsets to fit their experience—like Raz swinging from mental connections instead of hamsterballing bc he’s bigger. Dogen making someone picture sheep to knock them out. Lili combining plants and fire to great (or terrible) effect. Ziplining on the core thread of a bad mood to get to a deeper area. Tandem lev ball combat. Going into a mind multiple times over the story to see how it changes in the face of developments.

Saying it again: really really sorry this is so long. I do really love the idea of a PN3, as well as your ideas. I felt the urge to gush bc I’ve been holding this idea in for years while I work on it. Thanks for reading. :)

I don't really have much to add to this but that's only because I love how detailed this is.....makes me think abt just how good a timeskipped PN3 could be!!!!!!!!!

Elongated Emperor's Pokemon Infopost

hi!!! everyone!! This is a bit different from what i usually do A year ago, I've had these paradox pokemon designs sitting in the gutter, getting extremely dusty, so now I'm giving them a fresh new redesign and additional info about them!!

These pokemons are based off of @diamondpastry's OC, Longkii !!

here's what he looks like. but this post isn't about him, it's about my thing. so shoo longkii

paradox pokemons are essentially variants of existing pokemon but reimagined into what they would look like in the past or in the future. it's much more complicated than that but i think i would be here all day if i have to explain everything throughly.

This post is for the past variant I have created, which is named Elongated Emperor. If you want to see the infopost for the future variant, Iron Launcher, then go here! >> [Iron Launcher's Infopost]

i will explain all the things about this big guy and go into his game info if he were to be in the gen 9 pokemon games, so let's get started on his design!!!

silly goober!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The main design inspiration for EE is that of the caterpillar and the man-eating worm. i can easily imagine a dangerous, giant, fat bug like this living in the past, and Longkii's very long body can easily be described as a worm. why would a bug have feathers and horns though? this is because paradox pokemon usually have very ridiculous features!

take the paradox version of Volcarona and Suicune for example. Slither Wing(left), despite being a bug pokemon, is covered with fur and has a rather out-of-place dinosaur tail. Walking Wake(right) on the other hand, changed from a leopard to a raptor and has two tails!! its kinda sick ngl

these design philosophy are stuff i tried to incorporate in Elongated Emperor. I also tried to make it as colorful as possible and cover it with markings, much like a primitive animal.

The crown Longkii sports in the og design gets changed into red feathers, much like a peacock's feather that it uses to attract a female peacock. Instead of attracting a mate however, EE uses its feathers to attract its next meal. the red circles around the arms also for the same use, it isn't there just for show!

these two things have psychic, hypnotizing properties, which explains the secondary Psychic type.

---

I also want to explain the general personality and vibe i wanted to show through EE's design. The giant and tall stature shows a bit an imposing vibe, and its plump body is a sign of wealth and royalty, much like how fat people were seen in ancient civilizations. EE clearly does not need to do a lot to get a full meal everyday.

The colorful feathers and the markings on its face and fingers is there to show that it dresses to impress! To be a king, you have to look like one- no speck of dirt, no unkempt feathers. It wants to look as beautiful as possible, so no one would suspect that it hides a filthy and monsterous side to them....

---

Game Data

this is the spread i made for EE's base stats! together it totals up to 570. i also want to preface that this is the first time that i've made up base stats for a pokemon so sorry if this is a really bad spread!! i would love to learn and improve for future project.

when making this, i wanted EE to basically be a bulky physical attacker with very slow speed to make up for it's bulk.

its super high health is also supported by its unique ability, Prosperity! it essentially functions as a Big Root, where it heals an additional 30% HP when EE uses a move that heals itself. this will be made much more relevant when i get to its moveset.

here are the pokedex entries! and no, i'm not telling you where the mouth is located, its more fun to see you figure it out for yourself !

i also wanted to write a lot more, here were some of my other ideas:

facts about it lounging around in caves

when a meal is too malnourishes, it hypnotizes the pokemon to stuff itself until it grows fat, then it will be eaten

facts on how it has the capacity to swallow an entire arbok whole

---

Learnsets

lastly, here are the moves EE will learn throughout leveing! i have also made tm learnsets, but it's too long so i will be putting the sheet link for everyone to look at at the end of this post.

obviously, most of their attacking moves will deal physical damage as they have a higher attack than special attack. most paradox pokemon usually start out with pretty strong moves already so i also copied that as well. i also added a lot of healing moves at the beginning, and then a big power up in the form of Leech Life and other draining moves to match with its ability.

You can also notice that there's some moves that involves biting, this is in purpose to show that it has teeth :) The rest of the attacking moves involve them thrashing their body around. Given their shape, they shouldn't learn any high-precision moves.

I should also mention the highlighted move, Fast Food. this is a signature move of EE made by a friend in Dia's server, Gold! so tysm for this idea.

Fast Food - Elongated Emperor rushes to take a ferocious bite of the target that can last 3-6 turns. If the target is holding a Berry, there's heightened chance of it biting longer. Restores 5% of health per hit. (+1 priority)

---

ngl, i think this pokemon may be a teensy bit overpowered.

i think if i were to have this guy in my team, i would give it these moves (i am not a comp person so please dont bully me for these choices 🥺)

Item: Leftovers Leech Life | Zen Headbutt | Drain Punch | Belly Drum

Anyways, that's all I got for Elongated Emperor! I hope you found the silly gluttonous worm cool to read about. Stay tuned for a post about Iron Launcher and goooodbye

Team Canada

Raptors/rockets (couldn’t choose one 😭)

Dillion Brooks sympathizer (affectionately)

When I saw this in my inbox, I laughed, because I knew the last part was coming for me one day. 😂💖

But before Brooks takes over this ask, I’m real glad that my Team Canada posts have become a defining factor of my account! I never meant to post this much about Canadian basketball but I actually really enjoy it. And it’s definitely both Raptors/Rockets over here. 🇨🇦

And then the last part…listen, I have to explain myself. 🤣 I know I’ve been flinging Dillon Brooks’ name into Tumblr uncensored 😭. This is good timing to talk about all this because the Olympics are coming up too (and he's gonna be doing stuff, I know).

I’ll split this into a short answer and a longer one under the cut. 😭😭

Short Answer: I don’t necessarily sympathize with him all of the time — he has done CRIMES after all — but I am perpetually amused by his existence. I’m usually looking at him like, “why are you like this?” 🤨🤔 I like him AND hate him at the same time for various reasons, like sometimes he is The Best and other times he is The Worst. 

I do know that when I decided to talk about him on here, it was scary at first because he is so hated (for valid reasons). But I was like, I can’t NOT talk about how amusing he is to me! I also find it immensely funny that my posts on him always end up framing him as "some guy on the team". 😃

I will say though if you hate him, DO NOT let me or my posts stop you. He is a villainous menace. If you don’t want to see him, mute my dbrooks tag!

P.S. If you know Molly Morrison on Twitter/Tumblr, just know I highly relate to what she’s said about Dillon Brooks over the years. 😭😭

Longer Answer (aka the backstory lore of WHY): 

When I restarted my Tumblr account, I met Tumblr user siakam. One of the topics we discussed was the cursed idea of a Fred VanVleet and DB fanfic, because we thought they could be enemies thanks to their conflicting personalities. I was intrigued, but I didn’t know anything about Brooks’ personality. Sadly I do love researching things... 😭😭

This research collided with the NBA season/me getting into Rockets basketball/me catching up on FIBA content…so by accident, Brooks was everywhere. 😩 Houston had a honeymoon period with him and he took over the Team Canada run (and stole the hearts of the announcers and the photographers and the reporters and the crowd) so because of that, most of Canada now ADORES him.

(Do you realize how many Canadian compliments I have to read about this beloved Canadian menace. NO YOU DON’T. 😭💖)

Most of what I read about his personality, which was buried underneath all the media reports of his menacing, was just…normal and wholesome? At least I understand now why the Grizzlies sideline reporter always called him her favourite player, and why all his Grizzlies/Team Canada teammates/coaching staff love him so much. 

That being said, I don’t always agree with his actions though. He chose to do things to teams/star players and he should take the consequences for those actions.

Yes, I do love trash talking, yes, I do enjoy taunting (one of my favourite trash talking quotes is from Donovan Mitchell actually). He did a lot of things to GSW that went too far for me at times. I feel like the intense wave of hatred from last summer was good for him because it brought him down to earth (his ego is still sky high though). He’s been a bit better on the Rockets, more willing to admit his mistakes. But still. Sometimes he doesn’t play basketball and it pisses me off. 🤬

Anyway, apologies for the long paragraphs, but I did have more to say and I couldn’t squish it into something brief. 💔 If you did read all of this, I hope you enjoyed the extra xariarte lore! 💖

"Honestly, Bruce, what were you thinking?"

Clark sighed exasperatedly as he dodged a porcelain vase flying his way - a third of which shattered pieces were already adorning the wooden floor of King's study chamber - trying to bring himself to be just a little bit more empathetic towards his fellow monarch. He couldn't even recall now how many times has he heard the words "outrageous" and "shameless" this night. If he had to be completely frank with himself although, it was hard. It's not like he didn't feel bad for Bruce when his dear friend found himself in a situation like this, with a choice that was leaving him with no good options. It was only normal that he also felt mad at him since it put his dear nephew in an even worse position.

As a bargaining chip.

"You could've accepted any courtship from so many young and virtuous men!" And Clark remembered many of them and their families taking interest in the young prince as soon as his 16th birthday came; sir Wallace with the brightest smile he's ever seen, lord Queen's charge, prince Roy, even foreign knights like mysterious sir Lucas or sir Raptor seemed bewitched by young prince's charm. Clark found Bruce's overprotectiveness amusing back then, now though..."You should've let them try at least when they asked for Richard's hand, then he wouldn't--"

"I thought" Bruce growled through gritted "I'm giving him a chance. To fall in love, to choose by himself. I thought I'm giving a chance to my son, not to some..." Bruce waved his hand in the direction of his desk where the offending letter lay. "Some old, deprived bastard to ask for him like a war trophy!"

Clark didn't have to look at the letter again, he remembered perfectly the words that horrified him more than his friend's grieving face. Lord Wilson - The Terminator as they called him - whose own kingdom was in a state of war with Gotham for years now, years that took thousands of lives, proposed conflict resolution, a pact that would unite the kingdoms in peace against stronger opponents like Nanda Parbat.

Slade Wison wanted young prince Richard as his spouse - such a small price, a bastard son for peace. A beloved child for the misery of father.

Anon, I love you so much!!! It’s so good ahhh I love royalty aus! I already said it earlier but I’ll say it again - I’m having love/hate relationship with you rn because ITS SO FREAKING GOOD but because of it I almost wrote a whole fic in this reply! I hope you don’t mind me adding to your idea, I really couldn’t stop myself! You guys seriously need to tell me if you’re okay with me writing about your ideas when you send me asks haha

Slade is a sly fucker for using a war like this, damn. And I love how Dick is a bastard son. Or maybeee people just think about him as a bastard son because Bruce took him in and he’s not a royalty by blood. UGH I LOVE IT!! Oh and I really like that Clark is here as well!

Thank you so much for sharing with me! I had to write something for you and I tried to keep it short but... well, see for yourself I guess

/ / / / / / /

"You should have let those men interested in Richard get closer to him." Clark spat out. He knew that there was nothing they could do about it now, knew that Bruce hated the situation even more than he did but he needed to let those words out. "You should have let them at least get to know each other so then Dick would be able to decide for himself. But no, you were just scaring them away instead and now-"

Another vase crashed against the wall where Clark was standing just a moment ago. Bruce grabbed another thing close to him - a potted plant, as there were no more vases left - but before he could throw it at Clark as well, another voice spoke up.

"You're making a mess." Dick said quietly from the doorstep. He had his arms wrapped around himself and looked smaller than a prince ever should. "Other people will have to clean it up for you."

"Dick..."

"I've thought this through." Dick began in a mostly steady voice, not looking at any of them. He wet his lips nervously. "Well, there wasn't really much thinking to do but still... I'm- I'm going to accept Lord Wilson's offer."

The pot slipped out of Bruce's hand and hit the floor loudly, spilling the dirt all around the king's feet.

"No." he said firmly, when he finally found his voice back.

"Bruce-" Clark tried gently but the man ignored him.

"No, Dick. I'm not letting you-"

"Then what do you want to do?" Dick demanded. He looked up at his father at last, his eyes red and rimmed, expression taut as if he was in pain. "What else can you do? Do nothing and just let even more people die in this damn war? Wait a few more years so Wilson'll ask for Jason instead when he gets old enough?"

Bruce stumbled as if he was punched. Clark didn't blame him, feeling himself like he was about to collapse.

"Dick-"

"We don't have a choice, Bruce. And I know you know it." Dick straightened with a shaky breath. "As a crown prince, it's my responsibility to take care of my people. I'm not letting them die for a war that has no purpose. If it takes just one to save hundreds- thousands... then I'm ready to do it."

- - - - -

Dick looked out of the carriage's window, trying to get his hands to stop shaking.

Bruce demanded a meeting before giving Wilson their answer and the king of a neighboring country agreed without any further demands. All warfare was suspended now that the peace treaty was being arranged but their warriors still waited with a held breath - none of them could know whether an agreement would be reached.

Dick knew. There was no way he would ever allow more people to die for nothing, not if he had a way to stop the war. Agreeing to Slade's terms was his decision, it was for the better of both countries. Still, thinking about it like that didn't help with stopping the trembling of his hands.

He met Slade Wilson only a few times in his life but he knew how powerful that man was. There was something about him, something that screamed danger. He had this aura around him that made others fear him, made them want to run away even with being aware that turning your back to him might be fatal. But with that fear came respect. Wilson was a good king, people were saying, he was rigorous but fair.

Maybe he would be a good husband as well.

"We're almost here." Clark announced softly and Dick lifted his head to stare at the castle looming in the distance.

"Oh." he breathed out quietly. He sent his uncle a small smile. "Thank you."

"Of course." Clark replied with a smile of his own, though a bit more forced. He wasn't happy about the deal either. No one was. Even Jason grabbed at his sleeve this morning and tried to stop him from leaving.

Bruce didn't look up. He was staring at his knees with a frown since the moment their journey started and it was clear he was thinking about something hard. Dick placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"It's the best solution." he said when he met his father's eyes.

Bruce placed his hand on top of his and closed his eyes with a tired sigh. He looked so old, so fragile. Not like the proud king he should be.

"Maybe..." Bruce began slowly in a raspy voice. "Maybe if we offered him something else. We still can-"

"He won't agree. You know he won't."

"Maybe it won't be that bad..." Clark offered weakly but Bruce just glared at him.

"I'll be alright." Dick assured them.

He really tried to believe those words himself as the carriage stopped in front of the castle’s entrance.

- - - - -

Slade was already waiting for them in the throne hall when they arrived. He was talking with one of his generals but quickly turned their way when they stepped inside the room. His single eye immediately found Dick and the young prince hid his trembling hands behind his back.

He felt as if his heart was beating loud enough for Slade to hear it even across the giant hall.

"King Wayne. Lord Kent." Slade greeted them with a nod, standing up from his throne. The smile on his lips was a little bit too predatory for Dick's liking. "Prince Richard. Welcome. I’m honored to host you in my country.”

Dick bowed his head. "Your Majesty."

"We appreciate your hospitality, Your Majesty." Clark said, ever the diplomat. “We are aware it was all pretty sudden.”

Not even a week passed since they received Slade’s letter. No one could blame Dick for wanting to stop the war as fast as possible - there was no point in delaying what they all knew would happen anyway.

"Not at all." Slade replied easily, his eye never leaving Dick. No one said a word about the grim expression on Bruce's face. "It's recommended for me and Prince Richard to get to know each other better after all."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You still didn't get your answer." Bruce hissed through his teeth.

That at least made Slade look away. Dick could breathe a little bit easier without that heavy pressure on him.

"Of course not." Slade hummed. He glanced at Dick again. "You're free to stay here as long as you want before answering to my offer. We all know that reaching an agreement, especially in war times, takes a lot of time and thought."

Bruce pursed his lips into a thin line but before he could answer, Clark placed heavy hand on his shoulder and spoke for him,

"We're grateful for your generosity, Your Majesty, but I’m afraid we won't be able to stay for long."

"I wasn't talking to you. My offer concerns Prince Richard, does it not?" Slade's fingers wrapped gently around Dick's hand and guided it to the king's lips to place a kiss there. "By all means, my prince, make yourself at home."

Part 2 Part 3

SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME-

I know it’s been a very long while since our last episode, but after dealing with other projects, along with real life getting in the way from time to time, we’re finally continuing our next part of the second road trip across the Maasrichtian. While it only has 5 segments like the last episode, and does borrow some of last season’s “Freshwater” thunder quite a bit, I still had a good time with Swamps. And the segments presented here do bring a few things to the table for PHP in general. You’ll see what I mean when we get into them.

Snacks on the wing

The episode starts with the wetlands of Asia, where baby azhdarchid pterosaurs are attempting to fly for the first time. Keeping up with this show’s record of baby animals meeting their end, the pterosaurs have to deal with the threat of getting eaten by a horde of Shamosuchus. Unlike the Simosuchus from earlier in the season, these relatives to today’s crocodiles and alligators comfort more to the shape that we’re used to seeing these reptiles in. While I don’t have much to say about this segment, I find it cool how it draws comparisons with how Freshwater crocodiles hunt flying foxes in Australia. Even when millions of years apart, some hunting strategies are just that good.

Gone fishin’

The episode then cuts to the forests of South America, where the focus is on a truly unique animal; Austroraptor. For those not aware, this was a species of raptor dinosaur that was not only huge for its family (Think 20 feet long), it also lived a life of hunting fish. These of these guys like what would happen if a grizzly bear and a heron had a baby together. The plot of this segment shows a young male trying to score some lunch of his own. Many of the larger adults can only only catch garfish like it’s not their problem (which is something that our male is new to), but they can be aggressive, often attacking each other if one of them disrupts the other’s hunt. Until he learns how to catch prey successfully, the best option that the main male has to take is to snatch someone else’s prey, and try not to lose at least a few feathers in the process.

“Hippity hoppity, get off my property”

We then cut back to Madagascar to see the return of another Season 1 veteran. Y’all must’ve loved Beelzebufo so much, you all wanted to see more of the bay dinosaur-eating frog (And I really wouldn’t blame any of y’all). And fortunately, Apple heard everyone’s pleas for the devil toad to return, so here we are! The segment has a male Beelzebufo trying to find a good place to attract a mate. Unfortunately for the frog, a herd of Rapetosaurus just happened to come back and waddle in the mud, making things even harder for the Beelzebufo. That must be frustrating.

The Beelzebufo then has to find a new place to set up his courtship display, away from the titanosaurs. After a bit of hopping around, and even doing this…

Keep on rollin’

Our champ eventually finds a good enough spot to try again, with the Rapetosaurus herd moving on. They even leave footprints in the mud that get filled with water. The only complaint that I have for this scene is the lack of the Beelzebufo raising his eventual tadpoles. The concept art for the devil toad that was made by Gaëlle Seguillon refers to it as “Beelzebufo adult”, so it could be possible that devil tadpoles were considered to be in the show. Either that, or we could see another Beelzebufo-themed segment in a possible Season 3, taking alot of inspiration from how African bullfrog males raise their young. I may or may not be planning to add that to my hypothetical Season 3 idea, so keep your eyes peeled.

Head Games

Despite the episode literally being called “Swamps”, we cut to a dusty plain in North America, where the area in question used to be a swamp that eventually dried up. It’s here where we see the second pachycephalosaur of the series in the form of Pachycephalosaurus itself. It’s no secret that the domed heads of these creatures were used for some sort of territorial display, so we see an older male fighting a younger and rowdy male, who has been causing trouble for the herd. After a long and hard duel, the old male is knocked down, and his younger rival bellows out in victory. This turns out to be a bad idea, as it gives the old male time to get back up and strike down his rival. With the battle lost, the young male is then exiled from the herd, where he has to fend for himself. I’m not gonna lie, he’s gonna need everything in his kit to survive. Y’know why?

In the night, no one can hear you roar

The last segment of the episode shows us how basically terrifying T. Rex can be when hunting. After the last season shows how these giant predators can be doting parents or a loving couple, this segment serves as a reminder that this is still Tyrannosaurus Rex that we’re talking about. When night falls on the floodplains of Hell Creek, a couple of T. Rex brothers stalk around the forest, spying on a group of Edmontosaurus. The two split up, with one of them stepping on a fallen branch, intentionally causing the herd to get nervous. Thanks to their padded feet muffling any heavy footsteps that could be heard, along with their extremely good night vision, the predators spring into action. While one of them lunges for an Edmontosaurus, the latter is sent towards the other T. Rex. With both of them clamping their bone-crushing jaws into their hapless prey, the hunt is soon over, and the two get to enjoy their hard-earned meal. A funny thing to mention is how neither of the T. Rex crashed into the opening, roaring as they charged towards their prey. Large predators cannot afford to waste precious energy by running out and screaming like a mad man, so they need to be careful, often turning to ambush tactics to catch prey. If anything, this instance of averting usual pop-culture depictions of dinosaurs serves to make these beasts scarier than they already were. Unlike the mindless, perpetually roaring and shrinking movie monster that shakes the ground itself with every step, you’d never see or hear the real thing coming, until it’s too late…

This takes the phrase “Bonehead” to a new level

The Uncovered segment of the episode takes a closer look at how pachycephalosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus used their domed heads in fighting. I don’t have alot to say about this part, but I can say that headaches must be a major pain when it comes to these guys.

And with that, we only have 2 episodes left. I apologize for pumping this review out late into the month. Being busy with other projects, along with dealing with real life stuff and being a lazy ass from time to time can do that to you. Nonetheless, the next review on our list covers one of my favorite episodes in the entire series so far, so that’ll be fun when we get to it. Get ready to “dive” in again next time, because we’re gonna be soaking up the thirst of the land.

…I hope you laughed at that joke.

UHHHH IDK like anything autistic or mentally ill abt him??

buddy you don’t even KNOW

ok so. my guy rob goes from all prim and proper and “✨ oh rather! ✨” at the castle to “RATS” due to a variety of factors not limited to

the trauma of being knocked out, attacked, and enthralled by a vampire (who is also a guy he thought he could trust— sure, he only knew him for like half an hour, but he thought the count was nice and suave and also kinda cute and then oh god oh fuck)

and also hypervigilance and hatred of falling asleep esp in “vulnerable places” since drac first attacked him when he passed out. kinda has a 24/7 fear that Drac could decide to use him as a juicebox again at any given moment

Dracula-induced brainfog— after being enthralled, he kinda finds it harder to think/his processing speed has been slowed down. it’s a side effect of being enthralled, but it’s also def worsened by the fact that this already happens to him when he’s stressed. sometimes he just sits/lays there and does absolutely nothing because of the brain fatigue

Drac being able to talk in his head and also impact his emotions to some degree (my guy feels like. echoes? of drac’s feelings. like when Drac gets angry Rob might randomly feel angry too and have no idea why. mostly manifests as mood swings)

sudden and kinda concerning hunger for blood, since drac bit him back at the castle

and autism. rob’s been a very skilled masker all his life but when the above things quite suddenly came into play, it means he no longer has the stamina to pretend to be neurotypical and frankly doesn’t have the energy to care. bigger fish to fry. think of the scene w Van Helsing where he goes from all “✨ thanks! I’m feeling much better ✨” to “keep your filthy hands to yourself” in less than a minute. buddy boy tried the ‘I’m sophisticated I’m nt and I think about blood only a normal amount’ and fell flat on his face the second stress (new person, van helsing) entered the picture

Rob’s genuine laugh is a little giggle. the “heh heh” thing he does after getting greebled by drac is actually a stress stim he’s had all his life that has just become very prominent because. gestures to everything. same w his weird movements and posture; when he’s going through it, he tends to raptor-arm and hunch over, and there’s no more extreme form of Going Through It than having your brain invaded by an undead abomination. his transatlantic accent he uses at the castle is a deliberate affectation, he has his real accent from Midwest America (like Dwight Frye, he’s a kansas boy) when he’s too AAAA to put the transatlantic voice on

Remus Marlowe, the guy whose name I stole and who was inspired mostly by the book, isn’t impacted whatsoever by eating bugs and critters (it’s just the placebo effect and mental eelness that makes him think so). Robert, on the other hand, was bitten by Drac and partially turned at the castle, so he’s developed a genuine craving for blood that he’s been addressing by eating “not human lives— but small ones.”

at the end of the movie, renfield gets yeeted down a staircase. this always bugged me (pun intended) because. well. he got bitten. he should be vampire’d. so that happens to Robert. he wakes up at the foot of the stairs a couple of hours later, dazed and confused. pro: no more Drac in brain! con: vampire now, and he’s not sure how he feels about that.

I had fun imagining seven deadly sins based dragons!

Wrath:

- a wildclaw because their whole shtick is how they fight before they think. Also raptor vibes. Its outfit is covered in the pelts of its victims, and she’s heavily centered around battles and war because of the saying that violence and anger only perpetuate violence and anger. Also from the fire flight because it’s said that fire dragons are temperamental

Gluttony:

- an imperial because they eat everything and also their whole thing is that they literally fuse when they’re too close (reminded me of the idea of like- being unable to repress your urges and consumption etc), also it’s a female imperial because the posture reminded me of an ouroboros. Her outfit has a skull meant to represent her first prey- which is supposed to be another dragon. Also, she’s from the plague flight because, y’know, consuming!

Greed:

- A guardian because they’re all about finding a hoard and guarding it no matter what. The main idea for their fit was “gold, gold, GOLD!!!”, and there’s no particular reason why they’re from the nature flight, I just thought it looked good!

Envy:

- spiral because spirals resemble snakes (which is the animal representation of envy), and also look at their grabby little hands. I wanted to make their eyes as noticeable as possible too, fixated on the object of their desire. They’re dressed in rags to show that, unlike greed, they don’t have much, and have a muzzle to show that idea of them being restrained and forced to hold back from getting what they want. Wind because wind dragons are explorers, looking for more things to discover and see, always reaching further and further no matter how much they discover

Sloth

- They’re slimy, they’re sluggish, yet so cozy looking. I wanted to represent this feeling you get when you’re in your bed and don’t wanna get out- like you’ve been dipped in melasse. Their fit is supposed to echo cozy, comfy vibes, with little details, and they’re from the ice flight because, like, ice and cold makes you literally sleepy and shut down

Lust

- Coalt because of the valentine dragon! Also coalts remind me of angels and cherubs and I couldn’t pass the opportunity. And also coalts can go from soft and tame to feral in the blink of an eye, and it makes me think of the two aspects of love. They’re covered in roses because roses often symbolize love, and they got horns to represent the ram, the animal which represents lust

Pride

- of course it’s a pearlcatcher. Look at these bitches. I swear to god. Lots of peacock imagery because it’s the animal that represents Pride. The idea behind their fit was basically “party”, lavish, extravagant Dionysus worthy parties, especially thrown in one’s own honor. Also from the arcane flight because I head canon these guys to be a tad bit prideful and braggy

I wonder how much, if any, Raven Beak and his warriors replace their bodies with cybernetics. Are they just wearing suits or have their legs just been replaced with larger robotic versions? I can't recall where I heard this hypothesis from or what evidence, beyond "I think these suits look too big on them", was put froward to support this idea though. Been a few years since I thought about it but your Conga Line with Birdlet Quiet Robe reminded me.

Sorry for the wait! I didn't want to give you a simple or overly boring yes or no answer.

Some warriors choose to enhance their flesh, others don't. Their suits are indeed just suits: Chozo power suits are at once part of the Self and separate from the body. They can be summoned and dismissed at will (see: the Zero Mission Manga). It's like having an exoskeleton that you can turn on and off when you need it.

Most Mawkin only take up cybernetic alterations for medical purposes (i.e. when their limbs absolutely must be replaced), but there are plenty of soldiers who will enhance or outright replace their flesh in the name of performance.

You've heard of guns, but have you seen these guns?

As for how the Mawkin tend to be so tall: it's in the genes, babey! The tribe consists primarily of people who bear resemblance to real-world corvids and raptors. The Mawkin are large, pointy, and built for ripping and tearing the flesh of weaker creatures to feed their fuzzy chicks.

I think Raven Beak is mostly organic, save for a few (microscopic/invisible) alterations to repair any naturally weakening tissue. His wings are real (the pair he was born with to boot), and are the product of a combination of the aforementioned micro-procedures and simply taking care of his body. An exceedingly old Chozo is likely to lose their wings: this has been known for millennia. Raven Beak simply took measures to keep himself in peak condition.

Chozo wings are huge, by the way. They have to be in order to carry all that Guy.

It's a vanity thing, yes, but his obsession with bodily upkeep is also deeply rooted in Mawkin culture, specifically with regards to their emphasis on the way of the warrior. It's less an "I am sexy" kind of vanity, and more "I am the most powerful warrior and must remain that way to serve as an example for my people". The Warrior is peak Chozo, and Raven Beak must be the image of perfection.

On Writing: Characters on Hold

So what do your characters do during their downtime?

I don’t mean vacation time. We all know about heroes and vacations. You can’t get as much as two sips from your sweet beach cocktail before a body drops at the foot of your lounge chair (mystery), a monster surges out of the surf (F/SF), or some annoying guy in a cape shows up to either conquer the world or demand you help save it (superhero).

So no. No vacations. I’m talking about downtime. The little chunks of time in which you’re not really mentally occupied, you just have a few free minutes or seconds on your hands. Dangling off a cliff. Sitting by a laundromat dryer while your clothes finish. In between stocking tasks with no customers currently in sight. Swishing a pH strip through an aquarium tank or what have you; those take at least a few minutes to settle on a final reading, and you’re kind of stuck there.

So your hero has a minute to think, and maybe a hand or two free. What do they do?

You can probably guess that I keep a bit of paper and pen on me when I can, to catch little scraps of ideas. Sometimes I work out a post like this a sentence - or even a word - at a time. Character time fillers might include checking off a to-do list, trying to recall if there are any groceries they need to pick up, dancing a coin over knuckles, careful muscle stretches so everything works when the action does start... think of the possibilities.

It’s not just a way to fill time between the Action and Drama. It’s yet another way to show what your characters are like. Are they conscientious, ticking off little details to make sure the job gets done right? Exhausted, just letting their mind go numb between bouts of chaos? Bored, wanting to be up and doing things? Horribly out of their comfort zones, trying to impose a little routine while things are Not Quite Right?

And if you temporarily mislaid part of your plot - this is the perfect place to roll an authorial saving throw, and have your poor hero hit by, “Oh no, with all the chaos, we forgot about X!” Where X could be as small a thing as a surprise birthday party or as big as forgetting to put an extra lock on when the raptors have shown they can open doors.

Your readers, who may have been yelling at the pages for the last few chapters, will feel vindicated. And eager to see how your hero gets out of this one.

Downtime. It’s more important than you think!

Day 24: Pseudopaleo

(So this one took a while not because of the idea, but because of college finals. Hopefully with the year over I can finally finish this prompt list. Anyways, I know I just did one about demons but I couldn’t resist writing about the demon made dino paradise in Africa that I made up to explain all the dino cryptids there. And I mean come on, dino demons? That’s sick as hell.) Alrighty everyone! Welcome to Prehistoric Paradise! I’ll be your tour guide for today, call me Veli. Now, does anyone have any questions before we begin our walking tour? You sir, in the back? Oh right, the suits. Well you see, Prehistoric Paradise as a dimensional space is supposed to emulate the conditions of Earth of the past. This includes higher levels of oxygen in order to support our larger insect species as well as the plants around. As a human, you would get oxygen poisoning so our team has devised these suits in order for you to breathe properly. This is always why my demon fire is stronger than usual here, as well as some of the other demons that I see in this crowd. Just try not to breathe too closely to the plants, guys. You there, what about you? Yes, I am indeed a velociraptor Eden Demon. If you’re wondering about the height thing, it’s because of Jurassic Park. I mean I’m always gonna appreciate my fellow raptors and rag on how much the humans messed them up, I mean come on guys, you couldn’t keep just a little bit of our plumage? But I do appreciate the extra height. Being turkey sized is not fun when you’re on your own. So Lord Taxternal granted me this change. Although once again, I refuse to give up my plumage. Next question? Oh right, yeah that figures. We’re not AS bad as that place in the movies, but I do admit we’ve had our escapees. Considering these dinosaurs are magical in nature and way more intelligent, sometimes our fellow workers here take them out of this pocket dimension into the real world. Normally we keep them confined in isolated areas, but we’ve had our misses. These guys just wanna explore and hunt, and I can’t blame them. They’re intelligent enough to recognize they live in an eternal paradise, but they still wish to know of the outside world. As for dino cryptids in other places, after we realized that Africa was a bust we tried taking the dinos out to other places. That ended up not working either as now people are searching for them in South America and New Zealand. That’s why we enacted this tour program, so they can get a taste of the outside world from the comfort of the home we built for them. Alright, this will be my final question. Why did we make this place? Simple. Every Eden demon feels a connection to their given species. So when us dino demons realized that some of our dinos were being born with magic, we wanted to keep them. Animals have always had a chance to be born with magic, but the dinos learned how to channel it towards immortality. Yes, this does include the Megalord but we claim no responsibility for his actions. We rounded up all these magical dinos and sent them to a safe sanctuary in this pocket dimension we all reside in now. We put the entrance in Africa since we figured it was a perfect environment for everyone. Wild and untamed, even until the modern day. Now then, we shall begin our journey into the past! Just remember to stay close by and try not to aggravate anyone. Especially asking why they have feathers, we all have feathers. No you cannot pet them. Ok maybe the pterosaurs, they like getting their pycnofibres scratched. 

Oh? How’s the transformers looking? How stronger are your thoughts on the new transformers than other transformers, I actually only have a like vague idea on what transformers is so this is just an ask for you to infodump

Ary I’m gonna cry u wonderful person thank you so much for asking

Ok so this movie is rise of the beasts!! Michael Bay is not directing this movie and you can already tell the difference THANK THE LORD (the human companions are not deeply cringe and annoying for once)

according to the trailer (which released at 9 am this morning (I watched it after I finished my Sol (early btw))) the beastformers - transformers whose altmodes are animals like cheetah, [raptor bird I forgor], rhino, and gorilla as opposed to transformers who are vehicles like cars or jets etc.

The beastformers r like “help us out autobots! Earth is in danger!” And optimus prime, autobots boss, is like I am not losing the idgaf war “This is not our battle..” but obv smth changes and the autobots help out in fighting against the big bad UNICRON , the eater of worlds 🍽️

My thoughts on all the models :

- mirage looks amazing !! HOWEVER he is so clearly a Jazz ripoff ! (Jazz was the black va’d second in command to op in the g1 series who was a fan of humans and their music) not only does mirage looks like jazz, have a similar voice and aesthetic, the whole purpose of his character is to act as a bridge between the humans he’s fascinated by and his autobot friends , something, I’ll give credit, jazz didn’t specifically do

I’m not even mad about it tho that’s just an observation cause mirage seems so cool!! like a totally charismatic character I’m obsessed !

- arcee ! She looks so pretty !! Not as pastel pink as I’d personally like but she really does look great

She’s voiced by Liza koshy of all people and we didn’t get to hear her in the trailer so I’m super curious how that turns out

She’s got an acrobatic style of fighting and is so girlboss

- wheeljack (otherwise known as Pablo - bc that’s what’s written on his van form) looks interesting … he has a face that looks like a metal gigachad with defined lips let’s just say that

He’s missing his ear fins !!!! :( they showed up kinda ? in the twt trailer but idk it doesn’t look the same

He’s missing his mask too !! :( and he has big goggles for some reason ?? ig they’re really leaning into the nerd look

- bee looks cute , nuff said

- Optimus ! Optimus has his chassis with windows again!!! In my opinion anything that looks more like g1 designs is a win in my book

He looks good he sounds good - voiced by Peter Cullen again thank goodness! I’m super duper excited to see him

- the human companions !!

We don’t know much about them but I’m like really really excited, poc leads woo !!

In the few clips we’ve seen they’re not obnoxiously annoying the way the bayverse humans always are 🙏🙏 the main human guy seems to have a funny dynamic with mirage

with human companions in transformers media, it’s ALWAYS a hit or miss and most often misses

The only human companions that are good are Sari, Raf, Spike, the Burns family and Doc Greene and Frankie <- rescue bots is a phenomenal show

Anyway about the human companions for this movie I’m super charmed by them and I’ve got a good feeling about it

The Chernobog was a really cool idea that was executed poorly. Having a dedicated missile carrier to counter aircraft was a good addition in theory, but it was armored with wet paper towels and took ages to set up while having a unique radar icon that magnetized bandits right to you. It wasn't until a few years later when the localized off-radar ability was introduced that it became even remotely viable, and even then, nine times out of ten it was better to just use the explosive sniper anyway. None of us ever bothered using the Chernobog in combat and we instead spent our time Cargobobbing cars under its missile turret and using it as an atom smasher.

You knew you'd won a shitter stomp when they pulled out the ol' ragetank. The TM-01 Khanjali was the surest sign that its owner was angry at something, be it getting dogpiled by a crew or getting ventilated by laggy overpowered NPCs. The real fun of the Khanjali was in wedging telephone poles between its chassis and turret and spinning really fast to make the physics engine freak out and launch the tank across the map.

When I saw there was a car being added with a controllable gun turret on the roof, my first impulse was to paint it up like the car from Super Spy Hunter for the NES. The Weaponized Tampa made heists and PvE missions downright hilarious, being able to scream around corners with guns blazing. Who cared if it could hardly hit the broad side of a barn?

In yet another example of the developers being horribly out of touch with their fanbase, the Caracara was added to get an F-150 Raptor into the game, but specifically as a knockoff of a 6x6 conversion of one. And then they added a gun turret to the back for kicks. It was fun to use as a party Technical, don't get me wrong, but many of us were much more welcoming of the later Caracara 4x4.

Gee Barrage, how come your mom lets you have two gun turrets? This truck was my first choice to bring to heists when playing with randoms, because having not one but two mounted guns grabbed their attention and ensured there was no fighting over who got to play with the big shooty. It was like one of those fancy minivans with the TVs in the back.

Before we had the Khanjali, we had the APC. Being slightly faster and fully amphibious made it loads of fun to bring to missions that had you recovering cargo from the ocean. Seeing one of these with a proper driver and gunner duo was actually pretty scary, and since you needed a crew to operate one of these effectively, I found it fitting to do this one up with glitched Benny's wheels and a shiny purple paint job to pay homage to the Third Street Saints. Did you know that that was why my character wore purple headphones?

The Insurgent Pick-up Custom, affectionately known as the Gunsurgent, was the best way to calm down a noisy session all the way from its Pegasus predecessor's introduction in 2015 to the present day. Even memebikes had to watch their step around it. Whenever this big guy came out of the garage, it was officially go time. Turned out there weren't many problems that a rolling block of steel with a Ma Deuce on the roof couldn't solve.

Despite being lauded for its stealth capabilities, having the same radar icon as an average street car, it was always easy to spot a Vigilante coming because you'd see said icon doing a pirouette every couple of blocks. Not many drivers could handle the Vigilante's boost function, and its low ground clearance made it prone to getting violently hung up on bits of terrain that other cars would completely ignore. It was even more groan-inducing trying to use its missiles and watching them go sailing straight underneath the vehicles you were trying to hit. The Vigilante was amazing at pushing other cars around, though, especially that cursed Humane Labs monkey van, and parking it against a wall to launch cars with its rocket boost was a ride you could charge admission for.

Never in the history of GTA has a vehicle had a redemption arc as glorious as that of the Dune FAV. On release, it wasn't anything special, as its occupants were exposed and its mounted gun had a very limited traversal, and it only became more hated as time passed because the developers, in their infinite wisdom, had decided to bind the proximity mine function to the same button as the horn, making it all too easy to blow yourself to smithereens when trying to give a friendly beep. This problem was exacerbated in the Dune FAVs used for bunker sales, as now the mine button not only took the place of the horn button, but also that of the one used by every other bunker sale vehicle to drop a shipment, so giving that friendly beep on your way to deliver was going to cost you a hell of a lot more than just 500 GTA-bucks. Many of my friends and crew writhed at the sight of these buggies for years until the release of the Up-N-Atomizer physics gun, at which point the lowly Dune FAV got a new lease on life by being the only vehicle in the game that allowed the driver to use the Up-N-Atomizer as a drive-by weapon. Filled with newfound vigor, the Dune FAV made its triumphant return to the battlefield, bringing joy and physics fun to everyone, and we all lived ragdolly ever after.

For quite a while, I looked down my nose at the humble Nightshark. It was just a smaller Insurgent, right? Why would I bother owning one when I already had an Insurgent? But then it went on sale, and I gave it a try out of boredom, and my game plan was changed forever. This thing was a feisty little mountain goat. It was kind of like a small Insurgent, yes, but that smaller size meant it had much more get-up-and-go than its bigger brother, and it was much more comfortable when taken off the beaten path. I actually kept mine in the back of my Mobile Operations Center, where it could be summoned without having to wait for the mechanic to pick up the phone, as an emergency escape vehicle. This foresight proved quite useful, as one of the Nightshark's most important qualities proved to be that it was able to tank a memebike's full complement of missiles and keep running. This, combined with its lack of a unique radar icon, made it ideal for defensive play, and once we learned that breaking the driver's door off made it easy to score eject kills, it became ideal for just about everything.

Free Writing About My Upcoming Week

It feels super strange to not have an official prompt this week, but I do already know what I want to talk about and share with you guys. I've mentioned repeatedly throughout my blogs my most favourite undergrad volunteering opportunity has been with Wild Ontario. It's a program that uses non-releasable raptors to educate about conservation and human impact on wildlife.

I was indirectly prompted to write a blog purely about my time and upcoming opportunities that I'm excited about with Wild Ontario because of Jenny and Kitty from the Arboretum Walk Video, both of whom I met when I first started as a volunteer as they were also volunteers at the time I had joined. Below is a photo from a program I helped with during COVID with two of my peers. We did a presentation featuring (left to right) Atwood the Northern Saw-whet owl, Apollo the American Kestrel, and Indiana the Red-tailed Hawk who are all non-releasable due to some form of human impact (permanent injury, imprint, habituation, etc.).

I recently decided to take the course for an internship in biological science. I was able to get a placement with Wild Ontario after being a volunteer for almost 4 years. I've learned a lot from everyone in the program about birds and nature interpretation like changing your talks for different goals and audiences, avoiding jargon that turns people off your message, and how providing a personal and unique experience engages with people so much more.

I've learned that as excited and passionate as you are about a topic, not everyone will stick around to learn about every single thing you've learned. Figuring out the wants and needs of your audience can be tricky to gauge because sometimes you can only get a sentence in before they walk away. This keeps it interesting though, and definitely has taken me time to accept and work on.

For example, above is a screenshot from the article linked, where a writer for Guelph Today was interviewing some of us volunteers and taking photos for an article. The picture shows me and Sibley, a Red-tailed hawk, but the caption names a different bird Freyja, and another picture is captioned with things that aren't about the bird I'm seen with. I was a bit surprised at the mistake but the dude was super excited and I understand it was a lot to take in from all the birds he met and stories he heard, so it's fine he mixed up the two birds that look alike (they are the same species after all). Here's a side by side of Sibley (left) and Freyja (right), the Red-tailed Hawks, and if you can tell the difference between them I applaud you.

On the 15th I leave for the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators conference in Orlando, and I'm going with some other Wild Ontario members! I'm super stoked to learn more about not only cool training ideas and protocols for birds, but also learn more about the industry, get some networking in, and learning more about how to be the best educator I can be and how to apply it to my nature interpretation! I hope to have another opportunity to share an update on what I learned after!

**All birds and photos above are birds that are non-releasable educational ambassadors for their species with Wild Ontario, teaching about science, conservation, and human impact!**