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speedprofessor · 3 years

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THE DEFINITIVE CANON REWRITES POST

I have been writing Eobard for long enough that a lot of things has changed and shifted over the years and his canon on the blog really has become truly unrecognizable from the show. So if you came here expecting a canon compliant Eobard, you will be severely disappointed. So this post will hopefully be your handy dandy guide to all the retcons and divergences I have from all the seasons.

A final point of note is that a lot of my canon is shared with @isjustice as we are exclusives and I highly recommend you check out her season rewrites to get a better idea of the whole picture.

TL:DR -Seasons one, two and the beginning of three are canon as shown, rest of season three is not acknowledged. -Legends of Tomorrow is heavily rewritten. -Legends: Eobard in charge of the Legion of Doom is in fact Hunter Zolomon before his appearance in Flash season two. Real Eobard begrudgingly teams up with the Legends to stop him, he does “die” at the end of the adventure. -Crisis on Earth X is absolutely NOT CANON. He instead teams up with the Justice Syndicate from Earth 3 to crash the WestAllen wedding because he is petty like that. -Eobard plotline of season 5 is canon, rest is not. -Crisis on Infinite Earths is HEAVILY rewritten. Eobard assumes the role of Harbinger, during the events of the crossover he and Barry make amends and he helps the heroes defeat the Anti-Monitor. -Post Crisis is fully canon divergent. Eobard becomes Professor Zoom and is counted among the Founders of the League.

IN DEPTH BREAKDOWN:

FLASH SEASON THREE:

-Flashpoint lasts approximately six months, Eobard is still imprisoned and is keeping Barry company. Trying to be the voice of reason and make Barry revert the changes. -Flashpoint overall is a lot more fleshed out and expanded upon. Atlanteans and Amazonians, once only myths, now exist in the world and are at war with one another. -Oliver Queen has been murdered by The Condiment King. -The Atlantean - Amazonian War reaches a fever pitch and causes the destruction of the United Kingdom, upon realizing the true consequences of his actions, Barry finally lets Eobard out to ‘finish what he started’. -Upon killing Nora Allen and entering the Speed Force to take Barry home, Flashpoint!Eobard’s memories are merged with that of his season one self, leading to the restoration of Eobard Thawne proper. -Alchemy and Cobalt Blue are the villains for the rest of season three. Savitar!Barry does not exist. -Cobalt Blue is Flashpoint Eddie Thawne who remembers that timeline and is bitter about it. Read more about it here.

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW:

-Eobard, upon attempting to run back home, is alerted to the existence of Black Flash Racer, who is an extension of the Speed Force that wants to correct the mistake that is Eobard’s paradoxical existence. -He starts running through history to find a solution to his problem, during which he discovers that there is another Eobard Thawne operating with a group called Legion of Doom. -This Eobard that is part of the Legion of Doom is in fact Hunter Zolomon, before his season two story arc in the Flash, masquerading as Eobard so his own identity is still kept a secret. -Real Eobard teams up with the Legends so the Legion of Doom doesn’t get his hands on the Spear of Destiny. -He does want the Spear for himself just to fix his paradoxical existence, but he has no desire to ‘rule’ the world. -Most of that season can happen as normal just know that ‘Eobard’ in that season is not actually Eobard -In the end, Eobard chucks Zoom back to Earth-Two but then immediately gets killed by Black Racer because time is an ironic bitch.

FLASH SEASON FOUR:

-Eobard is dead and back in the Speed Force and very desperate to go back home. -He makes a deal with the Speed Force that makes him a pure conduit of the Negative Speed Force, effectively tethering his existence to Speed Force. ( supplementary headcanon. ) -He is now a living paradox and fully connected to the Negative Speed Force, rendering him immune to timeline changes. -The moment he is out, he attempts to run back home, but Speed Force blocks him from doing so, partially as punishment for his past deeds, partially because he needs a reason to run and keep the Speed Force healthy. -CRISIS ON EARTH X DOES NOT HAPPEN, instead Eobard recruits the EARTH-THREE CRIME SYNDICATE to ruin Barry’s wedding, bitter about his new situation and his inability to run back home. -While doing so, he is starting to realize that he no longer harbors the same intense rage and hate towards Barry. -Upon Crime Syndicate’s defeat, Eobard escapes and is imprisoned in 2030 for Reasons™ -Listen the show never explained it why the fuck should I.

FLASH SEASON FIVE:

-Savit’r is the big bad of the season, Cicada gets a two-parter episode at best because he sucks. -Cicada’s dagger, however, is still in play and is what’s keeping Eobard imprisoned. -Eobard’s training of Nora takes place over a period of TWO YEARS, instead of the laughably small amount of time shown in the show. -Cicada is killed by Savit’r, who then destroys the dagger and leads to Eobard being freed. -Eobard / Nora / Barry confrontation happens as shown. -He genuinely grew fond of Nora and wanted her to survive by using the Negative Speed Force, so he is sad to see her get wiped from existence. -Upon running away from the scene, he is stopped by Mar-Novu, who promises him a way home in return for his help with the impending Crisis.

SEASON SIX (abandon all canon all ye who enter here)

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, EARTH ONE.:

-Eobard is The Harbinger, tasked with running between all the Earths and recruiting others. -He works with Oliver Queen during this time. -Over the course of Crisis, he comes to terms with the fact that he no longer hates Barry like he once did, so he buries the hatchet with him and finally lets go of his vendetta. -Watches Barry die as he destroys the Anti-Matter Cannon, the resulting tachyon explosion catapults Eobard back home. -This drabble takes place. -The Multiverse is Destroyed.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, EARTH PRIME:

-Multiverse is Rebooted. *Eobard is back in 25th Century, having never become Reverse-Flash in this timeline. (how does post-crisis season one work, then? Shhh don’t worry about it.) -The moment the Paragons ‘awake’ in Earth-Prime, he gets struck by lightning, (re)gaining his powers and his memories of the Pre-Crisis timeline. -As he is from the future, he recognizes he has all the time in the world, so he spends five decades living with his wife, Rose, until her death by natural causes. -Upon her death, he uses his powers to restore himself to his peak physical condition and runs back to 2020 to take place in the Final Fight against the Anti-Monitor. -Due to his actions in COIE, he is given a Founder status in the newly formed Justice League.

SEASONS SEVEN AND BEYOND:

-He makes himself a new suit, and renames himself Professor Zoom. -Nora Allen is alive in this timeline and is the tether that keeps Barry in the Speed Force, so, at her urging, he kills her again to bring Barry back. -He tends to spend his time operating as the Chief Financier Officer of the League because he knows other heroes aren’t all that fond of him and he’s overall still uncomfortable with the notion of being a Hero™. -He keeps his distance from STAR Labs overall, because even though he is on ‘good terms’ with Barry, there is a lot of nasty history there. -He does help out the League and Team Flash if he is absolutely needed, however.

#; REVISING MY INITIAL THESIS ( headcanon. )#this is as concise as I can make it tbh #do make sure to check out juli's season rewrites tho because even tho I cut this off at season 'seven' he does factor into force quest #somewhat I would imagine. he helps out with paradox too #heck we even have their last scene mapped out lmfao shhhh

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let-me-make-you-proud · 6 years

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Tangled: The series Q&A with Chris and Ricky.

This is a recapitulation from today’s (July 1st, 2018) Questions and Answers sessions with Chris and Ricky on the Tangled Discord Server.

They did their Q&A sessions separately, so the first part of this post are from Chris session, while the second part is from Ricky’s session.

Chris’ session.

Q: Was any form of martial arts used as reference to Adira’s fighting style? A: Tt’s tough to keep her style consistent because our board teams rotate and so do the animators... you’ll see the style change a bit.

Q: I noticed that Rapunzel's new outfit is really reminiscent of Belle's blue-white dress in Beauty and the Beast, only more geared for the wear and tears of adventure and long distance traveling. Was that an intentional nod by any chance? A: Not intentional. We just wanted her to be a little more... flexible. Adventurous. We worked very hard on it.

Q: Where did the inspiration come from for Adira's outfit? A: Adria’s was very much Ben’s creation. I believe it’s very influenced by Korean costumes.

Q: How did you design her personality? A: Well, we wanted her to be intimidating, yet funny and quirky. We all have friends like that! She needed to have this feeling that.... You don’t know whether to trust her or not!!!

Q: Does the caravan have an actual name? A: Ya know? It doesn’t! We just called it the caravan!

Q: How do you decide on the perfect names for the characters you introduce? A: I tend to spend a lot of time on names. They mean a lot to me. I pick some and the writers pick some. I can’t really discuss how we come up with them.

Q: Is it confirmed that Cassandra is 23 years old? A: No age’s are confirmed. Only Rapunzel.

Q: Who is one of your favorite characters to work on? A: Well, everyone knows I love Cass. She has my heart!!! Isn’t she just the coolest? I’d want her as a best friend!!

Ricky

Q: Who is Ricky? A: I am a writer on the show so I help come up with what happens in each episode/the overall series and write the scripts...so essentially what the characters say, do, etc.

Q: Is there a particular episode that's already aired that stands out as a favorite of yours? A: Fav episodes of mine are: Pascal's Story, Quest for Varian (I wrote those so I'm partial) and I have a lot of love for Return of Strongbow, Rapunzel's Enemy and In Like Flynn.

Q: My friend was wondering how to write for animation, it's one of the forms they can't wrap their mind around. Like how to go about it and little tips to remember. A: For one, writing for animation isn't all that different than writing for live action. We format our scripts in the same fashion (well, tangled scripts have their own style, but overall it's the same). There is a particular focus, at least for me, on writing visually compelling action lines/descriptions so that my work and intention is clear for the story artists. Live action may have a little less emphasis there. But overall it's the same concept.

Q: Are there any particular shows you cite as influence when writing for Tangled? A: Ummm... different things influence the different writers/Chris/Ben, etc. I am sure that many of the visual artists/designers/board artists are influenced by different shows like that.

Q: I remembering reading something that said that the story for Tangled The Series was all figured out, that even before the show started airing the idea for the ending was already figured out. A: Well... It is and it isn't. Meaning, there is are... We'll call them "goal posts" along the way that were established very early on and the challenge of the show is building stories in between that build to those and do those moments justice. It kind of goes like this: Touchstones/key moments of the series are established, then we map out each season with those in mind (think of it like you have pillars and then the season arc is the roof held up by those pillars).

Q: How do you go about writing female characters or do you simply just portray them as a character first without special attention to gender? A: We just do our best to get inside each character's head... Be they female or male or horse or chameleon... and then write their character as true to who they are as we possibly can. There is a lot of discussion in the room when breaking story about "would Rapunzel do X or Y" and after a while, the characters become second nature to us. I have spent as much time with Rapunzel as I did in high school....so you really get to know them.

Q: So you have a rough outline for the series and as you go you flesh out ideas? A: Yes. There are certain things that we've always known would happen. Like, with Varian, we mapped out which episodes in Season one he would appear in and how his character would progress (so, ep 3, 9, 13/14, 20-end). The specific "how" wasn't always there. That becomes part of the story. How do we get Varian from A to B in each episode so by the end he is no longer a cinammon roll.

Q: Which character do you personally enjoy writing for the most? A: My favorite is King Trevor. As far as the mains, I mean, IDK it depends on the episode. I love writing Rapunzel when she loses her cool a little bit. I love writing Eugene quips, I love writing Cass snark.... it depends on what they're doing.

Q: I do like how it seems even what can be considered filler episodes progress the story and characters in some way. A: Yeah, filler episodes.... yeesh not a term we like haha. The thing about a series is that we are always building character or establishing something. So yes there are eps that don't talk about the rocks or feature the main villain, but they show where the characters are in their particular place and time. Also, if you look at the season as a whole, you'll see that it mirrors the movie in some ways. There are moments in the movie that are straight up silly and fun and then there are scenes that are all badass action and then there are sad, dark moments and our episodes are like that. Some are Rapunzel's enemy and they are silly and fun and some are Quest where they are super dark

Q: Who is your least favorite character to write for? A: Hopefully this isn't a cop out, but I don't really have one. Like, I might say King Frederic in the first half of season 1, but then In Like Flynn comes around and it's so fun to lean into how much of a square he can be.

Q: How excited were you to finally introduce fans to the mysterious Baron? A: We were super psyched to finally get to use the Baron.

Q: Speaking of the darker parts of the show, are there any surprising limitations in place at Disney as to how dark you can go? Some, I'd imagine are obvious (no swearing, explicit content)- but are there any that'd surprise people? A: There are things that Disney doesn't let us do, but usually they aren't with "dark" things. THey're usually with some phrase they don't like or something. Like I wrote a line in Quest for Varian where Eugene calls Owl a "cold blooded bird of prey" and even though he was actually joking about Cassandra, we got a note that they didn't want to deceive children into thinking that owls are cold blooded when they are in fact warm blooded. Stuff like that is surprising.

Q: What there ever a character or an idea that you liked but had to be changed or removed (At least in season 1)? A: Definitely. I am the worst in the room because I get super attached to a lot of ideas and stories and characters and when they don't happen I get feisty. One I will reveal/can talk about was in Pascal's story. There was more of Pascal's journey to the tower in there and I had a scene of Pascal seeing a long blonde braid and getting happy, thinking it was Rapunzel. But then it turns out to be this dandy/crappy minstrel whose story kind of mirrored what Pascal was going through and he sang about how his girlfriend left him and at first Pascal thought he found a buddy, but he quickly got super annoying so Pascal bailed. I really liked the minstrel. I was sad he didn't make it in. He was so silly.

Q: In Quest for Varian the line "We're gonna get squished!" was that a Disneyfied line or was Varian just being a dork? A: Ummm...the squished line I can't remember honestly. We wrote that episode 2 years ago so sometimes it's hard to remember where they all came from.

Q: In the movie Raps hides behind Eugene a lot, and now in the show I've been noticing recently it's Eugene who's hiding behind Rapunzel, and that kinda body language totally sticks out towards their development because it shows how much braver and stronger Raps has become and also how Eugene trusts Raps, isn't as totally hung up on his ego, and also knows there's someone who can and wants to protect him, so my question is, are moves like these written into the script or are they mostly storyboard choices? A: I would say that much of the credit for the staging of the shots goes to our awesome storyboard artists. Certainly, there are times where we might write something like "Rapunzel steps forward and draws her frying pan" but other times, it might not be so specific and just as we pay a lot of attention to how Raps would act, they do as well and they work so hard to bring that out.

Q: What did you think of him (Varian) when he was first thought out and how his story progressed? A: Well, when I first got there he was just a name on an index card. And his trajectory was roughly laid out in that he would start out a friend but end up a foe. I didn't think of him as a kid initially, that came from someone else (either Chris or Shane) and I remember being worried about making such a young kid a villain because...and this is going to sound weird, but I was like "Can we punch a 14 year old in the face? Because if he's a villain we might have to do that." So I was skeptical at first, honestly. But the more we got into how he behaved and how quirky he was he just became super fun and sweet and then he fit naturally into the world.

Q: Is there a certain line that stands out as a personal favorite for you that you've written for the show? A: There are certain lines. One of them is when Rapunzel blows up the tower and they ask her what she's doing and she says "Letting down my hair" because it was fun making that famous line into a badass line. And everything Eugene says when he gives Max the tour of the tower. And when Eugene is confused about Chutney I laugh because that is based on a guy that I saw in Target trying to explain chutney to one of the workers who didn't know what it was.

Q: If you could do a crossover with another Disney Show/Movie which one would you want to do? A: Hmmmm... I think Enchanted. Would be cool to see Rapunzel and Eugene get thrown into New York with a slightly more street-smart Giselle.Or to see them go to Andalasia .

Q: Why is it Eugene hasn't had issues with his near death death? A: Well, he has mentioned his near death. He brings it up in Pascal's story and then in quest he talks about it. I think Eugene isn't the kind of guy that holds onto things like that. Like he might hold on to emotional hurt, but I think he looks at that as one of many close calls (okay, probably the closest call) he's had throughout his life and now that it's behind him, he faces it with humor.

Q: If you could turn another Disney movie into a series which one would it be? A: If I could turn any Disney movie into a series it would be Incredibles.

Q: Is there any music genre that fans might be surprised to find Rapunzel liking if she were to hear it? A: Hmmm... I think Rapunzel is the kind of person that would be open to anything. It's hard to imagine her hearing something and NOT liking it or at least giving it a chance.

BONUS WITH RICKY

Comment: Dude, Eugene's tour to Max through the tower was so funny, hahaha. Ricky: They cut a line out of the tour, which I was sad about. It was something like "See this stain on the floor? That's my blood. Seriously look at all that blood! Oh, boy, I am a bleeder." Comment: I loved Eugene's comment about Max climbing Rapunzel's hair when they were escaping the tower. Ricky: Hahaha yeah sometimes Eugene has to call out the strangeness haha. All of that is kind of paying homage to the movie. Like when he says "YOu should know this is the strangest thing I've ever done!"

Comment: I know it won't happen in the show, but it's stuff like that that makes me wish we'd be able to see Sora from Kingdom Hearts appear in the show. Eugene would be a goldmine of meta commentary on all the bizarre shenanigans that come with everything pertaining to Kingdom Hearts. Ricky: And to the Kingdom Hearts mention, it would be fun to do a crossover like that, but we can't really do crossovers like that. Every now and then I try to throw in an obscure Disney name or reference and it always gets caught (sulks).

Comment: I loved Lance's line in today's episode about the bee pheromones being on the table in a drinking cup. Ricky: LOL yeah. That was Jeremy's line. Tonight was his first episode (he started in Season 2 so he's a "new" writer this season). Comment: When you say Jeremy do you mean Jeremy Jordan? Ricky: No I'm talking about Jeremy Shipp. Jeremy Jordan doesn't write, he just sings like a god damn angel.

Ricky: Fun facts about tonight's episode: the lady that called Raps a "Clod" was voiced by Eden Espinosa. Also the first version of the story had Quaid as an old, out of work actor that the gang dresses up as a Sheriff. And then of course, the story evolved from there and stuff.

Comment: About Eugene dying, I would think the reason that's not mentioned much it's because Eugene simply isn't the kind of person that would hold to that stuff (Since we already know the show doesn't shy away from those kind of topics, for example, the King still dealing with Rapunzel's kidnapping even though she's been home for months now, and Rapunzel still dealing with her first 18 years with Gothel). Like, the characters don't get magically better, they keep dealing with stuff even after everything is done, and I think that's really cool. Ricky: Yeah. We show that Rapunzel still holds on to stuff. And Eugene does too (you see in the movie he has some issues and changes his name as a result), but Eugene covers a lot of that stuff with humor and sarcasm.

#Tangled #Tangled the series #Rapunzel's Tangled adventure #Q&A #Tangled crew #Question & Answers #chris sonnenburg #ricky roxburgh #Rapunzel #Cassandra #Eugene #Varian #Adira #TTS #RTA #BTCW

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hades-pa · 7 years

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do prime numbers haha

All right motherfucker strap in

2. Age

3. City that you live in

Fairfax, VA

5. What do most people know you for?

I’m honestly not sure these days, hopefully for being someone who doesn’t take shit from anyone but that’s not necessarily the case

7. What are your passions?

Writing, doing what’s right in the world

11. What was the last thing you learned?

The full origin story of Wonder Woman and how she’s based off two women of a poly relationship and there’s a lot more to it

13. Turn ons

Respect. Justice. Ear kisses. A good slap on the ass.

17. What is the best birthday gift you have ever received?

Last year I had no one around for my birthday and my best friend swooped in and took me laser tagging and then going home to drink and watch movies, and honestly that meant a lot more to me than I think he knew.

19. Do you sleep during class?

I’ll doze for 8 minutes and start awake and then be fine for the rest of class

23. Text or call?

Mostly text unless I’m driving

29. When was the last time you read for fun?

About an hour ago

31. What is the best gift you could receive right now?

Someone to clean my apartment and move me into a new, cheaper apartment, with a fully stocked fridge and liquor cabinet

37. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Either karma for a bad thing they did or someone did such a bad thing that some of it spilled over and splashed other people. Just an uncaring universe made of stardust and entropy trying to keep the balance, and sometimes normal lives get in the way.

41. What do you invest the most time in?

Sleeping

43. What’s the difference between loving and liking someone?

I don’t want to say it’s how much you would do for that person but a combination of that and that blossoming feeling of warmth in your chest and then also calling it a stepping stone of friendship levels with mutual, unconditional love being at the top.. i dunno I’m just spitballing

47. Do you believe world peace will ever exist?

Yeah

53. How many countries have you visited?

Over a hundred

59. What is your favorite quote?

“Do no harm, take no shit” always comes to mind though I’m sure there are better out there

61. What is your greatest accomplishment?

Not killing myself yet

67. Do you have a job?

Not really

71. Is tumblr your favorite website? If not, then what is your favorite website?

That site where you click a button and it donates to an animal shelter

73. Does money equal happiness?

no, but it’s certainly very handy dandy to get to a secure place with enough material goods or whatever and having the means to get an education or to travel which I believe do add up to happiness. So no, but it fucking helps.

79. What is your favorite animal?

Fox. Or the Peacock Mantis Shrimp. Maybe Tardigrade.

83. Does age necessarily equal maturity?

oh jesus fuck no, of course it doesn’t

89. How many digits of pi can you recite?

like 6? 3.1415926 ok so like 7 but whatever

97. Is it harder to love or to hate somebody?

Hate. Hate is an active thing that you have to put energy into, love is just kind of there.

wOWZA

#personal #slur2tongue2 #ask me anything #asks #ask meme

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mrandyzavala · 7 years

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Hi! I'm Back!

Hiiiiiiii Oh god, it's been so long. So first: I AM SO SORRY.

I'm on my knees! Or sitting in a swivel chair.

Second, there's a reason I took a hiatus....and then continued to write and rewrite the next blog....and then procrastinated. So first let me thank two dear friends who have been actively involved in marine mammal training for helping me get this latest blog out to the universe. It was seriously like a gigantic poop that needed to come out, but just wouldn't no matter how many trips to the ol' W.C. it took. (Look, you are all zookeepers so I feel like you can handle this analogy.)

God that feels good

For those of you who don't know, I left the field to pursue the equally amazing field of forensic science. Yes, I voluntarily put myself in FAFSA debt so I could hopefully one day be gainfully employed dealing with delicious science. Mostly, I just wanted a lab coat and to use pipettes every day. Anyways, I've been working hard at getting my M.S. in forensic science. I LOVE it but it has completely taken over my life. And I've been doing a lot of thinking about the marine mammal community....what it was like to leave it, what it's like to be on the outside, and what overlap there'll be in my new chosen field with the old one. There are a few things I want to talk about.

The pipe really drives it home

First, some of the reason why it took me so long to publish this blog is because - honestly- I was pretty angry. Was it at animal rights activists? Or did I turn anti-captivity?

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. ...but candy.

No and no. While there have been a few incidents that have really upset me that have had to do with animal rights extremists (Vancouver Aquarium, anyone?), the thing that really hurt me was the belief some of you had that I "went to the other side." That sentiment started happening around the time I started at National Aquarium, and it seems like it kind of spiraled into a sad little story.

It doesn't have to be this way

So let's just make sure you all know, I am NOT anti-zoo. You know what I am? I am pro-animal, like all of you. I believe in the incredible work that many zoos and aquariums do. Those are the places that put their animals first, and the ones who are willing to take feedback (no matter how critical) and use it to make themselves better. That was something I thought I'd find at National Aquarium; they want to do something different for their animals. And you know what? Their dolphins are AMAZING. Their vet and training staff are some of the most dedicated I've ever seen, both towards the animals and towards the staff. I thought it was a really cool idea to think about building a state of the art facility for the animals. Here's something really interesting I've come across since starting my new journey: the forensic science field -especially fingerprint and firearms comparison- has been pretty heavily scrutinized by not just the media, but institutions like the National Institute for Justice. I mean, reading this stuff made me think, "Oh my god, the marine mammal community knows what this feels like." It's the same song you guys know: a combination of smart people and people with strong opinions but with basically no real world experience make some pretty sweeping, damning statements about things they really don't seem to understand.

Because I has strongish feelings

But what's interested me the most in this parallel situation is not so much how the criticism (or its delivery...including documentaries, websites, official reports, etc.) is similar. It's how drastically different the forensic science community handled (handles?) it as compared to the marine mammal community. I love you guys, seriously. But what we collectively are not doing very well is responding scientifically to our critics. Yes, I know a handful of you have, which is awesome. But collectively, we still basically dig our heels in the sand and declare that we are the "experts"....without actually acting like experts in our response to our critics. If you're super mad at that last paragraph, you're proving my point. We have a really distracting emotional response to Blackfish, Ric O'Barry, or the disgruntled guest who thinks our dolphins should have bigger habitats. We respond with buzz words, but not with empirical evidence. Let's look at an example I encountered quite a bit at one of my former facilities. When we were discussing building a larger habitat for the dolphins, who live in a 60 year old exhibit, these are actual replies we got from those who had the power to change the situation: "There's no evidence supporting the notion that larger habitats are better for dolphins." "Saying you want a bigger dolphin habitat is what an animal rights activist would say." "Saying we need a better habitat means the one we have is not adequate, and it's plenty adequate. It far exceeds the USDA requirements."

Look what we did to this poor pup

Sigh. Okay. Do you see the problem yet? I know some of you do, because I've talked to you on the phone, via email, or in person about this issue. And it seems to be pretty standard at most (not all!!) places. And the problem seems to be a combination of the following: 1) Lots of newer generation trainers do not tend to agree with management in terms of ethics of habitats, treatment, and focus of their animal programs. 2) Saying there is no evidence supporting that larger habitats are better is....a circular argument. There is no evidence because there is very little true research on this topic. Guys, that doesn't count. YES of course there are quantifiable facts we can share with the world; bottlenose dolphins tend to live well past their average life span in human care. They reproduce very well. That is a testament to great care, but it is not the same as saying we have "research" to prove our habitats are the best they can be. To be fair, we have cranked out a LOT of fantastic veterinary/physiological research. We even have a good chunk of cognitive research out there, which is fantastic. But we need more behavioral and "welfare" research. We need to define how we scientifically define wellness, and then measure that within our various populations.

Marry me.

You know what forensic science did when they got nailed on not having enough true research? When a Obama's presidential committee said, "Uh, your science like, isn't valid and you don't have any research to prove it"? They did research. They said, "We really disagree with this statement, raaaahhh we are so mad!! WE ARE SO MAD WE ARE TOTALLY GONNA DO RESEARCH TO SHOW YOU!" and they did. There was an EXPLOSION of research and publications. And many of these institutions did not have a lot of funding. They had to apply for grants, or do some magical things with their budgets. They knew they had to make it happen not just for their critics, but for their field of discipline as well. Let me tack on here that one common argument against conducting research in marine mammal facilities I've encountered a lot is that we don't have time in between shows and interactions. I understand we have to make money to spend it on the animals. But that cannot be the end of the conversation. If we want to make our animal care the best it can be, and we call ourselves experts in a scientific field, we HAVE to make time for research. That means we have to get creative with our daily programming. Other places have done this successfully, and there are a lot of really smart, creative people in this field. If you are not interested in finding time to do research, then let people on your team who are motivated to do so find a way. It is absolutely possible in most cases.

Everything I've ever learned, I've learned from Will Ferrel movies

3) Wanting something NEW and "better" does not automatically mean you suck right now. Change is a good thing. Change is not giving in to animal rights activists. It's being the zoological scientists we are and saying, "Hmm, this aspect of our care is going well. But this one isn't. Or it could be better."

Be like Rafiki.

Lastly, I think it's important to be careful how we handle trainers and zookeepers who have these different ideas. It's not as simple as "if you're not with us, you're against us." SO many of you guys have told me that's how you feel it is. Many of you have left jobs hoping to find a place that shares your morals when it comes to marine mammal care. Many of you say you're sticking around where you work so you can work your way up the ladder to get into a position to change things. Many of you bite your tongue because you don't want to be labeled as an animal rights activist. I totally get that, because I've been in that position too. For example, one of the biggest criticisms I heard about National Aquarium's decision? That the dolphins would be put in sea-pens. Sea pens. Like, the kind they have at Dolphin Quest. DRC. The Navy. Okay, are we sure that we don't like sea pens?

Cool!

Wait, maybe we don't like animals going from a manmade environment to natural sea water. How we will acclimatize the animals? Um, why don't we ask those questions when we transport dolphins from similar conditions? From natural and/or outdoor habitats to indoor, manmade ones and vice versa? Guys, we do this ALL the time. I've literally dumped a dolphin who made a transcontinental transport into a pool with two other male dolphins with zero acclimation. He was fine. The others were fine. What I'm saying is, we can't just freak out because a facility decides to try something different. Our arguments become really emotional, and really hypocritical. UNLESS. Unless we say, "Hey, you know what, maybe if we're uncomfortable with transport protocol, we should collectively study this. And you know what? Let's pair up with that place we're not totally in agreement with to work together to gather some information, swap some ideas."

But not on Saturdays.

But we keep getting hung up on "letting the activists win" or "we have to stick together" and shut down new ideas. Guys. Stop. The marine mammal community has got bigger goals to achieve. We've got to look at our facilities and say, "Let's do some research" and "What's working really well here...and what's really NOT." We have got to stop criticizing other facilities for stupid things like....maintaining natural social groups, phasing out shows, whatever. Those facilities are not dolphin huggers or weaklings who caved to Blackfish. Those facilities are managing their animals a) the way most zoos manage their animals....in natural situations and b) those facilities are cranking out some amazing research. Let's not make fun of them. What are they doing that is working? It may not be exactly what you want to do, and that is okay. What's even more okay is sharing info with each other without passing harsh, sophomoric judgment. Come on! Let's have some fun! Let's dream!!! What is YOUR dream facility? What kinds of things would you do there? Start really asking yourself those questions, no matter what level you are. And if you're in a managerial level, be open to new ideas. Those are what make us BETTER. They are not dangerous. And let's do some RESEARCH guys!!! Get those training brains to work: if you love research, design some ideas. If you hate the idea of research but love training, you've got endless opportunities to train some amazing behaviors. Oh my god, there are so many incredible things you can do. I know a lot of you....so I can only imagine what you guys can do with a little support from your institution.

With a gif like Bill Murray, you know I'm serious.

I've got some cool content coming up, and some interesting forensic-y stuff, too. So this isn't the end of the Middle Flipper, it just needed a breather. Thanks for sticking with me! I heart you guys, no matter if you agree with this blog :). Feel free to reach out to me if you need to talk, whether you're supportive of my opinion or you want to have a mature discussion exploring our different perspectives! from The Middle Flipper http://ift.tt/2punnEc

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