Bleeearrrgghhh social media is the worst. Again.

I’ve previously written about all the reasons I hate social media, and really only use it a) to stay connected with friends and b) try to get my work out there because I draw and write things so other people can enjoy them, not so they can stay hidden away in my hard drive.

A really horrible and stupid experience I had with Instagram a few weeks ago, though, just solidified why social media is more stress than it’s worth 99% of the time.

Before I want to get into that, though, I want to take a minute to explore and explain why social media is so stressful for me. I’m not just complaining to be a complainer. I’m complaining because I’m an introvert and the fast-paced, superficial, quantity-over-quality world of social media is just about the complete opposite of how introverts like to socialize.

So, the starters for Pokemon Winds and Waves have been announced, and I have to say I'm not super impressed. The Grass-type and Water-type look like knockoffs of preexisting Pokemon, and the Fire-type... do we really need another fire puppy?

So to vent my frustration I thought it would be fun to make up totally hypothetical final evolutions for these guys that take their concepts in different directions from previous Pokemon. And I gave them all an Australia and New Zealand theme because I just really want a region based off those two countries.

Moatipu (from "moa" and "tipu", Maori for "plant") is a Grass/Ground type based off the extinct moa of New Zealand. It grows Berries in its feathers which drop to the ground while it walks, dispersing seeds. It can often be seen walking around burned forests dropping Berries--for this reason, it is sometimes called "the parent of the forest".

Thylacleo (from "thylacine" and "leo" but also a play on the extinct Thylacoleo) is a Fire-type based on the extinct thylacine, a.k.a. Tasmanian tiger. While most of its coat is pleasantly warm to the touch, its stripes are white-hot with energy and should be avoided. It races across deserts and grasslands with its flaming tail held aloft like a banner as a form of communication among its kind.

Torrentie (from "torrent" and "perentie") is a Water/Poison-type based off the perentie and monitor lizards in general. The thick portion at the end of its tail is full of venom, and when it swings its tail at enemies, the venom is exuded through the skin through the force of impact.

I'm sure the actual final evolutions won't look anything like this, but one can dream. 

 I honestly felt really bad for traumatizing that poor Chikorita, so I decided to draw a happier moment for it. It's okay, I promise! (And don't worry, Oak gets his due at the end of this chapter.)

You've Mastered the Basics--Now What? Part 3

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Hello and welcome back, dear writer! You may remember that last week, I covered a lot of ground discussing plots and how to handle them. In this final installment, I have a few more things to say on the subject of story construction, and then some other miscellaneous tips for the intermediate-level story writer.

Made-up names

Neopia is a fantasy world, and that’s awesome for making things up. Characters need not have names that correspond to anything found on Earth today—names such as Blarthrox and Kakoni Worrill. And when you’re making up Neopian characters, there’s really no reason why you can’t give them unusual and fun names as well.

However, don’t get carried away and create something unpronounceable or convoluted. Those kinds of names are hard to remember, and if your cast is full of Ybbythriunias and T’lal’ov’kiiys, they’ll be very difficult for a reader to keep straight. It’s a good idea to make a name’s spelling as simple and intuitive as you can manage (for example, “Hildra” instead of “Hylldrah”), and try not to throw in exotic items such as dashes and apostrophes unless they’re a legitimate part of that Neopian’s culture.

 

 One of those things that seems to make sense from a gameplay perspective, but is really difficult to believe from an in-universe perspective.

Maybe that's why Mewtwo in the first movie used a hypnotized Nurse Joy to carry out his bidding--he can't figure out how to do stuff like send letters and open doors and operate cloning machines.

 In the latter half of the 20th century and first few decades of the 21st, for whatever ill-advised reason, there was a trend in a lot of paleoart to reconstruct dinosaurs and pterosaurs with weirdly scant amounts of soft tissue, leading to under-muscled bodies and even being able to see the fenestrae in skulls and other skeletal details that probably were not visible on a healthy living animal.

It's really important to remember that dinosaurs and pterosaurs had muscles and connective tissue and fat and organs just like every other animal. Just because a certain generation grew up seeing dinosaurs a certain way, doesn't mean it's not terribly, terribly wrong. So I drew this very unfortunate Lambeosaurus to remind us all to give our dinosaurs plenty of soft tissue.

I've been reading retro dinosaur books for fun, but I usually just find myself commenting on the artwork out loud to nobody (or my cat if he's around). I'm trying to be patient with the whole "the 20th century didn't know as much about dinosaurs as we do now" thing, but for Pete's sake, treat these creatures like real functioning organisms, not warty toothy movie monsters. 

I still can't get over this truly cursed Deinonychus from one book where not only were the hands all sorts of wrong (and reminded me way too much of aye-aye hands), but the eye was in the wrong fenestra. I was really shocked to see this from an artist who was pretty well-known for his dino art back in the day. If you make an occupation out of drawing dinosaurs, you ought to be familiar enough with them to know which fenestra in theropods is the orbital fenestra. And even if you didn't know that (but you honestly really should know that), spending just a few minutes with some research papers will set the record straight. There's absolutely no excuse for that kind of thing.

(And no, you don't get the excuse that in the 80's, in the pre-Internet days, it was harder to access scientific journals. If you're a professional paleoartist, you owe it to yourself and the world to make sure you're well-stocked with reference material. And, if you're in the 80's, you could totally just call John Ostrom, the man who discovered Deinonychus, and ask him about it because he's still alive.)

Put in the work, people. Taking the time to do your research may take you a few hours or a few days or maybe a week tops. But cringey paleoart will forever stand as a testament to your lack of effort.

... Okay, back to more rage-reading! I have such strange hobbies.

 Earl Dervish is certainly an unforgettable NPC. Just... don't follow him too closely. I get kinda dizzy just reading this one.

 So it either smells like fresh-baked cookies, or old perfume and too many cats.

You've Mastered the Basics--Now What? Part 2

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Welcome back to my guide for intermediate-level Neopian Times story writers! In part 1, we discussed why it’s important to plan ahead, as well as a big ol’ stack of guidelines for getting your prose to read right. Now that we’ve got the technicalities down, let’s start talking about story.

The law of setup and payoff

One of the fundamental tenets of a cohesive, emotionally satisfying story is the law of setup and payoff. It states: Don’t set up for something that doesn’t pay off, and don’t reveal a payoff for something you haven’t adequately set up.

What it means is, plot twists and other events that significantly impact/alter the plot are great—but you can’t suddenly introduce something drastic that doesn’t tie in with the story at any other point beforehand, and you can’t act like you’re building up to something that never happens.

 I dunno. One day I was drawing an RTG and this popped into my head and I just had to draw it.

The 70's was a groovy time for space exploration, man.

(I draw a shocking number of RTGs. Such is the life of a space geek artist.)

The line between supporting your kid growing up and just plain kicking them out can be blurry sometimes.

An Argument for the Chinese Dragon Taking Inspiration from Sauropod Fossils

As one of those insufferable people with an interest in both paleontology and world mythology, I'm fascinated by the origins of mythical creatures, and I really believe fossil finds inspired or at least fueled monster legends around the world. I got to reading about the origins of the Chinese dragon and realized that it actually has quite a bit in common with sauropods. I decided to write an essay elaborating on this and breaking down a Han Dynasty scholar's account of folk descriptions of dragons to show some possible similarities with sauropod skeletons.

It's okay if you think I'm full of beans. All this is just wild conjecture. Maybe someday we'll find some good evidence one way or the other.

An Argument for the Chinese Dragon Taking Inspiration from Sauropod Fossils

The Chinese dragon 龍 long is an unusual mythological creature that does not appear to be a clear chimera of extant animals in the manner of other mythical beasts such as the gryphon (lion and eagle), the cockatrice (snake and rooster) or Makara (deer or elephant and fish or dolphin). The form of the long was solidified very early in Chinese history and has not deviated from the base ancient design in over 7000 years.

This remarkable consistency in describing and depicting the long from a very ancient date, coupled with the presence of sauropod remains throughout China, makes it plausible that the Chinese concept of the dragon was heavily influenced by ancient discoveries of articulated sauropod remains. Some of the oldest descriptions of long incorporate multiple features that fit sauropod skeletal anatomy, further lending support to this idea.

 

 Ever notice how the player characters' moms are just totally fine (eager, even) with their 10-year-old going off on their own in a world full of dangerous creatures? Okay, Mom, I get it, you want to be an empty-nester while you're still in your 30's.

 I made this graphic for my Redbubble store, simply because every time I hear the name Sarkastodon this is where my mind goes. Non-Ice-Age prehistoric mammals need more love anyway. Pop culture keeps forgetting that there are 61 million years of really interesting evolution between dinosaurs and the Pleistocene. 

I also wanted to render a prehistoric carnivorous mammal with a little bit more of a unique color scheme than I usually see. So much paleoart tends to make extinct carnivores either look like leopards or like tigers, but there are a lot of other coat colors and patterns a mammal can have.

I'm probably the only one who thinks this is funny, I know.

 The other day I was reading about a group of birds called the jacanas, at least one species of which (the comb-crested jacana) has a really interesting parenting behavior--if the male, who is primarily responsible for raising the chicks, thinks his brood is in danger, he scoops them up under his arms and runs away carrying them. If you see a jacana doing this, it looks utterly bizarre until you realize what's going on.

So, naturally, my next thought was that it would be great to see a dinosaur doing this. Here's Struthiomimus being a good dad and carrying his brood to safety.

I'd like to point out that even though some dinosaurs appeared to have been born precocial, or able to move and feed themselves right after hatching, that does not imply no parental care in the species. Many modern species are born precocial simply because their parents are always on the move and the babies need to get going ASAP, but they still receive plenty of upbringing. Consider nomadic herbivores like horses and giraffes, whose babies can walk within hours after birth but still spend considerable time being raised by Mom. So it's a mistake to find fully-developed dinosaur hatchlings and assume they were abandoned, sea-turtle style.

(I'd also like to point out that the closest modern relatives of dinosaurs - crocodilians and birds - both exhibit extensive parental care before and after hatching. There is no reason to think dinosaurs stupidly plodded away from their clutches and had no instinct for rearing the next generation.)

Dinosaur paleoartists, study bird behavior. You'll be glad you did.

 Yet another victim of the mad Professor.

(I just thought it would be funny to drastically alter the tone of this scene in the game in light of Oak's comic characterization.)

You've Mastered the Basics--Now What? Part 1

An entry from my Neopian Times work that isn't fanfiction? Yes, but hear me out. I wrote a few articles for the Times over the years, and I wanted to share this one in particular because, despite the Neopets theme, it's full of good solid general fiction writing advice that I thought might be of use to people. I didn't want all these useful tips simply wasting away in the depths of the NT archives. So I'm putting this article here on my blog where it can be accessed and referenced by a much wider audience.

I got the idea for this article when I was reading back issues of the Times and noticed a lot of articles aimed at beginning fiction writers looking to get published in the NT for the first time. The articles covered things like making sure you have good spelling and grammar, understanding basic plot structure, and trying to be original with your stories and characters. 

And while it was wonderful to see so many authors writing articles to help people just starting out with their writing, a part of me worried a little about new NT writers learning the barebones basics of fiction writing and stopping there. That's like learning how to make boxed macaroni and cheese and deciding you don't need any other cooking skills. Just like with all skills, there is always room for improvement in writing. I wanted to inspire and encourage writers to take their NT fiction beyond just good spelling and following the publication guidelines, and craft stories that readers would find truly memorable and engrossing.

So, I decided to put together this guide that goes past the basics and takes some deep dives into prose technicalities, story construction, and how to conduct your writing life. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope it helps people both with their Neopian Times writing and their fiction writing in general. 

The article ended up being so long that I had to split it into three parts to fit the NT's maximum word count limit, but the editor graciously understood what I was doing when I submitted the parts and published them sequentially. I'm keeping the three-part format here because I think it'll be a little more digestible than one massive textwall (not that I have a history of eschewing textwalls.......).

(Also, the illustration is something I drew for another Neopian Times article. I thought it turned out really cute so I figured I might as well use it here.)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

If you want to start writing stories for the Neopian Times, there are a ton of great guides for beginning writers in the many past issues of Neopia’s spectacular user-content newspaper. Fiction writing is not an endeavor to be taken lightly, and many NT writers have graciously passed on their knowledge and their experience on the subject to those who have never written a story before, or perhaps keep getting their stories rejected and want to figure out why.

But let’s say you’ve got all of that down. You have multiple golden quills to your username. You know that plots need to have a beginning, middle, and end. You understand why stereotyping Neopet species is problematic. You’ve memorised what is and isn’t allowed in the Times. And you’re ready to take your writing to the next level.

Then this series of articles is for you. I make no claim to being a spectacular writer—but I have been writing fiction for a fairly long time, have accumulated a lot of know-how from various sources over the years, and even get paid for it sometimes in real life, so I like to think I know what I’m doing for the most part. And now I want to share with Neopia some intermediate-level writing tips and guidelines, to help others give their short stories and story series even more life and impact.

 

 Doodled out some ideas for a sequel to Ravenscrag. It would take place about a year after the first novel, and I was toying with the idea of the narrative starting with Tam's high school graduation (and then she irresponsibly decides to spend her summer in a fantasy world instead of prep for college). Carrie and Saturos would attend the graduation, and by that point, they've figured out a shapeshifting spell so Saturos can assume human form and do stuff on Earth with Carrie's family without, y'know, causing mass panic because of his real appearance. So of course I also had to draw Carrie as an oncor.

(As a random aside, Saturos is a tall creature compared to humans--probably about 7 feet tall or so. That's why one of the first things Carrie and Tam notice about Arthabasca is that all the furniture and architecture are weirdly scaled up from what they're used to. But I kind of imagine that Saturos is actually on the short side for an oncor--it's just that with him being the last of his kind for the past tens of thousands of years, there haven't been any oncor to compare him to, so he seems tall by most other creatures' standards.)

Also some design sketches for Nayzak, who is a supremely fun entity to write. Nayzak (whose name is the Arabic word for "meteor") is a sapient space probe built by an unknown (and implicitly extraordinarily ancient) civilization. At some point in its interstellar journey, its programming went awry and it started to believe that in order to most efficiently carry out its directive to gather information on the universe, it needed to dismantle planets and use their raw materials to create copies of itself. In fact, it's totally unknown whether this Nayzak is even the original construct or a copy, as all Nayzaks appear to act as a hive mind and share information.

Nayzak's actions and its effect on the history of Arthabasca play a pivotal role in Ravenscrag; in the sequel, Nayzak is out wandering the stars again (benevolently this time), but it has left a fragment of itself with Saturos in order to stay in contact with him. That fragment bonds with Travis, Carrie's awkward ex from the first novel, who has accidentally found his way into Arthabasca and finds himself accompanying Carrie, Saturos and Tam on a real adventure that makes his D&D campaigns pale in comparison.

Anyway, not sure when I'm going to get around to writing this, but these were fun to draw.

 I just always found it really weird that no matter what time of day it is, that guy's under that Berry tree claiming he's waiting for Pokémon that only appear at a different time of day. It's like he's desperately trying to cover up the fact that he has nowhere else to go.

 My 3-year-old niece has been wandering around the house saying "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble", so I thought it would be great if we could get her to quote even more Shakespeare.

I also had to include her family's cat, because, always cats.

 That poor Chikorita's seen some things. 

 Way to make a Pokémon journey seem completely unappealing, Oak.

Thoroughly Mopey Millie

 (I have to admit that I don't actually remember exactly when I wrote this story. Unfortunately when I got a new PC in 2020 and transferred all my files over, for some reason, all of my Word documents obtained the date they were brought to the new PC as their "Created On" date, so I have no reliable way to definitively date any pre-2020 stuff besides my memory, blog posts, and in the case of stuff that got into the Neopian Times, the year in which it was published in the NT. But I'm reasonably certain I wrote this shortly after Return to Lynwood in 2017, so I'm going with that unless I find evidence to the contrary.)

As I worked on Return to Lynwood, I had so much fun writing the Browning family that I really wanted to do more with them. Millie was a grey Ogrin out of sheer happenstance - I'd randomly selected the species and colour of all the family members as neither trait would be important to the plot - but I found I wanted to explore more of what being grey (and mature for one's age) might mean for a tween dealing with increasing social complexity among her peers.

In canon, grey Neopets are generally depicted as rather depressed and morose, but I wanted to try a different take on grey-ness--Millie's personality suggests that grey Neopets are just quieter, more thoughtful, and less emotive than the norm. Her levelheaded demeanor helps to balance out her rambunctious younger brothers, at any rate.

Also, I was a lot like Millie when I was her age; I was quiet, bookish, reserved, and on a totally different wavelength than the other preteen girls around me who always seemed to be screaming about something. I wanted to write a story validating quiet, brainy kids, and help them see that the things the other kids currently don't understand about them are actually strengths that they'll be respected for someday. (Just don't expect to be respected for anything until college. Adolescence is an absolutely insane time for everybody. Just grit your teeth and get through it.)

To be honest, this got rejected from the Neopian Times and I never bothered to re-submit it; I suspect it got rejected because the general plotline isn't all that unique (main character feels like an oddball in her peer group and then wins acceptance). But I'm still fond of the story, I think it has important things to say, and I just really enjoy writing the Brownings as a cute little Edwardian family living somewhat normal lives in the midst of ghosts and curses.

(Also, Frances and Eldritch the Gremble show up in future stories, so I thought it important to include their debut in the corpus. Grembles are kind of a running joke in my Neopets work for some reason.)

Millicent Browning was not going to boarding school.

“Absolutely not,” Mother had assured her the first morning of summer holiday, after Millie had been promoted from primary school, as the family was sat at breakfast. “They’re horrid places full of cliques and gossip and mean-spirited pranks. I wouldn’t wish one on any of my children, even if we could afford it.” Mother was a beautiful red Kougra lady who seemed to have a natural grace about her. She also wore a necklace of fangs given to her by the Werelupes, for helping them on an adventure. Truly she was not a woman to be trifled with.

 Yeah, with Oak's characterization in this comic, I don't think he wants to make a Pokedex just to collect information on Pokémon.

 You say "K-Pg extinction" and this is just where my mind goes.

 I had a lot of fun taking Oak's actual in-game dialogue at this point in the game, and building a more unhinged narrative around it.

... I might need new hobbies.

As a malevolent eldritch entity, Oak has resorted to seeking out new Pokémon Trainers and trying to convince them to give him their tasty Pokémon. If you're just starting out on your Pokémon journey, be warned.

Also, Oak can't pass through a doorway unless you invite him in.

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 19

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

“Those of you staying in the Haunted Woods, I ask that you return this loot to the towns you stole it from,” Isengrim said, looking around at the piles of ill-gotten goods. “To the best of your recollection, anyhow, and without anyone seeing you. Let Lynwood lie in its memories, and go back to your old territories.”

He folded his arms behind his back. “Those of you who would like to join my pack, step forward now.”

A surprising number of Werelupes, over half of Vakhtang’s forces, moved closer to Isengrim, including the two patrollers, and the pair that had accompanied Vakhtang in the woods the day that Isengrim had first met him. Some wore uncertain looks, but they all seemed to believe that this was the right choice for them.

Isengrim’s eyes widened. While he knew he could be charismatic when he wanted to, he wasn’t expecting to have quite this kind of clout. Instinctively, he glanced down at Terra. She gave him a confident grin and squeezed his paw.

 His heart swelled. Perhaps he really was not just a Werelupe King, but the one and true Werelupe King, the only one capable of ruling his kind with fairness, compassion, and order. Neopets like Vakhtang, who used a claim to kingship as an excuse to simply amass power and control others, could never be rightful rulers.

 I mean really, all I can think about is the utter weirdness of this mysterious old guy showing up in a white void in your dreams, and then the next day you go to run an errand and there he is. #ReadingWayTooMuchIntoThis

 No offense, Youngster, but if you're battling it out with a level 4 Rattata on one of the earliest routes in the game, I'm not sure too much is at stake. Maybe lunch money or a few marbles at the most.

 They grow up so fast these days, don't they? One day they're hatching from an Egg, and the next, you've used a Water Stone on them and they're off to college.

 I've always loved marine biology, and the weirder ocean life is, the cooler it is, in my opinion. Deep-sea fish have some amazing adaptations for their environment that make them look like some of the most alien things on the planet, and I'm not sure science fiction could ever have come up with a concept as strange and wonderful as the barreleye fish (which you may be familiar with if you play Animal Crossing).

One of my goals with my Redbubble store is to give more love and merch to species both extinct and extant that aren't as well-represented in general culture, but are beloved by science nerds. If you search "dinosaurs" on Redbubble, you'll probably get about a million designs featuring T. rex or Velociraptor or Stegosaurus. But what about people who love Scutellosaurus? What about people like my friend Maggie Jo Widdicombe who are over the moon for Pachyrhinosaurus? Nature is so varied and amazing in all its facets--I think we should be celebrating all of it, not just the species that have made their way into the common vernacular.

So I'm spreading the love for the barreleye, the most optimistic creature in the sea!

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 18

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

“Search every corner of these quarters!” Isengrim barked as two of his packmates hacked down the door. “I want Vakhtang found!”

The sounds of fighting in the hallway rang in his ears as he and his thanes pushed into the headmistress’s old rooms, another contingent of Werelupes covering them from behind. As Isengrim thought, most of Vakhtang’s pack hadn’t been difficult to convince, but there was still some resistance.

But perhaps, Isengrim thought as he and his squadron fanned out to start searching, as soon as they dragged the false king out of his nest, the others would surrender.

 

 Having Pokémon with you would honestly make the DMV more bearable.

 I drew this graphic for my Redbubble store, because I thought it would be a funny visual pun. Albertosaurus's species name really is sarcophagus (which literally means "eater of flesh", so it's fitting for a theropod), so I couldn't resist the wordplay. (I know what is depicted here is a funerary mask and not an an actual sarcophagus, but Tutankhamun's funerary mask is what most people immediately think of when they think Egyptian mummies.)

The lettering is based off demotic, the everyday script of ancient Egypt that arose in the mid-first-millennium BC. Which, yes, is anachronistic because Tutankhamun dates from about 800 years earlier, but demotic was a more intuitive script for me to work off than hieratic, which is based on hieroglyphic. 

(Just wanted to cover all my bases for any Egyptologists out there. Apologies for going into pedantic detail about a silly doodle.)

T.K. Arispe and the Overused Middle-Grade Fantasy Clichés

I’m not really sure what got me on this subject. Maybe I’ve just randomly been thinking about the middle-grade books of my youth. Maybe it’s stemmed from seeing what my niece has been reading these days.

Regardless, lately I’ve been pondering the weird world of middle-grade fantasy fiction and thinking about what ultimately turned me off the whole thing when I was a kid, and what I’ve been trying to do differently in my writing which is why publishers don’t like me (which is fine).

This essay is one part rant, one part literary analysis, one part a deep-dive retrospective on Harry Potter. I dunno. Personal blogs are for odd stuff like this.

 

 I'm not really sure how many people are actually interested in my My Little Pony doodles... but I had fun with this one. I know I'm not the best pony artist out there and I'm in awe of people who are actually good at drawing ponies. But I've just been having a lot of fun with this fic I've been working on and I thought this concept sketch didn't turn out half bad. I know probably nobody is interested in this sort of thing, but I guess I just didn't want to leave this floating around on my tablet hard drive. 

If you couldn't care less about cartoon doodles and just want to see paleoart, I advise that you just click that handy "Paleoart" link on the top navbar and it will just show you everything tagged as paleoart. But hey, I'm interested in other stuff too. I love paleontology but it's not my entire life.

At any rate, here's mirrorverse Emperor Sombra without his armor. After absorbing the evil from Mirror-Celestia and Mirror-Luna so they would turn good, Mirror-Sombra became an even bigger and badder Big Bad than regular Sombra, turning his Crystal Empire into a desolate wasteland overrun by umbrum oppressing their pony underlings, and heightening his dark powers until he has started to look downright demonic. Now the emperor and his evil forces are locked in war with Mirror-Celestia and Mirror-Luna, and neither side can manage to gain the upper ground... but all Mirror-Sombra cares is that regular Celestia is safe.

Except, she decides to return to the mirrorverse and save Mirror-Sombra from himself because she misses him too much. Friendship is magic!!!!

With this design for evil!Mirror-Sombra, I tried to really distinguish him from regular Sombra to show how much more power he's accrued (which is also evidenced by his title of emperor rather than king). It was also crucial, story-wise, that he look significantly different from regular Sombra, because a reformed regular Sombra accompanies Celestia to the mirrorverse, and it would have introduced too many complications to the plot if he'd gotten mistaken for Emperor Sombra. (Which, yes, in itself would have been interesting, but I felt it would have unduly shifted the focus away from the main thrust of the plot which is Celestia trying to help Mirror-Sombra find a different solution to their multiverse dilemma.)

 That guy on Route 29 who's just always hanging out under that Berry tree.

Always.

 I apologize if this scares anyone... but it sure was fun to put together. I didn't realize Pokémon was a jumpscare game! (Honestly, sometimes random encounters can be kind of startling!)

 If you can't tell, that's supposed to be a Mega Ring and a Mega Stone.

I imagine all these crazy battle gimmicks that keep being introduced in later generations would make no sense to characters in the universe of the earlier games. Those were simpler times.

 Yeah, so by this point the whole "Professor Oak is an insane supernatural creature" thing is firmly embedded in comic lore. So much so that I was able to use it to add a new, unhinged layer to the originally simple narrative of a kid getting her first Pokémon to run an errand for a neighbor.

Because that's what comics riffing on video games are all about.

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 17

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

The heavy doors slammed open with such force that the walls shook and dust sifted from the windowsills. The entry hall was dark, lit only by weak shafts of daylight from the windows. But that was more than enough for Werelupes to see by.

This place did look vaguely familiar, Suhel thought as dust tickled her nose and made her cough again, her sore ribs protesting. She did sort of remember coming through those doors as a girl, and back then the hall was filled with other students gossiping and teasing each other. Now it was dark and silent.

“Watch your step,” Isengrim said. Suhel saw why—parts of the floor had given way, both here and on the storey above them. Although the exterior of the building had held up well through the years, it seemed some of the wooden floorboards had begun to rot.

Several pairs of eyes suddenly caught the dim light, and a chorus of growls rose around them. “Hold!” a Werelupe barked, lifting her sword as she stalked toward the group. “No one enters without King Vakhtang’s approval!”

Isengrim looked around at their welcoming party. “Last I checked,” he said, “Vakhtang did not own this place, and he’s got no control over you, either. Why don’t we put an end to his silly charade?”

The female seemed to ponder his words, then her muzzle wrinkled and she bared her fangs. “Get them!” she said to the others before turning and running up the large staircase at the far end of the hall. “Intruders!” she bayed. “King Vakhtang! We’re under attack!”

 

 I wonder if Mr. Pokémon has an army of tiny creatures with flowers on their heads that he uses to find his "discoveries"? :)

 Today on Fossil Friday, Maggie Jo gave a great presentation on crocodilians, and we were talking about how cool it is that alligators sometimes balance sticks on their snouts to lure in birds. Ashley said the gators are probably thinking "Shhhh... I'm a log", and I just thought that was so cute that I asked her if I could make a graphic of it. Gators need more love!

This behavior also speaks to just how smart crocodilians are, because using something as a lure definitely counts as tool use. Don't count out the ectotherms! They'll surprise you.

 Yes, that is a Pikmin reference! I just thought it would be hilarious if Mr. Pokémon kept calling Elm about very mundane "discoveries".

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 16

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

Lynwood itself was very much like how Suhel remembered it, a drab block of an educational institution with no thought given to aesthetics or individuality. Just like how its teachers tried to mold their pupils into lifeless copies of each other to join the great dull mass of society, she thought. The building had stood the test of time quite well, as it was intact, albeit with the windows boarded, missing shingles, and vines crawling up the stone walls. Again, though, things decayed slower in the Haunted Woods.

But now the place was crawling with Werelupes. Several pairs patrolled the lawn, which was dotted with firepits and stacks of probably stolen goods. The boards on many of the windows had been broken, and there was no lock on the large front doors—but each of them sported a large V etched with claws.

“Bites and curses,” Isengrim hissed. “Of course Vakhtang would need a home base. And of course it would have to be Lynwood.”

 

 To be honest, Elm is kinda me when I'm hyperfocused on something. (But without the smell.)

 I wanted to characterize Professor Elm as also eccentric... but in a different, more benign way than Oak. But still eccentric.

 I designed a qilin gargoyle a few years back, but I was never quite satisfied with her; the proportions were off, plus I accidentally used the wrong brush for the line art and it just didn't look quite right. I've recently acquired some free time, though, so I thought I'd put it to good use redrawing her. I'm happier with this version. Qilin manes are so fun to render.

 A few months ago on Virtual Fossil Friday, we got an awesome Zoom tour of the Whiteside Museum of Natural History, located in the Permian Red Beds of western Texas. I got to learn more about Dimetrodon than I ever knew I wanted to know, and I came away really wanting to make this graphic for my merch. My dad is from Texas, and I'm proud of the Lone Star State being home to the largest species of Dimetrodon, D. grandis. They really do make them bigger in Texas!

I find drawing Dimetrodon a fun challenge, because it's not just a big lizard with a sail on its back--it's a basal synapsid, a cousin to mammals. Synapsids aren't even reptiles; they're a totally different branch of amniotes. That's why I feel it's important to portray them as something fundamentally different than reptiles despite the superficial similarities. These creatures were on their way to becoming mammals and their life reconstructions need to reflect that.

 Ever notice how the player character almost always starts off in their bedroom? Proof positive that the whole "introduction to the Pokemon world" thing is really a nightmare.

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 15

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

Suhel hated getting sick. But this was a sickness like nothing she had ever before experienced. It not only lingered, but got steadily worse, until she felt like a mere husk of the mighty Werelupe she once had been. It frustrated and scared her to no end, especially because they still had a journey ahead of them.

The trip to Lynwood would take four days, accounting for the circuitous route Isengrim led his party on to try to avoid Vakhtang’s territory as much as possible. While the rust-furred Werelupe claimed he was king of the entire Haunted Woods, he seemed to – for the time being – concentrate mostly on the northern, more populated regions.

Lynwood was really only a day or so away from Barrowmere, less for a Werelupe travelling at a brisk pace, but Suhel knew Isengrim wanted to find the staff first, and she and Lexora didn’t think their condition would worsen all that quickly. But it seemed as though ever since they started heading toward Lynwood, their health had gone even more downhill. It hurt to breathe now. Every morning Suhel struggled to open her eyes and force herself to get up. She had to conserve her words, because nearly every time she spoke she would end up coughing. By the end of the first day, she had already resorted to having to ride on Gwyneth.

Lexora was worse along. The Kougra was so weak that she did not even have the energy to stay propped up on Gwyneth, and Suhel was glad to ride so she could keep hold of her friend. Lexora’s breathing was labored and she spent much of the time sleeping—except when her coughing woke her up.

No one said anything anymore about this being a fun adventure. The others tried to keep Suhel’s and Lexora’s spirits up, but for the most part the hours were long and silent as they trudged through the forest, their thoughts concentrated on the curse and how to break it. The lozenges were gone, and the tea was running low. The chilling fear began to sneak into Suhel’s thoughts that they might not make it to Lynwood at this rate.

 

 Maybe in the games, when Oak's intro sprite starts fading into white, it's actually because you're just trying to get away from him as fast as possible.

 Okay, time for Oak to take a sabbatical.

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 14

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

As Isengrim set Terra down, Pharazon spread out his arms to ward the others away, before stepping toward the staff. “Everybody stay back,” he said. “I don’t know what this thing’s capable of.”

Suhel’s ears were flat against her skull. “Pharazon, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked. She hovered near the edge of the group, but a squeeze of her paw from Lexora seemed to keep the Werelupe from bolting.

“Either I take it,” Pharazon said, “or someone else does. I know what risk I like better.” He crouched down, stretched out a hand to the staff, took in a deep breath, and grabbed it.

 

 There are some questions science shouldn't try to answer.

 Life's been kind of crazy and stressful and weird, and I haven't had many opportunities to do more sketching at the Idaho Museum of Natural History, but today I managed to get over there to see my buddies from Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument who were paying the museum a visit. They brought some fascinating Pliocene-era fossil casts, and I decided to try giving mammals another go because I don't feel good at drawing them.

Today the Borophagus skull stood out to me, so I decided to try a reconstruction. Borophagines, also known as bone-crushing dogs, are usually portrayed as pretty nasty critters, but their skulls were actually really cute. They had slightly upturned snouts that would have given them shorter-looking muzzles than most modern canids, almost like something trying to be a bulldog. It was fun to portray one looking not ferocious for once.

 I'd been wanting to make this graphic for a long time, and I finally was able to get around to it during a rare lull in scientists throwing ideas at me. :)

I know there's a lot of controversy surrounding the whole Pluto "demotion" thing, and I personally don't feel like the IAU's case was watertight*, but in the grand scheme of things, we should really stop and ask ourselves: is it a big deal? Dwarf planets are still amazingly incredible places no matter what humans decide to call them. So what if the IAU categorizes things into tidy little boxes with emotionally weighted labels? That doesn't prevent us from studying them, exploring them, and loving them.

So I made this graphic to encourage people to stop thinking of dwarf planets as somehow inferior to major planets. Dwarf planets are wonderful in their own special way. I think we'd all be better off spending less energy being angry about something inconsequential, and more energy finding ways to enjoy life.

My friend Chris Lintott is going to give a lecture on this very subject in a few weeks, so stop by (or watch the YouTube recording later) for what I'm sure will be a very elucidating take on the subject. Chris is a fantastic example of a well-grounded astronomer, which is a great oxymoron to be.

*Among other issues with the current definition of the term "planet", I'm not convinced by the argument that we need to keep the number of "real" planets in the solar system low so they're easy to memorize. Students are required to memorize much larger sets of data in most curricula--think about how many characters Chinese and Japanese students have to memorize just to be considered basically literate in their languages. US students have to memorize all 50 states and (theoretically) all the capitals. And who could ever forget those long hours spent with multiplication or periodic table flashcards?

Plus, just because a large set of something exists, doesn't necessarily mean you need to memorize all of the items in the set. When I was in school, part of the curriculum was learning the counties of California. California has 58 counties. We were not required to fully memorize all of them, but we were expected to remember at least 5. (I feel bad for students in Texas, which has 254 counties. Yeah.)

If I were designing an introductory astronomy curriculum, I'd require my students to memorize all the major solar system planets in order as well as their largest moons, and a handful of the more notable dwarf planets. Anything more than that would be unnecessary, but I would encourage them to keep learning about the solar system on their own time.

I'm not fond of taking actions that dumb down education. The human brain is capable of so much. Learning should be about stretching and enlarging your brain's capabilities, not checking off boxes.