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fgodump · 4 years

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Connections to “The Poppy War”

The setting and characters to The Poppy War has derived a lot of inspiration from historical events and myths alike. This is meant to discuss which characters have a relation to those preexisting. Of course, you do not need to know this information to enjoy the books, but I think knowing them will elevate your reading experience. None of this information is official. This is just the conclusions I came to while reading. Feel free to make comments

MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS

Locations

Nikara: Qing Dynasty.

Mugen: Japan (Meiji Period)

Hesperia: Britain

The Hinterlands: Mongolia (unsure)

Murui: Yellow River

Tianshan: Kunlun

The different provinces were based off the Chinese Zodiac

The Poppy Wars: the Opium wars, as they have the heavy involvement of foreign invaders

Fang Runin: Rin’s character does not seem to take from a specific person, however the wiki stats that she was inspired by multiple people, such as Azula from ATLA and Mao Zedong

Chen Kitay: It's pretty obvious his character is inspired by Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three kingdoms. In actual history, he wasn't that much, but in the book, Zhuge was a monster at strategy.

In the first book, Irjah proposes a question, which Kitay replies “to bait the enemy into giving them arrows by rolling out a boat of strawmen”. This is something that Zhuge did as well.

Sring Venka: Honestly I'm blanking on Venka. I think perhaps Venka isnt supposed to represent a character at all, but instead all the comfort women and victims of the Rape of Nanking, based on what happened to her during Golyn niis.

Yang Souji: He and his group the “Iron Wolves” remind me so much of the Shinsengumi. He even shares a name with Okita Souji, the captain of the first unit.

The Shinsungumi were also nicknamed “The wolves of Mibu”

I know the glaring problem with this is that the Shisungumi are Japanese, and should have been Mugini in this book, but I think these parallels are pretty cool in any case.

Chiang Moag- Ching Shih. Woah, as soon as I heard Lady Pirate, it was undeniable who Moag is. Ching Shih, the most famous pirate in China perhaps, and she was a woman.

Their backstories share similarities too. Ching shih was a prostitute, just like rumors around Moag.

The Cike: During the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Zetian (China’s only female emperor) had a secret police force that assassinated everyone she needed. This sounds incredibly similar to the way Daji used the Cike.

Altan Trengsin: I believe that Altan is like Rin; either an amalgamation of many characters or simply someone Kuang made for the sake of the story.

Ramsa: I believe him to be Nikara’s representation of the creation of fireworks. Not based off a person, but instead one of the Four great inventions of China. Or maybe I’m looking too far into it lol, since he doesn't strike me as being inspired from a myth, since he is not a shaman

Baji: Zhu Bajie of Journey to the West. Based on his description and his name, I had him guessed before they even said anything about pig.

His weapon is even the same as Bajie’s, a nine-toothed rake.

He also shares his desires, both of them being lusty for beautiful women

Suni: Sun Wukong. I had him guessed by his name as well. Although I believe the connection to be true, I cannot help but feel disappointed that the avatar of Sun Wukong was killed off so easily

The traits that these two characters share are pretty different, much more different than Baji had Bajie.

For one, Suni is generally calm when he is not being taken over by his god, and is pretty gentle and nice actually. This is very unlike Sun Wukong, and also the reason why I think Suni was a bad body for Wukong to take over, since I think their desires do not match up like Rin and Phoenix

Aratasha: The last in the trio, Sha Wujing. I was confused at first, since Aratasha is no fighter, but I realized his name sounds incredibly similar to Sha Wujing. Wujing was a sand river demon in JTTW, so I don’t think it was a stretch to believe that Aratasha was based off of him (his god is a river god, after all)

Plus, Aratasha died before Baji and Suni did. Wujing in JTTW was weaker than both of his companions.

Chaghan and Qara Suren: This may be a stretch, but I think Chaghan was inspired from Genghis khan. Gengis Kahn united the Mongols, like Chaghan united the Ketreids and Naimads. Even though the time period would be centuries apart (Genghis 1206, Qing Dynasty 1644-1912), it is the most likely option. It is unrecorded whether Gengis had any sisters, so I believe that Qara was made for the sake of plot (anchor).

Yin Family: The entire Yin family was taken from the story of Nezha. You can read more about the original story by searching his name in Wikipedia. R F Kuang kept a lot of things from the original tale, and these notes are what I have noticed

Yin Vaisra- Li Jing. Li Jing was also a great general, and in other stories, he was the head general in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Army. If you know about “Journey to the West”, it was him who attempted to subdue Sun Wukong.

Yin Saikhara- Lady Yin

*its interesting how Kuang decided to make the mother’s name the family name for the Yins. Originally, I would have thought it was Li instead.

Muzha and Jinzha’s name were lifted directly from the source material

Mingzha is a character Kuang added, for Li Jing only had three sons (or 2 sons and a daughter in this case). There is no source material for how Muzha and Jinzha’s characters are; even in adaptations we rarely get to see any exploration of them.

Yin Nezha- Nezha:

Yin Nezha, like his original counterpart, was the third child of his father. Since Muzha was changed to a female, he is actually the second son.

He has the powers of the Dragon of the Western river (TBG 392), likely referring to the White Dragon in myths, who is the dragon ruler of the western sea.

Like the Nezha in the myth, Yin Nezha had an occurrence with a dragon that changed his life.

At the first battle between Nezha and Rin in TBG, it is stated he wears golden rings around his wrists and ankles. Guanyin bodhisattva did this to Nezha in Journey to the West, in order to placate him.

The Trifecta: All of the figures in the Trifecta were based on the Fengshen Yanyi (AKA the Investire of the Gods).

Jiang Ziya: His name was directly taken from the novel.

Su Daji: Her name was directly taken from the novel, as well as some of her penchants for murder. Daji, in both history and the novel, was infamous for her torture methods.

Jingzha being delivered back to his father in a dumpling holder would qualify as a toruture method. I applaud Kaung for being creative.

Yin Riga: I do not know if Riga is meant to be King Zhou or Ji Fa (the man who overthrew Zhou). Perhaps he was inspired by both of them, or neither.

Since Kuang did not go into depth into which gods were in the pantheon, I will make a list to who I think is there

Gods mentioned in the books:

Erlang Shen

Sanshengmu

Sun Wukong *implied through Suni

Zhu Bajie *implied through Baji

Huxian *implied through Unegen, and also Daji

Phoenix

Nuwa

Fuxi

The Four Dragon Kings (Yin Riga was likely the Dragon of the East) *There is no confirmation that there are multiple dragons, but I believe it was strongly implied

Chang’e

Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West

Zhenniao *implied through Pipaji

The Four Guardians (Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise) *implied through Dulin, who summoned the Black Tortoise

Wong Tai sen *implied through Lianhua (Actually I am not sure, but I could not think of any other healer god in Chinese myths)

Gods not mentioned but I believe are in the Pantheon:

Yudi: Usually depicted as the husband of Xiwangmu

Hou Yi (Since Chang’e is there. However, there is a possibility that he is in Chuulu Korikh as punishment for killing the sons of Yudi)

Shennong: He exists between Nuwa and Fuxi as the “human”

The Eight Deities

Guanyin: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Yanwang: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Other tidbits:

Arlong’s name may have been the combination of “Azure” and the chinese word for dragon “Long”.

Aquebus are guns, but they shoot very slow. This aint a AK 47

The Red emperor could have been based off of Qin Shi Huang, or even the Jade Emperor himself.

Chuulu Korikh’s origin, although explained, has ties in Chinese myths. It was the mountain that encased Sun Wukong before he was broken out by Xuanzang. This means that the mountain was put there by the big B, Buddha. (Actually I can't remember if Kuang said who put the mountain down, but if she didnt specify this is what I think happened)

I am more familiar with Chinese history and myths, rather than Japanese ones, so if im missing something feel free to correct

#i finished all of them within 24 hours #im shaking #i wrote this right afater the last page of the burning god #holy shitttttttt #the poppy war #the dragon republic #the burning god #fang rin #nezha #fang runin #books #literature #yin nezha #chen kitay #tpw

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thetruthaboutlovecomesat3am · 5 years

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Can you please share your Avalance headcanons? Like in your fic, Sara makes Ava coffee, and Ava likes to cradle Sara's face in her hands and look in her eyes. Also, I wanted to say I had the exact thought about their whip skill date night. I personally can't see thm using whips on each other, they're just a bunch of softies.

You are absolutely correct, they are softies and nobody can convince me otherwise, idk about the whips ‘cause I usually don’t venture into sex-related headcanons, but Indiana Jones themed date? They absolutely have done that.

So, headcanons:

1. “Date night” is just them traveling through time. It started with the Pirates and then of course Gengis Khan and then it never really stopped. They visit places and times they choose randomly and 85% of the time it ends with them either making out where they shouldn’t or almost getting arrested by the local law enforcement.

2. Sara moves in (officially moves in, all of her stuff is finally actually there and she comes home every night to sleep in their home) on a random Tuesday. She is on the Waverider and looks around: Mick is writing and doesn’t mind that everyone can see him do it, Charlie and Zari are watching tv, Ray and Nate are playing cards to save the timeline and John is trying to figure out how to help Mona control her shifting. The kids don’t need the constant supervision anymore. Not while they’re asleep anyway. So Gideon is left under strict instructions not to operate the Waverider until Sara is back on board and she just knows it’s time to actually do it, like Ava said.

3. Ava has met approximately 95% of the arrowverse character at some point, saved the lives of all of them, and more than once actually got them out of major trouble. None of them remember Ava Sharpe. Ava Sharpe remembers all of them and every single insufferable problem they’ve caused her.

4. They slow dance really often in their apartment with the lights down low and the cutests love songs playing in the back. “Safety Dance” by Sleeping at Last is one of the evergreens. On the contrary, they almost never dance in public ever since the Tango Disaster.

5. They call their first daughter Laurel. Of course they do. Laurel Sharpe-Lance is one year old when Ava finds a loophole and brings Laurel Lance back to life. It becomes confusing for a while, until they decide they’re just going to call the baby Lily (it’s a weird diminutive? Yes. But it works, so they just go with it).

I have probably a million more but for now this is all I could think about!

#avalance #LoT #legends of tomorrow #ava sharpe x sara lance #headcanons

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bookdragonlibrary · 5 years

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Third Friday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Evolution

- From how she pronounces Cassandra, it must be the Greek pronounciation, as her name is Olympia.

- Could she be a metahuman since she has green eyes with black skin?

- The backstory of Vandal Savage! :o Wait, his last name comes from his prehistoric time?

- Victor Stone!! :D

- “Sorry supersuit!” Relatable!

- “You won’t be naked anymore.” Thank you for remembering that (thinks Brion). “Forager is naked now.” XD (and Halo reaction!) But we could have guess it.

- We can’t ask the Justice League help because we had tied their hands ourselves. XD In your face, the Light! Appellaxia? The JL fights them again? The Green Lanterns Corps still fighting the Reach after two years? Maybe they’re freeing other planets from them? The other is fighting the new Light’s partner. Darkseid? Klarion is busy with Project Rutabaga. That doesn’t sound good... It names kind of reminds me of the Alpha Squad on the Luthor’s farm...

- Forager fights dirty. The part with the towel on Dick’s ass should be that funny...

- Halo is so cute and Artemis is so encouraging. Such a great mentor!

- “Got you covered CK. As usual.” Conner does looses his shirt really often xD

- So Savage received his scars from a big prehistoric bear and is kind of protecting the Earth from aliens after sold it to the Reach. His logic is sacrifice fewer lifes (the metateens) for a greater good or something like that?

- So it’s Homo Sapiens against Neanderthal?

- I love it there isn’t any sound during the space battle just like Jaime reminded us: “There’s no sound in space.”

- Halo eats marshmallows, isn’t it made with pork? I’m sure she doesn’t know it (and ignores pretty much everything about Islam). But that would be great if someone is the Team explain her there’s more about it than just the hijab. She feels it right, but she doesn’t know why.

- Forager just throws the banana and eats its skin xD

- “If they’re being controlled by bad guys.” “Nah that can never happen!” (wink) Remember season 1? xD

- So the meteorite create the first metahuman and gave Vandal the power of immortality. But does it work only with lifespan or heal fatal wounds like Halo too? Or he just gets stronger with blood?

- Vandal was known as Gengis Khan, an Mongol emperor who ruled one of the longest empire in human history. That reminds me the CGI TMNT movie where an immortal was beyond every great man in history and I’m pretty sure in the same case here.

- “Unique genetic gift” So metagene is only found in human DNA.

- Darkseid is after the Anti-Life equation (rings any bells? :p Look at the list of title episodes) and he’s an old partner of Savage.

- So Apokolips is like a huge warship like the War World? Maybe bigger?

- Jeff x Helga? *wince* Jeff, spend time with Virgil, not with Helga! She’s probably manipulating you, you blind man in love!

- I love Dick said “nom de guerre”, with a pretty good accent!

- Hot Lava! xD Isn’t it a pleonasm? Did anyone see “cold lava”? (And I don’t mean solidified.)

- Stripper name xD

- We were promised LGBT+ rep but Brion and Violet are so cute together! Brion is definitely a charming prince! New Spitfire?

- I love when Brion does the “mole” tunnel xD (Please, don’t be a foreshadowing!)

- Manoeuver 7!

- Kalibak, Darkseid’s son with daddy issues. XD

- Wait, did they just make a kid explode themselves? :( “Disgusting” I agree, Olympia... Is they one of the 8 6 metateens kidnapped in Markovia? Or there are more kids in space?

- Savage also known as Morduk, a Babylonian god. I think a lot of gods from that time was Savage’s metahuman children viewed as gods, like Ishtar, another Babylonian goddess.

- Wait is that Doctor Fate? Nabu is a Vandal’s son?

- The Star creatures seem to be just starfish-like who can control bodies because the green one seems alien but the other ones seem pretty human.

- I know where drunk adults are going on... Ok, it was funny xD I think I’m overanalyzing everything ><

- Wait, they made the dead star creatures sink. Was it the “arm” we saw in season 1 and the tie-comics focused on Atlantis?

- So Vandal was the one who created the Light.

- So when Halo is excited she turns into green and creates hologrammes replicas.

- “We’s starting over.” Dick seems so exhausted xD

- “Fight for humanity” God, your father did brainwash you or what?

- Vandal did take an arm of the star creature and I think they’re parasite who can control other’s body so that could explain how they controled the League at the end of season 1!

- “Still fresh in my mind.” Yes, do it, because it seems you have Alzeimer, Olympia :/

- Savage is for Savior? I’m the only one finding is quite ironical? (Savage is close to sauvage, meaning wild in French (which could be accurate with the scars), so I didn’t make the dots connect. Does it have the same meaning in English as well?)

- Wait, did he just kill her because she wanted to write his story down? Cassandra trying to justify her father’s behaviour it’s so heartbreaking. She is really blind of him... An redeem arc for her later?

- Wait Olympia was his daughter? :(

- Miguel Ferrer, the voice of Savage in the first two seasons, RIP.

- Wolf sleeping again.

I love this episode, needed for the worldbuilding and maybe for the end of the season.

—————————— Triptych

- Mist, Livewire and Shade?

“I’m finding the darkness within.” Interesting power.

- Livewire looks like Killer Frost ^^ But she has electrical powers.

- “That’s a lot to swallow.” “Straight line.” Was that a gay joke?

- Jade has a team now?

- “Best pillow talk ever.” Shut up, Helga. But yes, Jeff, you need to go back, at least for Virgil. And Kaldur because I’m sure he’s workaholic... (I would feel ridiculous if Helga was indeed a good person who made bad decisions :/ )

- M’gann and Conner are fixing the fence. Is this a metaphor for their argument? or they’re making peace on the bed? Forager is cute as always!

- Dr Moon? Who is that?

- “I won’t even trust myself.” Is Jade under a controlled device or something? Maybe a blackmail?

- “I really don’t want to do this.” I think the 3 teens are also controled :/

- Halo discovered another aura, bring by anger (or protectiveness?): white which is light power, unsurprisingly. And which can also burn.

- Sister talk!

- The League of Shadows is on Santa Prisca, they’re working with Bane?

- “I always be Cheshire first.” What could that mean? If she is controlled, that makes her Cheshire first, I think? Or maybe she thinks she will have the same effect on her than Sportmasters did. She is concerned for Lian.

- The Team didn’t free Shade :(

- Time for Tim’s Team!

- I love Arrowette’s comments! She seems pretty new to the hero game.

- So the Mad Hatter was Clayface?

- I think Orphan knows since she can read body language. She just forced him to reveal himself.

- Tim figures Clayface is controlled and Spoiler shouts so he would lead them to him. Such a clever squad :)

- So Mad Hatter controlled the guy thanks to... nanorobots? He still has some control but cannot disobey an order :/

- Autodestruction button. It was funny how he said it.

- Tim trying to save Clayface make me so proud!

- Wait, these two guys were Flash and... OMG is Captain Marvel! Billy has grown up so much!!

- Wait, why Flash has blue eyes now? He has green eyes last season. Can you please be more consistent? I know they rely more on the animated films than the previous seasons style and that’s annoying....

- “Please keep punching!” xD

- “Oh no you don’t! -- Oh yeah, they did!” Of course Flash and CM would have the same sense of humour!

- “You have no idea just how lucky you are.” This sentence will make sense later, right?

- And... the 3 groups were in fact only one... like the title suggested. So Batman has only quit the League officially but still works with them informally.

- Simon Stagg, another bad guy working with the Light? Or more like a competiter since he doesn’t use the round controled device but something else?

- Nanotech, I was right!

- I’m glad Mist and Livewire won’t be send to Belle Reve. Them being kidnapped results as them having a second chance :)

- So the big machine was Reach tech? Was could it do? Metahuman Failsafe. That could be use(ful) later I think.

- Who is the police inspector? (Edit: Batwoman fiance/girlfriend).

- Dr Stone! :D ouch, that wiring doesn’t seem good...

- So Shade was in the three operations: the long hair man kidnapped, then the shave man controled by Mad Hatter and then working with Jade.

- Well, not anymore, I think she’s freed him. Maybe herself too? And now, he would get his revenge against Stagg...

- So they became the Light’s nemesis by working as they do since season 1. I think Green Arrow doesn’t know, nor Artemis and Conner. The Anti-Light = darkness. Yeah, doesn’t sound catchy but the bad guy took a good guy word for their own...

- Diana: “are you all prepared to lie?” You weren’t on Earth in season 2 and it shows...

- Sphere! :D

—————————— Home fires

- New Light. There are Queen Bee, Monsieur Mallah or Ultra Humanite, Klarion, someone small...

- Wait! Is that Blue? Is he controled again??

Queen Bee appears indeed, in front of a big Scarab wall. They are in the Beetle temple we saw in season two. I clearly don’t like it!

- Savage is there too, return from the War World, thanks to a boom tube I guess?

- Rimbor, is this the planet the JL attacked in season 1? Nope, the one where the trial was made in season 2.

- The robot looks like the one working with the 3 eyes alien who destroyed the Justice Hall in season 2. Those robots should be pretty common in space I think? And its also telepathic.

- Lobo? (Well, I would have called him Loco but...) has a target? Sounds bad, he never miss a contract...

- BABIES TORNADO!!

- I love how Iris put the statement that once a woman has kids, nobody take her seriously at her job anymore.

- It’s so crash they opened a Center for the abducted metateens. Hope they won’t make the same mistakes than for the Runaways!

- Of course it’s Dr. Eduardo Dorado Senior who runs it :) Of course Dinah would be the therapist and there is Captain Marvel who can relate being a teen with superpowers (even if nobody should know he’s in fact 17 years old) There are Ed and Nathaniel, they grew up so much! :o

- I’m glad Mist and Livewire go there.

- Bart who babysit his dad and aunt (Donnie and Dawn, but Donnie is the short cut from what name?) is the sweetest and weirdest thing xD But they’re so cute!

- “Dont call him Dad! And don’t call me Grandma!” That should happen pretty often it they’re still at this after 2 years xD

- That’s Mera and Arthur, the child she was pregnant with in season 1! That could explain why the first Aquaman is retired.

- Wait, who’s that? Stay away from the babies! Can’t be Lobo right? He won’t use a gun...

- Gretchen Goode, why I already hate her? If she is working with the bad guys, she plays a part with Gordon, as they’re working for the same people.

- “Turning brains to mush” Why it feels like that would happen for real, like litterarly?

- Gordon’s speech seems the typical adult one against technology. Gordon didn’t search his lie far away ^^

- Goode World Studios and Wayne Fundation working together, tell me Batman knows what he’s doing, at least has suspicions; But of course they will both give resources to the Center, but not for the same reasons...

- I love how Gordon plays the bored one xD But he still installs fear of the metateens to his audience è.é

- Bruce declined his offer to come. Yep, Batman knows what he’s doing! “What is he hiding?” Does Gordon have a clue he’s Batman or what? Or just speculating a rich man couldn’t be that good? (the feeling we should have about Granny Goodness)

- “He’s the worst! But he’s kind of fascinating.” I think it’s the opinion of the whole fandom?

- Gregor is so great! More country rulers should take him as an example about refugies!

- Will is there with Lian, Lynn (Jeff’s ex wife) whit their two daughters.

- Please, Artemis and Will are just roommates helping each other to raise his daugher/her niece. Stop making it sound like a boy and a girl can’t be anything else that a couple...

- It’s Raquel with her son Amistad (who’s the father?) and Karen is pregnant! Is she married with Mal?

- They’re 14 already? Bart, Iris, the twins, Mera, Arthur, Lynn and her two daughters, Will and Lian, Raquel and Amistad, Karen. Yep, it’s 14.

- Still 4 to come? Who could it be?

- So that is the ruin of Mount Justice? Turned into a training place? I hope it’s a private location or people will find pretty crash secrets!

- Forager is still so pure!

- Why Dr Jace is there? “Thank Jeff for convincing us!” Is Dr Jace flirting with Jess to gain his trust and to bring her in the Team? Well, maybe I’m wrong and the showrunners are just playing with us in the wrong direction...

- Lobo is against Brion? Why? Because he’s a prince? a meta?

- Halo has good reflexes and Forager understood quite fast.

- Oh it’s just Nightwing.

- Love Halo and Forager team work :)

- “He is insane?” Yeah I would have the same reaction xD Maybe Dr Jace is just overprotecting?

- John? Who is.. OMG it’s Red Tornado!! With his adoptive daughter, Traya. (If you want to know more about her, she has an arc in the original Young Justice comics!) John adopted her when she became an orphan after a city’s attack and saving her. I don’t know if she would be from Qurac or Bialya.

- “In your case, it proves you need to train for surprise attack.” *surprise attack* It’s the same sense of humour than Private Security, isn’t it?

- Lobo’s eyes black patterns reminds me of Blue’s ones.

- He wants to kill Forager? Why? His Hive bannished him already!

- “Forget me, protect my kids!” Why my? And yes, she is overprotecting.

- And Halo is killed again è.é Poor cinnamon roll!

- Whoa, Lobo is resistant to bear lava and black lightning!

- Lois and Jon! Conner has a baby brother! :D (technically half brother) I hope they would have a brotherhood relationship!

- Bart is watching his dad running at normal speed :3

- So it was Ocean Master, brother of King Arthur, part of the Light in season 1 and arrested in the tie-comics, replaced by Black Manta in season 2.

- How does he have his brother’s trident?

- Lady Shiva!

- I fear the nuclear option will come in a later episode :( But I’m glad the Light realised there will be no turning back if they use it...

- He was six years in prison. Why he’s out? He should have stay in prison, now he’s dead (offscreen). The heroes will never know what they were saved from... I was stressed during the whole episode! Imagine all the babies dead :( (Yes Bart is a baby since he’s not born yet) Can you imagine? :’(

- And of course drowing on lava wasn’t enough to kill Lobo...

- What was the orange light when he draw back his weapon? How could he, he’s shirtless and still have his sword hanging on his back?

- Whoa her yellow aura just cut one of his fingers!

- Did he just kill Forager?? :’(

- Well, that would work less without a finger! (Yeah I’m bitter, try to take a revenge as I can)

- HE’S ALIVE! (Of course he is...) Love Brion’s enthousiasm! “Fake your own death club” xD

- So the Light engaged Lobo, knows he failed but doesn’t care. They want to verify Vertigo’s words. Is he working with/for them? Will it go against our heroes in the future? Wait, how do they know Forager isn’t dead? Who is the mole this season?

- So the gorilla shape was Ultra Humanite.

- Ra’s isn’t part of the Shadows anymore, but still work with the Light, at least communicate with them.

- Grayson. So the Light knows the secret ID of the batfamily??

- My bad, I confused Deathstroke with Blue earlier in the episode xD

- And the little silhouette was Gretchen Goode, of course!

- So the Light and the Anti-Light both have their secret club.

- Lobo’s finger. Will it become Slobo like in the comics?

#young justice #watch young justice outsiders #YJ reviews #watch young justice

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moonvalecrossing · 5 years

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Moonvale's Pokemon Commentary: #115 Kangaskhan

Congratulations! A Kangaskhan and its child hatched from the egg! ...Wait. What?

Just for Looks:

The only thing that Kangaskhan has that resembles a kangaroo is the fact it has a pouch. Could be named after any other marsupial and have the same traits... Its also supposed to have elements of the armor used by Genghis Khan's soldiers. I mean, I guess you could say that if you starch up helmet flaps so they're stuck pointing out like you got wings on yer helmet. And I guess the shoulders look like the shoulder armor? But they also look like any other epaulette to me. Kangaskhan: Yep, it technically fits the references!

Bulbapedia also mentioned a tree-kangaroo that I just now learned exists... but Kangaskhan doesn't resemble that any more than a normal Kangaroo to me.

I imagine Kangaskhan's supposed to look like the segmented scale-like armor as well but... look at her. Does this woman look like she's got scales? Not to me. She looks like she's got a tough leather hide with thicker pads in random places, and a softer hide on her stomach to comfort her baby. She's a really nice shade of brown and then creamy sandy brown. The colors look nice together. The baby is super cute, smaller, and its hide hasn't hardened yet so its a soft purplish grey instead of brown with a creamy sand colored belly.

Now then, this pokemon also has a mega evolution! Except the one who mega evolves is the baby! Mom stays the same! The baby stays the same shade of purple-ish grey, but grows a few years worth in size, has some extra spikes under its ears that its mother doesn't have, and has developed some of the hardened pads its mother has. Except... those pads are different. They cover the baby's abdomen. The baby/child lacks a pouch of any kind. If you saw the anime, the baby's never been shown with a pouch either as far as I know. I'm pretty sure pouches don't just show up on marsupials. My headcanon is that there are male Kangaskhan, but we have never seen them because they stay deep in the caves around where Kangaskhan call home and keep an eye on the children that have grown old enough to no longer need to stay in the mothers' pouches!

Anyway enough of my lore building (can you tell this was the other pokemon I had started doing in-universe lore on years ago for that project I mentioned in the Larvitar review? That's right. The generator gave me the same two it gave me years ago, just in reverse order). Onto the shinies! Shiny adult Kangaskhan are a more brown grey than brown. Its head plate is a dirty brown green. The baby is a similar shade to its mother, but becomes more pink-purple when it mega evolves. I don't hate these colors. They still look really nice together! Good job, Kangaskhan!

What's in the Name:

I mentioned it before, but Kangaskhan's name comes from Kangaroo + Gengis Khan: the notoriously violent leader of the Mongolian empire. I guess this references how violently protective the mom is towards her baby? Personally I'd have called it Kangabearsaur. Because it's basically a kangaroo dinosaur that's as protective as a mother bear is to her cubs.

The Japanese name, Garura, is apparently derived from the Japanese way of saying Kangaroo (the garu part of its name) as well as ruler (rura). Kangaroo Ruler!

The 'Dex Says:

Mother Kangaskhan carry their babies until they're three years of age. (It's at this point where I like to theorize the never seen fathers take their turn to raise the young ones.) One of the Alola dex entries state that at this time the mother will cry wildly because she misses her baby. Aw. Poor Mama doesn't like an empty nest.

When they find a place they feel is safe, they'll let their children out of their pouch to play, but never stray far and always keep an eye on them. That's why, if you see a baby Kangaskhan playing in the wild, you should not approach it and instead turn around and go back the way you came and pray Mama didn't put herself between you and surviving the hike you decided to take in Kangaskhan country. Because no matter how injured a mother Kangaskhan becomes, even if it is dying from those injuries, she will not give up fighting until she knows her baby is safe. But you wouldn't hurt the mother that badly, would you? You're not an awful person, right? You'd never kill a Mama Kangaskhan to capture its now Cubone’d child? That's how you get angry mom ghosts. And I imagine a Kangaskhan ghost is a much bigger nightmare to deal with than a Marowak ghost.

Now then, onto the entries for Mega Kangaskhan! In Alola the dex seems to have a split personality disorder on discussing the infant's growth. In sun the mother is said to beam with pride at the growth of her child, and that pride in turn strengthens the little one even more. Meanwhile Moon states that the child's growth has led it to only know fighting and it causes its mother to worry about its future. Ultra Sun adds onto the latter, while Ultra Moon just mentions seeing her child grown reminds the mother that the child will have to leave her some day. And then you have the Let's Go games. Mom and Baby fight in harmony. Gosh the Let's Go games look more and more like the Nick Jr. of Pokemon every day to me.

It's Rating Time!

Both forms get a 4/5 from me. I love Kangaskhan. I love the Mega since it's not actually physically harming the pokemon. It's just basically the kid growing up with a step parent teaching it that YOU ARE A FIGHTER AND THAT IS MOST IMPORTANT like some kind of Sports obsessed Step Father trying to raise the next star player for [INSERT SPORT OF CHOICE HERE]. If anything the bad side of Mega Evolution is because you're a terrible parent! Mama Kangaskhan wants a divorce and full custody of the child. Officer Jenny will be serving you your papers for the divorce proceedings soon.

But Wait, There's More:

Good news, Pokemon conspiracy theorists! Kangaskhan, Cubone, and Marowak WERE MEANT TO BE RELATED! While you'll have to scroll down to find the section about this on that page (use the find feature and type in “146 Marowak Evolution”) to see the sprite, I'll at least share the important text with you.

The Marowak evolution is separate from Kangaskhan, but they share the same theme. In the end, it would have become a loving parent to its baby Cubone, maybe even having adopted it (after all, it still has a skull on its head.) It could be holding the baby, or it may have a pouch like Kangaskhan. We can’t tell for sure what’s going on in those pixels.

I'm so tired of typing the word Kangaskhan. You'd think after this I'd know how to spell it but I still keep screwing it up.

Want to read more of my reviews? Click here!

#moonvale reviews pokemon #Pokemon commentary #pokemon #Kangaskhan

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bernardschweizer1 · 7 years

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The Chinese Great Wall (1)

At the start of this blog post about the Chinese Great Wall, I want to get one thing out of the way: NO, THE GREAT WALL IS NOT VISIBLE FROM THE MOON. It is not even visible to the naked eye from the International Space Station orbiting earth. So much for urban myths. Now to the contemporary reality of the thing.

Yes, the Great Wall is magnificent. To my eye, it is a monumental sculptural installation. Think Christo raised to the third power, except with a lot more stone than fabric. It is one of the few truly aesthetic military objects on earth, although I’m quite sure that that was not what its builders had intended.

But it is also a slightly schizophrenic beast. In parts it is polished and licked clean to the point of resembling a Great Wall theme park.

In other parts, it is crumbling slowly, left to blend in with the surrounding landscape, and constituting a quiet, beautiful meditation on the futility of the very concept of walls to separate people.

Now, it is perhaps fair to say that the Great Wall did a fine job for quite a long while; at least if by this one means reducing the incidence of raids from the nomadic northern tribes upon the settled agricultural Chinese communities south of the border. In a way it made sense to try to impose some deterrent: The farmers south of the Wall were unlikely to go out in droves to rustle the nomads’ livestock, while the nomads would constantly raid the farmers’ stores of grain and vegetables--things their nomadic lifestyle did not allow them to produce themselves. But then again, instead of building a wall to prevent the raiding, perhaps some sort of trading could have done the trick even better--horses in exchange for rice for instance--and a lot cheaper, too, but that’s a whole other subject. I any case, then as now building a wall was not de facto the only policy option.

When it comes to serving as a fortification against large-scale invasion, though, the Great Wall failed spectacularly. In 1211 A.D., Gengis Khan breached the wall catastrophically, driving his army toward Beijing, leaving a trail of atrocities in his wake. His grandson, Khublai Khan completed the job of defeating the Song dynasty and established himself as Chinese emperor in 1271. When the foreign Yuan dynasty was finally kicked out of China one century later, the successor dynasty, Ming, wanted to make sure a repeat of this military, political, and cultural debacle would never happen again. Their plan? You guessed it: Building, reinforcing, and extending the great, solid, beautiful wall!

The Chinese Great Wall as we know it today is the product of Ming dynasty (1368-1644) military engineering. Previous dynasties had built their own wall systems in different locations, sometimes hundreds of miles away from the present Ming wall; some of these walls were not even meant to repel invasion from “barbarians” in the north but were rather built to demarcate one small kingdom’s territory against another. Most of these older barriers have been destroyed or eroded away. Today’s visible remnants of the wall mostly date from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, i.e. the time of the Ming. I know all this stuff because on our recent hike on the wild portion of the Great Wall, we hired a guide from greatwallhiking.com.

Yaxin was a likeable, competent guy, who not only showed us how to detour around a closed portion of the Wall controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, but who also served as a great source of information about all things Wall related.

Partly because maintaining and staffing the enormous Ming-era wall consumed astronomical resources and also because the authorities ruthlessly conscripted forced labor, driving the workers so hard that they died on the project by the tens of thousands, a popular revolt finally broke out in 1644, leading to the collapse of the Ming dynasty. What happened next is a classical case of treason: The military leader of the remaining Ming army, Wu Sangui, opened the wall to let in Manchu fighters--longtime enemies of the Ming--hoping to put down the peasant revolt with their help. The drawing below shows the Manchu forces crossing the Great Wall unopposed.

The Manchus held up their end of the bargain and put down the revolt, but they also gallantly availed themselves of the opportunity to seize the imperial throne of China, after squashing the final remnants of the Ming army. Because the Manchu (aka Qing) dynasty now controlled huge swaths of land on both sides of the Wall, they understandably did not see the point of maintaining this fortification which ran somewhere through the middle of their own territory, thus letting it fall into disuse. This does not mean that the Wall never played a role in military encounters afterwards. Yaxin pointed to several destroyed watchtowers, informing us that as recently as 1933, during the Japanese occupation of China, major battles had raged along this very section of the Great Wall. At the time, overwhelming Japanese forces had ultimately defeated the Chinese defenders, but not before the Japanese had bombarded this world heritage object to smithereens in many places, not only shelling the wall itself but demolishing its picturesque towers and battlements, leaving gaping scars left and right.

All of this should inspire qualified confidence in the capacity of mere walls, no matter how elaborate, long, or thick, to permanently stem the danger of invasion or even just to ease the pressure of immigration. In that spirit, I envision the Trump Wall, if it is ever built, to look something like this west of El Paso, ca. anno 2287.

In that spirit, I wish Xi Jinping would sponsor Trump to visit to the wild section of the Great Wall to give the current president of the United States a preview of the fate that befalls all walls, including the most magnificent one the world has ever seen. Perhaps spending 25 billion dollars is a little much to lay the foundations for a future hiking path from Laredo to San Diego.

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