Returning Full Circle

We’re still deep in one of the worst economic recessions of modern times. For many of us its not a choice but a requirement in order to survive. For many of us we have disabilities that make finding accommodation that suit our needs a lot harder and a lot more expensive.

Those messenger screen names that haven’t logged on in ages, some before detailed profiles were a thing on those services.

Those emails that are long since abandoned, some with domains that no longer exist.

Those online friends you knew years ago and who then helped shaped you in some way, who you just can’t FIND anymore.

Those people who once were, and hopefully still exist IRL, that seem to have no known internet life anymore.

And those who have actually passed on, and their online lives are now a memorial to them.

This may seem like a silly thing to bother me but it is a pet peeve of mine when people explain Super Sentai as “Japanese Power Rangers”.  Rather than get all offended and upset, sometimes I just like to explain why this is not so.  I also don’t want to ever sound like I am denigrating Power Rangers.  A lot of people really like it and for a lot of folks (myself included) it was a gateway into the wider world of tokusatsu.  However, though the two are closely related, they are not the same thing.

Let’s start with the basics.  Power Rangers is pretty unique in the history of television franchises.  There have been shows based on foreign TV shows for years.  There have been American versions of shows like The Office, Life on Mars and even a failed adaptation of the sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf.  All of them took basic concepts from the original and created all new versions of those shows. None of them, however, used footage from the foreign original.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, on the other hand, was built around footage from the Japanese series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger and was limited in what it could do for its first season or two by what footage was available. Due to the success of the idea, other shows were created around Japanese footage such as Super Human Samurai Syber Squad being based on Tsuburaya’s Denkou Choujin Gridman.

However, even there we see a major difference between its approach and that of Power Rangers.  Syber-Squad stuck fairly close to the tone and plot of it’s Japanese counterpart and have a very similar premise and concept.  Power Rangers, on the other hand seemed more like a Saved By The Bell kind of High School Drama merged with a monster fighting action show.  It was a far cry from five ancient warriors awakened by the escape of an evil witch in league with Satan they pledged to defeat 170 million years ago with the help of their God, a gestalt giant robot made of mechanical dinosaurs.

It’s not so much an adaptation of Super Sentai as it is a wholly new program created around the fight scenes and monsters of a radically different show made for two very different audiences. To even call Power Rangers American Super Sentai is kind of doing both shows a dis-service by making one sound derivative of the other when it really isn’t.  It just borrows footage and fights from the Japanese show and uses them to craft entirely (for the most part we won’t talk about Power Ranger Samurai) stories.

So, going the other way doesn’t really work either. Referring to Super Sentai as “Japanese Power Rangers” is even more inaccurate as Super Sentai existed for 16 Seasons (and 18 years) before Power Rangers hit the airwaves. They have radically different sensibilities, senses of humor, storytelling tropes and character concepts that comparing the two is like comparing Fish Sticks to Sushi.  Sure, they are both made from fish but they are two different cultural products with different appeals and flavors.

I know people who appreciate both equally and I know people who prefer Power Rangers to Super Sentai.  Me, I’m a sushi over fish sticks kind of guy and I’ll take Super Sentai over Power Rangers any day  It just suits my tastes and what I want in a show more than the alternative.  

This is how Raven sleeps when it’s hot out

Here are my prepared remarks for my speech to @NAMIOhio on living with depression and anxiety.

I’m about to go speak to NAMI Ohio’s statewide conference, Fulfilling the Promise. These are the remarks I prepared for my speech.

Before I begin, I want to warn you that this talk touches on many triggering subjects, including self-harm and suicide. I also want you to know that I’m speaking from my personal experience, and that if you or someone you know may be living with mental illness, please…

hi everybody, welcome to another wonderful episode of Weird Biology! I’m your host, Bunjy. 

we’re here today to talk about a seriously adoraweird critter with a heart of gold! (or maybe just fluff, it’s hard to tell)

so put all your emotions in your front pocket where you can reach them and give it up for-

he’s meow-vellous!

the Manul is a smallish wildcat native to the mountains of Central Asia. they are also called the Pallas Cat, after German Naturalist Peter Pallas. however, we won’t be using that name because he was a fucking idiot. 

seriously, he thought the Manul was related to the Persian, which is a breed of domestic cat. (Persians are descended from the African Wildcat just like the rest of housekittydom, sorry Pallas. you moron.) 

also he didn’t discover shit, the native Mongolians have been calling it the Manul since the first human to meet one got their shins clawed off hundreds of years ago.

and their scientific name, Otocolobus manul, means “ugly eared Manul”. where are these scientists, I will fight them. FACE ME, COWARDS.

Manuls are about the size of a housecat, weighing up to 10 pounds. however unlike a housecat which is composed of about 30% fluff, the Manul is composed of nearly 110% fluff. there’s barely any cat in there at all! you could probably stick your hand right through. try it yourself! go ahead, I’ll watch from back here. 

what? I just like to keep 10 feet and a solid barrier between myself and other people at all times. do it. you can trust me.

(no you can’t)

anyway as you have possibly just found out from the emergency room doctor, there is in fact some cat inside the Manul’s grand fluff and it is not fond of being pawed at by people. (Manuls make terrible pets, so get that thought out of your head right fucking now. go see them at the zoo like everyone else.) it’s a shame, because that fur coat is goddam luxurious. 

in fact, the Manul has the longest and thickest fur of any wildcat! this is because they live only at high elevations (up to 16,000 feet, which is 15,997 feet higher than I will tolerate), where the weather is windy and brutally cold. you’ve probably also noticed their tiny Garfield ears, which help to minimize heat loss. this combo keeps them toasty warm on otherwise bare mountainsides.

at least until Jim Davis sues them for copyright infringement.

though all these biology facts are very interesting, I must confess they aren’t the reason that I’ve chosen the Manul for this week’s topic. the real reason is that they’re a bunch of hyperemotive memelords.

no seriously, the Manul has catapulted (har!) to internet fame in recent years because their round faces, wide expressive eyes and stubby bodies combine to form a perfect emotive machine. this cat can express emotions that haven’t been invented yet, let alone named.

let’s call this one "Swoom”

seriously, how can you top that? it’s like a living emoticon.

this is “Woderous”

okay, where were we before I got distracted by cat memes? *paper rustles* ah, right. the spite chapter.

Manuls are ambush predators, despite their fluffy bulk. they mostly eat Pika, (sorry, Pokemon fans) a small rabbity creature that squeaks a lot and doesn’t really deserve the fame Nintendo gave it. Manuls are solitary animals and live alone.

(this sounds sad, but it’s actually because every Manul hates every other Manul in existence and not even god himself can change this)

this is not the face of a creature that enjoys the company of others.

Manuls avoid each other, keeping fiercely to their individual territories. the only contact adult cats have with each other at all is during the breeding season, which is pathetically short. after briefly working together to make some kittens, the Manuls part ways. (presumably while avoiding eye contact.)

after about three months the female gives birth to 2-6 bouncing baby kittens, which all hate each other immediately. seriously, Manul kittens growl and hiss at their littermates before they can even open their eyes! talk about sibling rivalry. once the kittens are old enough to make it alone, they’ll take off in different directions and never call home again.

like the Brady Bunch, except very much not.

unfortunately the Manul is classified as Near Threatened in most of their range. human encroachment and environmental destruction takes a toll, but most of the problem is a little more cartoon villain-y than you’d expect.

see, humans really really really like that plush fur coat, but they like it even better as an actual fur coat. (I was going to make a 101 Manuls joke here but it was just too depressing.) Manuls are still hunted for their fur in a fair amount of their range, though that is beginning to change. many nations are putting protections in place for our favorite stubby emotion machine, and we can only hope this is enough to save the wonderful pile of antisocial fluff that is the Manul.

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thanks for reading! you can find the rest of the Weird Biology series here.

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IMAGE SOURCES

When I was about 14, I once befriended, and lost contact with, a 40 year old woman with a full head of gray, curly hair, who was one of the best known Good Omens fan artists of the community. She had apparently been in and out of asylums for years, and I worried for the longest time. I even sent her an email when I was around 18, asking after her well-being. But then she resurfaced when I was 21, here on tumblr. It was one of the greatest and most memorable fandom experiences I’ve ever had. 

When I was 15 and using slurs I didn’t know were slurs, 30+ year old LGBTQ+ comics fans on scans_daily patiently but firmly corrected me. I felt mortified, but they never attacked me or treated me as anything other than a dumb kid who made a mistake. 

I have a long time friend of close to a decade, who was late twenties when I met her in the comics fandom, and I was a teen.

OLDER FANS ARE CRUCIAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF FANDOMS. Not ONLY because they’re literally the ones keeping fandom afloat (AO3 wasn’t created or maintained by kids, let’s just say), but because older fans generally don’t attack or bully or fuck up a fandom by being aggressive or volatile or overzealous, destroying any enjoyment of a medium. 

Single women, married women, LGBTQ+ fans, all in the range of 30-60 years old. I’ve met all sorts of older fans, from when I was 12 on deviantart to now, in my mid-twenties, and not a single one of them has ever hurt me or treated me like dirt. I’ve always felt safer with older fans than with younger ones, because of the people I’ve seen harass, accuse, doxx, bully, and generally engage in harmful behaviour in this fandom, they’ve largely been in the 13-21 age bracket. 

Obviously most young fans aren’t like that, but the toxicity is palpable regardless.

@younger fans, if somebody older in a fandom acts in a creepy way, then feel free to avoid them, block them, report them.

the next Pharaoh after her Tuthmosis III  tried to erase Hatshepsut out of history ,chiseled her name off her monuments ,covered the text on her obelisks with stone,knocked down and defaced her statues .

she was even left off the list of pharaohs ..talk about some patriarchy bullshit

her name was lost for a couple of millennia, her body was found in a unmarked grave  in early twentieth century