Alien Tomfoolery

The tardigrade mourns the shooting star...

A Sixer minicomic I've been working on for the last week and half or so, featuring @grapplemace 's Brock and @/kkinoe 's Comet!

Here’s a quick handy reference list or anyone who isn’t sure:

Homosexuality does exist in almost all social species.

“Alpha males” are not a real phenomenon and in fact the most aggressive males tend to be the least reproductively successful.

“Survival of the fittest” simply means that the success of a species hinges on how well it “fits” its environment. It does not mean that stronger or smarter individuals are supposed to succeed. Those things can even be a detriment in nature by wasting too many resources.

“Race” is not a biological concept. Someone who looks different from you has the same human genes, just a different grab-bag of dominant traits.

Evolution is not a march towards higher complexity, more intelligence or even more adaptability. It’s just a fluctuation of characteristics dictated by environmental pressures and mutation. A slime mold isn’t “less evolved” than a hawk, just adapted for success under different parameters.

People didn’t evolve “from apes.” It’s more complicated than that. We are a category of ape, sharing a common ancestor with the other apes.

No human on Earth is “closer” to an evolutionary ancestor than any other. We all descended from the same one.

Neanderthals were also a “sibling” species of ours. We didn’t evolve from them.

Humans are actually more genetically homogeneous than most people suspect. This is possibly due to a population bottleneck at some point in our evolutionary past. Two chimpanzees from different sides of a jungle are likely more genetically different to each other than any two human beings in the world.

Our big brains may help us use tools, but what was really principal in their development was the need for empathy, communication, and cooperation.

Humans. Are. Social. So social it drove an incredibly energetically costly increase in our brain size.  Don’t believe anyone who says its our nature to fight “every man for themself.” We’re humans, not bears. We fight for each other.

And we always have. Fossil remains are found of ancient humans who bore signs of crucial mobility impairments that lived to notable ages. Some even have sticks or other mobility aids – community care and support is our way. We don’t cast off those with impairments, we stand by them.

Human sexual dimorphism is on a decreasing trend. Our ancestors had greater difference in canine size and overall size. Our dimorphism gap has gotten smaller.

Occam’s razor is the principal that whatever is the simplest explanation is probably the most likely one. Don’t believe someone who says the reason we evolved bipedalism is so that males could carry gifts to females to woo them. Yes, this is a real ‘theory’ on how bipedalism evolved.

Skin tone is an adaptation of UV levels vs vitamin D levels. Both come from the sun. UV is harmful, so where sun is plentiful populations develop a darker skin tone for more protection. The skin needs sun to create vitamin D, so where sun is scarce, the skin tone lightens to allow more sun in. This is literally all it is.

Final thing: No one’s mind is really equipped to fully understand how long a billion years is, or a million, or even tens of thousands of years. Evolution takes place over a loooong time. Its very, very, slow, slower than we can really comprehend. We can’t “stand in the way” of natural selection by caring for our ill. We don’t need to “help” evolution in any way. It inevitably happens, but not on any sort of timescale we could possibly affect, so don’t fall for anyone that tells you not to “stand in the way” of natural selection. That’s fascism, and its utterly pseudo-scientific.

start now. now. now now now. or else you'll never draw this damn thing

it's fine if you don't have the entire story figured out yet, it'll happen naturally

draw what you want to draw!! webcomics often run for years, so you better work with something you like

don't overcomplicate things. a simple, efficient work flow is your top priority in order to stay consistent

bullshit some things. trace background refs. reuse poses. draw your character's face from different angles and just copy paste it in to save time. be smart about your work baby

take breaks if needed. webcomic burnout is real

sometimes, a panel or a page looks bad. shit happens. move on

lettering is actually really important and super hard to pull off

it's your comic. do what you want forever!!!

I'm begging you again to work smart, not hard. reuse backgrounds. use brush sets for webcomic artists. trace 3D objects. use 3D models to pose your characters

you may need hours or days to draw one panel, but people will look at it for 5-8 seconds. keep that in mind

a simple background is better than no background at all (avoiding the white void increases the quality of your work by a ton!)

sometimes the anatomy needs to be a little off to make an interesting shot/panel. that's fine, don't worry about it too much

at least 2000px canvas and 300 dpi for good quality results

Due to troubles I've been having with my current housing situation, I am setting up this contribution to raise money to move from AZ to MN. (I have autism and various mental and physical health issues. I had a housing voucher, but unfortunately, I have been experiencing a situation where the company paying most of my rent is not actually paying the leasing company that's running the apartment complex. All year. It has been an ongoing thing since roughly October 2025. There are two months where the ledger shows they did not pay the new leasing company.) I do not have a support network in AZ and am moving to MN, where I will be closer to a friend group/support group. (Also, as far as I can tell, the disability services in MN seem to be superior to those in AZ.)

Transportation: 3,000 (I do not know how much plane tickets cost, but I'm told this is not inaccurate.) Motel:(38 days) 1,672 (I do not have anywhere to crash when I get to my destination in MN so I will need to have a motel stay. I picked what is hopefully the cheapest one, though I haven't booked rooms yet as I won't be moving until November.) Winter Clothes: 2,000 (I have lived in AZ for a very long time, and I need winter clothes, and my chihuahua need a jacket and boots) Food: 2,000 (I am probably low-balling this--it's food for both me and my dog.) Packing Material/Boxes: 250 (I think this is what I ended up paying last time I moved) PODS: (did not do a price quote I'm just assuming it's gonna be hella expensive.) 3000 Incredibly specific amount: 1288 (My housing voucher company that failed to pay the rent for two months, and are refusing to acknowledge the debt. And not replying to my calls or emaills. I would like to get this paid off somehow.) More General "oh shit disaster" reasons: 2000 (any expenses that might come up during the move that I didn't anticipate, like over the counter meds, or bike repair.)

My goal is 15,280, with a move out date somewhere near the end or November, but hopefully not too close to the holiday rush.

Based off this post by @7-inches-of-satanic-panic

Gold, Silver, and Bronze!🥇🥈🥉

i don't think there's any type of duo better than this