#rey rapids

Probably my favorite shadowbox card art to date.

I felt worries about trapping all the work I did on Misty and the riverbed under a layer of plastic, but it turned out pretty cool. I am once again hit with the curse of "looks awesome in person but doesn't photograph well." But at least it still looks decent in the photos.

I included some in-process photos to show what it looks like without the layer of plastic, and the waves before their dried and turned clear.

{[GO]: [INWARD]}

With some effort, you are able to squeeze through the crack in the massive wooden gate.

The atmosphere inside the castle is damp and oppressive. You feel like you can barely get a full breath of air because of all the dust. 

As soon as you enter, you notice the strange dilapidated architecture and the two [Skeletons] wearing the rotting remains of soldier uniforms. One lies in a heap on the stone floor, the other appears to be lashed to a copper [Gear Mechanism] that controls the door. 

A [Soldiers Spear] is embedded between two of the inner gears, permanently locking the entire device in place. It seems like this was the result from a final desperate attempt to keep the gates closed. The rotting [Ropes] coated in dust in the rafters overhead, unused after all this time. 

A regal looking [Coat of Arms] dangles limply from a banner, but you do not recognize the pattern. It depicts two golden spears crossed over small intricate shield.There are no signs of Gestalt or Cal so far, and the many [Footprints] in the dust seem to scatter in all directions.You're mission is clear:

Find Cal and Gestalt.

Find the Potentate's Crown.

Leave before Nightfall.

Don’t touch anything that looks even remotely cursed.

Don’t die.

Seems easy enough.

The [OUTWARD] path leads back to the [Mist Castle Gate Entrance]

A small wooden door leads [INWARD] towards the [Border Checkpoint Office] and has a small stone [Gargoyle] perched above it.

The [RIGHT] path leads deeper into the castle towards the [Grand Hall Ruins 2]

[STATUS]

[QUESTS]

[MAP] (new!)

(discord server)

Post #74

5/31/2021

Bit of a delay since several upcoming movies have proven hard to track down. Thank you for your patience.

Next up is 1963′s The Incredible Journey

Enjoyment : [4]

I think this movie is alright, bordering on boring. For the most part, this movie is 90% the animals wandering about aimlessly while the narrators struggles to come up with a story. It reminds me of those ‘real life adventure’ documentaries where they filmed the animals first, and then made a narrative around whatever they could film. This movie wasn’t awful but I don’t see myself watching it again.

Quality : [3]

This is one of those ‘bare minimum’ movies from Disney. There is very little money put into it and there is almost nothing of note in terms of camera work. The music is very pleasant, and I really liked the opening number. Other than that, I really did not see where the budget went. In fact one of my favorite moments is when they pull the cat out of the river, and you can clearly see it is a wooden dummy, like the stiffest most T-posing fake cat you can imagine. They basically paid the crew, the actors, and hired a few animal tamers and called it good. Then they used whatever coins they found in the seat cushions to pay for the special effects.

Hold up : [3]

In terms of animal abuse, this is not nearly the worst from Disney. The animals seem mostly safe, and as mentioned above, they used wooden dummies for the more dangerous stunts. HOWEVER... there are two truly awful scenes with a bear and a lynx. No matter how tamed/trained those animals where, they could still seriously hurt the cat and dogs if they wanted to. I do not know where Disney keeps getting these baby bears from but it is not ok. The fact that I can say ‘the animal abuse isn’t all that bad this time!’ is not a glowing endorsement for Disney.

Risk : [4]

Once again Disney delivered a pretty safe movie that doesn’t take any major risks. There isn’t really any depth behind the narrative, since the animals are just animals. They want to get back to their humans, which is very sweet, but they don’t really do anything beyond that. We don’t get a lot of time with the human characters and since the narrator controls the motives of the animals, we barely get any character development. This could have been a lot better if they tied some more narrative hooks to make the movie have more meat. As it stands, the movie has very little to say, but then again it is just a movie about animals going on a fun little journey so I can’t dock it too many points.

Extra Credit : [1]

The fact that the movie said ‘and the humans in the story’ in the opening credits is something I think all movies should include in the future.

Final thoughts:

I am all for cute animals doing cute things, but this wasn’t a very good attempt. There were several moments where the narrator said stuff like ‘the animals were beside themselves with sadness.’ only for it to cut to the animals wagging their tails and jumping around. At the end of the day this is a pretty basic film without much novelty or flair. The animals were put in danger, but from the research I did I THINK they all turned out ok. I cannot wait for CGI and green screen to finally eliminate this sort of thing in movies.

Total Score: 15/50

A bit late for Halloween but Prof Yew has some fun facts about the Litwick line!

These spooky little guys are far more at home in modern cities than out in the woods, so many of their urban legends are just that, legends.

Litwicks play an important role in a lot of urban ecosystems and are basically fiery-pigeons at this point. Sometimes they are pest, sometimes they are beloved pets. It depends on the people they interact with.

An attack like Astonish can cause a high level Pokemon to flinch, so using it on an elderly human with a weak heart isn't going to have the best outcome.

Mimikyu isn't a major threat to humans, but like any animal, it will lash out when frightened. Trying to remove their disguise is a surefire way to get bit, scratched or worse, hit with a dangerous move.

While it is in the same genus as Ghastly, Sinistea and Gimmighoul, Mimikyu DNA has the most similarities to an extinct species of ghost/fairy type.

Relevant Previous Entries:

Banette Behavior

Mimikyu Behavior

Banettes can be far more aggressive than most urban ghost-types, and they are responsible for a LOT of the negative interactions. It only makes sense that a lot of the scarier urban legends are caused by these devious little pranksters. No need to get heated about someone buying into these myths, it happens all the time.

Because they are scavengers, they tend to collect a lot of abandoned objects, and will use them to torment the humans that threw these objects away.

Lock your trash-cans and be sure to take large containers to recycling plants before nightfall. If your area has a large population of Banettes and Shuppets, you can leave out old textiles as an offering to keep them from stealing your property.

Prof Yew has ready access to many buckets worth of various Pokemon.

Ghost Pokemon scare people not out of malice but just because it's a learned survival behavior. It also happens to be a lot of fun, so it's no wonder why they seem to enjoy it.

Litwick are very sweet and childish in temperament, so they tend to vibe well with human children.

Prof Yew has submitted 0 recorded instances of Litwicks guiding anyone into any afterlife of any denomination.

Yeah alright.