Ms-scarletwings - Of Carmine Carnations

Forget the dvr I want to see Zim battle the DMV. Give me the “zim has to pass a driver’s test but he can’t reach the pedals and see over the wheel at the same time” episode. Give me 11 minutes straight of Zim and GIR waiting in line at the bank. This little guy thinks he should be afraid of the FBI? Wait until he has to go toe to toe with the IRS.

they need to bring back invader zim but like 20 years later dib and gaz are adults now, and nothing has really changed except gaz has to do wellness checks on dib every six months and zim has to defeat the dvr.

He’d 100% mention it if he thought it would distract people from the fact that he’s got royal blood. Mages can’t own titles over land or become nobles. Dude would have absolutely used as his one hit defeater for why you shouldn’t ever ever try to make him king of Ferelden just “ohhh well I’d love to but ah well, such a shame. Guess you’ll have to find someone else ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

if alistair was a mage do you think he’d actually bring it up or just sort of hope it wouldn’t be too much of a problem

Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 3

Tusked Grouper

Encyclopedia #116

Aberrant form of black grouper

Description:

Pig-like tusks protrude from the mouth of this ravenous brute. With no eyes to speak of, it attacks indiscriminately.

Comment: Is it my leaping to association, or does there seem to be a peculiarly common theme of the Marrows aberrations and the loss (or hypertrophy) of their eyes?

How to catch: Being night-swimmers, there lies a small, but manageable risk in fishing for grouper in The Marrows. They dwell in the shallows, and will take to rod and net alike.

Voltaic Grouper

Encyclopedia #117

Aberrant form of black grouper

Description:

An unknown green energy arcs and crackles over this fish's scales. It thrashes ceaselessly, even hours after being pulled from the water.

Comment: Now THIS is an interesting fish, both in look and in the possibilities. To butcher this one feels like a waste. I would adore to explore captive sea lanterns and dark apparatus powered by these energies.

How to catch: ^^^

Shard Ray

Encyclopedia #118

Aberrant form of stingray

Description:

The stone skin of this ray is moulded around a black crystal shard. The rock fragments articulate and grind together.

Comment: Notably the first, although far from the last case where we will witness the transmutation from biology to something that should, by all logic, be inorganic and still. Keep this specimen in the when we move onto the Gale Cliffs section of the encyclopedia. If there was any fortune for the ray in this turn of events, it would be in the fact that its kind were already bottom-dwellers. Most curious here is the semblance between those black crystals and the igneous basalt pillars that are so ever-present across the sea.

How to catch: Marrow stingrays are available to cast for at any time of day or night. True to nature, they prefer the shallow ends. Be on the lookout for this oddity in the early game, as they can fetch a decent sum going towards ship upgrades.

Sallow Sailfish

Encyclopedia #119

Aberrant form of sailfish

Description:

A sickly, pallid color coats the scales of this normally sleek and shiny fish. Clouded eyes belie the disease spreading underneath.

Comment: "Sallow" describes the yellowed complexion of a very unwell person, most literally in one showing the telltale signs of jaundice. My nostrils themselves cringe to brainstorm of the malodor that accompanies this snag.

How to catch: Like all sailfish, they feed diurnally in the deeper, oceanic biome around The Marrows. A suitable rod or trawl net will be needed to start pursuing this awful sight.

Hooked Sailfish

Encyclopedia #120

Aberrant form of sailfish

Description:

Spindles of bone protrude from discolored muscle. A hooked bill curves inward - a lure for something greater.

Comment: With a description like that, it makes the fact that this fish cannot actually be used as some manner of bait or ultimate hook to use against a true monster sound like a missed opportunity. Half of me wants to mock it for its ridiculous little shrunken expression, but my other half can't help but compliment the concept and chosen colors of its body.

How to catch: ^^^

Bloodskin Shark

Encyclopedia #121

Aberrant form of Bronze Whaler

Description:

Tendons and sinews stretch over the fins of this bloodied predator. Powerful jaws are clad in exposed muscle.

Comment: Reminder that another term for this individual when it was healthy was the copper shark. Poetically, I can vividly imagine the taste and smell of copper reeking from this savage demon. With no regret I can say I actually prefer this specimen over the more popular reef shark variant. A sucker for crimson and reds, I'll stay predictable to the end.

How to catch: Only bother once you have access to equipment that can handle casting after oceanic dwellers. Searching outward from the Marrows coastlines should find a harvesting spot of shark in no time. These may be hauled or trawled under the daytime sun.

Cleft Mouth Shark

Encyclopedia #122

Aberrant form of Blacktip reef shark

Description:

A large body bisected by an enormous, grinning maw. Teeth stretch down forever into the blackness of its large gullet.

Comment: The last, and maybe most remembered of The Marrow's warped fish.

Seriously, I stumbled into a bounty of fanart specifically about this jacked up, faceless shark. I belove it the same. Already we have seen two frequented themes in the aberrant line- beings transformed wholly for the purpose of creating and carrying eldritch life, and as so iconized by the above fella, those who instead now only live to consume other life. Early sailors keep their fingers crossed for one of these valuable brutes.

How to catch: Early investment into researching heavier fishing equipment and careful timing will be the friend of those hunting after this abomination. Not for the faint among those just starting out, as black tip reef sharks only appear at night in oceanic water. This means being farther away from the starting port and fishing in the thick of the fog. Keep wary that you don't pull up your catch only to lose it overboard in a collision with a tricky rock, or an assault from the night angler. Can be trawl netted.

Definitely lol with you there. It’s actually bizarre to me when people do walk away with that impression, because the tone of jthm is actually… pretty cynical about the rate of media literacy among people. It DOES actually do a bare minimum amount of explicit pointers and even quite a bit of hand holding specifically for these edgelord types. Johnny literally meets a copycat killer and biggest fan of his and it fills him with nothing but rage and unfathomable disgust.

He constantly condemns all he is and only views his violence as a meaningful solution to society’s problems to the degree that (spoiler?) literal eldritch forces have manipulated him into delusionally believing so, for their own ends. He’s not the most reliable narrator alone, but he is pointed out constantly by his hallucinations AND sane humans for his incoherent hypocrisy in the comics. For all his complete immunity to consequences to his actions, he’s still a miserable, isolated person increasingly warped from the individual he used to be. He pretends he subscribes to a set of justifiable standards and rules to weed out the “worthy victims” from the innocent, and then again, and again, his fits of vitriolic bloodlust are portrayed with all of the senselessness and arbitrary cruelty that they deserve to be viewed through. When challenged on this front, he doesn’t ultimately have any explanation beyond excuses, excuses, constant excuses that he knows are such deep down… when he is lucid enough to actually introspect. He’s a “maniac” by the literal title of the series.

If anything, JTHM could be the ultimate beginner-level literacy test for a reader’s most basic common sense ability to understand the difference between “protagonist” and “role model”.

Between “things that happen/story themes” and “lessons the author is trying to impart on you”.

Between the voice of an unreliable, imperfect main character and the voice of a hero’s objective wisdom.

Between the narrative deconstruction of a flawed character and when an irredeemable monster is being woobified.

My favorite sardonic, back-handed slap in the face on that front was particularly this panel

[STUPID PEOPLE: I would ask you to keep in mind that this should not be a source of moral guidance (that would be movies) Put away the knives and never allow yourself to forget: you are stupid - JCV]

JTHM/IFS feels like a media literacy and/or personal maturity litmus test. The comic's characters and events are presented with such a combination of absurdity and neutrality...that it opens a lot of room for misinterpretation, depending on where you're at in life. A lot of media actively handholds you towards feeling [X] or [Y] about a character, but Jhonen Vasquez just...doesn't do that [very respectable], and allows the audience to draw their own conclusions. I've seen a fascinating amount of people walk away from JTHM being unquestioningly reverent of Johnny as a character, which like, lol...but in a weird way I kinda like that? Basically, every copy of JTHM is personalized.

IMO the show seems to indicate that Irkens actually live within accommodations at their occupation site. Zim was an actual prisoner of Shloogorgh's Flavor Monster, but Sizz Lorr is implied to be living there too, considering that he has everything packed with him to announce that he’s going on vacation. Irkens plan out their infrastructure in these extremely travel inefficient ways, like “one type of district per planet” inefficient, so it would make sense that changing jobs can quite literally mean a planetary relocation OR even living your life on a specialized ship that is constantly moving from place to place (think Tak’s janitorial squadron or The Massive’s Crew).

Not having any need for sleep, I would guess that Irken businesses are run constantly with rotating shifts if they have enough staff on hand. Their stamina isn’t exactly endless, and workers with no free time are not great consumers, so Irken working standards actually don’t seem to be as droning for regular employees, provided their supervisor is not a huge jerk. Of course, an unspoken amount of the intergalactic economy is also propped up on the backs of slaves too, both Irken and alien. I don’t imagine they have the same privileges to speak of.

Aside that, Vacation time and regular breaks appear to be standard, even for their frycooks, impressively. Employment seems to be designated on an applicant/hiring basis and paid for wages/salary (though forced labor is a common punishment for criminals). What’s interesting to me is that we’ve seen coin currency does exist in their society but I wanna imagine that “monies” are usually distributed as a digital credit that their PAKs keep track of, like a personal wallet. We saw Zim using his to operate a vending machine on Devastis, after all.

As for what they’re doing on their off time and with their monies, well, we actually did get to see a glimpse into that once on Foodcourtia.

Zim, presumably taking a little sit in… what I imagine is some kind of employee break room, or possibly even part of a living quarters. We know that they don’t have beds, per se, but lounging chairs and couches are common furniture where they linger. I don’t think there’s really anything they have in regards to housekeeping chores so long as it can feasibly be taken care of by machines. So, I really beleive the bulk of average Irken life is work, and then… this

And also some of this

And definitively plenty of this

Any kind of hedonistic, consumerist, instantly gratifying sort of recreation you can think of would be at their disposal. Video games, music, mindless television, cheap confectioneries, and even some degree of socializing, in their own ways. Which could all either sound utopic or dystopic, purely depending on how you frame it.

hey like actually. do u guys think irkens have like. houses. what do they like,,,,,,,,,,, do. daily. alien laundry? or are they always out and about working or doing shit beclaws they have no purredators and no need fur sleep. ive always wondered