Geeky SKAturday: Ska Tune Network and the wonder of Sonic fandom

A wonderful, geeky SKAturday, all!

A couple weeks back, RPG blogosphere neighbor and all-around great dude Pun from Halls of the Nephilim sent me a link to the YouTube channel Ska Tune Network's cover of Weezer's "Say it Ain't So."  (Oh wow, do I put too many links on here?  They lose their weight at some point.  I'll ponder that later...)

Anyway, this was a reason to smile for a bunch of reasons, but it was also a reminder that I've hardly mentioned the creations of the Network on this blog, even though they fit the themes I explore here pretty perfectly.  The immensely talented Jer has built up quite a following on the channel largely by creating ska covers of...well, all kinds of stuff.  And most of them, as far as I can tell, are one-person efforts (they're really good about giving others credit when they're part of the creative process).

I did post Jer's rendition of the Pokémon Red and Blue theme more than four years ago, but I thought it'd be good to revisit the Ska Tune Network today to cover the Geeky SKAturday 2025 plan of introducing new ska released this year and talk about a growing RPG setting of time-traveling, multiverse-protecting ska bands.  (And yeah...I do know that the last Geeky SKAturday was an "internet song," and maybe it'd be cooler if I focused on "serious" new music in the scene, but...it's 2025, that's the way music goes these days.  And from what the Agents of SKA tell me about the music industry of the future, it's only gonna get worse...)

It just so happens that a week ago, Jer released a version of "Dr. Wily's Castle" from Mega Man 2...pretty freaking cool...and so, looking back through the channel's videos, I realized they dropped a perfect Geeky SKAturday song in January.  Here is "Green Hill Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog:

For the sake of completeness...or, at the very least, for the sake of all of our memories, here's a playthrough of the Green Hill Zone...

I think Jer absolutely nailed it.

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Since there are so many things about the world of Sonic that fit the Agents of SKA so well -- fighting the man, a multiverse, and a general "anything-goes" approach to storytelling, for example -- it seemed perfectly reasonable to me that one of Sonic's rebellious anthropomorphic animal colleagues would also join with the Agents of SKA at times.  And in looking up a way to quickly create such a character for the team, I found out that Sonic fandom actually has a big focus on OCs (original characters), which I think is pretty rad.

I'm not even sure how many variations of "Sonic character creator" software there are out there, but I think I'm just hitting the surface with the few I looked at.

First, here are shots of, and links to, some of the ones that stood out to me (I have no affiliation with any of them, in case that needs to be said):

Picrew Sonic Maker

Doll Divine Sonic Character Designer

Doll Divine Male Furry Dollmaker (it definitely works)

And here's the anthropomorphic cat who now joins Haruto Suzuki in the Agents of SKA...Beat the Hepcat!  The name is a little tribute to the band Hepcat, one of the absolute finest of America's third wave crop, and the images below were made using two of the tools above (and some amateur coloring work on one).  Beat has options this way...he doesn't have to be restricted by clothing.  (Making these also made me realize how much Felix the Cat looks like a Sonic character, which I'm not sure I love, but what are ya gonna do?)

Anyway, here's Beat!

In case you're wondering about the bandages...he got into a tussle saving the multiverse...

Now he knows to wear these stylish 2 tone gloves...

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Wasteland Wednesday: The Post-Apocalyptic Misadventures of Bluey and Peppa Pig

Okay...so, I don't have kids, so I need to be clear that the following has not been proofread by an expert.  However, I'm pretty sure I have most of the details correct regarding these IPs that have caught my attention over the past several years (and that I'm actually a little surprised I've never mentioned on the blog).

Laura likes to find aggressively pleasant children's programming to throw on the TV every once in a while.  She likes how it can be calming, centering, and oblivious to the shitshow that is the world right now (and maybe has been forever...?), and it usually does its job well.  As I felt with Pokémon Concierge, most of the time these shows are best described simply as delightful.

Two of the programs Laura has found that have really drawn me in are the British show Peppa Pig...

...and its Australian companion show Bluey (all images from their Facebook pages btw)...

I write "companion show" not because it's almost a dog joke, which I just realized, but because -- as far as I can tell -- these two programs are parallel views of a future post-apocalyptic Earth in which anthropomorphic animals have become the dominant species on the planet.

Peppa Pig (the show) is quite a bit older than Bluey (the show) and gave us our first look at a world rebuilt by walking, talking nonhuman (or maybe partially human?) animals.  It seems to take place in what used to be the UK and features a pretty wide variety of species.

There are very few humans.  It definitely looks like a Kamandi type situation.  And of those people that have been shown, I suspect that Father Christmas may actually be a spirit that simply chooses to take human form, and another -- Queen Elizabeth II -- is most likely a clone that was created to raise morale and provide leadership in the post-apocalyptic world.  While it wouldn't be a trivial undertaking by those in power, making copy after copy of one of Earth's more beloved 20th and 21st century leaders would probably be worthwhile to give an extra measure of hope to the survivors, especially when she's commonly seen doing things like having fun in the mud with her subjects.

Bluey, meanwhile, is seemingly set in Australia, and it appears that on this continent, all of the sapient creatures that remain after the global catastrophe are dogs, usually of recognizable breeds.  Bluey, her sister Bingo, and parents Chilli and Bandit, are a family of Australian cattle dogs known as the Heelers (seen three pics up)...clearly a surname given to them in the recent past simply based upon their phenotype.

I think other animals show up only in non-anthropomorphic form, and as far as I know, there are no humans.  It's unclear if these differences between the shows are a matter of geography or focus, or if they might actually reflect that the programs depict different eras of post-apocalyptic Earth.

And really, that's part of what's so intriguing about these shows: the mystery.  We don't even know what caused the fall of humankind!  Was it bombs?  Aliens?  COVID-29?  And is it possible that these are animated documentaries, sent back from a desperate future with the hope that we'll change our ways?  If so, I think they're failing on that front.  Honestly, life in Peppa and Bluey's world seems pretty spectacular.  Families love and accept each other and enjoy spending time together.  There's very little fear and nothing that even resembles hate.  I wouldn't mind falling asleep in a bunker and waking up to that world.

And of course, as a Yank, I wonder what America looks like in that future time.  I believe there's a possibility that what we know as an early animated short, Steamboat Willie, may actually be a similar documentary showing life on the Mississippi River early in Earth's rebuilding stage.  This would be an interesting set of information to add to our knowledge of the post-apocalypse, especially since it appears that some non-anthro animals have undergone other genetic alterations in that timeline.  (A goat whose tail can be cranked to make it sing like a phonograph is probably the best example of this.)

As with Peppa Pig and Bluey, though, specific details are scarce.  It is entirely possible that other "fictional" works we have encountered (including the proto-Kamandi story by Jack Kirby that I wrote about here several years ago) are similarly influenced by actual messages from future sources.  However, it's going to take some real effort to separate truth from myth.  I will be keeping my eyes open for clues toward laying out an accurate future history of Earth.  If you have any insight, I would love to hear from you.

I really don't want to use "Counting Crows" as the title of this post, but man it's hard to ignore...

While at some point I might return to This Day in Anthro History posts highlighting examples of fictional animals walking and talking like people, I wanted to take a moment today just to point out something fascinating in the realm of nonhuman animals' demonstrating arguably human capabilities.  (I think I might be especially keyed into this topic as I follow Pun at Halls of the Nephilim in his creation of a TMNT-inspired RPG...!)

Last Thursday, an article dropped from the journal Science (one of the most reputable out there, so this is a reasonably notable study) in which researchers demonstrate that carrion crows - apparently already known to be able to count to 30 - can accurately vocalize counts up to four.  As in...these crows can see an Arabic numeral on a screen, or hear a sound that corresponds to a numeral, and caw the right number of times.

Four seems to be about the limit for this specific task.  According to the summary on Science.org:

But they did make mistakes, usually after performing numerous trials and when the target number was three or four. “They loved the number one and really disliked four,” [lead author Diana A.] Liao says. Sometimes, the crows displayed their dislike of four by refusing to utter a sound; instead, they simply pecked at the screen to end the trial.

While it's easy to think, "You just told me they can count to 30...why is it interesting that they're counting to 4?"...the accurate vocalization in a "one, two, three" manner is what is really catching people's attention.  It's hard not to see a similarity to the way humans often learn to count.  And one of the neatest details here is that researchers were ultimately able to predict a crow's final "answer" according to the first caw alone...an indication that the crow knows (before speaking) exactly what it plans to say.

If I can add an assumption that the crows are happy to find themselves in this situation, I absolutely love this research.  If it sounds like your style, you can check out the Science summary HERE, a summary from noted bird apologists the National Audubon Society HERE, and the original paper HERE.

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To celebrate this, here's an anthro crow character built using the online character generator for the Awfully Cheerful Engine (ACE)...an RPG from EN World's Morrus (Russ Morrissey) that acts as a huge tribute to the old Ghostbusters RPG and already includes some options for animal traits.  ACE is in the family of GB-inspired games I'm currently obsessed with statting stuff for...!

From HERE

Crowbar (seems a bit like a silly TMNT-villain-style name)

Trait/Role: Unlucky Crow

Health 4, Defense 9

Brawn 2 (Tough)
Moves 3 (Piloting)
Smarts 5 (Physics)
Style 2 (Public Speaking)

Ability: Flight

This Day in Anthro History: Happy New Year from Steamboat Willie!

Happy New Year everyone!  Welcome to 2024!!

On this date, in this year - once again, that would be 2024 - what once seemed impossible has come to pass: Mickey Mouse enters the public domain in the United States in the form of his earliest appearances, most notably the short film "Steamboat Willie."

(Something tells me you've probably seen this news...)

I'm looking forward to seeing where this American icon ends up now that we all have access...and how far folks push the envelope before getting Disney on their backs.

Do you have any plans for Steamboat Willie?  (And actually...who is Steamboat Willie?  Is he Mickey in this film, or is that just sort of a generic title for the short?)

As with so many things...I have my ideas but don't know if I'll follow through.  I like the idea of "Steamboat Willie" as a story of anthropomorphic animals on a postapocalyptic Earth...and the Gaming Like It's 1928 game jam would be a perfect opportunity to finally get Battleyacht off the ground...but y'know, my attention span and all...

This Day in Anthro History: The TMNT cartoon

Another goal in 2024: Regain some focus on posting "This Day in Anthro History" entries here at Monstrous Matters.  Not sure why, but I really dig this as a "feature" of the blog.  So, to get in that mindset...here we go...

In arguably one of the biggest moments ever in anthro history, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon was released (in syndication) on this date in 1987.

So much about this cartoon is just...classic.  Like this intro...

I'd say there's a very good chance that if this cartoon never came to be, I would not be spending my time on a "This Day in Anthro History" blog feature in 2023 and 2024.

So, yeah...this cartoon is a big deal.  I think there's a very good chance you'll agree...although probably not for that reason.  More for the fact that it was a part of making TMNT one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of its time...!

One day left on the TMNT RPG kickstarter...!

It seems clear that the campaign isn't in need of a signal boost from a tiny corner of the internet like mine...but it's still probably worth pointing out here that Palladium's Kickstarter for the new edition of their classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG is down to about a day to go.  The effort has blown way, WAY past its $250,000 goal.  I mean, I guess it was obvious that this was gonna be a big one.

I didn't go in as high as I could...or even all that high, I suppose, relative to the pledges that show up on some of these tabletop Kickstarters...but I am pretty sure that this marks the most I've ever committed to a crowdfunded gaming product.  I couldn't resist at least adding on the good guy minis.  Or maybe I just didn't want to resist.

Getting hyped up for this makes me want to revisit some of the Action Anthro stuff I've occasionally touched upon here.  For example...here's a 4d20 table to help create your crime-fighting team.

Or maybe it's time to create a little strike team for S.L.O.P.

Here's one.

His name is Kevin.

...

What?  Oh, no, it's Kevin Bachman.

Yeah, you don't want to make that other joke around Kevin...

Arrow points toward Kevin's badass S.L.O.P. tattoo.  Also, make sure to check out PeterBearFR's DeviantArt page, where I stole that awesome pig solder art from...and of course let me know if my theft is unappreciated and needs to be corrected.

This Day in Anthro History: Roni and the 1980 Winter Olympics

As the 2018 Winter Olympics play out in PyeongChang, we look back 38 years to this day in 1980, when the opening ceremony for that year's games took place in Lake Placid, NY (although events actually started the day before).

Representing the games that year was none other than Roni, a friendly humanoid raccoon who is as comfortable on skis as he is in a trash can...

While the anthropomorphic animal mascot is pretty commonplace these days, as far as I can tell, this was the first Olympics to use an anthro critter as the face of the games!  (Previous games had used animal mascots, but none walked/skied/skated like humans that I can find...!)

I think a raccoon was a pretty outstanding choice...it's a native animal, the mask is meant to resemble the eyewear worn by winter athletes, and the rings on the tail are a great nod to the Olympic rings (assuming that was the intention...!).

This Day in Anthro History: Left Shark!

On this day in 2015, Katy Perry headlined the halftime show for Super Bowl XLIX.  As usual with her stage show, she had dancers.

Left Shark is the one to the...left.  Image from NYMag.com.

Presumably using some sort of mutagenic ooze, or perhaps an advanced form of radiation treatment, Perry procured two bipedal, dancing sharks to be part of her crew.  And by the next day, one of them had stolen the internet.  The shark on the viewer's left - who has since become widely known as "Left Shark" - performed some goofy choreography (perhaps non-choreography?) that really captured our hearts that night.

Here's part of the performance in question which includes the key moves (it is worth checking out the full peformance, though; all of her dancing stuff is pretty funny):

Now, I'll be honest with you.  I didn't see this as it was occurring, and once I heard all the buzz and watched it, it was kind of hard to tell which one was the one that "messed up."  They both look goofy as anything and make me laugh a lot.  But it's the one on the viewer's left.

I'm pretty sure.

Anyway, this post is especially timely, as the dancer in question (presumably de-mutated at some point following the show), Bryan Gaw, has finally begun talking about that night.  Here's the piece from NPR where he explains that the goofiness was all part of the plan.  And if that's really the case...well, I'd say it worked pretty darn well!

Seriously, watch the sharks dance.  Puts me in a good mood every time.

This Day in Anthro History: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

On this day in 1865, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or as I've mostly known it, Alice in Wonderland) was first published.  While Carroll has a lot of fun with anthropomorphism in it, there's one character in particular I have in mind with this post...

The White Rabbit has to be one of the most famous anthro animals in literature, eh?

(One day, I shall unleash upon the world the tales of the League of Extraordinary Bunnies, a series of period adventures featuring the White Rabbit, Br'er Rabbit, and a time-traveling Atomic Rabbit.  That's if Alan Moore doesn't beat me to it...)

This Day in Anthro History: The debut of Ch'p

On October 22, 1981, issue #148 of the second Green Lantern series hit the stands.  The story "Tales of the GLC" introduced the world to an interesting member of the Corps...

All images taken from the DC Database...

Hailing from the arboreal planet H'lven, Ch'p served the Guardians with great honor, even joining the Earth-based team that kicked off the Corps-based book in the '80s...

 ...before meeting an unfortunate end in the early '90s...

Ch'p would show up in other corners of the DC multiverse (and eventually ditch the bowtie)...

...and would be succeeded in the DCU proper by the equally adorable H'venite B'dg:

Personally, I'm quite a fan of the little guy.  Of course, these days, the status of the H'lvenites as four-color spacefaring critters is probably overshadowed a bit by a fellow from the competition...

...except this one from the Marvel Database.

This Day in Anthro History: Lieutenant M'Ress and the Caitians

Happy Friday the 13th!  Time for another installment of "This Day in Anthro History"...perhaps not completely holiday-appropriate, but at least it involves a cat...!

On October 13, 1973, the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Survivor" aired for the first time, introducing the world to Lieutenant M'ress and the cat-like alien species known as Caitians.  After all, every self-respecting SF or fantasy universe needs at least one group of cat people, am I right?

Pic from her Memory Alpha entry...

Caitians would later be documented in live action Trek (like the admiral below who appeared in The Voyage Home) and, somewhat unfortunately, seem to have been ported into the new movies' timeline as catgirls with a more human appearance.

See Unnamed Caitians at Memory Alpha...

And while they might be the best-known of the bunch (maybe...), Caitians certainly aren't the only cats to have graced the Trek (and associated) universes over the years.  You can read a little more on this here...

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Thanks for stopping by!  Now, everybody head on over to Halls of the Nephilim and check out what +Justin Isaac has cooked up for release on this Friday the 13th...!

This Day in Anthro History: Song of the South's 1980 re-release

This is the first in what I'd like to become a series of posts touching on some of the landmarks in the history of animals that walk and talk like humans.  We'll see how it goes.

On October 10, 1980, Disney re-released the movie Song of the South to theaters.  This is the film that transformed the anthro legends known as Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Bear, and Br'er Fox from folktale figures of the American South to cartoon characters able to hold their own alongside the likes of Mickey and Donald in kids' stuffed animal collections.

If you want, you can buy this cel over here...!

It was also, as far as I can recall and piece together, the first movie I ever saw in a theater.  As a kid born in the late '70s in a pretty small south Georgia town...well, this makes sense.  And while I first saw it during the fourth of five re-releases, there probably aren't a ton of Americans much younger than me who have ever seen the film in any sort of legitimate capacity, as Disney hasn't shown it in an official manner in the United States in decades...for, while the film is known for its excellent mixing of live action and animated footage and for the iconic song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," it's also pretty well known for being too racist for Disney to embrace.

Well...embrace fully, that is.  Honestly, Song of the South is sort of a case study in how we Americans have no effing clue how we're supposed to approach our complicated racial history.  Which is how we have stuff like this movie serving as the inspiration for a popular attraction at both of Disney's big American parks, yet we can't watch the whole thing outside of bootlegs and pieced-together segments on YouTube.

It's been a while since I've seen the whole thing, so I won't attempt to give my own critique of the film's message other than to say that, yes, it's problematic.  This article from ScreenCrush has a pretty good discussion of it.  A summary:  It could have been worse, considering that it was first released way back in 1946, but if you encounter someone who says there isn't a problem with it, they should probably think a little more.

Those anthropomorphic animals sure are fun, though.

Here's a TV trailer for the 1980 re-release (one that certainly gives an idea of the controversy that could result from a full movie of this stuff):

EDIT:  Oh!  I should note that over at Song of the South.net - a website that certainly seems like its creators would know their stuff when it comes to the film - lists October 8 as the date of the 1980 re-release.  However, Wikipedia (yeah, I know) goes with the 10th, and it WAS a Friday, so I'm gonna call it close enough...

Wasteland Wednesday: Jack Kirby's proto-Kamandi

I think the topics I hit on this blog probably make it clear that I'm a fan of ridiculous anthro characters and settings, so I was pretty darned happy when I found this old SF anthology comic story.  (I had probably read about it, as it's even referenced on the Kamandi Wikipedia page, but I didn't realize it was in the public domain until I happened upon it here.)  Here's a Kirby story from way back in 1957 (15 years before Kamandi's debut!) that shows some clear roots for the later series.  Interestingly, this story also predates the novel upon which the film version of Planet of the Apes was based, so it's very cool to see that the basics of The Last Boy on Earth were laid out with no Apes influence.

The full story is below, and you should really check out all of Alarming Tales #1 (lots of free Kirby!)...but I don't think I'll give too much away by sharing a bit of opinion before continuing.  (But please feel free to skip to the good stuff below!)

The "resolution" to this story is kind of weird.  And I know that "weird" is a silly observation when the story is about time-traveling to the future to find a world of interspecific warfare among anthropomorphic animals, but I can't help but feel that this is one of those story seeds that would have really benefited from expansion beyond the short-story anthology setup of so many of these '50s SF/horror/monster/etc. comic series.  This panel toward the end of the story seems like it should have a lot of weight...

...but, just six pages into the world, it just seems silly.

Not that I mind all that much...it's still pretty awesome overall!  And in this future world of 2017, we get the benefit of Kamandi to expand the scope of the story.

Side note: This Wasteland Wednesday is also an appropriate time to return to "real" blogging on here, as I've left Monstrous Matters to be a bit of a wasteland lately as my life undergoes a soft reboot.  I hope to be back in the blogosphere to visit for a spell, now!