One of the first books I read in English as a kid, maybe 1 year after I started learning English, was a booklet with a title like, How to Have a Great Time at Summer Camp. I don’t remember the exact title and I know I only picked it up because the other books in English in my school’s library looked way beyond my level, stuff like Austen and Dickens. The summer camp booklet didn’t look too interesting but it was small with simple sentences. I ended up being fascinated with it because it was the most American thing I had ever seen and it felt impossibly exotic
all the kids had cool American names like Jill and Mike. One of them at one point talked about the “chipmunks” in the woods near the camp, a mysterious word that didn’t exist in my tiny English dictionary, and for some reason I pictured them as scrawny wolves. I had read Little House on the Prairie so I knew wolves were a major concern for Americans
camp “counsellors” were often mentioned, and my pocket English dictionary only defined that word as “psychologue”. I thought it was weird how American summer camps had dozens of psychologists roaming the premises, one for every 5 to 10 kids. That felt like a lot of psychologists
I had no idea that the word “pet” could mean “favourite”. When the booklet said one kid might become “the camp counsellor’s pet”, my dictionary helpfully led me to believe it meant that a psychologist would pick one unfortunate kid to be his domestic animal for the summer. Slightly disturbing. I moved on
the kids slept in “bunks” and my stupid dictionary only defined this word as “couche”. Which is not wrong, but we would probably say couchette instead, or better yet lits superposés, and couche is also our word for diaper so you can see why I continued being deeply intrigued by every new detail I learnt in this booklet. American kids are excited about camp because they get to sleep in diapers
I had never encountered the word “baseball” before but managed to guess it was some kind of sport, but when the booklet mentioned the “baseball diamond” (in the context of a kid saying the baseball diamond was big) I of course assumed it was an actual diamond that you could win if you won a game of baseball at camp. For some reason I had a debate with a classmate over the plausibility of this. I say for some reason because I didn’t really question the wolves or the psychologists with their human pets. A diamond though? Doubt. I just remember that we were queueing up for lunch and I was like “What do you think?” and my friend said hesitantly, “Maybe if it’s a small diamond?” and I insisted “No! The book says it’s big!”
among the basic items the book said every kid should bring to camp were “batteries”. I didn’t bother looking up that word in my dictionary seeing as it’s the same in French. I didn’t know it was a false friend, and I was impressed to learn that most American kids own a drum set and bring it to camp as an essential item
on the same page, in the list of things every kid should put in their suitcase for summer camp, another item was “comic books”. I wasn’t sure what those were since in French we call them BD, but basing myself on the word “comic” I assumed they were books of jokes and puns. I loved learning that in the US all kids bring humour anthologies to summer camp, presumably because they worry about running out of funny things to say. I thought American kids sounded nervous and sweet. But also really cool, because of all the drums
I gotta say this is absolutely delightful and actually about as weird as summer camp is, even if you were slightly off on *how* it’s weird.
Sea Fever! My favorite poem in the world, especially as the season ends each year and I get nostalgic. I hope I’ve done it justice.
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other comics /art /ko-fi /patreon
Every time this post comes around I’m too busy to tell this story so I’m gonna do it now: when I learned to scuba dive, there was a dude in my dive group named Dumbass Dave who was always being relentlessly roasted by his buddies because when they went to the Great Barrier Reef he brought a baggie of hard boiled egg down with him because he wanted to find a moray eel and feed it and pet it
Well he found a moray and attempted to hand feed it, and it snapped up the egg and bit the shit out of his right hand in the process and the dive had to be halted so the blood wouldn’t attract sharks. But was this enough punishment for Dumbass Dave? No it was not, because he had a Plan
Dumbass Dave’s plan turned out to be a chainmail glove. Where he obtained it has been lost to time, but he put it on his right, injured hand and down they went, whereupon Dave found himself another moray and tried to feed it some hardboiled egg
With his left hand
And yes it did bite the shit out of him and they did have to cancel the dive, again
So I guess the moral of that story is maybe eels aren’t bastards, maybe they just meet a lot of people like Dave
I reminded my scuba instructor of this story and he wanted me to amend the post to let everyone know that it was the same eel who bit Dumbass Dave both times
Just found out CJ from animal crossing is called Justin Bieber in Japan and I’m inconsolable
So his name is Justin in Japanese, like the American name Justin. He’s a beaver. So the joke is he’s Justin Beaver. But Japanese doesn’t have a ‘v’ sound in their alphabet, so they use 'b’ as it’s equivalent. So his fucking name is Justin Beaber.
Some little Star to Steer By Jedi doodles as I try to get everyone’s colouring down. Ahsoka is a little pinker than I intended unfortunately
Ok, I am almost out of spoons so please forgive if this descends into high-pitched keysmashing SQUEALS because holy carp I am just blown away right now.
HOW DOES PLO KOON LOOK STATELY? HE IS A COMPOSED AND DIGNIFIED JEDI BRAIN SNAKE WHILE OBI-WAN IS JUST CHILLIN’, SPRAWLED OUT LIKE HIS USUAL DANG SELF TRYING TO DO THE CROSSED LEGS THING HE DOES, AND AHSOKA’S MONTRAL-COLORED FINS, AND THIS JUST HIGHLIGHTS HOW VERY DIFFERENT ANAKIN LOOKS TO COMPARED TO TEH OTHER JEDI AND AAAAAAAHHHHH
HOW ARE THE JEDI ALWAYS ADORABLE BRAIN SNAKES FDSBJLGDFJHGDUHFSKHUFDSHUKFGD
Soooo I am a full month late for Star Fever, BUT here is the beginning of what I had planned way back when I signed up (before university and concussions made a mess of things :/). I really didn’t want to let May 4th pass without posting something. Now that I have oodles of free time there will hopefully be more drawings.
This one is really more of a study I did to understand Goa’uld physiology a little better. I started off just trying to pin down their approximate size compared to humans (vaguely forearm length?) and then I was thinking about how the Goa’uld/jedi might actually connect to their host’s brainstem. I’m not sure where they would anchor their heads but I kind of assumed at the back of the cerebellum (idk, it regulates your motor movements so it sort of makes sense?). Your spinal cord is so delicate that I’m not sure how they get situated with such limited wiggle room, but it was fun to consider.
After that I got a little sidetracked for a while- I mean they’re wrapped around the spine?? HOW? Their biochemistry and physiology must be whack to make that possible without hurting their hosts. What is it they secrete that prevents pain in their host before they are attached enough to suppress it “normally”? Do Goa’uld have fused skulls? Maybe they’re 99% cartilage so they can squish themselves into tight spaces inside their hosts, its not like you really have a lot of room in your skull. Do they even enter the skull??? Do they have their own digestive tracts?? They can live outside hosts so probably, but then how do they get nutrients in-host? Is their ability to filter poisons from their hosts purely via the Force or do they have the Goa’uld equivalent of livers and kidneys??? Someone to CT scan a Goa’uld PLEASE. Basically, you can take the scientist out of school but you can’t take the science out of the scientist.
I was also thinking about Goa’uld skin texture and I know they probably aren’t supposed to be scaly, but I reallyyyywant them to be, so I also made some scale texture with Obi-Wan’s colouring. I do have plans to paint Rex and other human-shaped people, but to be honest I now mostly want to make a spread from a Goa’uld physiology textbook or something (please share your opinions on Goa’uld-host biology with me, nothing would bring me more joy).
If I recall correctly, the symbiotes have tendrils that can extend from inside their mouths and thread up into the skull of the host via the foramen magnum. They may also use these to link into the host’s circulatory system to get nutrients and fluids- a host/symbiote pair probably has to eat a fair bit more than the host’s normal needs.
Love the idea of an unfused skull! They probably have at least a partially ossified skeleton, since there have been fossils of Goa'uld found in-canon in SG1. There were also episodes with Naquadah-less symbiotes living wild in ponds outside of hosts, so I would say it’s safe to assume they have functional digestive systems, including structures that perform functions like those of kidneys and livers. Using the Force may enhance their ability to filter and break down toxins, but normal metabolic processes produce nasty byproducts so it seems reasonable they’d have their own organs to deal with that. My question is whether they filter crap out of their host’s systems by passing the host’s blood and lymph though the symbiote’s system, through the Force, or just supercharging the host’s own liver and kidneys…
Leeches and other bloodsucking species often secrete a chemical that numbs the bite site, perhaps Goa'uld and Jedi secrete something similar, but more in the form of a skin secretion rather than in their saliva?
Another question- how the hell do symbiotes like ObiWan just pop in and out of their hosts on the regular without completely shredding the back of their host’s throat every time they leave? By the way characters in SG1 hold mature symbiotes, and based on the props and CG models, symbiotes seem to have a diameter of around two inches. That’s a big hole to repeatedly punch through soft tissue…
YES HAHA sorry I’m YELLING in glee didn’t think someone would actually take me up on discussing Goa’uld biology BUT YES
I know really next to nothing about stargate so I kinda figured at least SOME of my questions are answered in stargate canon, so thank you for bringing your knowledge! :D The tendrils make sense as a way to connect to the brain and the circulatory system. I’m assuming therefore that they DON’T enter the skull, and they can just extend these tendrils into the brain to make their “neural connection” or what-have-you. Probably it’s reasonable that they can also use these tendrils to just hook right into the host circulatory system, much like a growing fetus gets its nutrients from its mother’s circulatory system. They’re not massive enough to require the kind of increase in food-intake that a human baby causes (although maybe when they’re still growing it is higher?) but they’re probably still a little energetically costly. I’m digging the head-canon that the clones who work closely with their host brothers keep snacks on hand, just in case. I guess the Jedi would be arranged very similarly to earth snakes in terms of their internal organs and bones, since as you so rightly point out, they do have to survive alone sometimes.
You’re SO right though, how does entering through the throat not cause all sorts of problems? I kinda got the impression from StSB that in Stargate they enter through the back of the neck (?) but that would just be the same issue but external. Maybe on the way in a jedi could heal its host pretty easily, but on the way out I’m not sure what they would do. Maybe the numbing-agent they secrete is also a blood clotting factor? That would be counter-productive for leeches, but a Jedi would definitely benefit from not having their hosts bleed out. Also I somehow have in my mind that in star wars canon as aspect of force healing is speeding up your own natural ability to recover from stuff, so maybe the Jedi are able to as you say “supercharge” their hosts filtration this way, and also allow them to heal from symbiote-entry wounds.
(I am glad you like the scales!!!)
EDIT: I forgot to TAG YOU sorry!! @silvergryphon I’m new at like. actually interacting with people here. I’ve done nothing but lurk for years, this is an unprecedented level of talking for me please forgive any faux pas as I flail
@niphradel *continued enthusiastic screaming* I love Stargate and I love biology and worldbuilding and I’m the complete dork who spent three months doing a series of posts speculating how MCU Jotunheim works so for something like this I am 1000% your girl!
Symbiotes may need more nutrient supply than we expect- their genetic memory may be an intricate system of ‘alterable genes that code specific patterns of neural connections that transfer down generations- the queen *can* alter the genetic code she passes to her offspring (the Tok'ra’s original queen, Egeria, made extensive use of that trick) and that does impact the memories the offspring receive. But there’s a LOT of genetic memory that gets passed down, enough that I doubt that their teeny little heads can physically hold that much gray matter. I propose that Goa'uld have brain matter that extends throughout the length of their body (much like a Twi'lek has brain tissue in their lekku). This disproportionately large mass of brain tissue could easily demand a LOT of calories to function that they sap from their host- perhaps more than a growing fetus, since this is active and functioning brain matter. So I am also onboard with clones habitually carrying around lots of snacks- no one wants to deal with a hangry Jedi and host!
As for the neck-verses-throat thing: the Goa'uld, the actual nasty Goa'uld, habitually enter through the side or back of the neck, to avoid seeing and remembering the look of horror on the face of the host they’re entering. The Tok'ra choose to enter through the mouth, to avoid leaving an entry scar (since they take voluntary hosts-most of the time- usually their hosts aren’t looking horrified during the transfer. And who knows, maybe they want to remember that rather intimate moment to remind themselves why they hold to these standards of conduct?)
I like the idea of them secreting a clotting agent as well as a numbing one, that would make a lot of sense, and would be viable starting waaaaay back in their evolution into a large endosymbiotic species. They’re pretty much the largest brain-controlling, body-entering symbiotic or parasitic species I’ve ever seen in fiction, now I think of it. And the only blatantly vertebrate ones- usually when races like these appear in stories they’re more like the Yeerks from Animorphs- small, sluglike, and all squishy. It’s actually kind of a fun challenge to figure out how these large vertebrate symbiotes work!
Certainly they heal the entry wounds after they’re all settled. It’s leaving that’s the issue. Perhaps regularly wandering symbiotes like ObiWan trigger the creation of a low-vascular patch of tissue at the back of the host’s throat that can seal up quickly once its been pierced and the symbiote departs, and they specifically leave and enter through it? And the clotting agent secreted by the fins helps with the resealing?
They may also physically shift tissue around and create a sub-dermal void they can slot their bodies into. There’s not a lot of empty anatomical space around the top of the spine- it’s basically a column of bony bits with muscle tightly layered over the top with channels for important tube-y bits running along it, with more layers of muscle and tendon, then layers of fascia and fat under the skin…
Ooh! Perhaps the symbiotes have hinged ribs that help them squish their bodies in various directions!
You know you’re so right, I was even thinking to myself earlier that the Goa’uld/jedi must have some pretty wild brain to body-mass ratios, since they’re so small but highly intelligent, and that would have to be disproportionately costly. My thinking initially was that humans also have a lot of brain mass that they’re forming in utero, which probably uses an insane amount of energy, but I honestly don’t really know as much about developmental metabolic costs for humans (and turns out our brains are only like 25% of their adult size when we’re born, which is a new fact for me).
I’m 10000% here for the idea that their “brain” isn’t only in their head area but extends further into their bodies! It means they’d have some trade-off in terms of space for other essential organs. irl snakes with their tiny brains are already down to basically 1 lung, tiny heart, stomach + assorted other digestive organs, liver and kidneys, basically no extraneous tissue. The balance between brain size and the ability to maintain that brain size must have been an evolutionary balancing act. Maybe this acted as a selective pressure for their evolution into symbionts? Proto-Goa’uld that were able to take hosts had a major advantage energetically to their un-hosted cousins. It is fun to think about how they might have evolved- I also can’t think of any other mind-controlling aliens in fiction that are vertebrates - Venom, the Yeerks, even the “souls” from the Host are all squishy. I think it would make sense if Goa’uld ribs were more mobile than most other vertebrates since it’s not like they usually need the kind of impact protection ribs provide, and it would help them be more “wormy”. Hey, as I was typing the parts of a snake earlier I also had a thought- snakes lay eggs. But I think the Goa’uld have live births?? Do you think the queens are physically larger in order to accommodate the extra organs they need in order to do that?
I actually can’t believe I wasn’t yelling about genetic memory earlier, because GENETIC MEMORY, *gets starry eyed* its just. so cool. These beings are passing memory down epigenetically, I don’t even know if I can speculate on any real biology behind that because memory is general is kinda imperfectly understood, but it’s still a really neat concept. And a lot of speculation on memory/how we remember things talk about how a single memory is really composed of a network of information from different regions of your brain that gives context to each other piece of information (i.e. a collection of disparate perceptions that collectively make up your “memory” of a person or an event). To me this really neatly lines up with how the Jedi experience and understand their hosts memories. Like Obi-Wan understands English via Jack, but imperfectly, because he understands the language only as a collection of Jack’s experiences.
Also wow thats a really chilling reason to pick back-of-neck entry that I didn’t know about, I’m kinda into the twistedness of feeling guilt so removing the guilty feeling rather than fixing the problem though. The psychology of choosing to enter via the mouth because you have to literally face the person who you will then have control over is really satisfying though, did you come up with that? because if so, just *chefs kiss*. I think maybe this is kind of unconsciously true for the Jedi, not in a “oh we need to actively keep ourselves accountable” way but more in a “sharing intimacy” way.
I like the idea that regular passage triggers easier passage, so to speak. Maybe for Jedi who basically never leave they only need to have their numbing/clotting/antibacterial etc. secretions act once or twice. But Obi-Wan coming in and out a lot triggering the formation of an “easy access” door? I support it. Maybe Jedi who leave regularly produce more of this skin secretion, which in turn triggers the formation of this low-vascular area. Thinner tissue with fever vessels that can be rapidly healed using the Force? sounds ideal! Their ability to somehow fit into your neck and coil around your spine without showing any surface distortion/signs of their presence might have to be hand-wavey physics though, because idk about other people but I’m very bony and there is no way things would go unnoticed if it was me with the Jedi. Maybe I just have a tiny neck, idk. Also forgive my metric-using self but 2 inches in diameter!!! what!! I just scrolled back up to your first comment and then actually found a ruler and 2 inches is MASSIVE. I was thinking like 2cm/1inch diameter absolute max, and even thats a stretch in terms of physically fitting inside you. Real talk, I don’t even think my jaw opens enough to fit something 2 inches in diameter. please say psych about 2 inches
also sorry everyone who is scrolling past this for the 3rd time but idk how to make a read and I’m a little afraid to try
HNNGNN, SCIENCE.
I think one of the major issues with Stargate is that all too often, the [props/CGI/writers] department does not think things through, and that bangs into “hey we have a neat thing let’s toss it into this episode!” and then it is never heard from again (or worse, contradicted later, with no explanation). Some references (apologies for the images being cranky; I had…Difficulties with this)!
I wonder how the clones feel when they get assigned to their jedi generals, do they click immediately or do they gotta find their vibe first
I feel like Cody and Obi-Wan where like “Oh yeah, this guy gets me”
But Rex with Anakin when they first go on a mission was like
But in a beginning of dumbass friendship kind of way
I mean can you imagine. You were literally bred and built for war. You spend your entire childhood learning how to become the perfect soldier, taught that it was either Protocol or Die. You learn of the Jedi, this ancient monastic order of warriors monks who lead the grand army against the enemy you were created to defeat. And then when you’re assigned to your first ever battalion, Anakin skates into the meeting twenty minutes late, playing music on his phone without any headphones, and is like “ayyyye what’s up guys I’m your boss now”
