#but you know what? not even mad

[densitywell]

spent like an hour trying to find a post abt the disparity of origin companion's content in bg3 and couldn't so, hey, this fucking sucks

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #the fact that the astarion favoritism is baked into the game itself is so darksided oh my god #bc what do you mean wyll has TWO THIRDS THE AMOUNT OF DIALOGUE??? #anyways this thread was also how i found out that astarion is the only one with durge specific scenes #and bc the writer was being forced into crunch and writing for both of them. lol #ETA I know abt Wyll being recast/rewritten and Karlach being added last. the post I linked goes into all of that in detail #as well as linking to another post that goes into even more detail and explains where these numbers came from. #you do not have to tell me. or accuse me of making shit up to make people mad. i know and i'm still mad lol #game design is very complicated yes but there's many ways they could've avoided giving the one black character the least amount of content

[nelkcats]

The Crime Lord does not stop flirting with me!

When Danny ran away from home and ended up in Gotham he wasn't quite sure what to do, adrenaline was coursing through his veins and all he wanted was a place to be safe.

That's when Crime Alley lit up like a Christmas tree and Danny knew it could be his new home, something about Crime Alley was drawing him in. It wasn't long before he decided to get a job to lay low. Of course, the latter was a bust because Red Hood noticed him almost instantly.

Contrary to his expectations, the Crime Lord took an interest in him but said nothing. He simply asked him to repair his motorcycle like a normal customer in his new job. Danny did and well, he couldn't help but repair some damaged systems and add some modifications. He hoped he wasn't stepping out of line, he just couldn't help himself, it was second nature to repair damaged things.

He thought Red Hood would be angry about it but the man seemed delighted (or as delighted as he could look with the mask), he looked at Danny and asked him what else he could do. Nervously, he told him that he was somewhat good with technology and before he knew it he had been hired by a gang (more or less, they were just asking for some custom orders).

So, technically he established as the mechanic and supplier to the Hood gang, and more specifically to the Crime Lord himself. He gave Hood some upgrades and became his supplier of (mostly harmless) weapons and upgrades. This attracted the attention of most of the gangs that were against the Crime Lord and Batman himself.

Jason, noticing how nervous the guy was assured him that he would protect him and no one was going to hurt him as long as he was around, it was obvious he wasn't from Gotham. For some reason, his new employee blushed every time he said those words.

Danny didn't know if Red Hood understood what he was doing (That was totally a flirt for protection spirits!), every day it was getting harder and harder not to respond to him. His ghost side kept screaming that he got a good match!

Which was technically true, considering that Red Hood had promised him protection and let him stay in his haunt (it became obvious that Crime Alley was his haunt after a few days in Gotham but strangely it accepted him)

Jason continued to promise Danny that he would be safe (poor boy always looked nervous) and Danny wondered how many days he could take the blatant flirting.

#dpxdc #Danny is new in Gotham #he stays in Crime Alley #Jason's haunt was calling him #At first Jason was suspicious about him #but the guy was nice #And an amazing mechanic #Jason loves his new updates #he checked for all the bugs of course #but after confirming it was harmless he returned to him #and asked what else he could do #Danny “I lived between mad scientists” Fenton could do a lot of things #dp x dc #dc x dp #dead on main #Jason hired him after hearing that he could create weapons #even though Danny told him he only made stun weapons #Jason knows he should be suspicious #but something inside of him (similar to the pits) just believes in Danny #Saying “I will protect you” It's flirting if you tell it to a protective ghost #Danny is not sure if he will survive his boss casual flirting #Jason doesn't know what he's doing #but he thinks the boy is cute #deadonmain

[dead-girl-tells-stories]

DP x DC Prompt: The Watchlist

Batman has a watchlist. A list that contains every individual who could become a rouge and a contingency plan for if they did.  

And while they, his children, often make fun of his paranoia and him for having it, they totally understand why he did. They lived in Gotham, for Christ's sake. Where everyone’s just a pin drop away from being the city’s next big villain, forcing the bats to scratch their heads while playing cat and mouse with a sicko for a good few weeks. And while they won’t admit it, the list has helped them a few times. 

But that won’t stop them from making fun of any of the list’s new developments. Because you see, there was a new list. And it wasn’t just a watchlist. No, no, no. It was The Watchlist.

It was a new development after he and Robin went on an out-of-state mission to investigate some town in bum fuck nowhere Illinois. And it was under some pretty tight security as well, so they were expecting something good, like mad scientists or evil mayors. Not profiles of the kids who lived in the town. And while there were a few metas and vigilantes that made the list interesting, by the end of it all they just seemed to be teenagers. 

Until they saw Damian. They hadn’t seen him since he came back from the mission with B. He looked tired. Like ‘Tim hasn’t slept in a week and is surviving on just coffee beans’ tired.

“Ah, I see you all have found it. Good. A few of them will be arriving next week as they’re a part of Gotham Academy’s student exchange program. At least three of them will be staying in the manor with us. Father will need you all to be on standby and to be ready for any possible scenario. Please, for the love of all that is good, do not encourage them in any way, shape, or form. And please do not dismiss them either. The outcome of doing that will be much worse. Is there more that I should add? Yes. Will I? No, because you won’t understand. Not until you've seen what I have.” 

The demon child sighed, then looked them dead in the eyes. “Godspeed to us all.” Then walked away.

Okay, they were scared now.

#dp x dc crossover #dcxdp #dp x dc prompt #dp dc crossover #dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #Batman and Robin went to Amity Park to investigate two mad scientists who were dealing with Lazuars waters #and instead #witness teenagers dealing with The Horrors (tm) like it was an everyday thing #because for them it is #Bruce KNOWS that the moment any of these kids crack its the end of the world as they know it #i like to think that all the kids are liminals and have powers but some aren't out about it as others #Danny knows that there's an outside entity in Amity but they don't seem hostile #protective even #so he leaves them be #i'm honestly not too sure what the profiles would look like #but i do know that they would look pretty normal until you either read into them too much #or was there to witness the shit he has witness #he's scared of those kids #but also want to protect/save them #cause the GIW still exist #and while not bad parents Fentons they aren't really good either #none of the parents are tbh

[lucabyte]

you dream of devouring your friends whole

#the 'it' and 'that' sif is referring to is the act 3 loop hangout but i enjoy being vague in dialogue it feels natural. tee hee. #serious time means everyone gets noses btw. sorry about the slow metamorphasis back into my usual style from my mimicry #in stars and time #isat #isat spoilers #isat loop #isat act 5 spoilers #isat act 6 spoilers #isat siffrin #in stars and time fanart #isat fanart #sifloop #YES IM TAGGING THE SHIP. THUMBS UP. READ INTO THAT HOW YOU WILL BECAUSE IT WAS ON MY MIND WHEN DRAWING IT AT THE LEAST #aaaaaanyway. my personal reading of loop is. how do you say... flowey-esque. to invoke a fellow antagonistic timelooper. since imo #they do seem even fuuurther gone than sasasap sif was when we saw them. and BOY DOES LATEGAME ISAT SIF HAVE SOME INTRUSTIVE THOUGHTS #so uh. who's to say what happened in there. since we know start again isnt quite congruent as loop never beat the king. #i wouldn't blame them for going maybe a little mad. just a lil #it is important to me that loop is. perhaps a bit haunted. AND THAT THEY GET THROUGH IT!!! but they are haunted #lucabyteart #anyway uhhh. probably should put a cw for implied cannibalism?? #cannibalism mention

[howlonomy]

imigane clover ever letting slip how fucked they family life was and ceroba just being mortified

the gang ends up on the local news

#my art #monster clover au #undertale yellow #starlo uty #ceroba ketsukane #martlet uty #clover uty #i think clovers parents were neglectful and strict based off of canon hints so thats kind of what im going for here!! #they neglected their house and their kid and expected clover to fend for themselves #and yet expect them to do everything and follow their rules #so its weird for them to actually. have reliable adults #(even if those adults… did try to kill them at first and let them kill themselves and didnt stop them but you know. everyone has flaws!!) #(theyre getting better at being adults LMAOO) #ALSO I JUST REALIZED I COVERED THE PANEL OF MARTLET FIXING THE ROOF SO U CANT TELL WHATS GOING ON?!??! #im too lazy to fix it. but im mad i covered it up #mcau comic #mcau art

[zephyrchama]

MC sneaks into everyone's bedrooms in the middle of the night and paints their horns homestuck candy corn colors for a fun April Fool's day surprise.

#how mad do you think they are #they dont even know what homestuck is. lucifers like “mc i cant believe youve done this.” #“luci you cant stop the homestuck” [uses levitation magic to skateboard into the sky] #obey me #obey me! #obey me swd #obey me crack #obey me scenario #obey me shall we date #obey me memes #omswd #obey me headcanon #omswd headcanon #obey me scenarios

[fluffyartbl0g]

Someone get this man a younger sibling that ISNT like. Twice his height.

#one piece #op fanart #monkey d. luffy #shirahoshi #kozuki momonosuke #IVE FINISHED REREADING THROUGH WANO IM OBSESSED WITH MOMONOSUKE NOW #I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND I MISS HIM SO MUCH T - T!!!! #literally tears streaming down my face ‘But I think of you like a little brother! #You’ve heard of laser beam that make you read one piece #get ready for laser beam that makes you REREAD one piece #srsly. do it. I didn’t care about characters like bellamy or shirahoshi or even momonosuke all that much on my first read through #IM OBSESSED NOW. I LOVE HARUDJIN THE GIANT TOO AND I CANT WAIT TO SEE MORE OF HIM T - T!!! I ALSO DIDNT CARE ABOUT KATAKURI LIKE AT ALL #NOW I CANT GET ENOUGH #also what the actual heck guys. I know its only been a couple of months since wano ended. #but why aren’t there any fics centred on luffy and momo being brothers… There’s like one on ao3 and it’s in italian… #PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY SLEEPING SO HARD ON LUFFY BEING THE OLDER BROTHER/MENTOR TO BOTH MOMO AND SHIRAHOSHI #IM SO MAD #SHIRAHOSHI AND MOMO ARE BOTH THE CHOSEN ONES ; - ;!!! AND LUFFY HAS BEEN PROHPESIZED TO HELP GUIDE THEM TO USE THEIR POWERS!!! #eg shirahoshi hearing the voices of the sea kings and momo hearing zunesha #both times luffy hasn’t been able to talk to them… but he’s been able to guide his younger siblings to use their powers properly #No im fr obsessed with luffy and shirahoshi and momo WHERE THE GOD DAMN FANFICTION AAAGFRGEHSHHSHSHS #LUFFY TREATING SHIRAHOSHI AND MOMO THE SAME WAY ACE TREATED HIM WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER T - T #KILL ME AAAAA1!!1!1!1!!1!1!1 #99 percent of all tags on my posts are just me freaking out LMAOOOO

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

I’ve been highly confused as to why Michael “deeply openly thirsting on Twitter about David Tennant for half a decade” Sheen is half-in half-out the closet but apparently Wales is absurdly homophobic lmao what the fuck how is a country the size of New Jersey that much of a hater bruh we out number the shit out of you

#i thought googling ‘how to say gay’ in welsh would be funny but it just made me sad #i knew the uk in general had a problem with trans people but WOW it’s fucked up in wales like. there are 8 of you what are you doing #i feel bad now lmao #wales #my weird welsh hyperfixation has taken me places let me tell you #cymru #homophobia #gay #lgbt #lgbtqia #good omens #bbc staged #michael sheen #i thought he was just ‘oh i’m quiet about my personal life’ but that’s not even true like my man’s probably actually scared #what a fuckass country lmao awesome #uk politics #united kingdom #david tennant #what is it with this tiny ass island taking over the world and being shitty lmao and this is coming from an american #bisexual #<- bisexual gang gang feel bad you fuckin haters lol #yes the whole world is homophobic i know etc but it’s like outrageously bad out there apparently #stay mad that i think nationalism is dumb ‘how dare you ever have an opinion you american’ #you’re white you are not going to like where the power + privilege argument inevitably goes

[tweeterwilbury]

It really was "gentle quiet and romantic" but not for who we thought it would be

#gos2 spoilers #good omens #good omens s2 #how do i even tag that #omg. #aziracrow #what was that #can i tag them #good omens spoilers #well yknow #at least i shipped them too but #YOU KNOW #i thought it was only a madness #a crazy thought #but NO #are you kidding me

[funky-sea-cryptid]

epic the musical just makes it fucking clear how much of "the struggler" odysseus is. he's like "dont open my bag" and guess what these stupid shits go and do. he just wants to see his wife. circe is hitting on him or some shit and he's like "please im married,,,, i just want my wife,,,," posideon himself comes down beats the shit out of him and homeboy narrowly escapes with his life but also my man's stupid as hell "WHATS UP, CYCLOPS I JUST BLINDED, MY NAME IS ODYSSEUS. PEACE." no WONDER posideon came fucking knocking dude

#epic the musical #im still mad at him about astynax but i can empathise #i too would go 10000000 miles and 20 years to see my wife #(even if i would not go to war. you know what i mean) #technically that fucking bus ride (on the way back from seeing them) was the goddamn oddessy with how many shit shows i saw

[lilidawnonthemoon]

#current hyperfixation is Pyramid Game & all its gayness and especially these two #what do you all know about SUJAEUN #i didn’t read the webtoon and started watching it for my girl Bona a bit reluctantly because of the intense bullying #and I'm enjoying it Bona picks her roles well & truly is a talented actress I can’t be mad even tho I miss her as an idol/ WJSN #didn’t expect so much gayness it’s not just vibes like 25 21 or implied like it’s canon with the idol trainee Yerim & her “bestie” Eunjung #and the bisexual “pervert” who joins them as the end of EP 4 lol #they’re all shippable tho like Doa why you looking at Suji like this (impressed with Seulki's acting btw its natural) #Suji is such an interesting character I love her & her dynamics with Jaeun and how they balance each other out (also CHEMISTRY) #I also really like Jaeun’s actress! #ryu dain #kim jiyeon #kdrama #pyramid game #2024 #photoshoot #bona #sujaeun #sung suji #myeong jaeun

[commsroom]

mission launch for minkowski's crew was in march 2013. ostensibly, they were put through some mission training, though the extent and effectiveness of that is kinda dubious. pagliacci takes place in 2013, exact date unspecified. but it has to be early. let's say... mid-january.

eiffel thought he had ruined the rest of his life before he'd even turned thirty. he probably spent his thirtieth birthday in jail. and then... for some number of days, weeks, maybe even a couple of months, he exists in this state of, well. of limbo. cutter gets him released from prison, and flies him out to canaveral. he doesn't speak to his family, obviously. they don't want to hear from him, and don't even know. he's still a prisoner, but no one around him knows that, either. at some point in this time frame, goddard first exposes him to decima, before hilbert even knows who he is. and he lives wherever goddard is accommodating him, and he has to go about his day-to-day life in this transitory state between a 26-year sentence he'd just started really grappling with, and the very immediate reality he's now about to be sent into deep space instead.

they give him a certain amount of freedom; it's not like he can go anywhere. he doesn't do much, anyway, is not feeling appreciative for his momentary second chance at life, given the circumstances. he blows off most of his mission training, and they're surprisingly lax about that, which in retrospect probably should have been a sign. he sits around and smokes, mostly. gets takeout food. but he goes to see movies, as much as he can. as much as he wants to punish himself, he needs to do something, or he'll go crazy, and it's not like he'll get a chance to see a movie in a long time. he was already resigning himself to maybe never going to a movie theater again.

the film adaptation of les misérables was released in december 2012. it's entirely feasible it could've been one of the movies he saw in this time period. i think the idea adds some resonance to his shared reference with minkowski in the finale, at least, in the way it pulls things full circle. intentionally or otherwise. and, incidentally, the 2012 film adaptation of les misérables, a story that notably features an ex-convict protagonist seeking redemption, was released on december 25th. call that serendipity.

#wolf 359 #w359 #doug eiffel #i don't know. just a thought. just some coincidences i think are kind of neat. #and @ beth hephaestuscrew i'm so sorry i asked if i could reference our conversation and then reworked the post #but in spirit i want everyone to know that this thought came from a conversation with her a while ago #when she was writing her minkowski musicals essay. go read that also. putting this part in the tags but #i think it would be funny if minkowski never got around to seeing it and actually gets mad at eiffel for it later like #THAT'S what you were doing? instead of learning basic safety protocols or how to Operate Our Space Station?? #you don't even like musicals!! and i was busy!! #i don't know what her opinion on the movie adaptation would be but i am sure she has strong opinions about movie adaptations of musicals

[z-mizcellaneous-z]

so im still seething over the new OP and decided to vent my anger out in a healthy way.

memes are a great coping mechanism y'all should try this

#and before anyone says anything #I KNOW THAT NOT ALL IZUOCHA SHIPPERS ARE LIKE THIS #they're just memes #again #IM NOT SAYING ALL IZUOCHA SHIPPERS ARE LIKE THIS #its just that they're at the center of the current shipping war with bkdks #even though we didn't even want to fight #LIKE #WE KNOW OCHA'S SIGNIFICANCE IN THIS ARC #ITS NOT IN THE WAYS THE OP PORTRAYED THOUGH #THATS WHATS UPSETTING US #mha #bnha #bkdk #bakudeku #mha season 6 #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #if you're an izuocha shipper #and you got mad at this post #you're mad because you're part of this problem and don't want to acknowledge thatm #mizismiz

[ganondoodle]

even if i didnt love botw as much as i do, totk drives me nuts bc, similarly to pokemon, this series is so SO SO full of potential, they have so many games they can pull from, theres so many themes, characters and worldbuilding thats just left to rot, you dont need to connect anything with a chain to old titles, you dont need to bring back any things that already had their ending, but PLEASE harness at least a fraction of all this!!!! and they just refuse to do it beyond shallow references

totk jsut drives it all home to me, bc this isnt just the next game in the franchise, but a DIRECT SEQUEL no 10 years apart from botw, yet they cant even, they REFUSE to even keep the continuity with its OWN lore it established in botw together, and that, i think, is what truly makes me so insane (derogatory) about totk

it PROVES they do not care, they dont care to build on anything of the lore of old titles beyond references in form of amiibos or whatever, they dont even care to make a sequel to their most successful game in the franchise coherent with its own lore

botw established a captivating detailed world full of potential, while lacking in active storytelling, it had environmental storytelling, characters and ideas that were the perfect ground to build on-

and then they do away with it bc idk .. they want you to build mechs and make videos of it that go viral and thats all they care about or something

shiekah tech? forget that existed character being the character you know? act as if you are seeing them for the first time just like they are lame story? dont think about that just be distracted by the epic presentation of it lore the previous title established? forget that, all that matters is what is here and now beloved character from old games beign brought back? hes a new guy and has no background and no lore and just sits waiting for you at the end to have a flashy fight with references from old titles and their lore? just here for nostalgie bait, dont you remember? you LOVE this series, now give me 70 bucks for a glorified DLC that ruins what you loved about the series and makes you realize that nothign matters and nothing is interesting anymore

you are supposed to take it all at face value, to not think about anything, to see a character say something and just go with it, and forget it the second its over, be distracted by good music and pretty visuals, but dont think about, dont think about anything but what is directly said to you like you have no critical thinking skills, forget there was a game before this one, only the one you play matters, empty your skull and dont let yourself feel anything but what the game tells you to feel

if they dont even care to make the sequel to their most successful game actually build on the previous title, dont even care to keep their continuity of two games supposedly directly happening one after the other in tact- maybe they never cared, and all the meaning we thought we saw them build into their games was all accidental and meaningless

and that is absolutely soul crushing for fans like me to discover

its a game. its not a story, its not a world, its not themes, its not characters, its not lore. its a product made to make you pay money, not to make you think about anything.

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #ganondoodles rants #i know it sounds silly to say this game makes me mad bc its so clearly a game #but do you get what i mean?? #and the worst part is #they dont even keep the lore said in the SAME GAME in line #the people in hateno where links HOUSE used to be that is now ZELDAS not remembering him #the children acting like they dont know him #where has link been? #did zelda put him into the forest and just let him live with the boars? #even so the house is here so link must have been here to buy it- #but no forget that #its somethign that happened in botw and that never actually happened or mattered remember? #to have balloons and rocktes and people with WINGS in this world but none of them going up to the sky islands everyone is obsessed about`? #well its for YOU to play around with with meaningless rewards not for the NPCs living in this world #the godly goat guy and the hylian priestress directly saying zelda is their distant descendant to her and then #not show nor say not even hint at them having any offspring and then both die a stupid meaningless death to try and make you feel something #“doing the dragon transformation robs you of your soul forever and you will never return” #*returns via deus ex machina without even letting the player take any part in it but by -getting to the end tm-* #also i HATE how totk constantly dangles set ups in front of you #only to NOT follow up on them #the intro giving you a taste of what you might expect for- NOPE zelda is gone immediately its jsut botw but worse again lol #zelda getting the hang of her time powers so she might return to her time on her ow- NOPE dragon lol her powers are irrelevant actually #impa being the only one you can tell about zelda being a dragon and her going oh no im gonna search for a way to bring her back- LOL NOPE #its solves itself and you dont even do anything for it and just watch a cutscene #oh no link lost his arm and its beyond repair- LOL NOPE have your arm back like it was freshly made no matter how few of the light things- #you actually got- the things that where supposedly to battle back the thing destroying your arm #also howt he game gives you endless busy work without any good reward #krogs - mayoi signa - poes - scematics - lightroots - sign guy

[cupiidzbow]

AUAAAGAHAHAAHH MAGNUS @newcronomicon THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS WONDERFUL COMMISSION… i’ve literally just keep going back to this sitting in silence with tears in my eyes…… THANK YOU SO MUCH ONCE AGAIN AAUGHHH

#IVE LITERALLY BEEN PACING AROUNG MY ROOM LIKE A MAD MAN …. #I FEEL SO GRAHAGAGAAGHAAHAGG 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 #U DREW FUNKY SO CUTIEEEE PIE….. AUAHAHAHHAAGAGAHAH #LITERALLY BITES HIM AND LATCHES ONTO HIM LIKE A DOG WITH A CHEW TOY…. IM SO CRAZY #AUAGAHHAH THANK YOU SOSOSO MCUHHHHHHHH AUAGAGAHAHAH #FAVE #ULT FAVE #GIFTS! 🎁 #🦍🏄‍♂️🌊 #stares at this with big wet eyes…….. I dont even know what to do w/ myself rn ….. #mutuals! 🌈

[kedreeva]

Sorry about the color mix up. I appreciate the reply and additional info! I guess bc I know nothing about peafowl (and the fact i dont breed any type of animal), I'm having a hard time understanding how being sterile would be unethical. I do somewhat get the shortened life span. I really would like to understand this, I just sometimes need stuff explained like I'm 5.

Up front, there's no "somewhat get" to a shortened lifespan being caused by a mutation in captive populations. If an animal is capable of living 20+ years (and some live 30+ or even 40+!) and some non-essential mutation is causing them to live 7-9 years, it's flat out absolutely unethical to breed that mutation, full stop, regardless of anything else going on. That's indicative of a MAJOR problem in their genetics. There's NO ethical reason to breed that because humans like how it looks. So, even without the sterility, these birds would 100% be unethical to produce.

The short answer on sterility is this: we don't know WHY they are sterile, but they shouldn't be, and that means something has gone wrong. When something goes wrong with an animal, and it's something genetic that can be passed on, the ONLY responsible and ethical thing for a breeder to do is to stop using that animal for breeding and closely monitor any already-produced offspring for signs of the problem, and likely not breed them, either.

The longer more complicated answer is this: sometimes it's possible to separate the problem from the aesthetic when it comes to morphs, like it was for cameo + blindness, but sometimes it's NOT, like it wasn't for spider + head wobble for ball pythons. In those instances, it's... difficult. Because you're LIKELY going to produce animals that suffer the same problem as their parent(s), in the attempt to separate the problem from the aesthetic, and sometimes that's ALL you're going to produce. As a breeder, it's your absolute responsibility to NOT release the offspring into the general population, where the problem may be replicated without control, and to keep or cull the affected individuals if the problem cannot be separated from the aesthetic, or AT BEST find them guaranteed pet-only homes that will NEVER breed them.

Sometimes the problem IS purely aesthetic or harmless, like it was for pied in peafowl, and sometimes it's not, like it was for vitiligo in peafowl. The problem comes when you ASSUME a mutation is the first, and treat it like the first when it's really the second. This has caused FAR reaching consequences in the peafowl community, and I'm sure in others, where now the autoimmune disease that first bronze had has been passed into genpop by folks who thought they were breeding a harmless new variation of pied. Hybrid animals are often sterile (not in peafowl though, hybrid cristatus-muticus birds are fertile) because of a mismatch in chromosome pairing numbers, and often that's harmless. So, in some cases sterility is not an issue because it's the expected result or is otherwise harmless... but in the case of peafowl, it's NOT an expected result and we don't know if it's caused by something harmless or not.

Some species, like mice and horses and cattle and dogs, genetic testing and DNA mapping done with millions of dollars has proven that while some stuff isn't purely aesthetic, it also doesn't cause harm to the animal in a way that affects quality of life or that can be adapted for in captive care. For example, in chickens, the frizzle gene causes curled feathers in single copy and an absence of feathers in double copy. This gene is considered ethical to produce IF the breeding is done responsibly by putting a single copy bird over a zero copy bird, which produces smooth coats and frizzle coats, but it is unethical to produce double frizzles (called "frazzles") because frazzles cannot thermoregulate, can easily sunburn, and easily suffer skin injury during normal chicken activity.

For peafowl, we have NO genetic testing. We do not have the genome mapped. As far as I know there's a research group working on it (mostly for green peafowl though, in conservation efforts), but that's not remotely finished or available to the public to test anything. We don't know where any of the morph mutations sit, or what is causing them or if they do anything beyond just change the color. Sometimes color mutations are the result of malfunctions in enzymes. For charcoal specifically, we don't know what the mutation does, besides what we can observe on the outside- the birds have half or less the lifespan of normal birds, poor feather quality, and the hens are sterile. Is the sterility harmless like it is in some hybrid animals, or is it actually a major organ failing? Is it the only major organ that fails due to this mutation, or is it just the first sign of their shortened lives? Is it some deficiency in something the birds need to be healthy? Does it hurt the bird? We don't know, but we do know the mutation and the problems (multiple, please do NOT forget that this is one OF MORE THAN ONE problems) can't be separated, and so until we do know why and whether it's harmless or not, the ONLY ethical response to seeing a problem in a major organ's function linked inextricably to a mutation in color is to not propagate that mutation. If someone wanted to fork over the millions it takes to sequence and map genomes and then determine exactly what is going on with peafowl, that would be nice and good, but I don't see that happening. When I win the lottery big, I'll be doing it, but til then we can only follow normal breeding guidelines

Also, to put this into perspective... peafowl mature sexually around 3 years old. They are chicks until the turn of the new year following their hatch. They are yearlings that year, and immature 2yo next year. They aren't actually considered fully grown until 6 years old, and should live another 14+ years. Charcoal birds die a 1-3 years after full maturity. Is it a coincidence that they fail to thrive shortly after full sexual maturity, or is it linked? Again, we don't know. We don't know if the sterility is fine or if it's just a symptom of something worse.

Even without the sterility, though, charcoal has enough issues it would be unethical. If it was JUST sterility, with no other deleterious effects, then maybe it would be different. But it's not.

#peafowl #asks #anon asks #as always please bear in mind that animal breeding is NOT the same as human reproduction ethics #and I ONLY deal in animal ethics #and honestly even if it was just shit feather quality then I would personally consider it bad breeding #I asked the only person I know who still has charcoals what their issues were and lord it is worse than I thought even #she's keeping/breeding only what she can keep herself #and experimenting with feeding regimens in the hopes of correcting a nutritional deficiency #that might account for the sterility #but so far after like 10+ years she's had no luck #so it's not likely #Like there are SO MANY perfectly fine and healthy morphs out there #there's NO reason to keep making this one #it's not essential to the continuance of the species #also to anon: I'm not mad at all this is just how i sound about my special interest #I'm glad you asked questions #I appreciate you seeking info