UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

The muddled mirrors of self-reflection

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Clint

Still haven’t quite got Zootopia out of my thoughts. I think Dawn is considering me obsessed at this point with how I keep bringing it up in our conversations, but so what? It was a good flick with a surprisingly mature moral message that adults can and should take to heart as well as kids.

I’ve heard some criticisms that a message of “prejudice is bad” is something most of us don’t need beaten into our heads, or is muddled by the heroes of the movie themselves engaging in problematic behavior. But that’s exactly why I’m impressed, because the muddle is fully intended by the filmmakers. The film is not afraid to purposefully assign negative traits and actions to its protagonists, but how they deal with being confronted with their screw-ups is a big part of what makes them the good guys in the end. “Change begins with you,” Judy Hopps declares in her closing speech.

I won’t go into many more details than that since the movie still hasn’t been out for long and a lot of you may not have seen it yet (though if you can afford it and have the time, I strongly recommend). Don’t worry, it’s not as preachy as I may be making it out to be. Sometimes it tells, but more often it’s wise enough to just show and let the audience see what they see and take what lessons to heart that they will based on their own experience, as evidenced by my blog of last week. Prejudice takes many forms, and we have to guard against it in ourselves at least as much as we look for it in others.

Zootopia doesn’t advocate perfection. In fact it rejects the notion and presumes (quite realistically) that we will all have our slip-ups from time to time. Even the nicest of people are capable of the occasional dick move. And that more than anything is where the criticism that the film is not telling you anything you’re not already aware of — because you’re an enlightened person who is never, ever prejudiced — breaks down.

Case in point, at least one person on my Facebook feed talking about how much they loved the movie but then almost in the same entry making a nasty, denigrating joke about furry fandom. For that matter there was controversy leading up to the film regarding Disney reaching out to the subculture, a subculture even most nerds have traditionally looked down on. Even then, the org chart at that link does distinguish between “Furries” and “Erotic Furries”, a distinction lost on many who see someone dressed in a fursuit and automatically assume whoever’s wearing it likes to keep it on during sex.

Is there a certain percentage of that fandom that does like that? Sure, but applying it globally makes about as much logical sense as assuming your average superhero cosplayer likes to “get their spandex sticky”, so to speak. And even so, let him or her without fetish cast the first fuzzy handcuffs, right? We all have our kinks, and if they’re going on privately between consenting adults, then — pardon the pun — what’s the fucking problem? The fact I or anyone else finds it deviant or weird shouldn’t apply.

And yet a younger, less self-critical me would probably have been right there also making the erotic furry jokes right in the wake of watching a movie about tolerance, and thinking nothing of the irony. Conventional wisdom is that you’re supposed to get more closed-minded as you get older, but I’ve been finding the opposite to be true. I used to think it was impossible for two people to be married and in love while maintaining an open relationship — such a setup was doomed to failure, and anyone claiming otherwise was deluded or a fool. But now, I know a couple who has been happily and contentedly doing just that for over a decade, and in the face of that evidence I felt I needed to re-examine my prejudice in the same way I’d hope someone unconvinced about male-female platonic friendships would when faced with my own experiences.

What does this all have to do with the subjects this blog usually covers? Eh, I might be arguably off-topic. But then again, haven’t I written before of the importance of empathy in writing? Expanding your worldview, fighting past the blanket reductions and knee-jerk reactions to find common ground with the “other”, is an ongoing process and a difficult one. And being the opinionated bastard that I am, you better believe I stumble or lose patience from time to time. I’m still not sure I’ve found my common ground with those who prefer the Star Wars Prequels to the Original Trilogy.

Failing, including failing on interpersonal relationships, is just part of being human. It’s how we learn from the failures that counts.