#ortolan

[tiredegggo]

[blighted-elf]

A series of Star Wars: The Old Republic styled recruitment poster commissions for blackstarcosplay on Instagram.

See my pinned if you'd like a commission of your own!

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

so @eastern-lights and I were wondering about what would fancy parties and banquets among the upper society of the Sith Empire look like, and

[flock-of-cassowaries]

It probably says a lot about me that I’m so pleased to know that the ortolans in Hannibal were actually marzipan. With little uncooked pasta skeletons.

(This was mentioned in the ECCC panel, available on all its glory on youtube, at least for the moment.)

Like, yeah, I love my serial killer media blowjob metaphors, but I hope those aren’t actual endangered songbirds that got drowned.

Vegetarian ortolan! …Tofortolan?

[vertigoartgore]

Catwoman & Penguin threatening each other pets (Oswald Copplepot's bird and Selina Kyle's cat) in Batman Returns (Tim Burton, 1992). Their symbolic way of doing the 69 sex position (she's eating his little birdie while he's stroking her pussycat)

The blow job ortolan scene between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter in the beginning of Hannibal 2X11 (Kō No Mono, 2014).

The connection ? Those horny live action characters putting a bird in their mouths (dead or alive) as a thinly-veiled metaphor of oral sex.

[oddygody]

So obviously the masks and outfits that the girls eventually wear for the hunt are some kinda ritualistic thing, but it also definitely feels like a shield that they can sort of hide behind. They allow themselves to recognize that they have become something else by showing it on the outside but only for the time period of hunting, slaughtering, and eating. By wearing it for what I assume is only these times they separate their actions from the rest of their experience in the wilderness, but also sanctify the hunt and feast, it becomes ceremony.

It also reminds me of that one dish with the bird (all of my knowledge on it comes from that one episode of American dad and Hannibal, and I don’t feel like looking it up) where you kill it by drowning it in whiskey or something before cooking it, and when you eat it you’re supposed to but the napkin over your head to hide from god’s judgment.

Anyway just random thoughts

[tartquez]

👉👈 for the ask game :))

👉👈What two stories have you written that are most similar? Why?

Easy answer would probably be time travel au and space time travel au but that feels like a lazy answer tbh

If anything I think Ortolan and Plural are most similar vibe wise (and the vibe is vale being evil and charismatic) and could be grouped in the really broad category of dark fic. I think they’re both also fics where I really let myself have fun and take some of Vale’s most ruthless qualities to their extremes. His need to win/ defeat an opponent in Ortolan and his need to be the center of his own (brother wives cult) solar system in Plural. I think in both fics, he’s at his most extreme and self-interested but he’s not behaving out of character per se, and that was the fun balance to try to strike !!!

[jedi-valjean]

Max Rebo or Neel— What's the difference?

A lot of people are confused by the fact that Neel and Max Rebo are, apparently, not the same species. As I've been watching Skeleton Crew, I've picked up on some key differences that really set them apart. On the surface, they both look like blue elephants, but the resemblance pretty much stops there. Let's dive into the differences:

Anatomical Build

If you're a fan of Max Rebo, you're probably aware that his "arms" are actually supposed to be his feet! There's a whole article about this. Ortolans have occasionally been depicted in canon according to their Legends body plan (which does include legs,) but you can see an example of their armless depiction here:

It goes without saying that Neel's species (which is currently unnamed) does not follow this body plan.

Hair

This one's pretty easy. Ortolans have never been depicted with hair, implying they cannot grow it. All examples of Neel's species have been depicted with hair. Honestly I don't think I even need to attach pictures for reference since I'm going to be posting so many already.

Snout, Mouth, and Facial Area

This is where it gets interesting. Compare the snouts on these two images.

With the Ortolan character, an arms dealer known as the Dragon, we can see that he has a small mouth under his snout, just like Neel. But his nose is long, round and bulbous, with no nostrils. Neel's, by comparison, is more like a tapir's, with nostrils on the end and a wrinkled, tapering shape. Neel also has adorable little cheeks, which Ortolans do not.

Also note that Ortolan snouts are prehensile, per this comic:

I think it's safe to assume that Neel's species can't do this. I will say, however, that I cannot really imagine Max Rebo's live action counterpart with the range of motion necessary to curl the end of his snout like this. It does somewhat resolve an issue regard holding things and walking at the same time, but it still strikes me as slightly odd.

Eyes

This is another big difference that you can spot right away. Max Rebo (and all Ortolans) have round, lidless black eyes. Neel's eyes are more humanoid— they have sclerae, irises, lids, and if you zoom in on the picture below, you'll see lashes.

Basically, Neel can blink— Max can't. (There are comics that contradict this, but unlike the example of the prehensile snout, this can be handwaved as a stylistic choice.)

Digits

Another extremely obvious difference is in the digits. Max Rebo's hand-like feet have five digits ending in suction cups. (Fun fact: Ortolans use these suction cups to absorb food and drink!)

Neel, on the other... hand, has four digits, which do not have suction cups, but fingernails:

Coloration

Ortolans are uniformly blue except for the pink ends of their suction-tipped digits. Neel, on the other hand, has pinkish purple coloring on his palms and the underside of his snout and ears.

Back Flap

Ortolans, at least in some depictions, have a fatty flap on the back of their heads. I can only find these two examples:

But Neel doesn't have one (because he's a different species.)

Height and Sexual Dimorphism

Ortolans are generally depicted as shorter than humanoids, as shown here:

Neel, however, is the same height as his peers, and his parents are the same height as the human adults in the show:

There also appears to be some sexual dimorphism in Neel's species— while the proportions of his mother's head appear to be similar to her middle school-aged son, his father (who I could only find in this one shot, unfortunately) has a much larger head and a longer snout. It appears as though he also possesses tusks, though I'm not entirely certain.

Ortolans do not appear to exhibit notable sexual dimorphism in any depiction; this is an image of a female Ortolan bartender:

Ears

Finally, the ears appear to be subtly different. Ortolans have big floppers that don't appear to have a significant degree of muscle support— they're just flat blobs. (I'm putting a picture of Max Rebo's model from The Book of Boba Fett, but I'm very salty about it. It falls short of the original on the left in so many ways.)

Neel's ears appear to have more structure to them— they're bisected by what seems to be some sort of large sinew or pair of sinews. They appear as though they may be prehensile to a degree. (Although it's been suggested that Ortolan ears are actually flippers, I have not seen evidence of this in official media.)

So next time you see an Ortolan or a member of Neel's species (which will hopefully get a name soon,) you'll be able to tell the difference! Putting a picture here of one of Neel's younger siblings 'cause I like it and don't really know how to end this post