Hibiscus

Trini-chan:

Hai! We loved James Cameron’s movie Avatar so much, that we saw it many times, purchased lots of the videos, books, toys, and even cosplayed as our own fan- Na’vi clan the neko-maticaya clan! Taht required lots of the Blue body paint! We love the characters, the story, the FX, and the amazing design of the world of Pandora. It is hard to believe that it has been over12 years since the first ‘un, so we have most eagerly awaited this epic sequel!

Directed and co-written by James Cameron, The Way of Water ocurrs about that long after the first Avatar movie, and reunites much of the cast such as Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang! Things have been rather idyllic for Jake, Ney’tiri, their sons Lo’al & Neteyam, daughters Kiri & Tuk, and their human friend Spider, until the humans and avatars of the RDA company from Earth return to re-colonize and exploit Pandora.

The movie is about 3.25 hours, but did not seem too long, and it is magnificently immersive with all of the character developments, action scenes, and so much sumptuous stuff to admire! The only few things I did not care for were the pesky quick camera snap zoom techniques, which I find annoyingly jarring in any movie or TV show. Nevertheless, Avatar: The Way of Water is my favorite movie of 2022 and I will give it the “A” as in Aonung! Now here is Jenjen to discuss the

Jeannie:

Hai. We have greatly enjoyed the TV series Star Trek: Discovery which purrtains to the crew of the Crossfield class starship U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031. Seasons 1 & 2 occurred in 2256, two years after “The Cage” and nine years prior to “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. In Season Three, the Discovery wound up in the year 3188 (634 years after Capt. Jonathan Archer boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-J, and 789 years after the Picard series. Season four  aired on Paramount + from Novermber 2021 to March 2022.

Season Four begins two years later in the year 3190. The great returning cast includes Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Saru, Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly, Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets, Tig Notaro as Jett Reno, Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer,  Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun,  Patrick Kwok-Choon as Gen Rhys, Sara Mitich as Nilsson, David Benjamin Tomlinson as Linus,Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber, Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, Ian Alexander as Gray Tal. Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Ronald Bryce….

… Raven Dauda as Tracy Pollard, David Ajala as Cleveland Booker, Sonja Sohn as Gabrielle Burnham, Oded Fehr as Charles Vance, David Cronenberg as Kovich, and Grudge the cat! They are joined wonderfully by Phumzile Sitole as Gen. Ndoye, Hiro Kanagawa as Dr. Hirai, Orville Cummings as Lt. Christopher, Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka, Tara Rosling as T’Rina the Purresident of Ni’Var, Stacy Abrams as the Purresident of Earth, Chelak Horsdal as the Purresident of the Federation, and Annabelle Wallis as the voice of Zora.

I do not wish to reveal too much more of the plot, but much of it purrtains poignantly to the evolution of several characters and societies, first contacts, an anomalous extragalactic threat, and the rebuilding of the Federation. I rather enjoyed seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and the short Treks, so I was eager to get the 4th season Blu-ray, which has the unrated 14 epurrsodes (totalling 664 minutes) plus several special features (totalling 104 minutes) upon the four disks that are quite tightly clenched in the hinged inner trays of the plastic case. 

The video is purrsented in the 1080p resolution of the 16:9 widescreen format with 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. The spoken language choices are English, Spanish, German, Japanese, French and Italian, whereas the optional subtitle choices are English SDH, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Italian, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch and Swedish. There are no new Short Treks, but there are the discussions on filming during the pandemic (11.85 min.), Burnham’s evolution (14.37 min), LED rear-screen technology (19.62 min.)…

… the Season Four overview  (52.4 min.), gag reel (2.78 min.), three deleted scenes, and the optional audio commentary by Sonequa Martin-Green, David Ajala, director / purrducer Olatunde Osunsami and writer / executive purrducer / showrunner Michelle Paradise for the final epurrsode “Coming Home”. Those features are quite entertaining, informative, and of the top quality, although I wish there were art galleries, isolated mewic tracks, and more extensive documentaries. Nyow here is Daytona-sama  to begin –

Perched upon the 3.125” circular base, Lum looks so  perky, pretty and alluringly adorable, wearing her famous in the tiger stripe bikini and boots! I’m not sure how to determine the scale of the figure, given the proportions and the oversized SD chibi head, but if she was standing up, the figurine would be approximately 7” tall, plus the .25” high base.

Yvonne:

Super 7 does such splendid work, so this figure is beautifully designed, sculpted, painted, and  looking quite fathful to the animated charcater, nya! She is very posable, with the articulation in her neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, abs, hips, knees and ankles, nya! The details are so accurate from her hair, eyes and spots to her emblem, bracelet and boots, nya!

She is accessorized with 2 more interchangeable heads with different expurressions, 3 more pairs of interchangeable hands in different gestures, the bo staff with the optional flame effect, the smaller collapsed version of the staff, her mirror, flute, and 2 versions of her commeownicator (open & closed) on the strings to hang upon her neck or wrists, nya!

She is packaged in the clear plastic clamshell  inside the cardboard box which has the beautiful illustration, inside the outer sleeve which has the embossed emblem on the front and the logo on the back, nya! I am very pleased with this figure which I will give the very high purraise, nya! I am done, and nyow here is Tara-chan to discuss

Arigato, nya! Ahsoka Tano the former Jedi and padawan of Anakin Skywalker is my favoritest Star Warrs character, nya! You know, several years ago, I cosplayed her for our Halloween Trick ‘R Eat Purrowl, nya! She was supurrbly voiced by Ashley Eckstein in the animated tales and – and purrfectly purrtrayed by Rosario Dawson in the live-action series, nya! This action figure of her is based upon the latter version, and – and although it is made by Hasbro, the packaging has the old style with the Kenner logo, as if it was an action figure from the late 70’s or early 80’s, nya!

The figure is cleverly designed, sculpted and – and painted, with the purrtraiture that resembles Rosario’s Ahsoka, and- and rhe purrcise details of her face, lekkus, montrals, and – and the sleeveless Blueish – Gray garment with the obi, gauntlets, gloves, greaves and – and tabi boots, nya. The detail of the folds, creases, seams, knots, beads and drapurry is very intricate, nya! She has two llght sabers with the Blue beams and – and the curved Light Gray hiltd;  the 4.125”  saber and the 3.1875 shoto saber which can fit snugly into her clenched hands or hang upon her hips, nya.

Since Rosario Dawson is 5’ 7” tall, then this 5.75” figure (including .125” for her montrals) would be appurroximately of the 1:12th scale, nya. She is nicely posable too, with the articulation in her neck, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, abs, waist, hips, thigh, knees and – and ankles, and most of those joints are cleverly disguised by her attire, nya! A display base is not included, but also enclosed is the .1.75” replica of the New Republic credit coin, nya! I will give this fine figure the “A” as in Ahsoka, nya! That is all of our toy talk, and nyow here is Mike to start our

Mike:

Thanks Vonny! I’ll try to be brief this time, because it’s easy for me to ramble on about my favorite movies and art books! Given the magnifcent beauty of Avatar: The Way of Water, I was quite excited to get this great book full of concept art! Published last month by DK, and written by author / editor / film professor Tara Bennett with the introduction by Rober Rodriguez, this full color, 256 page, 12” x 11.375” x .875” hardcover coffee table book is priced $50 in the USA and $60 in Canada.

Mielikki:

Hanta Hantanye, Moon-san! So like, for over three decades, our Eisner and Inkwell award- winning, Hugo and Harvey – nominated friend Andrew Pepoy https://www.pepoy.com – who was a December 2008 guest of The Mew – has beautifully written, pencilled, and inked hundreds of international comic books, web comics and newspapurr strips,including the titles and characters such as

The Simpsons, Futurama, Fables, Batman, Justice League, Scooby Doo, The X-Men, Namor, Iron Man, Star Wars, Godzilla, Sonic the Hedgehog, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Doctor Who, The Beatles, Wallace & Gromit, Betty & Veronica, Katy Keene, Archie vs. Predator, Die Kitty Die, Red Sonja, Monica Moon, Jetta, Uncle Scrooge, Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Dinosaucers, and so forth!

Since 1990 his own otally awesome series The Adventures of Simone & Ajax http://www.simoneandajax.com, fur shur! So like, Simone is a peppy girl in her 20’s, her best friend Ajax is a widdle Green dinosaur, and their zany adventures have appeared in various anthology comics, their own series (in print an online); and their tales have been collected into paperback and hardcover books!

Published a couple of months ago by Spicy Tomato Studios, The Adventures of Simone & Ajax vol. 3: Lemmings and Tigers and Bears is the third collection of their fun tales! Priced $29.99 and suggested for readers of all ages, this 6.875” x.5” x .5” full color 128 page handsome hardcover book includes four stories plus the 15 page gallery of rare Simone & Ajax art!

The gallery has various appurrances of Simone & Ajax in comics, commissions, pin-ups, prints, holiday cards and convention books! Those were colored by either Andrew, Jason or Matt Webb! There are also photos of Colleen the Simone cosplayer with her widdle Ajax plushie! Kawaii! This collection is as beautiful and as fun as fun can be, so I will give it an “A” as in Ajax, fur shur! So like, I am done, and now here is Myayr to tell us about

Mary Nyan:

Arigato! Frank Frazetta (9 February, 1928 – 10 May, 2010) is one of the most legendary, inspurrational fantasy artists of all time, whose meowgnificent paintings depict the amazing heroes, villains, creatures, environments and events! One of countless such oil on canvas paintings, was “Dawn Attack” (1991), which depicts the sexy powerful warrior woman in the ornate bikini armor with the winged helmet and blaster pistol, leading the metal mecha troopurrs and futuristic fixed-wing aerospace craft into the misty battle on the alien world!

Published by Opus Comics, this comic book tells the story of that character! Published by Opus Comics, issue #1 is purriced $4.99 and has the uninterrupted 22 page tale  followed by the six page cover art gallery and 2 pages of ads. The issue is available in the choice of six different covers: cover A by Santi Casas, covers C & E by Dan Panosia, covers D & F by Dave Dorman, and the wraparound cover B which is the Frazetta art! Cover E is the “virgin” (sans type or logos) variant of cover C, whilst cover F is the virginal variant of cover D.

This tale of the “planetary romance” genre was written by Jody Houser & Eric Campbell, illustrated by Diego Yapur & Dan McDaid, colored by Carlos Cabrera & Felipe Sobreiro, lettered by Jacob Bascle, edited by  Holly Interlandi, R.G. Llarena & Denton J. Tipton, and stars Purrincess Dawn who leads the frontier colonists who are hindered by famine and monsters! Fortunately, she is quite the huntress with her sword and blaster pistol, because the world’s other savage creatures are on the purrowl for food too, and she is on their menu!

Dawn has the assistance by her lover and military advisor Faris, and her purrky enginer friend Jasey who has managed to restore one of the salvaged spaceships!  I am quite curious as to what Dawn and Jayse will encounter during their space flight in search of the king! The gorgeous art is quitely lushly lavish with the sumptuously illustrated characters, creatures, mecha and envirionments, and the beautiful covers are sexy, brave, tough images of the purrincess! I am done, and nyow here is Ellie-sama to discuss

Hai! Priced $3.99 and Rated T+ for the older teen readers, the 5th issue of this six issue mini-series from Marvel Comics was written by Al Ewing, illustrated by Javier Rodriguez, lettered by Joe Caramagna, edited by Will Moss, assistantly edited by Michelle Marchese, and in-chiefly edited by C.B. Cebulski, with the main cover art by Javier; and the variant cover by NetEASE.

Previously, the team Tigra, America Chavez, Loki, Blue Marvel, Galactus’s mom Taaia and The Beyonder have encountered the numerous cosmic and godlike entities on the journey into The Mystery (the realms outside the Multiverse), where they encounter Cloud, Celestials, and One Above All in the metafictional place known as The House of Ideas!

It has been quite the epic, weird, unpredictable, perplexing tale thus far, with the appearances by many other characters including Dr. Strange, Phoenix, The Tiger God and Glorian, and it is brimming with such staggering concepts and cosmic action that is barely contained within the comic’s panels, which include several full-page pics and two-page spreads!

The story has been quite captivatingly, the art has been quite the surrealistic wild ride, the annotated comment pages have been the informative help, and I have no clue what might happen in the final issue! We have several questions about it, and hope that Tigra will fianlly star in her own MCU movie or TV series! On that feline note, now here is Becca to tel us about the

Hai! Jim and Melody Rondeau http://crossovers.net/makeitgoaway/home.htm are such the amazingly kind, industrious and talented couple who are famous in the various fandoms for their great art, writing, publishing, cosplay, and vending! At the cons, shows and their web site they sell the many books, magazines, fanzines, comics, scripts, movie memorabilia, film clips, videos, games, and plushies too!

For several decades, Melody has illustrated their whisically beautiful Oh No Not Another Cat Calendar, which depicts anthropomorphic cats (plus the errant mice) in the various periods and situations! The Black & White 8.5’’x 11”: wall calendar opens to the 11” x 17” size, and the fouteen pen & ink illustrations depict the feline-ized versions of famous historical rulers and their subjects!

That international royalty from across the centuries includes Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, King Arthur, King Kamehameha, Henry VIII, Montezuma, The Deagon Empress, Genghis Khan, King Soloman and The Queen of Sheba, Caeser and Cleopatra. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Queen Elizabeth II… oh, and bringing up the rear is Melody and Jim’s cat Squeekie!

Below each illustration is the monthly date grids that meontion the holidays & observances of 2023. It is quite informative, and we learned that next year’s Hanukkah begins on the same day (December 7th) as the 44th anniversary of Mike’s all-time favoritest movie, Star Trek- The Motion Picture! That is all for our reviews, so nyow I will turn The Mew over to Lizzy  and Becca, who will present this month’s

Hai, in this monthly portion of The Mew, we commeowmorate famous nekomusume and other kemonomimi of mythologies and popular culture, including anthropurrrmorphic ladies, monster girls and shape – shifters! who appurr in the folklore, movies, TV, novels, comics, games, toys, mewsic, advertising, and so forth!They are not limited to the feline or other mamallians, but include the avian, reptilian, piscine, insectine, and many other types!

There are those who might not actually have beasty DNA, but have the spurrit, cat-titude or couture, whether it is therianthropy, cosplay, or attire of the animal theme, who we will broadly consider to be the “honorary kemonomimi”! A great example of the “honorary kemonomimi” would be actress Kimberlin Brown who purrtrayed Sheila Carter in the CBS soap opurra Young and the Restless, when she wore the glamorous kuroneko mimimi (Black cat girl) costume at the gala masquerade ball in 1991!

Of course, in James Cameron’s aforemeowntioned Avatar movies, the planet Pandora is populated by the various tribes of the Na’vi people, who grow up to 10 feet tall and have the lovely ears, tails, fangs, spots and stripes! We have purreviously purrofiled Ney’tiri, Grace and other meowmbers of the Amatacaya Tribe and we were overjoyed to meet daughters Kiri & Tuk, and the ladies of the Metkayina clan such as Ronal and Reya!

In the delightful anime TV series Nakaimo- My Sister is Among Them, several girls from the Miryuin Purrivate Academy appurr as catgirls.  Miyabe, Kanoe, Ikusu, Rinka, Mei cosplay as catgirl maids with the moving ears & tails at the Lyrical Sisters Cafe; and in the epurrsode’s teases for the next epurrsodes, the are depicted as the playful widdle chibi nekomimis!

The supurr fun anime TV series Yozakura Quartet purrtains to  the four teens , Akina, Ao, Hime & Kotah who assist and defend  the human and Yokai citizens from the various hardshipos and threats! Ao Nanami (voiced by Saki Fujita) is the adorable petite nekomimi whose twitchy  ears act as the antennae when she uses her telepathic and purrecognitive powers!

 by Suzu Miyama, Beast Tamer is the Japanese light novels, manga & anime series of the fantasy genre purrtaining to the hero Rein (voiced by Shoya Chiba) who can commeownicate with critters and befriends girls of several species, such as the supurr strong teen catgirl Kanada (voiced by Azumi Waki) and the meowgickal teendragon girl Tania (voiced by Rumi Okubo) who form the powerful group of adventurers!

Price of Freedom is the web comic and online fantasy role playing game in the realm populated by the many species, including the humans, elves, lizard, lmia, demons, and kemonomimi characterers! The artistry is quite lovely, but the wrotic content is not for the widdle kitties or the purrudish types!

Purrtrayed by actress / mewsician Ashanti, Lissa was the sexy cat-eyed demoness who dated and kidnapped Xander in “First Date, the 14th epurrsode of the 7th season of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series! You know, Ashanti was also great as Betty the tough nurse in the 2007 movie Resident Evil: Extinction!

Purrtrayed by actress Clare Kramer, the evil goddess Gorificus was the big bad villain in the 7th season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in its 17th epurrsode “Forever” she wore the purretty zebra-purrint dress, so we will consider her as the honoraray shima-uma musume! You know, Clare also starred in the 2000 movie Bring it On, which also starred Eliza Dusku, who purrtrayed Faith Lehane in the Buffy and Angel series! That is all for this month’s spotlight, and nuyow here are Lizzy & Becca to purrsent the latest 

Rvkh’s “Joanie” depicts the female version of Jonni who is a non-player character in Mike’s monthly tabletop fantasy role-playing game “The Adventures of Nystia Nightshade”, nya! Jonni is the idol star husband of the titular charazcter Nystia, and due to a meowgickal mishap, he was tempurrarily transformed into the girl, who is quite alluring on the concert stage in her Golden Beehive Ginger bikini armor, nya! Rvkh used Procreate and  the Apple Pencil upon the Ipad Pro for this pic, and the art purrocess video is at https://youtu.be/BjWeY92l2_A, nya!

Lastly but not leastly is Mike’s  Photoshop CC and the Mouse illustration of “Amaterasu” the Japanese Shinto Goddess of the Sun! Mike did this pic for our author friend Sharon Williams, who was our November 2014 guest of The Mew! Amaterasu is among the deities who appurr in Sharon’s original serialized prose urban fantasy tale of “Fire From The Sun: Rise Of A Queen”, which y’all can read at Sharon’s gallery at https://www.deviantart.com/caribbeanrose9!

Perhaps y’all have seen Mike’s pics of Amaterasu’s human avatar Hanami, her mom Yoko and their friend Kana? So, what do y’all think of the new art?

That will do it for this edition of The Mew! We wish to thank Rvkh, Misty and Mike for the art…