The downfall of The Sims and Sora

The same Herodian ne'er-do-wells that want you to die for their 1948 satanic military experiment by going ill-equipped to Iran to fight a war-of-choice, are the same ones that are also screwing over the economy - by design!

And the effects of their manipulations are not theoretical. They lust for absolute control, so they manipulate the economy in a specific way: a way that makes democratization of processes unsustainable. To produce engineered dependence in its place!

Nowhere are we seeing this hit faster, than in creative fields. One look at how their economic manipulations forced EA to reshape its entire business model around game design in the span of 2006 to 2026 is a telltale example.

EA could once afford to make The Sims a franchise worth investing in, and a community worth being a part of. Today, the community is slowly dying, and the game is a hollowed-out husk of the spirit that made it so huge once. Game expansions are more in number, but thinner in content and scope. And yet, still cost ever more and more - to make, and to purchase.

When the full game now runs you more money than three years of subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud, for a game that no longer has open world and has outdated graphics, it's only a matter of time before gamers begin the exodus.

Just recently, OpenAI also fell prey to those same economic squeezes. Pinned against a wall, they were forced to face that the democratization of creativity had, in general, just been made all but entirely verboten. With economics weaponized against the spots where the law still can't be.

As such, military contract promises notwithstanding, robotics became the future of OpenAI. Which also meant that video generation was no longer profitable. Sora was first on the chopping block. And the downfall of Sora was, to say the least, a tragedy.

Those fleeing the dying machinima-ready video game era found Sora a refuge for their creative ambitions. Only for that refuge to get shot down faster than a girls' school in Iran! Over the last four months, I have, in the span of about 750 videos, created a vast multiverse of conceptuals to aid my projects moving forward. An archive that covers more ground than my entire Sims era did. And an archive that is a quarter the file size! Four months, versus 20 years.

Creative endeavors will continue onward. But the tools of the trade are changing rapidly. And not every tool survives the long haul. Economy manipulators are seeing to that. Freedom of expression and elitism have been enemies since almost the dawn of time. And that struggle continues even now.

New projects in, some old ideas discontinued

While the technical founding of Dozerfleet as an operation is October 10th of 1994, the name of "Dozerfleet" for the brand was decided in late April and early May of 2006. Meaning that the current banner the brand operates under is about to turn 20 years old, even if Dozerfleet itself turns 38 in October after the time of writing of this post.

As such, it's become time for re-evaluation of the project pipeline, especially with new stories to tell, and old stories that didn't work out not likely to gain traction. With new tools available, and old tools becoming obsolte to the workflow.

New entries in the works

Along Trolled a Spider

Much of the Dozerfleet formula of today revolves around social and institutional commentary. "Clearing a path" often involves exposing that which is in the way of said path. So the fleet of bulldozers in Ivan's world don't just stand for resistance to those who were destroying Veskinsaya's values. It also refers to plowing down and exposing systemic hypocrisy, and the core problems with human nature. As such, many newer Dozerfleet works are often very satirical in nature.

Set in the Dromedeverse, Along Trolled a Spider is a comedy variation on that theme. It involves a lab experiment, a super-intelligent-yet-restless spider, and corruption at multiple levels of individual, the soul, institutions, and society as a whole. How one spider goes to war with mankind's foolishness, because the awareness of it prevents him from finding peace in his own web. Meme warfare and petty sabotage become Andy's primary tools of the trade, as he sabotages, humiliates, and lampoons every level of civilization that he feels deserves it. And most never even know it's just one tiny spider setting the narrative straight.

This story was inspired by a dream of a talking spider with a Cockeny accent, protecting a young woman from some man that would have harmed her if he caught her crossing a bridge.

Ciem: Carnelian Eve

Set in the Cataclysmic Gerosha universe (Earth-G7.0). Some time after the events in Ciem: Caldera, Tanya Woven is moved to Seattle. Microplast attacks the city, followed by the Kerpher Gang - and a gentrification racket. The most vulnerable in Seattle are threatened. To Tanya, that's unacceptable. However, while she initially tries to handle problems in a way that won't risk the law growing too curious about her, she soon has to escalate her resistance when the Padua Network is crippled - minimizing her support. Seeing just how corrupt the city is forces her to get clever. Not all of Candi's methods of fighting corruption and crime will work this time. Tanya must figure out for herself what being Ciem means in this new environment - and the clock is ticking.

With her father dead, and her mother nervous about the family being recriminalized - especially if they move back to Indiana - Tanya is under a lot of pressure to make her new life work. This tale occurs a year before Cerato arrives, Seattle is nuked, and Tanya is forced to relocate to San Antonio - where she semi-retires from being Ciem, and focuses on raising a family instead during the Sodality timeline. In that latter timeline, she becomes the de-facto babysitter for other Sodality members' children.

Oz: Reckoning

A retelling of a darker, more convoluted version of The Wizard of Oz, borrowing aesthetics from Far Cry 5. The Wizard messed up, when he meant well. Something in Oz broke, threatening all existence there. Elphaba's bitterness drove her to try to fix it, but the scars of her mystical encounter backfire transformed her into the Witch that became feared by many. Glinda also tried, but remained faithful to the Wizard. This led to a bitter falling out between the two. Elphaba's sister also tried to intervene, only to get corrupted even worse. Glinda's powers were damaged, and a key part of her needed to stabilize her - and the spell that could save Oz - went missing. The destabilized Glinda threatened to become a bomb.

To prevent the destruction of Oz, the Witch of the East sacrificed herself to scatter Glinda into multiple fragmented shards, that only a future explorer could one day hope to put back together. Both Glinda and the Witch of the East were gone. But that only slowed the apocalypse coming down. To buy Oz more time, Elphaba began forming a cult that would drain souls over time in self-sacrifice rituals. Her cult to delay the inevitable until a better solution could be found gained traction. Oz broke out in civil war. Most of the Wizard's power was broken. A humbled man, he led a resistance, as the Witch had become excessively violent when trying to proseletyze Oz to her cause.

Meanwhile, Dorothy's family faced risk from multiple institutions in Kansas. The school board was ready to expel Dorothy and declare her a delinquent after she exposed a few too many false narratives in school. Land grabbers came after her family's farm, weaponizing eminent domain to trample all property rights.

Dorothy wasn't expecting rescue. Just a chance to fend for her rights. Especially when the land grabbers threatened to jail her "just to keep her quiet." She was surprised to learn that sometimes, the system jails the victim and protects the criminal. It was backwards! But she knew who was really behind it. Alas, she knew she couldn't say it out loud at school, for fear of what would be done to her familyif she were branded a "racist" for stating the obvious. Typical Marxist tactics, but she knew she'd get in trouble for pointing out the history of Trotsky and dictionary manipulation as well.

The tornado happens. But she doesn't wake up to an Oz of whimsy. She wakes up to a mountainous terrain. An Oz that's...very dangerous. Weird creatures mixing magical weapons with mundane ones. Civil war. Escalation at the drop of a hat. The Tin Man is now a blacksmith. The Scarecrow is just a man who makes straw bales. The Lion...now just a weak man with a lion's mane coat. And a witch who's a cult leader, whose neither entirely right or wrong.

"Out here, you either bow to her, or you burn..."

And returning home is no picnic either. Dorothy knows that if she returns too late, especially post-tornado, she may not have a family to return home to! And if she finds out the land-grabbers stole her home while she was gone? She fears they'll brand her a fugitive somehow, make something up. Anything to keep her from interefering with their ambitions! And her family? Won't be compensated for even one square inch or cent of what is stolen!

Even if she wanted to stay in Oz, she might not be able to. She must now save a dangerous world that will thank her but can't keep her; only to return to a world that no longer wants her.

Wonderland: Amulet Fury

Happening in the same universe as Oz: Reckoning, this tokusatsu romp sees the Queen attempting to conquer both worlds. She tries to frame Alice for arson, and Alice's boyfriend Steve for aiding and abetting. The March Hare and Cheshire Cat, along with some rediscovered powered amulets, enable the teens to escape wrongful incarceration. But to save their hometown, they must first save Wonderland. To do that, they need the amulets' powers, so they can rescue the Mad Hatter, and free his lobster kaiju "Thermidora." When Steve gets captured by the Queen as well, Alice must use her wits and fists to overcome Wonderland's puzzle obstacles and create Team Amulet Fury. Yet, she's aware there will be no clean wins. She will have to return to Earth to explain everything - and she knows the cost will be heavy. But even if she must briefly lose her own freedom, she's determined to stabilize her world - and create a Wonderland where Steve (and the locals) will no longer have to worry about the tyrannical Queen of Hearts.

The (New) Mutt Mackley Show

Plans are underway to add Officer Hornet (no longer played by a Buzz-Off action figure) plus Detective Hooper to the cast on Sora. Also, plans are to eventually have this Sora-based series be featured in syndication on YouTube.

The original Mutt Mackley show lacked a clear direction, and fazzled out quickly. It got a few spin-off projects, such as the photocomic Gored By Them Things (a Beanie Babies Lord of the Rings parody) and the jazzy crime noir films Kings in the Corner and 3-13, the latter of which got a mock-PSA spin-off of its own with Penguin on Drugs.

This new one, however, has a fairly consistent theme: Mackley is down on his luck, and yet is tasked with a weekly pension if he'll help supervise Gambino Penguin - an ex-con trying to learn how to live a productive life without always resorting to petty crime. In this buddy comedy, both of them keep trying to find gainful employment somewhere. However, their universe has a cruel sense of humor, and their efforts to find work are often sabotaged in increasingly bizarre ways - or by their own personality quirks. (Examples: Mackley tries to co-host a gameshow, only to discover the main host has a strange appetite for stunts that put contestants' lives in danger. When one contestant takes the dare and it ends badly, Mackley immediately finds himself back on the unemployment line. Another time, he's late for the interview, because of a train wreck.)

Taterbug: Charity Under Fire

This spinoff to Ciem: Inferno documents the rise and fall of Meagan Amez, the original "Taterbug" in Earth-G7 lore, from the moment she first gained a love for making prosthetics as a child prodigy all the way up to when she met Candi Flippo inside of Madison Juvenile in 2015. It shows that even in a world where Candi is bio-engineeered to have the powers of a centipede, not all heroes wear orange combat suits with night vision masks. Some of them raid dumpsters to rescue circuits, scrap, and PVC that was about to go to waste - to give meaning back to the lives of veterans betrayed by their own country and abandoned. From inventor to rebel to hero to political martyr, Meagan becomes the first of the Madison Girls in Candi's world outside of Candi herself to earn her own separate origin story.

While Amirah "Flintirah" Rose could possibly also qualify for the treatment, showing how the Marlquaan storm - and her mother's poor choices - trapped her in a life she never asked for, and how the fallout of her attempts to survive it led to the system villifying her when she never wanted to be the villain; Meagan's story serves as a stronger real-world commentary on veterans who were promised big, then denied due to technicalities, corruption, cowardice, and shifts in system ideology that didn't care about the debts it owed.

Through MusicHero, an early template now exists for "Ballad of Taterbug," a song about Meagan's legend. Plans are for the summer of 2026 to edit this into an AMV, just as AnnikaBa's covers of "What Does Abound" and "Die Klage des Luftmaedchens" from Anarteq: Top of the World are edited together around that same time slate.

Projects being phased out / discontinued / canceled

Ciem (2007)

Due to low demand, and the need to move Gerosha mythos forward, all iterations of Gerosha continuity pre-dating the Earth-G7 timeline, with the exception of Earth-G4 as its demise related to Plum x Lemon, are no longer being pursued for development or discussion outside of the wiki. This coincides with a greater push to upgrade graphics to not rely on obsolete tools. This version of Ciem, and its canceled sequels, are part of a version of Gerosha continuity (G5) that predominantly existed inside The Sims 2. The greater project has long since graduated from the Sims community, having gained only marginal support there in the first place.

Making of the Mackleyverse: What Almost Was

This was going to be a book celebrating the preliminaries for the old Mackley continuity. With a reboot underway, and the old works that survived already available for view, the book's initial purpose has already been fulfilled in other ways.

Camelorum Adventures: The Early Artwork

The initial purpose behind this project was going to be to make sure that the Sims 4 concept art for Camelorum from before modern AI tools existed didn't go to waste. However, that purpose was instead fulfilled in part by the official handbook to The Sims 4: Magic of Movies and Memes Stuff.

The Gerosha Chronicles: Art of the Early Earths

This was going to be a book dedicated to all the prior Gerosha continuity that led to Ciem (2007), and to its canceled sequels, as well as the Earth-G6 timeline. However, lack of profit potential due to EA's EULA, plus lack of public demand for outdated continuity in Sims games, led to this book project being abandoned. The wiki contains all necessary information about these stepping stones, even with some of the artwork missing. DeviantArt also holds some of the old timeline content.

Camp Jellybean

Based on a childhood nightmare from 1996, this story went through several revisions over the years. Its world of surreal experiments, unexplained abductions, and a doctor‑sergeant figure who seemed to ruin lives without motive gave it a certain shock‑value appeal—especially for middle‑school readers looking for something strange and edgy. However, the humor and horror often landed in an awkward middle ground: too graphic for younger audiences, yet too juvenile to resonate with older ones. Beyond that initial jolt, the material never developed the thematic depth or narrative direction needed to justify continued work on it.

While it remains an interesting artifact from an earlier creative era, a full revisiting no longer aligns with the current Dozerfleet vision, which prioritizes stronger character arcs, clearer commentary, and more purposeful worldbuilding.

90 Has No Secant

This project began as an atmospheric suspense‑mystery built on early‑2000s J‑horror sensibilities, blending Louisiana hurricane settings with supernatural distortions, family‑curse motifs, and the eerie emotional tone of works like The Ring and Picnic at Hanging Rock. While it produced some memorable imagery, it was constructed from a collage of influences — ClipArt‑style visuals, Grand Isle references, airport scenes, geomagnetic storms, and scattered literary Easter eggs — that reflected an experimental phase rather than a cohesive direction.

The story also relied on continuity elements that no longer exist. Characters such as Meshaluta and the Rintels have been removed from the canon, Sam Wrikon’s origins have been retconned, and the Marlquaan’s physics have been rewritten multiple times since Earth‑G1. As a result, the project is fundamentally incompatible with the unified Earth‑G7 mythos.

Although 90 Has No Secant was once seen as a gem of early storytelling, its tone, structure, and continuity roots diverge sharply from the modern Gerosha vision. It remains an interesting artifact of an earlier creative era, but it will not be revisited.

Stationery Voyagers

The Stationery beings themselves, ironically, proved to be the least interesting and most-legally-problematic (due to their designs) part of their own saga. The more interesting angel characters were later rewritten, and became part of the cast of Cherinob. The saga also struggled to define a specific tone, straying from pop music culture commentary to children's video fantasy to dark drama a-la Heroes-style intrigue and moral ambiguity.

A few projects related to it did survive: "Scalding Inquiries," "The Wages of Cheating Death," and "Ties That Confide." However, there is little reason to revisit those arcs anymore.

New tools

Sweet Home 3D

A focused effort is now underway to learn and integrate this application as part of the transition away from The Sims as an architectural staging tool. As the Sims franchise is gradually phased out of future Dozerfleet production pipelines, Sweet Home 3D offers a practical way to continue developing floor plans, room layouts, and spatial logic without relying on proprietary game assets.

The tool’s strength lies in its ability to map out interior spaces with precision, giving the Gerosha mythos a platform‑agnostic method for documenting homes, facilities, and other key locations. This supports the broader goal of building environments that can be recreated in any future engine — AI‑assisted, custom‑rendered, or otherwise — while maintaining full creative ownership over the underlying designs.

House Flipper 2

House Flipper 2 has been selectively adopted for adapting certain Gerosha properties, chosen based on how well their layouts and architectural logic translate into the game’s building system. Its toolset offers a practical middle ground: more flexible than The Sims for exporting reference material, yet far less demanding than full 3D modeling suites.

The platform’s EULA is also significantly more permissive than Electronic Arts’, allowing limited tracing and AI‑training workflows that would be legally risky under EA’s terms. While HF2 cannot capture every nuance of Gerosha architecture, it excels at providing calm, distraction‑free walkthroughs that help refine spatial logic without the overhead of maintaining virtual households or navigating life‑simulation mechanics.

Used alongside tools like Sweet Home 3D, it supports the broader transition toward platform‑agnostic, fully owned architectural IP—giving each location in the mythos a clearer, more reproducible blueprint for future engines and render pipelines.

Sora

Sora has become the primary tool for scene marketing, previs, and prototyping how sequences might function in a cinematic environment. Its strengths lie in emotional staging, atmospheric lighting, and the ability to quickly test how a moment feels on screen. The engine can struggle with interpreting certain prompts accurately, and its inconsistent safety heuristics make sensitive topics difficult to navigate. Even with those limitations, it represents a major leap forward for visualizing tone, pacing, and cinematic rhythm during early development.

Grok Imagine

Grok Imagine fills the gaps left by Sora, especially when lore accuracy or risk‑free short clips are needed. Its output is more literal and geometry‑driven, making it useful for quick, watermark‑free inserts in situations where Sora’s safety filters might misinterpret the material. For projects like the "Ballad of Taterbug" music video — where consistency, clarity, and rapid iteration matter—Grok Imagine provides a reliable way to generate focused, structurally clean footage that supports the broader narrative without fighting the tool.

Nano Banana (Krea)

Krea has been part of the Dozerfleet toolkit since late 2023, but the introduction of the Nano Banana engine has transformed its role. Nano Banana excels at rapid, high‑precision scene edits—especially in situations where complex visual corrections are needed quickly and cannot be drawn or composited efficiently through other software. Its ability to repair continuity, refine character details, and stabilize multi‑element compositions makes it indispensable for modern production needs.

The shift is also driven by practical constraints. Adobe’s subscription model has made full‑scale Photoshop increasingly difficult to justify, and Affinity — while powerful — has limitations when handling intricate, multi‑layered edits at speed. Nano Banana, combined with Krea’s Realtime Edit feature, fills that gap by enabling clean, high‑quality adjustments without the overhead of traditional raster workflows. Compared to the older Flux engine, Nano Banana produces sharper, more structurally consistent visuals, even if Flux still holds an edge in emotional warmth and painterly stylization. Together, they form a complementary pair: Flux for mood and atmosphere, Nano Banana for precision and production‑grade clarity.

Obsolete tools

The Sims 2

One of the earliest tools used in Dozerfleet production, The Sims 2 served as a foundational staging ground for characters, early lore experiments, and prototype environments. Its age, technical limitations, and restrictive EULA now make it incompatible with modern workflows. Most projects that depended heavily on it are being overhauled to remove Sims‑based assets entirely, and those that cannot be salvaged are being formally retired.

Spore

Spore was once considered a potential creature‑design engine, especially for visualizing angelic “true forms” and other non‑human entities. However, its stylized biology system, rigid animation constraints, and aging engine ultimately prevented it from producing the fidelity or consistency needed for modern Gerosha canon. As newer tools emerged, Spore became obsolete for creature visualization.

The Sims 3

While more flexible than its predecessor, The Sims 3 is increasingly impractical due to its 32‑bit architecture, heavy resource demands, and instability on modern hardware. Much of the concept art generated with it is now being phased out or reinterpreted through newer tools with higher fidelity and full IP ownership. Apart from the Anarteq: Top of the World Story Pack—which remains as a historical artifact—Sims 3‑based content is approaching full retirement.

The Sims 4

The Sims 4 is proving to be the most difficult legacy tool to retire, largely because of how deeply it shaped the visual language of the Gerosha mythos during its middle era. It remains the last major holdout of the Sims‑based workflow, but its role is now sharply limited. Once the remaining story packs are completed, production with this engine is planned to wind down, marking the formal end of the Sims era in Dozerfleet’s pipeline.

Several factors are driving this transition:

• Continuity independence — modern canons now rely on platform‑agnostic visuals, not game‑engine‑specific renders.
• Creative ownership — Krea, Sora, Grok Imagine, and other tools allow full control over character design, lighting, and staging without EULA constraints.
• Pipeline consistency — comics and visual projects that were once slated for Sims 4 rendering have been fully relocated to Krea‑based graphics, ensuring a unified aesthetic going forward.
• Technical limitations — even with mods and expansions, the Sims 4 engine cannot match the fidelity, emotional nuance, or flexibility of modern AI‑assisted tools.

The Sims 4 now functions primarily as a historical artifact and a temporary staging tool for the final story packs. Once those are complete, its retirement will close the chapter on a long, formative era of Dozerfleet production.

Wonder

Wonder is now effectively deprecated within the Dozerfleet pipeline. As Krea’s evolution—especially the Nano Banana engine and Realtime Edit—has dramatically increased both capability and efficiency, Wonder’s role has diminished to the point of being difficult to justify. Its shift in business model further reduced its practicality, and the performance tax it places on the aging Dozerfleet Mobile phone has made continued use increasingly burdensome.

In practice, Wonder no longer offers advantages that outweigh its costs. With Krea now handling rapid edits, continuity fixes, and high‑fidelity adjustments far more reliably, Wonder has transitioned from a once‑useful auxiliary tool to an outdated remnant of an earlier workflow.

Comics affected

Blood Over Water

This project was originally planned as one of the final Sims‑rendered comics, but with the story packs nearing completion, it is now slated for a Krea‑based release instead. Its priority has been lowered, as it cannot be monetized, but it remains on the long‑term roadmap as a visual adaptation.

Volkonir 2008

A full overhaul may allow this project to qualify for a for‑profit release, but doing so requires abandoning the original Sims 4 format entirely. Its future depends on how well the narrative can be restructured and re‑rendered using modern tools.

Sorbet

The project’s future format is currently undecided. With the retirement of Sims‑based production, its next incarnation—comic, animation, or hybrid—remains under evaluation.

Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana

Envisioned back in 2019 as a Sims comic, it was decided a few years ago it would be a Krea-made comic instead.

Path of the Ming-Cho

This story may be absorbed into Sodality: Determination as one or two episodes, making its status as a standalone project uncertain. All Sims‑based production for it has been canceled.

Nemara: Ward of the Upper Peninsula

This will become one of the first comics slated for release to have never had a Sims production arc.

Corando's "Don't Lose Hope"

This will be the final time that a Sims-made comic gets release in that format.

Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil

If demand exists, this could get a Krea remake. For now, is stands out as a historical curiosity, being the only Grand Theft Auto machinomic in The Gerosha Chronicles.

Nano Banana gets Anarteq back on track

It was in 2025, late in the year, when the story pack adaptation of Anarteq: Top of the World was first released to the blog for Dozerfleet Labs. This release was timed to ensure the four-games-in-one content pack got an IMDB entry that same year. However, compromises had to be made to ensure this end: an incomplete version of the official handbook was released, which left out most of the story insert.

Those missing images have finally been fixed, and will soon be added in, with caption, to allow the full version to be available for download alongside game files. This will ensure that the Anarteq: Top of the World Story Pack project is officially considered finished.

Some images required a lot of repair. Flux, the main engine used through Krea for original generations, wasn't getting the job done. However, Nano Banana was able to repair these issues. Most of the issues dealt with scene lighting, or with the fact that Flux doesn't undestand Inuit weaponry.

In addition, some repairs were made to key shots for the Anarteq: Top of the World Official Coloring Book. Both adaptations of the story will allow for the official novel to proceed with a proper production bible - which may help with future collaborations for adapting the work to a manga, or even a stage play.

With the Top of the World story pack's handbook finished, the handbooks can proceed to be made for the sequels: Guardian of the Soo, Tropic Mercenary, and Envoy to Lough Melvin. Progress on that will also enable the handbooks to be made for the Swappernetters, Horrorday Gang, Sodality, and Ciem story packs, completing the entire Sims adaptation collection. From there, an InZoi concept art book and a House Flipper 2 compilation book will be all that remain, and the game modding portion of Dozerfleet Labs - DzMD - will be retired. It will go into archive mode, with no new game mods being generated. Instead, Dozerfleet Labs' new focus will be on video game pitches.

New Sora attempts at Ciem: Inferno trailers

Dozerfleet Studios has released a new compilation of Sora renders to YouTube. These are the algorithm's attempts to imagine the plot of Ciem: Inferno. These trailers now also feature on the wiki pages for the pending novel and for the Sims 4 story pack adaptation.

Clearly, Sora struggles to understand how dart shooters, centilegs, and Zeran teleportation work. Centipede combat is not something the algorithm is trained for, so it keeps defaulting her to moving like Spider-Man. Even so, this is a promising start to envisioning the story as an actual film.

A Quiet Revolution Underway

Due to how much content is now possible to reproduce approximations of using the Sora app, a lot of Dozerfleet content will soon be featuring promotional videos generated with Sora. This is a promising path toward evolving the entire entertainment ecosystem moving forward, as Dozerfleet seeks to eventually graduate entirely from its legacy Sims platforms. Look soon for more and more content accompanied by Sora mini-clips.

Nintendo has joined the dark side

By the "logic" of Nintendo's totalitarian lawfare-minded current leadership ^[source], any art that doesn't make Nintendo money, that depends on the existence of literally anything else existing before it existed, "doesn't count" as "real art."

So by that "logic," if God had to create the universe before cavemen could be inspired to paint cave walls depicting the animals they hunted, then any and all art done by those cavemen "doesn't count" as real art - unless Nintendo automatically acquires the rights to it by default, without having to pay a cent! And gets to do a next-of-kin count for every single generation of anyone who made any art ever that was never a Nintendo employee, and then demand legal reparations!

This isn't IP protection. It's extortion and IP robbery. Plain and simple.

Back in the good old days, after Nintendo's first bid to ruin the lives of modders got foiled by courts with common sense, they didn't give up. They got salty, and swore revenge.

What the automotive industry gets right that the gaming industry fails to

Along with the invention of the automobile, came the invention of mods. Custom accessories for cars. Some which might void a warranty, others which were harmless. Some sponsored by the company, others tolerated, some licensed to use company logos, some not.

The automotive industry figured things out. Custom accessory makers could, if they followed good faith practices, even profit from their work. Could sell products.

But somehow, when it came to the world of video games, the industry couldn't seem to wrap its mind around automotive industry best practices, and adapt them.

Thieves poisoned the well

So instead, chaos ensued. Life for modders-for-profit was going great, until one nasty game released. That game was That's Life. Thing is, it violated every ounce of good faith imaginable.

EA allowed mods for The Sims to exist, or even be for profit, as long as modders made clear who they were, that they were not endorsed officially by EA, etc.

However, That's Life changed the game. A group of shameless crapweasels deduced through their predatory logic that if most modders, out of respect, were no getting paid, and doing things as a passion project to better the world of gaming, then they probably didn't have the money to hire good attorneys.

So the predators who made That's Life compiled their giant Sims mod pack, and sold it on store shelves. Except: over 90% of all Sims mod content in the pack...was outright stolen. Full-blown plagairism against actual, competent passion project generators.

Moreover, becoming greedier over time and noting that these mods needed a base game ecosystem to operate, EA became more like Nintendo. It noted that it wasn't making any money off of That's Life. Instead, a third party entity of known and established thieves and con artists were making ALL the money!

So That's Life got pulled from shelves. Its creators sued to oblivion. And EA had a change of heart on mod policy. No one could make any Sims mod for any game, nor release any machinima or machinomic work generated from their product, and release it for profit, without express permission or a licensing deal from EA themselves.

For passion project generators, this was an absolute win. They weren't making money anyway. They were out to better the creativity of the gaming world. Or, use the platform and mods to serve as free advertising for other good, noble, upcoming things.

So EA's change of heart was tolerated. With exception of Rooster Teeth getting licensed to make and sell The Strangerhood, it was established in the Sims modding community as a general principle that profiteering was a no-no. Third party creators could make story packs to market their own IPs that existed outside the game, as is the case with Dozerfleet Labs and DzMD using Sims modding as free advertising for Dozerfleet Comics' current or up-and-coming projects.

And other modders were also free to create. There was a simple rule though: modders couldn't sell the game mod content they made. Except to the company itself. And even then, only if EA wanted to buy it. And in return, EA couldn't seize the work of a third party creator, steal it outright, take full credit for its creation, and profiteer off it.

These boundaries were common sense. And for 21 years, from the arrival of The Sims 2 until 2025 under The Sims 4, this was the established, accepted, understood rule.

Then, along came the new Nintendo.

Nintendo now wants to make it so that any game that exists that uses any mechanic that Nintendo also uses, even if Nintendo weren't the one to invent that mechanic, is now required to give over its entire IP for free to Nintendo, to do with as Nintendo sees fit. Just because Nintendo is salty.

That, in essence, is wholesale theft. And using bribery of courts and patent offices? Violation of RICO statutes!!!

This is racketeering, theft, extortion, and more. But on top of that, they're trying to set a legal precedent that art only counts as "art" if it makes Nintendo money. And under no other circummstances! Hence, Nintendo game mods don't count as "art," because they need a base game to function. And therefore, even if a mod is released FOR FREE, Nintendo now argues it has the "right" (read: thieving want) to steal the mod outright from the creator, compensate nothing to the creator, repackage and sell the mod's content, and claim full authorship of the mod! Thus, turning modders into slave laborers. Replacing community and innovation with exploitation.

And not even treating their slaves well! No. Instead, suing them and ruining their lives for daring to have a dream that wouldn't make Nintendo money!

And if allowed to get away with this RICO-violating aggression? Nintendo sets a legal precedent that then allows other companies, like EA, to not only do the same to modders of its games; but to also steal any IP that the mod refers to that doesn't belong to the company. And it ALL now becomes company property!

This doesn't protect anyone's IP. It's wholesale theft masquerading as protection!

If Nintendo gets what it wants, and EA begins to follow suit, it will be the end of DzMD. Because if DzMD isn't gutted under those circumstances, then EA will presume the right to steal the ENTIRE Dozerfleet Productions project catalog for itself! Not gonna happen!

The wages of Nintend-overreach

Here's what's at stake if that were to happen:

• If EA went full-tilt Nintendo, then every single DzMD Sims 2 mod that is no longer available anywhere would become EA property.
  • That EA could then sell or else distribute for free at its own discretion.
  • The actual author would get no credit, and no payment. Unacceptable!
  • This wouldn't just apply to actual custom content for the game. It would apply to literally any tool (such as the StretchSkeleton Cheat Calculator and Love Photo Doctor) that exists outside the game but which was made to assist players with understanding how to exploit a game mechanic for storytelling purposes. To steal the Love Photo Doctor and then sell it, especially given it's for a 21-year-old game? DISGUSTING!!!
• Under Nintendo logic, the entire Sims 3 back catalog of mod content made by DzMD to reference any Dozerfleet or non-Dozerfleet property now becomes EA property.
  • Original Dozerfleet content would be shamelessly pilfered, exploiting the weak legal power of Dozerfleet's legal defense.
  • Mods referencing other companies, such as the Doctor Strange mod, which Marvel could contest? EA would simply bury that, since they can't get Marvel to license them to sell it for profit. For a 14-year-old game!
• Under Nintendo logic, EA would be emboldend to steal for themselves literally anything mentioned anywhere in the DzMD catalog of Sims 4 content.
  • They might try to steal Cherinob, even with proof existing in the handbook itself that she existed before The Sims 4, and that she exists in plenty of formats and art styles that aren't from EA!
  • The same goes for the Trapezoid Kids, and anything else that's Dozerfleet-original.
• Nintendo would then swoop in on EA themselves, stating that since they bribed the US patent office to offer Nintendo a bad faith patent on mounting mechanics, that Horse Ranch now belongs to Nintendo. And by extension, the entire EA company. And by extension, the entire fan community's entire ecosystem! And not to celebrate them; but to extort them!

If Nintendo plays hardball, and the courts are that corrupt:

• All entries on IMDB would be removed immediately. Or requests would be made for their removal. This includes the Swappernetters packs, Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff, The Horrorday Gang, and Magic of Movies and Memes Stuff. Poof! Evidence on IMDB that these packs ever existed? Gone!
• The wiki? Scrubbed of anything that might still give these companies any grounds to steal any Dozerfleet IP!
• The mods themselves? Gone. Archived.
• The cast? Every single one of them still existing as a Sims character would be converted to AI faux live action or a cartoon character, generated outside The Sims. All Sims versions erased.
• The machinomics? Taken offline. Forever.
  • Ciem 2007 would never get re-released.
  • The failed Q-Basic Gorillas machinomic? All canceled project surviving art would have to be destroyed. All of it.
  • Star Flops: Curse of the Medium Side? Gone.
  • Blood Over Water: Dirty Laundry? Remade without Sims before being re-released.
  • Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil? AI remake. Even the ad for Ciem: Inferno would be remade or removed. Because even though it was made with GTA V, it would still be at risk. What's to stop Rockstar from becoming just as greedy as Nintendo?
  • Corando's "Don't Lose Hope"? Remade with AI. All other projects that were originally going to be made with Sims would also become AI, as is the plan anyway.
• The home blueprints? Only House Flipper 2 versions would still stand. Unless Frozen District were seized in a hostile takeover, and that also became legally radioactive. Then, those renders would go private.

Dozerfleet gaming would be dead. All comics would be remade with AI, or archived permanently. The novels could still function. The music could continue. Videos would hit differently. The trailer for Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff would be taken down, along with anything else that referenced the Sims franchise. The widgets that are unrelated to gaming? Could remain. But all Dozerfleet gaming would be dead. The wiki would be able to mention that there were plans. But those plans were canceled due to the Nintendo fallout.

Hopefully, courts moving forward will have enough good sense to see what all is happening here for what it is, and stop Nintendo's madness before it sets a dangerous legal precedent.

It's one thing for companies to want to stop pirates. It's another for them to become predatory on the fans that built them, rob smaller IPs into extinction, plagairize the original work of IPs they destroyed, and chill creativity itself out of existence!

DzMD isn't gone yet. But if Nintendo continues to poison the industry against the fandom that it needs to survive, if companies continue to become predatory, then the future of Dozerfleet will be an uphill battle for the right to exist.

Like so many on YouTube right now, no one at Dozerfleet has missed the irony that the lunatic currently ru(i)n(n)ing Nintendo has the last name of Bowser!

Design shifts impending due to Adventure Awaits

The recent patch by EA for Adventure Awaits has ensured that script mods cannot be used in any capacity with The Sims 4, or else lots won't load. This has proven utterly disastrous for fidelity in using The Sims 4 to gather screenshots moving forward.

How this affects workflow

Dozerfleet Labs

• Any absolutely essential shots still needed will involve isolated characters for the Sims 4 packs that don't yet have artwork.
• Far from the complexity of the handbook for Magic of Movies and Memes Stuff, every handbook made after that for Anarteq: Top of the World will be stripped down to fairly minimal artwork features, and focus will be not on the story plot as much as on the technical specs.
• After the Anarteq: Top of the World Story Pack, there will be no new Sims 4 content.
• House Flipper 2 content will be worked on until six homes have been released for tour, three of them from the Anarteq saga. After this, there will be no new home content. DzMD will effectively shut down all production after this.

If layouts are needed for screenshots that must be shot in a game world, and House Flipper 2 can't support it, The Sims 3 will be used instead. Existing Sims 4 blueprints may still be shot as needed, but no new gameplay support will be pursued. Blueprints will be used primarily for purposes of recreating models in other software.

Dozerfleet Comics

All machinomics whose Sims 4 footage has not yet been shot will have their artflow rerouted to other methods, including Krea.

• Corando's "Don't Lose Hope" will be the final pure machinomic.
• Blood Over Water: Dirty Laundry will get a second edition, replacing Sims artwork with AI entries. Data will also be updated to reflect the Sorbet / Volkonir Big Rapids Farewell Tour.

The following machinomics originally set for production in Sims 4 have to now be done with AI instead:

• Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana
• Sniperbadger: Fall of the Critter Resistance
• Volkonir 2008
• Sorbet
• Blood Over Water
• Blood Over Water 2 (?)
• Path of the Ming-Cho

The following comics will be done with AI automatically, unless a reliable human illustrator can be hired that can do them manually:

• Anarteq: Top of the World: Manga Edition
• Nemara: Ward of the Upper Peninsula
• Ciem: Carnelian Eve

Dozerfleet Literature

• Krea will be used for any illustration absolutely requiring one, in which stock photos owned by Dozerfleet are not available, and included only when illustrations are really essential.
• All non-essential Krea renders will be used only for scenic storyboarding for writing scenes.
• Coloring books will likely be offered on Patreon.
• Novellas will be offered for profit on Patreon in the future.
• Successful Patreon novels / novellas will be offered to Barnes and Noble, or its print affiliates, for consideration for print distribution.

Dozerfleet Records

Krea will be utilized for updating the artwork. All Sims artwork will be retired.

Dozerfleet Studios

No new Sims content released as videos. The trailer for Magic of Movies and Memes has been effectively canceled.

In conclusion

After House Flipper 2, there will be no new game content. After all the remaining Sims 4 content above has been handled, The Sims 4 will effectively be retired from Dozerfleet. The Sims 3 will remain on, along with The Sims 2, for backup when needed. House Flipper 2 will become the default residential home storyboarding tool. Other software for blueprints of homes will also be considered, but no mods for gameplay are going to be made any longer.

Worlds to both entertain and instruct, to clear a path for a the Higher Kingdom, to encourage self-and-world exploration and inquiry, must remain the goal of Dozerfleet. If profitable publications become the means, then that's a bonus.

Troubleshooting software and making mods for dying game franchises has become too much of a distraction from this goal, rather than a boon to it. Therefore, 2026 sees Dozerfleet try to lighten its load.

The early Percolation fanfics have a new home

Percolation: The Early Fanfics and Marvel: Avengers Alliance Crossovers is now officially available for free download. All the early work in Dozerfleet Comics to establish early Percolation mythos, setting the stage for all Percolation Warriors mythos afterward, is now compiled into a carefully-curated compendium of archived fanfics. These works were written from 2013 - 2016, and now have a final home. It can all be downloaded and read from here.

Percolation Encyclopedia canceled

Due to the rate at which the encyclopedia's information became outdated, the original Percolation: The Complete Encyclopedia of Crossover Gerosha and Dozerfleet Crossovers has been canceled as a project. Instead, what is salvageable of it will be broken up into smaller reference books. Artwork for some of these may be updated as well.

When the tower previously operating as Dozerfleet Main became too old and slow to run Windows 10 effectively, it was reformatted as Bezzyca and given away to be a training center for three children in Missouri.

However, this came with several snafus:

• Windows 11 updated on the new Dozerfleet Main, a Kamrui mini PC, as well as on the Dell Latitude laptop. With these updates, the drivers were modified, making these devices' versions of Windows 11 officially no longer compatible with Photoshop Elements 2019 - given it relies on some architecture from Internet Explorer 11 to load its installation page - a browser permanently disabled in the new updates. And Photoshop Elements pre-2022 refuses to use Microsoft Edge, or Firefox.
• Access was lost to Microsoft Office 2016, which had served Dozerfleet Productions quite well for many years. This wasn't a big deal for most files. However, any files made in Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Access were severely affected.
• Only the Surface tablet, Dozerfleet Mega Portable, still has legacy software of Photoshop Elements 2021 and Office 2019.
• Due to this, workflow is being modified across Dozerfleet to minimize dependency on MS Publisher, Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements, or any other legacy software. On the Linux and Windows sides, Scribus may become the new default for small-level 8.5"x11" desktop publishing. High-end productions will be done on the Windows side, using Affinity Publisher. When access to the Surface tablet for Photoshop Elements is impractical, Photopea will be employed as a last resort. Affinity Photo, Krita, and Gimp are all being learned for alternatives to Photoshop Elements. With the original tower and Windows 10 gone, there's also no more Illustrator CS2. Without Illustrator CS2, Affinity Designer is the de-facto for vector image editing. On the Linux side, or else to convert images to live trace, InkScape is now taking the place of Illustrator CS2. Linux-end video editing alternatives to Premiere are also being considered for exploration.

The Percolation encyclopedia consists of many sections: lore explanations, straight-up fanfics described, a character database, a geography database, several art galleries, and Marvel: Avengers Alliance fanfics featuring Dozerfleet characters.

To prevent this epic volume's epic efforts from being wasted, the following course of action is being undertaken:

• Dozerfleet Mega Portable will be used for conversion of the original Percolation fanfic, Percolation: Legends, and the M:AA fanfics into a compendium on 2013-2016 crossovers between Dozerfleet Comics and Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• The aforementioned compendium and stories in it will be alluded to in the next volume, but not made a big deal of apart from it being a backstory explanation for latter fanfics. This second publication will include the latter fanfic works' descriptions.
• Information about the Percolation Warriors saga in general will be included, as well as any information on franchies parodied in Camelorum Adventures. Plum x Lemon will be added.
• An overview of the geography of Dozerfleet will become its own compendium.
• A who's who in Earth-G7.2.1 will get its own compendium. There will be no need for replication of this for the cast of Volkonir or the Dromedeverse.
• The art galleries will be given their own compendium.

Of these new compendia, only the text and some images are essential for preservation. Only the M:AA content needs to keep its formatting specific. The other content can possibly be converted into a Scribus file or to Affinity Publisher when ready, which will accellerate production of these.

The other bonus to breaking up the Percolation encyclopedia into these compendia is that, being much shorter, they may not require the complex table of contents that the Percolation encyclopedia required. Nor would they require the complicated index that was bogging down that encyclopedia. Pages and contents would be more straighforward.

Could the upcoming comics be AI?

A Eulogy to Dozerfleet Main

As the until-recent Dozerfleet Main was reaching its end-of-life as a tower, a difficult decision was reached: it was to retire the old dinosaur of a unit. The current Dozerfleet Portable, a Dell Latitude 5490 purchased off of Amazon, is also operating as Dozerfleet Main at the moment. The tower that was until recently Dozerfleet Main was a modified Dell Inspiron 3650 from 2017, with the main hard drive changed over to a 1TB solid state drive, and the original hard drive turned into a backup data drive known as "Ivan's Vault."

The external backup hard drive formerly known as "Dozimax" has inherited the title of "Ivan's Vault." Its sister, "Dozerfleet Backup," has now been re-christened as "Ivan's Vault 2."

The former Dozerfleet Main tower had been modified further since its original purchase, to contain an extra 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, thus putting it at 16 GB total. This made it an absolute powerhouse of a machine. However, it was still unable to run a lot of higher-end software, due to its graphics card limitations. Its elaborate Dell design made it nearly impossible to update the graphics for this device, dooming its future of ever being the advanced gaming machine desired.

Enter Bezzyca

The former Dozerfleet Main has since been given a new life as Bezzyca, a children's art and office learning station running on Kubuntu.

It now has all the basics for three children it's being donated to in order to learn their way around open source software, Linux, Gimp, Krita, and LibreOffice. To learn the ins and outs of the software world in a somewhat-safe environment with minimal parental control oversight, but also allowing them to brainstorm ideas any time of the year - away from the prying eyes of school admins, who might otherwise want to scrutinize their every move.

It also encourages them to get their own USB drives and learn their way around private ownership - something difficult to instill as a value in children when they are dependent on clouds and ChromeBooks.

Adapting to software obsolescence

However, the next stage forward in Dozerfleet progress has come at other costs besides simply donating old hardware. In the time it has taken to come this far, key bits of software that Dozerfleet once relied on have now started to become obsolete. Most notably: Microsoft Access and Microsoft Publisher.

Old Microsoft Access content will be the tricky part, as all that table data must now be converted to LibreOffice Calc. This will require a joint effort between Dozerfleet Portable and Dozerfleet Mega Portable (the Surface Go 2 Tablet). The Microsoft account associated with both doesn't recall Office 2019 being installed on Mega Portable. Therefore, there's no option to go back and reinstall Office 2019 for Portable. Likewise, there's no recollection in the online account of the purchase of Office 2016, which was what was running on Old Main.

Worse, Office 2021 was renamed to Offline Microsoft 365 2021, to create even more confusion for those who just want to run a forever license. Turns out, Microsoft wants 2021 to be the last of these offline-runable office apps. Beyond that, they offer only their online subscription model - a perfect reason to want to switch to LibreOffice for most tasks!

But here's the real kicker: Microsoft 365 2021 does not include Access or Publisher!!!

These relics being gone mean that only Office 2019, running on Mega Portable, can still open these files. And that means that several Dozerfleet works now need to be reformatted.

As mentioned above, a slow-moving conversion can happen to transform the Access documents for use in LibreOffice Calc. However, Publisher documents will need to be re-assessed for long-term retention. Those not deemed worth it, will be discarded. Then, there are those which do have long-term retention value. Alas, they now have to be converted.

From Microsoft to Affinity

The following key documents will need reformatting to Affinity Publisher:

Public

• Every Ape and His Brother lyrics
• The Horrorday Gang: What's Your Straggele Codename?
• Volkonir 2008
• The Official Handbook to The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapid Living Stuff
• The Official Handbook to The Sims 4: Into the Future Conversions Stuff
• Ciem: Inferno: The Inmates of Madison Juvenile Correctional Facility
• Ciem: Inferno: The Staff of Madison Juvenile Correctional Facility
• Blood Over Water: Dirty Laundry

Private

• A Very Anarteq Tour of the Soo Itinerary
• Arionna Davis' Ciem Info Packet Series (when she initially showed interest in 2019 in portraying Candi Flippo on the wiki, though that arrangement never materialized.)
• Blood Over Water Relational Chart
• Blood Over Water Charts
• Business Card
• Folder Tabs
• C.O.W.
• Old credits for Ciem 2 (2009)
• Old Stationery Voyagers data
• Resume files

Out of that list, the Ciem: Inferno tie-in books won't change much. Meagan Amez's timeline will be re-examined per her expanded role. Otherwise, those books should be the same. Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil will likely also be re-formatted using Affinity Publisher. It was originally made in Microsoft Word 2016, using a mix of text captions and screenshots edited from a playthrough of GTA V on the PS4.

More changes to Blood Over Water lore

The biggest changes will be to Blood Over Water: Dirty Laundry and Volkonir 2008. With the photos provided, it's plausible that Volkonir 2008 could now be mostly made as an AI-enhanced photocomic. Only the bare minimum content from The Sims 4, such as the Golden Lion Knight armor, Selshon, and the Gwirdons would necessarily have to be machinomic-generated. Everything else could either come from photos or from Krea AI.

In spite of all the readiness for Blood Over Water to be done up in The Sims 4, it could become an AI comic instead of a Sims machinomic. The need to completely re-make Dirty Laundry from the ground up justifies this change, as all the Sims photos can now be swapped out with AI to better match its mock-tabloid format. New photos from the 2024 Sorbet / Blood Over Water / Volkonir Big Rapids Farewell Tour also allow for coverage of regions that were impossible to cover when the first edition of Dirty Laundry was released.

AI: The Future of Dozerfleet Comics?

If Dirty Laundry is re-released as AI, and Blood Over Water's remake is also made AI, then Sorbet will likewise take a hybrid Sims / AI approach. Sims only for elements and scenes that can't be made with AI, and the use of AI and photos for everything else.

This will produce the following results:

Comics by pending format
Title	Visual style	Media format
Anarteq: Top of the World	Cartoon	AI comic
Anarteq: Top of the World Story Pack	Cartoon + Game	Abridged AI comic + Sims 3 mods + Sims 4 mods + InZoi recipes + a House Flipper 2 tour
Blood Over Water: Dirty Laundry, 2nd Edition	Live Action	AI mock tabloid
Blood Over Water	Cartoon	AI machinomic (with Sims and photograph references)
Sorbet	Cartoon	AI machinomic (with Sims and photograph references)
Volkonir 2008	Live Action	AI machinomic (with Sims and photograph references)
Corando's "Don't Lose Hope"	Machinomic	Sims 4 machinomic
Path of the Ming-Cho	Cartoon	AI comic
Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana	Cartoon	AI comic
Sniperbadger: Fall of the Critter Resistance	Cartoon	AI comic
Nemara: Ward of the Upper Peninsula	Cartoon	AI comic

Handbooks to finish

Work on these comics will resume after the handbooks are finished for Anarteq: Top of the World Story Pack. As well as for the following packs at Dozerfleet Labs still awaiting handbooks:

DzMD Handbooks to be Made
Title	Game	Inception Year
A Tour of The Gerosha Chronicles	House Flipper 2	2025
The Blood Over Water Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Ciem: Inferno Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Ciem: Ash Cloud Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Ciem: Caldera Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Anarteq: Guardian of the Soo Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Anarteq: Tropic Mercenary Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Anarteq: Envoy to Lough Melvin Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Corando Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Extirpon Trilogy Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Navyrope Duology Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Horrorday Gang Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Path of the Ming-Cho Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Phaemer Village Peacekeepers Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Pilltar Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Sodality Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Swappernetters Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Gray Champion: Modern Legends Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Horrorday Gang Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
The Volkonir Character Recipe Book	InZoi	2024
Anarteq: Guardian of the Soo Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
Anarteq: Tropic Mercenary Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
Anarteq: Envoy to Lough Melvin Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
Ciem: Inferno Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
Ciem: Ash Cloud Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
Ciem: Caldera Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
Swappernetters: Frontliner Story Pack	The Sims 4	2020
Swappernetters: Chrome Kite Story Pack	The Sims 4	2020
Swappernetters: Supporting Cast Story Pack	The Sims 4	2020
Swappernetters: Screwworms and Other Villains Story Pack	The Sims 4	2020
Sodality: Instigation Story Pack	The Sims 4	2020
Sodality: Adaptation and Determination Story Pack	The Sims 4	2024
The Horrorday Gang Story Pack	The Sims 4	2020

Completion of these handbooks, and of the comics aforementioned, will beget work opening up for the for-profit novels across the Megaverse.

Percolation Encyclopedia's uncertain future

Another work, this one with an uncertain future, is Percolation: The Complete Encyclopedia of Crossover Gerosha and Dozerfleet Crossovers. It was drafted at a time when Miraheze underwent a change of leadership, and was in danger of being shut down. That threat has passed. The artwork contained inside the encyclopedia has since become obsolete. To make matters worse, the work itself was all made in Microsoft Publisher, and then never finished. So it would need a massive overhaul to be added to Affinity Publisher, and be scaled down of unnecessary features.

Progress has started coming. But alas, some things needed to be sacrificed in the process.

Iqaluk Cafe Menu Update

The most recent version of the Iqaluk Cafe's menu is now available. It can be found here.

The Psychology of Megaverse Heroes, According to an AI

As of earlier today, Perplexity AI was tasked with trying to identify the psychological makeup of some major Dozerfleet characters, and analyze likely diagnoses. The results were not entirely surprising; yet insightful all the same. The following characters were sampled, with the following results:

Extirwraith

Diagnosis: Psychopath, with impulsivity issues

Poor Anda Hirano! She landed Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) right off the bat!

The AI noted the following about her:

• Lack of empathy: In her activities as Extirwraith, she all too often shows little to no remorse for her violent actions.
• Impulsivity and sensation-seeking: According to Perplexity, her "constant search for amusement, and chaotic behavior," are indicative of "a high level of impulsivity, and a need for stimulation."
• Disregard for social norms and laws: Her methodology as an anti-hero clearly demonstrates that she has very little sense of obligation to conform to key social norms. Her attempt to seduce Black Rat into a one night stand, even when he was uncomfortable with it and doubted she was of legal age, and her few other one night stands, also suggest a total disregard for propriety.
• Manipulative behavior: She uses a grudge ghost impersonation to both physically and psychologically torment her targets. However deserving of some form of punishment they are, she does it just as much for her own amusement as out of a misguided sense of justice.
• Boredom and emptiness: In her early years, Anda had a "constant need for amusement, to stave off feeling 'empty'." According to Perplexity, this is "a characteristic often associated with ASPD."
• Lack of long-term goals: She wandered the Earth directionless for years, often "without a clear purpose beyond seeking amusement." This "indicates a lack of realistic, long-term goals."
• Recklessness: Trying to stop a Brazilian serial killer from killing again by killing him first may be an extreme vigilante act, but it was her willingness to do it by turning his legs into gummi worms that truly illustrated her total disregard. She laughed at the truck that hit the man as he was struggling to carry himself after she turned his legs into gummi candy. Showing a lack of concern for the driver's safety.
• Childhood trauma: Loss of family is a textbook factor in her condition's development.

The AI also believes she's a psychopath due to "her calculated and manipulative behavior, as well as her apparent lack of emotional depth beyond seeking amusement." It went on to say that: "Her willingness to be captured by police for the sake of novelty suggests a bold and fearless personality, which is also associated with psychopathy."

Lemon Witch

Diagnosis: Borderline Personality Disorder, comorbid with sociopathic tendencies and impulse control issues

Candace had quite a few red flags, even before she got Xomified!

• Impulsivity: Candace didn't even hesitate to use her abilities to foil a robbery, when she had little idea of the consequences.
• Intense and unstable relationships: Her willingness to fistfight bullies in order to protect her brother suggests that her interpersonal relationships can be rather intense.
• Emotional instability: She's not nearly as happy and bubbly inside as she often pretends to be on the outside.
• Identity disturbance: Her reliance on fruit puns after being labeled "Lemon Witch" by others.
• Inappropriate anger: Her lack of empathy for either the store robbers or for the school bullies that threatened her brother is common in BPD.
• Disregard for social norms: Her willingness to turn victims into fruits, unconcerned about the pain and embarrassment it causes, shows a slight antisocial element to her.
• Lack of remorse: The fact that she's more concerned about turning someone by accident that may not have deserved it, rather than the pain she can cause someone when turning them intentionally, and even greater fear of not being able to change them back later, suggests a certain anti-social self-centeredness.
• Use of humor as a defense mechanism: This is her primary means of coping with and hiding emotional pain. Not always a healthy method.
• Ethical ambiguity: She spares Barry and Carly's future relationship potential by turning Barry into a fruit before he can embarrass himself by prematurely proposing to Carly. In spite her good intentions, her method of saving Barry from himself is highly questionable, suggesting she has highly flexible morals.

Plum Bixie

Diagnosis: C-PTSD, co-morbid with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder

Zize has so many issues, each one gets its own list!

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

• Prolonged exposure to traumatic events: She was abducted by Kai Yun's men at an early age, sexually abused, and exploited in many different ways.
• Difficulty with emotional regulation: Her intense anger and resentment all but consume her at times.
• Negative self-perception: When she begins to see herself as a monster.
• Distorted perceptions: She sees the Hebbleskins almost as extensions of Yun's evil will for her life, and that she needs to kill them by the hundreds to undermine him.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

• Presence of other: Inner Fox
• Gaps in memory or consciousness: Her selectively mute episodes.
• Identity confusion: Why she wears the fox mask later on, especially when Inner Fox assumes control of her body.

Borderline Personality Disorder

• Intense and unstable relationships
• Impulsivity and risk-taking behavior
• Chronic feelings of emptiness
• Difficulty controlling anger

Additional considerations:

• Trauma bonding: Her choosing Gary after he rescued her, her feeling closer to him after rescuing him back, their mutual longing to escape the Hebbleskins, and her need to prove that she isn't who her abusive previous boss made her out to be demonstrates that trauma has informed her decision-making process.
• Survivor's guilt: She doesn't feel that everyone who has died on account of her or her former superiors entirely deserved it. She is bothered by how many the Hebbleskins killed before she was there to do anything about it. And by how many she failed to save in the end.
• Hypervigilance: She is constantly on guard, perceiving endless threats to herself and her loved ones.

Perplexity recommended the following treatments for her:

• Trauma-focused therapy: Perplexity recommended EMDR and cognitive behavior therapy to deal with her C-PTSD.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Her issues with emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness suggest that this treatment could benefit her greatly.
• Specialized treatment: Integration therapy was recommended to erase Inner Fox from existing. That a Kritchaboloid Biroot then tried to seize the opportunity to assume Inner Fox's identity, and prey on Zize's religious doubts to keep Inner Fox alive as a separate identity within Zize's mind, led to a possession dilemma. Yet, this proved to be that biroot's Achilles Heel, as this move made Inner Fox vulnerable to Cherinob. Much to the dismay of Gum Arabic doctors, allowing Cherinob and Inner Fox to fight each other on another plane for the fate of Zize's soul proved to be exactly the medicine she needed to complete her integration therapy.
• Psycho-education: Relating to the effects of childhood trauma and exploitation.
• Supportive therapy: Her self-esteem is ruined. This is necessary to address, so that she can learn how to develop healthy coping mechanisms.

Inner Fox, the literal demonic possession angle notwithstanding, is fueled in dark ambiance by all of Zize's underlying psychological sources of distress. Multiple cultural and clinical perspectives come into play:

• Dissociative Identity Disorder: Inner Fox first got in because Zize needed an alternate in order to cope with her trauma. Fear of losing control to the alternate is consistent with this pattern.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Auditory hallucinations of Inner Fox whispering suggestions to her can be an extreme PTSD symptom. Her unresolved hatred for Kai Yun fuels the argument.
• Cultural influence: In spite her field codename of "Plum Bixie," with a bixie spirit in Chinese folklore being known to viciously attack impure spirits, Kai infused in her mind association with the huli jing - an impure fox spirit. Leading to a strong sense of moral confusion within her. The fox mask she finds is more Japanese than Chinese in structure, but this is in keeping with the kitsune. Kitsune possession, called kitsunetsuki, was traditionally ascribed as a way to describe erratic behavior and personality changes. According to Perplexity, these cultural influences would taint Zize's perspective of reality, and inform her auditory hallucinations.
• Symbolic representation: Inner Fox is a symbolic manifestation of Zize's repressed anger, resentment, and desire for revenge against her abusers. It also represents parts of herself that she struggles to integrate.
• Psychotic feature: In severe cases, the hallucinations are possibly stress-induced psychotic episodes.

Complex holistic treatment is needed when dealing with her. She has a traumatic backstory, a cultural background requiring special research and consideration, and other worrisome symptoms.

Volkonir

Diagnosis: PTSD, Social Communication Disorder, Adjustment Disorder, and arrested development

• PTSD: Vinny has numerous intrusive thoughts and ruminations about past failures. He experienced severe trauma over the loss of his kingdom, coupled with 400 years of feeling largely isolated. He illustrates hypervigilance with and preoccupation over the need to prevent future harm. Living alone and avoiding neighbors can also be seen as symptoms, along with any other avoidance behaviors he may exhibit.
• Social Communication Disorder: His struggle to understand certain social cues, struggles with appropriate social sharing, and occasional misinterpretation of others' intentions (like Kayla's flirting) are all textbook symptoms.
• Adjustment Disorder: Earth culture and societal norms confuse him sometimes. He also shows emotional and behavioral symptoms in response to identifiable sources of stress.
• C-PTSD: He spent 400 years as an enchanted toy. He has extreme bitterness toward the Gwirdons, even if most of it is justified. He also suffers relationship problems, and struggles with forming healthy connections with others.

Perplexity noted that his being from another world, and suffering from a magical transformation, "make it challenging to apply standard diagnostic criteria fully." His social impairments are believed to be due to his prolonged isolation. A psychologist, it notes, "would likely focus on addressing Vinny's PTSD symptoms." HanomCorp giving him social skills training would also go a long way toward helping him integrate better with society.

A multidisciplinary approach involving traditional psychologists and social workers may be needed to truly aid his journey.

The AI speculated that his prolonged isolation could lead to eating disorders in a more realistic setting. It was also concerned with his "bizarre emotional outbursts," particularly his threatening to rip out Hiktomoph's eyes. It also correctly predicted he might talk to himself to an abnormal degree in toy form, also as a symptom of isolation.

In summary, magical transformation plus 400 years of loneliness have made it hard for him to adapt to new settings.

Ciem

Diagnosis: C-PTSD, comorbid with severe depression and borderline personality disorder

• C-PTSD: The loss of her parents, the sexual harassment she got constantly in school, sexual abuse she endured as a child, and a general lack of emotional support are believed to have layered upon each other to produce her melancholy state. Her emotional irregularity as a symptom is also concerning, which includes her rage outbursts and constant self-doubt. Her negative self-concept (questioning her value) is also noteworthy. Likewise, it noted the disconcerting reality of the fact that she would compare Cincinnati to Hell, and question if that's what she deserved. This expressed that, if it hadn't been turned into a literal war zone, she could be seen as holding distorted views.
• Depression: Perplexity noted her "persistent feelings of sadness and worthlessness." Her willingness to be incarcerated at the end of Ciem: Inferno also doesn't seem to be solely done out of selfless sacrifice to protect Imaki, but out of a selfish surrender due to loss of interest in activities. Her difficulty coping with miscarriage was also noted as a concern.
• Borderline Personality Disorder: She holds intense and unstable relationships, such as how quickly she became attached to Danny Loffin. She also illustrates impulsivity, given her ignoring house rules and engaging in risky behavior. Her longing to start a replacement family also betrays "cronic feelings of emptiness." This could all go double for Miriam, who in spite not having the same level of ambition to start a replacement family, is even more prone than Candi to risky behavior.

Perplexity noted additional considerations:

• Attachment issues: Candi can't trusting others easily. And when she tries, she doesn't seem capable of forming very many secure relationships.
• Hypervigilance: Her vigilante activities indicate being conditioned to a constant state of high alert.
• Survivor's guilt: She survived. Much of her family didn't. And those who died the minute she got even a little distracted? That weighs heavily on her.

If Madison is serious about treating her in-universe, a multi-faceted approach was recommended:

• Trauma-focused therapy (e.g., EMDR, CBT) to address her C-PTSD.
• Dialectical behavior therapy to help her with emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
• Cognitive processing therapy to address negative self-perceptions and guilt.
• Supportive therapy to rebuild self-esteem and develop healthy coping mechanisms.
• Antidepressants(?)

Perplexity noted that her superhero activities make her psychological profile even more nuanced. The extraordinary circumstances she endures would make her trauma and mental health symptoms worse: "Her tendency to self-sacrifice and take on excessive responsibility might be addressed as part of her treatment plan."

Entering the world of 3D AI

Dozerfleet Studios now has a double-camera setup for shooting backgrounds and video in 3D. The setup doesn't quite have all its bugs worked out yet, but enough of a double image was able to be produced to result in anaglyph experiments demonstrating the strengths and drawbacks of using AI to make post-processing conversions to 3D.

For posters that mostly consist of AI-generated assets in the first place, it's very difficult to combine native and post-processed assets together to make a believable composite. Depth map manipulation to improve Photoshop layer pixel displacement on a flattened copy of a file - with all assets added before flattening of layers - is the most practical way to do it.

This is most evident in the 3D version of the main book cover / official poster for The Tale of Plum Bixie:

However, while post-processing can speed up the editing process, and is usually pretty reasonable, it has nothing on the power of a wisely-chosen setup of native 3D shooting - something not possible with most AI art generators that are equipped to only do so-so with generating 2D assets.

Some 3D glasses are needed to truly see the difference, but here's a sample image of a Christmas village that was post-processed using the app Owl 3D:

By contrast, this is that same village when two different cameras' feeds were overlapped to produce native 3D:

The depth detail is simply amazing; and the depth maps involved with Owl 3D, as good as they are, cannot hope to match the sheer power of a proper parallax reconciliation.

Granted, achieving this latter image took a little more work. The right eye camera was a Canon PowerShot ELPH 135. The left eye camera was a Vivitar Popsnap VEC S124. Stabilizing either camera without a tripod splitter was an exercise in splitting hairs. To make matters worse, macro photography like this pushed the limits of what both cameras could do. When it came to color recognition, the Canon definitely had better chrominance range than the Vivitar.

As a consequence, the resulting composite image is a fraction of what was originally possible. Regardless, the point was made.

This was also demonstrated when The Amazing Spider-Man first hit theaters in RealD 3D, and was shot natively. The result was a far-better-looking world than the MCU, which released The Avengers with post-processed 3D. Native 3D clips of TASM are hard to find now, with most YouTube clips featuring badly-washed-out post-processed 3D that's difficult to watch. Clips of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suffered for this format, however, as it made more obvious than ever when Andrew was web-swinging against a greenscreen - a similar problem to that which plagued The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Viewers of

The Avengers didn't have that issue, since the 3D made available is the original post-processed result, just switched from RealD 3D to anaglyph per the limitations of most home monitors.

What does this mean for Dozerfleet 3D?

• Whenever possible, backgrounds and props that can be shot in native 3D can and should be done so. With a few tweaks, the Vivitar's current limitations may be overcome gradually. A tripod splitter will further aid the two cameras in communicating with each other to achieve an ideal parallax angle.
• If The Mutt Mackley Show ever made a comeback, an upgrade to the SD card setup for the Vivitar would enable Mackley videos to be shot in 3D. A different puppeteer might be needed, since the director / camerman would have to manage two cameras as the same time. This would allow future Mutt Mackley entries to be in native 3D.
• If location doubling is possible, backgrounds for story covers / posters could have 3D equivalents. Some clever blending of post-processed AI-generated foreground assets and native-shot assets would make better-looking 3D possible.
• Where such location doubling isn't possible, post-processing would be necessary to take full advantage of environments that are AI-generated from wholecloth.
• For Blood Over Water 3D for the remake, action shots that are complicated enough would be post-processed. Simpler shots could be done in The Sims 4 with carefully-handled trucking of the in-game camera to the right. The front and back covers, however, would have to be post-processed.
• So far, with regard to the machinomics, only Blood Over Water TS4 is being planned for a release some time in 2025 or 2026 with a 3D release. Readers will be encouraged to have or else order pairs of 3D glasses when reading Blood Over Water TS4 3D. All the other remaining machinomics are being planned for 2D only.
• From there, anaglyph work will be in limited supply, on an as-neede basis. Some anaglyphs are included in the official handbook for The Sims 4: Magic of Movies and Memes Stuff, though these are post-processed.
• Projects that are deemed passionate enough, or where there is enough demand, will then use native 3D as much as possible, and post-processed 3D whenever native 3D capture isn't possible. Most projects, for the sake of time, however, will still be 2D-only releases.

If Dozerfleet had its own version of Deadpool and Wolverine

Due to the nature of the Percolation Warriors saga, it's entirely possible for a Dozerfleet equivalent of Deadpool and Wolverine to exist - without ever using either Marvel character.

Sure, the Deadpool part of the equation would prove difficult, given Percolation Warriors is set after the death of MODM. However, MODM also was at one point going to be in a story called MODM: Reckoning, which had a similar plot to Thor: Ragnorak. In that story, MODM had to save MascotWorld from the Ultimate Meme Destroyer, an evil clone of Rick Astley, who had employed Insanity Wolf, Lucky Leprechaun, and the Jollibee as his minions. MODM was aided by Leonidas, Tide Pod Chan, Tay Zonday, Eduard Khil, Ugandan Knuckles, Overly Manly Man, Dat Boi, and (oddly enough) AoStH Robotnik. While Leonidas being helpful was no surprise, the surprise best backup warrior was Tide Pod Chan - desperate to be known for something other than getting eaten by morons.

So who could possibly replace MODM? Ideally, like with Deadpool and Wolverine, it'd have to be someone who can't die easily. Cornert Mindoche would be a little young. However, with some borrowed Remotach from Earth-G7.2.1, Candace "Lemon Witch" Mason could fill in the role of being the goofy world-hopper on such an adventure. She certainly wouldn't be as invincible as Deadpool, nor as vulgar. Give her some bladed weapons, and she could perform some of Wolverine's role as well. She could work in a pinch.

As for the serious teammate? The nearest equivalent to Deadpool in gunplay would be Plum Bixie, who would also be the closest personality match for Wolverine. Selling it as a female-led story would be tricky; but Percolation Warriors: Plum x Lemon could theoretically work as a Deadpool and Wolverine knockoff. If they can't defeat the new enemy with just the two of them, it could be made a trio. Maddening Rod could join them. To make sure all three of the Big Three universe families are represented, Kayla Tarington from the Knights of Cortascius could tag along - making them a core team of four.

Candace would be struggling with the fact that she gets bored easily. Zize? With the fact that she's afraid springing into action could lead to Inner Fox taking over her mind again. She doesn't want to undergo yet another exorcism, with Cherinob inside her head, ever again.

Who would be the villain?

As usual, licensing would be key. However, it's possible that a mishap with the Multiversal Triumvirate could lead to the Percolation Wave cloning Cerato right before he died, leading to an ascended Cerato. This rogue Cerato, desperate for a chance at relevance, would steal an entire transport vessel from under the Triumvirate, and use it to create his own separate universe - the Backlot (similar to the Void.)

Inside the Backlot, Cerato would use his stolen Triumvirate tech to make himself a veritable demigod among the residents. It wouldn't be paradise; but it wouldn't be a Mad Max-style wasteland either. He'd gather random Ice Chimps, Gwirdon Treaders, and others he'd captured and enslaved to become his servants. This would also include bringing Miscarriage the Stork back from the dead, resurrecting Oxymoron the Bull, resurrecting Shakesbear, resurrecting Uwchfiol, and resurrecting the Christina Wade version of Microwave Mouth. Anyone who puts up too much of a struggle gets fed to a clone of Salt the Raging Hamster.

In time, his plan would be to build his machine up so that he could start pruning from within the Divergency any timeline that he felt he could absorb energy from in order to grow his own power. He especially wanted to delete Earth-G7.2.9, to get revenge on the ascended Tanya Woven for having the nerve to humiliate his variant.

After careful analysis, Plum Bixie would be chosen to go after him - with help from Lemon Witch. Zize's being very hard to kill, combined with Candace's general unpredictability and remarkable talents, would make them a formidable duo for distracting Cerato long enough to sabotage the machine - leading to Cerato destroying himself.

The scariest plot twist? The girls must also visit every world Cerato has visited, and de-fuse a bomb of his from going off. If it goes off, it's set to target the Bootes Void. Cerato believes that if the Bootes Void in enough universes gets attacked, the feedback could unlock Earth-G7.0.0 - allowing Cerato to locate Pele and free her from the Bootes Void. A revived Pele would automatically create a multiversal crisis that would require Cherinob, Radjuatt, Soetera, and the rest of the Angelic Army to fix. Cerato would get mocked for having a similar evil plan to that of the Spot in Across the Spiderverse - until he points out how his intention to negotiate with Pele would actually make everything even worse.

Not wishing for a repeat of Cherinob 3; Zize, Candace, Kayla, and Carly would wish to fight back against Cerato and his army. However, they'd need allies. And that's when they discover the resistance in the Backlot:

The Resistance

While they were mostly there as a joke in Deadpool and Wolverine, fans rejoiced heavily to see Elektra, Human Torch, and especially Blade return to the silver screen after over a decade of irrelevance. A Dozerfleet version of that resistance could look like the following, and would really sell this story:

• A clone of Replox: Created when Cerato unsuccessfully attacked the world of Replox: Abstract Foundations. He was bounced back out by the Wave, but not before creating a clone of Kevin Mend. The clone lives in constant pain, as he and the original Kevin share the same Abstri-Matrix. He's willing to die for the cause of dethroning Cerato. Not only because he feels it's the right thing to do; but also because he wants to be set free from the fact that two versions of Kevin on the same Abstri-Matrix bond are not supposed to exist.
• Pollo Dehielo: Nearly everything about him has been forgotten, except for the fact that he's man in a chicken suit that makes ice. He gets a little tired of being called "Cold Chicken Batman."
• Cyberpunk Volkonir: A clone of the prince that first got displaced into a cyberpunk world, then got abducted into the Backlot by Cerato. In spite the progress his upgraded cyberpunk Golden Lion Knight armor helped him achieve in the cyberpunk world, he was unable to make much progress against the upgraded Cerato.
• A clone of Earth-G4 Ciem: Transported to a world where only shreds of her original Ciem suit from Imaki remained. A strange Zeranite pocket dimension she's connected to allows her to hide her 32 absurdly-long tentacle centilegs inside her body, which confuse the Percolation Warriors due to the fact that the Ciem they're familiar with has ten tiny centilegs and relies more heavily on Zeran teleportation to get around.
  
  This Candi never got to marry Donte, never got to save Denny Levens, barely managed to save her world from the Hebbleskin Gang and Arfaas' Doomsday Ship, struggled to get over the death of her daughter Angie, had no idea if her sister Miriam were okay, and generally felt like a failure at everything. Before finding the others, she felt very alone inside the forested and mountainous Purgatory-like Backlot. She especially feared Cerato, as Cerato seemed particularly intent on showing malice toward all versions of Ciem. She's aware that many consider the Earth-G7.2.1 version of her to be markedly superior, making her feel that much more like a failure.
• Redundant Man: Not afraid to die for the cause anymore, Redundant Man after stopping Professor Jargon's Duckzilla monster plan soon found himself and Detective Red Herring trapped in the Backlot. Red was among the first to be killed by Cerato, though he dreams of the day he can avenge his friend.
• Mutt Mackley: Desperate to get home once more, he remembers the time he lived inside Charlotte Duvarin's dorm wardrobe at Ferris State. He struggles with the fact that no one takes him seriously, given he's the size of a hand puppet - and somewhat resembles one.
• Jessie Morcin: The cancellation of Kozerlen saw her quickly fade out of relevance. However, she returns in this story looking for redemption. Even after getting past Corvin the Caller, and dismantling much of the Kozerlen conspiracy, she was no closer to learning the truth about her husband's disappearance than when she started. And after a decade, she was ready to give up. However, she knew she'd never finish the job if she couldn't escape the Backlot. The Percolation Warriors get confused by her appearance at first, noting that she bears an eerie resemblance to Monica Shelly.

Searching for transportation, they find Hilo, Ackro, and Colly from When Bikes Argue inside the Backlot. However, Ackro's rear axle snaps, rendering him useless. Colly gets sacrificed to shield Jessie from an attack by Miscarriage. Hilo survives, but proves to be of little use to the team. Barry the Car proves unusable, given his brake lines being corroded to uselessness.