Lights Off in Plant World/Deathbots!

Yesterday was a very exciting day: I moved every single denizen of Plant World onto my balcony and unplugged the lights! It mostly went smoothly, but I have Coccyx Shock Syndrome (wish I'd thought of that, but I stole it from the name of another biking team) from sitting down on a chair that wasn't there. Ouch! The poor little organ pipe jade plant I was holding went flying right out of its pot, and now it hardly has any leaves left. Oops! But once everything was in place, I sat in my chair (making sure it was there first) and gazed with great joy at my blooming amaryllis, orchid, and calla lilies. It was like my own little Garden of Eden! Cashmere wanted to come out too, but I'm always afraid she'll leap right off the balcony. Instead, I cuddled her and let her look out the window, and that seemed to make her happy.

Once when I was home visiting my parents, my niece, nephews, and I decided to draw deathbots. This all started because of a short story I had written called "Japandemonium," which is about nothing deeper than watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating sugar cereal as a kid. The protagonists of "Japandemonium" are a pair of deathbots named Megamort and Ultra Ultra Thanatos, so I drew my conception of what they might look like.

Figure 1: Megamort and Ultra Ultra Thanatos

Then my niece and nephews decided to draw their own deathbots, and they asked me to name them. The first two are the deathbots my niece drew.

Figure 2: Conator the Dairy Product of Death

Figure 3: Kay Soh the Fromaginator

The next three are the deathbots drawn by my youngest nephew.

Figure 4: Snooky-Woo the Harbinger of Annihilation

Figure 5: Rosebud the Extirpator

Figure 6: The Ooble of Doom

This last picture was drawn by my older nephew, who is the Evil Middle Child. (Anna Banana II, who is the very middle of many children, tells me that middle children are ALWAYS evil. So then if you are an only child, like Kathbert and Hardingfele, does that make you an Evil Middle Child as well?) It is, as I'm sure you'll agree, a very odd-looking deathbot, but probably entirely effective. He also named it himself, with a very unwieldly name.

Figure 7: I Wish This Were Real the Deathbot

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