Another year, another couple thousand new apps for you to wade through in a befuddled haze. Which ones should you download? Which ones should you actually pay for? And which ones deserve to take up prime real estate on your home screen? Whether you’ve spent the last 365 days asking yourself those very questions, or need a refresher on which apps from the last year deserve a second look, we’ve got you covered. Without further ado—our 20 favorite new apps from 2015:

Layout

Before Layout, you had to search through the app store for something to help stitch your photos into a collage that was then sharable to Instagram (Pixlr was often my choice). But Instagram finally came to its senses and created an app to make collages less of a nightmare. You can move frames with a simple click and drag, and move photos around so you get the exact collection of shots you want. The app then serves up sharing options direct to Instagram, Facebook, and pretty much anywhere else you can think of.

[Free - iOS and Android]

Outlook

Outlook needed an upgrade for a long, long time, and Microsoft finally delivered by buying one of the best email clients out there, Acompli, and bringing all its features and design to Outlook. It’s arguably one of the best Gmail clients for iOS (yes, it’s better than Gmail’s) and Microsoft plans to further integrate Sunrise, an amazing calendar app, directly into Outlook. In 2016, the app could become the go-to choice for keeping your email organized.

[Free - iOS and Android]

Periscope

Periscope is arguably the heaviest hitter on this list. The app launched in March, and with the support of Twitter, quickly became the No. 1 livestreaming app out there. It’s been adopted widely by individual users and media outlets to offer instantaneous coverage from a smartphone to the rest of the world. Other competitors, like YouTube Live and Meerkat, offer intriguing alternatives. But Periscope, with its straightforward interface and growing community, is probably the most successful app of the year.

[Free- iOS and Android]

Apple Music

Apple Music didn’t exactly set the music streaming world on fire, but it created one hell of an app and made up for years of lost time. It also introduced Beats 1, a delightfully old school way of discovering music in a sort of FM Radio/podcast hybrid. Apple Music also has deep integration into the iTunes Store, so if you already have an impressive library of paid tunes, Apple Music plays along nicely. Perhaps the most shocking development with Apple Music is that it’s also available on Android. So everybody wins (except Apple designers).

[Free w/ $10/mo subscription - iOS and Android]

VHS Camcorder

This is one of those beautiful, simple apps that doesn’t need much describing. It makes video on your phone look like it was shot on some shitty camcorders from the 80s. Revolutionary? NOPE. But fun (and kinda brilliant) nonetheless.

[$4 - iOS]

Cortana

Wait, what? Yes, it’s true that Cortana’s been around forever. But Microsoft took some big steps this year with its digital assistant, and Cortana is now platform agnostic. So if you happen to like Microsoft’s take on the mobile digital assistant, you can have it on your iPhone or Android as well. The latter comes with a few more features than iOS, like linking reminders across your PC and phone, though they all pale in comparison to Windows phone (Microsoft still wants to sell those Lumias...I think). The app is free and worth trying, especially if you’ve ever considered yourself a Master Chief sort of person.

[Free- iOS and Android]

MakerBot PrintShop

Makerbot had a tough 2015. The 3D printing company laid of 20 percent of its staff only to be followed up with laying off another 20 percent of its staff. But in the meantime, it was able to put together this app, which is one of the coolest ideas we’ve seen. It’s called PrintShop, and essentially it can turn any drawing into a 3D print—no CAD experience required. Printer manufacturers need to bridge the gap usability gap between artisan and layperson. PrintShow is that firststep. Now it just needs to be available on iPhone and Android and also play nice with other kinds of 3D printers out there.

[Free - iOS (iPad)]

Google Photos

Google’s always had a Photos app, but the overhaul it launched in 2015 deserves to be on this list. The Google Photos app went from a nice little app that wasn’t incredibly useful to something that was mind-bogglingly good. So good that it kind of scared us when we first used it. Google Photos is super simple to use and the best way to keep track of all your photos, especially if you’re prone to using several different mobile devices. It also has a super smart algorithm to lump photos into the same category for easy search, and will create mini slideshows of certain photos from one day. It’s even worth forsaking Apple’s stock option to give Google Photos a shot.

[Free - iOS and Android]

Star Wars: Card Trader

Topps Star Wars trading card app does for old-school Star Wars cardboard nostalgia what Hearthstone did for card games in the digital age. The app itself is just a simple card-collecting app, except that you can trade with anyone IN THE WORLD. The app has created its own economy of sorts, including what is essentially a JPG of Han Solo that’s worth $225 USD. Like the sports-related apps before it—Bunt, Huddle, and Kick—Star Wars: Card Collector doesn’t exactly muck with the formula much...other than the fact that it’s Star Wars and that’s awesome.

[Free w/ in-app purchases - iOS and Android]

Darkroom

Filters are an important part of mobile photography. An Instagram without filters is an Instagram that I don’t want use at all. But what if your app of choice’s filter selection leaves you wanting something more? That’s why Darkroom is so great. Aside from being a great photo-editing app in general, it also lets you create filters after every tone or color tweak, so you can build up an impressive collection of hand-crafted filters.

[$3 - iOS]

Arrow Launcher

Microsoft’s Garage is endlessly pumping out interesting apps across all platforms, but the one that stuck out the most in 2015 was Arrow Launcher. For Android only (obviously), Arrow Launcher wants to put your most used info front and center, so you can get in and out of your phone as fast as possible, with quick access to to-do lists and most used contacts. It might be a hard sell over Google Now or Nova launcher, but Microsoft’s launcher is surprisingly good (especially considering they’re the competition).

[Free - Android]

HBO Now

“It’s here. It’s finally here” is what I thought when HBO Now was announced during WWDC 2015. As a mobile app, it actually has a little bit to build upon, and doesn’t provide all the features of its cable subscriber-only app HBO Go. But cable-free HBO is the best thing that’s happened to video streaming apps for awhile. Hopefully, the app ups its game even further in 2016.

[Free w/ $15/mo fee - iOS and Android]

Giphy CAM

Animated pieces of internet gold are Giphy’s business—and business is good. That’s why they’ve launched Giphy CAM, a comprehensive app that lets you create and share the perfect GIF right when you need to. You can overlay sunglasses, weird faces, or yes, state-of-the-art junk food special effects. GIFs: They’re the way we live now.

[Free - iOS]

Drupe

On a given day, I might call, text, FaceTime, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram my best friend. That’s a lot of tapping, hunting for the right apps, and navigating their UI, before I can communicate. Drupe does away with all of that by building a super simple contacts app that’s much more than a contacts app. It keeps track of your top contacts in one column with popular messaging apps in another. Simply slide the contact icon over the icon of the platform you want to use, and Drupe opens up the right app with the right chat already selected. It’s time saving at its finest.

[Free - Android]

Eve

Eve, formally known as Ruby, is more than just fun and games or a productivity aide. It’s one the best apps for women’s sexual health, offering comprehensive and easy-to-use menstruation and ovulation tracking. Eve can also track sexual health by analyzing other data collected from other health and fitness apps you might be using. It even customizes based on the type of contraceptive you’re using.

[Free - iOS]

Samsung Pay

This is one of the more limited apps on the list. It’s currently only available for the Galaxy Note 5, S6, S6 edge, and S6 edge+. The app works with traditional NFC, which payment apps like Apple Pay use, but also magnetic secure transmission (MST) a technology Samsung acquired from LoopPay in February. That means your phone needs to have MST technology for Samsung Pay to work as advertised. MST allows tap-to-pay functionality at terminals that may not have NFC, but do have MST card readers. This makes Samsung Pay the most accessible mobile payments app out there. It doesn’t quite annihilate the plastic in our wallets, but it’s definitely the app that’s come the closest so far.

[Free - Android (Samsung Phones)]

DSCO

Sure, Giphy Cam is fine for making GIFs, but if you need something a little less...intense...that’s where DSCO comes in.It’s from VSCO, creators of VSCO Cam, so the team is comprised of experts in the imaging biz. But what I love most about DSCO is its incredibly simple and streamlined design. Take a video, swipe for filters, share to the internet. Done. It’s up against Instagram’s own Boomerang app (and its own self-looping features in the main app), but VSCO’s first app adventure outside VSCO Cam is one worth investigating.

[Free - iOS]

Robinhood

Robinhood technically launched in late 2014, but at that time it was only on a limited invite system. A year later, Robinhood is now publicly available on Android and iOS, and it’s one of the more interesting app ideas I’ve seen in a while. Robinhood tries to take some of the scariness out of stock-trading with a super simple interface and zero commission trading. If you’ve ever thought about giving stocks a try, Robinhood is a wonderful app that’ll help you dip your toe into that big, complicated, intimidating financial world.

[Free - iOS and Android]

Enlight

Other than games, photo editors are arguably the app category with the most options out there. Enlight might be the The One App to Rule Them All. The app offers myriad features, including noise reduction, cropping tools, and fixes for tone and color. You can also create collages and slap on a filter before exporting to Instagram. It’s a little pricey at $4, but if you’re taking more and more mobile photos, and want something a little better than what you’re getting out of your lens, Enlight is a worthwhile purchase.

[$4 - iOS]

YouTube Gaming

Twitch has been the undisputed game streaming champion for years—and then YouTube Gaming came along. Leveraging its massive influence as an online video juggernaut, YouTube Gaming created an app that’s wonderfully designed for a power gamer or just a casual observer. Each game has its own page that’s divided into live videos, reviews, and let’s plays, and the app has a wealth of games to choose from. For more details, check out Kotaku’s hands-on covering YouTube Gaming’s many, many merits.

[Free - iOS and Android]

Lazer Team is a hodgepodge of everything you love about genre. It’s about four dopey guys who are forced to band together to save the world from aliens. Think the cast of Super Troopers starring in Ghostbusters, but fighting aliens instead of ghosts.

The film was conceived and stars the comedy troupe known as Rooster Teeth. It was completed with the help of a crowdsourcing campaign. The result is an incredibly watchable, polished piece of scifi comedy, which we caught at Fantastic Fest. Check out the trailer below.

Lazer Team hits select theaters and YouTube Red on January 27. Visit the LazerTeamTheMovie.com for ticktes and more info.

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

Coming-of-age drama Essex County, adapted from Jeff Lemire’s series of short stories set in his hometown of Detroit-adjacent Essex County, Ontario, Canada, will be developed for Canada’s CBC network.

Lemire—whose past credits include DC Comics’ Green Arrow and Justice League, and Marvel Comics’ Hawkeye—is the current author of the “All-New, All-Different” Marvel title Extraordinary X-Men. His Descender graphic novel series is also headed for the big screen.

According to a press release posted on Lemire’s website:

Writer Aaron Martin has been signed to pen the pilot script and showrun the series currently in development with the CBC.

Based on award-winning cartoonist Jeff Lemire’s much-loved graphic novel trilogy, published by Top Shelf Productions, this series intricately weaves the genealogy of a family’s origins across generations. The novel is an intimate study of an eccentric community and a tender meditation on family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation.

Ted Adams, Chris Staros, Jeff Lemire and Aaron Martin will Executive Produce along with Christina Piovesan of First Generation Films.

“ESSEX COUNTY is a vivid and haunting book that has inspired a dedicated and distinguished following. We are thrilled Jeff has agreed to collaborate with FGF to bring his vision to the screen” says First Generation Films President Christina Piovesan.

Given Lemire’s ever-rising show biz star, here’s hoping the show will also be made easily accessible to non-Canadian viewers.

http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Esse...

Look, I know Javier Grillo-Marxuach has done many things in his career—both Deadline and Variety have him as a “Lost alum.” But I will always leap to The Middleman first. And then follow him wherever he goes. The fact that it happens to be Xena is just the icing on the cake.

NBC has him writing the reboot and acting as one of the executive producers. He’ll join the original exec producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, who are also on board. These are all things I love and want. Yes. More of this.

[Deadline]

Screencap via Xena Central

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

That innocent period where what little we knew of The Force Awakens was the debate over the feasibility of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber was a wonderful time. But it turns out aside from the debate about if it was THE BEST or THE WORST, from a practical point of view, the movie’s sabers had two new features that finally achieved Lucas’ original vision for the props: heft, and light.

In a new interview with The Telegraph, Adam Driver briefly spoke about the initial controversy over the unconventional design of his lightsaber, but quickly diverged into some interesting little factoids about the actual physical build of the sabers used on the set of the film:

When George Lucas did the first film, he wanted them to be really heavy, but they couldn’t quite figure it out. This is the first time that we’re actually fighting with the whole lightsaber too. Before it was just the hilt with [something] like an antenna or a green stick, but this was state of the art – it actually sends off light.

It’s a minor thing, but Driver’s right—in the original films, the lighsabers were at first covered in a spool of rotating reflective tape that shone light back at the camera. They were later upgraded with thin aluminium poles attached to the hilt as a guideline for rotoscoping effects to be added in post-production. Eventually, in the prequels, the effect was entirely digital—which meant, for all six movies, the blades of pure green, blue, red, and purple energy never actually emitted any light on their surroundings or their users. You don’t really notice it at first, but looking back, it’s surprisingly jarring.

Combined with an increased weight to replicate an actual sword being swung around, and the fact that The Force Awakens’ sabers actually emitted light—we’ve already seen examples thanks to Finn and Kylo’s lightsaber duel in the trailers—it seems like the upcoming movie could be the closest to a logical or realistic take on lightsaber dueling we’ve ever seen in a Star Wars film.

Or, you know. About as close to “real” as you’d ever get to something so outlandishly fantastical as Star Wars.

Syfy’s bid to get back the people who loved Battlestar Galactica begins tonight. Not just one, but three of our most beloved books are coming to the channel this week, in an all-out effort to regain your eyeballs. Plus a ton of finales and huge turning points, in this week’s TV!

Tonight

Supergirl (8PM, CBS)

Cat Grant, besmirched! Can Supergirl get her abusive boss back in power, AND handle her wicked Aunt Astra’s opposing viewpoints on her mother?

Looks like there’s thematic parallels in the “A” and “B” plots on the winter finale of Supergirl!

Uncle Grandpa (5:30PM, CARTOON)

New episodes all week!

Childhood’s End (8PM, SYFY)

The much-anticipated Arthur C. Clarke adaptation finally premieres! Three parts, three nights in a row.

The Expanse (10 PM, Syfy)

This is it: The new TV series based on the beloved space opera books by James S.A. Corey. The whole first episode has already shown up online, but now’s your chance to see it on your lovely TV screen. And tell your friends. This really is the best gritty space opera since Battlestar Galactica, and we can’t wait.

_______________________________________________

Tuesday

Childhood’s End (8 PM, Syfy)

The second night of the three-night Syfy event! And read our review of the whole thing here.

Limitless (10PM, CBS)

“When Agent Casey Rooks and his SWAT team skim 80 NZT pills for themselves from the recovery of stolen inventory, it starts an internal investigation that is viewed through the shifting perspectives of Brian’s immediate circle at the FBI.”

_____________________________________________________

Wednesday

Dolph Lundgren Double Feature (2PM, EL REY)

Masters of the Universe & I Come In Peace, back-to-back!

Childhood’s End (8 PM, Syfy)

And here’s the final installment of this huge miniseries. Will the human race prevail? If you’ve read Arthur C. Clarke’s original novel, you already know the answer.

American Horror Story (9PM, FX)

“Alex enlists John’s help in containing an outbreak. Donovan learns The Countess’ true intentions. Liz and Iris plan to leave the hotel for good.”

The Magicians (10 PM, Syfy)

And here’s the third book that Syfy is adapting starting this week: Lev Grossman’s famous literary novel about magicians going to a special boarding school is getting a lavish adaptation, produced by Sera Gamble (Supernatural). Read our description of visiting the set here. The first episode wasn’t supposed to air until January, but they’re sneaking it out early. The rest of the show will air starting in 2016.

_____________________________________________________

Thursday

New Titans Thursday (6PM, CARTOON)

All Christmas episodes!

Luther (9PM, BBC AMERICA)

Luther teams up with Rose Leslie to track a clue-dropping cannibal! Can he get his rookie partner to internalize on the job? “Keep it togethah! We do this by the book, wot!”

Haven (9PM, SYFY)

Two-hour series finale!

_______________________________________________

Friday

Glitter Force (3:01AM, NETFLIX)

Saban’s take on Sailor Moon by way of Winx Club. At some point, they encounter a humungous, clown-faced medicine ball creature. All episodes premiere simultaneously at 3:01AM, when the barrier between the living and the dead is at its thinnest.

Z Nation (10PM, SYFY)

“The heroes seem to be nearing the end of their adventure when, in the Season 2 finale, they drive through the abandoned city of Los Angeles on their way to the mobile CDC lab, where Dr. Merch awaits their arrival. Meanwhile, the Zeros are hot on Murphy and the gang’s heels.”

Season finale!

_______________________________________________

Saturday

Pokemon (8AM, CARTOON)

Ash battles the weirdo psychic gym leader, Olympia, and her two Meowstics.

Ash vs Evil Dead (9PM, STARZ)

The OTHER Ash finally returns to the cabin, 28-years later! Improbably, so does his severed hand…

The Returned (10PM, SUNDANCE)

The season finale of the French revenant series!

_______________________________________________

Sunday

Possession (2AM, TCM)

Isabelle Adjani gives one of the greatest performances in film history in a rare TV presentation of Zulawski’s untouchable POSSESSION. Followed by Louis Malle’s Black Moon.

The Librarians (8PM, TNT)

“The team has scattered, all living the ideal versions of their lives. Soon these “strangers” are drawn together to solve a supernatural mystery - the appearance of Ariel, the sprite bound to Prospero’s service. Can the Librarians do what no other human has ever been able - turn their backs on their own ultimate happy endings?”

Oh, it’s one of those “For The Man Who Has Everything”-type stories (or There’s No Place Like Springfield, if you’re a GI Joe fan). I bet Christian Kane can really sell the denouement. “PROSPERO!”

National Geographic Special: Inside Lego (8PM, NGC)

“On “Inside Lego,” LEGO’s Vice President of Design, Matthew James Ashton, opens the doors of LEGO HQ and reveals how the company finds the next generation of LEGO Set Designers.”

Their major criterion is to find people who can build passable likenesses of the Imperial Star Destroyer with the fewest pieces, but also retain the same price point of their earlier, superior model (right?!) .

Agent X (9PM, TNT)

“John travels in disguise to a party on a reclusive billionaire’s island, in the hopes of stealing a dangerous high tech weapon, code named Geryon. At the same time, Natalie struggles to contain the latest fallout from the conspiracy against the President.”

A reclusive island billionaire (who throws parties?) and a weapon named after Medusa’s grandson? If it wasn’t for Ash, this could be the pick o’ the week!

Contact the author at fisharebeautiful@gmail.com.

The Black List is an annual ranking of Hollywood’s most promising yet-to-be-produced screenplays. Past years have highlighted eventual awards-grabbers like Argo, American Hustle, and The Social Network, as well as genre entries like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This year’s mix is similarly all over the map.

The complete 2015 list can be read on the Black List’s website, but here are some of our favorites, starting with this year’s top vote-getter: Bubbles, by Isaac Adamson. It sounds wonderfully nutty and hopefully someone will have the bananas to produce it:

A baby chimp is adopted by the pop star Michael Jackson. Narrating his own story, Bubbles the Chimp details his life within The King of Pop’s inner circle through the scandals that later rocked Jackson’s life and eventually led to Bubbles’ release.

Other intriguing picks among the other top vote-getters:

Crater by John J. Griffin: On the moon, five teens take an unauthorized and adventure-filled road trip just before one of them is to be sent away on a seventy-five year journey to another planet, leaving behind his best friends.

Pale Blue Dot by Brian C Brown and Elliot DiGuisseppi: Twelve months after returning from a space mission, decorated astronaut Laura Pepper is arrested for the attempted murder of a fellow astronaut.

(The latter is based on the real-life case of Lisa Nowak, sounds like.)

Plus, four tales of boys tangling with spooky and unknown forces:

Eli by David Chirchirillo: Having moved into a “clean house” to treat his auto-immune disorder, eleven-year-old Eli begins to believe that the house is haunted. Unable to leave, Eli soon realizes that the house, and the doctor who runs it, are more sinister than they appear.

The Water Man by Emma Needell: A young boy tries to save his mother from terminal cancer by seeking out the town’s bogeyman, “The Water Man,” who is fabled to have conquered death.

Boy by Mattson Tomlin: A teenage boy is born with special abilities and spends his childhood switching names and cities so as to keep his identity hidden. When he loses control and accidentally kills his father, he and his mother have to go on the run.

Hammerspace by Mike Van Waes: A terminally-ill teenager looking for answers about his missing father finds a key that unlocks an opening to an alternate animated dimension and a new friend who helps him repair his broken family.

Two tales of serial killers:

The Wretched Emily Derringer by Chris Thomas Devlin: Gleefully terrifying her small town as a serial killer known as “The Misfit Butcher,” 13-year-old Emily Derringer becomes annoyed when a new killer comes to town and residents begin attributing his sloppy murders to the Misfit Butcher. In a macabre coming of age story, Emily must deal with her competition while also taking on the other trials and tribulations of junior high school life.

Crimson Trail by Jeremy Shipp: Devastated by the cold-blooded murder of his family, a devout frontier preacher risks his soul to lead a posse in pursuit of the Harpe Brothers—America’s first serial killers. Based on a true story.

And this thriller about the aftermath of an alien war:

Morningstar by David Birke: The war is over. A bitter and uneasy truce has been reached with an invading alien race, and a new cold war has begun. Fueled by suspicions of an alien spy in their ranks, the United Nations Intelligence Division entrusts their top agent, Martin Webber, with finding the mole.

Other entries include a new script for classic tale Treasure Island, and re-imaginings (re-re-imaginings?) of Romeo and Juliet and Rapunzel.

[Via Variety]

Top image: “Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988, Porcelain” by artist Jeff Koons on display during a retrospective exhibition in the Centre Pompidou modern art museum in Paris, France, Tuesday Nov. 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Kotaku The Mystery of What Fallout 4 Hides Underwater | Adequate Man A Christmas Gift Of Gonorrhea, And More Of Your Holiday Party Mishaps | Jezebel The Best Time I Got That Goddamn Elf Off My Goddamn Shelf | Gizmodo The 20 Best New Apps of 2015 |

There have been so many little changes in the original Star Wars trilogy since their theatrical release because there have been so many “special edition” DVDs and Blu Rays and VHS tapes and LaserDiscs that have come out after the fact that it’s really hard to keep up with what the original movies showed in theaters.

Some of those changes since the theatrical release are good—the films look better because its in higher quality?—but many of those changes have driven fans crazy like how Han didn’t shoot first and the needless splicing of special effects to the original trilogy and the addition of Anakin to old scenes. And the worst thing is, you can’t watch the original versions of Star Wars anymore! Well, unless you get your hands on the Despecialized Edition. You can learn how to do that here.

http://lifehacker.com/watch-the-orig...

As for the bad changes, WatchMojo lists the 10 worst changes to Star Wars in the “special edition” sets below.

The list:

1. Greedo shooting first
2. Adding in Hayden Christensen
3. Han Solo talking to Jabba the Hutt
4. Changing who says Boba Fett’s lines
5. Changing the song performance
6. All the CG crap to Mos Eisley entrance
7. Adding a scream to Luke’s fall
8. Making Darth Vader yell “nooo!” in Return of the Jedi
9. Bedazzling the Sarlacc Pit in 3D
10. Changing Luke’s dialogue when R2-D2 falls in the swamp

SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, andYouTube.

Oh, DC, this is very silly. The good news first: a new comic anthology series coming from the company brings back some minor DC heroes and, re-pairs some of them with their original creative talents. The bad news? Said anthology is named Legends of Tomorrow, despite having nothing to do with the TV show.

Let’s talk about the cool bit first. The new anthology series will host stories based around Firestorm, Metamorpho, the Metal Men, and a reboot of the 1950s kids characters Sugar and Spike that reimagines them as modern day P.I’s in the DC universe cleaning up the problems of major superheroes—all characters that haven’t exactly had the most deserving swing at the bat lately.

Even better, in Firestorm’s case, he’s being reunited with his original creator, writer Gerry Conway—mere months after the writer was engaged in a spat with DC over royalties paid to comics creatives. Sugar and Spike will be written by Keith Giffen, Bilquis Evely on art. Metamorpho will be written by Aaron Lopresti with art by Lopresti and Matt Banning, Metal Men will be written by Len Wein, with art from Yildiray Cinar and Trevor Scott, while Eduardo Pansica and Rob Hunter will provide art for Firestorm. All this sounds very good, and an interesting way to bring together characters who would probably never be able to hold up their own ongoing series or miniseries these days.

... and then some bright spark decides to call it Legends of Tomorrow. Because #branding, I guess?

Presumably, the reason it’s called Legends of Tomorrow is so people watching Legends of Tomorrow who don’t otherwise read comics see the name on a book shelf somewhere, get intrigued, and pick up an issue. But here’s the problem with that: the moment they get past the front cover, they’re going to be incredibly confused that this series—a really good-sounding series, I must reiterate!—has nothing to do with the group of heroes they enjoy watching on TV, outside of the presence of Firestorm.

If someone who likes Legends of Tomorrow wants to read a Legends of Tomorrow comic, they’re going to want something that’s at least vaguely similar to what they’re familiar with. They want the characters or the general scenario... not just literally the name slapped on for shits and giggles.

It’s the laziest attempt to grab attention from the explosively popular realm of live-action superhero adaptations I’ve seen in a long time—which is a damn shame, considering the anthology itself seems like an interesting idea. Why give it such a pointless title?

Legends of Tomorrow will be out in March, to capitalize on the then-ongoing premiere of the Legends of Tomorrow TV show’s first season... for no particular reason whatsoever.

[IGN]

“You’re operating independently of yourself in an alternate time line”—now, is there any way that won’t end badly? With this trailer—fast-paced and stuffed with sinister, urban-noir vibes—we’re super excited for Synchronicity, the latest science fiction thriller from Jacob Gentry who you might remember from 2007’s The Signal.

Here’s the official synopsis:

SYNCHRONICITY is a mind-bending ‘Sci-fi Noir’ in the tradition of Blade Runner, Gattaca and Memento. Daring physicist Jim Beale has invented a machine that can fold space-time and ruthless corporate tycoon Klaus Meisner will stop at nothing to get it. When Jim uses the machine to tear open the fabric of the universe, a rare Dahlia appears from the future. But in order to keep the rights to his invention he must prove that it works by finding the flower’s identical match in the present.

Jim soon discovers that the Dahlia lies in the hands of the mysterious Abby, who seduces him into revealing his secrets. Convinced that she is in league with Klaus to take ownership of his life’s work, Jim travels back in time to stop the conspiracy before it can happen. But once in the past, Jim uncovers a surprising truth about Abby, the machine, and his own uncertain future.

Synchronicity will be out January 22.

Top image via Magnet Releasing

Since 1997, George Lucas has been hell bent on ruining the original Star Wars trilogy. Every new release—in theaters, on DVD, and on Blu-Ray—comes with more added garbage than the last. This fan-made version of the original trilogy is the best version of Star Wars you can watch.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/10-of-the-wors...

Between adding a silly Jabba the Hutt scene to the first movie, putting an absurd musical number in Return of the Jedi, and Greedo shooting first (a change so convtroversial it has its own Wikipedia page), it’s like Lucasfilm is trolling us. I mean come on—what does a big CGI alien walking in front of the shot possibly add to the movie? At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jar Jar Binks in the the 4K release of Return of the Jedi.

Unfortunately, you can’t buy the original version of the movie anymore, and it was never released in very high quality. The closest you can get is buying the laserdisc trilogy for $150 on eBay, the DVD with a low-quality version of the theatrical edition for $50, or break out those old VHS tapes from your closet.

But, with the help of many dedicated fans and video editors, an originaltrilogy.com forum user named Harmy decided to recreate the original, unaltered trilogy in high definition. He calls it the Despecialized Edition, and it’s the version of Star Wars we’ve all been clamoring for the last 20 years.

What the Despecialized Edition Does

The Despecialized Edition is a “fan preservation”, aiming not to create a new version of the movie, but to restore the original trilogy exactly as it was in the 70s and 80s—little flaws and all. To recreate the original 1977 version of A New Hope, for example, he used clips from:

• The 2011 Blu-Ray edition
• An HDTV broadcast of the 2004 Special Edition DVD
• A low quality version of the original trilogy from the special features of the 2006 DVD, affectionately called George’s Original Unaltered Trilogy (or the “GOUT”)
• Various scans of 70mm and 35mm film prints and still images from the films

With the help of many other originaltrilogy.com members, Harmy took bits and pieces of the above sources and edited them together with the Blu-Ray footage to recreate the theatrical version of the movie—in 720p HD. Watch the video above to see how it was put together—it really is fascinating.

Not all of the Special Edition changes are bad, of course. (I rather liked the redone CGI space battles.) But there is no doubt that this is the best version of the film you can get today. The color correction alone puts it so far ahead of the Blu-Ray that it’s the only version I’ll watch.

You can see a full list of Harmy’s changes, with screenshots and descriptions, in this Google+ album. You can also read more on the Despecialized Edition’s forum post at originaltrilogy.com, as wells as the threads for Empire Strikes Back’s Despecialized Edition and Return of the Jedi’s Despecialized Edition.

How to Find and Download the Despecialized Edition

Since this is an unofficial community project, the only way you can get it is...well, “unofficially”. The legality of this project is up in the air, and while some have made a Fair Use argument in the name of preservation, Harmy doesn’t offer the movie as a simple one-click download. You’ll have to do a bit of legwork to download and watch it. The creators also request that you legally own a copy of the Star Wars Blu-Rays, so that even if you aren’t on the most solid legal ground, you’re on solid moral ground.

TehPARADOX.com is the most “official” place to download the Despecialized Edition, though obtaining it is a fairly complex process using a program called JDownloader. I have not been able to get this method to work properly (it reports most of the download links as dead), so while you can try it using these instructions, know that you may not have very much luck.

Update: A few of you noted that you got the JDownlader method working with the help of this YouTube video, so if you’re trying to go the more official method, give it a shot!

By far the easiest way to obtain the movie, however—albeit a little shadier—is through BitTorrent. Just visit your favorite BitTorrent search engine (like torrentz.eu) and search for “star wars despecialized edition”. You’ll probably find quite a few options. Remember to use a VPN or proxy to keep yourself anonymous when you download.

I know that seems like a lot of hassle, but trust me: once you’ve watched the Despecialized Editions, you’ll never go back.

Last week’s “Force Friday”* wasn’t just about the release of new Star Wars toys. It also heralded the start of “Journey To The Force Awakens,” a planned series of stories detailing the 30 years between Return of the Jedi and the new film. Here’s everything we know so far about the formative years of Disney’s new Star Wars canon.

Warning: The following information is gleaned from the newly released novels Aftermath and Lost Stars, as well as the young adult novels Moving Target, Smuggler’s Run and The Weapon of a Jedi, today’s release of Marvel’s Shattered Empire #1, and the upcoming video games Star Wars: Uprising and Star Wars: Battlefront. Suffice to say, there are plenty of major spoilers for those products below, especially the two main novels. [*This post originally ran on September 9, 2015.]

The War Continues

The Rebel’s victory at Endor may have been portrayed in Return of the Jedi as the killing blow of the Galactic Civil War, but it was far from it. The Empire was deeply wounded by the loss of the second Death Star as well as the Emperor and Darth Vader, but surviving and fleeing Imperials quickly clamped down on any galaxy-wide celebrations or thoughts of rebellion.

The victory parade at Coruscant’s Monument Plaza was cut down by Imperial Police, and just as quickly as talk of the Empire’s doom spread, equal talk from the Empire that not only had the Emperor survived the battle of Endor, but that the Rebels had been wiped out altogether, spread to combat the news.

The Rebels knew this, however. Following the celebrations at Bright Tree village, Rebel intelligence discovered an Imperial holdout still active on Endor—one hastily liberated by the Rebels, but which lead to the discovery that the Empire were trying to clamp down any talk of their victory on the forest moon. The Alliance quickly sought to counter Imperial propaganda; both Admiral Ackbar and Leia Organa delivered recorded speeches on the Holonet (the Star Wars universe’s galaxy-wide transmissions service—think the internet, but with holograms!) as a declaration of the Empire’s defeat at Endor, and that the war to free the galaxy is far from over:

Today is a day of celebration. We have triumphed over villainy and oppression and have given our Alliance—and the galaxy beyond it—a chance to breathe and cheer for the progress in reclaiming our freedom from an Empire that robbed us of it. We have reports from Commander Skywalker that Emperor Palpatine is dead, and his enforcer, Darth Vader, with him.

But though we may celebrate, we should not consider this our time to rest. We struck a major blow against the Empire, and now will be the time to seize on the opening we have created. The Empire’s weapon may be destroyed, but the Empire itself lives on. Its oppressive hand closes around the throats of good, free-thinking people across the galaxy, from the Coruscant Core to the farthest systems in the Outer Rim. We must remember that our fight continues. Our rebellion is over. But the war… the war is just beginning.

-Admiral Ackbar

Bonus fun fact—The Force Awakens’ Poe Dameron was likely conceived during the celebrations at the end of Return of the Jedi! His parents, Shara Bey and Kes Dameron, both fought in the ground and space battle at Endor and are protagonists in Shattered Empire.

The Iron Blockade

As news got harder to control, and rebellious uprisings across the galaxy harder to put down, the remaining Imperial governors in power got increasingly desperate—none moreso than Adelhard, the governor of the Anoat sector (home to locations like Hoth and Bespin). Adelhard rallied what was left of the Imperial Navy under his command to construct a blockade around the entire star system, stopping citizens from leaving (and potentially joining the emboldened Alliance), clamped down on communication, and sent Stormtroopers out on the streets. The idea spread across the Empire, as the Imperials no longer attempted to combat the Rebel threat but instead simply shut down and holed up.

A New Republic Rises

Be patient. be strong. Fight back where you can. The Imperial War Machine falls apart one gear, one gun, one stormtrooper at a time. The New Republic is coming. And we want your help to finish the fight.

-Leia Organa

As the Empire locked itself down, the Rebel Alliance swept into action—but no longer as the Alliance to Restore the Republic. With Mon Mothma’s homeworld of Chandrila free from the Empire’s grasp, the Alliance was dissolved shortly after the Battle of Endor and reformed into the New Republic, a new Senate ushered in at the capital city of Hanna.

Mon Mothma took on the role of Chancellor of the New Republic, and although its charter was largely based on that of the Old Republic—right down to the fact that Mothma still had many of the Emergency Powers granted to Palpatine during the height of the Clone Wars—unlike the former Republic, the new Senate was democratically elected to serve on Chandrila, rather than a delegated position. The very first meeting of the Senate includes over 100 senators from across the galaxy.

Despite the ongoing hostilities between the New Republic and the Empire, Mon Mothma’s primary goal upon the opening of the Senate was to demilitarize the New Republic as quickly as possible. The majority of the Chancellor’s emergency powers were stripped immediately, and plans were made (despite disagreement from sections of the senate) to eliminate 90% of the New Republic’s army and Navy, which was headed up by Admiral Ackbar. Instead of entirely removing that military power though, the funding went instead go to bolstering the planetary armies of the New Republic’s member worlds, with the remaining New Republic armies kept as a peacekeeping force stationed at a new academy on Chandrila to train recruits.

Downfall

The New Republic’s call for its own demilitarization came hand-in-hand with its numbers being vastly increased by a swathe of Imperial captures and defections over the year following Endor. With the Empire largely in chaos as Moffs backstabbed each other, attempting to consolidate power and declare new Emperors (at such a regular occurrence the announcements have lost all meaning), the New Republic’s forces swept across the Galaxy and won victory after victory against Imperial forces.

Several Moffs and Generals defected, relinquishing not just themselves but their Star Destroyers to the New Republic. Naboo was liberated, and defended from three consecutive sieges as the Empire sought to own the homeworld of the Emperor as a symbolic victory—as was Geonosis, after a failed attempt by Imperials to restart the Separatist Droid factories housed there. Many planets seceded to the New Republic or were earned by victory in battle, including even ultimately Coruscant, the Imperials routed down to their final garrison on the Empire’s capital.

A remnant of Imperial Forces including the Ravager, the last Super Star Destroyer in the Galaxy, converged on the Outer Rim planet of Akiva in an attempt to stabilize the remaining factions of the Empire together, as much of the Outer Rim was still occupied by Imperial Forces. This holdout in particular formed into an “Imperial Future Council,” which was divided as to whether the Empire should turn their back on the Emperor’s devotion to the Dark Side and become a force for Order, or whether to continue the Emperor’s Dark Side teachings and hunt down its ultimate power, allegedly hidden on the outskirts of the galaxy. But before any real progress could be made, Akiva was ultimately liberated and the remnants of the Imperials scattered once more.

The Battle for Jakku

Almost a year to the day after the Battle of Endor, what’s left of the Imperial Navy, under the command of Grand Moff Randd, committed to an offensive over the planet of Jakku. Jakku was sparsely populated and of little tactical worth to the Empire, but Randd saw it as an opportunity: if the might of the Imperial Navy could score a decisive victory over the New Republic, worlds would return to the Empire just as they had turned to the New Republic after Endor.

Instead, Jakku became a costly mistake for the Empire. The largest battle in the war since Endor was a crushing defeat for the Empire, as New Republic forces overwhelmed them with superior tactics and a space fleet of similar scope to the forces committed by the Empire. Capital ships and starfighters from both sides crashed and burned into the sands of the planet as the engagement turned into a land battle—where the Star Destroyer Inflictor was forced to plow itself into the surface, scuttling it rather than allowing to be captured by the New Republic. This is where it remained for the next three decades, as seen in the second The Force Awakens teaser trailer.

The same teaser trailer also implies that the Super Star Destroyer Ravager was lost at Jakku, as the Millennium Falcon is seen being chased by TIE Fighters through what appears to be the wreck of an SSD.

A Hot War Goes Cold

Jakku was essentially the death knell of the Galactic Civil War. The humiliating route of the Imperial Navy led to the Empire signing a peace agreement with the New Republic, with strict borders carving out the areas of space under the control of the two sides. Imperials displeased with the treaty begin to amass a small fleet on the outskirts of the Galaxy, biding their time and preparing to strike at the unsuspecting New Republic.

But the New Republic wasn’t as naive as the Imperials may have thought. After the treaty was signed, and despite her intent to demilitarize the New Republic, Mon Mothma kept AdmiralAckbar’s fleet ready to defend the New Republic at a moment’s notice.

At this point, the heroes of the original Star Wars trilogy went their separate ways. Luke journeyed to the planet Devoran, with the intent of learning the ways of the Force and re-establishing a Jedi Temple there. Leia took a position as General in the New Republic, commanding armies alongside Admiral Ackbar. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Chewbacca headed off on their own—ostensibly on a mission to investigate smuggling rings that the Empire attempts to use to run supplies through New Republic blockades, but they instead head to the Imperial-occupied Kashyyyk to attempt to liberate the Wookiee homeworld once and for all.

Beyond the Stars

But in the year between Endor and Jakku, the presence of the Dark Side slowly began to swell once more. On the planet Taris (a name familiar to fans of the Knights of the Old Republic videogames), shadowy dark side Force users called the Acolytes of the Beyond began seeking out powerful Dark Side artifacts—perhaps linked to the organiztion that ultimately becomes the Vader-obsessed Knights of Ren, one of whom is Force Awakens villain Kylo Ren—and purchase what they believe is the Lightsaber of Darth Vader from a merchant there, leaving an ominous message that they “are not violent. Not yet.”

It’s not just the Acolytes who believe in the power of the Dark Side, though. Lead by a Tashu, a former advisor to the Emperor, a certain sect of Imperial forces believe that in order to regain control of the galaxy, they must hunt down the “wellspring” of the Dark Side, located on the fringes of the galaxy—and meet up with Imperial forces already investigating said power:

We must instead move toward the Dark Side. Palpatine felt that the universe beyond the edges of our maps was where his power came from. Over the many years he, with our aid, sent men and woman beyond known space. They built labs and communication stations on distant moons, asteroids, out there in the wilds. We must follow them. Retreat from the galaxy. Go out beyond the veil of stars. We must seek the source of the Dark Side like a man looking for a wellspring of water.

With Vader-obessessed acolytes and secret Imperials hidden beyond the stars, it seems like the First Order was on the rise almost immediately after Jakku.

And One More Thing...

Although the Journey to The Force Awakens material released so far has largely dealt with the larger ramifications of events on the Star Wars galaxy, Aftermath features an interesting interlude that heavily implies that a certain fan-favorite character may be returning:

Yes, Boba Fett may be back... or at least someone wearing his armor is.

The interlude features two scavengers on Tatooine discovering a set of Mandalorian armor in a haul in a Jawa sandcrawler, “pitted and picked, as if some with some kind of acid,” alongside wreckage from a luxury sail barge. One of the scavengers takes the heavily damaged, but functioning, battle armor and declares himself the “new lawman of Tatooine.” Although it’s never explicitly stated that the armor is Fett’s, it’s heavily implied—especially as the acid damage certainly sounds like the lengthy, gruesome digestion process of the Sarlacc that Boba Fett fell into in Return of the Jedi. If Fett’s Mandalorian was retrieved from the Sarlacc, did he himself survive, having discarded it? We don’t quite know yet, but don’t be surprised if he did.

There’s still so much more to discover about the time period between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens: the Journey to The Force Awakens material released in the last few days has only covered a handful of years immediately after the Battle of Endor, and there’ll be plenty more to read in the coming months. But we know much more than we did—giving us a surprisingly clear picture of just what the Galaxy far, far away looks like as we head into The Force Awakens this December.

There’s a killer new novel about a pharmceutical pirate and the robot that hunts her, set in the world of 2144, coming from Annalee Newitz, the founding editor of io9. Annalee just sold her first novel, Autonomous, to Tor Books. Tor is describing Autonomous as a novel of ideas about intellectual property law, set in a world where robots are indentured for 10 years, before they can earn their freedom—and humans can also be indentured. I’ve read it, and it’s a totally brilliant book that has fascinating things to say about identity and personhood in a world of smart drugs and even smarter machines.

Top image: DVIDSHUB/Flickr.

Contact the author at charliejane@io9.com and follow her on Twitter @CharlieJane

Something strange is happening in California: A punishing drought has been hanging over the state these last five years. And yet, in the middle of it, water-guzzling almond production is skyrocketing—and has been every year of the drought. What’s going on? The answer lies in an agricultural quirk.

Almonds have gotten a bad rap recently as the thirstiest plants in the farm world. Though compact, growing these nuts is incredibly water-intensive, with some people pegging the water cost at a gallon of water for a single nut. That’s why this USDA chart on which crops are thriving during the drought is so intriguing.

While crops like hay and rice are taking a dive, orchard crops, like almonds or grapes, have been steadily rising.

But perhaps it’s walnuts or grapes or some other orchard crop than almonds that are fueling the rise, you say? Not so. In the last ten years, California’s almond production in any of the drought years has beaten all the non-drought years—in some years by more than double. So how are they doing it? I set out to find an answer—and did—hidden deep in the almond trees.

Graph: NASS/USDA

An Agricultural Mystery

The reason for the rise is actually pretty simple, says Ken Shackel, a professor of plant sciences at the University of California Davis and a member of the university’s almond group. “Yields are steadily going up because the acres that were put in years ago went up,” he told Gizmodo.

This makes sense. More land devoted to almonds naturally means more overall almonds. But why would almond farmers be steadily devoting more acreage to an incredibly thirsty crop, right as the drought around them intensifies?

Part of the answer can be found in the cost: Almond prices are very high right now at over $3 a pound, making them an appealing crop to have on a farmer’s roster, even if they do require an additional water cost. But the much larger part of the answer is not found in dollars, it’s in the plant itself.

“You have to remember that almonds are planted one year, but don’t really bear until three or four years later,” Shackel said. “In almond trees, the first couple years you get just a little, but in five or six years you get much more. They peak at around year twelve.”

The boom of almonds that we’re seeing today is not due to the most recent plantings—it’s due to the years before, most of them pre-drought. A better measure of how almonds are faring right now, noted Shackel, may be in figuring out a yield per acre measurement instead of the overall number.

He was right. The yield per acre measurement did show a different—and much darker—picture.

The Great Almond Crash of 2025?

A dive into NASS stats revealed that while acreage devoted to almonds has been steadily rising, yield per acre rates for California peaked at 2,500 pounds per acre in 2010, the last non-drought year California experienced. Every year since then, the rate has fallen. Today, an almond farmer is likely to pull 500 pounds of almonds less per acre than six years ago.

If almond production is riding high off of the fumes of previous water-rich years, then surely the next reasonable question is, how much longer can we expect to coast? Are we simply waiting for the hammer to fall—and if so, when will that happen?

It’s not quite so simple as merely counting backwards from the last big planting. Almond farmers are likely to have orchards that they’ve laid out at several different times, often separated by decades. And while almond yield per acre does appear to be in free fall right now, today’s number is still considerably higher than twenty years ago, due to improvements in agricultural tech.

While predicting exactly when a fall-off might happen is difficult, the overall trend—more land devoted to growing fewer and fewer almonds—is pretty evident. Although we may not know when the drought will finally come for California’s almonds, the fact that it is coming remains clear.

Top image: Almonds / Amawasri Pakdara, Shutterstock; Middle image: Almond trees in California / Christopher Boswell, Shutterstock; Bottom image: Almond close-up / PikiWikiIsrael

Wait, what’s that I hear you cry? There’s no such thing as old Superman and new Superman? They’re ostensibly the same character, Kal-El/Clark Kent? How is this even happening? I’ll tell you why. COMIC BOOKS, THAT’S WHY.

So, a recap if you’re unfamiliar with the wild, wild situation in the current DC Comics universe. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away In 2011, DC rebooted its entire comic universe: the multiverse was gone, and in its place a new world populated by younger versions of the company’s most iconic heroes, newly awakened to many of their powers and callings. A fresh start for legendary characters like Superman—a Superman who, let’s be honest, has had one hell of a rough six months. His powers have been scaled back. His identity revealed. His pseudonym replaced. Hell, his best friend may have just bitten the bullet too. Superman’s having it really, really rough.

http://io9.com/supermans-horr...

But he doesn’t know that there’s another Superman tooling around his Earth just yet.

Born out of DC’s Convergence event, which also brought back the Multiverse (because Comic Books), this Superman is in fact the Superman people have known and loved for decades: the one before the events of Flashpoint that created the “New 52” universe, the one married to Lois Lane and with a son. The one who’s appeared in pages and pages of comics since Crisis on Infinite Earths and beyond. Following a surprise return in a miniseries for Convergence, this Superman returned to the current DC universe in a recent series called Superman: Lois and Clarke, and decided to hide himself away from his new, younger self while secretly trying to prevent some of his greatest enemies from existing in the first place. Extremely convoluted? Yes. Comic booooooooooks.

Also? He has a sick beard and runs around in a black, capeless supersuit.

But now, according to DC’s new solicitations for March 2016—teasing the upcoming slate of titles they’ll publish that month—Superman #50 will not only see the current Superman back fully restored to power and back in his supersuit (rather than his rather silly buzzcut-and-tee look), but also see him encounter this other Superman. The classic Superman.

Whatever will they do? We have no idea outside of the limited information in the solicitation. But presumably, it will be sweeping and epic and wonderful and the epitome of all crossover encounters. Or it’ll be convoluted fun, like many superhero comics. We’ll find out in March!

Maybe they’ll compare beard notes. Superman should grow a beard.

[Via CBR]

We debunked dozens of fake photos this year, covering everything from Charles Manson’s baby photos to John Lennon’s skateboarding skills, and everything in between. It was another busy year for anyone spreading fake images on the internet.

Below, we have 76 photos that you may have seen floating around the internet in 2015. Some are deliberate photoshops created by people who want to deceive. Others are just images that got mixed up in this big, weird game of Telephone we call the internet.

If you get to the bottom of the list and you’re hungry for even more fakes, check out last year’s round-up.

1) Is this Charles Manson as a baby?

Despite what historical picture accounts on Twitter might insist, this isn’t Charles Manson as a baby. I contacted Jeff Guin, author of the definitive biography, Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson. He said that it’s almost certainly not him.

From Guinn:

While I was researching my book, Manson’s sister and first cousin shared family photo albums with me. That photo was not present in either instance, and in no way matches the verified photos I have of Manson as a baby. (The facial features above all.) I have never seen this picture before. Anything’s possible, but I very much doubt that this is a photo of Baby Charlie.

My guess? This one likely started as a joke on Facebook or Reddit and spread quickly as a real photo after losing context from the original poster.

Fake image via HistoryInPics and Imgur

2) Is this a behind the scenes photo from National Geographic?

It’s an amusing photo. But that image of National Geographic photographers running from a bear has definitely been photoshopped.

As commenters on Reddit point out, there are actually a few clues that this is a fake. But the most damning bit of evidence? The bear appears to be from a stock photo.

Below, a side-by-side of the image with the stock photo. Notice the shape of the bear’s head and the green piece of grass in front of the bear’s right arm.

Update: The redhead in the photo, Tim Sparks, has confirmed via Twitter that it’s a fake that they made back in 2011 during a film location scout in Colorado. He says it was posted to Facebook and it went viral from there. I spoke with him for a follow-up.

Fake image via HistoricalPics

3) Is this an old magic trick gone wrong?

With a caption like “magic trick gone wrong,” it’s easy to imagine the photos above as depicting a magician nearly escaping from drowning. We’re left to think a scantily clad performer heroically grabbed an ax and freed a grateful woman. The problem? That’s not what these pictures show at all. And in fact, the real story is far more interesting.

The woman with the ax, Kitty West (also known as Evangeline the Oyster Girl), smashed the glass box in rage. West was a burlesque performer on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during the late 1940s. Her act included emerging from an enormous oyster shell, thus the name Oyster Girl. One night in 1949 a rival performer from out of town, Divena the Aqua Tease, got top billing over West, which seemed to really upset her. Divena’s act involved an underwater strip tease in a giant glass case filled with water. So you can see where this is going.

“I just wanted to break the tank in a million pieces,” West would later recall. Life magazine reported that 400 gallons of water poured onto the stage, causing many in the audience to flee. Once the water had drained, West attacked Divena by pulling her hair. West was promptly arrested, and the whole thing (complete with photos of West at the police station) was published in Life.

Inaccurate photo description via OldPicsArchive

4) Is this Princess Diana giving the finger?

No, that’s not Princess Di flipping the bird. It’s another photo by Alison Jackson, a British photographer known for her staged images of celebrity lookalikes.

Historical photo accounts on Twitter are constantly posting Jackson’s images. Twitter is littered with countless Marilyn Monroe and JFK images that are actually Jackson’s handiwork using lookalikes. Throw this one on the pile.

Fake image via OldPicsArchive

5) Is this a photo from NASA of India during Diwali?

As the space debunker FakeAstroPix points out, this “NASA photo” of India during the Hindu festival of Diwali is fake. It’s actually quite an old fake as well, dating to at least 2012. But that doesn’t stop so many OMGSPACE and OMGSCIENCE Twitter accounts from sharing it here in 2015.

What does it really show? It’s a composite of satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2003 that has been shaded different colors. The different colors are supposed to show population growth over time. Cool image? Sure. But not what so many people say it is.

Fake photo via AmazingPicX

6) Is this an anti-weed ad?

No, this isn’t an anti-drug ad. it’s actually a photo by Martin Ferko of Anna Guimm, a designer whose method of creating ceramic dolls involves putting them in an oven. Someone has photoshopped anti-weed messaging onto the image.

Normally, this kind of thing would be done in a kiln, but Guimm’s DIY oven method seems to work perfectly fine for her. Even if it makes for a terrifying image when taken out of context.

And before you rush down to the comments to let me know that nobody thought this was a real ad, allow me to assure you that there is always someone who thinks it’s a real ad.

Inaccurate photo via Reddit

7) Is this a 1950s car show?

The photo above does come from a car show that took place at a Thrifty Drug store parking lot in Los Angeles on May 15, 1954. But it’s not exactly as it would’ve appeared to people who were actually there.

The photo was colorized by Rik Hoving back in 2006, though the HistoryInPics version crops out mention of his name. Colorized photos aren’t necessarily “fake.” But as I’ve said before, we have to ask ourselves what happens to history when a colorized photo supplants the original in web searches.

HistoryInPics often tweets colorized photos without identifying them as such. To be honest, this seems like a rather minor sin compared with all the other misinformation they spread. But it’s something that we need to keep in mind with all these historical photo accounts.

Who decides that the green car is actually green and not blue or black or even purple? Photo colorizers are often dedicated people who painstakingly research possibilities before altering historical documents. But when their work is shared without any mention that the photo has been colorized, the people of the future are left with a rather skewed impression of history.

Colorized photo via HistoryInPics

8) Is this a shooting star and its reflection?

As the always excellent Twitter photo sleuth PicPedant points out, the picture above isn’t a shooting star. It’s actually a 2-minute long exposure of a space shuttle launch in 2010. By leaving the camera’s shutter open for 2 minutes, the launch appears to be a long fiery trail. But it’s most definitely not a shooting star.

Inaccurate photo description via TheMindBlowing

9) Is this a kitchen chair floating in space, referred to as “Escape Vehicle No. 6” by astronauts?

Could there really be a kitchen chair in orbit? No. This image comes from a 2009 ad campaign by Toshiba for LCD TVs. Sadly, there is no chair currently circling the globe.

The title “Escape Vehicle No. 6” comes from a 2004 art piece by Simon Faithfull that was similar in concept. Faithful says that Toshiba’s ad agency approached him about a collaboration but he didn’t work on the ad.

Fake image via HistoricalPics and SciencePorn

10) Is this an “incredibly rare” black lion?

No, there are no black lions. As the Museum of Hoaxes points out, this is a pure photoshop job. The original photo shows that the lion is actually white.

Fake image via TheMindBlowing

11) Is this an 1880s female street gang from London called the Clockwork Oranges?

Those are some dapper looking women who might rough you up if you met them in a dark alley. But whoever they were, they weren’t an 1880s female street gang called the Clockwork Oranges.

There were indeed female street gangs in 19th century London. But the term Clockwork Orange wasn’t used in reference to a street gang until Anthony Burgess’s 1962 book. According to Burgess, the book gets its title from an old cockney slang phrase “as queer as a clockwork orange.”

As the caption to the obviously cropped photograph reads: “group of women having a smoke, gelatin silver print c. 1896.”

Fake image via OldPicsArchive and the Victorian Academy of Magick

12) Is this really Einstein riding a bicycle near a nuclear test?

This photo may seem like one of those that’s so absurd, no one could ever believe it deals. But people do. And they keep sharing it far and wide across social media. Like a cockroach scurrying around during Nuclear Winter, the image just won’t die. But yes, it’s a fake.

Fake photo via OldPicsArchive

13) Is this scientist Marie Curie?

No, that’s not the world renowned scientist Marie Curie. As Joe Hanson from PBS points out, the photo on the left actually shows Susan Marie Frontczak, a stage performer who plays Marie Curie in a production called Manya. The real photo of Curie circa 1913 appears on the right.

Embarrassingly it’s not just spammy Twitter accounts that have mistaken the actor for the real Curie. The country of Togo even based a postage stamp on the photo of Frontczak. Yikes.

Fake image via OldPicsArchive

14) Is this Vladimir Putin in 1988 posing as a tourist to spy on Ronald Reagan?

Everybody knows that Vladimir Putin was is a former KGB agent. But is that actually Putin in 1988 posing as a tourist behind the boy that’s about to shake Ronald Reagan’s hand? Nope.

This fake has been around for a few years now. And to be honest, the guy doesn’t even look like Putin if you ask me. Now it’s entirely possible that the guy is an undercover KGB agent. The photographer who took this shot seems to think so. But Putin was stationed in Dresden when this photo was snapped in Moscow. It’s almost certainly not Putin.

Inaccurate description via Reddit

15) Is this Heath Ledger as The Joker kick-flipping over Batman?

Notoriously awful Twitter account HistoryInPics posts a lot of fake content. And sadly they don’t even tell the truth when their “history” is a recent as 2008.

No, that’s not Heath Ledger on the set of The Dark Knight kick-flipping over Christian Bale. The funny part? Ledger was actually known for skating around on location while shooting in Chicago. But the photo above is totally fake.

Fake image via HistoryInPics

16) Is this a group of prohibitionist women?

Ever wonder why everyone in this “prohibitionist photo” has such a cartoonish expression? Because they were actors. This image actually comes from an old Thomas Edison film made sometime between 1893 and 1901.

Edison’s early films often parodied suffragists and women of the temperance movement during the late 19th century. This pro-temperance message wouldn’t have been out of place in some circles at the turn of the 20th century. But it’s an image that was meant to lampoon the anti-alcohol movement. And it appears that it’s still working over a century later.

Fake image via OldPicsArchive

17) Is this Salvador Dali drawing a penis on a woman’s forehead?

Salvador Dali never painted a cartoon penis on a woman’s forehead, signing it Picasso. Or at least if he did, it was never photographed. The woman in the photo is Dali’s wife Gala and the painting he’s doing is known as Medusa’s sleep.

Fake image via OldPicsArchive

18) Is this a rare photo of an Onna-bugeisha, one of the female warriors of Japan?

No, this photo doesn’t show a female warrior from 1870s Japan. As the debunker website Hoax of Fame explains, the image actually shows a kabuki actor. This photo went up for auction back in 2012.

Inaccurate photo description via ThatsHistory

19) Is this a hockey goalie in 1966 before masks became standard equipment?

As the always brilliant PicPedant points out, this photo indeed appeared in the pages of Life magazine in 1966. But the scars and wounds of this hockey goalie were applied by a make-up artist. They were intended to represent all the injuries this hockey player received during his career.

As Life explained in 1966:

This face belongs to Terry Sawchuk [wrote LIFE], a 36-year-old goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Re-created here, by a professional make-up artist and a doctor, are some of the more than 400 stitches he has earned during 16 years in the National Hockey League. Sawchuk has sustained other injuries not shown here: a slashed eyeball requiring three stitches, a 70% loss of function in his right arm because 60 bone chips were removed from his elbow, and a permanent “sway-back” caused by continual bent-over posture.

So yeah, it’s kinda real. But the photo tells a misleading story when you strip out the context from the magazine and add your own caption about safety equipment.

Fake image via Historyepics

20) Is this an Earthrise from the perspective of the moon on December 24, 1968?

On December 24, 1968 the astronauts of Apollo 8 took a gorgeous shot of the “earth rise” as came from the dark side of the moon. It was the first photo of our planet from the perspective of another planetary body. In 2013 NASA produced a computer-generated re-creation of what those astronauts saw, in full color. But ever since, people have been passing the re-creation around as an authentic photo. The original is the black and white photo on the right.

Fake image via HistoricalPics

21) Is this the bodies of two people in Nevada thought to be buried alive in 1993?

These aren’t the bodies of two people horrifically buried alive in the 1990s. They’re actually the bones of two people found outside Mantua, Italy back in 2007. And the bones date back as much as 6,000 years.

The two people are thought to have been no more than 20 years old and were deemed the Lovers of Valdaro because they were found locked in an embrace. We don’t know how they met their end exactly. But the one thing we know for sure is that they weren’t buried alive in the Nevada desert during the Clinton administration.

Fake image via NotExplained

22) Is this a real screenshot from Wheel of Fortune?

You may have seen this Wheel of Fortune screenshot gag going viral recently. Is the answer really “Luck Be In the Air Tonight”? Nope. It’s just a photoshop job from start to finish.

The big clue that this one is fake? If the answer is really supposed to be “Luck Be In The Air Tonight,” then why is the letter I missing from the word “air”? The only logical explanation? The answer must be the lewd one everybody was thinking.

Fake image via jmoneytooreal

23) Are these real penguins with donated sweaters?

You may have recently seen the heartwarming story of Australia’s oldest man (109 years young!) who knits sweaters for penguins. The story is currently making the rounds with an adorable photo purporting to show the grateful penguins of Australia’s Phillip Island. The only problem? Those penguins in that particular photo are totally fake.

The photo comes from the Penguin Foundation’s Facebook page. As they explained in the comments to the photo when questioned about the fake-looking birds:

We had a little help from some toy penguins, Jenny. Our photographer tells us they’re the best models he’s ever worked with - no demands for water that’s been purified by unicorns in Peru and minimal make-up required because they’re all naturally good looking. Plus, we’re all about positive body image and welcome toy penguin models of all shapes and sizes!

So there you have it. The other thing that the aggregated and regurgitated stories scraping the original (and true!) story from Nine News don’t mention? The penguins don’t really need sweaters anymore. Sweaters were originally used on penguins after a 2000 oil spill. They kept the birds from preening themselves and potentially ingesting oil before they could be properly cleaned. Many people jumped at the chance to help, but pretty soon, the clean-up organizations had more penguin-sized sweaters than they would ever need.

There was another call for penguin sweaters in 2014 by the Penguin Foundation to stockpile in case another oil spill ever happened. But, again, they were quickly inundated with more sweaters than they could handle.

As the Penguin Foundation noted after the outpouring of sweaters (known as “jumpers” in Australia), they don’t need any more:

** Please note that we have plenty of penguin jumpers at this time donated by generous knitters across the globe for rehabilitation in the event of an oil spill, fundraising and education programs and do not need any further donations at this time. Thank you kindly for your interest in knitting to support the little penguins of Phliip Island! Further information on the program and how penguin jumpers benefit little penguin conservation can be found below. Thank you! **

To be clear, the story of Australia’s oldest man and his earlier efforts to make knit sweaters is totally real. But that photo and the impression that this is an ongoing need is simply not true.

24) Are these school lunches from around the world?

They look pretty delicious, but those “typical” school lunches from around the world aren’t so typical. They’re actually misleading promotional photos from an advertising campaign for a health food store called SweetGreen.

As Mother Jones points out, the photo purporting to show a typical school lunch in Greece should have been a big red flag. Sadly, given the country’s financial woes, Greece doesn’t have the resources to provide the kind of meal pictured. They point to an article in the New York Times that explains schools in Greece, “do not offer subsidized cafeteria lunches. Students bring their own food or buy items from a canteen.”

This isn’t to say that American public schools aren’t woefully lacking in nutrition compared with much of the industrialized world. But these staged photos are far from an honest depiction. SweetGreen updated their post to admit nearly as much, even if they hedged in the process: “These images are not intended to be exact representations of school lunches, but instead, are meant to portray different types of foods found in cafeterias around the world.”

Fake images via Tumblr

25) Is this a whale swimming through Venice?

No, that’s not a whale making its way through the canals of Venice. It’s actually a composite image by artist Robert Jahns, who’s responsible for another famous viral fake involving Venice freezing over. It’s a cool picture, but not a true one.

Fake photo via SundayFundayz

26) Are these the tallest mountains on earth as seen from space?

As Twitter user Janne Ahlberg mentions, the image is actually completely computer generated. It was created by Christoph Hormann back in 2006. And to be honest, the more I look at it the more I want to play Myst.

Fake image via BEAUTIFULPlCS

27) Is this a whisky vending machine in a 1960s office?

Yes, that’s a whisky dispenser. But it’s not from an office in the 1950s or 60s, as it’s so often captioned. According to Getty, it’s from a vending machine exhibition in London in 1960. We don’t have any evidence that this machine was used in an office, no matter how badly we want to believe that’s the case.

Thanks to shows like Mad Men, people here in the 21st century have a tendency to think that everybody in the offices of the 1960s were constantly hammered. And while drinking on the job was more socially acceptable than it is today (at least for white collar workers at the highest ranks of companies), the people of the 1960s weren’t constantly drinking.

Inaccurate description via Imgur

28) Is this a creepy passageway in an abandoned church?

Nope. As one Reddit user explains, the image actually comes from a house called the Black Moon Manor in Indiana. The Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures “investigated” the house back in 2011. The image above only gets a passing glance on screen, probably because if you think too hard about how over the top the image is, you’ll conclude it’s all bullshit. (Which it is.)

The funny part? Even within the paranormal investigation community, Black Moon Manor was known to be a fraud. The man in the episode who claims to be the owner of the house was actually just leasing it to run a haunted house. The backstory they tell in the show (of a shady doctor from the early 20th century who conducted experiments on measles patients) is total bullshit.

The writing on the wall around the hole was clearly done by regular old contemporary humans looking to get a rise out of people. The Black Moon Manor house was destroyed in 2012, the year after the episode aired.

On an unrelated (but hilarious) note, my favorite thing about the episode is when the host of the show steps into a local library and says, “I really don’t think I’ve been in a library since grade school.”

Fake image via NotExplained

29) Is this a rare color photo of the attack on Pearl Harbor?

PicPedant sets the record straight, explaining that the photo actually comes from a publicity still from the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor. That’s right. The one with Ben Affleck.

Fake photo via KnowFactsDaily

30) Is this an Alaskan Tree Frog?

As Hoax of Fame points out, there’s actually no such thing as an Alaskan Tree Frog. The image is quite clearly a cartoonish frog on top of what I’m guessing is a stone heart. Frustratingly, I can’t seem to find an example online. But I’m almost certain I’ve seen this one (in its non-frozen form) before. If you know where this frog comes from please let us know in the comments.

Fake photo via FascinatingPics

31) Is this the full moon as seen from Australia?

Australia is a gorgeous country, filled with cute animals, gorgeous sunsets, and stunning night skies. But this photo purporting to be a full moon in Australia is a bunch of hooey. (Please excuse my strong language.)

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Who in their right mind would believe this was real? The answer? The over 1,000 people who retweeted the image. And plenty more, as it has made its way through Pinterest and Facebook.

Fake image via SpacePornx

32) Are these Ewoks in owl form?

These “owls” might be cute, but they’re not real. They’re adorable toys, made by Russian artist Marina Yamkovskaia. And for what it’s worth, they definitely look more Labyrinth to me than Star Wars.

Fake image via Imgur

33) Is this Time magazine’s definition of a perfect body in 1955?

No, the photos above aren’t from 1955. And they weren’t Time magazine’s definition of a “perfect body.” As Snopes points out, the photo actually shows adult film star Aria Giovanni in a photo taken in 2004. The photo is currently going viral in its black and white form, perhaps to make it seem more vintage.

The “perfect body of X year” has actually turned into quite the meme. It’s usually meant to be empowering for women and a reminder that the cliched aspiration to achieve the body type of rail-thin models isn’t the norm — or at least hasn’t been through most of history.

But in this case it’s hard to see this as necessarily empowering for women in any real capacity. It’s quite literally a porn star, and this particular version of the meme was almost certainly started by trolls.

Fake photo via History_Pics

34) Is this a tree growing through an abandoned piano?

No, a tree didn’t grow its way through an abandoned piano. This photo was taken by a Flickr user back in 2010, and as Twitter user Janne Ahlberg points out, the piano was placed there by an artist named Jeff.

Jeff, for what it’s worth, sounds a bit unstable. He explains in a video about how he got the free piano and then started “talking” to the trees for permission to place the piano in the woods:

I was gonna do different stuff with the piano. And then I was going around and I started talking to some trees, and basically found that one tree that would fit perfectly — that wanted the piano. So as soon as that tree kinda gave me permission to do that I kinda went ahead and did it.

Um, sure Jeff.

Fake photo via Abandoned Pics

35) Is this Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson posing together as the Joker?

Well, no, that’s not Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson. They’re action figures. Really well done action figures, I’ll grant you. But action figures nonetheless.

Fake image via Imgur

36) Is this Martin Luther King Jr. flipping the bird?

No matter how many times this photo of Martin Luther King Jr. is debunked, it always seems to pop up again and again on sites like Imgur, Reddit, and Pinterest. It’s a photoshop job.

The real photo (on the right) actually shows King reacting in St. Augustine, Florida, after learning that the Senate had passed the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. He’s holding up two fingers, not one.

Fake photo via Pinterest; Imgur

37) Is this Shanghai in 1987 and 2015, after “26 years”?

Yes, that top photo does show Shanghai in 1987. But the bottom photo is from 2013, not 2015. It’s a relatively minor factual error, but it reveals the sloppiness of these “historical pics” accounts. The vast majority just scrape photos from Reddit and Imgur. And in this case they were savvy enough to know that the current year would garner more shares. But not savvy enough to know that they’d have to change the math to alter it from 26 years to 28 years.

Inaccurate description via HistoricalPics

38) Is this Paris Hilton wearing a shirt that says “Stop Being Poor”?

Recently an Imgur set of wealthy famous people saying terrible things made the front page. The top image shows Paris Hilton (remember her?) wearing a shirt that says “Stop Being Poor.” As easy as it might be to believe, it’s actually a photoshop job.

The photo was taken in 2005 and her shirt actually says “Stop Being Desperate.” Hilton may have spent her entire career trying to instigate a class war, but she didn’t do it by wearing a shirt imploring people not to be poor.

Fake photo via Imgur

39) Is this a supermoon in Dubai?

Close, but the photo on the left is actually photoshopped. As PicPedant points out, the original photo was taken by Mo Aoun and shows the moonoff to the side. The moon in the altered photo is also larger than the original. This seems to be a case of people taking something beautiful and making it literally unbelievable.

Fake photo via AstronomyHD

40) Is this a megalodon shark next to a German U-Boat in the 1940s?

Remember that dumb megalodon documentary released by the Discovery Channel for Shark Week back in 2014? It was completely fake. But something tells me that we’ll be living with the fake facts peddled by that show for many years to come. If you’ve seen the image above, don’t believe it. The photo is totally fake.

Fake image via ScaryPIct

41) Is this a real cloud that looks like a dragon?

This “cloud dragon” is kinda cool, but don’t go thanking Mother Nature. Thank the Photoshop gods. It was created by Deviant Art user StrixCZ.

Fake image via Internet Palace

42) Are these early suffragettes in 1921 eating pizza in large groups to annoy men?

As Tumblr user IronGall explains, there are so many things wrong with the caption to this photo. Like almost everything about it, aside from the year.

First off, these weren’t “early suffragettes” in 1921. The Nineteenth Amendment, which gave American women the franchise, was ratified in 1920. Secondly, these women aren’t eating pizza. They’re eating pie, as you can see from a closer crop of the photo below. In fact, they’re having a pie eating contest, according to Shorpy. Sure, they’re relatively flat pies. But they’re still pies. Pizza didn’t become popular in the United States until after the second World War.

Thirdly, it’s unclear why women eating pizza in a large group would “annoy men.” Whatever the origin of this caption, it probably went through a bizarre and convoluted game of Telephone before it arrived at Twitter’s doorstep.

Inaccurate description via Historyepics

43) Is this a quote from Charles Darwin about strength, intelligence, and survival?

No, Charles Darwin never said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

The quote actually comes from a business professor who was writing in 1963 and trying to paraphrase what he interpreted as Darwin’s ideas. Not only that, but the date on the image makes it look like it was something Darwin said in 1809. That was the year that Darwin was born. Bright baby, that Darwin.

And what about that photo of Darwin? Well, it’s based on a real photo. But that hand isn’t Darwin’s. Oh, and the photo has been flipped horizontally. The real photo is on the left. Basically everything about this image is garbage.

Fake image via History_Pics

44) Is this a newspaper from Lincoln’s assassination?

Last week newspapers around the world acknowledged the anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. And to illustrate the story, some news outlets used the cover of a newspaper above. The only problem? It doesn’t date to 1865. As Erin McCann discovered, the image actually comes from a 2008 children’s book, reprinted in 2011. Yikes.

Fake image via Boston Globe

45) Is this Albert Einstein in a “vintage” Mentos ad?

Amazingly, this Albert Einstein ad for Mentos is real. But it’s not so “vintage,” as many accounts on Twitter would have you believe. It was created in 2004 by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai in India. It’s unclear whether the ad ever made it past the pitch stage. The “vintage” claim wouldn’t be such a big deal if it didn’t imply that it was done in Einstein’s lifetime and with his approval.

As a bonus, check out this fake “vintage” Skype ad on the right, from the same Twitter account. Everything about that “vintage” ad is truly fake in every sense of the world. But maybe it didn’t have to be.

Fake image via This Is Stunning

46) Is this a photo of empty store shelves in Venezuela?

This photo went viral last week when some people claimed that those empty shelves were a product of Venezuela’s socialist policies. The embarrassing part? It’s not a photo from Venezuela. It’s from Texas.

Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin recently wrote an article criticizing presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders and his quest for what she characterized as Venezuelan-style socialism. When The National Review originally posted the story, it included the image above — a dirtied up version of the original photo, which you can see below. But as the blog Little Green Footballs points out, the pic actually comes from a Walmart in Austin, Texas.

Apparently the photo was taken in the lead up to Hurricane Rita in 2005, as anxious shoppers stripped the shelves of nearly everything. So it’s an understatement to say that The National Review’s original caption for the photo, “Venezuela’s vibrant economy,” was more than a little misleading.

As Malkin points out on Twitter, she didn’t choose the photo, The National Review did. Her column is syndicated by a number of different news outlets and each chooses their own art to accompany any given post. Now the question is, where did The National Review pull the image from?

Image via National Review

47) Is this a Six Flags amusement park in Texas underwater?

5

The recent flooding in Texas has been devastating to local communities. We’ve seen some chilling photos come out of the Lone Star state. But the photo above isn’t one of them. The image actually shows an Atlanta theme park that was flooded back in 2009.

Yes, the photo is real. But like so many images that we see floating around social media after natural disasters, this one doesn’t show the thing it purports to show.

Fake image via McCartyConnor

48) Is this Ted Cruz trying to find a clitoris?

We’re less than a year from the 2016 presidential election, so you know what that means... BRING ON THE POLITICAL FAKES!

The latest in political fakery? In the photo above, Ted Cruz supposedly points at an illustration of a vagina, unable to identify the clitoris. If such an image sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is. This fake was make by a chucklegoof site known as 16 Inch City.

Other gems from this Chicago-based knock off of The Onion include, “Rahm Emmanuel vows to destroy Jesus” and “BREAKING: Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to be re-named ‘Ugly Person Express’.” Classy stuff, 16 Inch City.

Fake image via @ChiefElk by 16inchcity

49) Is this Jimi Hendrix playing an accordion?

I guess 2015 will be known as the year that OldPicsArchive overtook HistoryInPics as the Worst Twitter Account Ever™. At least when HistoryInPics gets called out for posting garbage, it only rarely posts that image again. OldPicsArchive doesn’t seem to care. Take, for example, this old fake that keeps popping up.

No, that’s not really Jimi Hendrix playing an accordion in his boxer shorts. It’s a crudely done photoshop job. The original photo is on the right. For whatever reason, people love to photoshop accordions into Hendrix’s hands. Just take a look at this one from a website called Worth 1000.

Fake image via OldPicsArchive

50) Is this a photo from the Texas floods?

Hold on to yer butts—we have another fake photo from Texas. When a news station in Houston asked viewers for photos from the flooding, they received a number of breathtaking shots. But one image that they wound up publishing looked a little out of place.

Is the photo above from the flooding in Texas and Oklahoma that has claimed the lives of 28 people? Nope. It’s a screenshot from the original Jurassic Park movie.

Fake image via Reddit and KHOU

51) Is this Hillary Clinton posing for a photo in front of the Confederate flag?

Nope. It’s a fake. Well, at least the flag part is. The original photo comes from her time at Wellesley College and doesn’t have the flag.

Noted conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza tweeted the fake photo earlier today, which helped it go viral in some circles. [Update: D’Souza has acknowledged it’s a fake by tweeting, “CORRECTION: Disregard the photoshopped Confederate flag in the background of the Hillary photo and simply focus on those glasses and hairdo”]

Are there other photos of Hillary Clinton with a Confederate flag? Possibly. But don’t get fooled by this one.

And as for all those campaign buttons of the Clintons featuring the Confederate flag? Some skepticism is probably needed there, too. Historically, many campaign buttons are unofficially produced by supporters and not endorsed by the campaign in question.

52) Is this an eclipse from 35,000 feet?

This photo, purporting to show an eclipse from the perspective of 35,000 feet in the air, is actually 100 percent fake. As Twitter sleuth Fake Astropix points out, it’s a computer generated image created by Deviant Art user Nethskie in 2010.

Definitely a cool wallpaper for your computer, but not exactly what so many of these OMGSpace Twitter accounts would have you believe it is.

Fake image via SpacePicsHQ

53) Is this John Lennon skateboarding?

There are actually some wonderful historical photos of movie stars and musicians on skateboards — including Katharine Hepburn and Jodie Foster. But don’t be fooled by the image above. It’s completely fake.

As journalist Scott Jenkins points out, the photo doesn’t show John Lennon skateboarding. It actually comes from the set of the Beatles’ 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night, and was photoshopped to include a skateboard.

Fake photo via History_Pics

54) Is this proof that Sandra Bland was dead before her mugshot was taken?

Sandra Bland was arrested in Texas after failing to use her turn signal and later committed suicide in jail. People took to social media to talk about the injustice, but some people took things to a strange (and poorly photoshopped) level of conspiracy theory, filled with half-truths and lies.

Some on Facebook and Twitter, while trying to promote the narrative that Bland was actually murdered in prison, think that her mugshot shows her lying on the ground. People have even circulated the badly photoshopped image above, claiming it’s the “real” mugshot. In fact, the image on the left is obviously the fake one.

The authorities in Waller County, Texas have released the footage of her being booked, as well as her mugshot being taken. She was clearly alive at that point. Which doesn’t mean that her arrest and subsequent suicide weren’t a gross miscarriage of justice. But when it comes to questions surrounding her being dead at the time her mugshot was taken, this one is settled.

It’s unclear who first made the photoshopped image on the left, but whoever it is, they’re not helping bring Bland justice.

Fake image via FINEWINE

55) Is this a dog that saved the life of an abandoned newborn?

As Snopes explains, this photo doesn’t depict the story that’s often attached to it. The image went viral after being posted on the Facebook page of a radio station in Albuquerque back in March of 2014. And it seems to flare up again every few months.

According to the viral image:

A newborn baby abandoned in a forest was saved by a stray dog who carried her across a busy road and through a barbed wire fence to a shed where the infant was discovered nestled with her litter of puppies. Covered by CNN and CBS. Definitely a mans best friend.

Yeah, that never happened. There have been stories of dogs saving babies in many capacities. But the story attached to this stock photo isn’t true.

Fake image via 93.3 KOB-FM

56) Is this Hillary Clinton getting pranked at a campaign event?

The political fakes are coming fast and furious, despite the fact that we’re still over a year away from the 2016 Presidential election! And presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (sorry, but it’s not too early to say that, given the amount of money she’s raised) is a popular target.

A Facebook group called Nation in Distress posted the image above, which supposedly shows Hillary Clinton oblivious to the fact that she’s being pranked. The only problem? It’s a fake. And a bad one at that.

The real photo below:

Fake image via Nation in Distress

57) Is this Elvis cutting Johnny Cash’s hair?

Yes, that really is Elvis Presley. But no, he’s not cutting Johnny Cash’s hair. That’s Elvis’s cousin Gene Smith. For comparison’s sake, you only need to look at the real Johnny Cash on the right. Not even close, right?

Inaccurate photo description via HistoryInPix

58) Is this the world’s happiest elephant?

No, that’s not the world’s happiest elephant. It’s actually a robot featured at the Disneyland attraction Jungle Cruise. It sure looks happy, but that’s because Disney made it that way. We’ll see how happy it looks when the robot uprising starts and Disney’s robo-elephants enslave humanity.

Inaccurate photo description via AnimaIPic

59) Is this a Haitian woman defending her son?

No, this isn’t a Haitian woman defending her son. It’s actually a film still from the 2013 movie Cristo Rey. The image first went viral in May of 2014 and has been doing the rounds again in the past few months.

Haitians living in the Dominican Republic are under tremendous stress this summer as strict immigration and residency laws go into effect, creating a refugee crisis. But this photo has nothing to do with the real situation on the ground there.

Fake image via Devilligan

60) Is this Subway selling pea-filled guacamole?

It’ll be known to our descendants as the summer of peas. What started as a controversial New York Times food article about adding peas to your guacamole turned into the hottest and dumbest social media debate of the summer. And, of course, it inspired plenty of fakes.

But despite what you might have seen online, Subway isn’t adding peas to its guacamole. It was just a photoshopped joke. This pea-soaked cocktail, on the other hand, is all too real.

Fake image via Cabel

61) Is this the pope pulling a tablecloth trick?

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for the fantastic feats of Chill Pope! Today, he’s showing off a classic: The old ‘yank a tablecloth, leaving everything else on the table undisturbed’ trick. It’s a miracle! Except that it’s totally fake.

The video showing Pope Francis doing the second coolest thing you can ever do (the coolest is to remove your glasses to reveal that you weren’t just a nerd, but actually a really hot person all along) has been heavily edited by the team over at The Ellen Degeneres Show. You can see Ellen setting up the joke in the clip below:

Someone has even put together a side-by-side video of the original video with Ellen’s fake (and impressive!) CGI’d Pope shenanigans. Sadly, Chill Pope just sets down some flowers and leaves.

Could the Pope actually pull that trick off without the use of special effects? Probably. Will he? Only a Doubting Thomas would demand to see it. You’re not a Doubting Thomas, are you?

h/t Laughing Squid; Gif by Andrew Liszewski

62) Is this real lightning flashing over a volcanic eruption?

The BBC is one of the most trusted news sources in the world. But its reputation took a major hit this week after it was revealed that it faked footage of lightning in a volcano for a TV special called Patagonia: Earth’s Secret Paradise. Even Gizmodo got taken in by the deception.

The producers of the BBC show superimposed lightning that was filmed in 2011 over a volcanic eruption from 2015. As Casey Chan said when the video was doing the rounds, “it almost looks like a painting that’s been animated. The burst of bolts almost looks fake.”

It did look fake! Because it was! Sometimes nature’s magic tricks look too good to be true. And sometimes that’s because they are indeed way too good to be true.

Fake image via BBC; Gifs crafted by Andrew Liszewski

63) Is this the author of That’s So Raven, Edgar Allan Poe?

There’s a Twitter account called AhistoricalPics that uses ridiculous photos and captions to mock those history-in-pictures accounts we all know and love. These supposedly factual Twitter accounts often just steal tweets from each other, creating Twitter’s version of an ouroboros–or, perhaps more accurately, a human centipede.

So it’s not surprising, (yet still hilarious), that History_Pics, an account with nearly 1.7 million followers, stole a tweet from AhistoricalPics–the parody account. Needless to say, Edgar Allan Poe didn’t pen the hit TV series That’s So Raven. Though admittedly, I would’ve loved to see that show adapt Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado. That’s so Mason.

Fake image via History_Pics and parody account @AHistoricalPics

64) Is this a real Coca-Cola ad?

No, that isn’t a real Coke ad showing how the men of history brutally conquered the world. Oddly enough, it’s an ad for advertising itself and wasn’t sanctioned by the Coca-Cola company.

“How did Coke succeed where history’s most ambitious leaders failed?” the ad reads. “By choosing the right weapon. Advertising.”

As the advertising blogger Copyranter points out, this ad probably comes from a 1980s advertising trade journal (based on the font), and was produced by a Texas-based agency called The Richards Group. Is the ad insensitive? Sure. Was it made by Coke or any of its rivals? No.

Fake ad via Brilliant Ads on Twitter

65) Is this Obama on the phone?

No, that’s not Obama talking on a phone upside down. It’s a photoshop-job that first circulated in both conservative political circles and pro-Hillary Clinton forums in 2008. You might notice that the photoshopped image includes a clock showing that it’s 3:00. That was in reference to Hillary Clinton’s infamous anti-Obama attack ad.

It’s 3AM and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House and it’s ringing. Something’s happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether it’s someone who already knows the world’s leaders; knows the military; someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world, it’s 3AM and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?

Clinton’s ad ran during the Democratic primary season and was supposed to stir fear that Obama didn’t have enough experience in foreign policy and shouldn’t be trusted. And we all know how the rest of that primary season panned out.

Fake image via Twitter

66) Is this an opium party in 1920?

As Twitter debunker HoaxEye points out, the photo above doesn’t show a real-life opium party. It actually comes from a silent French movie circa 1920. The film, Dandy-Pacha, was directed by Georges Rémond, and while it looks like a mighty fun time, it’s not a candid photograph of people chasing the dragon.

Fake image via SadHappyAmazing on Twitter

67) Is this a Florida couple who were arrested for selling tickets to heaven?

No, these people weren’t arrested for selling tickets to heaven. As Snopes points out, it’s a total and complete lie, fabricated by the fake news site Stuppid. Anyone passing around this story as true probably should’ve seen the name of the news site as their first clue that this one is a hoax. The people featured in the photo had nothing to do with Stuppid’s idiotic fake story.

Fake via Unessentialist on Twitter

68) Is this a raccoon helping his kitten friend?

Could it be? Is this raccoon helping his little kitten buddy by kindly bringing him to some friendly humans? Does this photo restore your faith in humanity, or raccoonanity or whatever? Well, prepare to be disappointed. It’s a fake, as you can see by the original photo on the right.

And as the legendary Twitter debunker PicPedant points out, it’s an old fake, dating back to at least 2010. But that hasn’t stopped it from being spread far and wide. Raccoons are actually quite vicious. If you ever see a raccoon gently bringing you a living cat, be prepared to step outside and see The Rapture or something.

Fake image via MeetAnimals and Reddit

69) Is this a real sign in Michigan calling for the death of America?

These days it’s easy to make fake signs on the internet. Like, really easy. And the sign above it just one example of the thousands you’ll find online.

How easy? Well, here’s a sign I made using one of those church sign makers. And I assure you it’s 100 percent true.

Image via Twitter/Facebook

70) Did the BBC really caption this “posh booing”?

This screenshot of the BBC’s caption with “posh booing noises in background” has gone viral on both Facebook and Twitter. But it’s a total fake.

The fakery was created by Twitter user TechnicallyRon. And despite the fact that major news outlets have re-published this screenshot of Jeremy Corbyn, it’s a complete photoshop fabrication.

But I have to admit, as an American, anything in a British accent sounds pretty posh to me.

Fake photo via Twitter

71) Is this a real ad for potato sauce?

As James Lileks at the Minneapolis Star Tribune points out, the “vintage ad” on the left for something called potato sauce definitely looks real. But it’s a fake. It’s unclear who created it, but the ad always pops up on those “weird/gross food history” sites. A real ad for Nalley’s is on the right.

Nalley is a food company, founded in 1918, that has produced all kinds of snacks and dips in its century-long history. But this ad for “potato sauce” was concocted in Photoshop. One big tip off? The font used on the bottle for “Norgold Russet” is called Life Savers, which didn’t exist at midcentury.

Another clue that this one is a fake? Nalley’s tagline reads: Nalley’s is adequate! A ringing endorsement, indeed!

Fake photo via Pinterest

72) Is this the new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a baby?

Canada just elected a new lefty Prime Minister after a decade of conservative government. And while there are plenty of embarrassing photos and video of Justin Trudeau, the pic above isn’t one of them. No, that’s not Fidel Castro holding Trudeau as a baby. It is, however, Justin’s late brother Michel.

For those who don’t follow Canadian politics (I’m going to guess this means every American) Justin Trudeau is the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who served in that position from 1968 until 1984. The family was taking an official diplomatic trip to Cuba in 1976, where baby Michel Trudeau is seen in the arms of Castro.

The photo is real. It’s just not Justin.

Inaccurate description via HistoryInPics

73) Did Donald Trump really say in 1998 that Republicans were dumb?

There’s no evidence that Trump ever said this, in People magazine (where it’s most often credited) or anywhere else. In fact, in 1999 Trump said he was a registered Republican. So you can tell your uncle who keeps posting this on Facebook to settle down. Trump’s Republican bona fides may still be in question, but this quote is a complete fake.

Fake quote via Twitter

74) Is this Abraham Lincoln posing with Edgar Allan Poe?

No, that isn’t Abe Lincoln posing for a photo with Edgar Allan Poe. As Yoni Appelbaum at the Atlantic points out, it’s from the book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The photo on the right, however, I can assure you is totally real.

Fake via HistoryInPix and Imgur

75) Is this Lucille Ball on her wedding night in 1940?

The photo above on the left is being passed around the internet as Lucille Ball on her wedding night in 1940. But it’s a publicity shot from her 1942 movie, The Big Street with co-star Henry Fonda, as you can see from the dress she’s wearing on the right. Ball wore wedding dresses on a number of occasions while acting, including the 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer.

Imgur, you got some ‘splainin to do!

Inaccurate description via Imgur

76) Is this Michele Bachmann saying something stupid about “illegal Mexicans in China”?

As the political fact-checking website Politifact points out, this is totally fake.

Michele Bachman never said, “There are those who say a border wall won’t work. They just don’t have the vision Donald Trump does. The Chinese built a Great Wall 5,000 years ago. You don’t see any illegal Mexicans in China.”

It’d be hilarious if she had said it. But much like the Trump quote above, she didn’t. Thanks to the internet, you can make anyone look like they’ve said just about anything. What a time to be alive.

Fake via Facebook

Hey, have you heard about that new Star Wars movie? The premiere is tonight in Los Angeles, but even if you’re stuck in a galaxy far, far away, you can tune into the red carpet for all the excitement and cast and crew interviews thanks to StarWars.com. The site’s live-stream action starts at 5:30pm PST.

This new video from Ken Burns’ series about story is just so awesome. George Saunders, author of The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, explains why reading a bad story is like going on a bad date.

Says Saunders, in George Saunders: On Story:

A bad story is one where you know what the story is, and you’re sure of it. And you go there your with your intentionality fixed in place. Almost like if you went out on a date, and noticed that your date had a pile of index cards, and he’s looking, and this one says: “7:05, compliment her outfit. 7:10, ask about the mother.” You’re going to feel a little bit condescended to.

Now, why would a person do that? Well, it’s a little bit scary to be on a date. There’s all that mystery, and all those unexpected moments that are going to lurch out. Well, likewise in storytelling. Why would you be overcontrolling your material? Because it’s scary to not know where it’s going.

Saunders says he’s learned he tends to over-manage his stories, and push them in a particular direction that the story doesn’t want to go in. So the better thing is to start out with a kernel of what the story is, that may have to do with what you enjoy writing. But when you write it and rewrite it endlessly, you end up with something built out of “your own discontent with it, that in some slow, mysterious way, urges it to higher ground.”

Watch the whole thing over at The Atlantic.

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky, coming in January from Tor Books. Follow her on Twitter, and email her.

One of Nintendo’s biggest releases in 2015 is the sprawling 100-hour adventure Xenoblade Chronicles X, released earlier this year in Japan. It’s great-looking and fun. That’s not in dispute. The most heated debate about the game—making it the latest flashpoint in ongoing skirmishes over censorship, creative freedom and sexual politics—involves a pair of changes made for the American release.

Players who this new Xenoblade can choose to play as a woman, if they’d like, as they could in the Japanese version of the game, but can no longer adjust the size of her breasts. They can still hike through the monster-filled world of Mira with the 13-year-old fighter Lin at their side, but among her customizable outfits, they will no longer find a skimpy bikini.

Lin usually looks something like this:

But in the Japanese version, Lin can optionally wear a bikini that looks like this:

As with many JRPGs, it’s possible to customize the look of your character. It’s also common for Japanese games to include bonus costumes for characters—some silly, others more risqué. This is one of them.

To many in the West, eliminating that bikini option might be a welcome change. A game targeting grown-ups that features a sexualized 13-year-old might be a bit much. To others, however, a change like this is the definition of censorship, an unneeded modification of art.

For a taste of the reaction, here’s a commenter from the website Dual Shockers:

Xenoblade Chronicles X is one of several games that’s central to an ongoing Internet argument about the artistic, social, and commercial merits of changing games as they are sold on other sides of an ocean. What’s common among these games is that they come from Japan and the details changed involve female characters’ sex appeal. But they’re also part of a longer continuum of games changed from region to region, sometimes to cut religious references, sometimes to cut violence. These days, the debates about sex are at the fore, as the discussion of how women are presented in games has gained traction in the West.

The creators of these games have largely kept quiet, leaving most of the arguing to fans and critics. The company making many of these changes lately, Nintendo, has said very little about it. Caught in the middle of this are gaming’s translation referees, localizers, the people who work on translating and, at times, rewriting games for their new audience.

“Outside of Japan—and especially right now—you have one loud segment of the market saying, ‘The artistic integrity of the game is more important than the feelings of the people playing it,’” said localizer Brian Gray, who worked in-house at Square Enix—he was the lead translator on the Kingdom Hearts games—before opening his own studio. “And the other segment [is] saying, ‘Games have no integrity unless they respect the feelings of people playing them.’ As a translator, it’s kind of a terrifying debate to be in the middle of, because someone is going to be upset no matter what choice you make.”

The Threat of Censorship

This ideological debate has been going on in the localization and translation of games for years. At the heart of this topic is a complex question: what constitutes censorship? That usually is intertwined with whether fans are getting the best version of a game or, in some cases, whether they’re getting access to the game at all.

The Internet blew up recently because of a single comment on Dead or Alive’s official Facebook page. The comment suggested Dead or Alive Xtreme, a sexy fantasy spin-off of the fighting game, wouldn’t come over to the West because of “how many issues with regard to how to treat female in video game industry.” This fed an ongoing fear amongst a set of gaming purists that conversations about sexism and other sensitive topics were scaring off some game companies.

Though I found no evidence of a coordinated effort to campaign against Dead or Alive Xtreme’s release, there’s plenty of evidence that Japanese games are being changed in subtle ways.

With 2014’s Bravely Default, Nintendo changed the ages of some girls from 13 to 15-years-old and modified their costumes to cover them up.

In Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, lingerie bonus costumes were removed.

Most recently, it’s rumored that Bravely Second: End Layer was altered, with a Native American costume removed in favor of a cowboy outfit. We can guess it was changed to avoid criticisms of cultural appropriation—look no further than debate over NFL’s Washington Redskins—but since Nintendo didn’t respond to my request for comment, I can’t say anything for certain.

These kinds of edits have been going on for decades, and it’s possible we’re just noticing more of them now thanks to the every-watchful eye of the crowd-powered Internet. Kotaku’s Jason Schreier wrote a piece in 2013 railing against some older changes, like 1990s Super Nintendo role-playing-game Earthbound’s change of the game’s bars to cafes.

When games are released in different regions, it’s not as simple as slapping the text through Google Translate and calling it a day. Language is nuanced, with words and phrases taking on different meanings, depending on where they’re said. (Speed, for example, translates to “fart” in Swedish!) That’s why we have experts. It’s up to the localizer (or localization team) to guide a game from one language to another, trying to preserve the integrity of the game along the way.

Maybe She Meant “I Love You”

“The ideal localization walks a fine line,” said longtime localizer Alex Smith, who’s worked on Final Fantasy X, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and others. “It’s subtle and intended to reproduce the game’s experience as faithfully as possible in the new language. So, if not changing something in the English version of the game would result in a lesser or otherwise altered experience for the English-speaking gamer, that’s grounds for ‘localizing’ whatever the problem is.”

Localization changes can be tricky. When Smith was helping translate Final Fantasy X, there was an internal debate about Yuna’s final words to Tidus. In Japanese, Yuna says “arigatou.” Plainly translated, this means “thanks.”

“And yet,” said Smith, “‘arigatou’ has connotations that go beyond the phrasebook definition of ‘thanks.’ Literally meaning ‘there was much difficulty,’ the word encompasses a sense of shared experience. If the patriarch of a family was on his death bed, looking up at his children and grand-children, the word he might say in Japanese is ‘arigatou.’ It has the weight, and finality in this case, that we associate with the words ‘I love you’ in English.”

The phrase “I love you” hadn’t been uttered in a Final Fantasy game before. Complicating matters, the shot where Yuna speaks is a close-up, so the words needed to closely match the original Japanese cut-scene in order to line up properly. Thus, “I love you.” Smith consulted with Kazushige Nojima, who wrote the script for Final Fantasy X, and pitched the idea. He approved.

“I’ve had to back down on other changes in other games because the dev team wasn’t so open-minded,” said Smith. “So not every localization decision takes place in such an ideal environment, but that doesn’t mean localizers shouldn’t try.”

But with Xenoblade Chronicles X and Bravely Default, we’re talking about 13-year-old girls sexualized for an audience who, generally speaking, is much older than 13. It’s not hard to suggest most people find that creepy, but by changing those details, have you altered the art?

“Something intended to be simply humorous or risqué in a Japanese game might come across to an American gamer as creepy or worse, as pedophilia,” said Smith. “Keeping the problematic content in there with the intent of preserving the creator’s original vision is misguided, because the creator presumably didn’t intend for the audience to feel uncomfortable or offended. The original vision is better served by making adjustments so the new audience appreciates the work on (as closely as possible) the same terms as the original audience.”

Multiple translators I talked to pushed back on the idea of increasing the age of a character, instead preferring to remove the age entirely, allowing the detail to remain ambiguous.

Niche Gamer, a website largely dedicated to JRPGs and other games released for smaller crowds, regularly bangs the censorship drum, demanding that companies stop altering games like this.

“I’m of the volition that we should celebrate other cultures and let media from such cultures exist as is, and not have it be altered or sugar-coated for foreign audiences,” said Niche Gamer’s editor-in-chief Brandon Orselli. “It’s a catch-22 when trying to appeal for people who may not appreciate things alien to their culture goes and alienates the people who enjoy experiencing other cultures.”

To Orselli, it’s a moot point whether or not anyone—in the West or otherwise—thinks it’s creepy. Orselli’s perspective is essentially the strict constructionism take, where the original text—in this case, the original Japanese video game—is sacrosanct, should be respected and left largely unaltered.

To that end, Niche Gamer recently wrote about a petition called “1 Million Gamers Strong For Japanese Gaming” that seeks to unify players who agree with Orselli. It’s at 5,203 supporters and counting.

Three Years Older, If That Makes A Difference

Tom Lipschultz is a localization specialist at XSEED Games, known for bringing over games for Niche Gamer’s audience. That includes everything from Falcom’s famed Ys series to Senran Kagura, a beat ‘em up famous for its depiction of barely clothed women with exaggerated proportions. It’s a game developed explicitly because the creator wanted to show boobs on the 3DS.

I learned about Lipschultz after interviewing XSEED vice president Ken Berry, who revealed Lipschultz almost quit over his beliefs. XSEED had hoped to test the American waters with Senran Kagura as a downloadable eShop-only game. To help the game operate with less controversy, Berry planned to remove the ages from the profiles of the game’s female characters. In that game, Senran Kagura Burst, many of the characters are 15 years old and most are under 18.

Berry believed this to be a “minor” change, but it drove Lipschultz up a wall. As a compromise, Berry let Lipschultz publicly criticize the decision, so the community understood there were divisions.

Lipschultz told me he wasn’t against removing the ages, but altering them. One changes a game’s plot, the other doesn’t.

“Senran Kagura Burst is, at its heart, a coming-of-age story,” said Lipschultz, “so changing a 15-year-old to an 18-year-old would suddenly recontextualize a lot of character actions and motivations, turning characters who come across as ‘well-meaning but young and inexperienced’ into characters who simply come across as immature and misguided. Three years makes an awful lot of difference in human development, after all, and I just felt like making drastic alterations of that nature would irreparably harm the narrative. And I didn’t want to be part of a company that would consider making artistic changes of that magnitude for no other reason than because cultural differences might make people feel a little uncomfortable.”

While what Lipschultz is saying has merit, let’s be clear about the game we’re talking about. Senran Kagura Burst, besides being a beat ‘em up, is designed to titillate. The visuals knowingly wink at the audience to say “we’re here to turn you on.” That’s not to condemn erotic games—not long ago, we praised one on Kotaku—but upfront, it’s about gigantic breasts. (Side note: When I’ve read discussions about Senran Kagura, fans have praised its story.)

“It’s an artistic vision—not one I personally agree with, but an artistic vision nonetheless,” said Lipschultz. “And I don’t think it’s right for us to say, ‘that’s going too far,’ because when we do, we set a precedent for others to follow—and others may be just a little bit more conservative, drawing their lines in the sand a little farther up than you did. And then others will follow their example, but draw their lines in the sand even farther up.”

On the message board NeoGAF, Lipschultz took his argument further, suggesting the age of virtual characters doesn’t matter and that you could even consider a fictional character’s age based on the year the character was first drawn.

(By the end of that message board thread, Lipschultz had been banned from NeoGAF.)

Are we to presume pornographic images of Lisa Simpson are acceptable because The Simpsons has been on the air for 27 years? It’s hard to imagine many people buying that, and this opens the door to the thorniest issue of all: cultural differences on sex in popular media.

In this case, at least, the creator of the game has spoken up. Senran Kagura creator Kenichirō Takaki is marvelously clear about his intentions.

“So, first and foremost, I want—I need, really—to create a game that’s actually a solid game, and not just a vehicle for sexual content,” said Takaki in an interview with Nintendo Life. “I didn’t want to make a half-assed game with cute girls fighting and their clothes ripping off for no reason, just because it’s visually pleasing. I wanted there to be a reason why they’re fighting, and why each individual is different. I wanted to have a story that explains why they’re fighting, why their clothes are ripping off, why the sexual aspects are there—I always want there to be a reason why. And because of that core essence, that reason why, players can relate to each of the characters, and I can tell a bigger story.”

Takaki’s aware of what’s happening in the West, admitting it’s “a topic that comes up on Japan’s side too, ‘cause there are people who aren’t into the sexualization of the game or eroge.” (Eroge is a term for Japanese pornographic video games.)

“I think as of right now I’ll keep going on the path that I have been, but in the future it might change,” he told Operation Rainfall, another outlet that covers Japanese games. “It really comes down to, I want to create what I want to create and it’s not a take it or leave it. I do understand what this group of people [in media criticism] are trying to say, but I don’t want to change everything to please them, because that’s what dilutes everything that I am trying to make. It is a series that is still new in the West. There’s a lot confusion about the game. There is a core mechanic of the game that I will not be influenced by the naysayers just because they are a naysayer.”

Takaki is happy to defend his work in public, but not every developer can or will. If more developers did, it might lead to a better understanding on both sides of the argument.

Auteurs Vs. Sports Coaches

“One huge misconception out there is that every director of a Japanese game is a Hayao Miyazaki who labors over every aspect of his creation,” said localizer Brian Gray, who’s worked with some of Japan’s most eccentric game designers. “There are auteurs in the industry—among the people I’ve worked for, Tetsuya Nomura and Goichi Suda jump out—but actually, to a large extent, their work is mostly devoid of awkward, out-of-context pandering just because auteurs are all about context.”

Suda’s games, for example, are full of attractive women and eyebrow-raising features, such as Killer Is Dead’s “Gigolo Mode.” But Gray had no problem working on Suda’s games because his intent was clear and the sexualized part of the games seemed to fit with the ideas and themes the creator was exploring. Given the vast scope of games these days, that’s not true of every single one, which can lead to the unexpected outfits or ages that raise eyebrows and questions about how integral they are to the game’s artistic purity.

(Thanks to omegaevolution for the clip.)

“For every auteur title, there are nine more titles that are helmed by directors who are more like sports coaches,” said Gray. “They don’t create every single piece of content; some of them don’t even look at every piece of content. They delegate. And those are the titles where you run across things that feel out of place, like they ought to be reconsidered.”

When it comes to sexualixed content, he tries to figure out where exactly it came from.

“Is it the director, or is it Horny McHornHorn over in the corner?” said Gray. “Was it only left in because it didn’t need to be removed in Japan, or was it left in because it’s actually a defining component of the game’s identity? I don’t mean to imply that these directors don’t have vision, because they do, but if their products are so big that no one person can ultimately even look at it all, then of course you are going to find some strange things out in the fringes of that universe that might not be what they intended to make at all.”

Who Takes The Blame?

What bothers fans—and to be honest, what also bothers me—is Nintendo’s continued silence on the issue, which makes it hard to tell just what is going on with the “small” changes being made to games like Xenoblade Chronicles X and who is calling the shots. In response to this story, Nintendo would only give the vaguest of statements.

“Different regions make different localization choices based on a variety of factors,” said a company spokesperson.

The company refuses to discuss the changes or announce them ahead of time.

In the absence of any rational explanation, desperation can lead to conspiracy theories.

Alison Rapp is a product marketing specialist in Nintendo’s Treehouse division. Though the Treehouse is commonly referred to as Nintendo’s internal localization team, these days, its responsibilities are far broader. Rapp is one of many who work at Treehouse, and despite zero evidence suggesting that she’s been involved in the localization of Xenoblade Chronicles X, let alone influenced its content changes, it hasn’t stopped some from viewing her as an enemy.

It’s unclear how or when Rapp became a target; she’s been with Nintendo over two years. The most vitriolic discussions happen within places like 4chan, where threads are regularly deleted.

Why Rapp’s a target is more clear: she’s an outspoken woman with progressive-leaning politics who fits into the narrative that “social justice warriors” are leading to the censorship of games. An 8chan thread from earlier this year that was started after Rapp had appeared on one of Nintendo’s E3 livestreams featured a group of people worried Rapp would “infect” Nintendo of America. They found reasons to dislike her:

Tumblr diss? Check. Mocking queerness? Check. Problem with gender issues? Check.

When it was clear Xenoblade Chronicles X would see changes in the US, it didn’t take long for Rapp to get connected, a misguided conspiracy that’s gone on for months. Again, while there’s no evidence Rapp had anything to do with Nintendo’s decision, she became a boogeyman.

Some went as far as writing up a (wildly unsuccessful) petition to have her fired.

Rapp still works at Nintendo. When I contacted her last week, Rapp explained she hadn’t worked on Xenoblade Chronicles X. In fact, she doesn’t work with the localization team—period.

It’s impossible to know if Rapp would have avoided becoming a villain if Nintendo was more forthcoming about localization changes, but other publishers err on the side of transparency.

Earlier this year, Atlus was faced with erotic RPG Dungeon Travelers 2 getting an Adults Only rating, which would make it largely unsellable in America. The ESRB, the group that rates video games in the U.S., asked them to make four cuts to secure a Mature rating. Such ratings distinctions are important, because retailers and platform holders won’t stock Adults Only games. Atlus decided it was better to make the cuts than cancel it, but crucially, it issued a press release transparently outlining the changes and even answered my questions about them:

“Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal presented some challenges during the localization process — specifically, adapting some of the fan service content to western sensibilities. Localization by nature requires some changes to be made for content to be understood en masse, which is why ATLUS worked closely with developer AquaPlus to preserve the game’s themes and content to its fullest.

In order to comply with restrictions set forth by rating boards, ATLUS made concessions on just four in-game images. On these images, some minor edits were made (and approved by the developer) to adjust the overt graphics to within acceptable ranges for the game’s M-rating.”

Warning: What’s featured below could be considered pornographic. It’s not safe for work.

In terms of cuts, we’re not talking about an occasional panty shot. No, it’s more like this:

“Atlus actually consulted with the ESRB prior to submitting,” a company representative told me at the time. “They helped identify which images would be an issue, and we took their feedback to the developer to change the images appropriately.”

Whether or not you agree with the changes, the alterations were communicated to players.

“I think if more publishers would at least talk about the changes they make and why they made them,” said Niche Gamer’s Brandon Orselli, “people would be a LOT more understanding, at the very least. Instead we mostly get quiet edits/changes/removal of content, and most people avoid talking about it.”

It’s a fair point.

This is all not a one-way street, either. In Japan, there are concerns over violence and cultural taboos. Later Resident Evil games had decapitations and other gore removed. A Fallout 3 quest where players could defuse or detonate an atomic bomb was changed so players couldn’t detonate it. There’s no way to come up with a set of rules applicable to every game and every localization.

Localizers have much to consider, and each one I talked to seemed to approach the job with deep respect. They believe games are art, and want to maintain that art. The considerations are vast, from the business realities of a company hoping to sell a bunch of copies to individuals trying to preserve the creativity of the games they’re working on.

“The best translators I know in the business are hopeless perfectionists,” said Gray. “They pick apart the dialogue and see the pros and cons and different reactions people can have; they step into the shoes of different gamers from different walks of life and agonize, and I mean really agonize, over what the right way to represent each line is. I’m personally against content that degrades or hurts people—who paid money, and are expecting to have fun—but I also know that I have a responsibility to maintain fidelity to the original—because other people also paid money, and are expecting that.”

“There is no striking a balance,” he continued, “so all I can do is present the argument to the creators or publisher, whenever possible, and see how they want to handle it. Sometimes it goes one way, sometimes the other. Usually it goes in the direction of not degrading people, and I can only assume that’s because the market is still responding more positively to that course of action.”

This topic isn’t going away anytime soon. Idea Factory International president Haru Akenaga recently told Operation Rainfall it won’t bring over some Compile Heart [a Japanese developer known for Hyperdimension Neptunia and Record of Agarest War] games because they “don’t want to censor anymore because we know that’s not true to the original developed art.”

What constitutes acceptable editing or unacceptable censorship remains unanswered.

Illustration by Sam Woolley

You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.