Sing 2 - Blog Posts

After Red Shore (part3)

Meena was in her dressing room, taking a breather. She had been performing in Mr. Moon's theater for a little over a year now. She still suffered from panic attacks, but not nearly as bad as she did at the very beginning and she had Mr. Moon to thank for that.

He was the one who pushed her to be all that she could be. He helped her find her confidence and helped her learn to believe in herself.

"Don't let fear stop you from doing the thing you love." He had said. And she she tried to live by that qoute. If not for Buster, she'd never had gotten the confidence to ask out Alfonso.

Her phone dinged and she peered at home and smiled.

Speaking of which. She opened a message and saw he had sent a photo of him holding her favorite ice cream with the caption "thinking of you" with heart emojis following after.

A soft knock at her door brought her back from her thoughts and she fumbled with her phone before calling out "come in!".

The door opened and Johnny walked in. "Hey, Meena, got a second?" He asked.

"Sure, Johnny, what's up?" Meena asked as he took a seat in a secluded chair reserved for anyone who might wish to sit and chat.

"Has Mr. Moon been acting strange to you?"

Meena blinked, taken back. She racked her brain, trying to remember the past week and how her boss and mentor had changed. "I know he hasn't been sleeping well. And gets really jumpy. I tried to ask him a question last week and nearly jumped out of his skin. Told me I shouldn't sneak up on people like that. He laughed it off, but I could tell he looked really nervous."

"Sams thing happened with me and him yesterday. Me and Nooshy were performing and he came in. Nooshy was just messing around, so I really didn't think about it till this morning, but she was spinning around and grabbed Mr. Moon by the coat and lifted him up. Now that I think about it, he looked really scared."

Johnny stopped as his mind traveled back to Crystal Tower's Theater. He remembered when Mr. Crystal suddenly appeared and grabbed Buster from them. They were watching Rosita's part of the show when Buster was taken up the lift. Johnny remembered hiw he tried in vain to cry out to his boss.

And when Jimmy dropped him...

Johnny turned away from Meena and shut his eyes as he felt tears suddenly form. Never had he felt so useless. He had half a mind to jump after him, but before he could, Rosita swung in to save the day. From his view on the platform, he watched her swing in and clutch the koala tightly to her chest before releasing him gently onto another platform. Johnny felt his knees buckle in relief as he mentor and friend sat up, seemingly physically unharmed.

But mentally? That seemed another matter.

Another knock interrupted them and the two turned to see Miss Crawley walking in with two cups of tea. "You two have been working extra hard today, so I thought you'd need a little pick-me-up."

"Thank you, Miss Crawley." The two young adults said in unison.

"Miss Crawley? How long have you known Mr. Moon?" Johnny asked.

Miss Crawley wriggled her hands a bit. "Oh my, a long time. I was friends with his father." She said.

"You were?"

"Oh yes. His father was like a son to me. I knew Buster's mother as well."

Johnny and Meena exchanged glances. Never once had Buster's mother been brought up in conversation. As far as they were concerned, his mother had passed shortly after he'd been born and it'd just been he and his dad.

Miss Crawley continued. "Actually I knew his mother before I knew his father. She and her family were my friends." The old lizard took a deep breath. "First his mother passed, complications with his birth and then his father. Years of washing cars led him to get bad bouts of pneumonia. One year... he finally succumbed, leaving only Buster and his theater and I became his only family." She then looked up and smiled. "Till he met you all."

Johnny took her hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze. "I was... I was so afraid... that I was going to lose Buster too. That night in Red Shore?"  She said, softly.

Johnny hugged the older lady tightly before she cleared her throat. "I better go and finish with the tea." She gave them each a small smile and a pat on each of their cheeks before exiting the room.

After she had gone, Meena remembered her experience. She watched Johnny as he prepared to jump after him. Before she could stop him, she saw Rosita. The whole ordeal was traumatic and terrifying.

When Buster joined them again, she was the first to grab him into a big hug, nearly breaking his back in the process. When the curtain call came, they all gestured for Buster to join them. Rosita and Gunter stood on either side of him and Meena could just catch the relief in their eyes as they shared a look, each taking a paw of Buster's.

She couldn't imagine what they felt from their standing point.

~

Gunter remembered how he felt. From his spot on stage, he was watching Porsha practice her moves, but his mind was elsewhere, back in the city.

It was their part of the show and in the midst of trying to comfort Rosita, he saw that her focus was no longer on her fear, but on something else.

SomeONE else.

He followed her gaze and his heart turned to water. Buster was falling. Faster and faster.

With no hesitation at all, Rosita forgot her fear, forgot her worries and ran straight off the platform. Her focus was now Buster.

Gunter had remainedon the ship, trying desperately to control it, to make it returnto the ground so that he can see Buster for himself. Then he saw Rosita, flying through the air, a smile lightining up her face as she sang her heart out. Gunter risked a glance and saw Buster, safe and making his way back to the group.

As soon as he was safe, Gunter felt so relieved, so happy, he burst into song and together he and Rosita performed their act, flying around the theater, singing to the music and gliding to the rhythm.

When they met back to do the curtain call, it took everything Gunter had not to drop kick the white coated wolf as he walked out, claiming Buster's success as his own. He wanted nothing more then to show that total jerk dinkkesplat what dirt taste like. Matter of fact, he could tell by the grip Johnny had on his hand that he was feeling the same. But instead of making a scene, the group decided to humiliate him by leaving him to be laughed at by his public. They watched as he was escorted out by police officers, Gunter silently cursing the wolf in his native language.

"Earth to Gunter!"

The dancer snapped out of his thoughts and noticed Porsha trying to get his attention.

"Vhat? Oh! Very nice!" He praised, trying to force a smile.

Porsha bowed, dramatically as she twirled off to practice once, leaving Gunter with his thoughts.

How could Porsha be related to such a cold-hearted ass- jerk? Sure, she a bit dramatic, maybe even a bit of a spoiled wild-child, but she was still a kid. 18, Gunter guessed. 2 years younger then Ash. She was still learning.

~

Rosita remembered the shock.

She remembered the fear as well. The fear she had when she looked down into the vortex. But when she saw Buster falling, it became a whole new fear. A fear of losing one of her closest friends, a fear of losing a member of her family.

That fear was greater then her fear of heights. She could faintly hear Gunter calling her name, but she ignored it. Her only focus was saving her friend, her brother. She had a title for her little family. Buster and Gunter were her brothers, Ash, Meena and Johnny were her kids and Miss Crawley, wonderful Miss Crawley was her mother figure.

As soon as she leapt off that platform, her arms reached out, frantically holding them out for the little koala. When he was in reach, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her chest, holding him tightly, afraid to let go. Afraid if she let go, she'd lose him. Another platform neared and, as gently as she could, she released him and continued the show, as he would have wanted.

When they met on stage, she wanted to hug him again, hold him close.

More so, she wanted to take a bat to Jimmy's head and beat him to a pulp.

She remembered as they were bowing on the stage, when Crystal appeared, taking credit for Buster's work, she remembered when his grip tightned and he attempted to pull away. So while Jimmy was addressing the crowd, Rosita scooped up Buster and they rushed back stage to leave Jimmy to be humiliated. She could hear Gunter muttering in his language. She didn't need to speak it to know he was practically cussing Jimmy out.

A mom just knows.

Normally, she wouldn't approve, but under the circumstances, she wasn't against uttering a few swears herself.

Once backstage, she finally gave him a once over. Checking him for broken bones, bruises, in case Jimmy had hurt him before hurtling him off a platform. Buster wasn't able to calm her down till she had satisfied herself that he was okay, physically anyway. It never occurred to her, in that moment, how mentally he would have been affected.

On their way home, she and Buster never got a chance to talk about what happened. In all honesty, she didn't quite know where to begin.

She wasn't sure Buster knew either. It was clear he was avoiding the subject altogether.

Rosita frowned as she stood, her mind made up.

It was time for that talk. She left the practice area and headed up the stairs to her friend's office. Surprisingly she found the door closed. Buster had an open door policy, the only exceptions being he had a meeting or a very important phone call. Rosita put her ear to the door and listened. When no sound came, she knocked.

Silence.

"Buster?" She called.

Silence once more.

She wondered if he had stepped out, but she never saw him come back down the stairs. Anxiety started building up in her chest as she opened the door and peaked in. The office appeared empty, but, Like Nana, Rosita was familiar with Buster's usual hiding places. She first checked behind the couch and then under the desk. Then she sat on his chair and knocked on his drawer. There was a small scuffle before the drawer inched it's way open and familiar, gray fluffy ears popped from within.

Buster looked started for a moment. "Rosita! Is something wrong?" He asked, plastering a smile and attempting to look busy.

"Yes. We've been avoiding a certain subject. And I'd like to bring it to light." Rosita said.

Buster groaned inwardly. He wasn't ready for this. Not yet. "Rosita, the show is in 2 days. Can we discuss this afterwards?" Hoping that was the end of it, Buster leapt out of his drawer and began walking towards the door.

Rosita quickly followed and grabbed his arm.

"Buster-"

What followed next told Rosita the exact amount of damage that was caused.

As soon as she took hold of his arm, Buster went into full panic. Having not recovered from his last episode, Buster yanked his arm from Rosita's grip in pure fear. In doing so, he stumbled and fell against his desk. He closed his eyes and wrapped his large ears around whilst pulling his legs close to his chest. His whole body began to shake violently and he began mumbling. Both fear and embarrassment overwhelmed him. He tried with some difficulty to hide his emotions, but today that just wasn't the case. And Rosita was the last person he wanted to witness his panic attacks. For goodness sake, she saved his life! He should be comforting her! He should he thanking her! But the words wouldn't come as he sat, attempting to hide himself behind his ears.

Rosita stood in shock. This wasn't just simple nightmares. This was PTSD. This was pure fear. Buster was reliving his near death experience.

Rosita pulled her hand to her chest as she watched her friend grow smaller, if possible. She felt tears form, blaming herself for this most recent attack.

Regaining her composure, she got down on her knees and attempted to match Buster's height as she edged her way to the koala. "Buster? It's Rosita... can I move in closer?"

No reply.

Rosita took this as a sign of approval. She got close enough to lay a paw on his shoulder. One of Buster's paws reached up and grasped hers. They sat for a moment before Rosita gradually moved in closer. Buster, his eyes still shut, allowed her to gently pick him up and cradle him as if he were a child, her child. He weighed less then one of her piglets and Rosita could guess it was because of his recent eating habits. Even in Red Shore, Buster had trouble finding his appetite. Nearly a month's worth of lack of meals was taking it's toll in his new weight loss. Trying to keep Mr. Crystal happy, keep his group safe and away from his wrath and doing his best to make sure the show was just as meaningful as the name it was given had taken much of his energy and time. 

The Showman let out a shuddering breath as sudden exhaustion swept over him. Weeks of sleepless nights was finally taking it's toll. Rosita could feel his body shaking, but the longer she held him, the faster the shaking ceased. Buster sniffled and burried his head in her chest and she slowly rocked him as the panic attack gradually subsided.

Content on staying, Rosita sat as Buster fell into a deep slumber, possibly his first real sleep in weeks.

She could feel his heart beat as it began to beat in unison with her own, still beating wildly in his chest, but not nearly as bad as it had been a few moments ago.

She thought back to thay moment she saw him falling. Everything in that time span was forgotten. The show, the crowd, her fear of heights, everything. The only thing she saw was Buster falling to the ground below. The fall was enough to kill any animal, let alone this small koala. Her own body shook with the dreaded question that had been keeping her up for days.

What if she missed?

What if she hadn't jumped?

The thought was horrifying. She could see his body, on the ground, not moving.

She tightened her embrace, allowing her breaths to fall in sync with her friend. Her brother's.

She told herself the same thing she'd been telling herself all week. Buster was alive and here with her, with all her friends. She hadn't failed him.

Rosita wrapped her arms around the small frame in her lap and gave him a mama-bear kiss on the tuft of fur atop his head as she tightened her embrace, once more, afraid to let him go.

"You're safe, Buster." She whispered. "You're okay."

Story is not over yet. The healing process is just beginning.

He is insomniac 😞

idiot

A Theory About Sing's Animal Genetics

Throughout both Sing movies, we see a lot of different animals of all shapes and sizes. From Black Widow Spiders to African Elephants, the sheer range of species is remarkable. However, one thing stands out, the genetics of it all.

Part 1: The Apparent Genetics Behind Sing

Now, that might not make sense at first, but throughout both movies and all the shorts, we see no “extreme” hybridization. Like no random horse with scales or wings, or a spider with fins, etc etc. Every animal looks realistic. There are no extreme hybrids at all (trust me, I've scanned these movies scene by scene). And yet despite this, we see all kinds of interspecies relationships ranging from a cow and giraffe to an iguana and a crocodile or a snake and bull. Which to me means that genetics can work one of two ways: random species selection or hybridization.

Now, both of these are popular kinds of genetic species determination in anthropomorphic pieces of media. But I actually want to talk about random species selection first. Namely, how this is not what we see happening in Sing.

See, basically, how random species selection works is this. If the biological parents of an offspring are different species, the child will be one of the two species, but not a hybrid of them. An either-or situation. However, while I am willing to admit we do not see many children in the series, the few we see do not come from wildly different parents, in fact they all come from same species parents or parents who are from very visibly similar species, making this seem rather unlikely.

However, that isn't the only form of random species selection. Some variations of random species selection include certain species dominance, where some species will always be more likely to appear, a kind of dominant recessive type of deal. However, this is also not what we see happening in Sing. See the issue with this type of genetic species determination can lead to the over presence of certain species in the population. But we don't see that happening. We instead see what one would expect in terms of species prevalence based on their real-world animals.

So, if those two have not a lot of evidence going for them, that just leaves hybridization. And all of you are likely going "wait, but I thought you said earlier there were no visible hybrids in the series?" And you would be partially correct. There are no visual extreme hybrids. Regular ones that we can see in real life, however? Well, that's a different story.

See, there are animals we see that are likely hybrids. Heck, even a named character is all but confirmed to be one in my opinion. But how? What are the rules? Simple, like with species prevalence, Sing based its genetics off the real world.

What exactly do I mean by that? Well, Sing appears to follow real world hybridization rules in animals. Meaning two species must be extremely closely related in order for a hybrid offspring to occur. Think of some great cats, hoofed animals, and any animal with subspecies. Things like ligers, mules, and golden-crowned manakins are real world hybrids.

So, hybrids that exist in the real world are able to exist in Sing, what's my proof? I said there were characters who appear to be hybrids after all. Which ones? Well, there's four, namely: a background equine in the first movie, a background bear from the Sing Thriller Short, Johnny, and most noticeably, Porsha Crystal.

Let's go in order of least plausible evidence to most, starting with a character that shows up for less than twenty seconds in the first movie, an equine animal I have been dubbing Jack.

I will admit that this is a bit of a stretch primarily due to the lack of screen time. However, as we see both donkeys and horses in Sing 2, Jack here seems to be a mix between the two with the ears of a donkey and the longer mane of a horse and a white muzzle that we only see on horses. They also have what I have always heard be called a “classic mule colourations” aka what a mule looks like in most art I’ve ever been around. Here’s some photos to illustrate my point here.

So yeah, Jack looks a lot like what a mix of Sing horses and donkeys would look like, though they could just be one or the other as we do not really get another look at them.

Next is our lovely bear friend from Thriller, who I've been calling Terry in my notes.

See our friend Terry here does not look like the brown bears we have seen in the series in the slightest. But! They do not look exactly like the other species of bear we have seen in the series either (polar and panda).

But what do they look like then?

This is a grolar bear. Also known as a brown bear/polar bear hybrid. And the first thing that sprang to mind when I laid eyes on Terry here. With a similar build to both polar bears and brown bears that have appeared in the series before, combined with the similar coloration to a grolar bear, Terry seems like a genuine candidate for being a hybrid species. The only reason they are not higher on my list is the existence of Syrian brown bears, which could also fit them though I do not believe to be as likely just due to the bear species distribution we have seen.

Which is also why we come with more than one example for evidence! Our next candidate is.... the world's worst rebel, Johnny!

Now, Johnny being small is a topic I've touched on before. Because well... it's really noticeable when you put him even remotely near other gorillas. Which is further compounded by the fact that Johnny is called a mountain gorilla. You know, the second largest gorilla subspecies in the world?

So, there's a chance that Johnny is so small because he's not solely mountain gorilla, and instead is part or even half western lowland gorilla or cross river gorilla. Not only has he not had proper nutrition, but genetics are at play. This would also explain the more prominent brownish hue to his hair than the hair of his father and uncles.

However, like I mentioned and posted about previously, there is also a lot of evidence that Johnny likely has stunted growth due to malnutrition as a child, which often has permanent effects. So really, Johnny could be either of the two possibilities, or even potentially both a hybrid and stunted in growth.

And last but not least, the most obvious, all but confirmed hybrid (in my opinion), Porsha Crystal.

See, everywhere I check, I see Jimmy Crystal being described as an arctic wolf. And honestly? That checks out. He has a stockier build and solid white fur, as well as a smaller head. Very arctic wolf, down to the design of his fur.

But Porsha just isn't. She has a larger head, slender build, and most noticeably, coloured fur.

Arctic wolves have to have, despite being shades of brown/grey when they are born, solid white fur. It typically turns that way within about a year, with some patches occasionally sticking around a few years longer. But nowhere near as long as Porsha has seemingly been alive. And her colourations are pretty obviously part of her natural fur pattern, not tufts of baby hair sticking through.

"So what, she has a patterned coat? We’re seen character’s use hair dye before, that can't be the only reason-" Her build does not make sense for an arctic wolf. We see one due to her father. And the other children of the series that we are 100% sure are likely not hybrids look like their parents in terms of builds (think the piglets). Porsha does not. She looks more like the wolf bodyguard in that sense than her own father. She is much willowier with a notably different face shape that aligns with a different wolf subspecies than an arctic wolf, along with the coat pattern.

But which one?

Meet the northwestern wolf. A wolf that is a bit willowier than the arctic wolf, with a larger head shape, and most times, coloured fur. And a dead ringer for Porsha.

Which would make it seem like she is just a northwestern wolf right? Well, except one thing. Porsha is the same size as her dad, and arctic wolves are smaller than northwestern wolves. Which could be evidence of the arctic wolf dna. Same with the identical ear shapes. Those things are exactly why Porsha seemingly screams hybrid in terms of design, as well as the fact that she is simply called a wolf, with no subspecies designation. Because she's more than one.

Part Two: The Conservation Posters Theory

I promised a theory at the start and a theory you shall receive.

So throughout Sing 1 and 2, there are a ton of background posters. And only a few of those are fully legible. However, two (one in each movie) really stand out.

What can we see in these posters? Well, simple. A small build, light yellowish, feline with green eyes, round ears, compact head, and a rosette spot pattern. Besides this character, are the words "Love, Respect, Protect".

And that is super interesting. Because that cat? It's surprisingly hard to identify in terms of species. Now from the rosette pattern with the spots, we can immediately assume that this cat is a jaguar along with the proportionally large ears.

What makes that assumption weird though, is the head.

Jaguars have broader heads than what we see on the poster. And notably broader heads than leopards. However, the poster cat has a narrow head. Which reads like a leopard in all but shape, with the head being slightly more round than a leopard's is, but still far too narrow to be considered a jaguar's. It looks like a mix of the two.

The leopard similarities don't just end there either, as we look at the eyes. See, jaguars don't have green eyes, but you know who do? Leopards. Notably so even, with yellow-ish green being the primary colour seen in leopard eyes. (Yes, I understand Sing does not care about eye colour genetics. It also doesn’t care about physics or proper medical treatment. I’m ignoring all those factors rn lol.)

All of this leads me to one conclusion: that cat is either a jagulep or a lepjag/leguar aka, a hybrid of a jaguar and leopard of some kind.

This animal being a hybrid makes this poster make a ton more sense than a just standard predator species. Because we don’t see any discrimination between herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Seriously, within the cast we see, there isn’t any of the Zootopia type of discrimination at play. What we don’t see a lot of however, are likely hybrids.

If that poster is in fact about hybrids, it raises a new question about the lack of hybrids we see, which is, why don’t we?

A lot of animals can create hybrids. Any animal with a subspecies, a lot of canines, all the big cats, the list goes on. You would think that we would see way more than the four I mentioned above. And sure, we could count all the dog mixes (not really but we could try), and a lot of subspecies hybrids would look just like a regular one of that species to explain the low numbers, but the word choice of “protect” adds a weird taste to that story.

Because it implies that this is a reminder that needs to be said. A reminder to love and respect hybrids, fellow members of your community, needs to be told to the other community members. What’s more, it has to be added on that they need to be protected as well. Protected from what? By the looks of it, the community as a whole.

These posters are very similar to real world conservation and anti-bullying posters/billboards that are aimed at the general public in order to spread awareness. So, the fact that these posters are seemingly specifically about hybrids makes it clear that hybrids are likely not treated the best in the Sing universe. And while we don’t see this explicitly on screen, we can see potential effects it might have had, namely here: what an “acceptable” hybrid is.

See, the wording of the posters show that this group is discriminated against right? Well, we see Porsha and Johnny in particular not being treated differently from anyone else, so why? Well, let’s look at the hybrid on the poster.

Like I mentioned earlier, you have to look twice to realise that that cat is likely a hybrid. You have to know what you’re looking for. Same with Johnny. If he is a hybrid, it isn’t extremely noticeable besides his size, which again he can dismiss as just being small. Porsha is the only really noticeable hybrid of the three and the fact she is in the upper echelons of society should not be dismissed. She is not going to be treated the same as people not in that social class. So, her treatment in society as a whole is likely not going to be that different from a non-hybrid.

So, are they ideal hybrids? Well from what we can see in the movies and in the posters, it seems to be hybrids that are not noticeable are the least likely to face issues, hence the hybrid on the poster being legitimately the poster child for being a hybrid. In the Sing universe, hybrids are alright, but only when you don’t know they are there.

This would explain the small amount of them in the movies and shorts, not only are there not many possible ones, but the most noticeable ones would also likely be heavily discriminated against. So much so that groups are having to put up posters in order to hopefully raise awareness to stop this from happening. They are having to beg with these communities that the hybrids amongst them deserve love, respect, and safety just like everyone else. And we as viewers? Well, we don’t know if they are listening.

----------

Disclaimer: It is important to note that we do not see much of Porsha’s life or any of these character’s lives outside of a few snapshots from work. We do not see if Johnny had to deal with issues at school or if Porsha had to deal with issues online or with the media. We do not know. So they could have faced issues for potentially being hybrids that we just did not see on screen. Also, we do know species discrimination does exist, Buster and Mike in the first movie, as well as Jimmy in the second make several comments that are discriminatory. However, these do not seem to be widespread ideas in the Sing Universe, and it is nowhere near the level of predator/prey divides we see in other anthropomorphic media like Zootopia and Beastars. In fact, none of the remarks are even about a predator/prey divide at all.

"WTH ARE YOU AFK AROU-"

**Boinks me**

Fine, this is my first sing and art project in tumblf that I called..

~ Jas poorly yet nicely doodled version of sing characters!!!1!1!1 ~

(Yeah, I did it. So that's why I have many art projects in my own because, June and July are summer & rainy vacation btw)