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As we do every year around this time, our trio of co-hosts gets together to celebrate the very close birthdays of Mikkel and Keith.

They discuss their respective birthday plans, play more headline madlibs, and make their picks on who’s currently winning the streaming wars. 

Hear about that and more on This Week in Nerd News.  

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The post TWINN: Our Annual Birthday Episode! appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Although there are endless ways to appreciate nature and all its beauty, aerial videography does a particularly spectacular job of delivering a unique perspective. This aerial video of rays in the ocean off Australia’s coast, for example, may make you rethink how they migrate. Now, Israeli drone photographer, Lior Patel, has a new aerial video of animals moving in unison. This time around, featuring sheep on a farm.

Laughing Squid picked up on Patel’s video (above). The drone photographer posted the video to his Instagram account, noting that for the past seven months he’s been following around a large herd of sheep; covering their entire move from winter to summer pastures.

Patel notes that the herd ranges in size in the time-lapse clip, from somewhere between 1,000 to 1,700 members. And while that’s obviously a lot of sheep, whoever’s herding the woolly flock keeps them in a small, tight unit. At least most of the time.

William Hook

As for the actual way the flock moves, it’s somewhat like watching 1,000 grains of rice being poured horizontally through different plots of land, streets, towns, and pastures. And the sheep, of course, appear to move fluidly and cohesively. With members only stopping about every 5 yards to peel off and munch on some plant snacks before rejoining the back of the herd.

Anybody who now wants more aerial looks at nature is in luck. Patel has tons of other drone videos of animals working in unison in mesmerizing ways; including one of flamingos flying through the sky in Israel below. There are also some spectacular aerial videos of sharks coming way too close to people at the beach. Although that one may deliver a double-twist on your perspective of the bloodthirsty fish. One for the unique aerial perspective, the other for rethinking just how close you’ve actually come to sharks eating you in your lifetime.

Feature image: William Hook

The post Watch a Woolly Flock of Sheep Move In Perfect Unison appeared first on Nerdist.

The post-credits scene from Loki episode 4, “The Nexus Event,” was one for the ages. (Pun fully intended.) We’re going to break down everything about this brief, but memorable moment, so if you haven’t seen it and want to avoid spoilers, please stop reading now. We’ll be here when you get back. And without further ado!

After “our” Loki is seemingly pruned for existence, we see he wakes up in a post-apocalyptic New York City. Looks like the TVA’s pruning on Loki isn’t death, so much as an exile into a dead timeline. And yes, we know it’s New York because that’s a shattered Avengers Tower in the background. Possibly a universe where Ultron won. But the real kicker is that we see four variant Lokis surrounding him. And two of them should look familiar to fans of the original Marvel Comics. Let’s break it all down.

Marvel Studios

Classic Loki

Marvel Comics

On the far right is Richard E. Grant, credited as “Classic Loki.” We see him wearing a version of Loki’s costume from the classic ’60s omics drawn in by Jack Kirby. In fact, this outfit looks identical to the one he wore in his very first appearance in Journey Into Mystery #85. The suggestion here is that he’s the Loki from the 616 universe that is the main universe published in Marvel Comics. This would be the first time the comic book reality that inspired the MCU gets canonized on screen. Which is kind of an enormous deal, perfect for a post-credit reveal.

Kid Loki

Marvel Comics

Squarely in the middle is Kid Loki, played by Jack Veal. This is a far more recent comic creation, starting in 2010’s Thor #617. Loki died while fighting alongside his brother Thor and the Avengers, in one of his rare moments of heroism. Prior to his death, Loki had manipulated Hela into removing his name out of the Book of Hel. Because of this, he was reborn as a much younger version of himself. This “Kid Loki” lived in Paris going by the name “Serrure,” which means Lock in French. He had no memories of his adult self’s life, and actually became heroic. He even was a member for a time of the Young Avengers.

Animal Loki

Marvel Comics

Kid Loki is holding what looks to be an alligator with Loki horns, which means this is yet another Loki variant. While that sounds extremely wacky, let us not forget that the Trickster God often transformed into animals. He famously became a female horse in actual Norse mythology. So perhaps there is simply a variant Loki who transformed into a croc for who knows why, and became eternally stuck there. Gator Loki is also a nod to the time in the comics when Thor became a frog, or “Throg,” as he is more famously known.

Boastful Loki

Marvel Comics

Finally, on the far left, we have actor Deobai Oparei. He’s listed as “Boastful Loki.” This character seems to be a variant who was worthy of picking up Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. Well, that would certainly be something to be boastful about, wouldn’t it? And it has a precedent in the comics. A recent one too. In 2020’s Thor #4, Mjolnir finds itself in Jotunheim, the realm of the Frost Giants, currently ruled by Loki. Departing his throne, Loki briefly lifts the hammer. Only for his brother Thor to snatch it away moments later. But it seems the version we see played by Oparei is a Loki who wielded Mjolnir much longer.

 The Council of Lokis

Could this council of Lokis be the MCU’s version of “The Council of Reeds” (as in Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four?) The idea of multiple timeline versions of a single character in a group is an idea from Marvel writer Jonathan Hickman. And Kevin Feige has used many Hickman ideas in the MCU in the past. In the comics, the Council of Reeds (later spoofed as “the Council of Ricks” on Rick and Morty) has caused as much harm as good. We have a feeling the Lokis are more on the “harm” side. Or, at the very least, the “chaos” side. And what could be more chaotic than a new Multiverse formed by numerous Loki variants?

All we know is after that post-credit scene, it will be a long week before Loki episode five hits on Disney+.

The post LOKI Episode 4 Post Credits Reveal Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

Loki‘s Time Keepers are nothing more than high-end animatronics. For a long time, the cosmic equivalent of the Great and Powerful Oz served their purpose well. They hid the existence of the TVA’s true ruler (or rulers) safely behind a curtain. That was until Loki and Sylvie teamed up. Together they pose a clear existential threat to the TVA’s puppet master. So why, then, did this unseen leader bring the pair before the Time Keepers at all? Why not delete them the moment agents found them on Lamentis? The possible answers point to one very familiar figure.

Marvel

The Time Keepers may not be real, but the TVA’s power is. Agents and Hunters can skip through time arresting and “resetting” Variants who cause nexus events. Mobius showed Loki just how many Variants of himself that has included over the years. Any God of Mischief poses a major risk to the order and sanctity of Sacred Timeline. Yet, despite a Loki’s prowess for chaos, the TVA seemingly had everything under control until Sylvie came along. If any Variant needed immediate deletion, it was her.

What reasons could the Authority’s true leader have for not doing so? Assuming they aren’t one of Ozymandias’ comic book villains who brags about their plan before actually executing it, there is one obvious answer for why they didn’t kill them: they don’t want Loki and Sylvie dead. Why they don’t want them dead is less clear. But the show’s mid-credits scene provide some possible answers.

Episode four ended with a recently deleted Loki waking up in the ruins of an alternate New York City. Four other Lokis—Kid Loki; Richard E. Grant as Classic Loki from the comics; Deobia Oparei credited as “Boastful Loki,” who is in possession of Mjölnir; and Alligator Loki—greeted him in front of the collapsed vestiges of Stark Tower. In this variant existence, Loki seems to have won the Battle of New York against the Avengers.

Marvel

Before Hiddleston Loki realized any of that though, he asked if he was dead.

“Not yet,” answered a Variant.
“But you will be unless you come with us,” said another.

Deleted Loki Variants don’t die when they’re deleted. They’re transported to an alternate reality where they can join forces with other Lokis.

If you’re the secret ruler of the TVA, the last thing you would want to do is give an army of your victims two powerful new allies. And Sylvie and Hiddleston Loki have proven to be the most dangerous Variants of all.

Rather than kill them, you might very well prefer to keep them nearby at the TVA. Their magic doesn’t work there, and you can keep them safely locked up in Bad Memory Cells. Or you can even wipe their minds and turn them into your very own agents. It’s far preferable to keep a potential enemy kept under your personal control.

Marvel

That leads to another question. Why did the TVA ruler bring Sylvie and Loki before the Time Keepers? Why even give them the chance to pull back the curtain on the whole charade? It could be simple arrogance. Or it could be exactly what this mysterious figure hoped would happen. You don’t bring two Gods of Mischief together, when they already know the TVA is a lie, without at least thinking some mayhem will ensue.

What’s to be gained from potentially letting them reveal the truth of the Time Keepers is, again, two powerful new allies. The TVA’s Oz might have hoped to recruit the pair. But only after they saw firsthand what makes Sylvie and Loki worthy of serving alongside the TVA ruler.

Marvel

Whether this meeting with the Time Keepers was an act of arrogance, a failed attempt at keeping your enemies close, a secret interview/test of strength, or all three, the possibilities all point to one person as the true head of the Time Variance Authority. Only one being has ever run circles around the TVA. The same being who discovered the place is a sham. It’s the same being who is now uniting with their other Variants to defy their own deletions: Loki.

Any Loki sitting atop the TVA would fear his own Variants. They pose the greatest threat to the TVA, and not just because of what Sylvie has done. A Loki either built the place or usurped its leaders, then tried to hide their identity. But as Mobius knew, the best way to find a Loki is with another Loki. The only way to ensure that doesn’t happen is to either eliminate all of them, or neutralize the ones too dangerous to delete.

Marvel

Puppet Master Loki wouldn’t want to send the most powerful Variants to lead a force rising up against the TVA. But they certainly might turn Sylvie and Hiddleston Loki into their allies upon seeing firsthand just how dangerous the two are.

A master of tricks and misdirection controls the TVA. This someone wants every God of Mischief Variant deleted… except for the two who realized Oz was neither great nor all powerful. And who that someone is might have been staring us in the face from the moment we first tuned into a show called Loki.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike, and also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post What Do the TVA’s Rulers Really Want with LOKI and Sylvie? appeared first on Nerdist.