2017

The year, was 2017...

The year I graduated from high school, and had gone to the Art Institute of my home state of California. It was the year I had went to theaters to watch the new remake of Stephen King's IT. It was also the year... I lost my innocence...

Keep in mind, this is "Lost Episode" related, specifically Kid vs. Kat. I remember watching it on Disney XD as a kid, but the thing is, parents need to know that this larger-than-life cartoon centers on an evil cat's attempts to annihilate a young boy, so, exaggerated cartoon violence -- like boisterous physical brawls and explosions -- is all common place. None of this content will be new to the show's targeted audience of grade schoolers, but it's worth noting. The focus here is clearly on entertainment over reality and/or positive messages, but if you don't mind that, your kids will probably enjoy the duo's antics.

It fits right in with zany cartoons like SpongeBob or Tom and Jerry, with a similar mix of outrageous comedy, unlikely scenarios, and over-the-top characters. If your kids are already familiar with this type of humor, it will surprise them, and they'll probably enjoy the ridiculous nature of this curious spin on the cat-and-mouse game. That said, if you're searching for a show with real substance, know that this isn't it. The name of the game here is pure comedic entertainment, so your kids won't be picking up any strong lessons from the stories or bits of wisdom from the characters. And it's probably a good idea to keep really little ones away altogether, since a cat in full attack mode could be frightening.

This is one of those, "well that was a show" kind of shows, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I do like the animation style, it's not as bright or lazy as fuck and not as gritty and over the top as Teen Titans. It's ok. I hate the dad, though, he fucking sucks! He's way to harsh on his son and never believes him to the point where its annoying as all hell, and there's way too much torture porn for my taste. There were a few good episodes though. I would recommend episode 4, despite the last minute torcher porn the episode was pretty ok, and probably my favorite episode with some good jokes here or there too, also that cat. Wow. The character Rob Boutilier (the show's creator) portrays him was like a Kardashian on crack.

During my years in the Art Institute, I found myself doing some unique short films, like films about war, victory, and American rights. My friend, Alex, however... Had other plans. You see, he came from a very long line of White Power Skinheads : members of a Neo-Nazi, white power supremacist and anti-Semitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and sometimes prison gangs.

In the United States, the majority of white power skinhead groups are organized at either the state, county, city or neighborhood level. The Hammerskin Nation (HSN), which Alex is a member of, is one of the few exceptions, due to it's international presence.

With me being an Atheist, I don't offend him, he don't offend me. Everybody wins. Me and Alex were in my dorm working on other short films, till I brought up the topic of Kid vs Kat. He asked me about it and I explained everything to him. The storyline goes as follows: When 10-year old Coop Burtonburger's spoiled little sister Millie brings home a mysterious stray cat, Coop's idyllic life is turned upside down. Coop soon discovers that Kat is more than just a scrawny, purple, hairless pet; he is also a super-smart, conniving mastermind, and Kat's also an alien with a fanatical hate for Coop himself. Kat instantly declares war on Coop--to the death; the two fight constantly as Coop tries to stop Kat and tell the world about his possible plans, only to find Kat destroying the evidence and putting the blame on Coop every time.

Alex didn't care about it at first, but then he remembered something. He said something about cats being the ultimate killing machine in the animal kingdom, in a world of survival, and instinct. He told me to wait here, and he's going to get something from his dorm. I waited, and he came back with his bookbag. He unzipped it, and pulled out printed documents dating back to World War ll. He said that after "The Great Cat Massacre" dating back to medieval times, Adolf Hitler sees the feline species in a different perspective. Instead of seeing the cat as "The Devil in Disguise" or other bull crap, he sees it as the quote-on-quote, "Perfect Machine". This is where the bounty over the cats' head was taken off, and the animals were now used in a more... Interesting role, to say the least. The cats were used as trained attack dogs to fend off against American troops by running at the soldiers and attack them, with fangs and teeth dipped in snake venom.

How the venom didn't simply kill the cats, I have no clue.

But what he says here is... to his credit, believable. Think about it for a second; the Kat Kommander was very much like Adolf Hitler in the 2004 movie Downfall, and the rest of the Kat Soldiers were like the German soldiers during the war. I know it sounded corny in a way, but, if you look closely during the episodes, you'll see it there. Alex even said that when he noticed the picture of my pet Sphynx named Germ, he would call that species of cat, "Hautkatze", which was German for, "Skin Cat". He showed me pictures of what he's talking about and... Well... I don't want to describe it since Alex might run into this article online and ring my neck for simply spilling the beans. I asked him where he got these, and he just told me that it was "classified information". That meaning that he didn't want me to know where he got it. Nazi stuff. He then said that Kid vs Kat took place after the Hautkatze fought amongst the Nazis.

Then he snapped his fingers, he got this epiphany that he can make a series that takes place before the events of Kid vs Kat. I told him that the show was copywritten and the police will have our heads for making something that's based on a show like such. Which prompts him to say that it will be on the internet, in other words -- a web series. Well, that IS a good idea, but still, how are we going to do that without "copywrite infringement" being shoved down our throats? He then said that we're going to have to make a website based on the new series, much like Channel Awesome with other movie/TV show reviews. For days on end, we worked hard on the episodes, the music for the episodes (like Cult of Personality from the band Living Color), and posting them on our little website, which has the title of our show. Um, what was it called...? … " Blood Lines "! Or was it " Blood-Flag "? I can never tell because Alex used both, saying that he couldn't decide what title it was. Here are three episodes I listed...

Episode 1: Eye of the Beholder
An American cat named Francis stared blankly at the hatchet in front of him. The chilly autumnal air whisked across his bright fur, sending chills down the length of his spine. Pulling up the collar a little tighter, he shivered slightly and reached out a shaky, white-knuckled paw to grip the hatchet’s wooden handle. Light scatterings of golden-brown leaves floated down from the tips of the tall oaks above him, coating the ground with an ankle-deep layer of foliage. Moisture from the damp log Francis sat on was slowly soaking through his waist, as various insects could be seen shuffling through the dirt around his padded feet.

Blocking out the doubting voices racing around his mind was a difficult task for Francis. The more he hesitated, the harder they became to silence. An orchestra of anxiety and worry were playing their melancholy tune inside Francis’ mind. Rational thoughts were locked in a fierce battle against primal instincts. Francis knew it would stay that way until he made a decision. Would it really be worth it? Is it even necessary? Hadn't he done enough already? Nagging questions whispered in the back of his mind, urging him one way or the other.

There was no one he had to convince other than himself.

Everything was already set out, just as he had planned. The aspirin had been swallowed. The tourniquet was knotted tightly around his hind leg. A small fire was burning away some old sticks Francis had collected, a flat sheet of metal lying in the middle of it. The hatchet was motionless on the ground in front of him, Francis' paw outstretched towards it. Biting gales nipped at his feline feet, turning them numb and pale. A distant screech from a faraway animal rang out into the air. Francis' fangs chattered relentlessly as he observed his surroundings one more time. Nothing. Just him and the trees.

Francis flinched slightly as his paws came into contact with the polished surface of the hatchet’s blade. It was smooth, and well sharpened, a remnant from Francis' teenage days as a lumberjack’s pet, and a capable tool for cutting and chopping. His tired almond-shaped eyes traced over a few specks of dirt along the handle, coupled with a leaf or two. Brushing those off, he rested the tool on his lap. The time was 4:00am, as shown by Francis' watch. It was scheduled to rain in just over an hour. He had to make up his mind quickly, or risk catching his death out in the forest. Francis took in a deep breath and drew his paws down his face. The brewing stars of the dark night sky shone faintly, and the forest around him seemed still and lifeless. Even the moon evaded him, undoubtedly concealed by a thick crop of wispy clouds.

Everything Francis had gone through in the past week flashed through his mind. Hours spent motionless in bed or on his sofa, simply thinking and debating with himself. Ceaseless decision-making through day and night. He had barely remembered to eat and drink throughout those tiresome seven days. This is what it had all come up to. Would he follow through with his plan, or scatter like a wounded animal stripped of its dignity?

With shaky paws, Francis grasped the hatchet in his hand. Cold sweat ran down his forehead, blurring his vision. His furry face was rubbed raw by the relentless gusts of wind, and his lips were dry and icy. Through ragged breaths, Francis lifted his foot and gently set it down on the wooden block in front of him, its surface rough and uncomfortable. Shadows danced across the trees from the light of a cheap lantern Francis had brought with him.

Raising the hatchet to head height, Francis paused, paralyzed in the cold as snot gradually dripped down his small nose. The air was now palpably thick, like soup. This was it. Decision time. No more waiting.

Before he had a chance to reconsider anything else, Francis brought down the hatchet upon his ankle.

For an incredibly short moment, there was no pain. The hatchet had sliced through to the bone with a meaty thud. Blood gushed out in a sickening spray that stained the wood red, and the hatchet was coated in a dripping layer of liquid. Francis' muffled cries of agony were barely stifled by the piece of leather set in his mouth. He bit down hard, water pooling in his eyes, his face contorted into a twisted expression of immense pain. Tearing the hatchet out of his mutilated foot, he tore his gaze away from the grim sight, choking and spluttering over the leaves. He felt vomit rising in his stomach. There was no going back now.

Another scream, another chop. A foul noise of crunching bone echoed through the forest. Marrow and blood spurted relentlessly out of the wound, now mixed with splintered bone fragments. Francis had overestimated the effect of the aspirin on his foot. The pain was unlike anything he had experienced before.

The butchered remnant of Francis' foot hung loosely by a small strip of skin and muscle. One more cut. Just one more. The hatchet swayed violently in Francis' paw as he tried to keep his grip. Waves of exhaustion passed through his body, coaxing him more and more into passing out with each passing second. He would not give in. Not after how far he’d come.

With a final whack against the wood below, the horribly disfigured corpse of what once was Francis' foot flopped limply onto the dirt. Francis threw the hatchet at the ground in triumph, grabbing the sheet of metal from the flames beside him with a pair of cooking tongs. Immediately, he pressed it against the bleeding stump of his hind leg.

Searing pain shot across Francis' hind leg for the last time as the last few drops of blood stained his laced shoes a dark red. Dropping the tongs, he spat out the leather and fell back into the leaves, wheezing and coughing as saliva poured from his mouth. The bitter taste of copper was stained in his cheeks, like he had ingested a mouthful of pennies.

The wound was cauterized. Francis had finally done it. After a few more minutes spent recovering on the ground, he rolled onto his side, gradually pulling himself off the muddy surface of the forest. The night was as cold as ever, but Francis' wound still burned like a wildfire. He needed to go back.

A curious owl silently swooped onto a tree branch above Francis as he wrapped the bandages around his stump, wincing and mumbling quietly to himself. His vision was blurred, and the trees seemed to bend and contort around him. The abhorrent odor of Francis' decomposing foot was nearly as bad as the pain itself. He could barely stomach looking at it.

Finished with the bandages, Francis picked up the tongs once more and grabbed his detached foot, the pointed shards of bone protruding out from the top. He tossed it in the fire along with the dented, bloodied block of wood, covering the blood on the ground with a sheet of leaves. No evidence. Just a simple pile of leaves in the woods. Time to head home. The fire would burn itself out in a few hours.

Grabbing the crutches he had brought with him, Francis leaned on a nearby tree for support, leaving a bloody pawprint. The forest looked gloomier than ever before as he set off back through the foliage, his mission complete. He limps back to an American base inhabited by cats just like him, but with different sizes. They're planning on an ambush on the Nazis and take them down one-by-one.

Just like World War ll, the German government led by Hitler and the Nazi Party was responsible for the Holocaust (killing approximately 6 million Jews), as well as for killing 2.7 million ethnic poles and 4 million others who were deemed "unworthy of life" (including the disabled and mentally ill, Soviet prisoners of war, Romani, homosexuals, Freemasons, and Jehovah's Witnesses) as part of a program of deliberate extermination. Soviet POWs were kept in especially unbearable conditions, and, although their extermination was not an official goal, 3.6 million Soviet POWs out of 5.7 died in Nazi camps during the war. In addition to concentration camps, death camps were created in Nazi Germany to exterminate people at an industrial scale. Nazi Germany extensively used forced laborers; about 12 million Europeans from German occupied countries were used as a slave work force in German agriculture and war economy.

The Soviet Gulag became a de facto system of deadly camps during 1942–43, when wartime privation and hunger caused numerous deaths of inmates, including foreign citizens of Poland and other countries occupied in 1939–40 by the Soviet Union, as well as Axis POWs By the end of the war, most Soviet POWs liberated from Nazi camps and many repatriated civilians were detained in special filtration camps where they were subjected to NKVD evaluation, and a significant part of them were sent to the Gulag as real or perceived Nazi collaborator.

How they did it is with (like I said before) the help of Kat Nebulans, who are dressed in the same manner as the Nazis themselves. They call themselves, "Die Nazi-Weltordnung", which was German for, "The Nazi World Order". The Nazis built them similar camps and a base similar to theirs in Munich, and the feline Nazis thanked them, and the leader (who resembled Kat for some reason) shook Hitler's hand.

Later that night, the Nazi-Weltordnung bombed the American cats' base and the war starts, and after a long, and intense battle, the American cats lost in a gruesome way. Some soldiers were captured and taken to their German base, while others were butchered and shot in THE MOST goriest of ways possible.

E pisode 2: No Mercy
Oh... My... Fucking... God... This episode. This very episode. It's stuck in my head, and forgetting it is impossible. A cat soldier wakes up strapped to a table in a dark room. Pictures were thumbtacked to the walls, there were drawings of a DNA, a syringe filled with blood (I know it's sort of a cliché, but here me out when I say, Alex used this for the episodes). A cat version of a hockey mask, and a cat's head being split in half.

The soldier's eyes began to well up with tears as she starts to quake in fear. She hears someone open the door and enter the room. It was a cat just like the soldier, but it was white with a black turtleneck and a necklace of a German cross. The animal seemed to be wearing a mask with a nose, black eyes, but no mouth. Instead, it's just the word, "Shhhh". It was awesome, but at the same time, it gave me a Purge vibe all at once. And as I say "black eyes", I mean, Jesus... I'm not letting that down, I mean why? I know Alex was a fan of horror stories, but putting them on his show, made me facepalm a bit. I should be ranting, I should be asking Alex why this concept, and I should be laughing at this silly idea. But Alex looked, what I recall as, dead serious.

It just pans out as the masked cat closed the door, and the agonizing screams of the American soldier was heard behind it. Then the scene ends with the soldier sobbing. The scene then cuts to another room with the floor being flooded with a body of water. An orange tabby dangling from her hind legs as she was being attacked by sharks, water Moccasins, and piranhas. The cat was seen crying hysterically as her front legs were bitten off, and trying to cry out for help. Then the scene cuts to another masked cat with two Swastikas that replaced the blank mouth scratching, and even beating another American cat soldier with a crowbar as another cat with a gasmask and a Nazi soldier jacket and gloves held up a camera and took snapshots of the beating. The scene changed again to a scene with the same leader that shook Hitler's hand locking another American cat soldier in a gas chamber.

There were constant scenes with other American feline soldiers being tortured, lashed out at, and even poisoned by the Nazi feline soldiers until Francis (from episode one and now with a sewn in replacement of his lost foot) survives the attack from part one and goes into the base and retrieve his tortured and beaten comrades. And after finding out what happened to his comrades, the same masked cat from the first torture room silently attacks him with a machete in the courtyard, but Francis fought him off and ran around in a chase sequence, till the masked cat catches him in a bear trap. He was then taken into a room where he was beaten, cut, scratched, bitten, and finally hung by a barb wire in the same manner as a noose.

Episode 3: The Dead of Night
As the episodes continued, I felt nauseous and thought I would spew my guts out any time soon. But being based on a historical event that happened years ago, I kept it all inside.

A female American cat soldier was strapped to a table that was stood up right, a nail hammered in her ear, and the other was torn off, blood soaked in her fur. Another blood soaked tom cat appeared, and she can tell it was a Nazi, due to the swastika carved inside his ear.

"Do you want to play again?" The tom said in a manner that made me, to be honest, a little unsettled.

She doesn't say anything, she continued to shiver and quiver.

The tom began to beat and stab the frightened cat with some sort of joy and pleasure. The scene changed to an escaped captive who got himself cornered by a cat with a white mask with no mouth, and no nose. Then it changed to one of the most fucked up things I've ever seen. An American tom cat is strapped to the wall with bonds around his arms, and a Nazi cat puts his mask on the captive's face, and slap him around as the German cat laughs. Then another Nazi cat puts a syringe in the captive's side, causing his blood vessels to pulsate and throb as the captive screams in pain. Even his eyes became bloodshot, veiny and pulsating. What was in that syringe was unknown, but it began to cause his eyes and blood vessels to explode quite graphically. The scene changes to another captive being blasted with loud sounds, that boomed and echoed so loud, that it caused the cat's ears and nose to bleed. The loud sounds grew louder, and louder, and louder till the cat's head to explode.

The scene changed to a female captive, decapitated and hung by the ear by a fishing hook, the walls splattered with blood. And the worst part is...the head is smiling. Why is that the case? I think it's cartoon logic, I dunno.

The scene changes to one. Final. Scene, on this list... O-oh my god... I... I... I just couldn't... I'm sorry, I-I need a minute, to process about what I have seen...

It was... A scene, where... A female captive... Has her stomach, ripped out by a knife, and a meat hook. And the worst part is... She was pregnant. Her kitten wasn't even born yet and it was still being pulled out of it's mother's stomach, umbilical cord still attached to it's body. The captive sobbed as the Nazi cat smiles and says, "Congratulations! It's a boy..."

The Nazi cat in the gasmask appears again, peering through the window. The mother then sobs, "I hate you Hitler, you fucking dick..."

That's when I paused it, I was immediately dumbstruck about what just happened. Alex then posted more and more episodes with the same graphic imagery. Sooner or later around 2018, the website was taken off and Alex went to prison for copywrite infringement. I visit him, and he let me in on a little secret...

The masked cat was named Alex. He named the character after himself.

My jaw dropped when he gave me that bombshell, and I know it's just a cartoon, but given to the gorefest that is "Blood Lines" or "Blood-Flag" or whatever, it gave me chills to be honest. I know it's common for someone to name their characters after themselves or someone else, but due to this one's graphic nature... I just don't know to be honest. The episodes were deleted and the website had vanished from existence. I knew posting stuff like this was a bad idea, as the police had already found it due to an investigation of the episodes entirely. When Rob Boutilier found out about this, he was pissed. He demanded Alex to know why in the blue fuck did he make such violence and racial continuity, but Alex wouldn't give him a clear answer about the graphic imagery and the Nazi propaganda, as he told him the same thing he told me, that it's "classified information". The website is still gone to this day, nobody can find it, I mean, I even made sure it was there. And sure enough. It wasn't.

So, you think lost episodes are real... Well, this one sure is. You just need to dig a little deeper, "get to the root" so to say. And for Alex... Well, let's just say he isn't coming out sooner. It's stuff like these that'll really hit you in the gut. It's only a matter of time when shit like this gets released to the public.

- Update: January 4th, 2018 -
I always think about what Alex said, how Kat Nebulans are affiliated with the Nazis. Turns out, in the show, there were episodes that really made me think.
 * 1) In the episode Kat To the Future, Kat became a tyrannical ruler over Bootsville. As I can tell, it resembled the leader of the Nazi World Order in Alex's bloody spin-off. I had spoken with Alex about it back in prison, and he told me that the leader of the Nazi cats was Mr. Kat's great, great grandfather, and Kat was trying to fulfill his family legacy. Nothing more, nothing less. He also said that the reason Kat became ruler was that he planned to over-throw the Kat Kommander and "Steal the spotlight" quote-on-quote.
 * 2) Now, I don't want to make this into one of those "Conspiracy Theories" people keep popping up online, but, it's there. The Kat Nebulans have the same motives as the Nazis, and the kids: Coop, Dennis, Fiona, and the rest of the group, all resemble the Jews. In the show, the alien cats locked the children up and declared that their cat-fighting days are over. But in the era of World War ll, the Jews were taken to prison camps where they're tortured, beaten, locked in gas chambers, and of course, died in horrific and heart-breaking ways.

== - Update: January 7th, 2018 - ==

Okay, guys, I don't know how to explain this, but... Someone, has uploaded pictures of Alex's little horror show on DeviantArt, by the same title as "Blood-Flag". No joke. Someone who might be a fan of his, posted images of the fucked up cartoon on his DeviantArt page. I asked him where he got those, and he said that on the day before the show was forcefully taken down by police, he took snapshots of the episodes and drawn them on the internet. There he posted them on DeviantArt for the whole world to see.

I can't say for certain how long it's been since that event, but there is one thing about the whole thing that made me uneasy.

The mask the cat wore... Resembled the mask Alex wears on Halloween.