title: Republics of Russia

text: The autonomies of the ASSRs varied greatly throughout the history of the Soviet Union but Russification would nevertheless continue unabated and internal Russian migration to the ASSRs would result in various indigenous people becoming minorities in their own republics. At the same time, the number of ASSRs grew; the Karelian ASSR was formed on 6 July 1956 after being a union republic from 1940 while the partially recognized state of Tuva was annexed by the Soviets on 11 October 1944 and became the Tuvan ASSR on 10 October 1961. By the 1980s General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's introduction of "glasnost" began a period of revitalization of minority culture in the ASSRs. From 1989 Gorbachev's Soviet Union and the Russian SFSR, led by Boris Yeltsin, were locked in a power struggle. Yeltsin sought support from the ASSRs by promising more devolved powers and to build a federation "from the ground up". On 12 June 1990 the Russian SFSR issued a Declaration of State Sovereignty, proclaiming Russia a sovereign state whose laws take priority over Soviet ones. The following month Yeltsin told the ASSRs to "take as much sovereignty as you can swallow" during a speech in Kazan, Tatar ASSR.


title: Republics of Russia

text: These events prompted the ASSRs to assert themselves against a now weakened Soviet Union. Throughout 1990 and 1991 most of the ASSRs followed Russia's lead and issued "declarations of sovereignty", elevating their statuses to that of union republics within a federal Russia. The Dagestan ASSR and Mordovian ASSR were the only republics that did not proclaim sovereignty.


title: Republics of Russia

text: In the final year of the Soviet Union, negotiations were underway for a new treaty to restructure the country in to a loose confederation. Gorbachev invited the ASSRs to be participants in the drafting of the treaty, thereby recognizing them as equal to the union republics. However, a coup attempt in August 1991 derailed the negotiations and the union republics began to declare their independence throughout the year. The Soviet Union collapsed on 26 December 1991 and the position of the ASSRs became uncertain. By law, the ASSRs did not have the right to secede from the Soviet Union like the union republics did but the question of independence from Russia nevertheless became a topic of discussion in some of the ASSRs. The declarations of sovereignty adopted by the ASSRs were divided on the topic of secession. Some advocated the integrity of the Russian Federation, others were muted on the subject, while others like the Komi ASSR, Mari ASSR, and Tuvan ASSR reserved the right to self-determination. Yeltsin was an avid supporter of national sovereignty and recognized the independence of the union republics in what was called a "parade of sovereignties". In regards to the ASSRs, however, Yeltsin did not support secession and tried to prevent them from declaring independence. The Checheno-Ingush ASSR, led by Dzhokhar Dudayev, unilaterally declared independence on 1 November 1991 and Yeltsin would attempt to retake it on 11 December 1994, beginning the First Chechen War. When the Tatar ASSR held a referendum on whether to declare independence on 21 March 1992, he had the ballot declared illegal by the Constitutional Court.


title: Republics of Russia

text: On 31 March 1992, every subject of Russia except the Tatar ASSR and the "de facto" state of Chechnya signed the Treaty of Federation with the government of Russia, solidifying its federal structure and Boris Yeltsin became the country's first president. The ASSRs were dissolved and became the modern day republics. The number of republics increased dramatically as the autonomous oblasts of Adygea, Gorno-Altai, Khakassia, and Karachay-Cherkessia were elevated to full republics, while the Ingush portion of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR refused to be part of the breakaway state and rejoined Russia as the Republic of Ingushetia on 4 June 1992. The Republic of Tatarstan demanded its own agreement to preserve its autonomy within the Russian Federation and on 15 February 1994, Moscow and Kazan signed a power-sharing deal, in which the latter was granted a high degree of autonomy. 45 other regions, including the other republics, would go on to sign autonomy agreements with the federal center. By the mid 1990s, the overly complex structure of the various bilateral agreements between regional governments and Moscow sparked a call for reform. The constitution of Russia was the supreme law of the country, but in practice, the power-sharing agreements superseded it while the poor oversight of regional affairs left the republics to be governed by authoritarian leaders who ruled for personal benefit. Meanwhile, the war in Chechnya entered a stalemate as Russian forces were unable to wrest control of the republic despite capturing the capital Grozny on 8 February 1995 and killing Dudayev months later in an airstrike. Faced with a demoralized army and universal public opposition to the war, Yeltsin was forced to sign the Khasavyurt Accord with Chechnya on 30 August 1996 and eventually withdrew troops. A year later Chechnya and Russia signed the Moscow Peace Treaty, ending Russia's attempts to retake the republic. As the decade drew to a close, the fallout from the failed Chechen war and the subsequent financial crisis in 1998 resulted in Yeltsin resigning on 31 December 1999.


title: Republics of Russia

text: Yeltsin declared Vladimir Putin as interim president and his successor. Despite preserving the republic's "de facto" independence following the war, Chechnya's new president Aslan Maskhadov proved incapable of fixing the republic's devastated economy and maintaining order as the territory became increasingly lawless and a breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalism. Using this lawlessness extremists invaded neighboring Dagestan and bombed various apartment blocks in Russia, resulted in Putin sending troops into Chechnya again on 1 October 1999. Chechen resistance quickly fell apart in the face of a federal blitzkrieg and indiscriminate bombing campaign as troops captured Grozny on 6 February 2000 and pushed rebels in to the mountains. Moscow imposed direct rule on Chechnya on 9 June 2000 and the territory was officially reintegrated in to the Russian Federation as the Chechen Republic on 24 March 2003. Putin would participate in the 26 March 2000 election on the promise of completely restructuring the federal system and restoring the authority of the central government. The power-sharing agreements began to gradually expire or be terminated and after 2003 only Tatarstan and Bashkortostan continued to negotiate on their treaties' extensions. Bashkortostan's power-sharing treaty expired on 7 July 2005, leaving Tatarstan as the sole republic to maintain its autonomy, which was renewed on 11 July 2007. After an attack by Chechen separatists at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Putin abolished direct elections for governors and assumed the power to personally appoint and dismiss them. Throughout the decade, influential regional leaders like Mintimer Shaimiev of Tatarstan and Murtaza Rakhimov of Bashkortostan, who were adamant on extending their bilateral agreements with Moscow, were dismissed, removing the last vestiges of regional autonomy from the 1990s. On 24 July 2017, Tatarstan's power-sharing agreement with Moscow expired, making it the last republic to lose its special status. After the agreement's termination, some commentators expressed the view that Russia ceased to be a federation.


title: Republics of Russia

text: Republics differ from other federal subjects in that they have the right to establish their own official language, have their own constitution, and have a national anthem. Other federal subjects, such as krais and oblasts, are not explicitly given this right. During Boris Yeltsin's presidency, the republics were the first subjects to be granted extensive power from the federal government, and were often given preferential treatment over other subjects, which has led to Russia being characterized as an "asymmetrical federation". The Treaty of Federation signed on 31 March 1992 stipulated that the republics were "sovereign states" that had expanded rights over natural resources, external trade, and internal budgets. The signing of bilateral treaties with the republics would grant them additional powers, however, the amount of autonomy given differed by republic and was mainly based on their economic wealth rather than ethnic composition. Sakha, for example, was granted more control over its resources, being able to keep most of its revenue and sell and receive its profits independently due to its vast diamond deposits. North Ossetia on the other hand, a poorer republic, was mainly granted more control over defense and internal security due to its location in the restive North Caucasus. Tatarstan and Bashkortostan had the authority to establish their own foreign relations and conduct agreements with foreign governments. This has led to criticism from oblasts and krais. After the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, the current constitution was adopted but the republics were no longer classified as "sovereign states" and all subjects of the federation were declared equal, though maintaining the validity of the bilateral agreements.


title: Republics of Russia

text: In theory, the constitution of Russia was the ultimate authority over the republics, but the power-sharing treaties held greater weight in practice. Republics often created their own laws which contradicted the constitution. Yeltsin, however, made little effort to rein in renegade laws, preferring to turn a blind eye to violations in exchange for political loyalty. Vladimir Putin's election on 26 March 2000 began a period of extensive reforms to centralize authority with the federal government and bring all laws in line with the constitution. His first act as president was the creation of federal districts on 18 May 2000, which were tasked with exerting federal control over the country's subjects. Putin later established the so-called "Kozak Commission" in June 2001 to examine the division of powers between the government and regions. The Commission's recommendations focused mainly on minimizing the basis of regional autonomy and transferring lucrative powers meant for the republics to the federal government. Centralization of power would continue as the republics gradually lost more and more autonomy to the federal government, leading the European Parliament to conclude that Russia functions as a unitary state despite officially being a federation. On 29 December 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law banning the leaders of the republics from holding the title of 'president'. Tatarstan, however, resisted attempts to abolish its presidential post and remained the only republic to maintain the title. Putin subsequently signed a law forcing Tatarstan to abolish its title by June 2022. On 19 June 2018 a bill was passed that elevated the status of the Russian language at the expense of other official languages in the republics. The bill authorized the abolition of mandatory minority language classes in schools and for voluntary teaching to be reduced to two hours a week.


title: Republics of Russia

text: Chechnya is the sole exception to Putin's centralization efforts. With the republic's reentry into Russia after the Second Chechen War, Chechnya was given broad autonomy in exchange for remaining within the country. At the end of the war, Putin bought the loyalty of local elites and granted Chechnya the right to manage its own affairs in dealing with separatists and governing itself outside of Russian control in a process called "Chechenization". With the appointment of Ramzan Kadyrov by Putin to lead the republic in 2007, the independence of Chechnya has grown significantly. The Russian government gives Chechnya generous subsidies in exchange for loyalty and maintaining security in the region. Observers have noted Putin's reluctance or inability to exert control over Kadyrov's rule for fear it could trigger another conflict. Chechnya under Kadyrov operates outside of Russian law, has its own independent security force, and conducts its own "de facto" foreign policy. This has led to Chechnya being characterized as a "state within a state".


title: Republics of Russia

text: There are secessionist movements in most republics, but these are generally not very strong. The constitution makes no mention on whether a republic can legally secede from the Russian Federation. However, the Constitutional Court of Russia ruled after the unilateral secession of Chechnya in 1991 that the republics do not have the right to secede and are inalienable parts of the country. Despite this, some republican constitutions in the 1990s had articles giving them the right to become independent. This included Tuva, whose constitution had an article explicitly giving it the right to secede. However, following Putin's centralization reforms in the early 2000s, these articles were subsequently dropped. The Kabardino-Balkar Republic, for example, adopted a new constitution in 2001 which prevents the republic from existing independently of the Russian Federation. After Russia's annexation of Crimea, the State Duma adopted a law making it illegal to advocate for the secession of any region on 5 July 2014.


title: Republics of Russia

text: On 18 March 2014, Russia annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea of Ukraine after an unrecognized referendum. The peninsula subsequently became the Republic of Crimea, the 22nd republic of Russia. However, Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize Crimea's annexation and the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 declared the vote to be illegitimate.


title: Republics of Russia

text: On 24 February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and took large swaths of southern and eastern Ukraine. As early as March leaders in the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic both expressed their wish to join Russia, originally once Russia captured all their claimed territory. However, after sudden Ukrainian gains in the east in September, Russia and the unrecognized republics hastily rushed a series of referendums on annexation to Russia. The referendum results claimed an overwhelming majority supported annexation. On 30 September 2022, Putin formally announced the annexation of the two republics and two oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. However, the referendums were condemned internationally as a sham while the European Union and G7 rejected them as illegal. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the annexations as a violation of the UN Charter. According to Volodymyr Zelensky, respecting Ukraine's international borders is one of the non-negotiable conditions for peace with Russia.


title: Republics of Russia

text: In response to the apparent federal inequality, in which the republics were given special privileges during the early years of Yeltsin's tenure at the expense of other subjects, Eduard Rossel, then governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast and advocate of equal rights for all subjects, attempted to transform his oblast into the Ural Republic on 1 July 1993 in order to receive the same benefits. Initially supportive, Yeltsin later dissolved the republic and fired Rossel on 9 November 1993. The only other attempt to formally create a republic occurred in Vologda Oblast when authorities declared their wish to create a "Vologda Republic" on 14 May 1993. This declaration, however, was ignored by Moscow and eventually faded from public consciousness. Other attempts to unilaterally create a republic never materialized. These included a "Pomor Republic" in Arkhangelsk Oblast, a "Southern Urals Republic" in Chelyabinsk Oblast, a "Chukotka Republic" in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a "Yenisei Republic" in Irkutsk Oblast, a "Leningrad Republic" in Leningrad Oblast, a "Nenets Republic" in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a "Siberian Republic" in Novosibirsk Oblast, a "Primorsky Republic" in Primorsky Krai, a "Neva Republic" in the city of Saint Petersburg, and a republic consisting of eleven regions in western Russia centered around Oryol Oblast.


title: Republics of Russia

text: Other attempts to create republics came in the form of splitting up already existing territories. After the Soviet Union's collapse, a proposal was put forth to split the Karachay-Cherkess Republic into multiple smaller republics. The idea was rejected by referendum on 28 March 1992. A similar proposal occurred in the Republic of Mordovia to divide it to separate Erzyan and Mokshan homelands. The proposal was rejected in 1995.


title: Republics of Russia

text: After the brief 2008 Russo-Georgian War, Russia secured the "de facto" independence of Abkhazia from Georgia and promptly recognized it. Georgian officials have expressed worry that Russia will seek to absorb the region. On 25 November 2014 Abkhazia signed a treaty integrating its economy and military with Russia, which Georgia described as a step to "toward "de facto" annexation". However, the idea of joining Russia has little to no support either among the political elite or the general public and Abkhaz do not wish to see their region swallowed by Russia. Despite this, Abkhazia relies entirely on Russia for financial support and much of its state structure is highly integrated with Russia; it uses the Russian ruble, its foreign policy is coordinated with Russia, and a majority of its citizens have Russian passports. On 12 November 2020, Abkhazia and Russia signed a new integration agreement expanding on their previous one from 2014, which Georgia condemned as another step toward annexation. The new agreement envisioned further harmonization of Abkhazia with Russian law and was criticized within the region for risking the loss of Abkhazia's sovereignty, which the government denied.


title: Republics of Russia

text: The Republic of Artsakh, located in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, is a breakaway state that declared independence from Azerbaijan after the Soviet Union's collapse. A region mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, it fought a war against Azerbaijan with direct support from Armenia and has remained "de facto" independent since. Debate on Artsakh's status has alternated between being an independent state or joining Armenia, with integration to Russia remaining a fringe concept.


title: Republics of Russia

text: However, after a second war in 2020 in which Azerbaijan reclaimed significant territory from Artsakh, Russia brokered a ceasefire which expelled Armenian forces from the region and sent its own military to act as peacekeepers. Since then the debate on Artsakh's security evolved. The introduction of Russian forces in effect made Russia Artsakh's primary security guarantor, replacing Armenia. Talk of joining Russia increased in the region as Armenian influence dwindles and Azerbaijan makes regular incursions on Artsakh. On 25 March 2021 Artsakh made Russian an official language of the region. In April 2022 Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signaled his willingness to give significant concessions, including up to ceding Artsakh back to Azerbaijan. This led to outrage from Artsakh residents and politicians alike, some of whom raised the possibility of joining Russia. Sasun Barseghyan, former governor of Askeran Province, proposed holding a referendum on joining Russia while President Arayik Harutyunyan supported the idea of some "relations with Russia in a direct vertical framework". However, the population is divided on the issue. According to the Armenian newspaper "Hraparak", should Armenia cede Artsakh to Azerbaijan, then a political process on joining Russia would be initiated, claiming Artsakh authorities had already received backing from Russia on the process.


title: Republics of Russia

text: After the Soviet Union's collapse South Ossetia sought to break away from Georgia and become independent. On 19 January 1992 a referendum was held in which an overwhelming majority of voters approved independence. A second question asking for unification with Russia also passed overwhelmingly. Similar to Abkhazia, South Ossetia had its independence secured and recognized by Russia in 2008. However, unlike Abkhazia, officials in both Russia and South Ossetia have repeatedly expressed their wish to see South Ossetia join Russia. An opinion poll conducted in 2010 showed that over 80% of people supported integration with Russia. On 18 March 2015 South Ossetia signed a treaty integrating the region's economy and military with Russia, identical to the one signed by Abkhazia. The treaty was condemned by Georgia as an "actual annexation" of the region. Later that year South Ossetian president Leonid Tibilov said he was preparing a referendum to join Russia. However, such a referendum never took place due to Russia's refusal to endorse the proposal. Instead a referendum was held on 9 April 2017 to change South Ossetia's official name to "Republic of South Ossetia–The State of Alania" to mirror its northern counterpart North Ossetia, officially the "Republic of North Ossetia–Alania", implying future unification.


title: Republics of Russia

text: On 30 March 2022 the government of South Ossetia announced it would revive attempts to hold a referendum on joining Russia. Officials expressed hope of finishing the legal process to hold the referendum by April 10, however, it is unknown whether Russia will again reject the proposal or not. On 13 May 2022 outgoing president Anatoly Bibilov signed a decree authorizing a referendum on annexation by July 17. However, Alan Gagloyev, who defeated Bibilov in an election, expressed skepticism, saying that while he doesn't oppose the referendum, he believes there should first be a "signal" from Russia. Gagloyev promptly scrapped the referendum pending talks with Russia on integration.


title: Republics of Russia

text: Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova, had long sought to rejoin Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. After proclaiming independence and fighting a war against Moldova with the help of Russia in 1992, the region has remained under Russian occupation ever since. Transnistria made multiple appeals to integrate with Russia, which the latter has consistently ignored. In a 2006 referendum an overwhelming majority of people voted in favor of its accession to Russia, though these results could not be independently confirmed. After Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Transnistria appealed to Russia to join it. There is still some hope inside Transnistria for Russia to annex the region. Despite ignoring Transnistria's appeals for accession, the region enjoys Russian support and is highly dependent on it. Over 200,000 Transnistrian citizens own a Russian passport and many prefer to leave the region and work in Russia. Russia provides gas at bargain prices, pays the pensions of its residents, and allocates funds to build infrastructure. A Russian military garrison operates in Transnistria ostensibly as a peacekeeping force. Moldova for its part rejects any attempt by Transnistria to secede and join Russia and insists on the withdrawal of all Russian troops from the region. With Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 a Russian general said they planned to create a land bridge connecting to Transnistria. The region has also suffered significant trade losses due to the invasion of Ukraine and has become more reliant on trade with the European Union.


title: Mel Gibson filmography

text: Mel Gibson is an Australian actor, director, and producer, who made his acting debut on the Australian television drama series "The Sullivans" (19761983). While a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he was given an uncredited role in "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" and subsequently appeared as a leading actor in the micro budget surf drama "Summer City" (both in 1977). Gibson rose to prominence during the Australian New Wave cinema movement in the early 1980s, having appeared in his breakthrough role in George Miller's dystopian action film "Mad Max" (1979), portraying the eponymous hero. He reprised the role in its sequels, "Mad Max 2" (1981) and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985). He appeared in Peter Weir's war drama "Gallipoli" (1981) and the romantic drama "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1982). Five years later he played Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action comedy "Lethal Weapon" alongside Danny Glovera role he later reprised in its sequels "Lethal Weapon 2" (1989), "Lethal Weapon 3" (1992), and "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998).


title: Mel Gibson filmography

text: Gibson starred in Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet" in 1990, as the eponymous character of the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name. It was the first film produced by Icon Productions, a production company he co-founded with Bruce Davey. Gibson's directorial debut was "The Man Without a Face" (1993), an adaptation of Isabelle Holland's novel of the same name. Two years later he directed and produced "Braveheart", a historical epic drama in which he also portrayed Sir William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish knight. The film earned him a Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Director, and the film won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Gibson went on to star in "Ransom" (1996), "Payback" (1999), "What Women Want" and "The Patriot" (both in 2000), and "We Were Soldiers" (2002).


title: Mel Gibson filmography

text: Gibson co-wrote, directed and produced "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004, a Biblical epic drama which chronicled the Passion of Jesus. On its release, the film garnered mixed reviews as well as notoriety for its graphic violence from critics. It grossed $370.3 million in the United States and $611.4 million worldwide, making it Gibson's highest-grossing film to date. Two years later he co-wrote, directed and produced "Apocalypto", an epic adventure set in Central America depicting the last days of Mayan civilization before Spanish arrival in the 16th century. Gibson then took a ten-year hiatus from directing during which time he landed roles in "Edge of Darkness" (2010), "Machete Kills" (2013), "The Expendables 3" (2014), and "Blood Father" (2016). He directed "Hacksaw Ridge" in 2016, a biographical war drama focusing on American World War II veteran Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. The film garnered praise from critics and audiences alike, as well as various accolades.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: It Takes Two is an action-adventure platform video game developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in March 2021, and was released for Nintendo Switch in November 2022. Like Hazelight's debut game "A Way Out", it does not have a single-player option. It is playable only in either online or local split screen cooperative multiplayer between two players.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: "It Takes Two" received favorable reviews from critics and won multiple year-end accolades, including the Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021 and the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. The game was a commercial success, with more than 7 million copies sold by July 2022.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: "It Takes Two" is an action-adventure video game with elements from platform games. It is specifically designed for split-screen cooperative multiplayer, which means that it must be played with another player through either local or online play. The game features a large number of game mechanics from various video game genres. These gameplay mechanics are connected to the story and the theme of the level. For instance, in one level, Cody gains the ability to rewind time, whereas May can replicate herself. Players have to cooperate with each other and utilize these abilities in order to progress. The game also features a large number of minigames.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: Cody and May, a married couple, are planning on getting a divorce. After telling their daughter Rose the news, she takes her hand-made dolls, which look like her parents, into the family shed and tries to repair their relationship by play-acting. The parents find themselves trapped inside the dolls' bodies as a consequence of Rose's tears landing on the dolls. Dr. Hakim, who has assumed the anthropomorphic form of his relationship therapy book, tells May and Cody that he has been given the job of trying to fix their relationship as they try to reach Rose.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: At first, Cody and May are more focused on trying to reach Rose, who they hope knows of a way to return them to their human bodies. However, Hakim continually interferes with their progress, often putting obstacles and tests in their way to force them to collaborate to progress. They also come across anthropomorphic versions of their old possessions, who criticize Cody and May for their mistreatment and negligence of both their possessions and Rose. As they travel all around their property, Cody and May are reminded of the positive memories they had together, as well as what originally drew them together to become a couple, and learn to work together and collaborate to move forward in their journey.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: In a final series of obstacles, Hakim encourages Cody and May to rediscover their passions and support each other. This first takes them on an adventure through Cody's overgrown, abandoned garden and greenhouse, which May helps him to restore. They then work together to help May rediscover her passion for music and singing.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: Meanwhile, Rose continues to do her best to mend the relationship between her parents, but both Cody and May's real bodies have fallen unconscious and will not respond to her. Thinking her parents are ignoring her, Rose comes to believe that she is the reason their marriage is falling apart and decides to run away in hopes that will make them stay together.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: After a long journey, Cody and May finally complete Hakim's final test, gathering an orchestra and audience for May to perform in front of. As May sings, the relationship between her and Cody is at last fully healed, and they kiss, which reverses the trance they are in. They reawaken in their real bodies and are shocked to learn that Rose has already run away. Fortunately, they are able to find her at a nearby bus stop and assure her that she is not the cause of their arguments and that they will always love her no matter what happens. The trio then returns home with a new perspective on their relationship.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: Josef Fares, the director of Hazelight's previous game "A Way Out" (2018) and Starbreeze's "" (2013), returned and directed a team of 60 people to develop the game. After releasing "A Way Out" in 2018, the team decided to create another co-op only video game because it had a more experienced and refined team and the team felt that they could further improve and expand the gameplay concepts introduced by "A Way Out". The development team worked to ensure that the gameplay had connection with the narrative, and that as the story unfolds, the game's mechanics will change accordingly. Fares pushed his team to include as many mechanics and setpieces as possible since he believed that if a gameplay mechanic is used repeatedly, it will become "less special". Fares described the game as a "romantic comedy". Fares provided motion capture for Dr. Hakim, one of the key characters in the game. The game was written mostly in AngelScript, which was implemented into the Unreal Engine by Hazelight through their own plugin.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: Like "A Way Out", "It Takes Two" was published under Electronic Arts' EA Originals program. The program allowed Hazelight to retain full creative control while receiving most of the game's profit after development cost was recouped. EA first announced that it had signed a publishing deal with Hazelight in June 2019. The game was officially revealed during EA Play in June 2020. EA and Hazelight introduced Friend's Pass for the game, which allows the player who purchased the game to send invitations to their friends who can then play the game for free with the player. The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S on March 26, 2021. A port by Turn Me Up Games for Nintendo Switch was announced in a Nintendo Direct in September 2022, and was released on 4 November 2022.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: After the game was released, Hazelight Studios attempted to file a trademark for the name "It Takes Two", but Take-Two Interactive filed a trademark complaint, arguing it was too close to their trademark on the words "take" and "two". Hazelight abandoned the trademark application of the name, making it difficult for them to engage in certain types of marketing, but the developers said they are "hopeful it will be resolved".


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: According to review aggregator website Metacritic, "It Takes Two" received "generally favorable" reviews. It Takes Two was considered as one of the best games released in 2021 and the best couch co-op game of that year by many fans.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: More than 1 million copies were sold a month after the game's launch. By June 17, 2021, over 2 million copies were sold. By October 2021, 3 million copies were sold. By February 2022, 5 million copies were sold. As of July 2022, 7 million copies have been sold.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: In January 2022, it was announced that adaptations in the form of both a feature film and television series were in development from Dimitri M. Johnson's dj2 Entertainment studios.


title: It Takes Two (video game)

text: A feature length film was officially in development beginning in January 2022, with Pat Casey and Josh Miller slated to be working on the screenplay for the film; while a multi-studio bidding war for distribution rights was ongoing. The project will include collaborative input from the video game's creative developer, Hazelight Studios. By April 2022, it was announced that Amazon had landed distribution rights, as part of a first-look deal between the company, dj2 Entertainment, and the screenwriters. The plot was confirmed to follow the basic premise of the game with lead characters May and Cody, a married couple considering divorce, whose daughter inadvertently through magic transports their respective lives into two dolls that she hand-made. Together the couple must learn to work together, and regain their bodies. Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Hiram Garcia joined the production in producing roles, alongside Dimitri M. Johnson and Dan Jevons. The project will be a joint-venture production between Hazelight Studios, dj2 Entertainment, Seven Bucks Productions, and Amazon Studios. Intended to be released via streaming as a Prime Video Original Film, Johnson is also being courted to star in the film.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers (formerly the superfamily "Hesperioidea"), and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies (formerly the superfamily "Hedyloidea"). Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies have a four-stage life cycle, as like most insects they undergo complete metamorphosis. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed. The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed, pupate in a chrysalis. When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off. Some butterflies, especially in the tropics, have several generations in a year, while others have a single generation, and a few in cold locations may take several years to pass through their entire life cycle.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies are often polymorphic, and many species make use of camouflage, mimicry, and aposematism to evade their predators. Some, like the monarch and the painted lady, migrate over long distances. Many butterflies are attacked by parasites or parasitoids, including wasps, protozoans, flies, and other invertebrates, or are preyed upon by other organisms. Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; other species are agents of pollination of some plants. Larvae of a few butterflies (e.g., harvesters) eat harmful insects, and a few are predators of ants, while others live as mutualists in association with ants. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts. The Smithsonian Institution says "butterflies are certainly one of the most appealing creatures in nature".


title: Butterfly

text: The "Oxford English Dictionary" derives the word straightforwardly from Old English "butorflēoge", butter-fly; similar names in Old Dutch and Old High German show that the name is ancient, but modern Dutch and German use different words ("vlinder" and "Schmetterling") and the common name often varies substantially between otherwise closely-related languages. A possible source of the name is the bright yellow male of the brimstone ("Gonepteryx rhamni"); another is that butterflies were on the wing in meadows during the spring and summer butter season while the grass was growing.


title: Butterfly

text: The earliest Lepidoptera fossils date to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, around 200 million years ago. Butterflies evolved from moths, so while the butterflies are monophyletic (forming a single clade), the moths are not. The oldest known butterfly is "Protocoeliades kristenseni" from the Palaeocene aged Fur Formation of Denmark, approximately 55 million years old, which belongs to the family Hesperiidae (skippers). Molecular clock estimates suggest that butterflies originated sometime in the mid-Cretaceous, but only significantly diversified during the Cenozoic. The oldest American butterfly is the Late Eocene "Prodryas persephone" from the Florissant Fossil Beds, approximately 34 million years old.


title: Butterfly

text: Traditionally, butterflies have been divided into the superfamily Papilionoidea excluding the smaller groups of the Hesperiidae (skippers) and the more moth-like Hedylidae of America. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the traditional Papilionoidea is paraphyletic with respect to the other two groups, so they should both be included within Papilionoidea, to form a single butterfly group, thereby synonymous with the clade Rhopalocera.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterfly adults are characterized by their four scale-covered wings, which give the Lepidoptera their name (Ancient Greek λεπίς lepís, scale + πτερόν pterón, wing). These scales give butterfly wings their colour: they are pigmented with melanins that give them blacks and browns, as well as uric acid derivatives and flavones that give them yellows, but many of the blues, greens, reds and iridescent colours are created by structural coloration produced by the micro-structures of the scales and hairs.


title: Butterfly

text: As in all insects, the body is divided into three sections: the head, thorax, and abdomen. The thorax is composed of three segments, each with a pair of legs. In most families of butterfly the antennae are clubbed, unlike those of moths which may be threadlike or feathery. The long proboscis can be coiled when not in use for sipping nectar from flowers.


title: Butterfly

text: Nearly all butterflies are diurnal, have relatively bright colours, and hold their wings vertically above their bodies when at rest, unlike the majority of moths which fly by night, are often cryptically coloured (well camouflaged), and either hold their wings flat (touching the surface on which the moth is standing) or fold them closely over their bodies. Some day-flying moths, such as the hummingbird hawk-moth, are exceptions to these rules.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterfly larvae, caterpillars, have a hard (sclerotised) head with strong mandibles used for cutting their food, most often leaves. They have cylindrical bodies, with ten segments to the abdomen, generally with short prolegs on segments 3–6 and 10; the three pairs of true legs on the thorax have five segments each. Many are well camouflaged; others are aposematic with bright colours and bristly projections containing toxic chemicals obtained from their food plants. The pupa or chrysalis, unlike that of moths, is not wrapped in a cocoon.


title: Butterfly

text: Many butterflies are sexually dimorphic. Most butterflies have the ZW sex-determination system where females are the heterogametic sex (ZW) and males homogametic (ZZ).


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies are distributed worldwide except Antarctica, totalling some 18,500 species. Of these, 775 are Nearctic; 7,700 Neotropical; 1,575 Palearctic; 3,650 Afrotropical; and 4,800 are distributed across the combined Oriental and Australian/Oceania regions. The monarch butterfly is native to the Americas, but in the nineteenth century or before, spread across the world, and is now found in Australia, New Zealand, other parts of Oceania, and the Iberian Peninsula. It is not clear how it dispersed; adults may have been blown by the wind or larvae or pupae may have been accidentally transported by humans, but the presence of suitable host plants in their new environment was a necessity for their successful establishment.


title: Butterfly

text: Many butterflies, such as the painted lady, monarch, and several danaine migrate for long distances. These migrations take place over a number of generations and no single individual completes the whole trip. The eastern North American population of monarchs can travel thousands of miles south-west to overwintering sites in Mexico. There is a reverse migration in the spring. It has recently been shown that the British painted lady undertakes a 9,000-mile round trip in a series of steps by up to six successive generations, from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle — almost double the length of the famous migrations undertaken by monarch. Spectacular large-scale migrations associated with the monsoon are seen in peninsular India. Migrations have been studied in more recent times using wing tags and also using stable hydrogen isotopes.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies navigate using a time-compensated sun compass. They can see polarized light and therefore orient even in cloudy conditions. The polarized light near the ultraviolet spectrum appears to be particularly important. Many migratory butterflies live in semi-arid areas where breeding seasons are short. The life histories of their host plants also influence butterfly behaviour.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year depending on the species. Many species have long larval life stages while others can remain dormant in their pupal or egg stages and thereby survive winters. The Melissa Arctic ("Oeneis melissa") overwinters twice as a caterpillar. Butterflies may have one or more broods per year. The number of generations per year varies from temperate to tropical regions with tropical regions showing a trend towards multivoltinism.


title: Butterfly

text: Courtship is often aerial and often involves pheromones. Butterflies then land on the ground or on a perch to mate. Copulation takes place tail-to-tail and may last from minutes to hours. Simple photoreceptor cells located at the genitals are important for this and other adult behaviours. The male passes a spermatophore to the female; to reduce sperm competition, he may cover her with his scent, or in some species such as the Apollos ("Parnassius") plugs her genital opening to prevent her from mating again.


title: Butterfly

text: The vast majority of butterflies have a four-stage life cycle; egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis) and imago (adult). In the genera "Colias", "Erebia", "Euchloe", and "Parnassius", a small number of species are known that reproduce semi-parthenogenetically; when the female dies, a partially developed larva emerges from her abdomen.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterfly eggs are protected by a hard-ridged outer layer of shell, called the "chorion". This is lined with a thin coating of wax which prevents the egg from drying out before the larva has had time to fully develop. Each egg contains a number of tiny funnel-shaped openings at one end, called "micropyles"; the purpose of these holes is to allow sperm to enter and fertilize the egg. Butterfly eggs vary greatly in size and shape between species, but are usually upright and finely sculptured. Some species lay eggs singly, others in batches. Many females produce between one hundred and two hundred eggs.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterfly eggs are fixed to a leaf with a special glue which hardens rapidly. As it hardens it contracts, deforming the shape of the egg. This glue is easily seen surrounding the base of every egg forming a meniscus. The nature of the glue has been little researched but in the case of "Pieris brassicae", it begins as a pale yellow granular secretion containing acidophilic proteins. This is viscous and darkens when exposed to air, becoming a water-insoluble, rubbery material which soon sets solid. Butterflies in the genus "Agathymus" do not fix their eggs to a leaf, instead the newly laid eggs fall to the base of the plant.


title: Butterfly

text: Eggs are almost invariably laid on plants. Each species of butterfly has its own host plant range and while some species of butterfly are restricted to just one species of plant, others use a range of plant species, often including members of a common family. In some species, such as the great spangled fritillary, the eggs are deposited close to but not on the food plant. This most likely happens when the egg overwinters before hatching and where the host plant loses its leaves in winter, as do violets in this example.


title: Butterfly

text: The egg stage lasts a few weeks in most butterflies, but eggs laid close to winter, especially in temperate regions, go through a diapause (resting) stage, and the hatching may take place only in spring. Some temperate region butterflies, such as the Camberwell beauty, lay their eggs in the spring and have them hatch in the summer.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, consume plant leaves and spend practically all of their time searching for and eating food. Although most caterpillars are herbivorous, a few species are predators: "Spalgis epius" eats scale insects, while lycaenids such as "Liphyra brassolis" are myrmecophilous, eating ant larvae.


title: Butterfly

text: Some larvae, especially those of the Lycaenidae, form mutual associations with ants. They communicate with the ants using vibrations that are transmitted through the substrate as well as using chemical signals. The ants provide some degree of protection to these larvae and they in turn gather honeydew secretions. Large blue ("Phengaris arion") caterpillars trick "Myrmica" ants into taking them back to the ant colony where they feed on the ant eggs and larvae in a parasitic relationship.


title: Butterfly

text: Caterpillars mature through a series of developmental stages known as instars. Near the end of each stage, the larva undergoes a process called apolysis, mediated by the release of a series of neurohormones. During this phase, the cuticle, a tough outer layer made of a mixture of chitin and specialized proteins, is released from the softer epidermis beneath, and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle. At the end of each instar, the larva moults, the old cuticle splits and the new cuticle expands, rapidly hardening and developing pigment. Development of butterfly wing patterns begins by the last larval instar.


title: Butterfly

text: Caterpillars have short antennae and several simple eyes. The mouthparts are adapted for chewing with powerful mandibles and a pair of maxillae, each with a segmented palp. Adjoining these is the labium-hypopharynx which houses a tubular spinneret which is able to extrude silk. Caterpillars such as those in the genus "Calpodes" (family Hesperiidae) have a specialized tracheal system on the 8th segment that function as a primitive lung. Butterfly caterpillars have three pairs of true legs on the thoracic segments and up to six pairs of prolegs arising from the abdominal segments. These prolegs have rings of tiny hooks called crochets that are engaged hydrostatically and help the caterpillar grip the substrate. The epidermis bears tufts of setae, the position and number of which help in identifying the species. There is also decoration in the form of hairs, wart-like protuberances, horn-like protuberances and spines. Internally, most of the body cavity is taken up by the gut, but there may also be large silk glands, and special glands which secrete distasteful or toxic substances. The developing wings are present in later stage instars and the gonads start development in the egg stage.


title: Butterfly

text: When the larva is fully grown, hormones such as prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) are produced. At this point the larva stops feeding, and begins "wandering" in the quest for a suitable pupation site, often the underside of a leaf or other concealed location. There it spins a button of silk which it uses to fasten its body to the surface and moults for a final time. While some caterpillars spin a cocoon to protect the pupa, most species do not. The naked pupa, often known as a chrysalis, usually hangs head down from the cremaster, a spiny pad at the posterior end, but in some species a silken girdle may be spun to keep the pupa in a head-up position. Most of the tissues and cells of the larva are broken down inside the pupa, as the constituent material is rebuilt into the imago. The structure of the transforming insect is visible from the exterior, with the wings folded flat on the ventral surface and the two halves of the proboscis, with the antennae and the legs between them.


title: Butterfly

text: The pupal transformation into a butterfly through metamorphosis has held great appeal to mankind. To transform from the miniature wings visible on the outside of the pupa into large structures usable for flight, the pupal wings undergo rapid mitosis and absorb a great deal of nutrients. If one wing is surgically removed early on, the other three will grow to a larger size. In the pupa, the wing forms a structure that becomes compressed from top to bottom and pleated from proximal to distal ends as it grows, so that it can rapidly be unfolded to its full adult size. Several boundaries seen in the adult colour pattern are marked by changes in the expression of particular transcription factors in the early pupa.


title: Butterfly

text: The reproductive stage of the insect is the winged adult or imago. The surface of both butterflies and moths is covered by scales, each of which is an outgrowth from a single epidermal cell. The head is small and dominated by the two large compound eyes. These are capable of distinguishing flower shapes or motion but cannot view distant objects clearly. Colour perception is good, especially in some species in the blue/violet range. The antennae are composed of many segments and have clubbed tips (unlike moths that have tapering or feathery antennae). The sensory receptors are concentrated in the tips and can detect odours. Taste receptors are located on the palps and on the feet. The mouthparts are adapted to sucking and the mandibles are usually reduced in size or absent. The first maxillae are elongated into a tubular proboscis which is curled up at rest and expanded when needed to feed. The first and second maxillae bear palps which function as sensory organs. Some species have a reduced proboscis or maxillary palps and do not feed as adults.


title: Butterfly

text: Many "Heliconius" butterflies also use their proboscis to feed on pollen; in these species only 20% of the amino acids used in reproduction come from larval feeding, which allow them to develop more quickly as caterpillars, and gives them a longer lifespan of several months as adults.


title: Butterfly

text: The thorax of the butterfly is devoted to locomotion. Each of the three thoracic segments has two legs (among nymphalids, the first pair is reduced and the insects walk on four legs). The second and third segments of the thorax bear the wings. The leading edges of the forewings have thick veins to strengthen them, and the hindwings are smaller and more rounded and have fewer stiffening veins. The forewings and hindwings are not hooked together (as they are in moths) but are coordinated by the friction of their overlapping parts. The front two segments have a pair of spiracles which are used in respiration.


title: Butterfly

text: The abdomen consists of ten segments and contains the gut and genital organs. The front eight segments have spiracles and the terminal segment is modified for reproduction. The male has a pair of clasping organs attached to a ring structure, and during copulation, a tubular structure is extruded and inserted into the female's vagina. A spermatophore is deposited in the female, following which the sperm make their way to a seminal receptacle where they are stored for later use. In both sexes, the genitalia are adorned with various spines, teeth, scales and bristles, which act to prevent the butterfly from mating with an insect of another species. After it emerges from its pupal stage, a butterfly cannot fly until the wings are unfolded. A newly emerged butterfly needs to spend some time inflating its wings with hemolymph and letting them dry, during which time it is extremely vulnerable to predators.


title: Butterfly

text: The colorful patterns on many butterfly wings tell potential predators that they are toxic. Hence, the genetic basis of wing pattern formation can illuminate both the evolution of butterflies as well as their developmental biology. The color of butterfly wings is derived from tiny structures called scales, each of which have their own pigments. In "Heliconius" butterflies, there are three types of scales: yellow/white, black, and red/orange/brown scales. Some mechanism of wing pattern formation are now being solved using genetic techniques. For instance, a gene called "cortex" determines the color of scales: deleting "cortex" turned black and red scales yellow. Mutations, e.g. transposon insertions of the non-coding DNA around the "cortex" gene can turn a black-winged butterfly into a butterfly with a yellow wing band.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies feed primarily on nectar from flowers. Some also derive nourishment from pollen, tree sap, rotting fruit, dung, decaying flesh, and dissolved minerals in wet sand or dirt. Butterflies are important as pollinators for some species of plants. In general, they do not carry as much pollen load as bees, but they are capable of moving pollen over greater distances. Flower constancy has been observed for at least one species of butterfly.


title: Butterfly

text: Adult butterflies consume only liquids, ingested through the proboscis. They sip water from damp patches for hydration and feed on nectar from flowers, from which they obtain sugars for energy, and sodium and other minerals vital for reproduction. Several species of butterflies need more sodium than that provided by nectar and are attracted by sodium in salt; they sometimes land on people, attracted by the salt in human sweat. Some butterflies also visit dung and scavenge rotting fruit or carcasses to obtain minerals and nutrients. In many species, this mud-puddling behaviour is restricted to the males, and studies have suggested that the nutrients collected may be provided as a nuptial gift, along with the spermatophore, during mating.


title: Butterfly

text: In hilltopping, males of some species seek hilltops and ridge tops, which they patrol in search for females. Since it usually occurs in species with low population density, it is assumed these landscape points are used as meeting places to find mates.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies use their antennae to sense the air for wind and scents. The antennae come in various shapes and colours; the hesperiids have a pointed angle or hook to the antennae, while most other families show knobbed antennae. The antennae are richly covered with sensory organs known as sensillae. A butterfly's sense of taste is coordinated by chemoreceptors on the tarsi, or feet, which work only on contact, and are used to determine whether an egg-laying insect's offspring will be able to feed on a leaf before eggs are laid on it. Many butterflies use chemical signals, pheromones; some have specialized scent scales (androconia) or other structures (coremata or "hair pencils" in the Danaidae). Vision is well developed in butterflies and most species are sensitive to the ultraviolet spectrum. Many species show sexual dimorphism in the patterns of UV reflective patches. Colour vision may be widespread but has been demonstrated in only a few species. Some butterflies have organs of hearing and some species make stridulatory and clicking sounds.


title: Butterfly

text: Many species of butterfly maintain territories and actively chase other species or individuals that may stray into them. Some species will bask or perch on chosen perches. The flight styles of butterflies are often characteristic and some species have courtship flight displays. Butterflies can only fly when their temperature is above ; when it is cool, they can position themselves to expose the underside of the wings to the sunlight to heat themselves up. If their body temperature reaches , they can orientate themselves with the folded wings edgewise to the sun. Basking is an activity which is more common in the cooler hours of the morning. Some species have evolved dark wingbases to help in gathering more heat and this is especially evident in alpine forms.


title: Butterfly

text: As in many other insects, the lift generated by butterflies is more than can be accounted for by steady-state, non-transitory aerodynamics. Studies using "Vanessa atalanta" in a wind tunnel show that they use a wide variety of aerodynamic mechanisms to generate force. These include wake capture, vortices at the wing edge, rotational mechanisms and the Weis-Fogh 'clap-and-fling' mechanism. Butterflies are able to change from one mode to another rapidly.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies are threatened in their early stages by parasitoids and in all stages by predators, diseases and environmental factors. Braconid and other parasitic wasps lay their eggs in lepidopteran eggs or larvae and the wasps' parasitoid larvae devour their hosts, usually pupating inside or outside the desiccated husk. Most wasps are very specific about their host species and some have been used as biological controls of pest butterflies like the large white butterfly. When the small cabbage white was accidentally introduced to New Zealand, it had no natural enemies. In order to control it, some pupae that had been parasitised by a chalcid wasp were imported, and natural control was thus regained. Some flies lay their eggs on the outside of caterpillars and the newly hatched fly larvae bore their way through the skin and feed in a similar way to the parasitoid wasp larvae. Predators of butterflies include ants, spiders, wasps, and birds.


title: Butterfly

text: Caterpillars are also affected by a range of bacterial, viral and fungal diseases, and only a small percentage of the butterfly eggs laid ever reach adulthood. The bacterium "Bacillus thuringiensis" has been used in sprays to reduce damage to crops by the caterpillars of the large white butterfly, and the entomopathogenic fungus "Beauveria bassiana" has proved effective for the same purpose.


title: Butterfly

text: Queen Alexandra's birdwing is the largest butterfly in the world. The species is endangered, and is one of only three insects (the other two being butterflies as well) to be listed on Appendix I of CITES, making international trade illegal.


title: Butterfly

text: Black grass-dart butterfly "(Ocybadistes knightorum)" is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is endemic to New South Wales. It has a very limited distribution in the Boambee area.


title: Butterfly

text: Chemical defences are widespread and are mostly based on chemicals of plant origin. In many cases the plants themselves evolved these toxic substances as protection against herbivores. Butterflies have evolved mechanisms to sequester these plant toxins and use them instead in their own defence. These defence mechanisms are effective only if they are well advertised; this has led to the evolution of bright colours in unpalatable butterflies (aposematism). This signal is commonly mimicked by other butterflies, usually only females. A Batesian mimic imitates another species to enjoy the protection of that species' aposematism. The common Mormon of India has female morphs which imitate the unpalatable red-bodied swallowtails, the common rose and the crimson rose. Müllerian mimicry occurs when aposematic species evolve to resemble each other, presumably to reduce predator sampling rates; "Heliconius" butterflies from the Americas are a good example.


title: Butterfly

text: Camouflage is found in many butterflies. Some like the oakleaf butterfly and autumn leaf are remarkable imitations of leaves. As caterpillars, many defend themselves by freezing and appearing like sticks or branches. Others have deimatic behaviours, such as rearing up and waving their front ends which are marked with eyespots as if they were snakes. Some papilionid caterpillars such as the giant swallowtail ("Papilio cresphontes") resemble bird droppings so as to be passed over by predators. Some caterpillars have hairs and bristly structures that provide protection while others are gregarious and form dense aggregations. Some species are myrmecophiles, forming mutualistic associations with ants and gaining their protection. Behavioural defences include perching and angling the wings to reduce shadow and avoid being conspicuous. Some female Nymphalid butterflies guard their eggs from parasitoidal wasps.


title: Butterfly

text: The Lycaenidae have a false head consisting of eyespots and small tails (false antennae) to deflect attack from the more vital head region. These may also cause ambush predators such as spiders to approach from the wrong end, enabling the butterflies to detect attacks promptly. Many butterflies have eyespots on the wings; these too may deflect attacks, or may serve to attract mates.


title: Butterfly

text: Auditory defences can also be used, which in the case of the grizzled skipper refers to vibrations generated by the butterfly upon expanding its wings in an attempt to communicate with ant predators.


title: Butterfly

text: Many tropical butterflies have seasonal forms for dry and wet seasons. These are switched by the hormone ecdysone. The dry-season forms are usually more cryptic, perhaps offering better camouflage when vegetation is scarce. Dark colours in wet-season forms may help to absorb solar radiation.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies without defences such as toxins or mimicry protect themselves through a flight that is more bumpy and unpredictable than in other species. It is assumed this behavior makes it more difficult for predators to catch them, and is caused by the turbulence created by the small whirlpools formed by the wings during flight.


title: Butterfly

text: Declining butterfly populations have been noticed in many areas of the world, and this phenomenon is consistent with the rapidly decreasing insect populations around the world. At least in the Western United States, this collapse in the number of most species of butterflies has been determined to be driven by global climate change, specifically, by warmer autumns.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies have appeared in art from 3500 years ago in ancient Egypt. In the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, the brilliantly coloured image of the butterfly was carved into many temples, buildings, jewellery, and emblazoned on incense burners. The butterfly was sometimes depicted with the maw of a jaguar, and some species were considered to be the reincarnations of the souls of dead warriors. The close association of butterflies with fire and warfare persisted into the Aztec civilisation; evidence of similar jaguar-butterfly images has been found among the Zapotec and Maya civilisations.


title: Butterfly

text: Butterflies are widely used in objects of art and jewellery: mounted in frames, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in paper, and used in some mixed media artworks and furnishings. The Norwegian naturalist Kjell Sandved compiled a photographic "Butterfly Alphabet" containing all 26 letters and the numerals 0 to 9 from the wings of butterflies.


title: Butterfly

text: Sir John Tenniel drew a famous illustration of Alice meeting a caterpillar for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", c. 1865. The caterpillar is seated on a toadstool and is smoking a hookah; the image can be read as showing either the forelegs of the larva, or as suggesting a face with protruding nose and chin. Eric Carle's children's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" portrays the larva as an extraordinarily hungry animal, while also teaching children how to count (to five) and the days of the week.


title: Butterfly

text: One of the most popular, and most often recorded, songs by Sweden's eighteenth-century bard, Carl Michael Bellman, is "Fjäriln vingad syns på Haga" (The butterfly wingèd is seen in Haga), one of his "Fredman's Songs".


title: Butterfly

text: "Madam Butterfly" is a 1904 opera by Giacomo Puccini about a romantic young Japanese bride who is deserted by her American officer husband soon after they are married. It was based on John Luther Long's short story written in 1898.


title: Butterfly

text: According to Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guest room and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. Large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad omens. When Taira no Masakado was secretly preparing for his famous revolt, there appeared in Kyoto so vast a swarm of butterflies that the people were frightened—thinking the apparition to be a portent of coming evil.


title: Butterfly

text: Diderot's "Encyclopédie" cites butterflies as a symbol for the soul. A Roman sculpture depicts a butterfly exiting the mouth of a dead man, representing the Roman belief that the soul leaves through the mouth. In line with this, the ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή ("psȳchē"), which primarily means "soul" or "mind". According to Mircea Eliade, some of the Nagas of Manipur claim ancestry from a butterfly. In some cultures, butterflies symbolise rebirth. The butterfly is a symbol of being transgender, because of the transformation from caterpillar to winged adult. In the English county of Devon, people once hurried to kill the first butterfly of the year, to avoid a year of bad luck. In the Philippines, a lingering black or dark butterfly or moth in the house is taken to mean an impending or recent death in the family. Several American states have chosen an official state butterfly.


title: Butterfly

text: "Collecting" means preserving dead specimens, not keeping butterflies as pets. Collecting butterflies was once a popular hobby; it has now largely been replaced by photography, recording, and rearing butterflies for release into the wild. The zoological illustrator Frederick William Frohawk succeeded in rearing all the butterfly species found in Britain, at a rate of four per year, to enable him to draw every stage of each species. He published the results in the folio sized handbook "The Natural History of British Butterflies" in 1924.


title: Butterfly

text: Study of the structural coloration of the wing scales of swallowtail butterflies has led to the development of more efficient light-emitting diodes, and is inspiring nanotechnology research to produce paints that do not use toxic pigments and the development of new display technologies.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: Windham Lawrence Rotunda (born May 23, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bray Wyatt.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: Rotunda is a third-generation professional wrestler, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Blackjack Mulligan, his father Mike Rotunda, and two of his uncles – Barry and Kendall Windham. His younger brother Taylor Rotunda is also a professional wrestler, best known as Bo Dallas. Alongside his brother, he held the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice while in WWE's then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he wrestled under various ring names between 2008 and 2012. He briefly wrestled on WWE's main roster from 2010 to 2011 under the ring name Husky Harris, most notably as a member of The Nexus.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: After returning to WWE's developmental territories, Rotunda was rebranded as Bray Wyatt, the villainous cult leader of The Wyatt Family, with the group eventually making its main roster debut in 2013. He became a three-time world champion in WWE, having held the WWE Championship once and the Universal Championship twice. He also held the SmackDown Tag Team Championship (with Luke Harper and Randy Orton under the Freebird rule) and the Raw Tag Team Championship (with Matt Hardy) once each.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: After taking a hiatus in August 2018, Wyatt returned to WWE programming in April 2019 with a different gimmick, debuting the horror-themed character The Fiend. Portrayed as suffering from a transformative multiple personality disorder, The Fiend randomly switched back and forth between his good side of a Mr. Rogers-esque children's television host Bray Wyatt, and his bad side of a grotesque monster clown, The Fiend. Wyatt was released from WWE in July 2021, but returned to the company in October 2022 at Extreme Rules.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: Windham Lawrence Rotunda was born in Brooksville, Florida, on May 23, 1987. He attended Hernando High School, where he won a state wrestling championship at in 2005. He graduated in 2005. He also played football as a defensive tackle and guard. Rotunda played at the College of the Sequoias for two seasons, earning second-team All-American honors as a sophomore offensive guard. He earned a football scholarship to Troy University, where he played collegiate football for two years. He left Troy 27 credit hours short of earning a bachelor's degree after deciding to become a professional wrestler.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: He made his in-ring debut in dark match on the February 5, 2009 episode of Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), defeating Brian Jossie. Rotunda made his television debut in April 2009, using the name Alex Rotundo. He later changed his name to Duke Rotundo. In June 2009, he began teaming with his brother Bo. At the FCW television tapings on July 23, The Rotundo Brothers defeated The Dude Busters (Caylen Croft and Trent Barretta) to become the #1 contenders to the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. That same night, they defeated Justin Angel and Kris Logan for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. They went on to retain the championship against Dylan Klein and Vance Archer and the team of Curt Hawkins and Heath Slater. At the FCW television tapings on November 19, The Rotundo Brothers lost the championship to The Dude Busters.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: On June 2, 2010, he joined "NXT" under the name Husky Harris, with Cody Rhodes as his WWE Pro. Harris made his televised in ring debut for the show the following week on the June 8 episode of "NXT", competing in a tag team match with Rhodes against Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Percy Watson, which they lost. Harris turned heel on the June 22 episode of "NXT" by attacking announcer Matt Striker, just as Rhodes had done the previous week. The following week on "NXT", Harris lost to MVP in a singles match, and was ranked seventh out of the eight rookies in the first poll. In the second poll, Harris moved up to sixth place, narrowly avoiding elimination. On August 9, the rookies appeared in a six-man tag team match on "Raw", which Harris' team won when he pinned Kaval, but his team lost a rematch the following night on "NXT". In the poll later that night, Harris climbed to fourth place out of the six rookies. Harris was one of two rookies eliminated from "NXT" on August 17 and, following his elimination, Harris and Rhodes attacked Kaval, resulting in a brawl also involving MVP and Kofi Kingston. Harris reappeared in the season finale of "NXT" with the other eliminated rookies and joined in on the attack on the "NXT" winner, Kaval.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: While on "NXT", Rotunda continued wrestling in FCW while retaining the Husky Harris ring name. In September 2010 following his elimination from "NXT", Harris began a feud in FCW with Percy Watson when he attacked Watson while teaming with him in a tag team match, which led to Watson being pinned for the loss. When Harris and Watson faced off in a match, they were both counted out as they brawled out of the arena, which led to a no disqualification match that Harris lost. The feud ended in October, with Harris defeating Watson in a lumberjack match.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 4, a disguised Harris and Michael McGillicutty interfered in a match between John Cena and Wade Barrett, and helped Barrett win, forcing Cena to join Barrett's faction The Nexus per the pre-match stipulation. Harris' and McGillicutty's identities were revealed on the following day's episode of "Raw", though Barrett claimed he had not asked for their help and refused to make them full-time members of The Nexus. The following week on "Raw", Harris and McGillicutty cost Cena a match against The Miz, prompting Barrett to give them the opportunity to win membership in the Nexus. On the October 18 episode of "Raw", Harris and McGillicutty failed to earn a place in The Nexus when they lost to Cena and Randy Orton in a tag team match. In spite of their loss, Harris and McGillicutty were inducted into The Nexus on "Raw" the following week.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: In January 2011, CM Punk took over The Nexus and had each of its members put through an initiation. Harris passed his initiation, a lashing from the rest of the group, and was allowed to remain a member of The New Nexus, alongside Punk, McGillicutty and David Otunga. On the January 31 episode of "Raw", Harris and McGillicutty unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov for the WWE Tag Team Championship, after which Orton attacked the duo as part of his rivalry with the Nexus and punted Harris in the head, which was used to write Harris off television.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: Following the punt by Orton on "Raw", Rotunda returned to FCW and in March 2011 adopted the gimmick of the hockey mask-wearing Axl Mulligan, but the character never made it to "FCW TV", and Rotunda continued to play the Husky Harris character on "FCW TV". In August 2011, Harris became embroiled in his brother Bo's (then FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion) feud with Lucky Cannon and Damien Sandow. The two brothers later teamed up to defeat Cannon and Sandow. Later, Harris voiced his displeasure of Bo's relationship with Aksana, and when Bo suffered a legit injury his title was vacated and a tournament set up to determine the new champion, during which Harris defeated Big E Langston to make it to the final, a fatal four-way match against Dean Ambrose, Leo Kruger and Damien Sandow, which he lost after Richie Steamboat (who was at ringside to aim for Ambrose) performed a superkick on Harris instead. Despite Aksana managing to get Steamboat to attack Harris again, he still won a triple threat match against Ambrose and Sandow to earn a match for the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship against Kruger, which Harris lost when he was distracted with Steamboat's interference once again. As a result, Harris and Steamboat began feuding, with their first match ending in a no contest. Kruger later defeated the pair in a triple threat match to retain the title. However, Harris defeated Steamboat in a No Holds Barred match. After the pair continued to frequently attack each other, they were suspended for 30 days. Upon their return, Harris defeated Steamboat in a bullrope match to end their feud. On February 2, 2012, Harris and Bo Rotundo defeated Brad Maddox and Eli Cottonwood to win the vacant FCW Florida Tag Team Championship for the second time. They successfully defended the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship against Antonio Cesaro and Alexander Rusev, but lost the championship to Corey Graves and Jake Carter on March 15.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: In April 2012, Rotunda was repackaged as Bray Wyatt, who initially associated himself with Eli Cottonwood in FCW. When WWE rebranded FCW into NXT Wrestling, Bray Wyatt debuted on the July 11, 2012 episode of the rebooted "NXT" taped at Full Sail University, where he defeated Aiden English. In July, Wyatt suffered a torn pectoral muscle and required surgery. Despite the injury, Wyatt continued to appear on "NXT", founding a faction known as The Wyatt Family in November, with Luke Harper as his first "son" and Erick Rowan as his second. Wyatt had his first match back from injury on the February 21, 2013 episode of "NXT", where he defeated Yoshi Tatsu. Wyatt suffered his first loss on the March 13 episode of "NXT" to Bo Dallas. On the May 2 episode of "NXT", Wyatt lost to Chris Jericho. On the May 8 episode of "NXT", Harper and Rowan defeated Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. On the July 17 episode of "NXT" (which was taped on June 20), Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Neville and Corey Graves.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: From the May 27 episode of "Raw", WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed The Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing a lamb mask. On the July 8 episode of "Raw", The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane.<ref name="Raw 7/9/13"></ref> The Wyatt Family continued their attacks on wrestlers such as R-Truth, Justin Gabriel, Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal while sending cryptic messages to Kane asking him to "follow the buzzards". Following another assault, Kane challenged Wyatt to his first main roster match, a Ring of Fire match at SummerSlam on August 18, 2013, which he won following interference from Harper and Rowan. After the match, Harper and Rowan again attacked Kane, carrying him away. Wyatt next targeted Kofi Kingston, who he defeated at Battleground on October 6.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: Harper and Rowan lost to CM Punk and Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series on November 24. The Wyatt Family defeated Bryan in a handicap match at on December 15. On the final "Raw" of 2013, Bryan defeated Harper and Rowan in a gauntlet match so he could face Wyatt, but they interfered for a disqualification and attacked him until Bryan gave up and joined the group. Wyatt punished Bryan after they failed to find success, leading to Bryan attacking the other members of The Wyatt Family on the January 13 episode of "Raw" to signal him breaking free of the group. At Royal Rumble on January 26, Wyatt defeated Bryan. Later that night, The Wyatt Family cost John Cena his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Randy Orton, with The Wyatt Family attacking Cena afterwards. On the January 27 episode of "Raw", The Wyatt Family attacked Bryan, Cena and Sheamus during an Elimination Chamber qualifying match against The Shield, meaning Bryan's team won by disqualification and The Shield lost a chance to enter the Elimination Chamber match. At the event on February 23, The Wyatt Family defeated The Shield. They later interfered in the Elimination Chamber match, which caused Cena to be eliminated.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: After Elimination Chamber, Wyatt feuded with Cena, with Wyatt wanting to prove that Cena's heroic act was a facade characteristic of "this era of lies" while also trying to turn Cena into a "monster". Wyatt went on to accept Cena's challenge for a WrestleMania match, with Cena successfully resisting the urge to become a "monster" and overcoming interference from Harper and Rowan to defeat Wyatt at WrestleMania XXX on April 6, marking Wyatt's first pinfall loss on WWE's main roster. The feud continued after WrestleMania XXX based on the story that Wyatt was capturing Cena's fanbase, which was exemplified by Wyatt leading a children's choir to the ring on the April 28 episode of "Raw", with the children later putting on sheep masks. At Extreme Rules on May 4, Wyatt defeated Cena in a steel cage match after repeated interference from the rest of The Wyatt Family and a "demonic" child. Cena's feud with Wyatt continued with a Last Man Standing match being set up for Payback on June 1, where Cena buried Wyatt under multiple equipment cases to win the match and end the feud. On the June 13 episode of "SmackDown", Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose to qualify for the 2014 Money in the Bank ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship on June 29, which Cena won.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: The following night on "Raw", The Wyatt Family attacked a returning Chris Jericho. This led to matches between Wyatt and Jericho at Battleground on July 20, which Jericho won, and at SummerSlam on August 17, where Wyatt won a rematch despite Harper and Rowan being banned from ringside. The feud with Jericho ended on the September 8 episode of "Raw", when Wyatt won a steel cage match by escaping the cage.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: Beginning on September 29, vignettes were shown of Wyatt "setting Harper and Rowan free". Wyatt returned alone at Hell in a Cell on October 26 during the main event match between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, costing Ambrose the match. In the following weeks, Wyatt taunted Ambrose while offering to "fix" him like he had done with Harper and Rowan. On November 23 at Survivor Series, Wyatt defeated Ambrose by disqualification after Ambrose used a steel chair to attack Wyatt. At on December 14, Wyatt defeated Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. Wyatt once again defeated Ambrose on the December 22 episode of "Raw" in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight. The feud culminated in an ambulance match on the January 5, 2015 episode of "Raw", which Wyatt won to effectively end their feud.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: At Royal Rumble on January 25, Wyatt competed in the Royal Rumble match at #5 and lasted for almost 47 minutes, eliminating six other contestants before being eliminated by Big Show and Kane. Following the Royal Rumble, Wyatt began a series of cryptic promos, referring himself as "The New Face of Fear"; at Fastlane on February 22, Wyatt emerged from a casket and challenged The Undertaker for a match at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, which Undertaker accepted, but Wyatt was unsuccessful in defeating The Undertaker. Wyatt defeated Ryback at Payback on May 17.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: At Money in the Bank on June 14, Wyatt interfered in the Money in the Bank ladder match and attacked Roman Reigns (who had defeated him in a qualification match on "Raw") as Reigns was close to retrieving the briefcase. At Battleground on July 19, Wyatt defeated Reigns with the help of former Wyatt Family member Luke Harper, reforming the team (without the injured Erick Rowan who soon returned). At SummerSlam on August 23, Wyatt and Harper lost to Reigns and Ambrose. The following night on "Raw", Wyatt introduced a new Wyatt Family member named Braun Strowman, who attacked Ambrose and Reigns. At Night of Champions on September 20, The Wyatt Family defeated Reigns, Ambrose and Jericho. At Hell in a Cell on October 25, Wyatt lost to Reigns in a Hell in a Cell match to end their feud; later that night The Wyatt Family attacked The Undertaker and carried him backstage, reigniting their feud. The next night on "Raw", Wyatt was confronted by former rival Kane, who was attacked by the Wyatts and also carried backstage. On the November 9 episode of "Raw", The Brothers of Destruction returned and attacked The Wyatt Family. At Survivor Series on November 22, Wyatt and Harper lost to The Brothers of Destruction.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: At on December 13, The Wyatt Family defeated Team ECW in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match. Wyatt and Luke Harper lost to Brock Lesnar at Roadblock on March 12 in a handicap match. At WrestleMania 32 on April 3, The Wyatt Family confronted The Rock, who defeated Rowan in an impromptu match in six seconds; the Wyatts were fended off by John Cena and The Rock. On the April 4 episode of "Raw", The Wyatt Family attacked The League of Nations, starting an unexplained feud between the two factions and showing signs of a face turn. On April 13, during a match against Reigns at a live event in Italy, Wyatt suffered an injury to his right calf and was pulled off WWE's European tour. His injury prematurely ended the feud in the process. The Wyatt Family returned on the June 20 episode of "Raw", starting a feud with WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day, who interrupted Wyatt during his return speech, reverting the group back to heels. The New Day later confronted The Wyatt Family at their compound before the Wyatts defeated them at Battleground on July 24 in a six-man tag team match. In the 2016 WWE draft, Wyatt and Rowan were drafted to the SmackDown brand while Strowman was drafted to the Raw brand.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: On the August 16 episode of "SmackDown", Wyatt walked away from Rowan after he lost his match against Dean Ambrose, leaving Rowan's sheep mask on Wyatt's rocking chair. Wyatt confronted Randy Orton, who he called "damaged" and challenged him to a match at Backlash, which Orton accepted on the August 30 episode of "SmackDown". At Backlash on September 11, Wyatt attacked Orton before the match, winning by forfeit. Wyatt then faced Kane in a No Holds Barred match, which he lost when Orton interfered. Orton then challenged Wyatt to another match at No Mercy on October 9, which he accepted and won with the help of the returning Harper. On the October 25 episode of "SmackDown", Orton interfered on Wyatt's behalf in his match with Kane and joined The Wyatt Family.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: At Survivor Series on November 20, Wyatt and Orton were the sole survivors for Team SmackDown in the traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match after Orton saved Wyatt from a spear from Roman Reigns. The pair then began focusing on stopping the momentum of American Alpha, and to a bigger degree capturing the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, defeating them in a match to become #1 contenders. At on December 4, they won the championship from Heath Slater and Rhyno, marking Wyatt's first title win in WWE. Wyatt and Orton retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against the former champions on the December 6 episode of "SmackDown" but on the December 27 episode, Orton and Luke Harper (who defended the championship under the Freebird Rule) lost the title to American Alpha in a four corners elimination tag team match. This started dissent between Harper and Orton, who faced each other on the January 24, 2017 episode of "SmackDown", which Orton won, leading to Wyatt delivering "Sister Abigail" to Harper, exiling him from the group. On January 29, Wyatt entered the Royal Rumble match at #21 and lasted until the final three: Wyatt and Orton cooperated against Roman Reigns, who eventually eliminated Wyatt but was himself eliminated by Orton, who thereby won the match and a title match at WrestleMania.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: On February 12 at Elimination Chamber, Wyatt won the WWE Championship by defeating John Cena, AJ Styles, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, and Baron Corbin in an Elimination Chamber match; it was the first singles title in Wyatt's wrestling career, and the first world title of his career. This raised the possibility of Orton challenging his teammate Wyatt but on the following "SmackDown", after Wyatt successfully defended the WWE Championship in a triple threat match involving John Cena and AJ Styles (despite a pre-match attack by Harper), Orton pledged allegiance to Wyatt and refused to face him at WrestleMania 33. However, this was revealed to be a ruse as Orton destroyed The Wyatt Family compound, including Sister Abigail's grave, two weeks later, and defeated Wyatt for the title at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, ending Wyatt's reign at 49 days. On April 10, Wyatt was moved to the Raw brand as a part of the Superstar Shake-up; his title rematch at Payback on April 30, billed as a House of Horrors match, was changed into a non-title match; Wyatt defeated Orton after being helped by Jinder Mahal ending their feud.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: At Extreme Rules on June 4, Wyatt failed to become the #1 contender for the Universal Championship in a fatal five-way match won by Samoa Joe. After Seth Rollins was unveiled on the cover of "WWE 2K18", Wyatt targeted him and defeated him both at Great Balls of Fire on July 9 and again on the following "Raw". Wyatt then began a feud with Finn Bálor, resulting in a match between the two at SummerSlam on August 20, which Bálor won under his "Demon King" persona. Wyatt again lost to Bálor at No Mercy on September 24. They were set to have a third match at on October 22, but Wyatt was unable to compete due to an illness concern and was replaced in the match by AJ Styles, bringing the feud between Wyatt and Bàlor to a quiet end. Wyatt returned on the November 13 episode of "Raw", facing Jason Jordan in a losing effort.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: In November, Wyatt began a feud with Matt Hardy, resulting in Hardy's "Broken" gimmick reemerging. The two fought again at "Raw 25 Years" on January 22, 2018, which Wyatt won. On January 28, Wyatt entered the Royal Rumble match at #8, but failed to win after Wyatt and Hardy eliminated each other simultaneously. At Elimination Chamber on February 25, Wyatt lost to Hardy. On the March 19 episode of "Raw", after losing to Hardy in an Ultimate Deletion match, Wyatt was pushed into the "Lake of Reincarnation", where he disappeared. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Wyatt returned and turned face after he interfered in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, helping Hardy win. They formed a team and won the vacant Raw Tag Team Championship on April 27 at Greatest Royal Rumble, defeating Cesaro and Sheamus. They lost the titles to The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) in their first pay-per-view title defense on July 15 at Extreme Rules. On the July 23 episode of "Raw", they invoked their rematch clause against The B-Team, but were unsuccessful. Soon after, Hardy took time off to heal his injuries, disbanding the team. The reason WWE disbanded the team was because they pitched several ideas to WWE to work with their characters.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: In April 2019, ominous vignettes began airing across WWE programming depicting a sinister buzzard puppet, a witch doll, and other toys. Later that month, Wyatt began to appear in pre-recorded segments as the host of a surreal children's program known as "Firefly Fun House", sporting different hair and a shorter beard with a leaner physique. The segments featured the aforementioned puppets, called Mercy the Buzzard (a reference to Waylon Mercy, an inspiration for Wyatt's previous gimmick) and Abby the Witch, with Ramblin' Rabbit and Huskus the Pig Boy introduced later (the latter a reference to Wyatt's previous gimmick of Husky Harris), as well as one for Mr. McMahon that occasionally appeared. During the initial segment, Wyatt destroyed a cardboard cutout of his old self with a chainsaw, cheeringly telling viewers all they had to do for him to "light the way" was to "let me in". The "Firefly Fun House" segments became more sinister, with one featuring Wyatt painting a picture to "express his suppressed feelings", which was a painting of the Wyatt Family compound being burned with Sister Abigail inside—a reference to his WrestleMania 33 feud with Randy Orton. Another featured him having a picnic with expressionless kids, while another revealed that Wyatt was able to control his darkness. He then appeared in more sinister clothing and a demonic mask, a persona he called "The Fiend" that was here "to protect us".


title: Bray Wyatt

text: On the July 15 episode of "Raw", Wyatt, as The Fiend, attacked previous rival Finn Bálor with a "Sister Abigail", re-establishing himself as a heel. At SummerSlam on August 11, The Fiend quickly defeated Bálor. Over the next several weeks, The Fiend attacked several WWE Hall of Famers and legends including Kurt Angle, Jerry Lawler, Kane, and Mick Foley, also adopting Foley's finishing maneuver, The Mandible Claw. The Fiend then began a feud with Universal Champion Seth Rollins by attacking him on September 15 at Clash of Champions. At Hell in a Cell on October 6, they faced each other in a Hell in a Cell match, but the match ended in referee stoppage after The Fiend was buried under several weapons and hit with a sledgehammer by Rollins. Despite the match ending, The Fiend rose as officials checked on him to chase down Rollins and again incapacitate him with the Mandible Claw. The finish was noteworthy for the response from the fans in attendance, who booed loudly and chanted negatively. After he was drafted to the SmackDown brand during the 2019 Draft, The Fiend defeated Rollins on October 31 at Crown Jewel in a falls count anywhere match to win the Universal Championship. The title was subsequently transferred to SmackDown, due to Wyatt being a member of the brand.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: After his title victory, Wyatt introduced two new belt designs; the first one, which his Firefly Fun House character held, was a blue-strapped version to signify its move to SmackDown, while the other was a custom belt for The Fiend. The latter design featured his face in place of the center plate and on a black and red worn leather strap, as well as his phrases "Hurt", "Heal" and "Let [Me] In" on the strap (the word "Me" being represented by The Fiend's face). Wyatt retained the title against Daniel Bryan on November 24 at Survivor Series. After Bryan accepted a rematch on the following "SmackDown", The Fiend attacked Bryan and ripped out his hair. With Bryan absent the following week, Wyatt started a short feud with The Miz, culminating in a non-title match at on December 15, where Wyatt, wrestling for the first time as his Firefly Fun House character, defeated Miz. After the match, Bryan, with a buzz cut and short beard, made his return and attacked Wyatt. At Royal Rumble on January 26, 2020, The Fiend defeated Bryan in a strap match to end their feud.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: On the February 7 episode of "SmackDown", Hall of Famer Goldberg challenged The Fiend for the Universal Championship during an onscreen interview, which was scheduled for the Super ShowDown event on February 27, where The Fiend character suffered his first loss to Goldberg, ending his reign at 118 days. The following night on "SmackDown", The Fiend confronted a returning John Cena and challenged him to a match at WrestleMania 36 that Cena accepted–a rematch from 2014's WrestleMania XXX. On the second night of the event on April 5, rather than a traditional wrestling match, the two faced off in a surreal trip through history as moments from Wyatt's and Cena's history were played out. The Fiend ultimately defeated Cena in the end, marking Wyatt's first and only WrestleMania victory.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: On the April 10 episode of "SmackDown", Wyatt challenged new Universal Champion Braun Strowman, who won the title at WrestleMania. A title match was scheduled between the two at Money in the Bank on May 10, which Wyatt (as his Firefly Fun House character) lost. He returned in a Firefly Fun House segment on the June 19 episode of "SmackDown" to confront Strowman, reintroducing his original "Eater of The Worlds" gimmick and reinstating their rivalry. On July 19 at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Wyatt defeated Strowman in a non-title match called the Wyatt Swamp Fight. On the July 31 episode of "SmackDown", The Fiend attacked Alexa Bliss, who Strowman had an affection for. Two weeks later, after Strowman attacked Bliss with a gorilla press, The Fiend seemed to have tried to help Bliss, as Strowman appeared and The Fiend were laughing together, confirming their match. At SummerSlam on August 23, The Fiend defeated Strowman to win the Universal Championship for the second time. After the match, they were both attacked by a returning Roman Reigns. At Payback on August 30, The Fiend defended the title against Strowman and Reigns in a triple threat match, which he lost after Reigns pinned Strowman to win the title.


title: Bray Wyatt

text: In September, his ring name was officially shortened to The Fiend – indicating a complete transition into what was formerly perceived to be Wyatt's alter ego. The Fiend returned on the October 2 episode of "SmackDown" and attacked Kevin Owens. After attacking Owens, he extended his hand to Alexa Bliss, which she took and smirked as they disappeared. The Fiend had his first match on "SmackDown" the following week, defeating Owens. As part of the 2020 Draft in October, The Fiend was drafted to the Raw brand. He soon reignited his old feud with Randy Orton, and at on December 20, Orton defeated The Fiend in a Firefly Inferno match before setting his body on fire.