The January 2021 edition of Animalia Magazine featured an overall recap of 2020, both in Animalia and the world in general. While 2020 was considered one of the worst years ever, there was an article that showed other years in earth's history that were either just as bad or even worse.
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One of the articles that analyzed the year before was the kinds of people that were "emigrating" to Animalia. While there were those who were a little unhappy about the "stereotypes" that were being presented in the article, these were mostly by internet trolls who were commenting on the digital edition.
A new trend that was being noticed was that there was a rise of members of the upper classes heading to Dino City, similar to what Lyre had gone through, while the new "hippie" members were remaining steady. There was also a minor report that these newest members were being "attacked" for ridiculous things like all the environmental troubles the planet was facing, but these were pretty standard and harmless.
A similar trend had started on Mieni Atoll where "hippies", dissatisfied with the way things were going in America and elsewhere were migrating to Animalia because they saw Animalia as a kind of "Promised Land". While that wasn't exactly what Animalia was, they were glad to see an upswing of potential new members who were willing to help out by becoming new species that weren't on "record". One side effect was a rise of underwater houses being built.
This trend also showed a surprising result, the large number of people who had brought marijuana with them. While a large number of the marijuana seized had come from "legal marijuana states", Animalia colonies such as Mieni Atoll weren't one of those, mainly because the only intoxicants most uplifted Animalians were more familiar with were hallucinogenic mushrooms, and most stayed away from them after one "dose". It was still kind of amusing watching the hippies react to local authorities destroying their "weed stock", which in some ways was similar to kids reacting to parents destroying their electronics.
The current trend in Lyre/Animalia were all the "nerds, dorks, geeks, etc." that were joining Animalia. This article also featured a group interview with the "founding members" of the GGAC about how they were dealing with the newest members. While the interview was pretty "standard" compared to some other interviews with Animalians in the past, it was clear that they didn't expect such an upswing of new members.
This was also causing a few events that would be considered "wrong", or even "scandalous", elsewhere but was perfectly normal for Animalia. In one such event, one nerd became a fennec fox Animalian and his new bodybuilder physique had drawn Joanne to him like a magnet. Both he and Nicole were surprised by this event, but Nicole was a little more used to Joanne's "antics" that resulted from her restored youth, since she had been diagnosed with mild RHS after her striptease at the Meat Market.
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Another article talked about the "legacy" of Coronavirus. While there were some depressing legacies, there were a lot more that were considered more amusing than sad, such as "toilet paper hoarders" and "covidiots". This second one showed both social media posts and news that not only showed how stupid said "covidiots" were, some included clever comebacks that showed how stupid such people were.
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Another article talked about the human trafficking ring that had been busted by Interpol, with the larger one in Asia and the smaller, "copycat", one being in Turkmenistan. While the Turkmenistan President wasn't too happy about the ring, everyone accepted that it wasn't his fault, much to his surprise. But similar to the last time, an online rumor started (once again) that Ami and her councilors had busted said ring using martial arts and magical/supernatural calligraphy. While the PR-MD offices made it clear that that wasn't how it happened, Ami and her councilors actually felt quite flattered this time.
While 10-15% of the males were able to be reunited with family members, the remaining ones were brought to Heiya Island and were "adopted" by Tsukuyomi. Ami was now more used to being referred as "divine mother" or "beloved mother" by this point, and had plenty of advice for her "brother".
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A final article talked about a few reinvention programs that had been started in Animalia. The two that held the most attention was Mercy's "criminal trash recycling", and Miss Fabina's "plastic recycling program".
Mercy's "criminal trash recycling" program was about dealing with petty to low-level criminals that were being given a new lease on life as Animalians. That didn't mean that there were those who had tried to take advantage of Mercy's system. In one such case, one 63-year old man had taken up drug dealing and petty theft actually hoping to be arrested, but the truth emerged once the authorities questioned his wife. It turned out the whole thing had been an attempt to get away from his wife, since during an argument before he began his little crime spree he told her he'd "rather be in jail than at home with her". Mercy didn't want anyone like that in her program, since it would make it "look bad" in the public eye, and once he had been put through the court system, justice had been truly served. He was sentenced to six months of house arrest for "good behavior" and "helping the police", which was more than enough time to make it up to his wife.
Miss Fabina's "plastic recycling program" was started after the success of Quetzal, Barb, and Holly. While the original intention was to help heal current or former porn stars whose augmentations and/or modifications were taking a toll on their health, there had been a few who were a little "confused". These were mostly families who misread what "plastic recycling" meant, and had brought large tubs full of plastic recyclables to her doorstop. Rather than inform them what the program was about, she decided to allow it as the "public face" of the program, which seemed to make it a bit more acceptable toward the public in general.
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The back cover also made it clear that the 5th Anniversary Edition of Animalia Magazine would be a lot bigger and be covering all the major events in the five years that Animalia lasted, and everyone was looking forward to Animalia's 5-Year Anniversary Celebration which was going to be part of the 2021 IAC.