As was often the case, the 2021 IAC was a chance to learn some new things, not just about Animalians.
---
What Archy and his Knights were learning was that Japanese weapons and armor were nothing like they were in Europe.
"Why would anyone want to carry blades this long?" asked Archy as he hefted an ōdachi that had been provided.
"They were primarily used against cavalry, or for cavalry-on-cavalry conflicts." answered one of the four Kiso-Uma.
"Well," said one of the other knights that came along with Archy, who had a bit of a German Accent, "We had something similar, only it's called a Zweihänder."
"I'm sure that there'll be some who will be interested to see that." said the Kiso-Uma.
Meanwhile, there was also a showing on Japanese armor. As it turned out, what the Japanese considered heavy armor was also considerably different from Europe. While there were a few, large scale conflicts in Japanese history, there was actually a "job requirement" for Samurai for always being on the move, and thereby their armor had to be easy to remove, store, and don quickly.
Probably what was the most surprising was the kabutos, especially since almost everyone was more familiar with the pokémon, rather than the Japanese helmets. Some were more surprised by the material the crests were made of rather than the different kinds, since they were all made of different kinds of materials, from copper and bronze, to even papier-mâché and lacquer. However, no matter what they were made of, they still did a surprisingly good job of protecting the head.
---
Another thing that was learned was actually about the newest members that were arriving in Animalia in mid-August. While the group of six males that requested horse conversions did have a hormonal imbalance that gave them slim shoulders, wide hips, and big butts, they had flatly refused to become herms. There were scientists who were interested in this, since they had relatively little to no data.
The Mane Six-and-One were very interested in these newcomers, since the "Studs in 'da Hood" were more focused on rebuilding their rap careers and their physiques. Recently they had a "vaccination concert" with free vaccinations alongside a rap concert. While it wasn't officially part of the IAC, it was considered a good part since one of their rap songs was "* Expletive * the Pandemic", which was basically insulting Covid-19 to its... "face" while stressing the importance vaccination, since its overall theme was about not letting fear and/or stupidity (such as anti-vaccine hype) rule their life. Against their expectations, purchases and downloads of their new song were already topping in the hundreds of thousands.
The Mane-Six-and-One were coping as well as they were with the other males they claimed, but the two they had were starting to get tired out from all their 'sessions', so they were very interested in these newcomers, but they weren't arriving until later.
---
Probably what was the most important thing that was going to be learned, since it was one of the official IAC Events, was the official comparison between Olympic Athletes and Animalian Athletes. Those athletes that had finished their events would be the first ones that would have their own abilities compared to Animalians, which would be a really interesting thing to see.