#... how much does that cost actually I may have to go in later and buy it

[diseaseriddencube]

went to the comic book shop to see if they had any TYE in stock and I saw the most dreaded thing possible......

😳

[galacticncrazy]

Loid Forger and Weakness (Analysis)

I was watching gameplay footage of What Remains of Edith Finch and towards the ending I thought about the idea of memories, and one thing led to another and I thought of Spy x Family, specifically Loid. It made me wonder if he ever did confront his past and what exactly weakness means to him.

(These thoughts may not be organized since it happened so late at night but bear with me.)

Initial Thoughts

I always thought about being taught that the idea of, "you have to be strong" which often goes hand in hand with this idea of "you can't show emotions". I feel like Loid constantly tells himself he can't be weak, buy what does that mean if his idea of being strong is to not show any emotion?

Memories

I don't believe it being so long ago is the reason he doesn't remember his parents faces, I want to believe he purposefully forgot what they looked like, and this probably applies to his actual name too. His home was destroyed, any and all photos of his family were lost in the debris, he burned his identification papers so there's also no record of him ever having existed. He said it himself that there is no one left who knows his name.

I should also mention how he remembers the faces of his friends and croquette lady. Loid remembering his friends faces are a given since he believed they had died during the first bombing but he later reunited with them when he was a teenager, only to lose them during a botched military operation, leaving nothing behind but dog tags.

While it may be random to include the croquette lady I feel that remembering her face is still significant given that she was the last person he spoke to before the bombs dropped, as well as being the first casualty he saw.

Memories (continued)

It may not mean anything but find it interesting that his name is hidden like this, maybe I'm thinking it about it too much but it's almost as if it were blocked out, much like how classified files have certain sentences edited out because of their sensitive nature. If he had forgotten his name it liked would've been blurred but instead it's redacted, this paired with not remembering his parents faces, it's almost as if he made himself forget, but why?

Weakness

I think his parents faces specifically his mother and his actual name are all that connects him to who was before, he likely still remembered up until he joined WISE where he was possibly taught to let go of the past, not because they didn't care about what happened to him but because it likely would've had an impact on his work, and he passed on that same mentality to Fiona, about spies not showing emotion, to stay alert and not be ignorant, because to him those two things are what make someone weak.

I find it interesting to believe that Twilight wasn't always this way but rather he adapted his own experiences and the mindset he was taught into him and realized that his emotions and overall ignorance is what led him to participate in a war, without even knowing why. The reason he did so was because of those weaknesses and that he needed to discard them. So it's no surprise that during his fight with Wheeler, but mostly Yuri, that he came to terms with the fact he's getting weak, because instead of doing what he would normally do if it was anyone else, he instead chose to spare him. If he was the Twilight that he was prior to Strix then he absolutely would've killed Yuri because he wouldn't have any reason not to, but he does, and in doing so that decision to spare him almost cost him his life.

"You're getting weak"

It all comes to a head when he recalls the event, he acknowledges that Wheeler is for lack of a better word, perfect. Someone that he himself used to be but somewhere along the away something changed. Twilight acknowledged that he was getting weak and the source of that weakness, was his small but still very present feelings for Yor, if those feelings weren't there and if Yor was just another person to use for the sake of the mission, then he wouldn't have spared Yuri but he did, for her sake.

While he may have been thinking about doubting himself while thinking about the encounter with Yuri I believe the panel still holds some weight, Loid knows he's starting to slip up and this time was too close of a call, he knows he's experiencing.

It may have happened long ago but it still relevant to how Loid is as a character thus far, that being Fiona's observation that his smile had a shred of genuineness to it when she visited, that bit of emotion being a result of spending time with his family, and learning to form connections again so it's only a matter of time before he actually expresses his own emotions directly in some capacity.

Closing Thoughts

This entire post came as a result of What Remains of Edith Finch, which I highly recommend people play as it has a nice mystery element to it as well as its overall themes of death and memories and being presented in such a unique way. The concept of keeping your emotions hidden and locked away is something I relate to which is all the more reason as to why I'd like to see Loid be more open about the way he feels or genuinely breaks down and lets all those bottled up emotions out, allowing himself to fall apart be vulnerable around people, specifically his family. There's this really nice artwork I saw once of Yor and Anya hugging a child Loid, and I always thought that externally Loid is a grown man but internally he's a child wanting someone to lift him up and tell him, "it's going to be okay".

[n7lebron]

The HG Witch From Mercury line continues!

I've unfortunately been sitting on this for a while now with life getting in the way but I'm back with more p-bandai exclusive Witch From Mercury high grades, this time it's the pair from the Prologue, the Gundam Lfrith Pre-Production and it's witch-hunting counterpart the Heingra!

Obviously there's a lot of shared parts with their retail versions but the Pre-Production definitely gets more of the love here. Quite a few new parts go into just the backpack and other than the lights for the Gund-Bits (which there are a lot of poorly fitting stickers for) it is perfectly color separated and opens as it does in the show. Shout-out to them actually making new molds to get the yellow in the chest part separated too. Beyond that you get it's very cool beam rifle, a few activated Gund-Bits and the same great articulation as the retail kit.

The Heingra is bit more boring by comparison, with it doing it's best GM impression. The Grassley suits are probably my favorite grunts from the show though so I'm a fan of it anyway. It's got another great beam rifle and a bigger shield than it's later variant, the Heindree Sturm. Speaking of, you do get nearly the full loadout from the Sturm as extra parts, only missing a part to complete it's shield, so if you want to you can give the Heingra a mix of equipment.

Again two great kits from this line which, at the moment of writing, are both available to buy right now on p-bandai, and they're in-stock (which means they will ship out immediately)! Well in the US at least, but still great news for anyone looking to get either one of these kits.

I do have one more kit to show just below the cut if you're interested...

It's the Gundnode! And I got two of them, how else could I create my own little data storm? Well in reality I think you would need like 300 plus of them to match the amount that created the storm towards the end of the show but 1. I do not have that kind of money and 2. they've only had two runs of it on p-bandai so far with a max of six I could have at this point. And yes it is another p-bandai exclusive.

Despite that fact it's an amazing kit, really nailing another one of my favorite designs from the show. This is very much a flying suit so there's not many ground poses it can do well, with that in mind though it's articulation is in line with the other WFM kits, which means it's great and really helps it shine in the air (also it does come with a stand).

The sticker sheet is a decent size to include the full range of Permet Scores to pick from, I have the deactivated black ones on here but you can also use Red (score 2+) or Blue (score 6+). Not too many accessories here, some long and short beam blade effects and again another great beam rifle (with an extra gimmick I didn't know it had), but the star of the show is the effect parts to make the connected data storm. Even with just two it takes up a good amount of airspace, any more than that and I wouldn't know where or how to display them so for now I'm okay with just the two.

With that I'm up to seven new WFM kits that are p-bandai exclusive, and with the Beguir-Beu Torche (a variant from the Vanadis Heart manga) coming soon along with the recently announced (and currently up for preorder on p-bandai) Desultor, we may end up with nearly all of the suits from the show getting a kit. Which is great! At the cost of them being p-bandai releases, which is not. Unfortunately I don't see that changing any time soon. Either way I'm happy we're getting these as kits at all.

Next time I'll have my most recent painted project, and it'll hopefully not take as long to post about. Until then, I hope you enjoy! ✌🏼

[seldomscilence16]

Alright so this all started with a lego set at work, turned into a long ass intro, then its 11 on Christmas Eve and I decide to just do the Christmas snippet and finish the rest/context later.

So please ignore spelling 😬 and Happy Holidays all! Also TW for a bit of Racism at one point, theres a bullying scene but a short one. "Well if it isnt..." is where it starts and "there a problem here." Is where it ends.

Hope you enjoy this snippet! Stay safe everyone and thank @autisticlancemcclain for the Bug boy Lance!

...

Lance could kick himself.

He knows better than this. He knows what happens, he knows that once they get what they want, they'll leave.

And yet, here he is, spending hard earned money, on four classmates. Sure he'd saved them for last, focusing on his families gifts first and foremost- its the main reason he got the job, part going to saving for emergencies, the rest to spend on Christmas- but he was doing the thing he'd sworn off.

No people. People hurt and use and lie and tease. Lance was supposed to he strong until college, his fresh start, but then these four had to go and be NICE and do their part and- yeah the bar was really low...

"This isnt going to end well." He mumbles, the hustle and bustle of the mall overwhelming with holiday traffic and leaving him worn out before he even enters an actual store.

He scans aisle after aisle, berating himself for putting so much thought into something he wasnt even supposed to be doing. His eye catches something green and he comes to a halt. Its legos, one of those collectors sets that costs an arm and a leg, but Lance hadn't even known Lego did THIS.

'The insect collection'.

"Blue Morpho Butterfly, Hercules Beetle, and a Chinese Mantis." He breathes in awe, eyes scanning every detail.

"Well if it isnt Mclame."

His head snaps up, a group of classmates before him, most of which are his very reason for his No People rule.

"Still a freak about bugs I see, surprised you havent married one yet- maybe even they dont want you!" He snorts when he laughs, a strange noise from the back of his throat that remind Lance of a Donkey or Pig.

"Not like he could even afford it, if you want you can have your mom come clean my house." One girl taunts from the back, Lances blood boiling at the blatent racist remark despite Lance's CUBAN heritage.

"If you do have money to spare you should buy me lunch instead, for having to be in your vecinity for this long." Another boy plugs his nose, like he showers every day. Lance sits behind him in English, and he does not.

"There a problem here kids?" A man in the mall security uniform eyes them all carefully, eyes giving Lance a once over that makes him uncomfortable.

"No sir." He replies polity, deciding another store may hold better finding anyway- at least better company.

....

Lance's budget was low to begin with, but eventually he comes up with ideas for the four.

It starts with Hunks treats. The things that get them through their library sessions when the projects blur. And Lances job allows him access to plenty of people who would love to share things with anyone who will listen. So painstakingly, Lance translates recipes to paper as the older generations he enteracts with give him a little baking show.

Shiro's, surprisingly, comes next. A single comment about how much he hates ruined shirt sleeves, as they get caught on his prosthetic port. Its winter, and tank tops simply wont do, so Lance finds himself knitting in his spare time. Doing hours of research to see what possibilities will be the most comfortable, with of course a very lame joke on the front.

Pidge's was an accident. Lance's bike- sabataged it would seem- leaves him crashing off path in a ditch on his way home from work. He ends up limping his way through thick folliage, dragging a broken bike in the late hours of the afternoon. The little squeak is almost ignored, the second one however, well its Lance.

The little thing is a puffball, Lance was almost sure it was a toupé, until it moved and blinked at him. He thinks its a dog, no idea what kind, but its tiny and fluffy and following him home. Lance has three allergic family members, but Pidge mentioned a family dog who had sadly passed away and nearly broke Lances heart. The green eyes tell him this little thing will be a lovely match.

Keith is the hardest. Lance honestly almost buys a knife, because the guy is a conspiracy theorist and gets into way too much trouble not to have a few knives on him. But it doesnt seem right.

But Lance see's how often he doodles.

Freakin gorgeous doodles.

Then he finds the brand 'Keff Artistry' and its too close to 'Keef' for Lance to pass up.

...

He almost tells his family to simply lock him up and burn the gifts, but then they'd be worried and he's trying to avoid that thank you, hes been doing an excellent job masking his turmoil thus far.

So, the day before Christmas Eve, Lance gathers his gifts in trembling hands, and slips out of the house unseen. If this turns into a mess, he'll deal with it himself this time. He has to grow up eventually, he cant keep crying about bullies to his family, its not a big deal anyway.

"What the heck happened to your face!?" Pidge's incredulous tone has everyone eyes snapping towards said face.

"Its nothing, bike accident." Lance shrugs it off, as he'd done when he'd come home with it, he had too little proof anyway. Anyone could have carved 'McLame' into the side of it.

"Accident huh?" Its mumbled by someone, but Lance cant place it and decidedly ignores it anyway.

"I uh... have gifts... for you guys." He changes the subject, directing the attention to the bags he carries.

"For us?" Hunk asks, eyes wide and sparkly, "You know you didnt have to buddy."

Well, supposedly.

"Yeah, its not much, but uh, here." He hands them out carefully, extra careful with Pidge's.

"Guess its a good thing we brought ours to you then." Shiro says, pulling a wrapped box from the spare chair.

Lance's eyebrows furrow, staring at the box in confusion, perhaps with a little trepidation,

"You guys got me something?"

"Yeah! We all pitched in!" Pidge grins at him, something she does sparingly- grin that is.

He takes it with clammy hands, still shaking ever so slightly. He holds it to his chest as he watches the others open their bags, watches their faces carefully.

Hunk holds the hand bound book tenderly, eyes shining as he flips through the pages carefully.

Shiro stares in awe at his sweater, a chuckle escaping him as he runs his fingers over the soft material.

Pidge squeaks, as the small dog bumps its head against her face, cold nose sniffing excitedly. She holds the animal close, the dog snuggling up like he always belonged there.

Keith is staring at his gift. The art set held half out of the bag, as if he hadnt been expecting it. He turns wide eyes towards Lance, and the cuban can see the emotions there.

This is one of Lance's favorite parts about giving. When he did good in the eyes of the reciever, when they LIKE what he gave, genuinely. No matter its monetary value.

"Lance, this is amazing." Shiro breaks the silence, turning wide eyes his way, smile big and bright and real.

"I cant imagine how long this took, this is amazing! I havent even heard of some of these!!!" Hunk is tearing up, book hugged to his chest, grinning at Lance like he'd been given a great treasure.

"I cant believe you got me a dog! He's just a little puff!" The excitement is so nice to hear, its practically contageous.

"I... havent recieved something this nice from anyone but family before. Thanks Lance." Keith is downright shy as he admits this little fact about himself, and Lance could cry.

"I'm... really glad you guys like them."

"Now open yours!" Hunk encourages quickly, sitting to watch him intently, practically vibrating.

Lance could almost feel scared, but....

He allows himself a little hope.

He opens the paper gingerly, savoring his first gift from anyone outside of family. A corner is revealed, familiar for some reason, another inch-

Lego Ideas The Insect Collection.

"What-" It comes out choked, shock clear on his face.

Is it a joke? Are they mocking him? It was expensive, theres no way they'd spend that much on a joke right?

"Its the one you wanted right?" Pidge asks, a slight pinch to her brow.

"We only saw you from across the mall, so we didn't know- You're crying oh Gods, whats wrong Buddy-" Shiro Panics, quickly kneeling by the chair Lance had collapsed into.

"I don- Why- I can't- "

"Breathe! Come on-" Hunk exagerates his own, encouraging Lance gently to follow as he chokes on tears and air and spit alike.

"Its not a joke right?" He finally gets out, looking pleadingly to the group, running a reverant hand across the box, "You did this to be nice?" He can hear the vulnurability in his own voice, but he's about a second from breaking completely.

"Yes, yes, of course! All 1,111 pieces are inside!" Shiro assures quickly, rubbing a soothing hand over his shoulder and arm.

It gets a wet chuckle from Lance, as he pulls the box to his chest once more.

"No ones... thank you so much, I can't... can't tell you how much this means." He wipe at his face, "I'll repay you, I promise-"

"Hey, its a gift Lance." Keith says, voice softer than ever, "We wanted to get it for you."

"Merry Christmas Lance."

"Merry Christmas."

[fantasyfantasygames]

Amazons

Amazons, Warrior Women Games, 2006

As one would expect, you play Amazons in this game - women from out of Greek myth.* You're warriors, hunters, scouts, sailors, and sages. There's only one supernatural power involved (which I'll get into later), so no witches or demigods or anything.

Your characters are defined by a fairly standard set of attributes and skills - Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Spear, Archery, Stealth, etc. All of them are done with a pyramidal cost scheme. As a result, it's easy to build a group where your characters overlap too much. It costs the same number of points to buy a 10-point skill (rolling 1d10x10) as it does to buy two skills at 8 and 6 (1d10x8 and 1d10x6), and the 8 and 6 are generally high enough to hit the typical target numbers. I think what I'm trying to say is that the game could really use a better approach to handling character archetypes, both for flavor purposes and for niche protection.

As mentioned, the game uses multiplication, which you'll either be fine with or will really bother you. Since it's dice-times-stat instead of dice-times-dice, the probability distribution is fairly flat, and you don't have weird statistics stuff going on. You do get margin-of-success effects from rolling higher, but you don't actually have to do two-digit subtraction. Instead, you get one "rank" of success for every point by which the tens place in your result is higher than the tens in your opponent's result. You roll a 25 and they have a 48? They have a rank-2 success. Same if you roll a 28 and they have a 40. Ranks get you damage, but also duration and effectiveness for other types of roll. It's a little weird at low values - a 12 and an 18 get you a tie even though one is 50% higher than the other - but it works well for higher values.

The particularly cool part of the game is that you play in two time periods simultaneously: ancient Greece and modern-day Athens. Your characters went "through" the Oracle at Delphi (is that how that works??) and are experiencing parallel events. When they run into a businessman in the modern day, they meet a merchant in ancient Greece. A Spartan warrior might become a rich but violent criminal. They see both things happening at once, and the GM is encouraged to mix the two in their descriptions. Philosophers arguing in the shadow of concrete and steel. Ocean liners passing by sailing vessels. It's an interesting conceit, and it gives you some cool ways to solve problems in one time by approaching them i the other.

Typical antagonists are "cruel people in positions of power" - slavers, price-gouging traders, sadistic princes, petty senators, etc. Several examples are statted up, along with their entourages. There isn't much discussion of what the backlash is going to be from your characters going after those people and their well-trained bodyguards. Like a lot of this game, the surface level is presented and any implications are left to the GM and their table.

As we leave this review, it may be interesting to know that Warrior Women Games was two cis men in their twenties. The game is written with respect, but without personal experience. There's no major misogyny here, no particular fetishization or anti-feminist rhetoric involved. There's also no real punch to the fact that you're actually playing women. On the one hand - awesome! The game treats your women characters just like it would treat men characters. Straight-up equality. On the other hand, there's a missed opportunity to dig into how your ancient women experience the modern world. There's no discussion of what has changed and what has not since the (admittedly fictional*) time of the Amazons. I think a game written by someone able to delve into that experience more might be more compelling. But I'll at least give it credit for not having fallen into a number of traps that plague other men-written-women-centric games. You're not going to cringe reading this.

*Edit to add, March 2024: Maybe the Amazons are not as fictional as I thought! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/24/truth-behind-the-myths-amazon-warrior-women-of-greek-legend-may-really-have-existed

[the-takosader]

So, What Next?

Yeah, the title says everything: what's next in my adventures with guitar? Well, there's a few ideas on the table.

And by "a few", I mean "I've got 5 total ideas and they're all fighting for dominance." I wish that were false, but here we are.

So, let's list each one, front to back.

Fender Marauder build

Attempting to recreate John Lennon's modded Les Paul Jr. from a kit

Gretsch Country Gentleman build

Telecaster Bass VI build

Getting (and subsequently modding) an Epiphone Casino.

To fuck with logic and sensibility, let's go from the bottom and work our way up. Also, warning to everyone: this is going to be a VERY long post.

Epiphone Casino mod

You might recognise the Epiphone Casino from when I talked about my first project on here: the Fretless Stratocaster (which I'm hoping to refinish at some point).

The Casino is what I wanted to work with originally as a kit, instead of the Strat that I ended up using. However, I discovered something: you can't actually get a thinline hollow-body guitar as a kit because it's likely (not 100% on this) too niche of an interest for a first - or second-time builder.

This, as you could probably guess, was a massive disappointment to 16-year-old me, but now, 2 years later, I've kinda stopped with the whole "kitbash" thing. I know I listed the LPJr. kit build above, but that's gonna be a hell of a thing to do. More on that later.

Anyway, why would I buy instead of build in this case? To answer that, we need to talk about parallel universes the feasibility of making a fully hollow guitar, from scratch. Also capitalism.

So, what does building a hollow-body guitar actually entail? Well, I'm glad you asked, dear reader, because, as it turns out, quite a hell of a lot goes into building one. First, you have to have a veneer press. Yes, seriously. Why? Because you'll never get a solid top on a guitar that looks like this:

Now, this isn't to say that there aren't solid-top electric semi/fully hollow guitars out there. I'd venture to guess that Höfner do a bunch, just because they do both violins and guitars & basses. In fact, I know the Violin Bass (500/1 my beloved) has a solid spruce top, just because I've spent way too much time checking Thomann to see what they have in stock. But that's neither here nor there.

The Casino has a 5-ply maple body. Yes, five. That's 5 sheets of wood for the top, sides and back, which are pressed into formation to make the Casino. If I remember correctly, the top is made of a veneer sandwich of maple and poplar. I could be wrong, or I could be thinking of what Gibson have done. Either one is possible.

Anyway, where does capitalism come into this? It comes in when you ask "How much would all of this cost?" The short answer is "more than it'd be worth to do it." Not only do you have to find how to press veneers together in such a way that you can make the arched (yes, the top is pressed into its arch, it's not carved out) top, but you also have to source the equipment required to do so, and the veneers themselves. It's way too much hassle, money, and general effort for what would generally be a one-off build.

So that's why I'm not approaching the Casino from the angle of building it. Now, onto what I'd actually do to the thing.

Y'ever wonder why Gibson/Epiphone never stuck a PAF in the ES-330/Casino? I have! There's no definite answer to the question, sadly. In my personal opinion, I think it's because they were too scared to try it. It could, just as easily, be that they tried that, and came to the conclusion that it just didn't work, but I personally prefer the idea that it's the former, because Gibson haven't done shit in terms of new stuff. And before you reply with "What about the Theodore," may I remind you that that was stuffed in McCarty's desk for a reason (that being that it's fucking ugly jfc Gibson).

But yeah, this is the main plan: get a Casino, take out the old P90s, and put something like these things in there. Best part, the dogear covers are curved for such use!

Okay, Moving On.

The Telecaster Bass VI

This one is slightly more unique than the Casino build.

So, you remember the Cherry Telecaster XII build? Yeah, the one that required the use of a separate guitar body. I haven't got rid of that original body. It's still sat, waiting to be used. So, what's the plan?

I have some spare parts that I was so graciously given, including a set of tuning machines, a set of Telecaster pickups, ash-tray and saddles. These will all get used in the process of building the TB6. But you might be wondering - what about the neck?

Y'see, the interesting thing about this is that I want to gain experience in building guitars, not just cobbling together kits and calling it a day. I want to learn how to make a guitar from scratch. Part of that, in turn, means learning how to cut and shape a neck, and how to actually do frets.

This is where the kitbashing was supposed to end. However, I got kinda invested in the whole Lennon Les Paul Jr. thing, and that's my hard cutoff point in this case. I hope.

But enough about that, what does this actually entail?

The build entails constructing a neck from scratch, mainly, and modding the remaining pieces in order to smoothly fit the spare parts. That's it.

There's also the deal about finishes, personal touches and all that funk, jazz, and funky jazz, but the main thing to keep in mind is that this is kinda a one-off, and I'll most likely make shit up as I go. That's why this section is so much shorter than the previous one.

Next on the list...

Gretsch Country Gentleman build

This one is a shelved build, but still on the list.

The Gretsch Country Gentleman (numbered as the G6122 by Gretsch) is the signature model of guitar for the late Chet Atkins, one of the most famous American country guitarists of the mid-to-late 1950s.

It also costs, brand new, US$3,499. As much as I like the sound of the guitar, I don't want to even touch that price point, because JESUS CHRIST that's expensive. So what's the next best thing? Why, building it, of course?

Here, we run into the same issue as with the Casino: materials and methods being really expensive. But where the Casino costs less than a grand, this costs US$3,499. In this case, it's worth it.

The Country Gentleman has more documentation, as well as features, so let's run through those:

Bigsby B6 vibrato tailpiece

2 Filter'Trons (TV Jones Classics, in this case)

Mudswitch

Pickup selector

Standby switch

Flip-up foam mutes

Roller bridge for added tuning stability

ElectroTone body (thinline chambered hollow body)

Zero fret

Grover Imperial tuners

For a non-guitar nerd, that might sound weird. Let me break it further down.

The mudswitch has 3 options: no tone circuit factored in (bright as can be), ~9 on a tone knob, and ~5 on a tone knob; the standby switch cuts the signal from the guitar when you don't want your guitar making noise (like in between songs on a live set); the flip-up mutes allow the simulation of palm muting while not needing your hand to constantly rest on the bridge.

As for the rest of the features, they're not exactly important, and also, did I mention that this was a shelved project? The whole reason is that there's a little too much required work for right now.

Next!

Attempting to Recreate John Lennon's Les Paul Junior from a kit

This one is far easier, because most of the leg-work is already done for me.

Firstly, there was a recreation of his Junior back in 2007, done by Gibson themselves, so I can at least take from that to recreate it to my tastes. Secondly, I've a kit to bash this out of, so I can do most of the work without worrying about the rest of the guitar.

One small issue, however - this is the real thing:

Image source: https://www.mattsguitar.shop/en/vendues/gibson-custom-les-paul-junior-john-lennon

Now, you may be wondering, "Hey, um, what the fuck's that pickup in the neck?" That, my friend, is a recreation of the first electric pickup Gibson ever made: the Charlie Christian pickup.

It's technically the ES-150 pickup, designed in 1936, and gaining its common name through the wholesale adoption by famous jazz and bebop guitarist Charlie Christian. Sit back, folks, this one's a doozy.

The original pickups were built using 2 cobalt steel bar magnets, as AlNiCo magnets weren't widespread knowledge at the time, and were used to not only hold the pickup together, but also keep it attached to the top of the guitar. Remember, this was Gibson's first electric pickup, the P90 wouldn't be invented for another 10 years.

They were also wound with an incredibly thick gauge of wire: 38awg. In comparison, modern pickups are wound with either 42 or 43awg. It's not like extreme wire gauges weren't common at the time - Rickenbacker were using 53awg for their pickups for a long while. The only reason they stopped is because they hand-wound their pickups, and 53awg is such an incredibly thin wire, it's prone to breaking with incredible ease.

Anyway, because the pickup uses such large magnets and large wire coils, it's actually rather inefficient. Due to this, it only averaged out a DC resistance of 2.5-4k Ohms, with examples of 1.1-1.5k Ohms being very common.

Now, that's all fine, nor is it my issue. My issue is with the pickup that was used, because he somehow found a lefty pickup??? and he put it in the neck position upside down?????

Okay that needs explaining. How do I know it's a lefty pickup? Because it has this little notch where it'd pass under the B string. You'll find the same sorta thing on a Strat pickup, the pole under the B string is much lower than the others. But the thing about this is that the gap just... goes under the A string instead??? Either John got real lucky, or he asked Gibson to make him one. And either way, I cannot find one that could replicate that, which is why this build is an attempt at a replica.

Okay, last, but CERTAINLY not least.

Fender Marauder build

This one is much less of a doozy than the pickup and the Les Paul Junior. Let's dive in.

First, I need to explain one concept - the offset guitar body. Leo Fender, by all measures, was Fucking Insane by guitar standards. In a good way, that is. He designed the Fender company's biggest guitars just on the concept of improving through feedback. Take the Stratocaster for example: that was designed based on the feedback of wanting:

a vibrato system that could do what the Bigsby could, then return to tuning with ease.

individually adjustable saddles.

a more comfortable body than the slab of the Telecaster.

That's where the Strat came from, but where'd Leo get the idea for this thing, then?

In short, it was Leo getting further into the whole "improvements" thing. Larger pickups for a more defined response, a lead/rhythm circuit that emphasised an individual pickup in the switching, with which the volume and tone became pickup-specific, and a vibrato that was, in theory, easier to use and produce, meaning no need for back routing.

And y'know, he didn't get rid of everything from the Strat. He kept the body contours, the individually adjustible saddles, but he made one interesting change: the body wasn't aligned anymore. Notice the parts where the body curves inwards, around the waist of the guitar. That's the offset.

And, to his credit, the Jazzmaster was the first example of the offset guitar, with the biggest competitor (Gibson) not making a response until 5 years later, in 1963. Their response, being the Thunderbird bass and Firebird guitar, were the first example of a reverse offset, where the lower half of the guitar is more prominent than the upper half.

It was also designed by Ray Dietrich if you're wondering why it looks so off for a guitar. It's barely even offset!

So anyway, the Jazzmaster was the first of many offsets that Fender produced. There was also the:

Jazz Bass

Jaguar

Bass VI

Mustang

Electric XII

Marauder

Now, most of these have become mainstays of the Fender/Squier line-up over the years, except for that last one - the Marauder. Why? Because the Marauder never saw full production, and all the prototypes ended up going into the personal collection of Quilla "Porky" Freeman. A few have appeared here and there since then, but the model never got its time in the limelight.

Oh, sure there was the Modern Player Marauder back in 2010, but good golly gosh, wouldn't you believe it, that got none of the unique features!

Let's compare what it could have been to what it ended up as.

The Type II (2 different images because of the different headstocks)...

And the Modern Player.

Yeah, it's not exactly a competition between them in terms of features. It got done dirty with the reisue.

In case you're confused:

The Marauder was to have individual 3-mode pickup switching, but got shafted with this 5-way blade switch

Planned to have a Mustang vibrato, but got a 6-screw Strat-style trem. I know the Type 1 prototype had the Strat-style trem, but come on, you could stand to at least give it something more unique.

Was to have a lead/rhythm circuit and a standby/kill switch, and got neither one.

Yeah, the Modern Player Marauder holds nary a candle to the prototypes.

So what's my plans for this build? There's many things in my head related to this, from finish and colour to what I'm going to make it with to whether or not I want to make this kinda Red Special-ish with a zero fret and a floating tremolo, or just use a Mustang vibrato.

I do, however, know what I want to do with the pickups! I have a third pickup from the person who gave me the pair of Telecaster pickups, a hot-rodded Broadcaster bridge pickup, which you can probably guess where that's going. However, what about the other 2 pickups?

As the middle pickup, I was thinking a Burns Tri-Sonic (the same pickup as the Red Special), but I'm not sure on the neck pickup. Maybe a Wide-Range Humbucker? Or maybe a PAF copy? It's a series of long and hard thoughts in this case.

So yeah, that's everything! Keep in mind that this is always subject to change. You'd be surprised what goes on in my head to do stuff like this.

[velvetshirtnumber3]

I am kind of late in posting this, but knowing that Non and Phee were a thing (and how much that makes it likely that Phee is helping the masked figure), and now Jin and Phee are sort of a thing, it makes me very curious about how Jin and Phee became a thing.

We now know that Phee knows who Non is, so he was lying to the whole group in the beginning. Not only did he know him, but it seems like he was also in love with him, so he obviously would care a lot about what may have happened to Non, and also knew it was involving this specific group. They is a very high chance that Phee is working with someone to get revenge on the group for whatever happened to Non.

I'll come back to that in a second; right now I want to focus on Jin. His relationship with Non is at the moment the most mysterious. The rest of that original group of five clearly don't like him that much, but Jin is a bit more complicated. He is very nice to him, and after the last episode, with that one look he gave Non while they were working on the project, he may have even started to have feelings for him. However, Jin also doesn't seem to try and stop the rest of his friend's bullying of Non. He does ask them to be nicer a couple times, but he does nothing while the bullying is actually happening, and only really interacts with Non while he and Non are alone. While I could consider that he is scared to stand up to his friends or something, that still doesn't totally excuse him, especially since he encourages Non to continue helping the group with the short film, even after he sees how his friends are treating him.

And in the present, we see that Jin is still friends with that same group, who we also know did something awful to Non. Jin is one of the people who is flat out against revealing anything to do with Non to everyone. I do think that cared about Non at some point, but clearly it wasn't enough to truly keep him safe or happy. So maybe something happened in the past that resulted in him completely stopping caring about Non. (Wouldn't it be interesting if Jin really had a crush, Non rejected him because he liked/was dating Phee, and Jin turned on him? And then later started up a fwb arrangment with Phee not knowing Phee's link to Non?)

OR, Jin is one of the people working on the revenge plot. I don't necessarily buy this theory because Jin a. seems genuinely freaked on, and b. the scene where he and Phee are stuck in the coffin. It seems pretty evident that Phee is helping with the revenge plot, and if Jin was helping there would be no reason for the both of them to be so terrified that they got stuck in a coffin hiding from the masked figure.

It's not really clear how much of a target Jin is (and he better hope he isn't much because the last we saw of him he was stuck with Phee, who might be helping with the revenge, and who Jin isn't going to doubt, making him a potentially easy target). It seems like the inciting incident is the fact that Jin is moving away and the whole original friend isn't going to be together again for a long time. So Jin is clearly relevant in some way.

Another thing I find interesting is that fact that Phee and Jin have a relationship, given the assumption Phee is part of the revenge plot.

No one in that group in the woods seems to believe Phee would know who Non is, which means Phee likely never really interacted with them in the past including Jin. This means Phee also likely doesn't know who exactly was treating Non awfully in a specific sense; he probably knows it was by the group in general, and that based on assumptions because Non doesn't seem like a person who wants people to worry about him, even at cost to himself. Yet Phee starts a fwb relationship with Jin. Could this be a ploy to get closer and make the friend-group trust him or for information? Yes, but it seems like a lot for a teenager to go to. He didn't need to be anything more than friends with Jin, but he went beyond that.

And it is the fact that Phee would hate someone who had hurt Non, but he gets close to Jin. He purposefully seeks him out, as we saw in episode one, for no other reason than that he seems to like him. Phee seems to genuinely care about Jin, shown by instances such as when they are stuck in the coffin and Phee comforts him when he starts freaking out. How Phee acts with him just doesn't line up with the idea that Phee secretly hates him. I think this means that Non must have specifically mentioned Jin in a positive way to Phee.

I guess we'll see soon what role Phee plays in the past with the next episode!

[notsosilentsister]

The Diplomat

I kinda get why one might keep the awful husband around - he's a loose cannon who gets results, an asset as much as a liability. And while Kate often disagrees with him about the means, they do seem to be on the same page regarding the ends, which does matter, after all. You do get the sense that they share certain core values. So keeping him around is a high risk, high reward strategy.

It also seems like Kate's living a bit vicariously through him - she's so very restrained (as signified for instance by the eating disorder), and in a way he's a permission mechanism, sabotaging the restraint, and at the same time a cautionary tale, justifying the restraint. Maybe he's her Jungian shadow, doing what she doesn't allow herself to do. I also kinda get how you might love someone while not at all trusting them, and that always makes for an interesting dynamic. He still has to go - I'm on episode four - at least for a while, because I ship Kate with the State secretary. Competence porn, for sure, but I'm so jaded about politics at this point that it's starting to break my suspension of disbelief. People are all so professional, focussed on the task at hand. Sure, there may be some personal vanity involved on occasion, but the show does a good job showing how seemingly frivolous things can be valid concerns when you're in the business of reputation management. (Kate acknowledges that the presidend is right to worry about looking old and weak - there's an undeniable cost to it, it's just that the cost of a show of strength would be higher in this particular case). And sure, people fuck up, but so far all the fuck ups are the sort you easily might make when you have to make quick decisions based on insufficient information, and it's often easy to see how every alternative option could have led to something disastrous just as well. It want to see some unforced errors! But unforced errors are made at one's leisure, which no one has in this show and that brings me to my main issue: pacing and stakes. Which are too fast, and too high, respectively, for my taste. I tend to prefer the sort of character study, where characters get some room to breathe (and rope to hang themselves with; for that, you gotta cut them some slack). That's what I really loved about the Americans, where the pace could ramp up to nail-biting degrees at the drop of a hat, but also linger, allow for a slow, downright torturous build-up of tension, for treacherous lulls in the action, a temptation to succumb to the lure of mundanity, the American dream in suburbia, a false sense of security. You might easily lose track of something, that would later come back to bite you in the ass, which added to the suspense, and made the sudden eruptions of violence, always simmering below the surface, seem more shocking and at the same time more inevitable, less contrived. I always kinda had to steel myself to watch the Americans and would be left reeling for a while after a lot of episodes. Well, this is more of a comedy, but the pace for me is is too constant, I guess. I'm also not sure that I buy into the central thesis as formulated by the awful husband, that the person most suited for power is the one being thrust into it by circumstances instead of actively seeking it out. It's a very popular sentiment (why your average hero first has to refuse the call), but a bit too romantic for my taste. 

I mean, obviously you'd want someone in power who sees power only as a means to an end - to protect, to promote - and not as an end in itself. But that seems less about "wanting power" vs "not wanting power" and more about what precisely one might want the power for. And personally, I do actually feel more comfortable with someone in power who does care enough about power to study it, to find out how it works and how it doesn't work in any given situation, and who can hold onto it long enough to actually implement a proper reform. Being naive about power has never helped any cause. For what it's worth, I do think that both Hal and Kate actually care very much about power in this way. But right now, they both would rather be the power behind the throne, and that's not gonna work, because someone also has to sit on it. I mean, Kate would argueably still be a power behind the throne as a VP, but one suspects that Hal's idea is more about Kate pulling the president's strings, and Hal pulling Kate's. It's a good conflict! Anyways, I would have always watched this for Kerri Russel no matter what, and would certainly watch another season as well.

[alex51324]

I'm wondering if I know anyone who knows (or is!) a leatherworker who takes commissions, and is relatively inexpensive?

I have something I want made, but after poking around on Etsy, I get the impression that my budget is on the low side for what I have in mind--unless maybe I can luck into a situation where somebody is motivated to accommodate a price-sensitive customer. (Like, for instance, maybe an experienced hobbyist in this craft, who is just starting/thinking about starting to take commissions, and would do it for somewhat less than a fully-established craftsperson would charge, with the understanding that I will be a patient, supportive, and encouraging type of customer.)

I will describe the project, and that way if you know somebody who might be interested, you can share the details (or if I'm so wildly off-base about what it would potentially cost that I might as well banish the thought from my mind, you can tell me that, too).

I have this thermos, that I got for Christmas, and I like it very much--it keeps things hot for about 12 hours, and does not leak--but it's bigger and heavier than I expected, and I kind of wish I had asked for the one with the handle.

So what I would like is a sort of carrying case/handle. The catch is, it would only cost me about $45 to just buy a whole new bottle that already has a handle. I'd be willing to pay somewhere around that much to upgrade the bottle I already have--it seems wasteful to buy a new one when mine is almost new and perfectly good, and they don't have this color in the model with the handle--but I can't really justify going much over.

As proof-of-concept, I recently crocheted a handle, which kind of works but looks terrible:

I could probably do a little better than that, if I use better yarn and crochet it more tightly, but what I'd really like is "basically this, but made of leather of some kind."

Here's a view of it without the bottle in:

There's a sort of cup at the bottom, that fits fairly snugly around the base of the bottle, and then two straps that go up either side, to a band that fits around the upper part of the bottle. Leather being considerably less stretchy than crochet, I think there would probably need to be a buckle on the top band--with the crochet one, it just pulls on over top. It may also make sense for the handle and the vertical straps to be two separate pieces: again, with the crochet, it works this way because of the stretchiness.

Like this:

The blue is the actual thermos, and the scribbled-in-pencil is what the carrier/handle would look like.

And maybe, if it doesn't add too much to to the cost/difficulty, a couple of little D-rings, where the arrows are, to which a shoulder strap could be attached. (I might need to come back later for the shoulder strap, depending on how much it would cost.)

So that's about what I have in mind--but I'm also open to other ideas, if there's a different design that would be more practical or etc.

And I'm not at all fussy about color/texture/etc., so if there's someone who could give me a price break for, for instance, using materials left over from a bigger project, that would work perfectly for me. (I mean, if it's like lime green or something, I'd have to think about it, but any color that is typical for leather items would be fine by me.)

[danonrealestate]

The California Effect and the opportunities it provides

This has been a phenomenon for some time that a lot of real estate agents are jumping on, especially in Arizona and Nevada. So basically the California effect is a migrational pattern of Californians who leave the state for financial and personal reasons and settle into states like Nevada, Arizona and Texas.

The fear of a lot of these residents stems from the fact that there are now so many Californians that the rents and prices are going up. I’ve read comments by a lot of different people who talk about how rents in Northern Arizona have went up by 300% because of the influx of Californians.

It is kind of a very interesting pattern of people and has shown that where Californians settle they usually turn the area similar into California subconsciously and without even thinking.

Take the phenomenon in Austin, Texas for example, many many Californians went to that one specific area and a lot of large California companies followed suit and eventually turned that area into the next Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It’s interesting because there is a phenomenon about California where it is so big to the point that it has influence throughout the rest of the country. And it shows that it has more influence in neighboring states than Texas does in neighboring states there.

Although Idaho was hit much more by this phenomenon, Utah remains relatively untouched. Probably due to Utah having a very strong Mormon Identity and culture.

So who’s moving into California? Mostly the very wealthy and the very poor. California has a huge homeless problem where a lot of homeless from all over the country tend to migrate to California for safe havens but also very wealthy people migrate as well.

Which is why an apartment in the worst part of town is now costing 2000$ a month. Where does this come into effect and to understand this phenomenon? This is actually not a planned phenomena, this is more of a cause and effect for the difficulties of not being able to live in California.

Whether you believe Newsom is a good governor or not, there will always be a problem of migration going out of the state. It is starting to become a state where the incredibly wealthy are taking up the land and the resources, thus making it harder to work on.

Eventually you will begin to see a lot of the effects of Californians moving to these areas in droves and you will begin to see things become different.

Although we talk about the bad things, this can actually be a very good thing for an entrepreneur in the area who wishes to take his trade or craft to the next level and be able to work with Californians. If you’re an electrician, this is great for business! If you’re an auto technician, more cars with more miles on them!

Manufacturing coming to your area may also expand as you will begin to see more people come to your area and how exactly to cater to them. I myself will never leave California except for college but I have seen a lot of the world myself and it’s quite unique in a way.

If you play with stocks this might be perfect as well as you will be able to work in more markets. A new share market is starting to expand as well, the first app I use, Landa, focuses entirely on buying shares of houses and being able to see the dividends come in. I love the app actually and have been buying a lot more shares in Georgia. Georgia has an increase meanwhile shares for houses in Alabama don’t seem to be going up at all. New York is very matured now but will see more growth later on.

So there is a lot of opportunity here and over time you will see it grow. It becomes more apparent as things change and you will see more waves from other areas come in.

[the-writing-ninja]

Monthly shopping shenanigans!

(Cole, Jay and Kai are doing groceries for the gang and are being stupid while doing so) (ft. writer finally writing something not tear inducing for once)

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[It is a regular sunday morning. The Black, Blue and Red ninja have all been assigned this month's shopping and are currently on their way to the city markets.]

Jay: Awwwugh! I reaallly don't like grocery shopping.. It's so boring!

Kai: Yeah, especially when you have to "stick to the list".

Cole: It's not that bad guys, besides the list does allow us to buy snacks of our choice!

Kai: Do you ever think of anything outside of food?

Cole: Hey, who doesn't enjoy a good slice o' cake?

Jay: It's never just one slice with you.

Cole: Hey!

[Kai and Jay laugh.]

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[Upon reaching the markets, they split off and quickly start their quest of ticking off all the items from the list as fast as they can.]

[Kai heads to the vegetable vendor, Jay goes to the supermarket and Cole walks over to the bakery and sweets shop.]

[There are some people around the vegetable vendor. Kai enters the crowd and speaks.]

Kai: Hey bud! How much for the tomatoes?

Vendor: A dollar each.

Kai: A DOLLAR EACH???

Vendor: Take it or leave it.

Kai: 70 cents.

Vendor: A dollar.

Kai: 75 cents.

Vendor: A dollar.

Kai: 80 cents.

Vendor: A dollar and 20 cents.

Kai: FINE.

Kai:

Kai: no wait-

Vendor: Brilliant! Thankyou for shopping with us, here are your 2 dozen tomatoes. We have a line waiting! See you later!

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[As mentioned before, Cole is in the bakery buying some sweets. Mainly because he knows what all the gang's favorite snacks are. And also maybe because he gets to sample some of them but who can say for sure right?]

Cole: Ohohohhh man,, Chocolate or Chocolate chip?? Both of them look good. [Sigh] But Cole you don't have enough money for both...

Cole: Well I guess classic Chocolate will have to do th-

[While Cole is busy talking to himself he hears the bakery's door burst open.]

Kai: COOOOOOOOOOLLLLLEEEEEEEE.

Cole: Oh hey man! I see you got the veggies. Good job!

Kai: [Nervously] Th- Thanks. Man.

Cole:

Cole: Kai,

Cole: How much did they cost?

Kai: Uhm,, The carrots each were 45 cents. And the potatoes all together were 3 bucks and um yeah!

Cole:

Cole: ..and how much for the tomatoes?

Kai:

Cole: And how much for the tomatoes Kai?

Kai: 14 dollars

Cole: What was that? Didn't catch you there man.

Kai: 14 dollars-

Cole:

Kai: and 40 cents.

Cole:

Cole: Dude.

Kai: I may have,, bargained a little..

Cole: Yeah DUH I knew that the second I saw your face.

Kai: heh,,

Cole: Y'know what it was only my fault to send you to the vegetable guy.

Cole: You're the one who is explaining the 15 dollar increase in our bill to Nya and Master Wu by the way.

Kai: NO WAY.

Cole: UM? YES.

Cole: I'm not explainin this to Wu. And ESPECIALLY NOT NYA.

Kai: [fake crying]

Cole: Now go and see what Jay is up to.

Kai: [fake sniffs] Okay earth man, whatever you say..

[Kai leaves]

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[Jay is in the toiletries isle of the supermarket- wait no, that's 100% the arcade. Oh dear.]

Jay: HIGH SCORE!

[Kai finally stumbles upon Jay.]

Kai: Jay???

Jay: [Looking at the game] Hey Kai.

Kai: Isn't there something esle you should be doing right now instead???

Jay: I was trying to find the place where they keep the toiletries but I got lost. Did get the everything else mentioned in the list tho..

Jay: Then I found this old cabinet.

Jay: This gem is from the 80's Kai! I had to play her!!

Kai: Yeah don't ever say that again.

Jay: You want a go?

Kai: No Jay, unlike you, I actually do have work to do. [<- He doesn't]

Jay: Great then! Would you grab the toiletries for me too on the way then?

Kai: No. [Leaves]

Jay: Aw man. [Continues playing]

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[Kai meets up Cole once more.]

Kai: Ey Cole.

Cole: Yeah man?

Kai: Jay is playing arcade games instead of doing shopping.

Cole:

Cole: Well i'm done with my work, might aswell force him into doing his.

[They both head to Jay, who is still playing on the barely functioning cabinet.]

Cole: Boo.

Jay: AAAAAH!!

[Kai and Cole laugh.]

Jay: Oh it's only you guys.

Kai: Yeah it's us.

Cole: Jay did you get all your share of the things yet?

Jay: In a minute.

Cole: Well Kai and I are done so..

Jay: Okay okay i'm coming.

Cole: Alright then boys let's find em together then. We can finish early that way.

[He puts his hand infront if him and the other two follow and put their hands on top of his.]

All of them in unison: Ninjago!

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[Now gathered together, they all try to finish off Jay's part of the list as fast as possible.]

Kai: Kay then lightbulb, hit me with the first item.

Jay: Some facewash.

Cole: Lemme find ittt.... [He rummages throught the isle and-]

Cole: Got it!

Jay: Next up! Kai's hair gel lol.

Kai: I know where they keep it like the back of my hand. [He goes and gets it.]

Jay: Some sanitary napkins.

Kai: [reaching up the isle] Yeah we get these ones.

Cole: Anything else?

Jay: Yeah some soap and toothpaste and then we're done.

Jay: I'll get those. I know where they keep them.

Cole: Okay then we'll go and wait at the check out lane queue then.

Jay: Sure.

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[They pay and head back to the monastery.]

Nya: HOW DID YOU END UP PAYING 15 DOLLARS FOR TOMATOES??

Kai: SIS I PROMISE I CAN EXPLAIN!

[Chaos ensues.]

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[bvannn]

Weekly Update September 22, 2023

I’ve been all over the place this week but I think? I’m getting myself back together? Obviously the big news was that internship, I’m very excited for it, but because it’s next semester and not this semester it does leave me in a weird waiting game position. I was really hoping I’d be able to drop my bio course this semester because I’m terrible at bio but it is what it is, and if I have to get through one kinda crappy course to get the the internship, so be it. I also got the okay to go donate plasma again this week, so I can earn some more passive cash. I’m hoping to earn a spot at the chem stockroom too, but the delays with the internship may have cost me that opportunity. I’m still doing what I can though.

I’ve got a few drawings done this week, I want to do more but I am still battling exhaustion. I’ll try to get more done passively but I’m hitting a bit of art block in the way of just drawings, unfortunately. Maybe I’ll take a crack at inktober, but I don’t really know if dragging out my old ink pens and brushes would be worth it. I could do a non ink based one like artober or whatever but that just kinda feels like a copout. I’ll try to either pull together a comic or something in the way of OCs maybe, but I’m still prioritizing other projects.

Took another crack at music today, got the start of some drums and a guitar bass going, I’ll need to add an actual bass guitar and figure out some song structure but I’m getting close to going somewhere. Whatever it is probably won’t be very good because it’s a first try but once I get good and find my style I can always remaster it or whatever. Once I’ve built up some confidence I can take a crack at the other project I want to do. I don’t know if what I was doing on drums was even right but I can look at another little feature with komplete kontrol later to see if any of the samples there would help. I can also redo stuff as I go. Or maybe I’ll celebrate being able to donate plasma again by buying one of those fingertip gloves they make for archery, but instead I’ll use it to play guitar without slicing my untrained fingers. Or one of them grip training things, so I can learn those Van Halen style hammer ons. I need a fidget thing for plasma donation so it’s be useful there too.

Animation is going well. Jon is done for shot 1-3, Emile is almost done. Only reason I’m not finishing him tonight is because I’m tired. I forget if shot 1-4 or 1-5 or which one was the super prop heavy one I’m not looking forward to but it’s probably fine. Really I’d like to do an animation clip or something with my OCs after getting some music done but that’s a ways off. That’s why I want to do more with music but we’ll see how much time allows for that.

Waiting for internship and surgery is hitting hard so I might be in a bit of a slump for a while but I’m going to try to keep getting stuff done.

[spinningbuster98]

Dark Mantis is a stealth level where you have to avoid getting spotted and can barely see around you

So it sucks right? Well...not necessarily

You see X8 has some seriously explorative elements to its stages, even more so tha usual for an X game and this level has one of my favorite instances of this

So you may have noticed that you can choose between 3 navigators before any level (or choose none at all).

Pallette helps you with finding hidden stuff in stages and is IMO the most useful

Layer technically helps you with boss stategies but honestly her advice on them is useless. What's more useful is that she will chime in whenever you encounter an enemy that Axl can copy and will give you a hint on how you can use their abilities in the stage

It's not a perfect system but it is encouraged that you replay stages with different navigators to help you with fully exploring them

For example if you have Pallette she'll tell you that there's a hidden generator room in this level that you can activate in order to turn on the lights. You can find the entrance but there's a guard that won't let you pass

If you have Layer she'll tell you that Axl can copy the random Reploid enemies here and may use their resemblance to fool some of them

If you copy one of the grunts then the aforementioned guard will let you into the generator room, all you'll need then is Gigabolt Man O' War's weapon as Axl to jump start it and boom! No more darkness and no more search lights!

Moreover some previously hidden ceiling platforms will show up, one of which containing a very special weapon for Zero

The D-Glaive

The D-Glaive does one thing and one thing only: it doubles the length of Zero's attacks

No joke this alone makes Zero incredibly broken and solves all the issues I mentioned last time

No issue in hitting enemies if you can hit them from halfway across the room right?

And if you combine it with the ability you get from Dark Mantis itself Jesus Christ...

Gravity Antonion's level requires plenty of practice to master but can actually be pretty fun once you do: it's very platforming centric, and the enemy placement towards the end can get mean but the gravity gimmick is actually pretty well executed and has my favorite track of the main 8 stages

If you have Axl copy those guys near the start of the level, as Layer will inform you about, you can use their immunity to insta kill spikes to make some sections a hellofalot more comfortable (as long as you don't die otherwise you lose their copied DNA and can't go back to get it)

Bamboo Pandemonium has a rather fun gimmick: you can play through the entire stage with a Ride Armor (and a pretty damn fine one at that) as long as you're very precise with your platforming.

It can get very tricky and will require very good knowledge of the level and if you fuck up even once you'll lose the thing permanently unless one of the enemies drops theirs intact (which is random as far as I know).

However if you do succeed in bringing it all the way to the boss you can humiliate him faster than you can say "Magma Dragoon was here"

Also at this point Vile will start pestering you randomly. If he shows up in this level and you have the Ride Armor well....remember how this series started with him almost killing X with one of those?

Yeah turns out he doesn't like being on the receiving end

So this game has a shop much like Classic Mega Man and....it's fine?

I personally don't think it's necessary, the X series has always been more exploration focused than Classic, so having to buy health upgrades at a shop instead of just finding them in a stage feels less rewarding

Granted these levels still reward you plenty for exploration, mostly through Metals (this game's currency) or Rare Metals, which unlock power ups that you'll later have to buy at the shop

However most Rare Metals unlock stuff that is clearly meant for New Game Plus, like double defense or things of that nature and it costs an obnoxious amount of Metals

Stuff like Sub Tanks are also way harder to find than usual so instead the shop starts out with half life bottles which are the same except they heal you for less and can only be refilled at the shop

Again it's fine, it works well enough, I just think it was an unnecessary change

[naharie]

Some rambling thoughts on AI

I've seen a lot of strong reactions to recent AI innovations, whether it be people excited and enthusiastic declaring we are witnessing a new age, or those afraid, angry, or both, at what is and will happen. (And quite a number of the latter, especially on Tumblr.) And to some degree, both sides are understandable. AI can in fact, be used both for great good, and for great evil. However, the reactions of both parties are skewed and will almost certainly not get them to the goal they want to reach.

Since this is Tumblr, let's start with the negative side. What does this group want? For AI to be stopped from replacing human roles and jobs, especially creative ones. The general idea seems to be that we need careful and fairly immediate regulation (or some would argue a wholesale ban) of AI.

The first problem I see with regulating or banning AI is that it's incredibly unlikely to happen, at least in the US where many such companies are based. Mega corps already spend billions in lobbying for tax law changes and cuts, keeping down minimum wage, lowering what they have to to for employees, and really anything that will let them make even a little bit more profit. And like it or not, the reality is that in the long run it costs less to buy the machines, develop the software, maintain the machines, pay for electricity, ..., than it does to pay actual humans with the appropriate skills. (I know this doesn't talk about how well this is or isn't working for various fields, but we'll get to that later, trust me.)

Secondarily, unless the legislation was thorough (which is unlikely, for the same reasons as #1), companies will either find a loop hole to practically keep doing things exactly the same way. Or they'll do what they do with anything else they don't want to get in legal trouble for: outsource it. If the US bans or heavily regulates AI but doesn't carefully regulate the transmission, transport, and use, of AI goods, mega corp will simply move some of its servers oversees to somewhere without those rules, as a likely example, India.

And thirdly, it's delusional to imagine that even if thorough legislation is passed that it will actually mean all that much to mega corp. The fact that it would be illegal would not stop them in the slightest. If you have someone lived under a rock your entire life and don't believe me, go look up the union busting tactics and techniques used by big companies, restaurants, stores, and more.

Enough about that for now, though. Let's look at the other side, at least briefly: the people who are wholesale for AI. What do they want? The increased growth of AI, and for AI to become a much more integral part of our everyday lives. How is this to be done? Hype, throwing money at AI companies, and a lot of development work to build tooling on top of AI.

Now, what problems are there with this plan? As someone who likes having a least a little bit of privacy, where do I even begin. Perhaps with that. If AI is fully integrated with society, to a point where it is expected, the same way many businesses and websites expect you to have a smartphone, in many ways, privacy will be gone, at least so far as you relate to the government. If you somehow don't believe that modern governments spy on their citizens, even through corporations, I would advise you to learn about what happened with Snowden. He himself admits that it's not just the US, and even if it was, they collect about everyone, regardless of country, and then share it with the relevant government so they can get permission to keep doing it.

The second glaring issue that has yet to have a complete solution offered is the power cost of AI. Public data sources show that global power consumption went up by 25% just between 2000 and 2021, and it only continues to climb. And how, you may ask, is this power generated? By using (mostly burning) non renewable fuel sources. More than 60% of all the power in the world comes from non renewable sources. But what does that have to do with AI? AI is usually accelerated using either a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit (a.k.a a graphics card)) or dedicated hardware. In other words, some of the most power hungry computer hardware used by normal machines. There is only a finite amount of traditional fuel sources left, and the more power we need and generate from them, the less time we have left. I'm not saying countries shouldn't switch to nuclear. What I'm saying is that they seem to be unfortunately reluctant to, and if we don't, the other renewable sources will not keep up with AI, and we could potentially see a massive power crisis.

And that's not even speaking about stolen jobs. I think for this audience, I don't need to. People already know what's happening with WGA and artists, and if you don't, a quick google search should enlighten you enough our purposes.

So, what's the actual status of AI? Well, that depends on what field you are looking at. AI text generation/chat bots are doing...somewhat okay. What they can do is impressive, but still has lots of points of failure. And at least in the case of ChattGPT, OpenAI has admitted that they are nearing the limits of their current method. AI video generation is a new field and still has a long way to go before it becomes very promising at all. AI video manipulation is approaching realtime capability on modern hardware, AI sound work begins to equal that of less trained humans.

And of course, AI art is doing just fine for itself, thank you. They all have their limits of course. One big one for AI art is the limited number of tokens/words and therefore complexity of the prompt given. There are ways to partially mitigate this, but nothing complete yet. As an example, try to generate an image for the following prompt: "A cat on a skateboard riding a dragon, that is Smoug from the Hobbit, burning down a forest on the mountainside while flying down toward the lake on laketown, while in the bottom right corner there is a circle showing laketown where Bard stands at ease, holding out his bow and a singular arrow, looking out towards the mountain." Then, if you have enough money, hire an artist to make you a picture from the same prompt. It's not even a competition, one of them is clearly better, and its the artist's.

But wait you may say, this isn't a complete essay. You left out some of your proofs, arguments, and conclusions, and left us with something incomplete. To that I say: you are right, this is not an essay, it is a rambling combination of thoughts I've had, and I made revisit these points in the future if I or anyone else cares.

[bellmo15-blog]

Trying New Games and Franchises is Important

I want to ask you all a question. Do you remember what one of your earliest memories playing a video game was? Right now your probably thinking of either playing a video game console that a family member like a cousin or older relative had or the first video game console you ever owned or maybe even just seeing an arcade machine at some public place. Those examples tend to be pretty interchangeable I find.

For me though it’s definitely when I got my PlayStation 2, the very first video game console I ever owned, for Christmas back in 2000. And with that console not only did I also get Crash Bandicoot 3 and Spyro 3 since the PlayStation 2 was backwards compatible with PlayStation 1 games but also a demo disk containing previews of upcoming games at the time. And there were only really three games from that disk I remember that well. Jak and Daxter, Devil May Cry because of course I’d remember that and Klonoa 2 (which side note can I just say how fucking stupid it is that the original PlayStation 2 version of Klonoa 2 costs as much as it does second hand on Ebay when not only is it over 20 years old at this point but you can literally buy an enhanced version of both it and the first game for modern systems and around the same price of $70 AUD? I mean that’s not as bad as some second-hand games can sometimes go where they can reach into the 100’s for but still.) All of these demos on this disk, they were all different kinds of games of different styles and different tones and different genres, and I had no idea what any of them were going to be like until I played them. And I loved that! Not knowing what I was getting into, that sense of the unknown, was exciting to childhood me.

I still remember when I originally played that Klonoa 2 demo as a child. That dark and stormy first level with that music in the background contrasted with the almost marketable plushie like character designs only for the other playable level in this demo being this bright waterpark where your going down a water slide on a floating surfboard. I loved it and am still kicking myself over how it took me over 20 years to play the full version of this game and it wasn’t even the original release either.

And that wasn’t even the only Demo disk for the Playstation 2 I had. You see my parents actually got a subscription to a PlayStation Magazine for me during the 2000's and every issue they would come attached with a playable demo disk. And I had a lot of these which meant even if I wouldn’t get to play the full versions of these games until much later in my life for various reasons, (other games that were more interesting to me/was a child and didn’t have my own money/was literally at the mercy of my parents bank account) I still had the opportunity to play a short snipit of a lot of different kinds of games. Zone of the Enders, Prince of Persia The Sands of Time, the original God of War, fucking Dog’s Life! And Dog’s Life wasn’t a very good game to begin with! But guess what? Even though Dog’s Life is one of the games I admit I’m glad I never sought out the full version of it was still something I had never tried before then. Same with almost every other game on these disks I played. Some I would eventually get the full versions of and others I wouldn’t until I got much, much older. Or maybe not at all!

And then we have games where my parents just got me them as a surprise gift, ones that I had no idea existed until that point nor did I have any expectations prior to playing them like with Scaler or Super Paper Mario. And that’s what I loved about playing new games, trying something new! Trying something different! Experiencing something new and unique!

And that love for trying unknown, different, and unique experiences, that never left! It has remained as I grew into a teenager and then into an adult. Only difference is that now I have more access to the internet which… okay to be honest that’s been just as much of a curse as it has been a blessing because of how much toxicity, cancer and negativity I’ve sadly had to put up with over the years not to mention all the people who are so thin skinned they see everything as an attack on them because “THIS PERSION SAID SOMETHING I DON’T AGREE WITH! THIS PERSON POSTED SOMETHING I DON’T LIKE! THIS PERSON IS SAYING OR POSTING STUFF THAT ISN’T EVEN DIRECTED AT ME PERSONALLY! I’M UNDER ATTACK! PERSONAL ATTACK! I’M UNDER ATTACK!!!” but it has also opened up a lot more opportunities for new games for me.

“Oh, Nintendo is making a new third person shooter IP about human squid hybrids who use their own ink for their weapons? That could be interesting. What’s that? The people who made Sly Cooper and Infamous are making a new open world game based in feudal Japan about a samurai who’s forced to break his own code of honour to fight back agents the invading Mongols? That could be neat! Come again? The people who made Skullgirls are trying their hand at a RPG action platformer hybrid? Yeah, I’d be into trying that!”

And I am super happy for that because in my honest opinion, trying new kinds of games and new kinds of experiences is way, WAY better and way more important than just playing only one game or one kind of game for most of your life. Think about it, if I had played nothing but Classic Crash Bandicoot and Spyro then I might of never gotten into the Prince of Perisa games. If I had stuck to only playing Assassin’s Creed once I got into that series and it was the only thing I ever played then I doubt I would of given the Shantae series a try or fallen in love with it as much as I am now. If I had just stuck purely to the Tekken series for my fighting game fix then would I still of been willing to try the Soul Calibur series out? Seriously, imagen playing nothing but Call of Duty or Minecraft for over a decade and nothing else just because they are super popular franchises and in the formers case get yearly releases. How boring would it get to just play the same franchise for years on end where very little actually changes when there’s so many games getting released that you might find yourself enjoying if you gave them a chance?

And I think this is a really important mindset to have because more often than not I’ve seen more and more people saying stuff like “gaming isn’t good anymore” or “gaming isn’t fun anymore” or whatever other sayings people are going on about in terms of modern gaming being bad. Meanwhile, they say this while also playing only one or two kinds of games because it get’s them the most views on there YouTube channel and the most ad revenue and never having tried anything else to find the gold in the mound of shit. And obvious this isn’t me trying to defend the industry as it is now because there are A LOT of issues with it right now and a lot of trends that just make me want to commit nefarious deeds anytime they come up. From shit like live service, battle passes, microtransactions, re-releases of old games that somehow look worse than the original even though these releases are running on objectively better hard where. But in my experience in the past four years alone I have played more games that I have enjoyed the hell out of than I have games where I haven’t. Hades, No Straight Roads, Ghost of Tsushima, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Hi Fi Rush, and that’s just new types of experiences two or in the case of Animal Crossing one I haven’t gone through for a long time. If I included new games that belonged to franchises I was already into anyway like Ratchet and Clank, Super Mario and all that I’d be here for longer.

In fact, it feels like the only new releases people even get excited about anymore are just re-releases or remasters of older games they likely have already played anyway. And re-releases just on there own are one of those things where my opinion on it largely depends on the context. From the perspective of someone who might of never played that game before then yeah, it’s great that those games can find a new audience especially since many games I have played for the first time have been via a re-released version. Double so if those original copies cost way, WAY to much second hand to begin with. From the perspective of someone who’s asking for those re-release even though they already have those original versions and have the means to still play them nowadays if they want, really? Is this really all you want from gaming anymore? Just remasters and re-releases of games you already played and still own? Nothing new? Nothing different?

Seriously, for as much as I love the Nintendo Switch one thing I have never been a fan of is how in the first couple of years of its life 80% of its first party library just felt like ports of Wii U games I either already owned like Mario Kart 8 and Pokken Tournament or could of saved money and gotten on my Wii U since I was finally making my own money around 2017 when the Switch launched. Sure, it wasn’t ALL Wii U ports as one of my favourite 3D Mario games would come out on this thing it’s launch year but I have recently gotten to the point where I have actually been asking myself “What was the point of me even getting this thing at launch if you’re just going to make most of its library port a bunch of games on a system I have already owned since 2012?” It's purely a personal thing of course since it's still great more people can play this games and I usually do try to look at it from that perspective when I can. I mean if there’s one thing I will give the Switch ports of certain Wii U games is that in the case of stuff like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition they are actually the better versions of those games to play thanks to the gameplay tweaks and more content. Even with that though I still find it really wired that some people will be so quick to praise and actually ask for more ports on the Switch but then turn around and make fun of the PlayStation 5 for its ports even though the number of ports on that thing really isn’t as high as some people will make out.

I fucking hate console war bull shit so much.

But let’s say for the sake of argument that you’re not as interested in trying something outside of your comfort zone. Which is a perfectly understandable thing to be thinking and despite thinking that trying new games is important, trying to force people to play certain games is about as tolerable as the elitists who think that you should be playing every single game ever on its hardest setting because they think you’re not a “rEaL gAmEr” if you play God of War 2018 or Ragnarock on “Give Me Story" Difficulty. However, even then, wouldn’t you agree that long running franchises that have been around for decades should still try new things anyway?

In fact, I actually have a lot of respect for games that aren’t afraid to dip their toes into new avenues or shake up their formula a little bit. That is actually why Breath of the Wild is ranked so highly for me as one of my top 3 favourite Zelda games. Up to that point the series had been using the Link to the Past/Ocarina of Time formula for so long that this felt like a massive breath of fresh air. I mean even excluding main series we got stuff like the Dynasty Warriors crossover Hyrule Warriors plus it's sequel Age of Calamity and the Crypt of the Necrodancer crossover Cadence of Hyrule which were two completely different experiences from the typical Zelda fair yet could still serve as a great way for people like myself who absolutely love the Zelda series to try something new. Hell, even Assassin’s Creed Origins is a game in another long running series I love that I have a lot of respect for because of how it was willing to shake things up gameplay wise considering how the franchise was more or less suffering from over saturation at that point. Granted, I think that particular issue wouldn’t of even existed if Ubisoft didn’t try to push for yearly releases and actually gave there dev teams time to finish developing their games back when they did do yearly releases but my point still stands. And the Super Smash Bros series alone has done a lot for my interest in certain games, not just from the fact that it’s a cross over series with multiple different kinds of franchises but also thanks to stuff like the trophies pre Ultimate because of how they actually had descriptions for the characters or items and for Brawl and Wii U in particular, playable demos of those characters games of origins. I don’t think I’d even have an interest in some of the games that I do if it wasn’t for Smash Bros.

And sure, obviously you aren’t going to enjoy every new thing you play. That would be stupid to assume you should like something just because it’s different. I’ve played so many games in the past 20+ years of me playing games and while they all obviously weren’t the best, some even being shit like The Sniper 2 which is genuinely the worst game I own in my collection, I’m still happy that I am able to try as many different kinds of games as I have. And I think more people should try new games or franchises because even if you don’t end up liking them at least you were willing to give them a try. Just please, if you do dislike certain games you try, don’t say shit like “Ugg, I don’t understand how anyone can like this kind of game” or “WHY does this game have so much hype around it” and actually at least be respectful towards the people who do like it for the love of Palutena!

[ireallydontunderstandpeopleatall]

this past monday I took smores to the vet to check his condition of chewing on his back legs and on his butt/ back area.

the vet gave him and allergy shot which fixed him and mentioned for long term care to have moisturizing wash baths and benadryls

vet also took his blood to test his liver values, bc in may 2023 when he went to a diff vet for stomach issues and they tested his blood and saw his liver values were off and they gave him liver vitamins to help support his liver which he has not been taking bc theyre chewables but he has not been taking them bc he does not like them

on wednesday his blood work came back and his liver values are still bad and also his kidneys are showing b.u.n? which i need to give the vet a pee sample

so now vet said to do an ultrasound for smores which will cover his liver and kidneys and if necessary will do a biospy after.

and I'm in disbelief because my baby dog is now sick and idk what is going to happen and not sure how much longer he will be with me

this mid week i was so depressed and stressed out bc of costs

the ultrasound i called about to 2 vet specialists our vet recommended and they have both quoted about $745-$920. which means to get an xray alone is already 1,000 dollars.

I can pay 1 ,000 dollars but what is next? how much will treatment be? i googled liver disease in dogs and one person said they paid 14,000$ just to get a diagnosis. I don't have 14,000 now, nor will I ever have it all at once.

I feel so helpless that I can not do more for my baby, and i dont know what to do, am I just suppose to not get him medical care??

I read posts from the rainbow bridge and people who say things like they wish they could have done more for him/her. i now know what that really means.

I thought about how I only have 4,000 and i just let my mom borrow it because shes fucking irresponsible and needs to pay back her debt. and she wont be paying me back for a while but I didnt think i would need that money rn and how wrong i was.

then my fucking big credit card is maxed out due to my mom's usage also. it would have 5,000 which i could have really used for the ultrasound.

and so i was sitting there flipping through my accounts and looking at my balances like a few thousand dollars was going to magically pop up in them and save me and my dog

i looked at my digit savings and even if i cash over absolutely everything I will have CLOSE to 4,000. not even 4,000 :(

then my paypal credit which i asked for a credit line increase and they gave me 2,000 but it said i do not get an actual card for it and its mainly for online purchases so that doesnt help me at all.

so finally i applied for care credit and luckily was approved for 5,000.

also to note i just bought my tesla and the payments are so high and insurance is through the roof and i will turn over this car if i need to to free up money to set aside for smores treatment so we'll see if it comes down to that. it's my dream car but i can always buy another one later and my baby dog needs me right now

so hopefully care credit is enough for everything and i really hope a biopsy will not be 14,000. if things can stay below 8,000 for everything than that is something that i can reach but if they start quoting me 20k or so I'm afraid i will have to make some tough decisions and start considering end of life services for smores.

I have been thinking about it and if it comes down to me absolutely not being able to afford paying for smores services then i will have to start having a conversation with his vet on what i can do to make sure he is comfortable for the rest of his time :(

this week has been me taking so many pics, spending so much time, making sure he feels loved and looking at him like i will never see him again. i keep thinking of how i dont want to think of what it will be like without him, im not sure i will be able to breathe. he is my soul dog and i love him with all of my heart

I called around to see if i could find a better deal on an ultrasound but it looks like i can't. i also have an option of 2 places and right now I have booked with the "better place " but its 3 weeks out and being that long out also stresses me out and idk

I been putting his liver supplements in his water so he can actually take some of it. I really wish I had been addressing this sooner.

with the death of my aunt who i love so much, stephen who was such a good friend and poor daniel. I just want to try to stay positive bc i jsut dont know what to do or think anymore.

the sudden deaths of my loved ones in such a little time has been so hard on me, I remember after finding out about each one my mind goes to a dark place and my body kind of falls apart for a time and it just feels like it gets weaker with each one. I have questioned my own health and then i get scared of what if

anyways so thats whats going on w smores so far