#Ace Terra Reviews

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Ace Terra

One of the best residential real estate options in Greater Noida is now available at Sector 22D Yamuna Motorway for people looking to purchase a home. One of the newest addresses for homebuyers is Ace Terra, which is provided to you by ACE Group. Ace Terra offers flats for sale. As of right moment, the project is being built, and delivery is scheduled for December 2028.

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RWBY Volume 9 Spoiler-Filled Review [part 1]

RWBY is an anime-inspired science fantasy action-adventure series, using computer animation, which has run for eight seasons, known as "volumes". Originally created by animator and writer Monty Oum, in 2013, and continued after his death in 2015, RWBY is the flagship series of Rooster Teeth, a digital media company and subdivision of Warner Bros. Discovery. As a warning, this review will discuss death, suicide, blood, torture, animal death, physical (and emotional) abuse, and other related themes.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on April 26, 2023.

This young adult animated series primarily centers on the four primary protagonists: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, with the series name deriving from their forenames. Set in a fictional world named Remnant, these characters, and others, train to become warriors (huntresses or huntsmen), so they can save the world from monsters known as Grimm, which are driven by fear and dedicated to destroying humanity.

Apart from the aforementioned protagonists, others, such as Ozma/Ozpin/Oscar Pine, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen, Robyn Hill, and Jaune Arc, help them fight against evil forces. Uniquely, the series has theme songs, primarily by Casey Lee Williams, at the beginning of each volume, which foreshadows what will happen, making the show unique in its own way.

The show's ninth volume is unlike the previous volumes, which had a classic conflict between good vs. evil, intricate story telling, horror elements, and character development. That is because the protagonists are stranded in a magical land known as the Ever After. Even so, they retain a semblance which allows them to have superpowers-of-sorts, so they can either manipulate objects, disorient people, use super strength, or have other abilities.

Morally grey characters are inherent to RWBY, including the Ace Ops or General James Ironwood. In contrast, Cinder Fall breaks from the strict dictates of her leader, Salem. The latter, and her enforcers, are determined to do anything to achieve their goals, even engaging in human experimentation. This interlinks with the blood, gore, and death of some characters.

The series' large focus on sci-fi and magic elements goes beyond characters like Penny Polendina (voiced by Taylor "Pelto" McNee), a cyborg girl, and scrolls which record and receive messages. Arguably, in this volume, the series has received a "directional reset" and ended on a strong note, even setting up a possible volume 10.

One of the most controversial parts of RWBY, up to the current volume, has been its LGBTQ representation. There have been lesbian couples, like Saphron and Terra-Arc, and lesbian characters who have crushes on the protagonists, as is the case for Ilia Amitola (voiced by Cherami Leigh). This was strengthened by the role of May Marigold, the first trans character in the series, in Volume 8. She was voiced by trans female voice actress, Kdin Jenzen. She did not appear in Volume 9 and Jenzen has been critical of the company's practices. This volume is the last one that Jenzen will be working on, as she was reportedly laid off from the company.

Some fans have held out hope that the Bumbleby ship (Blake and Yang) would become canon, especially after Arryn Zech, Blake's voice actress, confirmed her character as bisexual in May 2020. This came to pass in this volume and there have been hints of other possible romantic ships, which I'll discuss later in this review.

One of the strengths of this series is its visuals, which have improved dramatically from the first volume, and its voice actors. Furthermore, although the fandom of this series can be toxic, the show's fans have come up with colorful ship names. This includes femslash ones, such as Baked Alaska (Yang and Neopolitan), Blood Mint (Ruby and Emerald Sustrai), Freezerburn (Yang and Weiss), Ladybug (Ruby and Blake), and White Rose (Ruby and Weiss), even though some of these are problematic.

The surreal nature of RWBY's ninth volume makes it fundamentally different from the canon-adjacent anime series, RWBY: Ice Queendom. The latter focused on Weiss Schnee, especially on how she needs to "unlearn her white supremacist thinking" and become a better person. There was a non-binary character named Shion Zaiden (voiced by Hiroki Nanami, and Jenzen in English). It was confirmed in an interview with the show's staff and producers. Unfortunately, similar characters have yet to appear in RWBY, even though both series share fight scenes, strong visuals, and soundtrack.

RWBY is somewhat complicated by issues that Rooster Teeth has dealt with over the years. For one, actor Vic Mignogna, who voiced Qrow Branwen until Volume 6, was removed after accusations of sexual harassment. Ryan Haywood and Adam Kovic were either involved in scandals which related to their leaked nude photographs or grooming underage fans, in the case of Haywood. Furthermore, anonymous reviews focused on a negative crunch culture at Rooster Teeth, especially at their animation division, leading to the resignation of Gray Haddock (creator of gen:LOCK), head of this division, as a result.

Former hosts of Rooster Teeth programs stated that they received racist and sexist abuse from the audience. Jenzen argued that an upper manager engaged in transphobic and homophobic abuse. This was followed by other employees posting similar stories. In response, the company released statements arguing they were taking steps to improve the work culture, review pay parity, and even replace the entire Human Resources department, while reducing the number of shows being produced. These issues were compounded by the arrest of then-vice president of Rooster Teeth, Michael Quinn, for assaulting his wife, in November 2019.

In terms of RWBY itself, fans previously claimed that the show queerbaited after the death of a character in the show's seventh season, believing that Qrow Brawnen and Clover Ebi were canon. In reality, the series never directly showed them together. The argument that Clover's death is queerbaiting, is like saying Wednesday did the same by not making the friendship between Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair a romantic one, despite the false insistence of fans that it was canon. As such, it is no surprise that some see RWBY as a lost cause and not worth supporting.

From my perspective, I think that regardless of these issues, and the fact that Rooster Teeth seems to be a toxic work environment, RWBY still has value. This is because of the hard work of the animators and writers, known as CRWBY. In fact, I would argue that the latest volume is the strongest in the series up to this point and it has some of the best animation. Although some may balk at the show's style, or even claim that the protagonist's clothing constitutes fan service for the audience, the reality is that the show's style makes it stand out, apart from any other action-adventure science fantasy.

Unlike previous volumes, the ninth volume premiered on Crunchyroll on February 18, as part of "a one-year exclusive release with Crunchyroll", and it will then release on the Rooster Teeth website in 2024. This is a big deal because the series is primary show for Rooster Teeth and its streaming platform of the same name. So, it may portend the end or reduction of the platform.

Whether the worst for Rooster Teeth comes to a head, I'm not sure. It seems very likely that the show will receive a tenth volume, which may be the final season. I would be very surprised if RWBY is not renewed, as it has generated a lot of buzz, has generally strong ratings on Crunchyroll, and, undoubtedly, has thousands of people watching each episode.

The ninth volume of RWBY is captivating. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang try and find themselves, and anything they have lost. There are new characters like a talking mouse named Little (voiced by Luci Christian), the Curious Cat (voiced by Robbie Daymond), which fulfills a specific role in a land which has many characteristics of Alice in Wonderland, and enemies such as the jabberwalkers (voiced by Richard Norman). Little later becomes Ruby's emotional support animal of sorts.

I was further drawn into this volume by the story of Alyx, her brother Lewis, the Rusted Knight, and the Curious Cat. This was weaved together artfully, with the audience knowing as much as the characters about the real story as the series went forward. This included the revelation that Juane became the Rusted Knight and was reportedly betrayed by Alyx (voiced by Shara Kirby). He became trapped in the Ever After for over 40 years, causing him to become a "mature" older man, who has a steed named Juniper.

The volume interrogates Juane's hero complex. It breaks down when the town of the Paper Pleasers is flooded (possibly mirroring what happened to Mantle in Volume 8) and he can save none of them. He admits as much in the seventh episode, saying he "not ok" or "right". In some ways I see a parallel between Juane (voiced by Miles Luna) and General Ironwood (voiced by Jason Rose). Juane seems to be just as tired and angry at people, thinking he is "saving" people by making "hard choices". Ironwood is different as be became an unhinged military dictator who turned against the protagonists.

Even more than any previous volume, this 10-episode volume of RWBY has a specific focus on Ruby. She begins a downward spiral, although her sister, Yang, repeatedly tries to ask her what is wrong, often to no avail. Understandably, she is further shaken when her friends are shrunk to miniature size. She begins to have so much self-doubt that she isn't sure is a huntress/hero anymore.

This volume shows the extreme pressure Ruby is under as team leader, as she puts the needs of others ahead of her own. This is shown directly when she can't even use her weapon, Crescent Rose, in the show's seventh episode, after having flashbacks to traumatic events from the previous volumes. This is almost akin to the Steven Universe Future episode where Steven Universe tells his friend's mother about all the childhood trauma he has experienced over his life time.

Getting back to RWBY, at the end of episode seven, Ruby has a breakdown, asking why she has to be the leader. She criticizes everyone else for not devoting time to solve her problems, for helping Juane's "make-believe" friends, and seeming to disregard what she is going through. I thought it was interesting that none her teammates push her over the edge, but Juane, who has experienced as much trauma as her, ends up blaming her for everything that went wrong.

Although Juane has a valid point, it is wrong of him to put the blame on her entirely. In addition, Ruby's plan in Volume 8, to use the staff of creation to create paths to evacuate citizens from Mantle to Vacuo, clearly opened them up to a lot of danger. But, its failure wasn't entirely her fault. If Cinder hadn't asked about Ruby's plan, thanks to magic lamp, it might have been successful. Even so, they seemed to ignore the advice from the genie, in the staff of creation, who told them to "not fall".

This reality mattered little to Ruby, who felt overwhelmed by everything, and fled, shocking the rest of her team. Having Ruby snap at her team in the ways she did was inevitable based on what has happened through the previous seasons. In fact, she was already under a lot of stress by the end of Volume 8 and almost lost her life multiple times over.

In watching this volume, I am reminded of the mental health struggles of Steven in Steven Universe Future and Steven Universe, and Julian Chase in the ever-problematic gen:LOCK. However, it is different for Ruby. In the eighth episode, she pushes away Little and faces Neopolitan, a mute villain-of-sorts in a mansion, with Neo bringing back ghosts of Ruby's past to torture her. Through Roman Torchwick, Neo "says" that she will enjoy seeing Ruby break down.

At the end of the same episode, drinks a cup of tea, poured by Neo, with a leaf from the ever-powerful tree. She appears to end her own life, staring into the eyes of her sister, Yang, and feels that the world would be better without her. As this happens, her teammates remain in shock over what she did.

This serious tone of RWBY is only part of the show's mature, and distressing themes. It is coupled with death, loss, destruction, and horrific creatures such as the Grimm, which are attracted to those who are afraid or scared. Although such beings don't appear in this volume, the above scene is followed by the Curious Cat possessing Neo for his own ends. The devious cat sees Neo as an "empty host", and the cat-as-Neo is a being which Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune fight in the last two episodes of this volume.

How RWBY depicts suicide is fundamentally different from how it is depicted in the continually controversial gen:LOCK. The latter featured all of the characters killing themselves, then each becoming the equivalent of a swarm of locusts to defeat the enemy. In the case of Ruby, there are questions as to whether she ended her own life, or she only engaged a suicide attempt.

The final nail of Ruby's descent into a dark place, Neo, is more than a villain. She is not completely heartless, even though she terrorized Ruby into the drinking the tea and killed Little with a twist of her heeled shoe. By the end of the volume, it is clear that she  may have some form of redemption or will become an ally-of-sorts to the show's heroes. Ruby even says that Neo will find herself, one way or another, as she falls back into the Ever After.

In terms of the tonal shifts in this volume of RWBY, they were not as well-executed as they could have been. At the same time, it should be remembered that a lot has happened in a short period of time, leaving Weiss, Blake, and Yang, especially after Ruby "ascends", without much time to process to process everything. Furthermore, it would be inaccurate to say that Ruby's teammates don't care about her, as they clearly do, in more ways than one.

The volume was effective in connecting the previous volumes to this one, with an emphasis on the themes of self-acceptance and self-love. Ruby exemplifies this directly. She isn't sure what choice she wants to make, even as those outside the tree, like Yang, Weiss, and Blake, accept whatever path Ruby wants to go down. At one point, Ruby thinks she might be doing more harm than good, looks at all of the possibilities in front of her, and grabs her mom's weapon. In the end, she embraces herself. This isn't as much change as some had been expecting, but it is a powerful message that you are enough, without a need to remake yourself.

The ever-present tree in this volume is shown to be a place of rebirth and rejuvenation, which does not simply resurrect and kill someone. Instead, ascension isn't death, but it is change, and that is the role of the tree. This is connected with the theme of this volume that you should not condemn yourself for mistakes you make, but accept them and learn from them. In fact, when the Curious Cat, which is vulnerable after the tree's leaves released him from Neo's body, argues that humans are weak, confused, incomplete, and break everything they touch, Weiss, Yang, and Blake disagree, saying Ruby is none of those things.

The volume nine finale of RWBY was one of the best episodes, giving background, but tying up loose ends, even talking about how the Ever After was created. It brought together the aforementioned themes and it ends with the characters walking through the portal to a place they are needed most: Vacuo. It was a fitting end to the series, if this is the last episode ever produced.

There is more about of RWBY's ninth volume, especially when it comes to LGBTQ representation, which put it on the map when it comes to all the representation in series this year. Episode 6, entitled "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds", was written by Eddy Rivas, and directed by Kerry Shawcross and Yssa Badiola. The latter was known for her short-lived series, Recorded by Arizal.

This episode built upon previous interactions between Yang and Blake, with flirting or blushing at one another in this volume, and in previous volumes. Everyone is trapped in a Punderstorm, a literal and metaphorical crossroads, with individuals only able to get out if they either solve the problems or wait until the storm passes.

In one of the best-constructed and well-done queer romantic scenes I've seen in an animated series, Blake and Yang admit their feelings for each other, as the music swells, then kiss. Significantly, the characters almost express the feelings of the fandom, with Weiss and Ruby surprised to see them linking lips, while Juane says that it "feels like I've been waiting forever for that". It is something which many fans of the Bumbleby ship had been waiting for.

While the scene was hinted in the volume 9 poster, it was no substitute for the scene, which excited fans over the canonization of Bumbleby, including on the show's subreddit. Even the Bumbleby's subreddit was exploding with new content. It could be said that the episode set a high standard for women-love-women romance.

It is only rivaled by the developing yuri story within the recently ended yuri isekai The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, or the queer romance encapsulated within She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Dead End: Paranormal Park, Arcane, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Helluva Boss, Craig of the Creek, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and Steven Universe to name a few recent series with prominent representation.

The episode itself generated discussion from the show's roundtable and even on All Good and No Worries, a Rooster Teeth show hosted by Barbara Dunkleman (voice of Yang), in an episode in which she talked with Arryn Zech (voice of Blake). In previous years, Zech and Dunkleman often hinted at this ship, stating their support for the ship, as did actor Kara Eberle (who voices Weiss).

The life of Zech somewhat mirrored her character, as she accused her ex-boyfriend, prominent actor Bob Morley, of verbal and emotional abuse, and said that Morley was furious when he learned that she was bisexual. Blake had been with an abusive ex-boyfriend of her own named Adam Taurus, who wields a chokutō and a gun, and attempts to take over the White Fang, peaceful organization originally aimed at improving conditions for the animalistic Faunus, a group of cat-like people.

In the penultimate season six episode, "Seeing Red", Blake and Yang kill Adam together, and touch their foreheads, which some see as a sign of romantic affection. Blake is also a bisexual character, like Zech is real life. In addition, during the discussion with Zech, Dunkleman admitted she is "not fully straight", but is "for the most part...fairly straight", while Zech talked about the struggles of dating as a bisexual woman.

It is clear that the romantic relationship between Blake and Yang was always planned, despite brutal shipping wars claiming otherwise. The canon nature of Bumbleby flies against those claiming the show's crew was queerbaiting. In fact, some made similar claims about the slow build-up of the romance between Marceline the Vampire Queen and Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time, whose relationship, known as Bubbline by fans, was canonized in the series finale "Come Along with Me". It is not known if the CRWBY would ever an hour-long episode about Bumbleby, akin to the Adventure Time: Distant Lands episode "Obsidian", which almost exclusively focused on Bubbline, but would be great if that occurred.

The episode six scene was reinforced in other episodes: Blake and Yang fight together in tag team style, Yang protects Blake at one point, or Ruby sarcastically says she is "happy" for Blake and Yang getting their "feelings sorted out" when she has her breakdown at the end of episode seven. More powerfully, in the final episode, Blake and Yang walk through the portal door back to Vacuo holding hands just like Korra and Asami Sato in the Legend of Korra series finale.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Continued in part 2

[fancoloredglasses]

The Happiness Patrol (Paranoia at its finest)

[All images are owned by the BBC. Please don’t sue or EXTERMINATE! me]

(Thanks to Doctor Who)

…and with the most cutting-edge CGI the late 80s can muster, I give you a bit of personal history…

I am an avid gamer (as my review of Dungeons & Dragons will attest to) and one of the more unusual role-playing games I latched onto was…

(Thanks to Wikipedia)

A game that not only discouraged teamwork, but actively pitted the players’ characters against one another. The setting is a dystopian future run by an insane computer that wanted all citizens to be happy and obedient.

Happiness is Mandatory. Citizens who are not happy will be used as reactor shielding. Are you happy, citizen?

A good example of gameplay can be summarized in the following video…

(Thanks to SpiffyInfo)

The citizens of the setting are assigned security clearance ranging through the rainbow spectrum from infrared (the lowest, represented by black) to ultraviolet (the highest, represented by white), of which the first letter of their clearance is attached to their name (for example:  Fred-G; infrareds don’t warrant a letter designation)

What does this have to do with Doctor Who? You’ll soon find out. But first, a note on the timeline…

The Doctor is on his seventh incarnation (played by Sylvester McCoy). He is bit of a schemer, sometimes working toward the endgame before the episode officially begins.

His companion at this time is Ace (a nickname. Her actual name is Dorothy; no last name is ever given), a rebellious teenager with a knack for chemistry (primarily explosives. Her specialty is a compound she calls “Nitro-9”). Unlike most female companions, she’s not prone to screaming, but instead uses her wits (and explosives) to get herself and the Doctor (or, as she calls him, “Professor”) out of trouble.

If you would like to watch the episode, it’s available on BritBox or Tubi. Now, on to Part One!

We open with a woman looking a bit depressed and a man joins her. The man (Silas P) claims it’s dangerous to be sad in public and offers to help her, then offers his card.

With that, Silas P calls for a group of women in pink uniforms who kill the woman!

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, the TARDIS materializes. Ace hates the fact that the speakers in the square are playing muzak (“elevator (or, as the British say, lift) music”) that is artificially cheery.

(Thanks again to Doctor Who)

[A quick note: the rankings of citizens on Terra Alpha are letters affixed to the end of their names (the leader, Helen A, is the woman you saw giving a badge to Silas P), with aliens getting the affectation SIGMA to their name. Sound familiar?]

Let’s switch to Helen A and her husband Joseph C (wait, her husband’s two ranks below her? Who’s ranked as a B, then?) as they tune in to Helen A’s newest address.

Switching back to the Doctor and Ace (or should I say, “Doctor SIGMA and Ace SIGMA”), they’re brought to a holding area (not a jail?), where they see a “killjoy” (someone who doesn’t subscribe to the manta of “Happiness is mandatory”) named Harold V playing a slot machine. Suddenly he wins and is "treated" to a video by Helen A (not exactly what I would call a “prize”, especially since it was a lame joke about killjoys)

The Doctor wanders over to talk to the guard.

The Doctor asks if they could leave at any time. The guard says they could…but would be killed if they did. Harold V says they’re being held to be used as experiments for someone called the Kandy Man.

We then switch to a chamber where Joseph C is lining up a condemned killjoy before a firing squad. Suddenly, the squad leaves. Just as the condemned breathes a sigh of relief, the tube over his head drops. When it rises again…

…he’s been drowned in strawberry syrup.

And, for good measure, Helen A electrocutes Harold V (the killjoy’s brother) in front of the Doctor and Ace.

In the waiting area is a go-kart, which Ace is convinced in booby trapped (since the guard (strange that only women are members of the Happiness Patrol…except the undercover members) says she won’t stop them from using it) However, the Doctor defuses it and off they go!

Later, the go-kart has broken down and the Doctor is trying to fix it, so Ace distracts the Happiness Patrol looking for them.

The Doctor then gets the go-kart working, but must run off before he can find out what happened to Ace.

Let’s cut to the streets of Terra Alpha, where a man named Earl SIGMA is playing soulful blues on his harmonica…unless he spots a Happiness Patrol…err patrol, then he plays some vapid syrupy-sweet jazzy number.

At Happiness Patrol HQ, the Patrolwoman (Susan Q) confesses to Ace she might not be cut out for the Patrol ever since her friends were arrested and executed as killjoys.

With that, Susan Q turns her back so Ace can slip out “unnoticed”.

Meanwhile, the Doctor’s go-kart has finally died properly as Silas P (remember him?) makes his way to the Doctor and tries suckering him as well. Just as Silas P calls for the Happiness Patrol, he’s knocked out from behind by Earl and they rush off, leaving Silas P to deal with what is likely going to be called a false alarm.

…aaaand that’s the last we see of Silas P.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Earl have found the kitchen of…

…the Kandy Man and his handler/punching bag Gilbert M. Fortunately, they escape before the Kandy Man finds them.

…or do they? As the Kandy Man advances menacingly, the closing credits roll on Part One.

Let’s move on to Part Two, shall we?

We open to a group of killjoys conducting a protest march as…something looks on from the tunnels below.

Meanwhile, Ace has been re-captured.

Let’s check back in with the Doctor and Earl, shall we? The Kandy Man has decreed they shall taste his latest sweets, and likely die with smiles on their faces as a result.

The Doctor manages to anger the Kandy Man enough that he accidentally knocks over a bottle of lemonade…

…and the syrupy liquid mixes with his sugar-infused feet, cementing him to the floor! The Doctor and Earl escape into the tunnels below as the Kandy Man screams for Gilbert M to free him.

Meanwhile, Ace and Susan Q have been brought back to the waiting zone.

In the tunnels, the Doctor and Earl are checking out the massive amount of crystalized sugar along the roof.

You don’t suppose that will be relevant later, do you?

As they work their way down the tunnel, they find massive clawed footprints. Not sure I’d want to meet whatever made that.

…ah.

Earl shows that his harmonica isn’t a weapon, and suddenly the denizens start talking like Ace (they learned a lot from seeing her for just a few moments) So does this mean they’re friends now?

Back at the waiting zone, Susan Q is taken away to be executed. Suddenly, the denizens from the tunnels attack, allowing Ace to escape with them.

Meanwhile the Doctor is leaving the tunnels and once again runs into Trevor SIGMA. After no small amount of double-talk that would make Bugs Bunny proud, he convinces Trevor to take him to Helen A as Earl decides to make himself scarce.

In Helen A’s office, she has been told about Ace’s escape (wow, news travels fast!) and is overjoyed that her pet can get some exercise by hunting them down.

Meanwhile is one again illegally blowing the blues as the protest march walks past. On the roof…

…there are a couple of Happiness Patrol (wadaya know? There are men in the rank and file of the Happiness Patrol!) snipers complaining that the female Happiness Patrol members never have to do sniper duty (and with inferior guns to boot!)

Meanwhile in the tunnels, Fifi has been unleashed!

In Helen A’s office, Joseph C has brought in Trevor SIGMA and the Doctor. Helen A all but admits to mass slaughter to reduce the population (down 17%!) Helen A excuses herself to attend to some business, and the Doctor follows and overhears her ordering an execution.

The Doctor confronts her then leaves, stealing her fire extinguisher and Joseph C’s seltzer bottle of lemonade (gee, I wonder who he’s going to see next?)

In the tunnels, Fifi has caught up to Ace, so she feeds Fifi a helping of Nitro-9.

The Doctor meets up with Earl (not who I thought he was going to see), who tells him about the snipers. The Doctor goes to deal with them (also not who I thought he was going to see)

The Doctor sneaks his way to the snipers’ nest and dares the sniper to look him in the eye while shooting him, but the sniper can’t do it, so the Doctor takes away their guns. And with that threat neutralized, the Doctor is off to see the Kandy Man (THAT’S who I thought he was going to see!)

Meanwhile, Susan Q is about to be executed by firing squad strawberry syrup.

However, the Doctor decides at that time to pay a visit to the Kandy Man.

The Kandy Man agrees, so the Doctor uses the fire extinguisher to unstick the Kandy Man from the floor.

About that time, Trevor SIGMA arrives at Helen A’s office unannounced, just in time to see a strawberry-flavored flop and only a dollop of syrup emerges from the tube. Trevor explains that Susan Q (and Ace, who barged in to attempt a rescue) can’t be executed by syrup due to Galactic Law, so she comes up with another means for them to die.

Meanwhile, the Kandy Man, having held up his end of the bargain, moves to kill the Doctor once more. However…

…the Doctor came prepared and once again adheres the Kandy Man to the floor as he makes his escape.

Meanwhile, what’s Helen A going to do with Susan Q and Ace?

She’s going to make them audition for the Happiness Patrol (since Susan Q has been bounced out of the Patrol, she’s eligible to audition once more), with a failed audition being fatal!

The Doctor and Earl begin looking for Ace, then find posters advertising Ace’s audition. The Doctor sends Earl to get the protesters and bring them to the audition.

And with that, Part 2 comes to an end. On to Part 3!

We open to find Ace and Susan Q being escorted to the Forum by the Happiness Patrol. Meanwhile, Earl has managed to get the protesters to converge on the forum as Helen A sends a squad to deal with them.

And as an aside, Fifi survived being blown up by Ace. Helen A once again unleashes her into the tunnels.

Meanwhile in the forum square, the Doctor has somehow (probably in one of the TARDIS’s storerooms) gotten a microphone and has hooked it up into the square’s speakers.

Once the Happiness Patrol arrives, the Doctor confronts them…by laughing at them. Then the protesters come into the square and begin cheering and celebrating!

Then another Happiness Patrol unit shows up, sees the Doctor and the protesters celebrating while the first unit looks upset, so they arrest the unit as the Doctor merrily escapes.

Back at Helen A’s office, she receives word of fighting in the ranks of the Happiness Patrol in the forum square, so she leaves to deal with it personally, leaving Joseph C to wait for Fifi’s return.

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Ace, Earl, and Susan Q enter the tunnels where they run into the denizens who warn them about Fifi.

Fortunately, the Doctor has an idea. He lures Fifi into the sugar-coated tunnels and has Earl play a high-pitched tune as Fifi enters and the tons of crystalized sugar collapses on top of her.

Hopefully that’s the last of Fifi.

Meanwhile, reports of widespread riots reach Helen A’s ears, so she contacts the Kandy Man to deal with the Doctor. Fortunately, he just showed up for a chat!

(Thanks once more to Doctor Who)

As the Kandy Man attempts to escape, the denizens invade his Kitchen and flood the tunnels with strawberry syrup (quite the fitting end, yes?)

Gilbert M and Joseph C look at the Doctor’s handiwork and decide it’s time to leave.

Meanwhile, Helen A has the same idea as…

She readies her escape shuttle, but Joseph C and Gilbert M have commandeered it. TRAITORS! Guess she’ll need to take a commercial transport.

(Thanks to The Wanderer’s Library)

And so with Helen A defeated, Terra Alpha can return to a normal society where people are allowed to be sad if they need to. And they even managed to paint the TARDIS its proper color before the Doctor and Ace dematerialized to their next adventure.

[epacer]

Eye on SD Unified

San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) installs air conditioning units in schools using roof units and wall-mounted units. The units are sized to remove hot air and replace it with cooler air. The Facilities Planning & Construction (FPC) Division of SDUSD manages and contracts the installations.

San Diego Unified is trying to address a backlog of AC repairs

Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, October 10th, 2024.

Air conditioning malfunctioned at several San Diego Unified schools during last month’s heatwave.

More on how leaders are addressing the issue, next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######

County Supervisor Terra Lawson Remer wants to ask the E-P-A to run tests in the Tijuana-River Valley to see if it could be considered a "superfund" site.

If approved, funds from the state and federal government would be allocated to help de-contaminate the area.

Lawson-Remer proposed to petition the E-P-A at Tuesday's board of supervisors meeting saying we don't know if the substances in the sediment would impact the community.

Anyone who has seen how superfund sites clean ups operate, it's just kind of extraordinary.  Sometimes they'll remove soil, sometimes they'll seal soil that might be full of contaminants so it can't leach into the water."

The board voted to hold off on the petition to give them time to look into it further..

Lawson-Remer's team says she plans to move ahead with the process anyway.

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The American Red Cross is warning about a critical need for blood donors in the wake of Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S.

They’re holding events throughout the county all month long.

One will be held at The Lodge at Lake San Marcos from 10 this morning to 4.

Donors will receive a 10 dollar Amazon Gift Card.

They will also be automatically entered for a chance to win one of three, 5-thousand dollar gift cards.

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Despite warmer temperatures, you may have noticed thick, come-and-go fog in parts of the county recently.

Usually this time of year, Santa Ana winds push the marine layer offshore.

But, the National Weather Service told the Union Tribune, the unusual trend now is being caused by a chain-reaction, starting with dipping ocean temperatures.

This is causing cool, moist air from off the coast to collide with a heat dome over the land.

The fog is expected to last for several more days.

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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

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San Diego Unified school district leaders are looking for ways to address a backlog of air conditioner repairs.

Reporter Katie Anastas says it comes after hundreds of classrooms had problems during last month’s heatwave.

Representatives from the district’s maintenance departments say about 480 classrooms had air conditioning problems between mid August and mid September.

They say there were a range of factors, including air conditioners running for long periods, aging systems and supply chain issues delaying the arrival of needed parts.

Operations director John Hensley says they can’t keep up with demand for repairs.

Overall, we are completing roughly 83% of HVAC work orders received each year, so our backlog continues to grow. [9s]

Hensley says last year’s maintenance budget was $77 million. Just under 20% funds HVAC systems.

Board president Shana Hazan says increasing that percentage would require cuts in other areas.

I think really engaging the board in that conversation through the budget planning process and upcoming budget workshops, so that we're really aware and that the community is really aware of the choices that we need to make here. [10s]

Staff say they’re also reviewing how they manage workloads, increasing preventative maintenance and looking for additional grant funding.

Katie Anastas, KPBS News.

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San Diego City Mayor Todd Gloria was elected in 2020 on promises of making the region less dependent on cars.

Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says when the city debates transportation policy, Gloria is often absent.

Much of the county's transportation policy is set at SANDAG, which manages local, state and federal transportation dollars. At a mayoral debate in 2019, Gloria pledged to take the lead at SANDAG. And he touted his support for a set of reforms that would give him more voting power at the agency's board of directors.

"It gives the mayor of San Diego the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat at both SANDAG and MTS in building a new transportation vision for our future. Our current mayor does not elect to use that authority. This mayor will.

But since taking office, Gloria has missed 50% of SANDAG board meetings. His attendance at MTS, which operates the city's bus and trolley system, is even worse. In nearly four years of MTS board meetings, Gloria has attended only one.

"If I'm not there, my alternate is there. And we have a very capable councilmember who goes on my behalf…"

When asked about his attendance record at a KPBS mayoral debate last week, Gloria said even if he's not in the room at public meetings, he's still advocating for San Diego's transportation needs.

"It isn't to say I'm not actively engaged in this — I am. I have staff that look at this all the time. I'm briefed on it constantly. I meet regularly with the CEO of SANDAG. We are active in that conversation. And you see that in the dollars that are coming to San Diego.

Gloria is up for re-election next month. He said if his behind-the-scenes work is no longer effective in a second term, he'll change his approach. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

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It's time for our next “Why it Matters” segment with our Public Matters partner, Voice of San Diego.

Editor Scott Lewis explains why there are so many sales taxes on the ballot this year.

This November, voters in the city of San Diego will weigh in on Measure E – it would put a 1 percent sales tax on top of the tax buyers pay within the city.

It came up in our mayoral debate last week. Here was Larry Turner, who is running against incumbent Mayor Todd Gloria.

If someone did leave San Diego to find a lower sales tax, they’d have to go pretty far.

Right now, the city of San Diego has the lowest rate possible in San Diego County.

The 1 percent increase would put San Diego on par with the cities with the highest rate in San Diego County. But several others want to join them.

The reason all these cities want sales tax increases is the state and county takes so much of the sales tax. When cities vote to raise their own on top of the state’s 7.25 rate, they keep it. 

Crucially, neither the mayor nor other supporters of the tax can promise exactly where the money would go. If they did, it would require two thirds support of voters. By saying it’s just going to go to the general fund, they only need a simple majority.

I'm Scott Lewis. And that's why understanding it all matters.

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Voters in east county will soon choose a new assembly member to represent their region in the state legislature.

Scott Rodd reports it’s down to two republican candidates in the general election.

Republicans Carl DeMaio and Andrew Hayes are facing off to represent Assembly District 75.

The district encompasses most of east San Diego county…including a 50 mile stretch of the southern border west of Jacumba Hot Springs.

DeMaio is a familiar figure in the San Diego political scene. He previously served on San Diego’s City Council…and has since run unsuccessful campaigns for San Diego mayor and two Congressional seats.

He casts himself as a political maverick who isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers on the right and the left.

I think that what we need is more transparency on what's going on behind closed doors in the state Capitol. Our state Legislature does not operate in an open manner with transparency. And the special interests dominate all the decisions. The voice of the people is rarely heard.”

DeMaio says his top issues include addressing the high cost of living in the region, reducing crime and passing laws that support small businesses.

Hayes is currently president of the Lakeside Unified School Board. He previously served as district director for state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones.

He says his experience taught him how to get things done, even when he’s in the minority.

 “I want to find you issues that have common ground. that's going to take me working the pavement when I first get elected and going and introducing myself to all of my colleague who are not Republican and saying, ‘Hey, where do we agree?’ And that'll help my district on numerous issues.”

Hayes says his top issues include addressing the high cost of living in the region, improving fire insurance options for homeowners and reducing the placement of sexually violent predators in east San Diego County after they’re released from prison.

The winner will replace Republican Assemblymember Marie Waldron, who is set to term out.

Scott Rodd, KPBS News

Be sure to check out the KPBS Voter Hub.

There you can find all of our election coverage.

Just go to KPBS dot org slash Voter Hub.

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There's a renewed debate over youth football safety, after two players died from head injuries just as the school year started.

North County reporter Alexander Nguyen looks into the issue.

“something about talking through”

Diane Luth is explaining how her son Scott Eveland communicates after suffering a traumatic head injury. It’s a slow process.

He depends on caregivers 24/7 to eat, bathe and communicate.

17 years ago, Eveland collapsed on the field at Mission Hills High School after sustaining a head injury. It was his second head injury within a week… and he had asked to sit out the game.

“The trainers said you don’t have to play but the coach overruled him and put him in … and that was the last of the Scott that we knew.”

Head injuries continue to plague youth football. So far this school year, - a middle school player in West Virginia and a high school football player in Alabama have died from head injuries.

An effort to ban tackling in high school football … has been met with strong resistance.

A state bill to ban children under 12 from playing was scrapped earlier this year after Governor Gavin Newsom said he would veto it..

There have been some changes made in recent years - to keep student athletes safe… including limits on practice time.

And Coaches are now better trained to look for signs of head injuries.

Jon Goodman is the head football coach at Escondido Charter High School. He played high school football-about 30 years ago.

 “I don’t think back then people knew what’s going on and we just kinda played.”

Now, he says the game is much faster, thanks to- technology like sideline replays-… so the chances of kids getting hurt are  greater.

“They know it's happening faster. So it's even more paramount today that you educate the youngsters on what the proper technique, what the proper angles are.”

But technology is also making the sport safer.

Goodman has used Guardian caps during practice for the past 10 years.

This is technology the NFL - started using this year. They are soft-shell helmet covers.

He’s also using what’s known as “Riddell Insite.”

“There's, a censor in the helmets that tell a reader how much the kids have impacted it. And then that reader tells my my athletic trainer, ‘Hey, you need to look at this. I'm sure he's sustained that head collision.’”

Escondido Charter High parent Brian Fonseca … used to coach pop-warner football. He says the sport is safer than ever.

“We have a professional trainer on practice. They're waiting for things happening. If any kid gets hurt, nobody gets back on that field without the trainer giving the thumbs up.”

“In order for these young  athletes to benefit from sports, they need to survive them.”

Daniel Melara is an athletic trainer from Cal State San Marcos. He says there is a growing consensus that children should start contact sports later.

“We're still in the infancy of what that looks like as far as research. I think, at this moment in time, most, brain science, if you will, will have a recommendation to start contact sports, or blows to the head, around 14.”

But Melara says that’s a conversation parents need to have with the coaches and staff. He says a coach’s attitude influences how a team approaches injuries.

Scott Eveland says his coach was to blame for his injury, ending his dream of medical school. It also makes communication a slow process, with his mother reading his words that say coaches need to do a better job of listening.

“Make sure that parents know this.”

Luth says if she had to do it over again … she would still let her son play football. The sport was not the problem, she says –. The coach was.

“Who's watching your children? It's really it. The crux of it is who's — because there's great coaches out there. I wish Scott had that coach.”

Eveland’s family sued San Marcos Unified, and settled in 2016 for nearly four-point-four million dollars.

Alexander Nguyen, KPBS news

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The 23rd Ocean Beach Oktoberfest is happening tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday.

The festival is for those 21 and up.

Heather Hudson is O-B Oktoberfest's director of partnerships.

She says this year’s event will be bigger than previous years.

“This year we’re very excited because we have about doubled our footprint. So you’ve got about double the beach view and access. This allows us to now have two stages. So we’ll have our jagermeister main stage, where we have a full line up of live bands and musical acts, contests, games. But then also this year, we have an electronica stage. So that’s a stage where we’ve got an excellent lineup of DJs.”

Hudson says some of the proceeds from the event will go back to the community.

“This is a community event, so we have a couple of benefactors and partners that help us produce this event, specifically the Ocean Beach Main Street Association and the Peninsula Alliance, which are two groups in Ocean Beach. So, in collaboration with them we are able to give back about $50,000 each year. And to date, we’ve given back over $750,000. So, this is definitely an event to come have fun, enjoy yourself, but you can feel good that you are helping give back to the community as well.”

Some things to know ahead of the event… General Admission tickets will be available at the gate for 15-dollars, and there are also V-I-P ticket options available to purchase online, at O-B-Oktoberfest-dot-com.

The fest runs from 4 P-M to 11-30 at night tomorrow (Friday), and noon to 11-30 P-M Saturday. *Reposted show transcript from KPBS PUBLIC MEDIA on October 10, 2024.

[teamcalamity]

FFTCG ‘From Nightmares’ OpusXIX Set Review

A two for one as Mitch and Tom give their views on the new set!

Fire

Ifrit - 19-001R M: I am a fan of these free summons; I think there is potential with them – that said I think fire is my least favourite as it offers nothing new that the other elements do not get and with fire have such good summons I struggle to see where this would fit in, Hitting your own Magissa is nice, Terra works nicely dealing 9k. Rating 3/5 T: a standard 'every element gets one of these' cards. Fits nicely into an aggressive fire build and combos well with most smaller fire forward entry pings. Decent 3/5 Ace - 19-002L T: I mean it's quite boring but clearly powerful once it starts attacking. The trade off in limitations (mono fire/bz resource) are not too big of a deal. Cheap enough to not worry about having no immediate board impact as your low risk is a high risk for the opponent. Fortunately, there is plenty 'break a 2cp or less' around otherwise this becomes a big problem for you to come up against. 4/5 M: The first of the legends. Ace must remove 5 fire cards which almost limits it to mono fire and the most consistent is Samurai’s, which doesn’t use a name Ace. This all lines up very well and while he doesn’t have haste, it’s not very committal for 1CP, the only issue I can see is having to remove samurais. It’s not my sort of card but I think this could easily see its way into a Fire Samurai deck. Rating 3/5 Edgar - 19-003R M: Ignoring the constant name repeats this set – which is a problem, I struggle to see how this would ever outclass the legend from opus 17. There are many different brothers or even families who could have used this combination, and this would be rated high, because of the name class it’s almost unplayable. Rating 1/5 T: Category support particularly in a 2cp backup is always nice but a VI theme build would surely be using the Edgar legend? Can't see a place for this really. 2/5 Kukki-Chebukki – 19-004R M: This card interests me paired with its partners Cherukiki and Makki-Chebukki. Bringing out 3 forwards in 1 turn for 5 cp is good, even if they forwards are not that great. I think this card has more potential than its wind variant but without Cherukiki, I think drawing this card is bad which hampers it. Rating 2/5 T: 1/3 of the Chebukki package. I think you only really use them as a package, and I'm not sold on the package as it relies too much on the 5cp card. 2/5 Sazh - 19-005C T: Cheap forward to search a backup, I just don't think you want to search it. 2/5 M: I have a theory that they refuse to print good Sazh forwards because the Backup Dajh from opus would make them untargetable. This is another of the cards that proves me right, Dajh isn’t worth searching and because of that, this isn’t worth playing. Rating 1/5 Tifa 19-006C T: Draft card, even then the warp 3 is quite high. 2/5 M: Pack filler which may be nice for draft but these ratings are based on competitive and I don’t see this being used even in aggro. Tifa is a strong name in FFTCG and while her recent showings have been in other elements or bad, this one falls into the bad category. If she was 4 cost, and affected by Zangan, I could see the potential but as she is – unplayable. Rating 1/5 Dajh 19-007C T: As said above you don't need to search this. It's quite a handy effect on its own and EX as well make this a good option to fill out a backup line. The effect on Sazh is irrelevant. 3/5 M: Whenever a card says discard 1 card, I always look at black mages. As this isn’t a cost, it would trigger the 4000 from the discard. That said I don’t think that makes this card useful. Many cards must have a reason to be run to fit in a deck now, Sazh isn’t good for you are looking at your first line of text and I don’t think a small filter is worth running. Rating 2/5 Buffasaur – 19-008R M: Originally this card made no sense to me, dealing 8k to something but the downside of dealing yourself a point of damage. Now I see that they are pushing Lightning Fire self-damage deck again with the new Y’shtola. This is a solid card in that, as any self-damage is appreciated, paired with Yshtola is 12000 and a potential EX burst. Needless to say I’ve come around on this card. Rating 4/5 T: A buffed grenade! A really neat tech card for self damage decks, the fact it has 'may' means you have control of the trigger. One for the deck builders. 4/5 Bomb - 19-009C M: Bombs have never been a viable archetype and while this helps the spam of Bombs does that make it good enough to be viable? No, this doesn’t even search Mom Bomb, and it’s problems like that which I think shows that this deck is not supposed to be top tier. Rating 2/5 T: are bomb decks fun? Yes. are they good? no. Go make a fun deck for locals 2/5 Sabin – 19-010H M: A knock off copy of Xander from last set, with less damage and the caveat of must be FF6. It works well with Edgar but again similar to Edgar, there is no reason for this to be named Sabin as if you want to run an FF6 deck, you would be looking at the Opus 17 Versions. Rating 2/5 T: a solid set of effects, they just don't synergise with the Category at all. Weird card choice. 2/5 Miyu - 19-011C T: A backup that searches another backup. 3/5 M: Fire’s version of Khalia Chival. A real hint that this is the way to play the Dream Stooges, but also works really well in fire lightning. Backups searching Backups will always get a high rating for me and Chival into Miyu into another back up is a strong, even if that search is Ice. Love this card. Rating 5/5 Monk 19-012C T: Monk support making Earth/Fire monks more viable option. Multiple effects on a 2cp backup. 4/5 (in monks) M: This card isn’t that great to me as a standalone card, however what really makes this card excel is Ursula from Opus 11. Not only can you now bring in a monk of different element. On 3 damage this will start killing things also, being able to break it for Ursula and bring it back seems like this could be the start of Fire Earth monks. Do I think it’s there yet? No but it’s close. Rating 4/5 Lilty 19-013C T: The payoff is not worth the restrictions to cast. 1/5 M: A draft card. Won’t see play in competitive. In draft you tend to try for two elements if you are unlucky this card and make it worth running three. Rating 1/5 Luneth 19-014C T: This for me competes with Blaze and Blaze wins the fight easily. The problem with board wiping combos is that you have to wait for it to align and this doesn't have the 'oh shit I need to reset' power behind it. 2/5 M: My problem with 5k damage recently is that unless it is instant speed (via a card like Brynhildr) it is normally too late. The reason this is interesting is that it can pair with Water Faris in an attempt to board clear, the issue is that is competes with the forward Luneth which is competition for the best job Warrior of Light in the game. Rating 2/5 Ruby Weapon – 19-015R M: I wanted to like this card as Ruby Weapon is my favourite of the weapons, however the problem with Fire is that for the most part, it is a proactive deck, wants to remove forwards, put pressure on your opponent and essentially overwhelm. This is the opposite, this is a defender, which is mostly associated with Earth, and even then I don’t think it would be that good. The special does save it a little however not enough to be played. Rating 2/5 T: nice to finally have the weapons in card form. Just think they deserved better. Thematically nice effects but fire has many better options for your big cost cards. 2/5 Laragorn 19-016H T: The Dream Stooges package doesn't immediately strike as overpowering however there is something intriguing about them, particularly as they all have the Hero ranking. One for testing. 3/5 M: The enabler for the dream stooges. It is hard to rate these cards without seeing them in action, however they have strong recursion, meaning that getting all three onto the field should be easy. Keeping them there is the Issue. Which means Curlax is the pay off. I think these could be an interesting play around and certainly worth testing. Rating 3/5 Leon 19-017R M: Running through the Rebels, most of them are playable, the problem I have is with searching a Maria. This deck with the new firion most likely wants Fire Water and with Maria being Wind, Wind Ice or a bad Light card, it forces you to run bad cards. I think they will eventually hit the nail on the head but it’s not there yet. Rating 2/5 T: Rebels have never really hit the mark as a package and I don't see that changing with this latest set of support. They tend to synergise well together but lack the big payoff. 2/5

 Ice Waltrill – 19-018R M: Ice got dicked on previous sets in terms of crystal generators and now they are trying to make up for it. The obvious play is with Norshtalen, as a pseudo-Leila Viking, and because of that comparison I can see this being played in something like Ice Water using Lenna to get back Norshtalen and Waltril for 3 CP and a crystal. Rating 3/5 T: Low risk for decent gains the longer it stays around. I like the crystal mechanic so this opens up some nice options. 3/5 Vincent – 19-019R M: This is finally a good search target off of reeve for ice lightning, which is a good buff once you have the Cait Sith down. Your Exburst Reeves allow for the special too. Freezing your opponents back ups for a turn and freezing when they have a big blocker. I am a huge fan of this card. Rating 5/5 T: Freezing backups is always nice and it's searchable. Wind meta makes its less relevant. 3/5 Umaro – 19-020H M: I do like this Umaro, however it does have tough competition. I think if Water Ice turns into a FF6 heavy deck, this might be the one to play, however my money is on the Opus 11 version. Alternatively, Fire Ice could use this card with another removal card. Able to get two FF6 with Edgar and bring Umaro in for an 8k in a pinch. Rating 3/5 T: I am a fan of Brave cards that threaten additional tricks although I feel this favours more of a defensive trick. The recursion effect is nice as well as you should have no trouble filling you hand with VI characters making this a reliable source of removal. There are also a few VI cards with bz inspired effects that could combo well with this that could inspire some nice plays. (Ghost, Ultros, Kefka (S), Celes). 4/5 Cloud of Darkness – 19-021C M: They finally give Ice a way to easily generate crystals, and then they bring out this. Not to play this card but to remind us that there is a good Cloud of Darkness from Opus 16. This however is garbage. Rating 1/5 T: There is a lack of monster removal around however are any really worth playing this to break? 1/5 Shiva – 19-022R M: Draw a card on an Ice card is rare, but I think while this isn’t good for mono, it may have a place in Ice Wind as a draw option. A free card will stack up the casts and replace itself. While I’m not saying this makes it an auto include, it does at least give the card a chance to prove itself in that deck at least. Rating 3/5 T: draws a card which is always good. A nice little draw cycle for ice just don't ever pay to cast it. 3/5 Snow – 19-023C M: I love the flavour of this card, Snow has always been a defender, and this really works in that it creates that image, however the problem with this card is that due to its element, Ice tends to want to be aggressive. Opus 18 Fang can reduce and even increase Snow’s stats but the value of this card is stopping the back swing which may not compliment a lot of ice’s strategies. Rating 2/5 T: It's nice to see Snow back to his Sentinel roots. I used to like the Opus 1 starter back in the day and this has some of that flavour, unfortunately it just doesn't hit hard enough or have enough protection to be reliable enough defence. 2/5 Sarah (Mobius) – 19-024L M: I think this card has got bad press about it currently and while it is not without faults, there are some benefits from this card. The earlier you play this card the better it is and mainly from the last effect. While your opponent is trying to set up, with their Norshtalen or Fat Chocobo back up, this can make them over pay. I’m not saying this is amazing but it has its place. Rating 3/5 T: 3 very useful effects, particularly the last one. Unanswered this can win you games for sure however we are in Opus 19 now and if you expect a card this obvious to be able to sit around for more than a turn then think again. Taking this to a competitive tournament I'd be surprised if you get to dull it once. 3/5 Sephiroth – 19-025R M: This is in a rough spot as a card name. Ice Lightning recently got a killer legend, and while Mono Ice might welcome the back attack back up, not many other ice decks will. The flavour of this card is on point and could see play as a one of. Rating 2/5 T: At 3/4 damage this really comes to life thanks to back attack. Shame its called Sephiroth. 3/5 Curlax - 19-026H M: Curlax is the best of the three dream stooges as he is the one that can affect your opponent. I think it is important to get him out early as it then forces your opponent to discard every time they kill a Dream Stooge – including Curlax. The combo of the 3 seems to fall apart if you can’t play this card, which could become more of a thing if Leviathan becomes a meta card. Rating 4/5 T: This is the payoff of the dream stooges. As above these need testing to determine their power. There could be something there though. 3/5 Chocobo Eater - 19-027H M: Ice tends not to want to spend a lot of dull and freeze on cheap meaningless forwards, however they will block the swing through. This card remedies a lot of that by being a cheap card to stop stuff. A few cards Ice has (such as Zeromus) can be ruined by Porom, and I think this could definitely help that. Rating 3/5 T: An offensive name to many but very relevant effects in the current climate. If your opponent doesn't have a monster out then this can effectively remove a key card from your opponents game. Category X could make it even more relevant with new Rikku 4/5 Terra – 19-028C M: I love modal cards, I think this isn’t a bad one either. The issue I have is that the card name Terra does have a few good candidates. If you are thinking of a summon heavy deck the Opus 15 one still hits hard. If you are thinking aggro, this may be too expensive. This is one of the hard ones to rate for me. Rating 2.5/5 T: As long as you aren't building around the other Terra cards there is no reason to not run this in ice really. It's not very exciting though. 4/5 Tohno – 19-029C M: I am a big sucker for backups that search back-ups and this could be blank and I’d still try it. I think Ice Lightning is in a place now with the new Vincent and This card that the back up line is essentially fixed with Reeve, Cait Sith, Tohno, Khalia Chival, Restrictor and Nero. With so much searching, you can find your ideal back up number to then slap down forwards and go. Rating 4/5 T: Searchable by Khalia Chival (another backup). That's always a decent value engine to consider. 3/5 Norschtalen – 19-030R M: Originally I wasn’t a fan of Waltril, but since the idea of Ice Water came up I’ve come around to it, which means that this card also goes up in rating. I think playing this off of lenna is good enough spam to make your opponent worry. Rating 3/5 T: Decent effects in principle, just don't think you ever want to use them unless you are all in on Waltrill for your crystals. 2/5 Flan – 19-031C M: For those who missed the mono Ice (and Ice Earth) meta, flans played a big part in this. Being able to generate more resources from the Opus 4 flan allowed decks to keep pressure on. It is a testament to how strong it was that only now are we getting a card name flan. I think this card is good for keeping up with todays meta and offers a cheap blocker for 1cp. One to watch. Rating 3/5 T: People who like flans really like flans. They are probably really happy with this. I don't like flans. 2/5 Yuke - 19-032C M: Another draft card, and with it having a break, be it on a dull forward, it could see play there however from a competitive standpoint its unplayable. Rating 1/5 T: Feels like a draft card and not a bad one for that. 2/5 Lean - 19-033C M: Being able to search a card is really nice, and plays into the new style of ice of depending on opponent’s hand. I think this card could be good in a heavy discard deck, but not so much outside of it. Interested to see what the target people focus on too. Rating 3/5 T: Worthless until a point where ice discard should already be in control. Just not consistent enough to warrant a place. 2/5 Nu Mou - 19-034C M: I like these standard unit cards and for 2 cp this can technically do a lot. Dulling and freezing a character as well as discard on a standard unit is something that really can push ice, specifically mono, to catching up with other elements, however I think it is a long way off yet Rating 3/5. T: Category 13 and multiplay are a positive for this. Can push for a close out. 3/5

 Wind Alexander – 19-035R M: I immediately compare this to the ice version as I think the strongest place for these cards are either Ice Wind or Mono Wind (for this version specifically) and I like this more than the Ice one. More due to the nature of its modal effects. Breaking a 5 cost will hit bismarck and leviathan and with wind being so prevalent the breaking a monster is a lot easier. Rating 4/5 T: You have to think of these in terms of the free cast. Having options makes this even better and both options are good. 4/5 Vayne – 19-036L M: Originally I wasn’t sold on this card, but the more I think about it and specifically paired with Sherlotta from Opus 18 I think this could be a menace. You play Sherlotta, Warp 2. Play Vayne next turn, which then brings in Sherlotta, you draw a card. Meaning you draw a card and set up a big play for this turn. I expect wind to really look into this new option and more than likely adopt it. Rating 4/5 T: The first card to really interact with Warp. Building into warp you get the benefits of speeding up the warp and also the ongoing value gains of the draw aspect. A couple of Vayne hits could be enough to swing the game for you. Really interesting card to build around. 5/5 Wol - 19-037R M: Not really a card that will see play in the meta as there are better ways to search a multi element card, this may see play as a one of if the deck runs many multi elements but I don’t see it personally. Rating 2/5 T: Not feeling this one. If you are going multi element then its probably going to need earth and earth already searches everything you would need in that deck. 2/5 Evrae - 19-038R M: Every set recently wind has had a monster that just absurd, this is that card. For 1 CP which then replaces itself and giving you 1 cp extra each turn is insane. This is only the generating value, but when combined with cards like Chocolatte, or Edward, this card gets even stronger. The abilities to do tap actions twice means that everything has to be moderated and have the once per turn on it in fear that this can excel it. Rating 6/5 T: This doesn't need to exist and certainly not in wind. 1/5 Emerald Weapon – 19-039R M: The underwater Weapon, a wind card? Whose effect only triggers if your opponent is playing Ice or a specific deck which can discard? It’s special is strong but also the slowest. The only way it is useful is surprising your opponent with it coming out on their turn. This card makes no sense to me. Rating 1/5 T: lives at the bottom of the sea, iconic underwater battle, gets put in wind. For that 1/5 Thief - 19-040C M: The token mill card this set, not worth running in competitive or even draft, might be a little fun for some decks but I can’t see where that would be. Rating 1/5 T: Mill fans rejoice! But then calm down as the CP requirements don't really suit mill. 2/5 Cid Highwind – 19-041H M: I thought about this card for a while on what is the best thing to return from your field to your hand and I really struggled, and while I might not have the best answer, the answer they intend in the new Opus 19 Cloud. When that card becomes 2 cost (similar to Ice Wind Locke effect) you can play it down, use Cid to return to hand and then replay with the activated backups. It’s a little slow but I can see if it takes off it will be a monster. Rating 3/5 T: I love the AC artworks and I'm glad they finally have made their way into the game from their chapters counterparts. Effects wise I think there is something abusable here because of the category in question. Not sure what that is though so will sit on the fence. 3/5 White Mage – 19-042C M: Very generic and sometimes very strong. Depending on your deck this could be a lovely compliment to it. Allowing you to get back your Luso, Bismarck, Locke or even Zidane. With hitting 3 damage you can also use it to start stacking up casts, I expect to see this in some decks. Rating 4/5 T: Going big on the multielement theme this set, potentially just as draft filler however this one is actually pretty decent in the long run being able to get back a power card. 3/5 Zu – 19-043C M: With the strong set of monsters Wind has had recently it is a bit of a shock that this is a dud. I wouldn’t even say this is the best Zu, and that says something about this card. I don’t see this ever being picked up unless FFX category makes it relevant. Rating 1/5 T: the other Zu cards are better. Don't see a place for this 1/5 Sarah (Mobius) 19-044R M: This set has a habit of repeating names and I’m really not a fan of that. A booster for Mobius is nice, but with this card being such an important name in the Mobius family I’m not sure it will see play in a Mobius orientated deck. Rating 2/5 T: Mobius gets a surprising amount of support in FFTCG. Obviously name clash is an issue but Mobius tribal is going Earth/Wind so this doesn't register. There are enough cards for this to be worthwhile in that deck. 3/5 Sophie - 19-045H M: I will look at this card because of its warp because I can’t imagine you wanting to pay 4 for this. Now paying 1 warp, the effects are risky, as your opponent can board clear and you get nothing. Activating backups on entry is questionable as you just activated on turn. The time this card gets good is with Vayne. Warp 1, play Vayne. Trigger sophie, Sophie gets warped in. Activate backups, draw a card. That’s strong. Rating 4/5 T: If this wasn't wind I think the warp cost would be higher but we know that wind gets that little bit extra in this game. Combine this with Vayne and the value gets silly. 4/5 Buddy - 19-046C M: A backup searching a backup, always a fan. Not much to say about this but will let you search the new Rikku but also the opus 2 rikku allowing for Fat Chocobo (Opus 16) variants of mono wind to come back into play. Rating 5/5 T: This is a card. Category X moves to the top table. 5/5 Gramps - 19-047C M: Not a card until 5 damage, and even then it will likely be that you have seen a copy of this, which means you need to run multiple, and by then you will be relying on exburst. Seems very convoluted for something so bad. Rating 1/5 T: Feels great on EX Burst but not sure this should have been in your deck in the first place. 2/5 Bartz - 19-048C M: The way I see this, and I may be being harsh. Put this to the bottom of your deck and draw two good cards that you actually want. Not a good card. Rating 1/5 T: Nah. 1/5 Makki-Chebukki – 19-049R M: Out of the two this is my least favourite, and more because I feel like mill has taken a hit recently. With cards like Lenna and Exdeath, this sometimes may not even be worth doing. Like Kukki-Chebukki, this is only worth coming out on Cherukiki and even then, may not be worth it. Rating 2/5 T: You have to rate these as a package as they are not great on their own. Only good coming off the 5 cost one and even then I'm just not sold on it. 2/5 Matoya – 19-050C M: I really like dancers. I'm really happy with this. Honestly - more dancers are always welcome, but there is something that is missing that ties the whole packages together. This isn’t that card but does give the deck more options for killing which is nice. Rating 3/5 T: people who like dancers really like dancers. They are probably really happy with this. I don't like dancers. 2/5 Rikku – 19-051C M: Similar to Cid Kramer of Opus 18, this card allows for category decks to work without limiting itself to an element. The big advantage of this over Cid Kramer, besides FF10 cards being better than FF8, is that Rikku can be searched with cards that the deck would naturally run, such as Opus 2 Paine. I hope this is a trend that they carry on doing and bring out for every Category. Rating 5/5 T: I'm really happy they are doing these type of cards now following on from FF8's Cid Kramer. Category X is just much stronger than 8 so this will be even better. One of Cid's issues was the deck was reliant on seeing him, Rikku has a couple of ways to be searched out so doesn't have that issue. We don't need one for FF7 though thanks. 5/5

 Earth Undead Princess – 19-052C M: I don’t think this card has much of a potential unless there is a card this set that wants a forward to be broken this turn, even then there will be better prospects. Something like Starter Ardyn would love this card if it was in the right element, however as it stands. Rating 1/5 T: I dont't think this is necessarily bad and might have been ok in the past but I think deck space is so limited now there isn't really a place for this sort of combat trick. The nuances of attacking/blocking are sort of gone now as most decks aim to just remove barriers and attack unobstructed. 2/5 Vanille - 19-053C M: I’m a fan of this. There isn’t much competition with the card name and this does a little bit of everything. Forcing your opponents summons to cost two more can really mess with an opponents turn. Forcing your opponent to pay 5 for Amaterasu suddenly feels a lot worse. Rating 4/5 T: Earth's white mage, but not as strong as you need a good target early. 3/5 Vincent - 19-054C M: Another low cost back up with a name that doesn’t have too much competition in the meta. This one to me is less impressive than Vanille but could still be a worth addition, I would say however I feel this is far more meta dependant that Vanille. Rating 3/5 T: 5k is enough to kill a lot of 2cp issues. Early aggro like Palom/Porom, Roche etc can be wiped out nicely on an early backup. It's also a good number to compliment other entry ping ablilities plus has an ongoing effect. Solid. 3/5 Eiko - 19-055R M: Eiko is one of those cards with amazing potential, however I can’t see where it works. There will be some big brained person who finds a way to make this card busted but currently I can’t even work out what summon makes it worth it outside of some crazy loop deck. Rating 3/5 T: I'm a big fan of summoner decks, the main issue has always been name clashes of which this one hits quite hard as you would be sacrificing the searcher. That said this is worth that trade off. 4/5 Graff – 19-056C M: Asmodai 2.0 and they aren’t even hiding it anymore. This is all round a great card for mono earth and I think it could contribute to a resurgence of Mono Earth. Rating 4/5 T: Solid mono earth card, ticks all the boxes for earth which now have a fair amount of straight break. Could be time for a mono earth resurgence and I'm all for it. 4/5 Kefka – 19-057L M: Kefka is a weird card and I think that is the point. Being free when behind is nice, it will force your opponent to not over commit to forwards or at least stem aggro. The free summon when broken means that you have to have a summon which you want to cast on opponent’s turn. I don’t have one in mind but I think this card hinges on that. Rating 3/5 T: There's a lot of text here, reminds me of the mogpod creations people used to come up with. Thankfully this reads a bit better than most of those! That said I'm not sure what to make of it. I predict this to be the sleeper card of the set that will suddenly explode. 3/5 Jenova Synthesis – 19-058R M: Every set, there is one card that I get incredibly hyped about but deep down I know it’s not that good. This set it seems like it is Jenova Synthesis. I am starting to think Earth Wind with Mono Earth back ups are going to be a good deck this set and playing this every so often off of Mont Leonis from Opus 14 will be a big part in that. Rating 4/5 T: Spoiler season sometimes makes me think cards are better than they actually are. I think this is the case for Jenova, so I'm going to sit on the fence. 3/5 Aster Protoflorian – 19-059R M: My immediate thought when I saw this card was how to I get it for free and the most obvious answer is Mira. The problem with this card is that it does nothing when it is on the field. Essentially you are paying 6 cp to play a 5000-power forward that breaks a forward and a backup. If you think that is worth it, then this is a good addition – I’m not so sure but breaking althea could be good. Rating 2.5/5 T: I was initially put off by the costs, but the flexibility is growing on me. This also breaks Althea which could be clutch. 3/5 Animist – 19-060C M: Searching a monster and playing onto the field at the cost of a back up is sketchy to me, unless you need something, but the search a monster on three damage is really good I think. This pairs nicely with Mira and if you can get the self-damage high enough, I don’t see why this card couldn’t see a place somewhere. Rating 2/5 T: Monster themed decks don't get enough love so it's nice to see some support. That said it's too slow relying on a backup to break itself to search a monster. Would have worked better interacting either the breakzone imo. 2/5 Doga – 19-061H M: This card reminds me of Opus 3 Krile, and while I do like that quick influx of Crystals, I’m not sure the other two effects are worth it. I think this card purely relies on you having the need for Crystals, otherwise there are better cards. Rating 2/5 T: In principle this looks banging but it's got so many angles it doesn't really know where it wants to belong which might be its undoing. Summon focused will see you swamped with 2cp forwards, crystal focused and you move away from the multi element needs. If you can get this working though then it could be awesome. 3/5 Nacht – 19-062R M: Can you make a deck that can warp almost every turn? Is this a card you want to wait for your warp to end for it to come in? Do you want the worst type of Exburst in the game? I can’t see this being good and not a fan because of it. Rating 2/5 T: Really great on a warp turn however until then it's just sat in your hand. The times everything aligns will feel great but the lack of consistency will hinder you in the long run. 3/5 Barret – 19-063H M: I’m not sure I like this card, I like the effects but it reminds me of Opus 11 Barret, the effects are good but it’s so slow, because Barret says cast, unless you can activate your back ups this will struggle. I see it in Wind Earth but then you require to draw two multi elements… I just don’t see it, I do like however it gets you a forward back after however. Rating 2/5 T: My initial impressions were very positive on this but now I'm thinking it's just my love of Barret and the art. The cast trigger really hurts it but I still think there is some fun potential there. Its also nice to play some favourite characters outside of the bog standard Avalanche builds. 3/5 Fenrir – 19-064R M: I want to like this card, and I can see in some times it will be a useful card, such as with Garnet. However, the specificity of the module options is something that you can’t rely on even if it is a free card. Rating 2/5 T: Where the other element versions have been easy includes this is super niche. Great when you need it but a waste of deck space when you don't. 2/5 The Deathlord – 19-065C M: I don’t mind this card, I think it can see play for when you need it, I especially like that because it’s characters, you can get yourself a backup back that you just broke, I only really see it being done at an end of a turn. The damage is only an upside because no one is going to force you to do it. Rating 3/5 T: in theory it seems a nice tech but the damage is an issue for me as I see this as a late game play where you might not be able to rely on it. 2/5 Behemoth - 19-066C This is pack fodder, not being able to block or attack for double the cost of this card is not worth it, as a result the card is barely worth talking about. Rating 1/5 T: if was like 9k then maybe but it's just not worth the awkward costs. Cockatrice is a much better option if this is a route you want to go down. 1/5 Monk – 067C M: I thought this might be more than just pack filler based on the name, but the effect tells me others. Rating 1/5 T: always worth considering a new monk but this doesn't really fit. 1/5 Rydia – 19-068R M: As I’ve always said, I love a backup that will search backups and this does that, with the additional search of a summon. Rydia is a highly contested name but with the support Summoners I have hope that Summoners can become good, this will be part of that package. Rating 4/5 T: a 6/5 card if it's not called Rydia. I'm a big fan of summoner decks but the support is so frustrating as it's based around 3 different named cards. Probably a 4 but giving it a 3/5 just because of how sad you will be thinking of the other Rydia you could have played alongside it.

 Lightning Emperor (FFL) – 19-069R M: Cards like this always interest me, because there are applications with the Woff forward monster cards which would allow you to get both effects. This isn’t consistent but I will always keep this card in mind for that day. Until then I don’t think this is good enough unless you can stack your deck with the effect you want. Rating 2/5 T: I don't really know where to start with this. It's so bonkers I think it might just be good. The reality is Shinryu is better. 2/5 Meme potential 5/5 Edge – 19-070C M: Most ninjas rely on Opus 11 Edge to be good, so for an Edge to over take that one, it will have to be something special. This is not. Outside of Ninjas I don’t think this is good enough to warrant a slot in any deck. Rating 1/5 T: hard name clash for ninjas which really need the other Edge to function. This one isn't better. 2/5 Elgo – 19-071C M: I can see this being ran as a one of in some decks if they want a multi-element card. This could easily fit into the new wind lightning that will try Cloud but ultimately this card doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Rating 2/5 T: Exburst makes this worth considering otherwise lightning has more consistent recursion options. 2/5 Eald’narche – 19-072C M: I actually think this card has potential, the problem is that I don’t think it’s good enough to see play. Another discard effect which works with black mages but I think where this shines the most is in draft. Rating 2/5 T: What's with the red squares!? Probably too expensive to see play. 2/5 Kain – 19-073C M: A back attack on a back up is always nice. It has a nice effect when your opponent expects a trade. The thing I think is interesting about this however is dragoons specifically. Kain is a big name, but if you go second, cast this during opponents first turn, you now have a back up and setting up Alus first turn. I am curious to see if this can make a splash there. Rating 4/5 T: This seems tidy, whether or not it's a dragoon deck I'm not sure. 3/5 Scholar – 19-074C M: I think the damage 3 on most of these cards are solid and this is no exception, however the break effect really lets this one down in my opinion. Rating 2/5 T: Solid if not slightly muddled identity. 3/5 Chimera – 19-075C M: A cheap way to proc ranperre which is always nice. Not sure where else you get the value of breaking your own 3 costs or less. But I do like it in that deck. Rating 2/5 T: I can't immediately think of what you want to break with this. If you need that though then it's pretty decent. 2/5 Kuja – 19-076R M: I am a big fan of this card, cards that can help you develop while removing problem cards for your opponent are really strong. Decks that will bring out Palom and Porom early, or Opus 16 Zidane or even the new one. I will stress though, it breaks a 2 cost of any player, meaning if your opponent doesn’t have one and you do… Rating 4/5. T: 2cp backup, EX Burst, breaks a card (2cp forwards are very relevant and not always efficient to remove). What more do you want (maybe upto so you dont frak yourself). 4/5 Golbez – 19-077L M: This card, while the legend, isn’t to be based on it’s power but it’s supporting cast. If the archfiends are good, this will be good. Currently there are no new archfiends to go with this card, they have been too busy printing double Yuna and Tidus. Rating 2/5 T: I love the theme idea of this, how you get the build up of dread as the Archfiends keep coming before Golbez finally arrives. The fact they didn't give us any new Archfiends though is just bizzare. This card is pointless in this set. 2/5 Jinnai – 19-078C M: Am I missing something? Rating 1/5 T: ok then. 1/5 Moebius – 19-079H M: Moebius has the least interesting effects of the three Dream Stooges, but allowing them to be stronger and getting one back seems like a welcome addition to the combo, I think there is something here with these three. Rating 3/5 T: Obviously have to rate these as a package. The recursion effect could see these becoming a bit of a nuisance. You clear them, discard loads and they come straight back. Reminds me a bit of Shikaree where you would go all in to get rid of them just to keep as you see them come back the next turn. 3/5 Vivi – 19-080R M: I’m not sure if Mono lightning needed a Vivi, however there was still an argument to use the Opus 16 black mage one. I have thought about this card as I do love my black mage decks, and the more I think, the more this card strikes me as bad, requiring at least four lightning cards to break a simple 8k. Rating 1/5 T: Finally a good Vivi....oh no wait that was the last one. I'm not a big fan of cards restricted to 1 element and even then the payoff is not that great. Maybe there is something I'm missing as for 1cp it does have a lot of text tbf. 2/5 Behemoth – 19-081R M: The most interesting thing about this card is that it is not multiplay when the others are. Rating 1/5 T: This feels like its in this set as a draft card, otherwise I don't think this ever gets played. 1/5 Lightning – 19-082H M: I like the potentials this card opens up, playing this, being able to swing, discard an odin, get the Opus 17 lightning to move something out of the way, draw a card and then play an ff13 forward. The problem with this style is that the deck requires you to run multiple lightnings which can clog a deck, but with four lightnings in the last two sets, this is more than likely their idea. Rating 3/5 T: Another Lightning! I initially rolled eyes and groaned at this (note: frustrated, not sexual!) however I'm now starting to get on board. FFXIII lacks a bit of identity so maybe this is the one to tie it together. It has flexibility to play XIII cards and other versions of Lightning (alot of which have Haste) is not restricted to main phases or your own turn and the forward doesn't come in dull. I'm actually quite excited by this one. 4/5 Ramuh – 19-083R M: Nice to see that lightning and fire returned to it’s routes with these cards, fire can choose anything but 1000 damage less, and Lightning does more damage but a bullshit restriction. At least it isn’t choosing an active forward. Rating 1/5 T: These one of for each element can be hit or miss. This is a miss. I'm not sure why it has the restriction that other elements didn't have. If it was reduce power instead of damage it would have made more sense. 1/5 Ricard – 19-084R M: A nice addition to the Dragoon back ups line, with very little competition for the name, I think outside of Dragoons however, there is little reason to run this over current cards. Rating 2/5 T: A nice card for Dragoons. 3/5 Dragoon – 19-085C M: This dragoon is weird, with the name you would expect it to fit into dragoon decks, however with the three elements, unless you are going some hybrid wind, water lightning dragoons, this isn’t worth it. Another Draft card. Rating 1/5 T: A bit like the Monk where you have a look and realise it doesn't fit with its job and you'll never play it. 1/5

 Water Ashe – 19-086R M: Ashe is in a weird spot, I think this card is actually good, works really well with Leviathan from Opus 14 and fits into the deck nicely with the job Princess. The problem is that Opus 18 Ashe is so good, being one of the standout cards for mono water last set. If this card finds a home, it won’t be in Mono Water but where its home is, I’m not sure yet. Rating 3/5 T: Easy to dismiss this one but there is something about it that is tingling my senses....I just don't know what it is. With Fran you can bounce and then trigger this every time Fran attacks, is that good? There's also a few water cards that interact with the return to hand trigger (Tros, Leviathan LoW) is there something there? 3/5 Wol – 19-087R A 2 drop 9000 power blocker is nothing something to sniff at. The problem is that to kill forwards outside of blocking, it needs to be running multiple copies and I don’t think its good enough to do that. Sadly, I think because of that it won’t see play. Rating 2/5 T: I wish this was the Tonberry card and it would be pretty fun in terms of flavour. I'm just not sure it's worth the investment in the deck to make it work. There are a lot of Wols available for the special. 2/5 Aerith – 19-088C M: A strong name but not so much in mono water, getting back a light card isn’t such a great effect in this day and age of FFTCG. I don’t really see this as being a card that will see play outside of a deck that wants a light for a specific reason. Rating 2/5 T: On initial view it doesn't seem that great however we are finally getting to see some strong light cards so maybe there could be something in this? 2/5 Gau-19-089H M: I really like the flavour of this card, jumping in helping and then jumping out. Really makes me think about how well some cards can relate to the game and in this case the card feels pretty strong too. Rating 4/5 T: I mentioned earlier about combat tricks not being that much of a thing anymore but when you can have a big swing like this combined with Back Attack it is worth a look. 3/5 Clavat – 19-090C M: Good Draft card, not good Competitive card. Rating 1/5 T: Draft, draft, draft. 2/5 Sapphire Weapon – 19-091R M: Sometimes I think they print bad mini archetypes for fun, this time it has bothered me because I like the weapons. I think there was a lot of potential with them but they seem to have just been given garbage effects for what seems like no reason. Rating 1/5 T: At least this one has some water in the artwork. 2/5 White Mage – 19-092C M: I would have preferred this if it didn’t have the restriction of your opponents forwards returned to hand but otherwise like the others it is pretty solid. Rating 3/5 T: This is pretty solid if not spectacular. Bounce has made a big resurgence recently. 3/5 Strago – 19-093H M: The cycle card for FF6 Ice water, I like this card and think there is a fair amount of potential even if it isn’t relevant on entry. The problem I do see is that it is gated by how good Ice Water FF6 is. Rating 3/5 T: Feel like we only recently had a VI focused release yet here we are again. The card itself is really nice getting effects on entry on break and EX burst. A classic case of category VI getting that little bit extra....oh and a special to boot, why not. 4/5 Sanctuary Keeper – 19-94R M: Another card I am a fan of from water and I feel like this may have more potential because it can do it during either players turn. The 2000 power boost may come in handy but I am looking for dull effects that really let this card shine. This set Sarah (Mobius) may be the most interesting option, allowing you to stop autos multiple times or even dulling. Rating 3/5 T: This is all about recouping the initial investment and possible tempo setback that it brings. Needs to be in a specific deck which focusses on the activation rather than just a generic boosting option. Something like summoners or the new Legend Sarah springs to mind. Category X seems very relevant for it too. 4/5 Sophia-19-095C M: Not sure where this card will fit in, not even sure it’s a good draft card. Rating 1/5 T: Maybe if it was every turn rather than just yours, even then im not sure it interacts with enough things to make it worthwhile. 2/5 Tidus – 19-096C M: Not the best Tidus, and in contention for one of the worst. If you run Tidus this will not be the one that comes to mind. Almost feels like pack filler or for draft even then at 8000 power it might not be worth it. Rating 1/5 T: Why does it cost 6? 2/5 Tonberry – 19-097C M: Water seems to have an occurring theme recently with monsters than replace their costs. Echidna from last set and now this one draws on entry. Granted it must discard a card to become a forward but this allows you to run light and darks without the issue of hand clogging. Rating 3/5 T: Deck space is so limited these days it's hard to justify a spot for this even though all the text is decent enough. 3/5 Yuna – 19-098C M: The first of two Yuna’s this set. I can’t stress how bad I think this card is. A Yuna back up will always have to contend with the opus 1 reduce summons, however I think the 5 cost from Opus 1 may be better than this also. Paying 5 for a card where you don’t even get to choose what gets put into the break zone is shameful. Rating 1/5 T: is this another draft filler? This reads like an early opus card, it could let you choose the forward and it's still not great. 1/5 Josef – 19-099R M: Competes with the back up searcher in fire, but it does have the abilities to be brought off of Guy which will allow you to spam the board a bit easier with Firion as a target. Don’t think it’s better than the searcher however. Rating 2/5 T: The effects are actually quite good but is always going to struggle against the same named searcher for an archetype. Also category II are not the strongest. 2/5 Larsa – 19-100C This card has many applications, my immediate thought was Mono Water’s Ashe from Opus 18 which allows a deck to search for removal, but then I thought about other cards. Being able to search Opus 14 Vaan, this may help the deck in setting up but also have applications after that searching cards like Kytes. It’s an interesting card and hopefully it can help bring back older decks. Rating 4/5 T: Excellent Category support with a relevant name. Larsa is one card that didn't really have a place in the archetype and now it does. 4/5 Leviathan - 19-101R M: I am extremely excited for this card, when a water summon is announced knowing that water can recur their summons easier, you will have to check what is abusable. Using cards which get summons back (Such as 19-120C Garnet) will allow you to get two of these, they cost 0 and then return two forwards to hand, as they are unplayable next turn they will likely be discarded. Stopping key cards, I expect this card to see a lot of play. Rating 5/5 T: water's turn and they get a massive hit. There's not much to say other than it's very powerful, abusable and expect it to be a staple in water. 5/5 Refia – 19-102L M: I have tried like many to make warrior of light work, last set I had my highest success with Fire Wind Warrior of lights, however this set with Refia being water I think it will be time to revisit the original fire water. I think a lot of testing will be needed to see if this card is good but I struggle to have hope as the abilities seem conflict with each other. You need 4, and only then is she good. If I’ve learnt one thing from Warrior of lights. Don’t expect forwards to survive. Rating 2/5 T: I've never really bonded with Warrior of Light decks. I usually feel the cards read well but they just don't interest me. This is the same here, it seems pretty decent I just have no real input on if these is feasible or if this is what they need. 3/5

 Light Tidus – 19-103H M: I think this card is really good, removal on an exburst from a card that doesn’t rely any other set up, this can fit into a lot of decks and just be a super star. The remove 20 is also viable in some decks, It wont be an every game played but it will be an option. Rating 5/5 T: Unique removal ability with an EX to boot. I'm not sure on the remove 20 cards ability though. 4/5 Madeen T: the restriction is an issue but the trade off is big. How many can you realisticly run without causing deck issues. I think it will be dismissed by a lot of people but if you make it work could be nasty. 4/5 M: I want to like Madeen, I think the value for it is good, the effect is strong. The issue is keeping a light forward on board until you have the Madeen. Sometimes you’ll draw them together, sometimes you’ll draw the Madeen before the light card. I’d say if you want this card, run filter. Rating 2/5

 Dark Ark – 19-105H M: I’ve had a lot of thoughts about this card, using Opus 5 Kam’lanaut to search, maybe the return of nidhogg or even using Necron to turn a card to dark and allow this to become cheaper. None of these seem ideal but if there is a way to make this castable and reliable I think this card will be good. Rating 3/5 T: A sort of Nidhogg vibe going on. Dark has some good big cost cards so I could see this getting played. 3/5 Sin T: a shame it has a cast restriction on the enter effect particularly with how the new yuna wants to combo on this. That said it fulfils the big boss flavour that sin deserves. If shouldn't happen much but if you take someone to 6 damage and pass you probably deserve the slapdown that comes next. 4/5 M: If a deck can choose its damage, IE fire lightning decks, this card is something to look at, as a payoff for risk and reward style. When this card is free good, otherwise it’s not worth it. It also can clog a hand, which is something self-damage decks do not want. Rating 2/5

 Multi-Element

Vaan T: it checks all the boxes for effects youd want on a fire wind card. Not sure where it goes though. 3/5 M: Vaan has slowly been making his way into Fire Wind over recent sets and one of the beauties I found with Fire Wind was that you could run the backup searcher Penelo to find a Vaan or Filo backup. This allowed you to pay for water and add some good card. I have no interest in moving away from that and even off of Fran I’m not sure its worth it over other Vaans. Rating 2/5 Zidane -19-108L M: Everyone knows the rating of this card. Cheap, Sees opponent’s hand, Remove’s threats, Haste and I even forgot the unblockable by 3 or more but why not let’s add that. Annoyed with the name but not the worst offender. Rating 5/5 T: An obvious 5 but some cards I just struggle to call 'good'. It's toxic and too unbalanced for the little risk it takes to play it. There is nothing earned by slapping someone up with this unless you enjoy winning at all costs. Scum card, expect to see this everywhere at Materia Cups. 1/5 Cherukiki – 19-109H M: Currently Cherukiki doesn’t have great targets, the best or at least the most potential seem to be in Ice, but I do think this card has a future. One to keep an eye on going forward. Rating 3/5 T: I got excited and checked what dull ability cards this could effect. There isn't too much at the moment so you are really stuck with the chebukkis. Getting 3 forwards for 5cp is decent but not sure they are worth it. 3/5 The Emperor – 19-110H M: I see this as an attempt to get the emperors into as many decks as possible. With warp of any colours this can fit in and have decent effects on a deck. My problem is that it requires that (or to be brought in by an ability) to be useful. I would have rather this have been Ice Earth Specific. Rating 3/5 T: Interesting here is the warp with no element requirement meaning you can slip this in any deck. Giving access to bz removal for every element is nice but that's best used as response to your opponent interacting with thier bz so this will probably stay in Earth/Ice. 3/5 Prishe – 19-111L M: A style of effect we haven’t really seen before, the warp is expensive but this card is good in many situations. Being able to kill a forward via warp and then the added effect is nice, but entering and doing something also. I like this cards utility and hopefully we see more of these style effects. Rating 4/5 T: A really cool design getting an effect for warping plus the warp entry effect which both tie into their respective element. Just how a legend should be. 4/5 Larkeicus – 19-112C M: I think this should be the Ice Earth hero. This card is insane. With the utility of getting any element monster, there are great options, such as Cerberus. On element you can bring back scale toad and the new Aster Protoflorian. Norshtalen even gets this card back. I have a lot of hope for this card and excited to see what people brew with it. Rating 5/5 T: Being able to get back any element monster is crazy good. You just need ways to be able to replay this to make the deck work. 4/5 Gilgamesh – 19-113C M: Sad to say for a multielement card that I see this as pack filler. Maybe FF8 decks using Wind Lightning could use this as a 1 of as they already run the Legend Gilgamesh but I wouldn’t bother with this really. Rating 1/5 T: A mishmash of all the other Gilgamesh cards which results in a jumbled unplayable mess. 1/5 Cloud – 19-114L M: Let’s start with the one bad. Weak to auto cancels as it is all one effect, the cancel hit’s both issues. Now for the good. Everything else. Breaking 2 forwards, being 9k, all of this seems nicely on point for a Cloud. Pair this with Monster Atomos, cast two cards, Atomos activates 2, which Cloud now costs that much. So simple to play this card. Rating 5/5 T: Double break on entry, 9k and cost reduction. A lot to love but you expect no less on a card named Cloud. Nice to branch out of Avalanche a bit. 4/5 Veriaulde – 19-115H M: A dull everything finisher for Wind Lightning. Not sure I’m a fan of this card as I don’t think it offers too much outside of that, but your opponent will have to be aware that Veriaulde can become 9000 power. Rating 2/5 T: This is all about the haste/dull finish move. It's quite a nice card. I'm not sure the threatening 9k by removing cards is something you want to do too much. Hopefully one day we will get a card that allows you to add counters to others. 3/5 Paine T: pretty decent effects in a good category. You probably want to run the searcher paine though so not sure there is a spot for this. 3/5 M: For Paine to be amazing, removing two cards from the breakzone has to have ideal targets, making this card somewhat meta dependant. I do think this card is good and removing any cards can be strong but Paine can be a contested name in some Wind Water lists but I think this wins out in most cases. Rating 3/5 Hilda – 19-117H M: FF2 cards mostly suck, and that really puts me off playing this card. Otherwise, I think it would be pretty strong. The value this card can get mean’s that this card needs to be answers. I think it would be more of a Fire Wind card but keep an eye out for a good Scott and this card becomes playable. Rating 2/5 T: As with all the other FF2 cards it reads well but it's just not a package you want to run. 2/5 Yuna – 19-118L M: I’m excited to try this card; I think there are lots of Synergies this card can provide. Lulu can get this card back. Chocobo and even bismarck can mean that this card with be played multiple turns. Putting a card on top of opponents deck means you can use Opus 16 Zidane to take the card. So many things this card can do. Rating 5/5 T: requires a category focus but fortunately there is no detriment to filling a deck with FFX as they all combo well with each other. A powerful removal ability, do you put on top of deck and steal it with a Zidane/mind flayer or just yeet it to damage, put on bottom so they potentially don't see it again. The damage 5 is more of a bonus. Shame it is a gullwing as that does little some of the nice interactions we have had lately in FFX with summoner/guardians. 4/5 Unei – 19-119L M: This card seems crazy, I love the elements and love the abilities. It has no name clash and can be brought in by a magnitude of ways. Dropping this early is a threat and being able to bring you back a summon mean’s that this card will always have to be answered early. Rating 5/5 T: A cool card that has been matched in the right elements. If you don't answer this and let your opponent start recycling summons you will be in trouble very quickly. 5/5 Garnet – 19-120C M: I’ve always wanted Summoners to work and I often think the main reason they don’t work is the power of the cards are shifted into either Eiko or Rydia. So when I heard there was a common Garnet my eyes rolled, but I was wrong, this card is great, maybe not the star of the show but the enabler. Rating 4/5 T: Great summoner support that's not Eiko or Rydia! Does a great job for summoners with a card name that didn't really have a place in the deck outside of its job. 4/5 Meia – 19-121H M: I feel like Mobius is always a category that you never realise is in your deck until you actually look. This isn’t to say this card is good, but many cards I looked on I was very much like, oh that’s mobius? I don’t like forcing a category unless it’s seemless and Mobius and Meia looks like it needs to be forced. Rating 2/5 T: Mobius gets so much support. Unfortunately this needed to be in wind or a single element to make it worthwhile. 2/5 Zack T: a bit of a nothing card for me, only worth it if you can warp and even then there's better options. Probably being too harsh on a common. 2/5 M: Fire Lightning has an identity with the self-damage high exburst count. Yes, this does 7000 damage. But there are better cards, cards that synergies with other cards in this combination. Not the worst of the 3 but not good. Rating 2/5 Anima – 19-123H M: I don’t want to rant about how bad this card is, so I won’t. Just save yourself some time. Rating 1/5 T: Survive 3 turns and break all forwards, sounds good except it won't survive or your opponent will remove your breakzone for you. You also can't speed this up as it has to be the same instance of Anima to trigger the effect (no rinoa play etc). Can't see this working but not as bad as Mitch says 🙂 2/5 Y’Shtola – 19-124L M: With the self-damage style deck, I think this could work pretty well. Noticing also that this card can kill forwards by just taking damage seems like something that was really underrated by Seifer last set. Fits into self-damage and fits into a Fire Lightning 14 deck. Rating 4/5 T: Let's keep throwing Y'shtolas at you until one sticks?! I thought this was really cool until I realised the unlockable gain was only on the turn it comes in and not on each damage trigger. Ping effect works on either player damage which is quite nice thiugh. 3/5 Mog VI T: Easy to reduce and great value at damage 3. Will need to think about maximising the first strike but this is exciting if it can open up a new deck in water ice. 4/5 M: An ice water card where I think it’s worst deck is Ice Water. Fire Ice will love this card, they tend to run the FF6 back ups and care about the numbers, this will also play into that strategy. Ice Water contests with the legend which in most cases is better than this. Shadow Lord – 19-126C M: I’ve had one experience with this card. It discarded a card, that card was emerald weapon. Bad cards make bad cards look good. Rating 1/5 T: A bit of ice, bit of water. I'll pass though thanks. 2/5 Relm – 19-127L M: So many monsters you can steal from your opponent, and cast Syldra or leviathan twice? Yes please. This can be brought back by the lenna’s and other cards I am missing. Could this help the return of mind flayer? Rating 4/5 T: It's all really cool just a shame it has no ongoing ability. I guess you need to bounce this and replay. 3/5 Warrior of Light T: I appreciate the design of this card very much. Cast restrictions that reward you for overcoming them but still lets you play it in by other means without losing too much of the core of the card. What's more exciting is the chance to steal it with Chaos and then play Ark for free 🤣 4/5 M: I think this card is great. Being able to be brought in for free this card is a powerhouse, but if you manage to cast it? Then you get a better reward. This is how card design should be and I’d like to see more of this style. Looking forward to play-testing with it. Rating 5/5

[aroaessidhe]

2022 reads // twitter thread

Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

a group of teens chosen by the British space program to be on a 23 year trip to set up a planet for human colonisation

set in 2012 but with an alternate history with more space travel advancements

character driven with a bit of drama and the dangers of space

[named-haines]

MCC All Stars Pink Parrots moments i want to write down before i forgor 💀

* the plan to go to wyoming for a month if they come in first, with the promise of kristin shooting with a bolt action rifle if anyone besides phil breaks the silence

* literally all of them being completely on board with it despite it being proposed as a joke

* tubbo’s everything being just unbelievably scuffed, including but not limited to: not activating windows, not having minecraft installed, the minecraft installer itself refusing to install and fighting with scott in the minutes leading up to the event over the legality of using lunar client

* wilbur reviewing a new chocolate out of a fucking milk tray every time he’s stressed

* tommy having beer??? and legit just disappearing after sky battle

* the mastication conversation

* wilbur instantly going up 13k viewers the moment ace race is announced

* bohemian rhapsody. that’s it that the point

* the arthur theme???

* i could not tell you what fucking demon posses wilbur once a month when he has to play this fucking game mode but it’s the highlight of the event every time

* kristin being completely down to join in with will and tommy gaslighting phil into thinking she didn’t exist

* “i’m dad now bitch”

* “odds on we just leave?”

* the absolute rinsing Seapeekay got for calling something a “weird dunk”

* “do you have a thing for shubble, tommy?” “…..”

* TECHNO

* philza, to the surprise of no-one, fucking loving terra swoop force

* THE RETURN OF LEAFBLOWER MAN

* fucking christ it’s been so long since an official mcc event was christened by his presence

* CAMP THOSE FUCKERS

* ABSOLUTE SCOTCHED EARTH TGTTOS

* the little group swim they went for before dodgebolt

[khizuo]

Alright I’ll be liveblogging Green Guardians because Philza Minecraft 1mil (I’m watching wilbur’s perspective for context)

Does Wilbur know how to stop flirting with George? No.

Wilbur: “Your vote doesn’t count—just like in the US election” I can’t the man is a leftist I’m telling you

Hole in the Wall

Philza just said “pink and squishy walls” I— this man is pure chaos he may be a responsible parent but he is a chaos parent

“Philza carrycraft” Yes Wilbur speak the truth

Harvey’s watched the Violet Vampires HITW “SUH SUH SUH SUH”

Wilbur do muffins even melt in the rain

I love Harvey’s “LET”S GOO” so much oml

damn wilbur what an r/minecraftchampionships lurker (but he really doesn’t deserve c tier though) (also same)

Rocket Spleef

WHY IS HARVEY”S CHICKEN UPSIDE DOWN

THEY’RE PLAYING THE ROCKET SPLEEF BIRTHDAY MAP

Wilbur one moment: “Phil is an angel” Wilbur next moment “Killza” I love sbi being Philza stans

TAPL GETTING KILLS WHILE DEAD

Phil Wil and Jil?

How does Fundy manage to do that survival glide thing every time

HARVEY 1ST

This family dynamic is so beautiful

TGTTOSAWAF

Philza’s excitement for terra swoop force is so fucking wholesome

Goggers for terra swoop force

HE SAID IT

aw philza died because of lag

dude wilbur went an hour without making fun of tommy is this a new record

Not @ Wilbur singing Hamilton in the middle of TGTTOS??

TAPL FIRST IN TGTTOS YES

Break

I hate it when people celebrate too early it makes me so nervous

“hello kitty” Harvey is just chaotic and Philza is losing it I love it

also William Gold called him “the Harvester”

WHY ARE GOG AND TAPL TALKING IN SUCH WEIRD TONES WHILE PHILZA AND WILL ARE IN THE GOING TO THE BATHROOM HELP

WHY IS GEORGE’S HARVEY IMPRESSION SO GOOD

“I’m madly in love you chat” wilbur you are aware of the power you hold right

why did wilbur take a picture in the bathroom, why did he post it on his alt, why is he making gog review it, why is wilbur whimpering, why why this is chaos why

Ace Race

QUACKITY AND TOMMY MEMING TRUMP’S ELECTION TWEETS IN CHAT WE STAN

is fundy getting his 1st place ace race placement back

what are all these variations of “bastard” will is saying

Tapl yelling “TECHNOBLADE TAKE THE WHEEL” is fun we love hypixel boys and techno’s ace race record

What is a semi-skinned bastard wilbur

was wilbur really going to go into science

“I’m in love with a I’m in love with a I’m in love with a NOT ACE RACE”

George just said “this is the new dream team” damn but I agree tho

(no fr even if they don’t win their chemistry is great)

damn wil really hates ace race lol

oh my god wilbur went into tommy’s chat and it DESCENDED INTO MADNESS

illumana: “my little brother was playing” sapnap: “same”

they’ve allll really sunk deep into reddit help

Nether Bingo

NOOOOOO NOT BINGO

but nether bingo pog?

please I hope they don’t do badly at this

“Minecraft UHC but we’re in the nether” yes tapl

of course hbomb’s team would be good at bingo

hhh I wish it wasn’t bingo or that bingo was played early or something

why is wilbur m i n i n g

Parkour tag

ohh it’s parkour tag

I’m sweating

yay techno’s cheering them on!!!

“tommyinnit is hunting you” and he got will first I’m not surprised

Sands of Time

WHY DOES RED RABBITS KEEP GETTING DUNKED

WHO HAS IT OUT FOR TOMMY WHY DOES RED RABBITS KEEP GETTING DUNKED

NOO NOT SANDS OF TIME 

skybattle finale would have been fire

I love how Tapl just calls upon the spirit of sweaty techno

DREAM DIDN’T CASH

damn george really wants to throw tomatos at dream huh

Dodgebolt

will almost got locked out of the office he’s a horror boy

20K GAME HOLY

calling back the sleepy bois highest score ever

1st time HARVEY’S IN DODGEBOLT AWWW

1st ever dodgebolt without pete or hbomb?

fruit is too good fuck

WILL WITH THE FINAL SHOT

TWO TIMES GEORGE AND WILL 2v2

“THE SPIRIT OF TECHNO” YES TAPL YES

THE WIN

GOGGYYYYYYYYY

I think Harvey’s crying I’m so fucking happy for him oh my god

he deserved the win so bad

tapl got the spirit of techno so much thhat he even got the crown covering the eyes

I’m so happy for them they’re so happy they enjoyed this mcc so much and so did I

dream team!!!!

PHIL CAME 2ND

Tapl and techno’s friendship is so awesome

harvey is so happy I’m so happy for him literally I would cry for him

“I’m going corpse husband” wilbur wow

wilbur can’t get up on the platform again rip

okay admins tped him up

they’re screenshotting in front of the cake

I’m so happy for them oh my god

TOMMY’S IN VC AWWW THIS FEELS LIKE AN OLDER YOUNGER BROTHER MOMENT SO MUCH

why are they trying to get in the crown this is hilarious

YES TECHNO’S IN VC TECHNO’S IN VC

yes philza you do have a chaotic streak through you we know sir we know

[11queensupreme11]

VIDEO GAME RECOMMENDATIONS

in here is a list of my favorite video games! i put my reviews in here too along with the characters that i simped for asjfhdf

final fantasy ii (released in 1988; platforms: playstation, playstation portable, game boy)

this wasn’t my first final fantasy game (i wasn’t even born when it came out 💀) but i was first introduced to it when i was playing dissidia and uh... wow is firion hot 

simp list: firion & emperor mateus (they’re just pixels in the game, but you should see them in dissidia 😩)

final fantasy vi (released in 1994; platforms: wii, playstation, game boy)

let’s just assume that i discovered all the earlier games through dissidia okay? anyways, about this game... i fucking hate clowns. the antagonist, kefka palazzo, used to genuinely scare me when i played (he’s a clown btw). i would honestly rather be stuck in the sewer with pennywise than be in a room with kefka

simp list: locke cole & terra branford

final fantasy vii: crisis core & remake (org. release date: 1997, but the remake came out on 2020; platforms: playstation 4 & 5 [remake] and nintendo switch, playstation, playstation portable, xbox 1 [org.])

oooooohhhhh my god. okay, so i never actually played the original because i wasn’t even born then, but i actually found out about the games... through the MOVIE. yes, you heard me right, they have a movie called “final fantasy vii: advent children” go check it out!

now back to the game. admittedly, i only played the remake, but i know enough about the original through various fanfics hehe. the plot is so fucking good and engaging, but it can get a lil confusing because there’s so many additions (additional games and movies, etc), but it’s worth it 

simp list: ZACK FAIR, cloud strife, aerith gainsborough, tifa lockhart, genesis rhapsodos, sonon kusakabe, & RUFUS SHINRA (he triggers my nonexistent daddy issues 💖)

final fantasy viii (released in 1999; platforms: playstation, playstation 3 & 4, xbox 1)

i think there’s like a remake??? idk about it but apparently it was really bad so just play the original! anyways, the plot of the game was so interesting to me?? it was a lil more melodramatic than final fantasy vii, but my favorite thing has to be seifer’s character. won’t say much, but he’s one of those “misunderstood villains” and was manipulated, used, (possibly mind-controlled) etc. 😔

simp list: SEIFER ALMASY & squall leonhart (yes his name is squall lmao)

final fantasy x & x-2 (released in 2001; platforms: playstation 2)

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS! i absolutely love this game (specifically x-2) because in the previous games, the playable main characters were always dudes... but in here we get THREE GIRLS IN THE MAIN CAST! 

simp list: tidus, yuna, paine, rikku, lulu, & gippal

final fantasy xii (released in 2006; platforms: nintendo switch, playstation 2 & 4, xbox 1)

okay i’ll be honest... it’s not my most favorite final fantasy game, but the characters are interesting (except for vaan, but he’s lucky his dissidia nt design is hot)

simp list: vaan, balthier, & fran

final fantasy xiii: xiii-2 & lightning returns (released in 2009; platforms: playstation 3, xbox 1, xbox 360)

LIGHTNING’S SO FUCKING AMAZING. IF YOU LIKE THE COLOR PINK, GIRLS, AND BADASSERY, THEN THIS IS THE GAME FOR YOU! 🥳

simp list: hope estheim, lightning & serrah farron, noel kreiss, & fang

final fantasy type 0 (released in 2011; platforms: playstation 4, playstation vita, playstation portable)

ahhh, finally the first ever final fantasy game i could actually play recently after it was released (and by recently i meant 3 years afterwards LOL 😭). this game was so cute but so tragic at the end... the worldbuilding was good too, but also hella messed up like wtf

simp list: ace, king, nine (i have a thing for tall, buff, himbo, blondes with scarred faces ig), jack, deuce, cinque, & kurasame

final fantasy xv (released in 2016; platforms: playstation 4, xbox 1)

my second final fantasy game! honestly, the only reason i played it was because noctis reminded me of sasuke and i was going through my naruto phase back then 💀 anyways, i loved this game so much because the plot was engaging, THE GRAPHICS WERE SO BEAUTIFUL, and the characters were well-written

simp list: noctis lucis caelum, prompto argentum, gladiolus amicitia, ignis scientia, lunafreya nox fleuret, ardyn izunia & ARANEA HIGHWIND

dissidia final fantasy nt (released in 2015; platforms: playstation 4)

materia was heeellla annoying, but whatever. the game was still fun and what i love about dissidia games was that it basically just has almost all of the popular and beloved final fantasy characters pushed into one and just... pit them against each other lol. this was also the game that introduced me to the older final fantasy games, which was a plus! 

simp list: like... everyone 

dissidia final fantasy: opera omnia (released in 2017; phone app)

nt had amazing graphics, but what it failed at was gameplay and plot. that’s where opera omnia comes in. it’s just a phone app, but don’t underestimate it! it has a much more interesting story compared to what nt gave us

simp list: again, everyone 💖

kingdom hearts series (first game was released in 2002; platforms: playstation 2, 3, & 4, nintendo ds, nintendo 3ds, nintendo switch, game boy, xbox 1)

i love this series so much, but i cannot for the life of me understand the plot. it is the most convoluted shit ever, it’s so confusing that it could even make dumbledore look like a clear and honest mentor who doesn’t hide things from people 💀 gameplay is awesome tho, just DO NOT try to understand the plot. you never will.

simp list: vanitas, riku, yozora, demyx, axel, roxas, & xion

persona 3 (released in 2006; platforms: playstation 2 & playstation portable)

i love the persona series jaksefahjs. also, the main character, minato arisato, is my favorite protagonist out of the series because he’s literally... a door. LOL. you’ll get what i mean when you play the game 😂

simp list: minato arisato, mitsuru kirijo, ken amada, koromaru (PUPPY BABY), & pharos

persona 4 (released in 2008; platforms: playstation 2, 3, & vita)

i love how the previous game was about accepting death and misery and all that shit, and then in here it’s all bright and happy with the occasional murder. also, the mc is so smooth wtf. it kinda has that ‘power of friendship’ theme that i hate, but it’s okay here!

simp list: yu narukami (the cHaD), rise kujikawa, kanji tatsumi, & yosuke hanamura

persona 4 arena ultimax (released in 2013; platforms: playstation 3 & 4, nintendo switch, & xbox 360)

this is just like the dissidia games and I LOVE IT! it’s basically a crossover between persona 3 & 4, where all these characters are sucked into another world and have to work together to figure out what’s happening. i love the story and the characters interactions! 

simp list: everyone, lol. the new antagonist, sho minazuki, is cool too ig

persona 5 & persona 5: royal (5 was released in 2016, royale was released in 2019; platforms: playstation 3 & 4)

so royal is basically like a revamped version of the original game. idc which you should play, but both are still super amazing. royal includes more hours of gameplay, additional characters, and gameplay features. the stories are both similar, but royal adds more to it

simp list: akira kurusu, ryuji sakamoto, FUTABA SAKURA, ann takamaki, goro akechi, & sae niijima 

persona 5: strikers (released in 2021; platforms: nintendo switch & playstation 4)

this is a sequel to persona 5 (the original one, not royal). the gameplay is different, more specifically, the fighting sequences. instead of having characters each take a turn to attack, in strikers, it’s basically an all-out fight and rapid button-mashing. i love it. 

simp list: same as above ^

fire emblem: three houses (released in 2019; platforms: nintendo switch)

this is my first ever fire emblem game. i was hella confused by the fighting gameplay because it felt kinda like chess with how you had to move the characters to certain spots and how some weapon types were weak to others, etc. it took a while to memorize, but it’s easier to play once you get the hang of it. the plot was hella good too and i love how you can romance the characters lol

simp list: dimitri alexandre blaiddyd, claude von riegan, edelgard von hresvelg, & sylvain gautier

fire emblem heroes (released in 2017; platforms: phone app)

first ever phone app i actually got addicted to wtf 😫 this is just really good, okay?? the story is engaging, the artwork is perfection, and i love the gameplay. my favorite part is how much of an absolute SIMP alfonse is for us

simp list: alfonse, hríd, and the various fire emblem characters you get to summon (MALE GRIMA IS SO HOT THO)

devil may cry 4 (released in 2008; platforms: playstation 3 & 4, xbox 1 & 360)

i only ever played this game because of nero 🥵 but i don’t regret anything. i LOVED the angry bonding between nero and dante, especially the part where he just straight up impales his uncle 😂 he’s just like his daddy 🥺

simp list: nero & dante

devil may cry 5 (released in 2019; platforms: playstation 4 & 5, xbox 1, series x, & series s)

chaotic family reunion where everyone comes together to beat up vergil for failing to pay child support. it’s been what, 20 years, vergil?? you care more about your overgrown houseplant than your own son 😤 SHAME ON YOU

simp list: nero (but i prefer his dmc4 look more), dante, vergil, lady, trish, & v

[oceantail-oceantail]

a list of what illumina watched in his vod review (in order)

fruit's tgttos, tapl's sky battle, connor's sot, sapnap's survival games, dream's pkt, dream's sot, quackity's battle box, sapnap's hitw, punz's ace race, antfrost's battle box, quig's ace race, ranboo's tgttos, philza's terra swoop force, tommy's sky battle, ranboo's sot, quig's sot, martyn's sot, fruit's sot, and dream's dodgebolt

[mangop1e]

my Thoughts about mcc14, because this is my blog and the official year of no cringe (in that i will no longer regard my interests as cringe and enjoy them wholeheartedly and post about them if i want)

overall !! it was a really fun event, i was watching blue bats punz pov and they popped off so it was a really good watch for me, the updates to the games were sick as hell and i cannot wait to see these get more refined as we go along plus see what they have in store for bingo and sands of time

putting everything else below the cut for the sake of all the mutuals i have on here that have never interacted with a mcyt in their life! 

so. will preface this by saying i’ve watched every mcc live starting with mcc9 and am . just very very into this tournament, i’ll probably do a little analysis post next mcc because i just find it all very fun !! and tumblr is like a void i can scream into and sometimes it screams back so it’s the perfect place to let myself ramble. that being said, here’s my thoughts on this mcc from the blue bats punz pov, with vague knowledge of what happened in a few other povs

build mart: so sue me, i’m a build mart fan. the new map build is INCREDIBLE and i love the choice of elytras rather than the scuffed boats!! the new addition of the golden build is really fun too! not something that could necessarily be changed but build mart is definitely a killer for teams that don’t have good comms and coordination, and having it as a first game can really shake some teams and cause a drop in morale that could affect the rest of their performance in the event. overall, though? im loyal to build mart and i think it only got better with the updates

tgttosawaf: i love how pedantically long that acronym is <3 i think some of the changes really threw players into the deep end, that one round where they had to break the wool in the targets to get through especially, and terra swoop force Definitely threw some players that are otherwise cracked for a loop, especially if they were unfamiliar with the map, but this one was also super fun to watch!! definitely a good game for the first half of the event

sky battle: at long last, sky battle returns <3 as a shameless inniter sky battle is one of my favourite games simply because i Know tommy will always pop off, but it’s also such a fun twist on classic minigames like sky wars and a faster version of skyblockle done super well! i like the new map layout a ton as well, the little towers in the middle ring plus the structure of the innermost ring made for some really interesting plays all around. this game’s another one that can go south really fast if your team comms aren’t great, but definitely more forgiving than build battle, and a hell of a lot more adrenaline-inducing!! in terms of the updates i think this one was probably one of the best, tied with build mart.

survival games: survival games was CRAZY i do think this is one where you need to get good rng with your loot pickups as well as have good team coordination but it’s definitely a really fun pvp game!! only thing i will say is it can be a bit bland next to the rest of the crazy games in mcc but it’s definitely a classic and depending on how its played (cough red rabbits cough) can definitely turn things wayyyy around for a team!! very high stakes in a fun way

hole in the wall: god :sob: the glitch. ohhhh hbomb you and your glitchy ways. this glitch was definitely a new one compared to the usual “spam-space-bar-and-pray” glitch that our dearest tommyinnit has taken advantage of before, but i honestly can’t really blame him too much for using it? it did give aqua an advantage but it’s only slightly different from falsesymmetry using the spam-space glitch to win a few rounds of hitw in a more recent mcc (would have to double check which one, but i do remember hbomb taking note of this when he was reviewing mcc vods the day after). hole in the wall has been a glitchy bastard for as long as it’s been in mcc and it was truly hilarious to see hbomb clip through walls, so - all in all i think if the glitch could be fixed that’d be great but it was still a fun watch! also, pete zahutt is CRACKED.

ace race: whoo boy. ace race. honest opinion? i think the map is REALLY cool and has a lot of potential, but there was a lot of confusion and bugs that need to be fixed for next time - the fact that the players could reset back to a previous checkpoint, the general confusion over where to go which cld mean they need to add more directional arrows. overall i’m really really excited to see how people will perform on this map when they’re more familiar with it and some of the kinks have been worked out on the developer end. i do think scott had a Huge advantage here and it was really prominent due to the fact that this was a new map for everyone aside from him, albeit him seeing a much earlier version that wasn’t the same as the version that existed in the event, and it would definitely be wise of noxcrew and the developing team in the future to be more aware of how much involvement scott has in the gameplay side of testing. the general confusion and checkpoint resetting also did Not help anyone and i do think a few teams really lost out this event because of the issues with ace race, but this map has a ton of potential and im really excited to see what they do with it in the future.

battle box: oooo battle box !! this one didn’t really leave too big of an impression on me but the new map was definitely interesting!! the fact that the way to get to the middle was a bit unclear was ,, definitely interesting to watch :sob: but you can’t go wrong with battle box to be honest. solid team pvp game!

parkour tag: PARKOUR TAG!!! having this as the final game was so fun :] the map they had this time was complicated which definitely comes with its pros and cons: pros being that it creates potential for a lot of really interesting routes and unique usage of the area and environment, and cons being that it can feel really cluttered and overwhelming especially when its your first time playing. overall i liked the fact that it was busier but i think striking a better balance between full and barren could really elevate parkour tag from a good game to a great game

dodgebolt: blue bats </3 they had a fantastic run in the games and had an awful dodgebolt and sometimes that’s how it shakes down !! i always always love the unpredictability to the final winner that dodgebolt gives - the first place team pointswise isnt guaranteed a win, reverse sweeps have happened multiple times in the past, and dodgebolt is always nail-bitingly exciting to watch!

misc thoughts: i do think aqua had an advantage but from the sounds of things scott and noxcrew will be taking genuine criticism into account for next time and have learned from this event, i DONT think that removing parkour warrior was unfair because it wasn’t an event that noxcrew could ever successfully balance by making it hard enough to not have the same guy dominating every event and creating a gap, especially when played later, that no other players had HOPE of reducing and i think parkour tag was a really really fun alternative to it especially since runner and hunter play to diff strengths of the team members and it has a bit more strategy to it plus team comms than parkour warrior did, and i think build mart is a good game and i WILL die on this hill

if you read this far, fantastic, you madlad, i appreciate you

[segersgia]

Looking back: Part 2 - Death Guard - Infantry

8th edition needed a big baddie for the new Primaris Marines to combat, and Mortarion was very eager to oblige in this front. The Death Guard are by far my favourite Heretic Astartes faction just by aesthetic alone. Nurgle is my #1 Chaos God. I like his focus on pestilence and decay and the fact he is technically a rather benign god. 

I love the Death Guard because of their doctrines and their design. They make use of chemical warfare and just slowly advance like a poisonous cloud towards their foes.

So it was very exciting to see a full army being made out of them.

This army is very difficult to rate and review, because unlike the Space Marine line, every little model in their range is unique in some way. Every little miniature you get for this army has different weapons, helmets, and different armour patterns. This means that one unit will both have ace looking models and models that look like hot filthy garbage (in a bad way).

Let’s begin...

Plague Marines:

The main boys of the Death Guard army are definitely the much-loved Plague Marines. These are your mainline infantry boys and make up the majority of the Death Guard Army. They are a result of what happens when a Chaos Space Marine starts worshiping Nurgle a little too much. They begin transforming into these bloated and disease ridden humps of rotten flesh and rusted armour. The Plague Marines themselves love this. They feel no pain and see every little malady as another gift from their god. 

The first Plague Marines came into existence during the Horus Heresy. When the Death Guard attempted to join the Siege of Terra, their fleet got lost in the Warp and the legion became infected with Nurgle’s Rot and the Destroyer Plague. Their Primarch Mortarion, in an attempt to save his legion from the torture and suffering, sold his soul and his legion to Nurgle. 

Plague Marines slowly advance on their enemies, bolters firing without mercy. Some carry rusted weapons that are infused with Nurgle’s Rot. One small cut and your infected.  When injured, they won’t even flinch, since they absolutely feel no pain whatsoever.  

Plague Marines are a truly decisive bunch of miniatures. You have four different kits to choose from (three, since Dark Imperium has been discontinued) and each of them has some very good models and some very bad ones. 

I do think that they are very busy and in some parts overdesigned. Some models have like three different Plaguebearers fused to their armour for example. I do like their armour though and the ones wearing the Mark 2 helmet are by far the best looking of the bunch. 

I would say that the best box out of the four would be the basic Multi-kit, since they are the most consistent in quality. However, all of my favourites strangely come from the discontinued Dark Imperium Box Set. 

7/10

Poxwalkers:

The Walking Pox is a very infectious disease that is just awful to have. Your organs start failing one by one and you eventually turn into a zombie, fully conscious of your actions yet without any control over your body.

Poxwalkers shamble like undead in search of flesh to consume. They have these long horns sprouting out of their heads and all of them constantly smile like they’ve been injected with Joker laughing gas. The worst part about them is that their groans and roars can infect those who hear it with the Walking Pox disease. 

The walking Pox spreads auditory. It can spread through the vibrations of sound. 

I love these models. There is nothing really bad to say about them. They completely succeed at what they are supposed to convey and resemble. Some of them hint at their former professions, like the one dressed as a doctor. Some of them also wear clothing similar to that the Genestealer Hybrids, so they stay very consistent. They look creepy and disgusting and I love it.

10/10

Blightlord Terminators:

These fellas are even more diseased than their normal Plague Marine counterparts. Their steps corrode and rust the ground beneath them and even being touched by them could spell your very painful death.

Blightlord Terminators excel at ship-to-ship-combat and boarding actions against enemy spaceships. Since they are Terminators, they can teleport aboard enemy vessels, and they use this tactic to cause mayhem and to spread the gift of Nurgle. 

The Blightlords are surprisingly less busy than I would’ve expected and it makes them a better looking unit for it. These models found a way better balance between clean and diseased. I think that some of their weapons do look a bit oversized. Overall though, the designers aced this unit.

My favourite one out of the bunch is the Insectoid Blightlord with the extra limbs. That is just clever design and a fun way to visualize Nurgle’s corruption.

8/10

Deathshroud:

In the olden days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, the Deathshroud were the personal bodyguards of Mortarion. They were his version of an Honour Guard and were chosen out of the sole survivors from destroyed Space Marine squads. They completely forsook their identity, never taking of their masks and conducting a vow of silence. They are considered at that point killed in action. 

They still largely form Mortarion’s personal guard even after his ascension to Daemon Prince. However, Mortarion also sends them to check up on those he favours. They fight alongside Chaos Lords and the like and act like judges. If a Chaos Lord does well, the Deathshroud leave in peace, but if the Chaos Lord failed in the eyes of Mortarion, then he gets executed by these bodyguards. 

Deathshroud carry Power-scythes called Manreapers, which are rumoured to be dipped in the filth of Nurgle’s Throne itself. They also come equipped with custom Hand Flamers that shoot chemical ammunition. 

The Deathshroud have a very good design that is very similar to the Blightlords. There is however some waste in potential. These are Mortarion’s most trusted warriors and they just look like a hooded version of the Blightlords. I kind of wished the designers took some inspiration from this artwork and made them have more ornate features.

It would certainly distinguish them more from their brethren better. 

I also take some offence that in the images, one of them has no helmet on, which kind of ruins the point of a voiceless and faceless warrior. You do have the option of giving the squad leader a helmeted head, so this is kind of a none-issue. 

7/10

Plague Marine Icon Bearer

The Icon bearers of Nurgle carry an Icon of Despair. This banner creates an aura of hopelessness around the area, and the thoughts of surrounding foes become filled with the idea of inevitable death. It basically turns enemies into nihilists who’ve become depressed.

What makes me sad about this unit is that there is no mention of these guys anywhere on the different wiki’s, which is kind of a bummer since he looks like a solid Plague Marine. Yes, it is just a Plague Marine with a Chaos Icon, but he should at least be mentioned somewhere. Don’t be mean to him. He is a good looking Plague Marine. 

I do wish that the Icon he carried didn’t have the weird helmet pressed in it. The fly motive is nice though.

8/10 

———————–

So all in all, outside of some outliers, the Death Guard infantry is a very solid line of miniatures that is very varied in appearance. You could apply the “Goldilocks Effect” to it; some are too busy, some are not busy enough, and some are just just right.

Next up, I’m going to tackle the Craftworld Aeldari Faction, which will be a short one and will probably come a little sooner than normal. After that, I’ll be looking at the Vanguard Primaris infantry units. I want to spread them out somewhat so that everything stays interesting, but I also want to get the Primaris overviewed as quickly as possible. 

Thank you for reading my stuff so far. It is fun to overview the design and lore of these different factions. It also is a learning experience for me. For example; Tumblr has a Max-10 image cap per post and this means that this series will probably list a lot longer than I’d imagine. Still, it will be a fun ride for me.

‘Till next time.

previous posts: Primaris Mainline Infantry

[shadoedseptmbr]

For Work In Progress Wednesday:

I am fooling around with a framing device for a few ME2-pre ME3 sketch fics I’ve been piling up but it’s still rough.  Wouldn’t mind a little feedback from the peanut gallery.

Case Files

Not immediately. 

Major Alenko absolutely does not run to the SPECTRE office with his new authorizations to view files he honestly has no business seeing.

The second Human SPECTRE nods and smiles and shakes hands during the small party the Council insists upon.  He does an interview with a shockingly meek Al-Jilani. He has a cup of tea with the drell, Tannor Nuara, though he’s pretty sure that’s not his name and checks in with Dr. Michel to remind her to keep him updated on the hospital’s needs.It’s no problem, he assures her. He used up enough of the resources, himself.

Kaidan goes to his quarters and changes into his fatigues and opens a beer he probably shouldn’t. He sends another message to his mother and makes a few replies to friends.  He starts in on the endless pile of paperwork.  He considers dinner, a shower, hitting the training facility. He drinks his beer.

An hour after that, he’s in the elevator, in the hallway, avoiding an ambassador’s aide.

It’s probably a violation of privacy.  It’s absolutely taking advantage of privileged information.  But he needs a few answers, if he’s ever going to sleep at night without wondering if he did the right thing.

Her file is...staggeringly long.  He scans a few others, for comparison.  His is almost nothing but his BaAt file, his service record, and the three debrief interviews he did after Alchera. After Horizon. After Earth and Mars. Others are thicker and thinner.  Saren’s is heavily redacted even with Kaidan’s authorizations and the affirmation of the Reapers and ends with “Status: Revoked. Terminated.”

Shepard’s starts with a few files from an orphanage that he just glances through, most of which are nothing but “Fostered: Date. Returned: not much later.” There’s one black and white holoscan of a little girl with tight braids, freckles, big eyes and a gap tooth grin.  It’s labeled: Eden Magdalene Shepard 

No other record found matching available data. Possible id not confirmed.

But it’s her.  He can see the woman in those clear, direct eyes.

There’s a stack of arrests for an Ace Shepard 

Possible alias. Matches available data. Records sealed for age 

And one mugshot.  Definitely Aedan Shepard, the scar under her eye still fresh and stark. Red hair, though unnaturally crayon bright, half shaved and shaggy on the other.  Those eyes lined in red, staring at the camera like murder from a pale, bone thin face. Black lipstick smeared across her sneer. One arm long and dangling, the other in a cast, strapped to her side.  A sketchy green tattoo on her neck in the side view of a knife, a slash of purple make up stark across a nose too big for her pixie face. No age listed but she can’t be 14 by the date.  

An Academy admissions form for Aedan Shepard with an accompanying note from one Commander Anderson that he skims to land on a final line. “I know she isn’t what you usually look for. She’s going to need some remedial work. Trust me on this one, Mira.”

Her Academy file shows grades gradually improving to higher marks. Her physical improves faster, doctor notes indicating that between regular meals and gene mods she’s going to make the height/weight requirement by the end of her first year. Her marksmanship punts her into the stratosphere.

Another picture in familiar Academy togs. There’s his...there’s the Shepard he knew. No visible tats, Dark red hair, short but neat. Seven freckles across her leonine nose not quite hidden by regulation makeup.  The scar is faded, but still raised. Eyes level and cool, mouth firm.  Baby professional.

He knows her service record almost as well as his own.

There’s the one holonet picture from Elysium, Aedan in her black bikini and flip flops, dogtags flying, pistol steady, directing someone (a teenage girl, she told him later) to fill a hole in the defense. There’s the picture from a little later, chin high and firm in her dress uniform: an admiral pinning the Star of Terra to her chest.  He can see Anderson leaning over to Hackett in the background.

There’s a cross reference to her N file.

Commendation after commendation. One flag for disrespect to a superior officer.

SPECTRE CANDIDATE

There’s the file on the Normandy SR1, the holo of her SPECTRE induction, and the Saren mission.

Her Alliance report on the mission, the letter to Ashley’s mother. A few interview files.

A debrief they’d called her to Arcturus to give.  She’d shrugged it off as routine and they’d run to the Citadel for shore leave.  

There’s the official Alchera report cross referenced with his. Joker’s. Chakwas’.

He slows down. There’s a termination flag that wasn’t removed.

Attached to that is an addendum from another SPECTRE, Tela Vasir, cross referenced with the Shadow Broker file three weeks after the Collector attack on the SR1.

Situation to be reviewed. Shepard and/or remains possibly recovered. Check all Cerberus contacts.

The next data is a bioscan from the security checkpoint on Zakera, two years and a few weeks after Shepard had been declared dead. An alert notice. Three grainy stills from the security chief’s office. Not quite clear enough to make out details beyond hair and height. And two figures in Cerberus gear behind her.  

He’d just left the Citadel posting for Horizon the week before. 

The next file is video only, fuzzy. Clearly from a planted device. Kaidan rubs his eyes before he hits play on grainy footage with biometric data rolling on the outside edge. 

A red haired, slender, short figure in black and red N7 armor strides into Anderson’s Citadel office.  She walks like Aedan, that rolling ship gait.  She draws up short in front of his desk.  He speaks, she answers, he speaks again.  And he watches her whole body jerk as if she’s been shot.

All formality lost, her hands spread.  She’s yelling and Anderson isn’t meeting her eyes as he replies.  That square posture droops and hers matches. 

She slaps a data drive on his desk, turns on her heel and marches to the door.  The bug must be by the doorframe, Kaidan can see details now.  She turns her head and there they are, the scars that shocked him, glowing along her jawline pulled open and raw by the awkward position. They look like they hurt. He almost misses the word she asks over her shoulder. “Kaidan?”

Anderson shakes his head and Kaidan can lip read well enough to get, “Classified.”

Her hand clenches on the doorframe. “Two years, Boss?”

“Yeah, kid.”

She jerks a nod, says something else as she turns to go. Her shoulders square before she walks through the sliding door. He catches a glimpse of white and black on a figure just outside. Anderson leans against his desk, head down.

A holo of a Normandy; the SR2. Flying Cerberus colors in the Citadel docking bay.

Biometrics confirmed. SPECTRE Status: Reinstated. 

Kaidan closes the file and staggers back to the elevator.

00000

It’s a week of small potato missions before he can trust himself to reopen the file.

Every two weeks, there’s a data dump to Anderson/Hackett, copied and crossreferenced to SPECTRE files. About half include encrypted data that still hasn’t been decoded The Alliance version carries a note dating from nine months ago: Speculation: Code specific to Anderson/Shepard.

The dumps usually come from Illium, shunted through a source with an address he recognizes.  Liara.  

There’s a pile of data from Omega and then a list of files for her crew: Miranda Lawson. Jacob Taylor. Kasumi Goto (notations from Spectre Jondam Bau). Garrus. Mordin Solus. Zaeed Misoni. Urdnot Grunt. Justicar Samara. Jack. Tali. Thane Krios. He recognizes Tannor Nuara and shuts the file down.

Over a cup of tea in the bustle of Huerta’s lobby, Thane blinks but then smiles.  “You were more observant than I expected, Spectre Alenko.”

“It wasn’t my business.”

“No.  But I promised her I would look out for you and I clearly revealed more than I intended.”

“You promised Shepard?”

He nods.  “You were still bedridden at the time. It seemed a reasonable precaution.”

Well, thanks, I guess.

“It was my privilege. She helped me save my son, once.  I was glad to return the favor with her...friend.”

“Can you.  Look, I don’t want to put you in a corner.  I’m just trying to reconcile the Shepard I knew with what happened last year.  Can you tell me...anything?”

“When I met her on Illium, I used her to distract a target.”

A target?  You were there to kill someone?  

You said you read my file?

You were an assassin.  

Yes. 

You used Shepard?

She was...a very good distraction.  My target assumed Shepard was the assassin, tearing through her guard and the tower like fire through dry tinder.  It allowed me to quietly get into position. Shepard got her information and I made my hit.

And Shepard hired you?  It wasn’t that far out of character.  Wrex came to mind.

We came to an agreement.  I was not expecting to be able to work much longer and the Cerberus contract allowed me to set aside money for my son.

Right.  How was it?  On the ship.

Antagonistic.  At first.  There was a line drawn between the Cerberus crew and Shepard.  It was crossed very rarely.  She was.  Not warm.  

Unfriendly?  

Angry.  She drank more than I expect was good for her.  She spoke rarely, to Garrus most of all.  She put her armor on in the morning and we rarely saw her in anything else.

What changed? 

We aided Tali, the quarian?  Kaidan managed not to snap that he knew her.

Yes.  We found her and Shepard made a visible effort to change, Kasumi asked a favor and they dealt with it. She came back...you’ve seen the scarring? 

Yeah.

They were almost closed.  They’d been healing, reopening, healing.  

Garrus needed her help and while we were on the Citadel, she aided me with my son.  He was...about to follow in my footsteps but without my training it was...she saved him.  She helped me stop him.  When she came back to the ship, she went up to speak with Joker and I heard her laughing.  I had not. Before.  

The drell went stiff before him, his dark eyes revealing stark pupils.  “Eyes like ice frozen on the shore, she stands between Kolyat and the ambassador.  She speaks with steady conviction and he listens.  Eyes like the storms on a sea, she shadow steps between the turian and the bullet waiting for him. “He’s as good as dead, can’t you see that.” Garrus drops his rifle.  Eyes like smoke, she laughs like rusty bells on a chain.  Joker tells her he’s missed her.”

His eyes darken to see Kaidan before him, scanning him with an omnitool about to wave over a doctor.  “Forgive me.  Drell have...our memories are revealing.  It seemed the best way to answer your question.”

“What just happened? No...nevermind.  It got better then?”

“Yes.  Until then...She was always a sniper, I assume? “ 

“Yeah, before I met her”.  

“There is a...one has to put oneself in a certain state and a healthy being can slip in and out.  She did not.  Before that.  She was just in the cold, stark place one must be in to pull the trigger.  And then, the wind changed.  It was Garrus and Tali, who made the most difference.  Kasumi mentioned once that Shepard barely spoke before he came aboard, other than mission briefs.  After.  She would visit.  It was…”  Thane broke off in a coughing fit. “Forgive me, I need to…”

“No, I kept you too long. I”m sorry.” 

Thane stood, his hand not quite clutching the chair for support. “I will...try to write down some things for you.  If you’d like.”

“Only if you’re up to it.  I got...I got the gist.  Thank you.”

[jaibhimswanston]

The Best Cable In 2020

Nothing is more guaranteed to amuse non-audiophiles than the subject of high-end cable pricing. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh at you, but...bwah ha ha haaa!" Who can blame them? Even in the hi-fi camp, there are those who are convinced that wires are no more than hideously expensive tone controls. "Hmmpf, cackle. Snort!"

Others hold that, differences in resistance, capacitance, and inductance aside (footnote 1), the whole high-end cable market is just an exercise in mass self-delusion. "

As a longtime user of Nordost's cable and AC-power products, my ears opened wide when they released their three QKore Ground Units and QKore Wire at High End 2017, in Munich. While I've never questioned the importance of proper electrical grounding, to prevent problems with safety and noise—the latter including measurable noise generated by transformers, appliances, LED lighting, power supplies, and Bluetooth, WiFi, and cellular devices—I couldn't fathom what difference a passive grounding device might make in a high-end system that, in my case, is fed by an 8-gauge dedicated line with its own copper ground rod driven into the terra infirma of the fault-ridden Pacific Northwest.

Among the many bits of audio lore that never have and probably never will be aired in public is the story of the amp that ignited the reviewer's curtains. (I assume that at least some of you hoped I was going to say "pants.") I can't tell it in any great detail, partly because the reviewer in question is a friend (though not a Stereophile colleague), and I'm not sure how much of the story he wants out there. In any event, my object here is to offer a long-overdue apology, to all concerned, for having laughed at that story over the years, because it has now happened to me—not the part about the curtains, but definitely the part about the burning amp.

[terrapurebotanicals-blog]

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https://cookpad.com/uk/recipes/11698493-terrapure-cbd-oil-best-price-and-where-to-buy

https://www.scoop.it/topic/terrapure-botanicals-cbd-best-offers-best-reviews-best-price-buy-now

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21216481-terrapure-botanicals-cbd-oil-best-reviews