#action type - data gathering

[long-anti-covid]

Action item for people in the US with long covid:

the Long-Hauler Advocacy Project is asking people with long covid (and caregivers for people with long covid) to fill out their survey about the Social Security Disability process

they're trying to gather information that they can use in advocating to reform the disability application process

they are asking for responses from anyone with long covid, whether you've applied to SSDI or not (one of the things they are gathering data on is the reasons why people haven't applied.)

[odinsblog]

IN THE FALL OF 2020, GIG WORKERS IN VENEZUELA POSTED A SERIES OF images to online forums where they gathered to talk shop. The photos were mundane, if sometimes intimate, household scenes captured from low angles—including some you really wouldn’t want shared on the Internet.

In one particularly revealing shot, a young woman in a lavender T-shirt sits on the toilet, her shorts pulled down to mid-thigh.

The images were not taken by a person, but by development versions of iRobot’s Roomba J7 series robot vacuum. They were then sent to Scale AI, a startup that contracts workers around the world to label audio, photo, and video data used to train artificial intelligence.

They were the sorts of scenes that internet-connected devices regularly capture and send back to the cloud—though usually with stricter storage and access controls. Yet earlier this year, MIT Technology Review obtained 15 screenshots of these private photos, which had been posted to closed social media groups.

The photos vary in type and in sensitivity. The most intimate image we saw was the series of video stills featuring the young woman on the toilet, her face blocked in the lead image but unobscured in the grainy scroll of shots below. In another image, a boy who appears to be eight or nine years old, and whose face is clearly visible, is sprawled on his stomach across a hallway floor. A triangular flop of hair spills across his forehead as he stares, with apparent amusement, at the object recording him from just below eye level.

iRobot—the world’s largest vendor of robotic vacuums, which Amazon recently acquired for $1.7 billion in a pending deal—confirmed that these images were captured by its Roombas in 2020.

Ultimately, though, this set of images represents something bigger than any one individual company’s actions. They speak to the widespread, and growing, practice of sharing potentially sensitive data to train algorithms, as well as the surprising, globe-spanning journey that a single image can take—in this case, from homes in North America, Europe, and Asia to the servers of Massachusetts-based iRobot, from there to San Francisco–based Scale AI, and finally to Scale’s contracted data workers around the world (including, in this instance, Venezuelan gig workers who posted the images to private groups on Facebook, Discord, and elsewhere).

Together, the images reveal a whole data supply chain—and new points where personal information could leak out—that few consumers are even aware of.

(continue reading)

[jamethinks]

One type of fanfic i just cannot read is future Anya fics because they always get her wrong. And i get it this is just how future fics work but i feel it's important to remember that Anya is only the way she is currently because she is a child and to me on of the most important parts of the story is how much being adopted by Twilight changed her life and put her on the trajectory for growth that she otherwise would have been denied.

Anya is only stupid today. She is going to grow into a brilliant girl regardless of what happens. It always feels so regressive seeing her be portrayed as childish and clueless even after living with a spy and attending Eden for 10+ years.

To understand why Anya is going to become smart you have to understand why she is stupid first.

(note: i am not referring to academic intellect but rather social skills, logic, reasoning and general awareness. Whether or not Anya spends the rest of her life failing maths and writing like she's having a stroke is beyond me and completely irrelevant to my point)

One of the major issues with the computer science world is AI and Data Analytics because for decades people have been pouring time and money into developing these sophisticated computers that are able to accurately emulate the human mind and intelligence to be used in automation and data processing. They’re now left with 2 issues: Big data (so much unprocessed data that has been gathered and sat uninterpreted) and human-dependent AI (AI systems that are overly reliant on human interaction they become more of a hassle than an aid). In other words the computers are very smart but they just don’t know what to do with all the information and in the end just return garbage.

Anya has a similar dilemma. She is very capable. Her mind reading abilities enable her to gather information like no other the problem is she doesn’t actually know how to use that information in a meaningful way. Throughout the manga we see her attempting (and even succeeding) to use her powers for her own advantage. But because of her age and lack of education the ways she can use her powers are limited.

Anya shows great attention to detail and clearly has good hindsight. She’s somewhat reactive but it’s obvious she still considers what impact her actions may have in the long term, she’s always trying to make the best move she just doesn’t know that many moves and her imagination is juvenile. We regular see Anya trying to gain intel on Damian so that she can use it to get closer to him and progress on plan B.

One example is with the dogs, she thinks if Damian sees she has a dog that they will have something to talk about and hopefully he’ll want to spend more time with her. The problems comes with Anya’s thinking and it hinders her approach. Rather than view it as an opportunity to find commonality she sees at a chance to impress him, and in the end it fails because Damian sees her as just trying to brag and show off rather than trying to make a genuine connection. Anya acts this way because she’s 5 and doesn’t really know how to socialize or relate to people.

In this situation she had two important pieces of information: 1) Damian has a dog that he likes and 2) Damian struggles with making friends and thinks everyone is just trying to exploit him. It’s that second part she fumbles and ends up making Damian feel even more guarded around her. She doesn’t have the fully developed emotional intelligence to understand and relate with Damian in a way that’s actually beneficial. But the thing is she can learn.

And so when you write future fics of Anya and she’s still the same erratic braggadocios little girl you’re effectively overlooking on her best traits, her awareness. Anya isn’t stupid she just doesn’t know how to be smart and that’s what makes her act so stupid.

For me, when writing future Anya, I think of all the people in her life, their specific skills and strengths and how Anya can use those to become a better more well rounded person. Specifically, Twilight and Handler. The Handler thing is more of a hc but Twilight has shown interest in Anya beyond the mission.

One of my favourite scenes is when they’re looking out the window and he asks to try and guess which person so most likely to be a spy, she assumes it’s the person who looks the strangest but he explains that a good spy is able to blend it and stand out the least. This changes Anya’s understanding of human behavior, it teaches a good trick to going unnoticed and gives her a detail to look out for when trying to find a mole/spy. It’s a small moment but it provides a lot of information that she can use later on in her life. Although nothing like that really happens again we can assume he continues to give her little tidbits of advice and information on espionage work as well as her seeing him in action (not really in a mission but just the way he operates) will teach her how to interpret situations in a way that can actually help her.

So not only does Anya have access to a lot of information, she knows the value of the information and she’s learning how to use that information. And that’s why I’m always confused when people write her in the future and she still can’t figure out that Damian likes her. ITS NOT REALISTIC.

And I’m not saying she’s gonna become all cool and suave when she grows up. I don’t think her personality is going to change much. In fact I think she’s going to deliberately avoid changing her personality, or at least her public persona. Anya will use people’s perception of her as childish and stupid to make herself less suspicious and trustworthy. (Also I don’t think she’s gonna change that much anyways bc that’s not how people work) but when thinking for her perspective she’s gonna be more aware and observant.

This rant is gotta long and it’s kinda nonsensical so I’m gonna stop here but please stop writing Anya as a stupid adult. It’s annoying and so boring.

But in the end it’s your fanfic do what you want 🥰❤️

[under-lore]

The effects of LOVE are quite overstated.

It has been quite frequent to see the concept of LOVE mentioned by Sans in his judgments being interpreted as a force progressively depriving the person possessing it of all empathy or judgement until they are rendered into practical killing machines whilst approaching the cap of 20.

Whilst there are some truths to part of these concepts, interestingly, extrapolating implicit data from the game suggests that the effects LOVE have on a character's personality, whilst existing, are not as significant as they are generally believed to be.

Let's do a proper analysis of what we can say of LOVE's effects based only on the in-game content :

First, aside from Sans' words about it, do we dispose of any clear cut examples of changes relating to LV to analyse ?

That might seem like a silly question, but some of the lines that are often attributed to LV-induced personality changes turn out to not actually be LV-dependent once you check the game's code.

For instance, the narration of the bag of dog food is decided through kill count, not LV, meaning that it possible for instance to get the 'pessimistic line' despite not gaining any LOVE, and thus, this line cannot be attributed to changes related strictly to LV gain and isn't very useful to us here.

Actually, the amount of direct evidence we see of it having any effect at all which we can be certain off is quite small. But such a thing does exist via interactions relating to this dummy :

LV1 :

LV2+ :

LV5+ :

LV 8+ :

The only factor involved in deciding which of these lines will appear after deciding to punch the dummy is LOVE, it is notably distinct from other similar interactions like those mentioned above which tend to be governed by some variation of a kill count or a check regarding wether particular characters were killed.

As similar LV can be reached through killing various amount of monsters or varieties of monsters, unique or not, no equivalence can be built between the required LV for each of those interactions and particular character(s) or amount of monsters required to be killed to reach said LV.

We can thus only take the code of the game at face value and conclude that those changes are strictly caused by changes dependent on the influence of the LV we've gathered in our route so far.

The first pattern that can be established is that the narration in the left column reports Frisk punching the dummy with increasing levels of strength following our command as LV increases.

In the right column, there is a split between the four lines in the middle regarding the way the narration reports it.

The first two lines are narrated in the more common style, notably, explicitly reminding us that the actions or thoughts presented are Frisk's by refering to them as "you" as the subject of the sentence.

Those first two lines describe Frisk going from regret to a form of hesitant apathy regarding the fact that they've just punched a dummy as LV grows.

The latter two lines, however, mark a change in the narration type.

The "you" is dropped, and the thoughts presented are instead presented in a declarative form. This form is often used for first person affirmations, but can also be used outside of it in order to showcase a strong emotionally-driven reaction.

This ambiguity is particularly relevant here, as it blurs the line between wether those thoughts are Frisk's, the narrator's, or both. A detail that gains much importance under the NarraChara theory.

That being said, this nuance leads to a similar conclusion regarding LOVE in either case :

If the thoughts are fully Frisk's, then the last lines have Frisk moving from a hesitant apathy to a confident one before ultimately "feeling good". This would stay in line with the previous pattern.

(Although it is worth nothing that the "feel good" part may be at least partially due to a kind of natural endorphin release in Frisk's body from the physical exercise of "punching at full force", and thus could be only indirectly due to LV.)

If NarraChara is taken into account, then this would mean that this transformation in the tone of the narration in the last lines is due to LV related changes on Chara. And that this ambiguity in the phrasing of who those feelings belong to may indicate that the same observations we've just made on Frisk previously would apply to them similarly.

(Note : Given that the game code and files suggests that Chara and Frisk share their statistics, them both being affected by this same LV count would be coherent.)

In the official japanese version of the game, those lines for the dummy are mostly similar. However, the first two lines of the left column are a bit less distinct from each other, and the narration phrasing ambiguity seems to begin on the 2nd line of the right column rather than the 3rd.

Okay, so, what's wrong about the common perception, then ?

So far, it seems that LV does have some kind of trend that leads to growing apathy regarding the suffering of others and more aggressive actions being taken as a result of identical stimuli as it increases. That doesn't sound too far off ?

Well, sort of, but careless extrapolation made from those basic ideas have led to the emergence of theories and interpretations that treat those effects as being more consistent, generalised, and effective than can hold up to the scrutiny of our known cases through aggressive neutral routes.

Here is what i mean :

In some of the more aggressive variants of the neutral route, it is possible to attain a really high LOVE that comes close to what we see in the genocide route. Comparison between those routes and the genocide one, or sometimes content from these neutral routes themselves, can help show us incoherencies in some of those popular interpretations regarding how much difference LV really makes.

The first one that comes to mind is a popular one among 'Chara Defenders', suggesting that Chara's openly aggressive actions & narration which are specific to the genocide route in particular would really be a result of "corruption" induced by the LV-related changes which we would have forced onto them.

How well does this theory hold up through the aggressive neutral routes ?

Well...

Not very well.

To make a 'short' list :

Chara's "corruption" in genocide would generally begin to show as soon as LV3 at the end of the Ruins, however, they show no particular signs of this "corruption" in any neutral routes despite being able to reach much higher LV's of say, 14 near the end of the game.

It is possible to arrive at the end of the Ruins (or other areas) whilst having the same LV as in genocide during a neutral route, yet Chara shows none of those "corruption" lines in those cases either.

It is possible to finish many areas in the genocide route whilst having a lower/higher LV than usual by only fighting particular monsters who give you more/less EXP than average, yet none of Chara's genocide lines are changed to account for this lower of higher LV.

It is possible to abort the genocide route at many points by sparing a particular monster or failing to reach a kill count. When this happens, Chara's "corruption" lines suddenly disappear although the LV doesn't.

This still happens even if Chara's LV would have remained the same wether the monster was killed or not. Thus the lack of extra LV from the spared monter cannot explain this difference.

The aggressiveness shown by Chara does not seem to correlate with their growth in LV. For instance, they treat Toriel more harshly than Papyrus despite a past connection between Chara and Toriel and a lower LV at the time of that encounter.

Regarding some interpretations of the final genocide scene : Why would Chara oppose us for what we did at this point in time ? Shouldn't they still be "corrupted" ? The files at this stage still continue to list our LV as 20 indicating that they should.

Similarly, regarding some interpretations of the soulless pacifist route : If their previous behavior came from corruption, why would Chara kill at this stage or follow up on their previous plan ? By now our LV has long been reset to 1 and said corruption should no longer be in effect.

For all these reasons, it would not be coherent for the peculiarly aggressive behavior shown by Chara during the genocide route to be strictly caused by LV-induced changes.

To be fair, this time some minimum amount of LV is required to progress through the route and access many of those lines, meaning that a minor impact of said required LV cannot be ruled out, but this does mean nevertheless that the primary reason as to why Chara behaves this way in genocide is not related to their LV.

Actually, once you remove from consideration all those things, what you are left with in the rest of the genocide route is a Chara that hardly seems all that impacted by LV at all despite having a very high one.

In New Home, they still display some hints of emotional reactions in spite of a LV of 19.

And throughout the whole genocide route, NarraChara continues going through the regular encounters with the same jokes or sarcasm-filled comments as they would in any other route (If you take the time to ACT a bit or read the narration before killing that monster.) Once again, even with a LV of say, 15.

That doesn't make the very high LV's seem like they turn one into that much of a mind-numbed killing machine does it ?

Okay... Well, what about Frisk, then ? Our other example ?

There are some more narrations out there who can bring us a bit more information about Frisk :

The Sans fight can only be triggered if all previous checks of the genocide route have all been properly met up to this point. This means that it is not possible to start this fight at any other LV than 19, as the NEO fight is scripted to send you to that LV if the criteria for Sans are met.

Therefore, the narration of the Sans fight talks about a Frisk that necessarily has a very high LV of 19.

And yet...

Even at this point, Frisk does not seem to be immune to thoughts regarding the morality of the actions their body has undertaken. It quite literally appears to weigh on them.

This isn't a one-off case either :

If the genocide route is aborted in Hotland, Mettaton NEO has some special dialogue that goes in the same direction :

he says it quite clearly :

And, the same thing also applies regarding the regular encounters too. The ACTs Frisk can take and their behavior whilst executing them remain unchanged compared to a pacifist route, even during the end-stages of genocide in Hotland.

Of course, it isn't like we could have expected Toby to adapt the ACTs and narration of all encounters to vary depending on LV either, that would have been very tedious to code, but such a pronounced absense of any change is definitely noteworthy.

This all leads us to a few conclusions.

It is correct that LV can affect one's personality to some extent, but :

The effects of LV are not consistent through time & situations, they show up quite sporadically. Most of the time, you could hardly tell the difference between someone with high LV or merely LV1 during an average interaction.

Even having an extremely high LV does not dehumanise you. One can still feel emotions and conserve proper judgment or capacity for self-reflection.

The growth in LV magnifies the impact of its effects when they do manifest, but it does not seem to alter the frequency of such events.

It is not possible for LV to be the determining factor in Chara's behavior during the genocide route.

As Sans originally said : LV is above all a capacity to hurt, not a permanent necessary degradation of perception.

[anika-ann]

Back and Forth - part 3.1

Part 3 - Bounce Back - 1/2

Type: series; agent!reader, inhuman!reader

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader    Word Count: 6000

Chapter summary:  In which there is a Hate on Spectre Day. There's no other explanation.

Series masterlist

Warnings: brief mention of canon-typical violence, mention of A+ godawful parenting and its consequences, issues of self-worth, language

A/N: ALWAYS MIND THE WARNINGS; dividers by @firefly-graphics 💕; moodboard is for the vibes and does not necessarily reflect reader’s appearance

A/N2: So. This was supposed to be one chapter but, to the surprise of no one, it’s not. The first half is to blame, because that was supposed to be mentioned in passing and then it just… spilled out like this. Oops.

Natasha Romanoff was a force to be reckoned with.

Now, that was hardly any news to you; besides her reputation preceding her, you had seen her in training, in action during missions, observing her in an interrogation room from behind a thick glass and sometimes even wishing for the poor bastard at the end of her treatment to get punched as an act of mercy, a relief from the wolf-like smile on her perfectly painted lips and brilliant tongue speaking words that should not have been more effective than physical torture but they were.

Projecting in front of her to save her from catching a bullet did not change how highly you regarded her; and it certainly didn’t make you feel any more like you could compare to her than before. That had never been your goal however; trying would have been just as foolish as try to compare to Agent Melinda May or other legends of the spy world. You had mad respect for Natasha Romanoff’s work, no matter the path she had walked to earn her skillset.

But between her dedication to her friends and her attempts at making you feel at home in the team, you had learned to appreciate her as a person too, trusting her; it was a paradox that exactly that was the part of your perception that changed after the attack. Or, more precisely, after what followed it.

As it turned out, the Avengers did very much care about their own; no surprise there. The Avengers also didn’t sleep on the little intel you had been able to provide and much like you believed, they did suspect a leak from within their own ranks given how advanced and detailed the retrieved research on Steve’s biology was.

They had lunched an internal investigation.

The attack on Natasha on The Avengers’ Day was now believed to be an unfortunate consequence of her being in charge of the very investigation and squeezing information from anyone who even remotely appeared they could be connected to the leak or at least might have the smallest piece of information leading to discovering the mole. The attack was thus linked to the Hydra facility raid – even as the perpetrators appeared to be a pair of hired muscle; in fact, even more so for that.

Natasha Romanoff informed you of all that casually as you were pouring yourself a coffee in the communal kitchen and made the mistake of lingering there to learn more. You only realized the error in your actions as it gradually dawned to you why Natasha told you she herself was conducting the investigation and why she was sitting with you face to face.

Up until that point, you had not been asked questions about the incident with the data retrieval beyond trying to put together as precise of an image of the gathered intel as possible. In fact, no one had questioned your allegiance to SHIELD since you had been graduating the Academy – but you sensed that was about to change.

Something about the feign casualness of Natasha sipping her own coffee as you were seated opposite to her begun to rub you in the worst way possible – and that was when you realized.

“Is this an interrogation then?” you asked, heart pounding as you tried to sound at least a bit like you were joking. Because, certainly, this could not be an interrogation, could it? That would be absurd.

A brief smile that didn’t reach her eyes in the slightest passed over her lips, gaze intent on your face. Reading microexpressions, you realized, your blood running cold.

She couldn’t be serious.

“You tell me, Spectre. Maybe this is what you expected to come at one point or the other. Maybe you already knew that I was the one to take lead on this. Maybe it put you into a tight spot and you realized it was just a matter of time before I’d come and question you – and you knew, like you do now, that I always get the information I want,” she said calmly, a thin layer of ice coating her words as she continued to examine your expression, every minuscule move of your muscles.

You hoped that whatever she read in your body language, she liked. The wild pulsing of your carotid, as your fear spiked along with your heartbeat. Yes; you had witnessed enough to know that she could dissect a person without touching them, reaching for their darkest secrets and retrieving them with a figuratively bloody hand as she ripped them out – she had known quite a few secrets of your own already. And yet. You hoped that your fear was all she could see, because the feeling that slammed into the most was hurt. She could have slapped you, hell she could have dashed the hot coffee to your face and you’d be less stunned.

Did she really think that? That you’d be capable of something like this?

You sat there frozen, hand resting limply by your cup, heart threatening to burst out of your chest. But hey – good news, right? At least they were investigating and they were very thorough about making sure Steve was safe.

Comfort had never felt so cold.

“Maybe you needed a heroic safe to maintain cover,” she continued, titling her head to side a fraction. “And conveniently, if you failed to step in in time, you’d have the person in charge of the internal investigation eliminated.”

The switched inside you flipped without any conscious effort – and perhaps even against in – the fear and hurt was consumed by anger and spite, the lump in your throat turning into a burn.

You didn’t seek gratitude from her, not really – you had indeed only been doing your job yesterday and that was it, no matter Rogers’ initial reaction that had made you feel not only useful but appreciated beyond what you deserved – but hostility and accusations were a touch a bit too far. Especially since hadn’t it been for you, she could have been shot at best and shot dead at worst.

“You’re welcome,” you said flatly, expression free of any emotion at all.

The anger inside you felt empty.

Her expression didn’t change, not even a twitch of her brow – of course it didn’t. This was Black Widow. The legend. The ruthless spy. Perfectly deadly.

“Have you been playing for the other team the whole time you’ve been here? Is the only reason why Steve isn’t dead yet because you caught feelings and can’t bring yourself to do what you’re supposed to now?” she kept questioning and you couldn’t keep the indifferent face anymore – you must have slipped, because you felt like your breath had been knocked out of you.

Forget slaps and burns – those words felt like a stab straight to your gut with a wicked twist of the blade for maximum damage.

It shouldn’t have shocked you, it truly shouldn’t have. But for a second, you felt the suffocating burn of betrayal in your chest expand with every heartbeat, filling your entire being.

You’d been taught better. And yet... Not only implying you were a traitor, but also hitting exactly at the spot of our biggest insecurity – not being good enough at anything – and using the knowledge of your rather complicated relationship with Steve Rogers was the one low blow you hadn’t expected, even from a woman of her reputation, because she had seemed genuinely kind the last time she had mentioned it. She had seemed understanding, caring and invested; and apparently, she was well-aware of that. She read you like a book and used your trust to her advantage. You should have known better and perhaps deep inside, you had anticipated a stab in the back – but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like son of a bitch.

You hadn’t even begun to be friends, you reminded yourself, so there was no reason to be upset. In addition, she was also being perfectly reasonable, only doing her job; it was only natural she hadn’t treated you in kinder gloves, didn’t pull any punches. Steve was her friend, the best friend of her boyfriend no less. She was only protecting someone she cared for deeply. You knew all these things and yet – it stung.

You leaned on your elbows, hoping your voice was steady and neutral, rather than razor sharp – because she didn’t need to know, didn’t deserve to know, that she had hit exactly where it hurt. And you didn’t need her to evaluate you as unstable on top of clearly suspecting you were a traitor.

“Why don’t you tell me, Romanoff. You seem to know everything,” you whispered, the words burning like acid on your tongue.

It was funny really – it was that, you feeling yourself break from the naïve hope that you could ever be more than just an asset to the team, that had her face slip back into a friendly mask, whatever test she had prepared for you ending. Her hard eyes softened, face relaxing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’re a traitor. But I have to make sure and get a rise out of everyone either way, to get a good read on whether they could know anything even remotely useful based on their reaction, try to have them remember anything that wouldn’t come up unless when in raw emotion. With everyone,” she repeated slowly, looking straight into your eyes to show she meant every word, a silent apology, “whether they are my friend or not.”

Your smile felt foreign on your lips as you reached for your coffee, sipping at it to neutralize the bile rising in our throat, to fill the hollow in your chest with the bitter taste of the dark warm liquid. You understood. You truly did. You had just been an idiot, even as you hadn’t been fully aware of your hopes until they were crushed.

“It’s okay,” you assured her, rising to your feet and setting the mug down, “with me anyway. But I’m not sure your friends will feel the same way when you ask them.”

You all but registered a flash of what you imagined could be regret as you spun on your heels and walked out, a pit of dread in your stomach. Stupid, stupid, stupid. You had no right to feel wounded.  You have been taught better. Skills. Abilities. Assets. Those mattered; not people. Not in S.H.I.E.L.D., not in the AI. Barely anywhere; Coulson’s team had just been full of unicorns, keeping up the illusion that every individual was worth more than their resumé, the illusion of a loose family.

There was no place of that kind for you in the Avengers team. The fact Tony had gone and protected you was the exception to the rule and you had made the mistake of thinking it was anything but pragmatism. They needed your powers; that was why you had been brought onto the team. The team might have been relatively tight-knit, but granted entry to no outsiders, welcomed no newcomers – not into their own strange family they had grown into.

You shouldn’t have been disappointed; and yet, even as you were aware that all Natasha had done was indeed following protocol, protecting fiercely one of her closest friends at that, it was the blatant use of information she had gained by taking a closer look and trying to make conversation, that allowed her to cut deep. You had been raised well to be aware of this approach and still you committed the error, even if unconsciously, of ignoring one of the few things your parents had tried to drill into you so hard. You shouldn’t be this careless.

Shaking your head at your own naivety, you rounded the corner, telling yourself that the slight shake to your hands was neither rage nor grief; just caffeine overdose, since you had poured a cup from Tony’s pot. You nearly groaned when you noticed the unmistakable tall broad figure walking the very same corridor in the opposite direction. Facing Steve Rogers of all people right now sounded like a thing from nightmares; especially since the moment he spotted you, a peculiar look appeared on his face, the kind of expression that told you a conversation awaited you which you’d very much rather not have. You swore that if he was going to have a single thing to say about yesterday, if he was about criticise you at least, to ask you anything at all-

You weren’t proud of it, but you did it anyway. Pulling out your phone from the back pocket of your jeans, you pretended you had felt it vibrate with a text, fully immersed in whatever was on your screen. You barely looked up when you were three steps from him, but nodded with the respect a man of Captain Rogers’ standing deserved regardless of anyone’s personal opinion on him, the ‘Captain’ firm on your lips as a formal greeting you hoped was all you were going to exchange. He returned the courtesy, sounding all but a little taken aback, and – thank heavens – continued walking past you. You gritted your teeth as not to release a relieved breath you were certain he’d hear.

Whirlwind of emotion pushed aside by suffocating emptiness, you continued your path and headed to your room, deciding breakfast simply wasn’t in the cards for your today. As you entered the familiar space, your gaze fell on the gym clothes you had tossed over one of your chairs yesterday when you needed to release the pressure after being tense ever since the attack.

Releasing tension now felt like a good idea, as the sting of betrayal and self-loathing simmered in your ribcage despite your attempts to make it all go away.

Without a second thought, you grabbed after it, ready to loosen the messy bundle of emotion the only way you were ever allowed.

By punching it out.  

The scent of leather and sweat had been bringing you an odd sense of comfort since your rather early age. Even as it was associated with heavy breaths, soaked t-shirts, competitiveness and shouts of various trainers you had encountered over the years, it was also an epitome of solace and familiarity; a reminder that you could always improve and you had done that more than once. It was a sanctuary to broken shards of a soul, where one let all the nasty things buried inside tear the body apart, only to feel like they started to build yourself up again. You had learned a long time ago that fighting was far from being about rage or any other wild emotion; but if one got the flow right, they could release all the suffocating emotions through it either way until peace – relative peace at least – took over again.

So after exhausting your body almost to its limit, you moved onto your mind; after kicking and punching and sweating through your clothes, you cooled down, stretched, and sat down cross-legged only to do it all over again. This time through your spectre.

The quiet gym was an unusual luxury, making for an easy projection and making it almost laughably easy to maintain it; you had tested it in training before, keeping focus even as your fellow agents shoved you around or even punched your gut – or in Daisy’s case, sent quaking vibrations through your body with increasing intensity, enough to almost rattle your bones. You were aware of the sensations, always, naturally seeing its benefit as a fail safe in whoever was in charge of protecting you failed to do so – not that Mr. Captain America had that problem. But at the same time, pushing the limits of how much you could take in case of such complications and in the face of needing to hold on despite of it was essential – as much as being able to take a hit to your spectral body without losing focus was.   

It took time, but it had become a second nature to perceive sensations from both your bodies, recognizing which came from which and separating them. The real trial, the most surreal feeling which took some time getting used to was seeing yourself and touching your actual hand with your spectral one, simultaneously being the initiator of the sensation and its receiver on the very same part of your body. The first time you tried it, it knocked you out for over half an hour, your brain unable to handle the contradiction. However long path you still had to walk to perfect your skills, you remembered that handling this one had been a win and eventually, the sight of yourself and the touch turned almost mundane.

However, others didn’t feel that way.

The visual of Tony Stark entering the gym, gaze flickering between your sitting form and your punching form several feet away from each other, as if he couldn’t decide which one to address despite only one of them levitating and emitting a faint glow, brought a sad ghost of a smile to your face, renewing the tense feeling in your gut you tried so hard to punch and kick away. Usually, you couldn’t help it; perhaps it was mean, but the bewildered, and admiring look in people’s eyes, was not only pleasing but also entirely hilarious. But today, the satisfaction wasn’t coming – and unfortunately, Stark approached your very conscious version.

Couldn’t the world just leave you alone for a bit? You were alone; you’d appreciate if the number of people in the room reflected the reality of your life.

“What did that poor bag did to you?” he lamented as you caught a glimpse of his frown and pursed lips between focusing on every hit to the heavy bag. “You hit it any harder, you’re gonna rip it off the hinges like Cap does.”

Right. For sure.

You swallowed the scoff threatening to escape you, gritting your teeth as your punch landed even stronger than intended, sending painful vibration through your arm. You added a knee and an elbow, speeding up to distract yourself form the sensation.

Focused on your workout, you couldn’t see his raised eyebrow; but you could definitely hear it in his annoyed and slightly amused voice.

“Same attitude too, I see.”

This time, you did scoff as you continued punching. Yeah, right. You and Steve were practically twins now, weren’t you.

“Too bad, Casper, you are not getting away with ignoring me,” he insisted, peeking from behind the bag on your left. “Cease fire for a sec.”

You kicked hard with a loud huff, making the bag swing wildly, catching it with your hands as it returned to hit you in the face and only then dropped your hands, turning to Tony.

Despite your rudeness – one he didn’t quite deserve, you reminded yourself guiltily – you found him grinning at you as you paid him attention at last. It only made you frown. He seemed too gleeful to be a bearer of bad news – but way too gleeful to bring any news that would be good for you.

“Pick up your Sunday shoes, Casper. You’re going out tomorrow!”

You sighed, already feeling the wholesome effects of your workout evaporating. “Hello to you too. What on Earth are you talking about?”

Given the mischief in his eye, you felt like you should be worried – and yet, despite your better judgement, you felt a small smile tug at your lips at his antics.

That said, if he had set you up for a blind date or something of that sort – because you wouldn’t put it past him if he did that – you’d be out before you could get in. But the fact that he simply announced that you were going out couldn’t mean anything good. Why didn’t he ask? Because Tony Stark, you thought, as bitterly as affectionately.  

He waved his hand in a too innocent greeting, pulling out a light blue envelope with golden framing from his hoodie pocket.

“Hi. This is yours. You mind?” he hummed as he beckoned to your paraconscious body, already throwing the paper its way.

With a sigh, you snapped back just as the envelope landed in your lap, ignoring the low thud of your boxing gloves hitting the mattress since you couldn’t take them back with you and they suddenly didn’t have anything to hold them up. You pushed yourself to your feet, ignoring the slight sway of the world as you suddenly changed both body and positions, turning the envelope in your hands with a frown and an unpleasant feeling of anticipation in your gut.

“Tony… what is this?”

“An invitation.”

“Right.” Knowing there was no scenario in which you’d get away with never opening it, in which he’d leave before you did so, you slipped your fingers under the edge and tore it open. Fancy paper, you observed. As your eyes quickly scanned over the text, Tony spoke up again.

“Shake hands, rub elbows. Make the Avengers look good. Have a drink or two.”

You frowned. The words Tony Stark was stringing together made perfect sense individually, but not together. Then, they made sense together and then even more sense in connection to the invite. But none of that made them make sense in connection to you.

“A charity auction at the Smithsonian?” you asked dully, voice full of the scepticism you felt upon imagining yourself doing what he had suggested, parroting his words dubiously. “Me, making the Avengers look good? I’m not even a--- Stark, what the-“

“Please,” he cut you off with a scoff, “you literally saved Natasha’ ass and several kids, very publicly, just yesterday. Plus, me and Pepper can’t make it and everyone else is either on a mission or has already said no.”

You perked up in an instant. Could you say no then?

“No, you can’t say no, nope,” Tony blurted out before you could even open your mouth. You glanced down at the invite again. The last thing you wanted right now, or ever, to be honest, was to go to some stupid function, meeting arrogant wealthy and sadly influential assholes with a fake smile on their face, one that held even as they insulted your choice of wardrobe in a way you couldn’t really return because they had the power to make your life a living hell. “It’s your mission now, no veto rights.”

You resisted the urge to stomp your foot and whine; but for a very good reason. Many, many good reasons. You genuinely despised those thighs, hating them on a visceral level. You could survive them if there was an important mission objective like gathering intel that could save countless lives, securing a sample of a virus and preventing a global pandemic, locking up an arms dealer – but socializing? Networking? Useless chitchat with pretentious jerks? Bootlicking? Because that was what awaited you, whether you were representing the Avengers or not – which itself truly was an absurd concept.

You ran a hand down your face, skimming over the text once more, resigned.

Much like there hadn’t been a scenario in which Tony would leave before you’d listen to what he had had to say, there was no way you’d get away with not attending.

“Couldn’t they have at least hold it at the NYC building? Does it have to be DC?” you muttered under your breath, annoyed further. That meant flying and many complications in case you’d try to pull an early disappearing act.

“Yeah, one of the reasons why the others said no. The disgrace of these people – a free ride on the quinjet with a pilot assigned and they still scoff at this. Heathens. If you weren’t hiding out, I’d stumble over you earlier and the can’t-say-no would fall on someone else, but here we are. I mean honestly, who would think finding two people willing to go drink expensive champagne could be such an issue?”

Your head snapped up to his face, horror and relief seizing you at once. You wouldn’t be alone; then again, you wouldn’t be alone.

You really wanted to call Tony on his bullshit about finding you last, because if he found you last, it was because he asked FRIDAY about you as the last, but your whole brain capacity was overtaken by a single thought and a prayer to heavens. You weren’t sure whom you’d want as a company, but you still prayed it was someone bearable.

“Two people? Who’s the other one?”

Please let it be Wilson. You were sure he’d feel almost as uncomfortable as you. Rhodes too, even though he was good at politics and would snatch all the attention to himself. You doubted Vision or Wanda were the ones and you could hardly imagine one without the other; similarly, you doubted Barnes, with his past still lingering in the minds of many, had been chosen, and even if he had, you doubted he would go without Romanoff. Thor was off to Asgard, Banner would be, bless him, probably even more distressed than you, and Tony and Pepper were literally the ones handing over the invitation. Clint could be a nice option – you didn’t talk much, but his easy-going nature would probably make for a good company. Honestly, probably anyone would be better than-

“Capsicle, obviously, they love the guy. Have a big exhibition on him and all that,” Tony said as if it was clear as day and as if that didn’t make him sound like a lunatic. And as if that didn’t send your heart racing like mad, eyes widening, throat tightening.

Headache started to build in above your brows as you imaged the horror-like scene. As if the function itself wasn’t bad enough – Tony wanted to make you suffer through it with the one person from the Avengers whom you fought the most often?

Tony was, naturally, completely blind to your reaction – or more likely, pretended to be, because he might be an owner of what kids these days called a galaxy brain, but he was two halves of a whole genius – continuing his monologue at the speed of three hundred miles a minute.

“…and he’s good at rubbing elbows, even if he hates it. So, focus, my dear Ghost of Christmas Past,” he snapped his fingers in front of your face, only to start counting on his fingers. Mutely, you watched him, still hoping this was a very badly constructed prank. “Make us look good, look good, buy something nice on my card in the auction and try not to kill each other. Easy as American pie. All four objectives of the mission are equally important by the way… I think.”

“Tony…”

That was all you manged to force out, a disapproval and a plea.

“What?! You shouldn’t have been hiding in a gym! I’m innocent!”

You were not impressed with his antics in the slightest. It was a Hate on Spectre Day, you were sure. First Romanoff with her accusations about Steve, then Tony-

Oh. Oh thank god.

It was blasphemy to be grateful for such thing, but you were not picky about your salvations as an important thought occurred to you – a fairly reasonable one at that, one that didn’t only serve as a convenient excuse.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for Steve to make a public appearance like that?” you questioned. “I know he made a public appearance just yesterday, but that was different. We’re still… working out how to deal with the Hydra cell and their antiserum. The investigation is still active and pretty intensive at the moment as far as I can tell.”

No kidding.

Tony’s eyebrows shot up, something akin to compassion appearing on his face, probably in reaction to something that you involuntarily let show on yours. Fuck.

“Ah. Got bitten by Black Widow, huh? It stings, doesn’t it?” he said, scrunching his nose and almost shocking you speechless.

You were slacking if Tony, living in his own world for at least eighty percent of the time, with his mind usually lightyears away from where a conversation had originally started, read you so easily.

That, or he watched the footage, perhaps even with Natasha herself, to evaluate whether you were indeed a mole or not. Was this another test? Was Natasha the proverbial bad cop and Tony landed the role of a good cop? Were you supposed to open up to him? The thought of Tony playing you like this was somehow even more nauseating than Natasha’s game had been. With her, you should have seen it coming; with Mr.I Don’t Need to Watch My Mouth, not so much. He was direct. He spoke his mind, always. You liked that about him. Or used to.

What would he know about Black Widow’s verbal bites?

“Like you’d know.”

One of his brows creased, lips curled by a smirk full of snark.

“What, you think the original six was spared? Please.”

Despite yourself, you blinked and perked up. Because Tony seemed honest – much like most of the time, frankly.

“Rogers was the only one who wasn’t questioned by Romanoff – or in her case, by Barnes – though some of us might argue that when it comes to saving his dumb ass, Rogers’s the one most willing to serve it to HYDRA himself on a silver platter.” He paused, a grimace twisting his features. “That was a weird imagery, forget I used those exact words.”

A tiny smile tugged at your lips. Tony was hard to stay mad at if he did something relatively harmless like this – he was direct and slightly chaotic, but that was just part of his charm, one might say. And honestly, since you trusted him that he had spoken the truth, the fact that Natasha had gone down at everyone as hard as she had on you, learning that you weren’t the only one under scrutiny did make you feel a bit better. Though for a brief moment, you allowed yourself the luxury of questioning the reliability of Barnes interrogating Romanoff and vice versa, given their enormous bias. How had the mutual interrogation even happened? What, did they just hold a knife to each other’s throat instead of a foreplay?

You shook your head at yourself, earning a grin from Tony as he probably assumed you reacted to his antics. He wasn’t completely wrong.

Leaning onto his wannabe-friendly behaviour had a strong scent of fool me once, since you had literally had got burned today, but it was hard to resist it despite all the rational voices in your head screaming. You were an asset. You had a mission and that was it – and protecting this team was a big part of it. Tony did make an excellent point when it came to Steve’s tendency to overlook the magnitude of threats posed to him. Which had you go full circle – that besides pairing you and Steve off for a public appearance was an awful, terrible, no good, very bad idea, it was almost as bad of an idea as sending Steve out there in the first place.

“I still think letting him do this is too risky. I’ll go, even if I’m going to curse you the entire time,” you noted matter-of-factly, “but honestly. I think Steve really shouldn’t go.”

If it was possible, Tony's face lit up further, much to your chagrin.

 “Aww, are you worried about him?” he teased you. You deadpanned. “Kidding. Relax, Spectre, it’s a museum, not an underground casino. And it’s a charity auction, not an arm deals convention, those are more up my speed. There are no suspicious names on the guest list, FRIDAY doublechecked. The most dangerous people there will be you and him.”

You breathed in to protest further, because one, he was literally just giving out his invitation to someone dangerous, which other people could do as well, and two, there were still so many crazy things about what he was suggesting and your stomach was in knots just trying to imagine it-

A quick clap of hands startled you, Tony’s hands suddenly palms up.

“Alright, great, thank you for accepting. It’s settled then-“

Your horror returned, mouth opening uselessly as he began to walk back, still facing you. “I didn’t-“

“Oh and it’s only black tie, but you should still buy something nice,” he continued, smiling conspiratorially as if he was sharing an inside joke you were supposed to be a part of but did not understand one bit, except for feeling like you were the subject of it.

“Tony-“

“’cause representation and all that. And don’t worry about the cost, ‘cause it’s on the Avengers, so in fact, go wild, Cinderella. I gotta run now-“

He cut off his wild gestures with another clap of his hands to drown the sound of you calling out his name, the stupid invite still in your hands, feet frozen to the ground when the automatic door opened behind him and he spun on his heels, walking out.

“But Stark!”

He was already gone.

You massaged your forehead and the skin above your eyebrows as your headache grew, your shoulders sagging. You eyed the invitation with distaste, inspecting it as if it could burst in flames any second; that was how nuclear you felt the evening might get, for multiple reasons.

Oh. Speaking of the invitation going up in flames, perhaps the museum would require the actual paper rather than an e-invite. Fire might be the best possible solution for-

The sudden voice sounding from the speaker cut off your inner musings, and crushed your hopes, fuelling your anxiety in the process.

“Agent Spectre, Mr.Stark wants me to inform you that the charity auction is assigned to you as any other mission and not participating would thus be considered a serious breach of regulations and a breach of your contract with the Avengers Initiative, which would result in corresponding disciplinary action.”

You scowled, tossing the envelope and its content aside. Low blow, Stark. Really, really fucking low blow.

“Bastard,” you muttered under your breath.

“And that his explicit orders, as he is one of your superiors, are to, I quote, have fun,” FRIDAY added, causing you to roll your eyes and look at the ceiling as if your glare and your next words dripping with sarcasm could be delivered to Tony himself. Which they could – they just wouldn’t have the desired effect, you were sure.

“Gee, Stark, thanks. I’m sure I will.” Not.

Grabbing your gear with a sigh coming from the very depth of your soul, suddenly tired despite the clock claiming it was still before noon, you tried to steer your mind away from the tight feeling in your gut.

The one upside was that your mission might be to have fun and rub figurative elbows, but one never knew when he needed to use actual elbows to punch someone in the face in your line of work.

That meant that if you were to follow Stark’s explicit orders, you should get yourself a special dress for the occasion – something at least black-tie worthy. But you were truly about to spend a public evening with Steve, who would be putting himself into nonsensical danger by merely showing up, you needed a sensible dress. Long enough to have it pass as fitting for the dress code, but with a slit high enough to not limit your range of movement if you needed to kick out or run. Nothing too revealing, because you’d rather not worry about your cleavage if you were about to punch and duck. Shoes would be a pain – heels were a necessary evil, but you’d need to dig up some with thick straps at least, to feel like you were actually wearing them and not like you were trying to keep them on by the sheer power of your will with every step.

It seemed you had some shopping to do. If Tony was so inclined on you to follow his orders, you would. You would go wild with his credit card indeed. And because you had a glutton for punishment, you tried to contact a distant ally to help you with that, even as you doubted that she’d have time to answer.

Next chapter

Series masterlist // S.R. masterlist

Yeeeeah, I know that I promised you a bit of trip to fluffville as well, but it’s only coming in the second half… then again, the moment with Tony was kinda sweet too, no?

Happy New Year, loves 💕 May it be kind to you ✨

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x39 - Two Great Ultimate Evolutions! Push Back the Darkness / The Battle for Earth

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Vamdemon came back in a Biblical way and began destroying Odaiba via rainbow hip thrusts. To stop him from eating everybody, Takeru and Hikari shot their brothers full of arrows. More importantly, PicoDevimon fucking died.

The first full minute of this episode is just replaying the cool CGI Warp-Evolution sequences from the end of the previous. Both because they're fucking cool and to set the stage for the fight to come, with Show Me Your Brave Heart already blaring.

This is immediately followed by their rundowns, before we've even seen any of the kids. WarGreymon is an Ultimate-stage Vaccine-type Dragon Person Digimon. MetalGarurumon is an Ultimate-stage Data-type Cyborg Digimon.

Kinda weird that MetalGarurumon was a Vaccine for his whole evolution chain until now and suddenly becomes Data. That's because these two come from the same evolution tree in the V-Pet, which has one Ultimate for each of the three types.

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are from the Metal Empire line - along with the Virus Ultimate Mugendramon, who we'll get to meet shortly. Though the 0.5 rerelease several months after this episode would replace Mugendramon with VenomVamdemon; An obvious bit of tie-in synergy that doesn't really fit the theme of Metal Empire.

Narrator: WarGreymon. An Ultimate-stage Digimon Warp-Evolved from Agumon. His special attack Gaia Force gathers ki from his surrounding area and unleashes it all at once.

I think we all understand the concept of chi or ki but just in case, it's the natural energy that exists in all things but especially living things, which can be harnessed, regulated, and controlled according to certain belief systems. Basically what George Lucas ripped off when he invented the Force.

Gaia Force is basically the Genki-dama/Spirit Bomb from Dragon Ball. Pretty unapologetically, in fact; Wait 'til you see it in action.

Narrator: MetalGarurumon. An Ultimate-stage Digimon Warp-Evolved from Gabumon. His special attack, Cocytus Breath, freezes his enemies solid before he smashes them to pieces!

Oh look, there's another ancient mythology reference from the nerds over at Digimon Adventure. :P Cocytus is a lesser-known one of the five rivers that encircles the Greek underworld, literally named "Lamentation". But it's more likely that this is a reference to Dante's Inferno, whose author borrowed many things from the Greek underworld.

In the Inferno, Cocytus is the ninth and final circle of Hell; A frozen wasteland where betrayers are confined. This is where Satan is found, held captive in the ice at the center. You can see the connection between that and the frosty power MetalGarurumon intends to bring to bear against the (Wiki Article who can Punch You version of the) Beast of Revelations today.

Izzy: (rundown) It's WarGreymon! It says here his attack is Terra Force. Gathering the energy around him and focusing it in the palm of his hand! Izzy: (rundown) MetalGarurumon has his Metal Wolf Claw attack! He shoots a powerful cold blast at his enemies, then blows them to pieces!

Unsurprisingly, Izzy does not have the nerve to reference Dante's Inferno right now.

Koushiro: Ultimate-stage... They've evolved into Ultimate-stage Digimon! Tentomon: Well, I feel less useful now. Yamato: Yeah, you're right. Tentomon: What.

In the wake of the two Ultimate evolutions, Tentomon self-deprecates. To which Yamato hilariously agrees, prompting a short but clearly agitated response. XD Fucking rude, Yamato. Holding Taichi's hand is making his bad habits rub off on you.

In the dub:

Izzy: Mega Digimon! They Digivolved into their Mega Digimon forms! Tentomon: That's great, 'cause we'll need them to beat VenomMyotismon! Matt: Yeah! That's for sure! Tentomon: Good luck! I'll wait here....

Really? Come on, dub team. That joke was right up your alley. You love it when the kids are mean to each other for no good reason.

WarGreymon kicks us off, wreathing himself in energy and launching himself into VenomVamdemon like a bullet.

The attack hits so hard it knocks VenomVamdemon off his feet and sends him crashing down into the rubble. The observation deck from the Fuji broadcasting center rolls by. Remember when we blew up Fuji TV? Remember how cool that was!?

I jest, but there's a narrative purpose to showing us the observation deck again. WarGreymon didn't just hit VenomVamdemon, he shoved him all the way back to the FCG Building. Remember, he's trying to close the distance to Big Sight, and we want him to not do that. There's about a mile of space where, if he finishes crossing it, thousands of people will die.

This big energy tackle of WarGreymon's pushed VenomVamdemon all the way back to his starting point. Which is way more of a hit than anyone's been able to do to him thus far.

The humans hops back in the van because now they have to drive half a mile to get back to the fight.

Taichi: GO, WARGREYMON!!! Hikari: SO POWERFUL!!!

VenomVamdemon climbs back to his feet. MetalGarurumon follows up on the attack, opening up countless panels on his body and firing off missiles in every direction.

(Uh. Hopefully the ones that didn't go in VenomVamdemon's direction are homing missiles or something. Please do not randomly destroy parts of Odaiba, MetalGarurumon. The devastation is bad enough as it is.)

MetalGarurumon's ice missiles slam into VenomVamdemon, exploding and freezing every part of him that they hit. Encasing his whole body in an icy prison.

(Kind of like Satan in Cocytus, yes, I got your reference.)

Takeru: Ah! Yamato: Amazing!

The Yagamis are much more enthusiastic with their cheering than Yamato and Takeru. XD Taichi is hollering his lungs off, while Yamato's in the back seat like, "Pretty cool, yeah."

...wait, why is Yamato in the back seat? His dad is driving; How the hell did Taichi pull shotgun?

In the dub, Izzy joins in the cheering for the sake of silence-breaking.

Izzy: WAY TO GO, WARGREYMON!!! YOU CREAMED HIM!!! ...I think.... Tai: Look! There they go! Get after him, WarGreymon! Kari: Put his lights out! MetalGarurumon: ICE WOLF CLAW!!! (MetalGarurumon follows up with ice missiles) T.K.: Frozen! Matt: Solid!

The missiles aren't called as an attack in the original, but the dub identifies them as MetalGarurumon's signature move. Kind of odd because there's no clawing involved, but Cocytus Breath doesn't sound like it has clawing involved either so I'm not sure what's up with that attack name to begin with.

Unfortunately, VenomVamdemon won't go down that easily. Drawing up his power, he breaks free from the ice holding him.

VenomVamdemon: RAAAAAAAARGH!!! MetalGarurumon: He can't...! WarGreymon: How can he do that!? VenomVamdemon: Now I'm mad... NOW I'M MAD!!! VENOM INFUSE!!!

NO MY CONFIGURATION DATA

Finally unveiling his signature move, VenomVamdemon shoots out his Venom Infuse as rainbow streaks from his eyes. Notably different from the disintegration rainbow streaks from his crotch.

Unfortunately, these attacks do not disintegrate their targets. A stray blast knocks half of a building loose, sending it down almost on top of Hiroaki's van. He swerves to avoid being crushed, but the impact sends him into a rollover. R.I.P. to the party bus; It's been a valuable member of this team.

In the dub, VenomMyotismon continues to be more verbose than his counterpart.

VenomMyotismon: GYAAAAGH!!! MetalGarurumon: It didn't work! VenomMyotismon: Your miserable attempts to destroy me have failed! Now you will pay! Hehe... Hehehehehe... AHAHAHAHA!!! (VenomMyotismon shoots unnamed rainbow beams from his eyes)

The dub does not name Venom Infuse. Instead, VenomMyotismon just... laughs... for five straight seconds. Must have been thinking of something really funny. Consequently, it's not really clear that this is supposed to be the big attack, so it just looks like he's shooting more ambiguous projectiles at them.

The dub also gives Hiroaki a silence-breaker when the car flips over.

Hiroaki: Everybody out! Get clear of the van!

If it seems weird that he's making it sound like the van's a threat, remember those American cultural sensibilities at play. Americans are confident that cars will explode into a fireball at the slightest provocation. It's a miracle they're all not burning to death already.

The humans climb out of the car and run for cover to avoid being hit by the next stray shot. Though Masami, it seems, was injured in the crash; Hiroaki supports him and helps him limp to safety.

Meanwhile, at Big Sight, the others watch the fighting from a distance.

Shin emerges from the convention center to join the three Chosen Children.

Jou: Ah! Shin-niisan! How's Dad doing? Shin: No change. (Jou and the girls all slump in disappointment) Gomamon: We'll have to defeat Vamdemon if we want them to wake up. Mimi: My Papa and Mama.... (face hardens) I want to defeat Vamdemon! Palmon: Mimi! I can still fight! Mimi: (smiling) Palmon....

As seen when Lilimon first evolved, this is what gets Mimi riled up. Mimi fights to end the fighting, so that she won't have to fight again. She does not want to be here, and her power comes from her straightforward and honest desire to reach a conclusion.

Piyomon: Sora? (Sora kneels down to get on Piyomon's level; Piyomon simply nods to her) Sora: Okay! Jou: (affectionately) You guys....

Sora and Piyomon are on the same wavelength, to the point that they don't even need to exchange words. They feel what the other is feeling and agree.

Suddenly, Gomamon jumps onto Jou and then clambers up his body until he reaches Jou's shoulders, draping himself over Jou's head like a hood.

Gomamon: "Let's go, Gomamon!" How come I'm not hearing those words? Jou: Heh... Alright! LET'S GO, GOMAMON!!! Gomamon: YOU GOT IT!!!

And Jou's better learned how to take charge and be bold as a leader from Gomamon. He sprints towards VenomVamdemon without another word, ready to join the fighting.

Sora: (bows to Shin) Please take care of my mother! (Sora runs off after Jou) Mimi: (to Shin, does not bow) My Papa and Mama too! (Mimi runs off after Sora and Jou) Shin: Don't do anything reckless....

In the dub:

Joe: Jim, how's Dad? Is there any improvement yet? Jim: No, still exactly the same. Gomamon: Alright, I'm tired of fooling around! We have to defeat Myotismon once and for all! Mimi: Our parents always protected us. Now it's time we came through for them! Palmon: Mimi! If we do it together, we can beat him! Mimi: Think so? Palmon: Mhm! Biyomon: I'll try! Sora: You will!? Biyomon: Yeah! Mhm! Sora: Okay! Joe: We already tried! Gomamon: So we'll keep on trying, Joe! Because Digimon never give up! (Gomamon climbs up Joe) Gomamon: Like they always say: All for 'mon and 'mon for all! Joe: Hahahaha.... YOU'RE RIGHT!!! WE CAN DO IT!!! LET'S GET 'EM GUYS!!! (Joe runs off into battle) Sora: (bows to Jim) You'll have to excuse Joe; He's a little hyperactive. (Sora runs off after Joe) Mimi: (to Jim, does not bow) Please take care of our parents, Jim! (Mimi runs off after Sora and Joe) Jim: Good luck, you guys.

Doesn't really capture the moment of strength and determination that this is supposed to be for each of these three characters.

Also, why is Sora apologizing to Joe's older brother for the way he behaves? Jim should already know what Joe's like.

At the FCG Building, the humans have somehow managed to separate from one another despite all being together when they exited the van.

While the Digimon fight, the humans run around calling for one another.

Taichi: HIKARI!!! Hikari: ONII-CHAN!!!

Hikari's voice momentarily distracts Angewomon. She looks down at her human on the ground and misses when a large piece of rubble comes flying her way. By the time she notices it, it's too late to avoid.

Yamato: TAKERU!!! Takeru: ONII-CHAN!!!

VenomVamdemon backhands Angemon into a nearby building's wall. He crashes near the three adults, who've somehow managed to stay together while losing track of all five children. Great adulting, guys. A+ job.

Izzy: DAD!!! MOM!!! Tentomon: Ah! The others are here!

Birdramon, Ikkakumon, and Togemon all charge aggressively at VenomVamdemon's heel.

Togemon: VAMDEMON!!! WE'RE HERE TO FIGHT TOO!!! Tentomon: I'm going to join in!

Man, that shot really puts into perspective how gigantic he really is.

The dub edits the shot of Angewomon getting struck by the rubble. We see the rock carrying her to the ground, but not her momentary distraction or the moment of impact.

They don't edit Angemon getting backhanded into a wall, though. Only Angewomon getting smashed by a rock is edited to obscure which angel got hit. She doesn't even get to make a pain yelp like in the original; We just hear Vamdemon roaring while a rock smashes a vaguely angelic character.

Weird.

I suspect it's about her visible gender. Creatives, especially back in the day, sometimes get hand-wringy about letting violence happen to female characters. Boys are taught that you shouldn't hit a girl and they grow up thinking that's, like, a universal moral constant that women must never be harmed in any situation ever.

I mean, you shouldn't hit a girl. You also shouldn't hit a boy. You shouldn't hit anyone, except in circumstances that are already violent. But the problem is that boys internalize this not as "Don't do unwarranted violence to people" but as "Women are too weak and fragile for manly roughhousing."

Then they become writers and extend it to mean women can't be recipients of slapstick jokes, male heroes must never strike female villains even if they're actively fighting each other, or even that female heroes can never be shown being struck in combat. Or even go so far as to not let women be heroes because that would involve putting them in combat situations where they might get hit.

We've made a lot of strides since I was a kid in allowing female characters to get hit in both slapstick bits and action scenes. But for this turn-of-the-millennium show, that's the only reason I can think of for censoring Angewomon's rock but not Angemon's backhand. Someone in the office probably got nervous when a visibly humanoid woman was struck with a giant rock onscreen.

As for the kids yelling for one another, uh....

Tai: KARI!!! Kari: WHERE ARE YA, TAI!?!? Matt: TAI!!! T.K.: GET 'EM, ANGEMON!!! Izzy: MOM, DAD, I'M COMING!!! Tentomon: Look, Izzy! All the others have Digivolved too! There's Ikkakumon and Togemon and Birdramon! I'm going in!

Tai and Kari stay on point, but Matt's more interested in hooking back up with Tai than in T.K.'s wellbeing and T.K.'s too focused on the fight to even care that he's lost.

Tentomon offers no surprise whatsoever to see the backup Digimon suddenly enter the battle and instead has evolution envy.

Tentomon evolves into Kabuterimon to join the fighting. With the whole team assembled, the only thing left to do is dogpile on VenomVamdemon's stupid crotch-face.

WarGreymon: Yes! Everyone, attack him together!

The entire team combines their attacks, firing into VenomVamdemon's crotch-face. Once their attacks have all struck, WarGreymon follows up by spinning super-fast and wreathing himself in energy. He launches an attack he calls Brave Tornado straight into the vulnerable spot in VenomVamdemon's crotch that they've opened up.

Ultimately, the attack plan works, penetrating through VenomVamdemon and bringing him to his knees.

Hiroaki: They got him.

The dub calls WarGreymon's attack "Mega Claw", reusing the name they gave to MetalGreymon's extendo-arm.

Too bad it's still not enough.

Out of the hole WarGreymon put in VenomVamdemon comes some sort of dark shadowy gremlin thing. To protect its secret identity, VenomVamdemon's crotch-goblin also wears a mask.

Mimi: KYAAAAHH!!! Taichi: WH-WHAT THE HELL!?!?

In the dub, VenomMyotismon's given dialogue here. In the original, he's just roaring in a bestial rage.

VenomMyotismon: YAAARGH!!! YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME!?!? HA!!! YOU'VE ONLY AWAKENED THE BEAST WITHIN!!! (Crotch goblin emerges) Mimi: AHHHHHH!!! Tai: WHAT IS THAT THING!?

Before anyone can get their heads in the game, the crotch goblin attacks.

(Y'all, I am so glad I have screenshots because I don't know how I would even begin describing what is happening right now without illustrations.)

The crotch goblin sprays a burst of dark energy into the ground that explodes out radially, washing over every Digimon. It's a heavy blow to the whole team, knocking them all out of the action and leaving the children defenseless.

VenomVamdemon: I WILL DEVOUR ALL OF YOU!!!

The next half-minute or so is spent cycling through silent reaction shots of each Chosen Child individually. I've selected Hikari's because she hasn't gotten much snapshot screentime yet.

Y'all are lucky Mimi just got a big shared reaction shot with Taichi or this would've been her. YES I AM BIASED AND MY KID DESERVES RESP--

As usual, VenomMyotismon is more verbose than his counterpart. The silent reaction shots are also filled in with silence-breakers.

VenomMyotismon: NOW I'LL DEVOUR ALL OF YOU SO-CALLED DIGIDESTINED!!! YOU'VE STOOD IN MY WAY FOR THE LAST TIME!!! Mimi: (thinking) It can't end like this! Matt: (thinking) I let everyone down again! Sora: (thinking) I wish I could have done more.... Izzy: (thinking) It's impossible he survived that! Joe: (thinking) Maybe we should surrender.... T.K.: (thinking) This is scarier than the movies! Kari: (gasp) Tai: (thinking) I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Mimi, Matt, Sora, Izzy, and Tai are all pretty much perfect in terms of hopeless situation characterization. Joe's being characterized as a coward again. T.K. is... okay, I guess? They literally didn't even try with Kari.

Just when all seems lost, the Chosen Children's Crests begin to shine brightly.

Beams of holy energy emerge from the Crests, ensnaring VenomVamdemon's limbs and neck. Crotch goblin starts yelling at the kids.

VenomVamdemon (Crotch): RELEASE ME, YOU FILTHY CHOSEN CHILDREN!!! Taichi: It talked? That's it! The disgusting bakemono must be Vamdemon's true form!

That's a leap in....

Oh, hey, no, he's right. That is the weird shadow ghoul thing possessing Vamdemon's mask last episode. I always thought it was weird that VenomVamdemon is supposed to be Vamdemon's "true form" 'cause, like, that implies he could transform like this at any time but allowed himself to be slain earlier for funsies.

But it's the crotch goblin. Vamdemon's true form is a formless undead spirit inhabiting a mask. Both the Dracula man and the Wiki Article Beast of Revelations are just outer shells he forms around him when he's consumed enough energy.

(I kind of love that a bakemono inside the Dracula is the true Vamdemon too because Vamdemon is the evolved form of Devimon and Bakemon, so that makes sense.)

This actually makes sense to me now.

The dub has Tai talk over the Crests glowing.

Tai: Huh!? My Crest! Everybody, look at your Crests! They're all starting to glow!

But once they start grabbing VenomMyotismon, he stays quiet and lets the scene play out until the crotch goblin starts talking.

VenomMyotismon (True Crotch): Curse you, DigiDestined! Curse you and your lousy Crests! Let go! Waugh! Let go! Tai: Look at that! Mega freaky! I wonder if that monster represents Myotismon's actual form?

Tai reaches the same conclusion as Taichi but I guess it just didn't make sense to me as a kid because the only explanation he offers is that it's "mega freaky". To be fair, Taichi's not acting on that much more information.

Crotch goblin sounds way more pathetic in the dub. XD

Taichi has an idea now for how to win this

Taichi: WARGREYMON!!! WarGreymon: Got it! MetalGarurumon: WarGreymon!

MetalGarurumon bops the poor Fuji TV observation deck into the air, passing it to WarGreymon.

Sora: NICE PASS!!! Children: SHOOT!!!

WarGreymon receives the observation deck like a soccer ball, shooting it straight into crotch goblin's dumb face. It lets out a shrill scream like a baby cry, forcing me to take back what I said about VenomMyotismon's crotch goblin being the more pathetic of the two.

The dub leans in on this.

Tai: WARGREYMON!!! WarGreymon: Pass me the ball! (MetalGarurumon silently passes it) Sora: Nice pass. Children: SHOOT!!!

Dub Sora sounds way less invested in the impromptu soccer game.

With VenomVamdemon momentarily stunned by the soccer shot, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fire up their strongest attacks. Sending Gaia Force and Cocytus Breath straight into VenomVamdemon's vulnerable crotch, they annihilate the little shadow wraith and finally, finally strike the kill-shot.

His true form destroyed by the overwhelming power of soccer hooliganism, VenomVamdemon breaks down, disintegrating into pixels chunk by chunk until nothing is left. The battle for Odaiba is finally, truly over.

With Vamdemon's true death, his spells break. The mesmerized adults at Big Sight wake up, with Tachikawa Keisuke being the first to speak up.

Keisuke: Huh? What happened? Shin: Great job, Jou!

Glad to see Shin knows who the real hero here is. This was a triumph for Jou-senpai. And, to a lesser extent, his crew.

Their energy drained, Koromon and Tsunomon return to Taichi and Yamato. Yamato pets Tsunomon affectionately while Taichi hoists Kunomon aloft and dances.

Koromon: TAICHI!!! Taichi: Great job, Koromon! Yamato: You did well, Tsunomon.

Speaking of drained energy, Mimi notices an unidentified Digimon now among their group.

Mimi: Huh? Who are you? Plotmon: I'm Plotmon. It's nice to meet you.

Plotmon is a Child-stage Data-type Mammal Digimon. I believe we already went over her V-Pet status back in her backstory episode, but she gets her formal rundown here.

Narrator: Plotmon. A Child Digimon with long, floppy ears. She is the degenerated form of Tailmon. Her special attack is Puppy Howling. Hikari: Tailmon must be in her Child form now because she used up all her energy helping Agumon and Gabumon evolve to their Ultimate levels. Jou: Kehhhhh...?

Jou doesn't get it but I do.

In the dub, apparently Mimi's parents know Joe's brother. Don't ask me how.

Keisuke: Hey, what happened, Jim? Jim: IT MUST BE JOE AND THE OTHERS!!! THEY DID IT!!! THEY WON!!! (Cut back to the FCG ruins) Koromon: We did it, Tai! We did it! Tai: Ahahahaha! Tsunomon: Wasn't that cool, Matt? Matt: Great job, Tsunomon! Mimi: Look, a stray Digimon! Salamon: Don't you recognize me? I was Gatomon. Salamon: (rundown) What do I have to do, cough up a furball? Kari: (rundown) That's Salamon, the Rookie form of Gatomon. Isn't she cute? Much more cuddly than her Ultimate form of Angewomon. Kari: But I guess she's back to being a Rookie because she used up all of her energy during the fight. What are we going to do? They don't allow pets at our apartment! Joe: Drag!

Uh. Nobody tell Kari but I'm pretty sure her apartment is a parking lot right now. She's going to be living in a refugee shelter for a few months. They'll probably put people up at Big Sight, now that I think about it. The damage Vamdemon did to Odaiba is catastrophic.

(Also, she has a cat. This bit doesn't work. They clearly do allow pets at her apartment.)

With Vamdemon's spells broken the fog barrier breaks down. At last, we can see the sky again.

Sora: Hey, look! The sky is clearing up!

The final sign of our true victo--what the FUCK is that!?

Sora: (gasp) Mimi: DYAAAAAAH!?!? Takeru: It's not true! Jou: I-It can't be....

At some point during all that nonsense within the fog barrier, the merging of worlds has begun. Strips of reality hang in the sky, on the other side of which lies the Digital World.

Hikari: Onii-chan, I'm scared! Taichi: What is this...?

This is easier to grasp, right off the bat, what's happening in the original. The dub cut the one line where Myotismon mentions that he's "destined" to merge the two worlds and reign over the conjoined reality as its king. He's dead now, but he apparently made some headway into fulfilling his task while we were all trapped in the fog.

But since the dub didn't mention that, this comes more out of left field there.

Sora: Hey, look! The sky's clearing up! (Jubilation slowly turns to horror) Sora: ...what...? Mimi: AAAAAUGH!!! T.K.: HEY!!! NO WAY!!! Joe: That's... not possible.... Matt: Huh!? Joe: There's a... giant island... floating in the sky! Upside-down! Kari: (gasps) Tai: Things... Just keep getting weirder!

Their dialogue isn't really any different than in the original; We just don't have the previous context to make sense of what they're seeing.

Commercial break, then we return to the strange new phenomenon taking place all across the world.

Narrator: The upside-down continent appearing in the sky could be seen all across the world.

We cut to various places across the planet including New York and Antarctica before returning to Big Sight. Yagami Yuuko and Susumu exit the convention center, laying eyes on the strange phenomenon.

Susumu: Is this... a mirage? Shin: (on his moped) No, I think that's real. Yuuko: Um, do you know where our children are? Where are Taichi and Hikari? Shin: They're at Fuji TV station. I'm on my way to check out the situation. I'll meet back up with you afterward!

Shin takes off on his moped before they can ask any further questions.

We then briefly see a ferry finally able to cross the bay into Odaiba. Takaishi Natsuko, Takeru's mom, is on her way. Everybody there is staring up in shock at the ribbons streaked across reality in the sky as well.

Narrator: The mysterious continents floated eerily in the night sky. Strangely enough, none of the radars, satellites, or other electronic equipment on Earth recognized their existence.

Ironically, if you were to ask Google AI, it'd probably have a better grasp of what's hanging in the sky up there than real-world tracking equipment would. There's no way the Digital World hasn't snuck into its training data.

The dub replaces the cold narration with Tai whining.

Tai: Man, why does this have to happen now when we were just feeling good about beating Myotismon!? It's like the world is turning upside-down or something!

This line plays out over the shots of various geographic locations with the reality ribbons above them, which doesn't really connect to Tai's line but isn't entirely unrelated to it either.

Susumu: Hey, what's going on!? Jim: (on his moped) Whatever it is, it doesn't look too good for our side. Yuuko: Oh, Jim! Have you seen my children? Do you know where Tai and Kari are? Jim: No, but I have an educated guess. I'm gonna search where the monsters were fighting. I'll come back when I find them, okay?

Fucking everybody knows Joe's older brother. He's the most popular guy in town, I guess. XD

An interesting change here is that Jim doesn't say they're at the TV station. Which is a good change, I think, 'cause he shouldn't know that. They weren't going to Fuji; They were going to fight VenomVamdemon, who was so big he could be seen from Big Sight. They'll be wherever VenomVamdemon died, which could be anywhere in Odaiba.

That spot is the Fuji broadcasting center, but that's a mile away and all the landmarks have been destroyed. So it's a bit of a leap for Shin to assume that they ended up at Fuji specifically. Jim here is planning to drive in the direction of where the giant monster was and just keep his eyes peeled for children.

The narrator is done away with for the ferry shot as well, with a voice-over from Izzy replacing him.

Izzy (V.O.): This isn't making any sense! It looks like an entire upside-down continent in the sky, but it doesn't show up on radar or on any satellite pictures! In fact, no instruments of any kind can confirm that... Whatever it is, is really even there!

I could be snippy about Izzy somehow possessing all this information but actually the dub did assert in an early episode that he likes to hack into government systems for shits and giggles. So we can assume he's just breaking all kinds of laws right now to bring us this revelation.

As the ferry pulls into Odaiba, it discharges a truly terrified mother. Courtesy of the Fuji building being right on the coast, she's able to quickly reunite with her son.

Both of them.

Natsuko: TAKERU!!! TAKERU!!! Takeru: (turns around, surprised) IT'S MAMA!!! Natsuko: TAKERU!!!

Natsuko sprints out into the ruins to hug her son. She hasn't noticed them yet, but Yamato and Hiroaki watch her arrive. Yamato stares in silence at his mother, while Hiroaki lights up a cigarette.

Natsuko: Thank goodness you're safe! I was so worried about you! Were you scared, Takeru? Takeru: No, Onii-chan was with me!

It's at that moment that Natsuko looks up and sees Yamato. She stands.

Natsuko: (surprised) Yamato.... Yamato: (vulnerable) ...Mom....

This is incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. It's pretty clear at this point that HIroaki and Natsuko don't see very much of the sons the other took. They've basically made a clean break in their divorce, with the brothers sneaking around in secret to remain in contact with each other. This is where a lot of their trauma and separation anxiety throughout the series has come from.

But Takeru's having none of this tense, uncomfortable moment. He grabs Natsuko by the wrist and drags her over to face Yamato.

Natsuko: (smiling warmly) Yamato... You've grown taller again. Yamato: Yeah, a little. Natsuko: You look good. I'm glad. Hiroaki: Natsuko.... (Natsuko looks up from Yamato, finally noticing Hiroaki) Hiroaki: It's been a while. Natsuko: (awkward) ...yeah.... Takeru: (cheerful) Ahaha! It's been a long time since the whole family got together, hasn't it, Onii-chan? Yamato: Yeah, I guess it has....

@_@ All of the family drama in this arc is hitting me way harder than the scary Dracula monster. It's amazing how age changes context.

In the dub:

Nancy: T.K.!!! T.K.!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? T.K.: (turns around, surprised) MAMA!!! Nancy: Oh! Ohhh, T.K.! I was so afraid I'd never see you again! (Nancy runs over and hugs T.K.) Nancy: You must have been terrified, T.K. T.K.: Nuh-uh! Matt was with me the whole time! (Nancy stands up) Nancy: (surprised) Matt.... Matt: (vulnerable) ...Hey, Mom.... T.K.: C'mon! (T.K. grabs Nancy by the wrist and drags her over to Matt) T.K.: Come see Matt! And Daddy too! Nancy: Oh, Matt. I'm so proud of you! Thank you, son! Matt: (surly) Yeah, whatever. Nancy: Don't be like that. Please, Matt. Hiroaki: Nancy. (Nancy looks up from Matt, finally noticing Hiroaki) Hiroaki: It's... been a long time, hasn't it? Nancy: (awkward) Yes, it has. T.K.: (cheerful) Ahaha! It's been a really long time since all of us were together, huh, Matt? Matt: (surly) Yeah, I guess so.

I don't think the dub liked the implication that Natsuko hasn't seen Yamato in months or even years. Enough for him to physically change to a noteworthy degree.

In their version, Nancy tries to congratulate him for... I guess, for taking good care of T.K.? It's not like she knows anything else that happened after T.K. disappeared on a giant wooly monster. There's a lot of accolades he deserves but that's the only one I think she'd be able to deliver.

In any case, she gives him a thumbs up and he decides to be surly about it. The awkward discomfort of this whole situation is replaced by Matt emotionally stonewalling his mom. Which is still awkward and uncomfortable, just differently so.

While Yamato and Takeru's family are having this moment, the Americans make bad choices.

Narrator: Could the strange continents be an optical illusion? An American reconnaissance plane headed off at once to find out.

The plane crosses through the boundary between worlds, then freezes up as it crosses over and falls out of the sky.

Pilot: NOOOOOOO!!!

I'm sorry but the pilot's over-the-top scream of "No" killed me. XD About as hard as this tailspin is about to kill him!

We should probably do something about this before the Americans' next plan is to shoot missiles at it. We're about thirty minutes away from fearfully carpet-bombing the Digital World. Bombs that will probably come right back to us if what happened to that plane is anything to go by.

In the dub, Izzy pitches in for the narrator again.

Izzy: Check this out, guys. I've been monitoring the news reports. The Air Force is sending in everything they've got to figure out what this continent in the sky really is. They don't know anything so far! But they're assuming it's dangerous. (Plane crosses the boundary and freezes) Pilot: This is Hawkeye One MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY!!!

Americans have a better grasp on American military lingo. Can't imagine why. Though I admit, I'm sad to see the hilarious "NOOOOOO" go.

No mention of the plane being American. Also, apparently this one plane was everything the Air Force has. Yeah, they haven't been getting the funding they need since the election of Japanese Bill Clinton. Some costs needed to get cut.

R.I.P. to the one remaining aircraft we had left.

Mimi: I hope my Mama and Papa are okay.... Sora: I'm sure they are.

Suddenly, the kids hear the sound of a honking horn. It's Shin's moped closing in on them.

Palmon: Someone's coming! Jou: Ah! That's...! (Shin pulls up) Jou: SHIN-NIISAN!!! Mimi: ONII-SAN!!! Shin: All of your families back at Big Sight are safe! Everyone's recovered! Hikari: YAY!!! Mimi: (grabs Sora's hands) Isn't that great, Sora-san? (Sora withdraws one of her hands to wipe a tear from her eye) Sora: Yeah!

Mimi calls Shin "Onii-san" because it's fairly common in Japan to use familial terms as a polite way for young people to address older people. You might call an older man "father" or "grandfather", for example, even if he's not related to you. Addressing people in Japanese is very complicated.

The dub lets Mimi start talking sooner so she can have a longer line.

Mimi: I have to admit that I'm a little jealous that Matt and T.K. found their parents, and Izzy too! I just hope my Mom and Dad are alright! Sora: I know how you feel. Me too. ...huh? (headlights approach) Sora: Someone's coming! Joe: Alright! My brother! ...hey, I didn't tell him he could ride my scooter! (Jim pulls up) Mimi: JIM!!! Joe: JIM!!! Mimi: Have you seen my Mom and Dad!? Jim: All the other families that were at the convention center are fine! They're all back to normal! Kari: AWESOME!!! Koromon: YAY!!! Mimi: (grabs Sora's hands) Sora, they're safe! (Sora withdraws one of her hands to wipe a tear from her eye) Sora: Great!

I love the way this scene plays Mimi. The longer line stays on-point and works super well, and I also like her frantic interrogation of Jim when he pulls up. This was a good one.

For a quick gag, the dub also claims that the moped belongs to Joe, actually. Which. Raises. A tremendous amount of questions given that he's fucking 12.

Shin takes out a small pocket TV, turning on the news.

Reporter: Those continents in the sky are not an illusion! They really exist! No one knows what the cause of this might be, but many are fearful that these strange continents will forever replace the blue sky of our world! Jou: W-What is happening!? Yamato: Is this part of Vamdemon's plan too!? Tsunomon: That's impossible! We killed Vamdemon for good this time! Koromon: Yeah, no doubt about that!

Koushiro disassociates from the conversation, his attention locked on something in the sky. The others talk around him while the camera fixes on his curious expression.

Taichi: Then what are they? Takeru: What's going to happen to us? Jou: Whatever the case, we need to figure out what's causing it first.

Brief cut to the target of Koushiro's attention. One particular mountain sticks out among all the others in the sky landmass. There's something about that mountain. Something he recognizes.

Koushiro: (thinking) That mountain... It looks exactly like Infinity Mountain! But that's impossible....

It does seem pretty impossible on account of that mountain being part of a continuous landmass. There's no ocean in sight. And yet.

In the dub:

Jim: Let's check the news. (Jim opens his pocket TV) Reporter: The latest report we have from the Air Force Chief of Staff confirms that the mysterious landmass in the sky is not an illusion of any kind. It is very real and, after several confrontations, apparently very dangerous. Joe: It's covering the whole sky! Matt: It has to be Myotismon's work again. Tsunomon: But that's impossible, isn't it? We defeated Myotismon for good this time! Koromon: Yeah, we kicked booty! (Closeup on Izzy disassociating) Joe: Well, you heard the news report. It's definitely dangerous. Who else could be doing it? Tai: What does it matter who's doing it!? We just have to stop it! Izzy: (thinking) There's something familiar about that mountain... It looks like Infinity Mountain!

"After several confrontations" WTF? XD We sent more planes. We just. We kept feeding planes into it one after another. Hahaha.

"It's apparently very dangerous" WELL MAYBE IT WOULDN'T BE IF WE DIDN'T KEEP CRASHING PLANES INTO IT. XD Japanamericans!

Jou and Taichi have their lines rearranged so that Tai can be the one trying to take charge instead of Joe. Their leadership styles are wildly different.

Having found a point of interest, Koushiro decides to confirm his suspicions.

Koushiro: Taichi-san! (points) Can you use your mini telescope to take a closer look at that? Taichi: (takes out his telescope) Where? Koushiro: Look, that mountain over there. Taichi: Which one? There are too many mountains. I can't tell which one you're pointing at. Koushiro: That one! Look! Taichi: Saying 'that one' isn't much help. Where is it--AH!!! Koushiro: What is it? Taichi: A plane. There's an airplane up there!

Koushiro looks up and can just barely make out the blinking of three lights, signifying a plane passing overhead.

In the dub:

Izzy: Hey, Tai! (points) Grab your telescope and get us a closer look at that peak right there! Tai: Huh? (takes out his telescope) Which one? Izzy: There! The big one I'm pointing to. Tai: Oh, like that helps me. Alright, I'm looking. Man, there are dozens of mountains up there! Which one? Izzy: The big one! Tai: The big o--WHAAA!!! Izzy: Did you find it? Tai: What I found is a jetliner! Izzy: Wha!?

Pretty faithful, little difference of note.

Up in the air, the pilot tries desperately to reach someone over the radio, but there's no response.

Pilot: Control Tower, please respond, over. Control Tower! Shit, what's going on.... Copilot: Sir, we're going to have to make an emergency landing. There's no fuel left in the tank. Pilot: I know that! If we only had someone to guide us down the runway.... Copilot: Our prospects aren't looking good! An American military base could--AHHHH!!!

Instruments on the plane begin to flash.

Pilot: What's happening!? Copilot: The fuel gauge is at empty! We can't control the plane anymore! We're going to crash! Pilot: That's impossible!

The plane tilts out of the sky, beginning its long descent.

Taichi: Ah! The plane's falling! It's going to crash! Sora: Piyomon! (Cut back to the cockpit) Pilot: We have to... make it somewhere.... Copilot: AHHHHHHH!!!

In the dub:

Pilot: Ground Control, this is Flight 224. We have lost our vector. Over. ...Strange. Why don't they answer? (tries again) This is 224 to Ground Control. Control, do you copy? Repeat, we have lost our landing vector. Come in, Ground control. Copilot: We can't land here now and we can't turn back with the fuel we have left onboard. (Lights start flashing suddenly) Copilot: What!? Pilot: The alarm! All systems failure! We've got about two seconds to figure out what's wrong here! Copilot: No use! Nothing's responding! We're going down! (Cut to the kids below) Tai: Oh no! The airplane reached the edge of that thing in the sky and just headed straight down! Sora: Biyomon! (Back to the cockpit) Pilot: Got to... pull out... We'll break up at this speed! Copilot: AHHHHHHH!!!

In the original, the plane ran out of fuel. They've been flying well below the reality ribbons so they didn't run afoul of what happened to the recon plane. But they haven't been able to land because telecommunications down in Tokyo have been going haywire since this all began, something we've been shown repeatedly.

The dub makes this about the reality ribbons. They briefly mention that they're low on fuel, but what kills the plane is that they accidentally flew into the boundary between worlds despite it being shown to be well above them, and despite the plane not freezing up like the recon plane did.

Birdramon rises into the air to try and catch the plane, but she spots something. A stray Kuwagamon is in their airspace. It buzzes past the plane, freezing one of the plane's wings as it passes, just like what passing through the boundary does. The plain goes into a spin.

Birdramon flies up underneath the plain to stabilize it, but can't deal with its weight. They're still going down.

Jou: BIRDRAMON!!! Birdramon: Hrrrrrrrgh! Sora: GANBATTE, BIRDRAMON!!!

Ahhh, ganbaru. Overcoming tremendous hardship through hard work and perseverance.

Sora's Crest shines, Super-Evolving Birdramon into Garudamon to give her the strength she needs.

The dub gives Birdramon some silence-breakers here, since this scene doesn't have a lot of dialogue but Birdramon doesn't need lip flaps either.

Birdramon: If I can just get there in time! (Kuwagamon flies in) Birdramon: It's Kuwagamon! Where did he come from!? (Kuwagamon buzzes the plane, freezing the wing. Birdramon moves in to catch the plane) Birdramon: (screeching) Joe: DO IT, BIRDRAMON!!! Birdramon: (more screeching) Sora: BIRDRAMON, DIGIVOLVE!!!

The original treats the mystery of Kuwagamon's appearance as self-evidently mysterious while Dub Birdramon calls it out and demands to know WTF. Nothing wrong with either approach in my opinion.

Seeing Garudamon struggling, Kabuterimon flies up to lend a hand.

Kabuterimon: I'll help y--WAUGH!!!

Kabuterimon has to swerve, narrowly missing the Kuwagamon he didn't realize was up here too. Without missing a beat, he fires up his Mega Blaster.

Kabuterimon: TAKE THIS!!!

His shot passes straight through Kuwagamon as if it wasn't there.

Kabuterimon: What the hell!? Garudamon: Pull back, Kabuterimon! DON'T TOUCH IT!!!

Kabuterimon jerks aside as Kuwagamon comes back around for another pass. Heeding Garudamon's warning, he lets this strange phantom Kuwagamon fly off. The creature heads across the bay into Tokyo proper. I'm sure that's fine.

From there, they guide the plane down into the bay, setting it down in the water so the people inside can escape in life rafts. I think they set the plane down just outside Shibaura, across what used to be the Rainbow Bridge from Odaiba. It looks like the Shibaura harbor to me.

This act of heroism leaves them so exhausted that they stop being animated, and the people below watch them levitate off into the distance as still frames.

Though AtlurKabuterimon's still-frame reveals he had to Super-Evolve for this too between scenes.

In the dub:

Kabuterimon: I'll help too! (Kuwagamon flies by) Kabuterimon: Huh!? Kuwagamon!? ELECTRO SHOCKER!!! (The shot passes through Kuwagamon) Kabuterimon: HUH!?!? IT WENT RIGHT THROUGH!!! Garudamon: Kabuterimon, get away! Don't touch him! (They let Kuwagamon go and set the plane down.) Tai: Nice going, Birdramon. You brought the plane down safely.

Tai's silence-breaker at the end there doesn't seem to make much sense at all. Somehow he's talking to Garudamon from Odaiba while addressing the wrong evolutionary form and completely snubbing AtlurKabuterimon's contribution. Why do you have to use your psychic powers for evil, Tai?

Once Garudamon and AtlurKabuterimon degenerate into Pyokomon and Mochimon respectively, the kids debrief them on what happened.

Taichi: Hey, was that Kuwagamon? Pyokomon: He flew here from those continents! Koushiro: I knew it. Group: Huh/Eh!? Taichi: What do you mean? Koushiro: That place up there is the Digimon World. Jou: EHHH!?!? Taichi: What did you say!? Yamato: That's the Digimon World!? Mimi: Now that you mention it, it does look kind of familiar.... Shin: Hey! Take a look at this!

In today's linguistic adventure, the other world is "Digimon World" in English.

The kids don't get a chance to process what Koushiro said, because Shin pulls their attention to his little TV.

Reporter: Please watch this. These images are not special effects!

The report shows various places around the globe under attack by Digimon. Gorillamon, Airdramon, Tyranomon, and Kuwagamon are all seen attacking various cities and places around the globe. Everywhere they go, things around them freeze over like the planes.

Pyokomon: We can't touch those Digimon! If we do, we'll freeze up like that plane wing! Mochimon: My Mega Blaster went right through them, too. Taichi: Damn it, what the hell is going on!? Hikari: Is that where you live, Plotmon? Plotmon: No. That is no longer the Digimon World that I knew. Koushiro: Oh, that's right. It's been several days since we came here, which means several years would have passed in the Digimon World. Koromon: We came here without fixing the distortions in the Digimon World, so it must be in pretty bad shape now. Sora: Which would then started to affect our world too.

Realizing the grim truth of what they're seeing now, the kids stare up in horror at these reality strips crossing the sky.

In the dub:

Tai: You guys, how'd Kuwagamon get here? Yokomon: He came out of that land in the sky! Izzy: I was right all along! Group: Huh!? Izzy: That giant continent... is actually the Digital World! Joe: WHAAAAT!?!? Matt: That's why you recognized that mountain! Mimi: Yeah! You know, it does look sort of familiar. Sora: What's it doing here? Jim: Guys, you'd better have a look at this! Reporter: We bring you now new footage of some truly bizarre scenes. (Digimon attacks around the world) Reporter: No official explanation has yet been given for what you are seeing here. Yokomon: Kuwagamon again! And if we touch these Digimon, we'll freeze, just like the airplane's wing! Motimon: And when I fired my Electro Shocker, it passed right through. Tai: Man! What's going on here! Kari: Salamon, is that your world up there? Salamon: I think so, but the last time I was there, it was definitely right-side up. Izzy: Just a minute. We've been back in the real world for only a few days, but up there, time is much faster. Years and years have passed by. Koromon: And since we left the Digi-World when it was such a mess, it had years and years to just get worse! I can only imagine what the place looks like now! Sora: And all the problems in the Digital World have become our problem here in the real world!

The dub usually struggles with expository scenes but here, they actually do a pretty good job of it. They're held back by the fact that they've always talked around the kids needing to "correct distortions", so they have to compensate by saying they "left the Digi-World when it was such a mess".

It's a little awkward but it still gets the point across: The Chosen Children were called to fix the Digital World before the growing instability became apocalyptic for both worlds. But because Vamdemon's side-quest back to the human world made them fuck off for years, time has run out and the worst-case scenario has begun.

Taichi: Let's go! Back to the Digimon World. Mimi: But how? Jou: When we first went to the Digimon World, our Digivices led us there. That should work again! Koushiro: It's worth a try. Taichi: Yes! Gather your Digivices, everyone.

The team puts their Digivices together in a ring.

Taichi: Please! Take us back to the Digimon World!

Hardened and made ready by their experiences, this time the eight Chosen Children make the choice for themselves to re-enter the Digital World. They're ready to complete the work they were once drafted against their will to do.

In the dub:

Tai: That's that! We've all got to go back! Mimi: But how? How are we supposed to get there? Joe: The first time we went to the Digital World, our Digivices led us. You guys try it again. Izzy: You're coming too, Joe. We're all in this together. Tai: Alright, everybody! Hold out your Digivices! We're going back! (The team puts their Digivices together) Tai: Next stop: The Digital World! Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times!

In a break from tradition, Tai calls it the Digital World in the dub, rather than the usual phrasing of Digi-World.

Joe's dub-induced cowardice makes me want to throw things. Trying to chicken out and let the others go without him is one of those gags that isn't just annoying but goes all the way to the "He would not fucking say that" extreme.

Kido Jou-senpai would not fucking say that.

The eight Digivices glow brightly, sending a rainbow of light up into the sky and creating the way forward.

Jou: This path of light will transport us to the Digimon World! Taichi: Yeah. I'm sure we'll make it safely. Sora: Our Digivices will guide us.

The dub picks the moment before the Digivices start to glow as a good time for a commercial break. That's fair. Upon return, Tai brings us back up to speed with a quick line.

Tai: Here we go, everybody! (The Digivices create a different kind of Rainbow Bridge) Izzy: i think it's working, Tai. This light must be here to guide us. Joe: Now all we have to do is follow it. T.K.: Back to the Digital World! Hahaha!

They change who's talking and it's a lot drier but nothing objectionable.

Unfortunately, before they can go, some people have concerns with what the kids are doing right now.

Natsuko: TAKERU!!! Takeru: I'm sorry we have to leave just when all of us were together again, Mama. But we'll be back soo-- Natsuko: You can't! Hiroaki: Let him go. We made a few selfish decisions of our own too, remember?

Flashback to the separation of the boys in the divorce. Natsuko's eyes fill with tears.

Yamato: If we don't do something, the Earth will be doomed. That's Why I... We're going to protect you and everyone else, Mom! Natsuko: (quietly, crying) ...Yamato....

Hiroaki's logic here doesn't really track. We selfishly broke the kids up therefore we should let them go to an alien world and fight monsters. I don't think fairness is really the concern here. But to be fair to Hiroaki, he's spent more time with the Chosen Children than anyone and knows firsthand how fucky all this shit is and how unique they are.

He isn't happy about sending the children into danger but he kinda gets it. Natsuko, meanwhile, was trapped outside the fog barrier this whole time and has seen none of it. So her Reasonable Parent Opinions are very Reasonable Parent Opinions, and it's heartbreaking that she has to let this happen to her babies anyway.

In the dub:

Nancy: T.K. T.K.: Huh? Mom! Oh, I'm sorry we have to leave now that we're finally back together again. Nancy: You can't! Hiroaki: Let him go. We've made some selfish decisions of our own, remember? (Flashback) Hiroaki: We have to let them do this. This could be more important than we realize. Matt: The whole world is doomed if we don't do something, Mom! You know we have to go back! We're doing this to protect you! Nancy: (quietly, crying) ...Matt....

Mostly the same, but Hiroaki's given a silence-breaker to let him make a more salient argument than "We have to let the boys be child soldiers because we divorced."

Though Nancy's first line is pretty funny. Natsuko calls out to Takeru in a panic. Nancy just... sternly says his voice, like she caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. Not exactly the right tone here, but not necessarily wrong either. XD

But moooooom, you don't understaaaaaand!

Shin chimes in to support the children's decision.

Shin: We're counting on you. We've always taken for granted that morning comes after nightfall, but now we can't be sure we'll ever see the sun again.

Poetic, but Koushiro's mom takes issue with that, looking affronted about halfway through when she realizes where he's going with that.

Kae: DON'T BE SO MORBID!!! I believe in these children. Shin: No no, I do too! Jou: It will be fine, Nii-san. (sudden burst of confidence) We'll make certain that the sun does come up again!

A powerful moment for Jou! That the girls promptly bully him for.

Sora: Ooooh, Jou-senpai is so cool! Mimi: It's so unlike you!

The kids all laugh at Jou's expense while he hangs his head in defeat - Accidentally backing into the portal in the process and getting picked up by the ass.

Mimi: Wha--!? Sora: Jou-senpai! Jou: AAAAAUGH!!!

Well, the nakama must be back together because we're back to tormenting our poor, put-upon senpai. XD

The kids quickly join Jou in the rainbow portal, rising towards the Digimon World together.

Taichi: Ittekimasu! Natsuko: Takeru! Yamato!

Right now's a good time to talk about that word Taichi just said. Ittekimasu is a customary Japanese phrase for when you are leaving a place with intent to return. It's a kind of ritualistic phrase, said almost automatically when leaving the home, for example. Like saying Itadakimasu before eating. I am stepping out for a bit but I will be back later and will see you then.

There's a lot of ways it can be translated. I'm heading out! See you later. Back in a bit! Etc. etc. But I've opted to leave it untranslated here and instead explain the intent because this is a highly emotional moment, and the mundane yet heartwarming domesticity of the phrase's usage in this scene doesn't really come through with its more cavalier-sounding translations.

Takeru and Yamato wave farewell to their mother, but Yamato feels self-conscious after a moment and stops waving.

In the dub:

Jim: You guys better get crankin'! Although it's hard to believe the fate of the world's in the hands of a bunch of kids like you. I guess if the sun doesn't come up tomorrow, we'll know you messed up! Kae: Stop it! You've got to have faith in your brother and his friends! What they're doing is incredibly brave! Jim: Whoa! Sorry, Lady. I didn't mean anything. Joe: It's okay. He was only kidding. And besides... (sudden burst of confidence) I'm gonna make darn sure the sun does come up! Sora: Joe! I didn't know you had it in you! Mimi: Ahahaha, what a man! (All the kids laugh at Joe; he hangs his head and backs into the portal) Sora & Mimi: What's happening? Joe: AAAAUGH!!! (Everyone jumps in the portal) Tai: Alright, here we go! Nancy: Matt! T.K.! Take care of each other!

Sora and Mimi are still making fun of Joe in this version, they're just subtler about it.

Finally met someone in this city that Jim doesn't know.

While Yamato and Takeru get to say goodbye to their loved ones, we pan over to Sora who looks disappointed that they have to leave so quickly. Suddenly:

Toshiko: SORA!!!

The adults from Big Sight have all arrived, at the last possible second, to the sight of their children rising into the sky in a column of rainbow light.

Sora: Mom... MOM!!! Mimi: PAPA!!! MAMA!!! Taichi: DAD!!! Hikari: MOM!!! Yuuko: TAICHI!!! HIKARI!!!

The column rises, taking the children further from their parents.

Hikari: DON'T WORRY ABOUT US!!! WE'LL COME BACK SOON!!!

Cutting silently to their frightened parents, watching the children go. First Yagami Yuuko and Susumu. Then Tachikawa Satoe and Keisuke. And then finally Takenouchi Toshiko.

Children: (all together) ITTEKIMASU!!!

Vanishing into the other world, the Chosen Children leave behind only that one familiar word. I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back soon. I'll see you when I come home.

The dub uses all the silent panning shots of this scene to fill in dialogue.

Toshiko: SORA!!! I love you, Sora! Please come home soon! I'll be waiting here for you! Sora: Bye, Mama.... BYE, MAMA!!! Mimi: MAMA!!! PAPA!!! Tai: BYE, DAD!!! Kari: BYE, MAMA!!! Yuuko: OH, TAI!!! BE CAREFUL!!! Susumu: AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR SISTER, SON!!! Kari: I'LL BE ALRIGHT!!! DON'T WORRY, WE'LL ALL BE BACK!!! Tai (V.O.): I never thought we'd volunteer to leave our families behind. It's weird. I'm not sure if we'll ever see them again. But I'm not afraid! It's like, just knowing that they love us gives us the power that we need. Kids: (Miscellaneous farewells, such as "Bye Bye" and "We'll be alright") Narrator: What powerful new enemy waits for the DigiDestined in the Digital World? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Neither of the Kamiya parents says goodbye to Kari and I'm kinda mad about it.

Tai's voiceover there is to try and hit the same emotional chords that the team's collective Ittekimasu hit for the original. The word doesn't translate well in this particular context so they had to come up with their own emotional heartstring-tug.

The sudden ominous narrator, however, is a total mood-killer. Jerk.

Assessment: On the one hand, how quickly we go from defeating VenomVamdemon to returning to the Digital World feels a little rushed. But on the other hand, it's supposed to feel rushed. Because we're in a rush.

It sucks that we couldn't see the kids properly meet back up with their families and say real farewells to them. But it's supposed to suck. It sucks for them too. Every minute we spend out here is another, like, week where the situation in the Digital World is further destabilizing. There's no time for drawn-out goodbyes.

So we move into the final arc of Adventure 01. Shit's about to get real from here. @.@ I am not ready.

I think the dub on this one was hit-or-miss. It had some genuinely great moments, even parts where it added onto the original in good and interesting ways, and some other clunky bits. To their credit, they nailed the big Plot Exposition scene which is where they often struggle.

[moon-buggg]

• Is there any hostility between Sun and Moon besides Sun not appreciating being punished for Moon’s actions?

• When it's been a long time since last seeing Y/N, what are some behavior changes Sun and Moon go through?

• What type of tests do they run on Sun and Moon when Y/N isn't there?

Hmmm. There is a sort of misplaced aggression between them but it all sort of boils down to their situation. Both feel in their own ways that things would be better if the other acted differently. Sun wants Moon to stop being violent to stop the punishments, Moon thinks Sun should be fighting back and trying to escape. Before they were captured they were on decent enough terms

Sun gets anxious, its hard to keep his thoughts from spiraling to worst case scenarios. They both know when you're Meant to come visit them, and deviations in the routine very much upset Sun. Moon's behaviour doesn't change much while you're gone, but when you return he's practically glued to your side.

So in my mind there's two general kinds of tests the facility does; ones to gather information about scps, and ones to see if it's possible to make scps more cooperative. The boys have been in the facility for a while before meeting YN, so the facility has all the needed general data already and isn't running these tests anymore. These would have been tests like seeing how hot Sun can get and for how long, figuring out how Moon sedetive quality works. Because of Moons violent tendencies, the facility had large written off trying to get them to cooperate- until YN showed up. They don't really do any testing that doesn't involve YN right now, and most of the tests involving YN are along the lines of 'can we train this big monster into not eating staff through the one person it's weirdly attached to'

[cursedalthoughts]

SHIPGIRL APPRECIATION DAY - Kearsarge

USS Kearsarge. Let's start this post strong: Kearsarge is single-handedly the most unique character in the game (for legal reasons, in my opinion). Her design should already let you know why, but if you aren't seeing why, I will explain.

This post will divert a little bit from the formula I established post-DoY post (the first I did). It will include very, very heavy use of headcanons that are in no way supported by the lore, but I think are neat.

Personality-wise, Kearsarge knows she is superior. She is better than those other shipgirls that have decades of experience. That's simply a fact to her, and since it's a fact; all her actions do not come as arrogant. She just does things - she disregards your orders if she thinks they're not very efficient, she organizes your documents in a way she finds to be perfect regardless of what you prefer, she charges by herself or stays behind depending on the situation.

On occasion, I neglect your will and prioritize the here and now on the battlefield. While you are the Commander, sometimes you have to let your soldiers handle things – the sooner you accept this, the better.

Her approach isn't necessarily wrong, either. Despite this, Kearsarge is a very reliable shipgirl. She is, indeed, strong - her twelve 406mm main guns are accurate and devastating by themselves, but she also has access to a squadron of five F8F Bearcat attack aircraft. Her firepower is incomparable among Eagle Union backliners.

However, her personality doesn't stay like this forever. When you as the player character get closer to her, you discover she's just autistic. She deeply cares about you, but is so expressive about her emotions and trains of thoughts, it's easy to think she's just a self-centered arrogant woman who speaks with a detached tone. She will not outright tell you she's in love with you, but she will make you some borscht! (I should point out Kearsarge is, originally, a ship commissioned by the Soviet Union, hence her Russian influence). That's her love language.

USS Kearsarge, steel version.

Design-wise, I adore how the artist YD managed to take one of the ugliest ships in World of Warships and turn her into such a beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind shipgirls. An angel descending from the machine, a seraphim clad in steel and powered by steam. A herald from another timeline, where the Eagle Union necessitated the construction of Kearsarge. Her rigging divided symmetrically in half, her turrets and their support structure taking the shape of 4 wings of white metal, the faux wings and herself connected to a floating halo device to act as a mediator between the flesh and the steel. Her planes up in the air, a ghostly echo. Her arms stretched outwards, "fear not".

In the event Parallel Superimposition the commander visits a simulation based on the anomalous data from the hull of Anchorage. We learnt a lot about Anchorage, Dr. Aoste, Dr. Anzeel, and the Type-II hulls. We also learnt Bon Homme Richard exists in this simulation. Now, I believe this realm to be strictly speaking a simulation - not a real universe. However, when the event ended; TB had managed to gather enough information on Yorktown II, Northampton II, Hornet II, Hammann II and Langley II. Laffey II, as much as she made an appearance, couldn't be studied. I am guessing the same goes for Bon Homme. Who is to say Kearsarge doesn't come from this simulation? Or that she comes from a universe that parallels this simulation?

Hopefully I shouldn't have to point the obvious similarities between Anchorage's rigging and Kearsarge's rigging. Anchorage is like a cherub accompanying the cyber-divine orchestra of Kearsarge's guns and planes.

-------

THIS WOMAN WILL NOT LEAVE MY MIND I HAVE SO MUCH BRAINROT FOR KEARSARGE

hopefully it's entertaining to read and y'all can see why i like her.

[skeletonpunching]

Buddy Daddies Animedia February 2023 magazine article

No target they set their sights on ever gets away! Through a curious series of events, two assassin buddies find themselves taking in a 4-year-old girl. Kazuki is a softhearted caretaker, and Rei's "on" and "off" modes are like night and day. They live together and look after the innocent 4-year-old Miri; it's a rough ride, but it'll all work out somehow... or will it?

The original anime Buddy Daddies, a collaboration between P.A. Works and Nitroplus, has finally begun. In this series, you can enjoy the action scenes of the assassin duo dealing with their work, and the domestic comedy of the new fathers and the bubbly Miri. Kazuki and Rei are brimming with charm, both in their facades and their hidden depths; they're sure to get you right in the heart! This issue, we bring you an interview with Aniplex producer Toba Yosuke, with some hints about how to recover our hearts from this duo.

[Translator’s note: This covers similar ground to the earlier producer interview with Toba, but includes a few fun bonus tidbits. It’s also Valentine's-themed, so it seemed appropriate to post now. I hope you enjoy.]

These two dangerous assassins never let their prey escape - here's how you take them down at all costs!

Kurusu Kazuki (VA: Toyonaga Toshiyuki)

A yang-type man with caretaker instincts

An assassin. Has strong communication skills, and is mostly in charge of gathering intel and setting up the plan for execution. Lives with Rei, and looks after his daily needs.

The irresistible smile of a charmer?!

The lovely thing about Kazuki: He just can't leave a human disaster alone! He's a very family-oriented maternal type

Toba: "Kazuki is very family-oriented; he's the so-called maternal type. The reason why he started living together with Rei is that he saw the complete shambles of Rei's lifestyle, went, 'This won't do!' and started fussing over him. He's a great cook, and good at cleaning and laundry too, and on top of that, he just can't rest unless he gets it all done right. He also tends to be a bit of a busybody. Though all of that goes away when he's on the job…"

Personal Data: Kurusu Kazuki

Age: 28 years old

Occupation: Assassin

Special Skills: Interpersonal communication. Good at cooking and cleaning too!

To get him to care about you, lay bare your most hopeless side!

Kazuki takes excellent care of Rei, who does nothing at home other than play games. If you show off some sloppy or no-good tendencies, perhaps you could rouse some nurturing feelings in the heart of this instinctive caretaker?!

Suwa Rei (VA: Uchiyama Koki)

A taciturn man of contrasts

An assassin. A man of few words and fewer expressions. The elite assassin training he received has endowed him with outstanding physical ability, and he's at the top of the field in combat and marksmanship.

Behaves like two completely different people on the job and off it?!

His keen gaze lands a one-hit KO on the target ⭐

The lovely thing about Rei: The swoon-worthy, stark contrast between his ON (assassin) and OFF (personal) modes?

Toba: "Rei... when Rei is on the job, he's a cool assassin who coldly gets the mission done without a flicker of expression. But outside of work, he's a guy who just doesn't want to do anything, so he does absolutely nothing at home. (laughs) When he's out and about, he dresses in a sharp suit and has his hair swept up, but as soon as he gets home, he sits around in baggy loungewear and unkempt hair, and just spends all his time playing games. I think that on/off contrast makes for quite an adorable gap."

Personal Data: Suwa Rei

Age: 25 years old

Occupation: Assassin

Special Skills: Absolutely top-notch shooting!

Weaknesses: Housework. Just totally hopeless...

A truly broad heart is needed to fully embrace Rei and his total lack of life skills...?

Rei carries out his assassin work flawlessly, and is a dead loss when it comes to regular life. He tends to be overly indifferent to himself and others, so you may need to be very tolerant in gently accepting him and offering your patient support...

Unasaka Miri (VA: Kino Hina)

A little girl living with Kazuki and Rei

An affectionate, innocent young girl, who gets caught up in a gunfight while searching for her father. She is rescued by Kazuki, and so they begin living together.

A question for Producer Toba! Valentine's Q&A

Q: How do you think Kazuki, Rei, and Miri would spend Valentine's Day?

Toba: I think Kazuki would make incredibly delicious chocolate confections. The whole table is covered with everything from cakes to parfaits to chocolate fondue to ganache... He also has 95% cocoa chocolate for himself, but I think he prepares much sweeter chocolate full of milk, for Miri. He should really be the receiving party in the first place, but he ends up making everything to give to Miri. Then Miri gives him a little chocolate she bought from some supermarket or conbini, and Kazuki is so happy he bursts into tears. (laughs)

Interview with the Love Guru: Producer Toba Yosuke

We wanted to depict the changes in a contrasting assassin duo

Interviewer: How exactly was the theme of "Buddy Daddies" decided?

Toba: We were discussing potential themes for an original anime with P.A. Works, and the producer Tsuji-san suggested, "Maybe something about parenting a 4 or 5-year-old?" Tsuji-san himself was right in the middle of working hard to raise a child, and so he wanted to reflect those ideas in an anime. And then it occurred to us that we could get a lot of comedy out of a story where someone who absolutely isn't cut out for parenting has to struggle to raise a child. In that case, who should we saddle with parenting? We thought it over, and the direct opposite of "raising children" is "killing people". So how about an assassin? And then it clicked into place. The only issue was that a child who is 4 or 5 years old is still at an age where they "can't act freely on their own" - so how would they be taken in by the assassin? We were stumped for a while because of that. That's when I discussed it with Shimokura-san (Shimokura Vio) from Nitroplus, and he suggested, "What about making it an assassin duo? Say the two of them pick up the child during a fight - I think a setup like that has potential." Upon hearing him say this, I thought, "That's it!" A family with no blood ties, and two men raising a child - a story like this would truly embody our modern times and their diversifying values. It felt like a perfect fit to me. I thought, "This could really go somewhere!" And so we went ahead with production.

Interviewer: Was there anything you paid particular attention to when depicting them?

Toba: I think we stuck quite closely to the fundamental premise of "two polar opposites are paired up as assassins, but once they take in a child, their lives begin to change". Kazuki is an assassin but has plenty of warm human emotion, and Rei knows nothing other than killing people in cold blood. How will these two men change because of a child? We wanted to depict that very carefully.

Interviewer: Was any part of the production process especially memorable?

Toba: The cast was decided by audition, but honestly, Toyonaga-san and Uchiyama-san are so perfect that I have to wonder if Kazuki and Rei were already written with them in mind. (laughs) Toyonaga-san gives off this sense of "warmth, but when he wants to play his cards close to his chest, he keeps them very close - but he also has a free and uninhibited side to him", and that's a breathtakingly perfect fit for Kazuki. As for Rei, we were already saying "Rei is very Uchiyama-san, huh (laughs)" from pretty early on in the production process. The recording sessions blew me away - you could really feel how well their characters mapped on to Kazuki and Rei.

Interviewer: Please give a message to our readers about what they can expect from here on.

Toba: Before Miri shows up, Kazuki and Rei are essentially living without any thoughts of the future. Given their line of work, they have no idea when they might die; they live like they could die at any moment, and they're fine with that. But once they have Miri - a child they need to protect and raise - their life rapidly changes. Is that good news or bad news for them? And what will their changes mean for the people around them? I hope you'll observe these "changes" for yourself.

[long-anti-covid]

what: the NIH made a page in 2022 for people in the US to report at-home test covid test results; as of August 2024, this project is still actively collecting submissions!

why: providing additional data points is useful to public health departments in dealing with the current surge; more data is also useful for advocacy groups in pushing for public health reforms

how: the form asks what brand of test you used, what date you tested, whether the test was positive or negative, and your zipcode. (they also have optional demographic questions, but those are the only required ones!)

[satoshi-mochida]

Monster Hunter Wilds ‘1st Trailer,’ screenshots

From Gematsu

Capcom has released the first official trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, which introduces the game’s untamed landscape teeming with new monsters, as well as first glimpses of the story, characters, system, and more.

Get the latest details below.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, players join the ranks of a special Research Commission team investigating the Forbidden Lands. Fully voiced for the first time in the Monster Hunter series, the hunter ventures into the unknown with their companions, including Guild-appointed handler Alma, their Palico partner, and a mysterious child. Monster Hunter Wilds features multi-dimensional biomes that can transform in unexpected ways. The first locale to be unveiled is the Windward Plains, a vast region encompassing harsh deserts, twisted rock formations, and swaying grasslands abound with life. These immersive ecosystems are populated with wildlife acclimated to their surroundings, including smaller monsters like Dalthydon, an herbivorous wyvern that migrates seasonally, and Ceratonoth, who rely on males to shield the herd from raging storms with well-developed dorsal horns that serve as lightning rods. Of course, large monsters also roam the Windward Plains, including Doshaguma. While massive and territorial, these fanged beasts are curiously sometimes sighted stalking the plains in aggressive packs. Meanwhile, the formidable amphibian Chatacabra uses its surroundings and adhesive saliva to become an even stronger adversary by armoring its body with natural materials like ore. To help hunters meet the challenges that await in Monster Hunter Wilds, the beloved gameplay of the series has evolved with an arsenal of new features. Players will experience a seamless flow from story sequences to gameplay without interruption. To traverse this world’s sprawling environments, the game introduces Seikrets, a new type of mount. These nimble creatures can guide their riders to destinations and allow hunters to perform actions on the go, such as sharpening weapons, gathering materials, and wielding the slinger. Hunters can also swap to a secondary weapon with their Seikret, empowering hunting parties to adapt to the changing conditions out in the field without returning to base. All 14 of the series’ iconic weapon types return in Monster Hunter Wilds and have now evolved to include new actions. Additionally, the game introduces brand-new systems, such as Focus Mode, giving hunters more precise control over aiming, guarding, and attacking monsters’ weak points. The new Hook Slinger also offers hunters additional abilities, including contextual actions and the power to collect items from a distance – even when mounted atop their Seikret. Monster Hunter Wilds players who link their Monster Hunter: World save data can receive special bonus items. This includes the Felyne Leather Set (Palico Armor) and Felyne Acorn Spade (Palico Weapon) for linking Monster Hunter: World base game save data, and Felyne Duffel Set (Palico Armor) and Felyne Trekker Peckaxe (Palico Weapon) for linking save data from the title’s massive expansion Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

Monster Hunter Wilds is due out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam in 2025.

Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

1st Trailer

English

Japanese

[demifiendrsa]

Monster Hunter Wilds - 1st Trailer

Japanese version

Monster Hunter Wilds will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam in 2025.

Screenshots

Latest details

In Monster Hunter Wilds, players join the ranks of a special Research Commission team investigating the Forbidden Lands. Fully voiced for the first time in the Monster Hunter series, the hunter ventures into the unknown with their companions, including Guild-appointed handler Alma, their Palico partner, and a mysterious child. Monster Hunter Wilds features multi-dimensional biomes that can transform in unexpected ways. The first locale to be unveiled is the Windward Plains, a vast region encompassing harsh deserts, twisted rock formations, and swaying grasslands abound with life. These immersive ecosystems are populated with wildlife acclimated to their surroundings, including smaller monsters like Dalthydon, an herbivorous wyvern that migrates seasonally, and Ceratonoth, who rely on males to shield the herd from raging storms with well-developed dorsal horns that serve as lightning rods. Of course, large monsters also roam the Windward Plains, including Doshaguma. While massive and territorial, these fanged beasts are curiously sometimes sighted stalking the plains in aggressive packs. Meanwhile, the formidable amphibian Chatacabra uses its surroundings and adhesive saliva to become an even stronger adversary by armoring its body with natural materials like ore.

To help hunters meet the challenges that await in Monster Hunter Wilds, the beloved gameplay of the series has evolved with an arsenal of new features. Players will experience a seamless flow from story sequences to gameplay without interruption. To traverse this world’s sprawling environments, the game introduces Seikrets, a new type of mount. These nimble creatures can guide their riders to destinations and allow hunters to perform actions on the go, such as sharpening weapons, gathering materials, and wielding the slinger. Hunters can also swap to a secondary weapon with their Seikret, empowering hunting parties to adapt to the changing conditions out in the field without returning to base. All 14 of the series’ iconic weapon types return in Monster Hunter Wilds and have now evolved to include new actions. Additionally, the game introduces brand-new systems, such as Focus Mode, giving hunters more precise control over aiming, guarding, and attacking monsters’ weak points. The new Hook Slinger also offers hunters additional abilities, including contextual actions and the power to collect items from a distance – even when mounted atop their Seikret. Monster Hunter Wilds players who link their Monster Hunter: World save data can receive special bonus items. This includes the Felyne Leather Set (Palico Armor) and Felyne Acorn Spade (Palico Weapon) for linking Monster Hunter: World base game save data, and Felyne Duffel Set (Palico Armor) and Felyne Trekker Peckaxe (Palico Weapon) for linking save data from the title’s massive expansion Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

[kny111]

Do World Powers Engage in Subtle Systemic Slavery or Overt Systemic Slavery? It doesn’t Matter. Slavery is Slavery & It Will Never Be Needed Especially Not As A System.

The United States along with other world powers and those that serve them have created this ‘using us, yet against us’ system. We need to change this. The fire James Baldwin spoke of, the very merited rage those enslaved have against this system, is well overdue.

Those who serve a government that knowingly allow for enslavement still and lie to people about it being abolished when their own amendment backs daily institutional and systemic enslavement when it allows “slavery is abolished except in punishment or crime“. This does nothing to remove slavery as a systemic feature from this governing system and you are implicit.

                                                                                                by - K, Blog Admin

What happens when we as a community repurpose the instruments of science and evidence gathering and focus on the 13th amendment? This piece of document literally allows for enslavement. What has been created in its wake? Here’s the thing, when colonial imperial powers in Europe said okay when issues occur we’re gonna call them ‘crime’  they meant it as a word to account for social norms being breached and a sort of “holler if you hear me“ approach to solving those issues was laid out institutionally which included neighborhood watch people that could process this. They later became police. Between that time and the present 2023, legislature and policy reshaped crime and policing, as well as the defending of issues through military, crime became systemically synonymous with prisons/cages/slavery to solve those issues. From the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and its bolstering of these pro enslavement laws to this past historical investment in this strange notion of punishing others so physically, violently to the benefit of a system, a legalized market of slavery was formed and continues to persist with similar legislative and political play on words as they did with the 13th amendment’s clause: The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

When you specifically write into law and action that amendments create and actualize the means to the system we use, what are you enacting when you pronounce through this same mechanism that “no slavery shall exist within the united states or any place subject to its jurisdiction - EXCEPT as punishment for crime“? We need to, as a people really inspect this slowly and carefully because science has yet to produce any evidence that says punishment at that level and method is required to solve these issues so where is this evidence that says that type of punishment is even needed for the people to “fall in line”?

Secondly, isn’t it evident that processing issues as merely ‘crime’ is factually bringing us more structural issues than not because not every issue can be generalized to crime and often times the word crime itself just doesn’t do nearly enough to account for the disabled community and many other far reaching issues.

These aren’t assumptions, these are educated deductions based on statistical data provided by the errors of the running system. Again, it has yet to produce reputable convincing evidence that establishes prisons, crime, and cops/ slave patrol systems they synergized with as effective means to solve the issues we as a society constantly face. And with this same lack of adhering to scientific facts are we supposed to feel comforted by these slave industry agents, legislators and policy makers that allow for that amendment to exist as is because they know it buys them that much time to not worry of their implicitness in enslavement of others? I implore everyone watch the documentary by Ava DuVernay 13th available for free on youtube from NetFlix due to its educational merit. This documentary is like a course 101 on understanding just how much of an issue enslavement systems are and how synonymous prisons and cops are to slave markets and patrols. It gets right to the problem of slavery, what scriptures did they use to embed it into our social mainframe? did it exist back then? Yes, Is it gone? No, it let’s us know it’s still active and strategies by white supremacists and slavers then benefit their lineages and communities now.

They have a lot of control over the systems that try to govern us. Reconfiguring, inspecting and enacting amendments at this level will be required for us to do something meaningful against this oppressive system and its unsustainable, inefficient amalgamation with slavery markets as a resource system.

Reparations for those harmed by these systems as well as systemic decolonization strategies will be commonly needed. We need documentaries like this and similar subject media to help the public understand the necessary steps to abolish prisons and repurposing the military that serve them away from the rich’s interest and focus on the people. Since all defending this slavery system are implicit. 13th by Ava DuVernay is available now on YouTube for free via NetFlix along with other educational documentaries

[vavuska]

Seems that EA is now allegedly accused of a mayor privacy violation, having used tracking tools on The Sims FreePlay app to secretly gather and transmit players’ personal information to Facebook for advertising purposes. This data potentially includes unique Facebook IDs, which can be used to match players’ in-game activities to their individual Facebook profiles. Attorneys suspect that these potential data-sharing practices may violate a federal privacy law and are now gathering players to take action.

So, there are at least two class action against EA, because it seems to collect data from players using the Meta Pixel software to harness data from players and sell it to the Meta company, who owns Instagram, Facebook and other social networks.

It would be interesting to learn if this allegations are true and how this would be seen in the eyes of GDPR, European Regulation 679/2016, which allows the processing of personal data only with consent given by the data subjects and also in the context of (online) games.

Consent in the context of the GDPR must be understood as an unambiguous indication of an informed and freely given choice by the data subject, relating to specific processing activities. The burden of proof that these criteria are fulfilled falls upon the controller (i.e., the game developer).

Google Play list the privacy condition of EA for its games, including The Sims Freeplay. Basically EA claims to use players data only to give them "better game experience", which seems vague but not less legit. The only less transparent thing I noticed is that the instructions to opt out of targeted marketing of in-game ads are in English and not in Italian: downloading the game, players allows EA to share their account information with third-party partners to customize advertising experience, which is basically all app developers do, but it's weird that the instruction to opt out doesn't have been translated at all!

This is not the first time EA is accused of, well, unethical commercial practice, since EA has been sentenced to pay fines by Austrian (2023) and Belgian (2018) civil court, because their FIFA loot boxes violated local gambling laws.

Moreover, it's important to notice that in January 2023, the European Parliament adopted a report calling for harmonized EU rules to achieve better player protection in the online video game sector.

The Parliament called for greater transparency from developers about in-game purchases: player should be aware of the type of content before starting to play and during the game. Also, players should be informed on the probabilities in loot box mechanisms, including information in plain language about what algorithms are devised to achieve.

The Parliament further stressed that the proposed legislation should assess whether an obligation to disable in-game payments and loot boxes mechanisms by default or a ban on paid loot boxes should be proposed to protect minors, avoid the fragmentation of the single market and ensure that consumers benefit from the same level of protection, no matter of their place of residence.

The Parliament highlighted problematic practices, including exploiting cognitive biases and vulnerabilities of consumers through deceptive design and marketing, using layers of virtual currencies to mask/distort real-world monetary costs, and targeting loot boxes and manipulative practices towards minors.

[conclave-030]

The Ultimate Data Collection Handbook: Exploring Methods, Types, and Advantages

Data collection is a fundamental part of any research, business strategy, or decision-making process. Whether you're a student, a professional, or just curious about how data is gathered and used, understanding the basics of data collection can be incredibly useful. In this guide, we'll explore the methods, types, and benefits of data collection in a way that’s easy to understand.

What is Data Collection?

Data collection is the process of gathering information to answer specific questions or to support decision-making. This information, or data, can come from various sources and can be used to make informed decisions, conduct research, or solve problems.

Methods of Data Collection

Surveys and Questionnaires

What Are They? Surveys and questionnaires are tools used to gather information from people. They can be distributed in person, by mail, or online.

How Do They Work? Respondents answer a series of questions that provide insights into their opinions, behaviors, or experiences.

When to Use Them? Use surveys and questionnaires when you need to gather opinions or experiences from a large group of people.

Interviews

What Are They? Interviews involve asking questions to individuals in a one-on-one setting or in a group discussion.

How Do They Work? The interviewer asks questions and records the responses, which can be either structured (with set questions) or unstructured (more conversational).

When to Use Them? Use interviews when you need detailed, qualitative insights or when you want to explore a topic in depth.

Observations

What Are They? Observations involve watching and recording behaviors or events as they happen.

How Do They Work? The observer notes what is happening without interfering or influencing the situation.

When to Use Them? Use observations when you need to see actual behavior or events in their natural setting.

Experiments

What Are They? Experiments involve manipulating variables to see how changes affect outcomes.

How Do They Work? Researchers control certain variables and observe the effects on other variables to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

When to Use Them? Use experiments when you need to test hypotheses and understand the relationships between variables.

Secondary Data Analysis

What Is It? This method involves analyzing data that has already been collected by someone else.

How Does It Work? Researchers use existing data from sources like government reports, research studies, or company records.

When to Use It? Use secondary data analysis when you need historical data or when primary data collection is not feasible.

Types of Data

Quantitative Data

What Is It? Quantitative data is numerical and can be measured or counted.

Examples: Age, income, number of products sold.

Use It When: You need to quantify information and perform statistical analysis.

Qualitative Data

What Is It? Qualitative data is descriptive and involves characteristics that can be observed but not measured numerically.

Examples: Customer feedback, interview responses, descriptions of behavior.

Use It When: You need to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences.

Benefits of Data Collection

Informed Decision-Making

Data provides insights that help individuals and organizations make informed decisions based on evidence rather than guesswork.

Identifying Trends and Patterns

Collecting data allows you to identify trends and patterns that can inform future actions or strategies.

Improving Services and Products

By understanding customer needs and preferences through data, businesses can improve their products and services to better meet those needs.

Supporting Research and Development

Data is crucial for researchers to test hypotheses, validate theories, and advance knowledge in various fields.

Enhancing Efficiency

Data helps in streamlining processes and improving operational efficiency by highlighting areas that need attention or improvement.

Conclusion

Understanding the methods, types, and benefits of data collection can greatly enhance your ability to gather useful information and make informed decisions. Whether you're conducting research, running a business, or just curious about the world around you, mastering data collection is a valuable skill. Use this guide to get started and explore the many ways data can help you achieve your goals.

To know more: A Guide to Data Collection: Methods, Types, and Benefits

Outsource Data Collection Services

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 6, 2024

Visual velocity perception dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. Bernardinis, M., Atashzar, S. F., Jog, M. S., & Patel, R. V. (2023). Behavioural Brain Research, 452, 114490.

A mathematical formula of plasticity: Measuring susceptibility to change in mental health and data science. Branchi, I. (2023). Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 152, 105272.

Impaired salience network switching in psychopathy. Deming, P., Cook, C. J., Meyerand, M. E., Kiehl, K. A., Kosson, D. S., & Koenigs, M. (2023). Behavioural Brain Research, 452, 114570.

Pinging the brain to reveal the hidden attentional priority map using encephalography. Duncan, D. H., van Moorselaar, D., & Theeuwes, J. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 4749.

Brain criticality predicts individual levels of inter-areal synchronization in human electrophysiological data. Fuscà, M., Siebenhühner, F., Wang, S. H., Myrov, V., Arnulfo, G., Nobili, L., … Palva, S. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 4736.

A cell-type-specific error-correction signal in the posterior parietal cortex. Green, J., Bruno, C. A., Traunmüller, L., Ding, J., Hrvatin, S., Wilson, D. E., … Harvey, C. D. (2023). Nature, 620(7973), 366–373.

Functional modules for visual scene segmentation in macaque visual cortex. Hesse, J. K., & Tsao, D. Y. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(32), e2221122120.

Experimental validation of the free-energy principle with in vitro neural networks. Isomura, T., Kotani, K., Jimbo, Y., & Friston, K. J. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 4547.

Crows flexibly apply statistical inferences based on previous experience. Johnston, M., Brecht, K. F., & Nieder, A. (2023). Current Biology, 33(15), 3238-3243.e3.

Stimulus edges induce orientation tuning in superior colliculus. Liang, Y., Lu, R., Borges, K., & Ji, N. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 4756.

People can use the placement of objects to infer communicative goals. Lopez-Brau, M., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2023). Cognition, 239, 105524.

Metacognitive awareness in the sound-induced flash illusion. Maynes, R., Faulkner, R., Callahan, G., Mims, C. E., Ranjan, S., Stalzer, J., & Odegaard, B. (2023). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1886).

Metacognition in the audiovisual McGurk illusion: perceptual and causal confidence. Meijer, D., & Noppeney, U. (2023). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1886).

Boosting Serotonin Increases Information Gathering by Reducing Subjective Cognitive Costs. Michely, J., Martin, I. M., Dolan, R. J., & Hauser, T. U. (2023). Journal of Neuroscience, 43(32), 5848–5855.

Causal inference during closed-loop navigation: parsing of self- and object-motion. Noel, J.-P., Bill, J., Ding, H., Vastola, J., DeAngelis, G. C., Angelaki, D. E., & Drugowitsch, J. (2023). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1886).

Aging and temporal integration in the visual perception of object shape. Norman, J. F., Lewis, J. L., Bryant, E. N., & Conn, J. D. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 12748.

Non-shared coding of observed and executed actions prevails in macaque ventral premotor mirror neurons. Pomper, J. K., Shams, M., Wen, S., Bunjes, F., & Thier, P. (2023). eLife, 12, e77513.

Backbone spiking sequence as a basis for preplay, replay, and default states in human cortex. Vaz, A. P., Wittig, J. H., Inati, S. K., & Zaghloul, K. A. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 4723.

Feasibility of dopamine as a vector-valued feedback signal in the basal ganglia. Wärnberg, E., & Kumar, A. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(32), e2221994120.

NMDA-driven dendritic modulation enables multitask representation learning in hierarchical sensory processing pathways. Wybo, W. A. M., Tsai, M. C., Tran, V. A. K., Illing, B., Jordan, J., Morrison, A., & Senn, W. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(32), e2300558120.