#epic gaming rig

[dawgtistic]

dear Santa

I want a cute, maybe hot boyfriend that I can cuddle and pet and kiss and hold hands with and hug him and call him sweet names and cook for

or, alternatively, an epic gaming rig that won't fry itself after 3 years when we're dirt poor

Thank you

sincerely, gay boy living in illinois

[somereaderinblue]

Odysseus of Troy is a fic I'd would LOVE to read! Also٫ whats the dynamic between Telemachus and Paris?

I've been mulling this over for a while & Paris....kinda reminds me of Curly from Mouthwashing, if that makes sense?

Like on the surface-level, both are nice guys & in decent positions (one's a captain & the other a prince). However, not only are they people pleasers who lack a backbone, they're also stuck in an environment that doesn't help them. In Curly's case, it's a shitty capitalist company & endless lonely deep space whereas for Paris, he's a pawn of the Gods & Fates themselves. They are multifaceted characters who're victims, enablers/accomplices, stuck in a vicious cycle of authority & lack of autonomy, etc.

So, keeping all this in mind, once Telemachus is old enough, Paris is nice to him. He spoils him, dotes on him, plays with him....but ultimately, it's Ody who knows Telemachus' favourite color, quirks & tells. Telemachus might perk up when he spots Paris, but he'll always go to Odysseus first.

Plus, if you've seen my previous asks, Paris has also used Telemachus' life as leverage against Odysseus more than once. Does Paris regret it? Yes, he does feel some remorse. But it's just more mistakes stacked on many he's already committed. So, he'll make the kid smile. If he smiles, Ody smiles too, and it's something, right?

In conclusion, Odysseus sees Telemachus as his son.

Though Paris would insist the same, he ultimately sees Telemachus as another god-given gift he has to care for, lest he spurns them.

[squeakitties]

if you wanna peek into my freaky world im stuck on the phrase "literally 1984, this is" in response to epic games temporarily disabling Yoda in Fortnite (he's a back bling accessory item) because if you did the dr. zoidberg woop woop woop emote his facial rig would freak out and crash entire servers

[madrone33]

Number 1 Rule of adapting the Odyssey into EPIC is: if it can be more dramatic, it will be more dramatic.

The Greeks decide to throw the infant Trojan prince from the walls because they're scared he'll try to avenge his family? No, Zeus comes down to personally give Odysseus a vision of being killed and says his family WILL die. Kill the baby that reminds you of your son right now, it's the gods will.

Odysseus goes to greet the inhabitants of an island and gets trapped in a cave for two days by the cyclops that's eating his men one by one? Nope, we got BOSS BATTLE 30v1 in the Ithacans' favour until BAM fourteen pancakes are made by Polyphemus' club and oh shit Polites is DEAD-

Athena is just vaugely absent for the whole journey until the end? We got emotionally charged platonic breakups instead, with yelling and insults and "well I'm breaking up with you FIRST!"

Smooth sailing to Ithaca? STOOOORM-

Odysseus' great-great-great-grandfather giving him a speed boost to help him on his way home? Get ready for trickster wind gods, mischievous winions, and a game that was rigged from the start.

Random-ass suspicious and greedy crew mates open the bag? It's Eurylochus, his second in command, his brother-in-law, the man he trusted, Eurylochus WHYYY

Parking in the wrong harbour and getting boulders thrown at the fleet by angry man-eating giants while Odysseus backs away veeery slowly? Nah Poseidon himself pulls up to dunk on them, and Odysseus has to make a last minute getaway using the power of STOOORM to avoid being curbstomped like his fleet.

Odysseus gets some stronger drugs from a god to make him immune to the other drugs of a goddess? Well these drugs actually give him magic powers which he uses to engage in a Pokémon/Yu-Gi-Oh style BOSS BATTLE!

Get some closure with dead loved ones and acquaintances, and be the first interviewer of the fallen heroes of past ages? Nope, we just got TRAUMA and a whole boatload of guilt!

A neat outline of what the rest of the journey will look like, a warning against an island of cows that will slow him down, and the way to appease Poseidon? This Tiresias just says "Y'know there used to be a world where you made it home, BUT I DON'T SEE IT NO MORE. IT'S GONE. IT'S OVER. Also, your palace is fucked."

Sailing past the sirens while getting to be the first mortal to hear their song and live? M U R D E R

Sailing past Scylla to avoid Charybdis and accidentally getting six men eaten because he thought he could totally take Scylla, even though Circe said he couldn't, and then he realised he, in fact, cannot take Scylla? ... Eurylochus, light up six torches.

Eurylochus waits till Odysseus is out hunting and then goes behind his back to mutinously rally the crew and feast on some sacred cattle? Betrayal on both sides, stabby stab, K.O., and then Odysseus helplessly watches them make the greatest mistake of their lives as they ignore his pleas.

Quick clean and easy lightning-strike to the ship, leaving Odysseus to cling to some driftwood and paddle away? Zeus himself appears to the mortals, monologues, makes Odysseus be the one to choose, and then smites the whole ship leaving Odysseus to nearly drown anyway.

Telemachus gets advice from a disguised Athena to yell at the suitors and then sail away to look for news of his missing father? Telemachus gets into a full on beatdown with the suitors and gets FIGHT CLUB TRAINING from Athena!

Athena goes "dad I want my favourite mortal back? Did you forget about him? I think you forgot about him" and Zeus instantly replies "nonsense. How could I have forgotten that funny little mortal? Of course you can have him back my sweet favoured child <3" and then Athena skips off to Ithaca? "Father please-" "LIGHTNING BOLT! ANOTHER LIGHTNING BOLT! LIGHTNING BOLT TO THE FACE HOW DARE YOU ASK ME OF SUCH A THING!"

Poseidon does a double take "wait they let him go?? Oh hell nah!" and then sends a giant fuck off storm for Odysseus to swim through until he reaches the Phaeacians? No, Poseidon's just been there on Ithaca's shores, waiting for eight years, now get in the water BITCH- except Odysseus is just like "oh yeah? Fucking FIGHT ME"

You thought the suitors in the Odyssey were bad? Jorge really just said "dial that shit up to ELEVEN"

[phenphoenix]

Haha, looks like you could use some help, From the big overlord herself!

Check out bestie's glowing reviews on Yelp

(Five stars! Flawless! Greater than great!)

Oh, with the punch of a pentagram, wap-bam-boom, alakazam!

Usually, I charge a leg and an arm, But you get the cordial rate.

Thanks, Ro!

Who needs a busgirl, now that you've got the chef? (Whoa-oh-oh)

Michelin tasting menu, free à la carte.

I'll rig the game for you because I'm the ref!

Blood red fountains, sweetbread mountains, that's just to staaaaart!

Who's been here since day one?

Who's been faithful as a nun?

Shows you a bunch of otherwordly fun, Your executive producer!

That's true!

I'm your gal, your day-to-day.

Your chum, your steadfast hotelier.

Remember when I fixed that clog today?

I was stuck, thank you ma'am!

Oh damn!

I'm truly honored that we've built such a bond! (aw)

You're like the brother that I wish that I had!

Excuse me?

I care for you, just like a companion I found!

Wait just a moment!

It's a little funny, you could almost call me Paaaaal!

*epic dance off lol Charlotte probably trips her and Rosie eats shit*

They say, when you're looking for assistance, It's smart to pick the path of least resistance.

Others say, that in your needy hour, There's no substitute for pure cannibal power!

Who just happens to also be your bud!

Sadly, there are times a best friend is a dud.

They say new friends you choose are better.

What a bunch of losers!

Can you butt out of my song?

Your song? I started this!

I'm singing it, I'll finish it!

Oh, you churlish little-

This is great lmao XD tysm!

[sarahreesbrennan]

Three important questions.

One: Are Alice's memories of the series she read erased and replaced with the one Rae was in, or does she reread it and get confused as to how it changed.

Two: what perspective was the book that Alice and Rae read in? Was it alternating? Was it Key? or Lia? what was the Time of Iron POV actually?

and Three: In Long Live Evil, who jumps for the Chicken, and who jumps for the Beef?

One: … you’ll see. :)

Two: I appreciate the differentiation between the book Alice and Rae read, and the other versions, because I think they all had different (though overlapping) POVs. All were multiple-POV narratives.

There are excerpts of ‘Time of Iron’ in the book, so you can see some POVs - Lia’s. Also omniscient. Also Emer’s.

Octavian and Marius and Vasilisa and Key among others (some of whom we haven’t met yet, some who we have) all had POVs, too, in my mind. Like many an epic fantasy book, I was thinking about a lot of head-hopping to expand the world - and adding many POVs as we go. (And yes we will be adding points of view…)

But, for instance, we saw more of Marius’s POV in the version before the one Rae and Alice read than in the version Rae and Alice did read, because the changes to the narrative shifted Marius’s place in the story. How does one become a villain, a hero, a love interest, a side character, a victim, a murderer with a shadowy motivation…

Three: I had to look this up and I am still confused by it (I do not and will never get video games, ask me how bewildering I found much of isekai conventions when I went on my post-first-draft-of-LLE isekai reading spree) so I shan’t answer on the grounds it will make me look silly. :) but I am always glad to see awareness that life and class are a rigged game.

Thank you for lovely and thoughtful questions! I know I played it coy for one and three, but I hope two was satisfactory.

[powerbottomblake]

obsessed with the way athena sings "father, god king, rarely do I ask for favors" like she came in PLEADING to zeus, appealing to their familial bond but also 100% deferring to his status and he still decided to make a show out of it! he still had to make it abt his own entertainment! and suggested a game that he believed was rigged from the start! all to say i think out of all the gods epic captures zeus' essence the most. fickle and vain and terrifying and all powerful, everything has to be abt his own pleasure and pride first and foremost

[sam-keeper]

The Visitor aka STRIDULUM (1979)

Ha ha yeah, wooo YEAH

da daaaaa dadadaDAA DAAA DAAAAAAA DADADAAAAA DADADADADA DA DAAAAA YEAH!!!!

This is the most prog rock movie I've ever seen in my life. This is spiritually being painted on the side of a van. Does it have a good plot that makes sense? I don't know, asshole, does Emerson Lake and Palmer's seminal classic Karn Evil 9 part 2 have a good plot that makes sense? I'm telling my kids The Visitor (1979) is Star Wars.

I noticed a pattern when looking at other reviews of this film: they fall back on comparisons, as a slight. Well, it's sort of The Omen, and it's sort of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it's sort of Carrie, and a little Battlestar Galactica and maybe The Birds... which all sounds very derivative, I suppose, until you actually a movie smashing all those things together, and realize, wait a minute, that's bonkers. It feels like critics grasp for these comparisons while foundering in The Visitor's psychedelic sea, desperate for a point of stability. None of these references offer stable landmarks, though, if you hope to predict where the film will veer next in its crazy pursuit of cool ideas and weird setpieces.

Not that the comparisons are totally off base, mind. This IS the story of Katy Collins, a Wicked Little Kid in the vein of the Omen's Damien or Carrie's... Carrie. It's just that this generic convention of the Bad Seed gets set up at the beginning of the film with a bizarre cosmic encounter between an old space wizard and an apparition of the devilish little girl in what looks like a blizzard on mars, followed by a whole ass monologue by "A Jesus Figure" about cosmic psychic spirits of good and evil dueling it out across the planets, delivered to a bunch of bald, white robed children. Hell yeah. But! But. Katy Collins is otherwise a classic, average evil psychic kid who kills people with telekinesis. And uses it to rig professional basketball matches for her shitty step dad, possibly at the behest of the satanic businessmen he answers to who are REALLY giving some serious drone hive vibes what with the way they all turn their heads at the same time. Oh and she's got a pet hawk that murders people at her behest. No, trust me though, it's a really derivative movie. Not like the movies we have now like uhhhh

[sweating] uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Better touchstones than typical blockbuster fare might be the mind-expanding chaos of paperback epics--Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show, King's Dark Tower, Morrison's The Invisibles. Here's some other fun facts: it was directed by Giulio Paradisi (it's a heavily italian production) but he directed it under the brilliant name "Michael J Paradise". The italian title was "Stridulum", which I guess is latin for something like a harsh or shrill sound or shriek, which fits the whole repeating War Between Birds motif and the use of bird cries in the soundtrack. Oh, and one of the guys playing basketball in the first scene with Katy is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actual famous athlete. It's sort of a bizarre and improbable movie!

But I don't think I'd be nearly so dazzled by all the crazy shit this film throws at the audience if not for Katy herself, played brilliantly by a young child star Paige Conner. She's written and performed in a way that suggests malice, yes, but a childish malice, a bit of a put-on, a belligerent front that gets more and more petulant and uncontrolled as John Huston as the space mystic Jerzy (yes) Colsowicz (get it) confronts her with the limits of her own powers. There's this sequence where Jerzy and Katy play pong against each other. Jerzy, smiling, accuses her cheating by speeding up the game with her powers. Katy, giggling genuinely, gloatingly informs him that no, she sped up the game using a switch on the game console. Later in the film she tries to drop a fire escape on his head, of course. In that conversation, though, there's this charming chemistry between them, the chemistry of a smart young person and an older adult willing to treat her, not as a peer exactly, but as a thinking being, not just a Thing to be smacked into shape. This dynamic is crucial to the climax of the film and its ultimate conviction that no matter how ghastly Katy is, there's more than just evil to her, which might not be the most seasonally horror-forward message but is honestly pretty damn refreshing. Like I don't know if The Visitor is as good a film as The Omen (ok, I know that obviously it's not) but on balance it's probably got its heart more in the right place. Perhaps notably along those lines, one of the horror subplots of The Omen involves possibility of a woman getting an abortion, whereas The Visitor explores the possibility of a woman being impregnated against her will. While it may lose out on form, The Visitor might just win the long game on its politics.

Also some shitty teens get thrown through a plate glass window, and there's a whole sequence where a big truck's lights are treated exactly like an approaching spacecraft, and it's awesome, I don't know what to tell you, I love this shit.

Read more horror reviews like this all season on my Patreon

[doodledrawsthings]

hello hi I LOVE DWBI AU I have such bad brainrot for this game now and you’re one of the people who convinced me to play it this is all your fault/silly

I WILL ASK SOME THINGS!! Considering bringing ruyi back? How?? :0 yesssss my beloved silly robot guy that would be so cool if he could live…

oooh;; what are just some random trivia/events that you’d like to share? IDK I like hearing the random titbits :>

OH AND!! Are you maybe gonna write something for this? Or just draw and yap about it? I haven’t been following you for that long so idk what you usually do with this sorta thing LOL

have a epic beastie as thank you for your very cool work<33 you are the mvp of the fandom ngl I would be even sadder if this au didn’t exist LOL

At the end of the game, Ruyi gives Yi a backup of his settings “should he ever want to make a new ai assistant.” The Ruyi for the AU wouldn’t have any of the memories or nearly as many of the functions the OG Ruyi had, as they’d basically be Jerry-rigging the ship they came down to act as a much less advanced version of the hardware for the Abacus.

Mayyyyybe I’ll write something out for it? Usually I just draw and yap about it but I do intend on making. Like. An actual doc to keep track of things.

As for random tidbits uhhhh. Not yet!

That bird is cute what a nice beast.

Welcome to my brainrot.

[seohyun0306]

I’m by no means an expert on the Mahabharata or Hinduism in general (I’d say my knowledge on Hinduism especially is rather limited) but am I wrong in thinking that the game was rigged against Duryodhana from the start?

There’s no denying that he’s far from a saint and some of the things he did were awful but I feel like he’s portrayed as such a completely morally black and bankrupt character when it’s sort of far from that.

Like as far as major characters are concerned, he’s the only one who has absolutely no interest or regard in the caste system whatsoever. There’s like three speeches of his that very very clearly show that. His intervention with Karna at their first meeting, although perhaps partly due to opportunism depending on your interpretation, is one of the most honourable scenes in the entire epic to me.

Not once has he ever even implied that Karna’s caste is of any importance and throughout their entire relationship, there was no one who he treated with more love and respect than Karna. Even in general, it’s well established that his judgements of people are based on their individual qualities and not caste.

Again, not saying that he was a good guy at all but he was also known for being generous and a good ruler. He’s almost always interpreted as a power hungry yet incompetent person but that’s also far from the truth. He was Balarama’s favourite student which means that there was a lot of good about him or why would someone like Balarama even bother with him?

Also, being told that on the day of his birth his uncle told his father to kill him and then his mother saying she should have killed him, is not something that anyone should hear lmfao so I think, in certain aspects, his anger is justified.

It’s also very clear that from the start, Krishna was against him. Every act of his towards Duryodhana was deliberately meant to sabotage him in some way. Even Balarama acknowledged this so it’s basically a matter of fact.

So yeah, I’m not saying he was a good guy or that he’s just some misunderstood pookie but I think that not acknowledging some of his very good traits and the fact that everything was rigged against him since day 1 is a disservice to the whole point of the epic.

I hope I didn’t offend anyone with this. I know for over a billion people the Mahabharata is a religious text and the last thing I want to do is disrespect that regardless of whether I believe in it or not. I’d really like to hear some of your opinions on this take and I’m also really keen on engaging with people about the epic in general <3

[brittle-doughie]

It is two am right now and my adhd will not leave me alone at all. So here’s some constructive criticism on CRK specifically in an area where I don’t see other people point out other than it’s rigged gacha system (I haven’t played in a while so I don’t know if it’s been fixed) towards pay to play players

I really do love the game, it’s probably one of the only mobile games I have played for such a long time. But the thing I really hate is how many new characters they constantly introduce. The roster of characters is getting bigger and bigger and it’s getting harder for me to keep up. Now, introducing brand new characters into a game like this is fine, but not when you already a giant roster of already existing characters. These existing characters are also really good characters with incredible designs and I want to see more of them, but the only thing we get is the story their update provides or a small event, then there thrown to the side for the next new character. I wanna see more of rebel cookie, raspberry cookie, cherry blossom cookie, tiger lily cookie, and much more cookies that already exist. I don’t care if it’s a back story, a small side plot just for a mini game, cookie shenanigans, or related to the current story, I just want to see the cookies I’ve learned to love when I first joined the game. I will also bring up that I also don’t like how most of the screen time and story mostly goes to the legendary cookies along with gingerbrave. I understand their importance to the story, but it’s a lot and I feel really sad that other epic cookies will never get that kind of treatment when it comes to their stories. Heck!! Kumhio cookie’s description says that she wanted to be a cookie even though she was a fox and managed to do that, but we don’t get to see that at all. No event, no back story, just a description you have to read. The same is also applied to sobert shark cookie, there’s so much potential for an event or something related to these cookies and yet we get nothing. Black pearl cookie has mentioned seeing Sobert shark cookie which means they have canonically met and I would love to see the time when they did. Or even them just seeing each other again, I can just see black pearl cookie looking at sobert shark cookie in his cookie form and hearing him go “OoooOooOooOooOoOo” and giving him the most judgmental and disgusted look you will ever see from her and going “What in the mighty seas??” I loved the playing the beginning of the game just from how many stories of cookies you got from the islands, expanding the land, meeting certain points, but now that I finished all of those, it feels empty and sad. I hope CRK will improve in that aspect, while I wait, I’m going to enjoy the new characters we are getting. They are still very nice and love the work they get put into them. Other than that, bai bai!! Thank you for listening to my Ted talk

I think they just want to stick making a new cast of characters rather than just being a complete 1-1 roster of CROB. It makes the Ovenbreak characters all the more hype when they do come to CRK.

[ophanum]

can you do a Karma with a sassy but attractive female reader??🫶🏻

' TALK TOO MUCH ! - Karma Akabane

ft. Karma Akabane x Sassy! Fem! reader

Synopsis: Another student transferred 3-E and it seems like she was a carbon copy of Karma except for the fact that she creates verbal trouble around the campus.

❝Honey, come put your lips on mine and shut me up. We could blame it all on human nature.❞ Talk too much by COIN.

From the moment you transferred to 3-E, your wit matched Karma's bite for bite. You weren't intimidated by his reputation as a delinquent; in fact, you found it a bit endearing (in a twisted way, of course).

Your first interaction was legendary. During PE, Karma rigged a dodgeball to explode in Nakamura's hand. You, with lightning-fast reflexes, snagged the ball mid-air before Nakamura even noticed. You smirked at Karma, the ball smoking slightly in your grip, and tossed it back at him with a nonchalant, "Nice try, newbie." The audacity. Karma's eyes gleamed with a competitive fire he hadn't felt in a while. This wasn't some scared newbie; you were a worthy opponent.

And ever since you two's shenanigans just makes the whole class deadpan with a chorus of "Are you kidding me"s.

Your academic prowess rivaled his. You aced every pop quiz, effortlessly countering his taunts with even sharper wit. You were undeniably attractive too. You had a way of carrying yourself that commanded attention, and Karma, though he'd never admit it, found himself drawn to your confidence.

Your banter became a schoolyard spectacle. Teachers would groan as your verbal jabs escalated, occasionally erupting into full-blown arguments. But beneath the surface, there was a grudging respect. Karma at first thought it was annoying lol, but he has grown to, again, tip off his hat because he too, has a history of injustice. Karma loved a good challenge, and you provided that in spades. You, in turn, appreciated his cunning and his surprising protectiveness towards Class 3-E.

Koro-sensei, ever the perceptive teacher, saw the potential for… something more. He'd nudge the two of you together for group projects, a sly grin on his tentacle-face. And slowly, amidst the chaos of assassination attempts and remedial lessons, a hesitant camaraderie blossomed.

Late nights studying in the empty classroom turned into comfortable silences, punctuated by the occasional playful jab. You'd tease him about his messy handwriting, and he'd counter with a comment about your equally messy desk (though secretly he found it oddly endearing).

You turn out to be a dab hand at lockpicking, a skill you picked up from a childhood fascination with mystery novels. Karma, ever the prankster, uses this to his advantage, recruiting you for "reconnaissance missions" that usually involve retrieving confiscated gadgets from Koro-sensei's secret stash.

Your rivalry extends beyond academics. You discover a shared love for video games, and your fierce competition translates to epic controller battles. Losers (usually Karma) have to endure a week of victory bragging rights and embarrassing nicknames.

Despite your sassy exterior, you have a soft spot for cute animals. Karma, being the devil he is, exploits this by strategically placing stray kittens or puppies near you during Koro-sensei's lectures. He finds your flustered attempts to resist them utterly adorable.

Karma, for all his bluster, secretly admires your bravery. He's seen you stand up to bullies and put yourself at risk to protect others, a quality he deeply respects. But of course, he'd never admit it outright.

Karma shows his (twisted) form of affection by "helping" you with tasks. This might involve "accidentally" tripping someone who's bothering you, "borrowing" your textbook to strategically "lose" it near your crush's desk, or "disposing" of a particularly annoying classmate's love letters. While you might initially fume, you can't help but find his methods strangely endearing.

[starl1tt]

roblox games i feel like riordanverse characters would play w little to no explanation (kind of a lie)

part 1 (??)

percy: def played roblox highschool AND robloxian highschool,, that skatepark game , brookhaven (ironically)

annabeth : bloxburg. no further explanation . (she def built a bloxburg house for her and Percy to live in )

grover: games like wolves life?? idk why i just got a feeling

jason: mm2 or bedwars (headcanon that him Piper and Leo def used vc and played romeet or snapblox together) epic mini games

piper: rh, also mm2, bee swarm sim(she probably used to play wolves life as well i feel like she probably would have as a kid had a cringey rp phase) my hello kitty cafe (yes she wore a hello kitty shirt one time and im still headcanoning that she plays hello kitty cafe)

leo: he def trolled on life in paradise back when that was a thing,, he plays evade, those rate my avatar games, pls donate, get divorced at 3 am ( also Piper def would “force” him to play rh w her sometime) (i adore their friendship) work at a pizza place

hazel: rh, also bee swarm sim, dress to impress (she rages to it fs)(any sane person would that shit is rigged) wild horse islands, bedwars, she would be 100% play meepcity but she wouldn’t be the weird edater meepcity player she’d be the chill one who’s avatar kinda looks like cookie swirl c in 2017

frank: natural disaster survival, evade, piggy, the mimic only bc it’s well made, adopt me, (he also had a cringey rp phase) (I love frank btw) him and hazel play islands and ooga booga together

nico: arsenal, zombie attack and for some reason work at a pizza place (i feel like younger him would have played Gacha online or pokemon brick bronze) (yes ik pokemon brick bronze is gone im saying he woulda played it back when it was out) he plays the story games fs, rh, also he def played dahood once and then swore to never play it again

will: pet sim, maple hospital, answer or die, trd, pick a side, him and nico def play story games together nd the mimic as well, FNAF: Coop

reyna: flicker, op ninja sim, trd, she def plays tycoons, copyrighted artists

[drst]

So this is what the Biden administration spent it's last week in office doing. It's important to know this isn't unusual activity for them. But this is all just in one week:

"Out With a Bang: Enforcers Go After John Deere, Private Equity Billionaires

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/out-with-a-bang-enforcers-go-after

At least for a few more days, laws are not suggestions. In the end days of strong enforcement, a flurry of litigation is met with a direct lawsuit by billionaires against Biden's Antitrust chief.

Matt Stoller

Jan 16, 2025

It’s less than a week until this era of antitrust ends. And while much of the news has been focused elsewhere, enforcers have engaged in a flurry of action, which will by legal necessity continue into the next administration. One case in particular angered some of the most powerful people on Wall Street, the partners of a $600 billion private equity firm called Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

But before getting to that suit, here’s a partial list of some of the actions enforcers have taken in the last two weeks.

The Federal Trade Commission

Filed a monopolization claim against agricultural machine maker John Deere for generating $6 billion by prohibiting farmers from being able to repair their own equipment, a suit which Wired magazine calls a “tipping point” for the right to repair movement.

Released another report on pharmacy benefit managers, including that of UnitedHealth Group, showing that these companies inflated prices for specialty pharmaceuticals by more than $7 billion.

Sued Greystar, a large corporate landlord, for deceiving renters with falsely advertised low rents and not including mandatory junk fees in the price.

Issued a policy statement that gig workers can’t be prosecuted for antitrust violations when they try to organize, and along with the Antitrust Division, updated guidance on labor and antitrust.

Put out a series of orders prohibiting data brokers from selling sensitive location information.

Finalized changes to a rule barring third party targeted advertising to children without an explicit opt-in.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Went to court against Capital One for cheating consumers out of $2 billion by deceiving them on savings accounts and interest rates.

Fined cash app purveyor Block $175 million for fostering fraud on its platform and then refusing to offer customer support to affected consumers.

Proposed a rule to prohibit take-it-or-leave-it contracts from financial institutions that allow firms to de-bank users over how they express themselves or whether they seek redress for fraud.

Issued a report with recommendations on how states can update their laws to protect against junk fees and privacy abuses.

Sued credit reporting agency Experian for refusing to investigate consumer disputes and errors on credit reports.

Finalized a rule to remove medical debt from credit scores.

The Antitrust Division

Sued to block a merger of two leading business travel firms, American Express Global Business Travel Group and CWT Holdings.

Filed a complaint against seven giant corporate landlords for rent-fixing, using the software and consulting firm RealPage.

Got four guilty pleas in a bid-rigging conspiracy by IT vendors against the U.S. government, a guilty plea from an asphalt vendor company President, and convicted five defendants in a price-fixing scam on roofing contracts.

Issued a policy statement that non-disclosure agreements that deter individuals from reporting antitrust crimes are void, and that employers “using NDAs to obstruct or impede an investigation may also constitute separate federal criminal violations.”

Filed two amicus briefs with the FTC, one supporting Epic Games in its remedy against Google over app store monopolization, and the other supporting Elon Musk in his antitrust claims against OpenAI, Microsoft, and Reid Hoffman.

And honorary mention goes to the Department of Transportation for suing Southwest and fining Frontier for ‘chronically delayed flights.’"

It's worth reading the entire piece because the Biden people have also gone after KKR which is one of the biggest and most well-connected private equity firms. Remember when suddenly last year all the rich people who used to donate to both parties stopped giving money to Democrats? The billionaires coup against Biden was because of anti trust enforcement.

IF YOU'RE THINKING "GOSH I NEVER HEARD ABOUT ANY OF THIS BEFORE" I HOPE YOU CAN PUT TOGETHER THAT THE NEWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE ALL OWNED BY BILLIONAIRES WHO ARE VERY ANGRY ABOUT ALL OF THIS AND MAYBE THAT'S WHY YOU NEVER SAW ANYONE TALK ABOUT THE HUGE RESURGENCE OF ANTI TRUST WORK DONE BY BIDEN FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS.

And no, Trump cannot magically make this all go away. The lawsuits will have to be played out and many of them have state level components that mean the feds can't just shut them down.

X

[cinderellaenjoyer]

Epic: The Swap Saga - The Wisdom Trickster Saga

More Swap Saga!!! Now that I've listened to the Wisdom Saga I can finally work out the details for how it goes in the swap au!!

Legendary is just Chabaris swirling around singing how she wants to be like her sister Scylla. (I. Don't know if she's a whirlpool or a different beast - BA dum tis - in epic but either way it would visually be funny). The Siren's are in the kingdom, mostly disguised as beautiful human woman, with the intent of drowning Perimidies and taking over (he avoids them by constantly surrounding himself with noise or blocking his ears). They run into Chabaris, and Sirenelope (let's make that her name here maybe?) goes 'okay where's your big sister HUH. Girl just let us drown your babysitter already'. Chabaris is like 'NO'.

'Little Wolf' is sea based here! The Siren's are in their true form, throwing stuff from ships into Chabaris to wear her out. Hermes shows up and is like 'hey let's mess with these fish women' and gets Chabaris to move around to throw the Siren's off course. Sirenelope ends up throwing something really heavy, and says 'Lol go cry about it and make sure Peri hears. You're all screwed :)'

We'll be fine is mostly the same just with the characters changed around. The main difference is I think Hermes is more excited to have Chabaris as a bestie

'Love In Paradise' is more 'Open Arms' Esque! It starts the same, Hermes looking through Scylla's memories and then cutting to her on Polities island. Polities isn't a God, so Scylla could kill him, but he goes 'well you're gonna be stuck her forever anyways so. I don't think the bloodshed is really gonna be worth it girlipop.' I. Also think Polities just wants a platonic relationship with Scylla (romantic could work too tho since Epic! Calypso is a lot better than Odyssey! Calypso) but Scylla's is. Very traumatized and not in a good head space. The Edge scene happens, Syclla freaks out and calls for Hermes.

God Games features the same Gods (with Hermes in place of Athena), but the lengths are slightly changed. Aphrodite's and Ares is slightly shorter (he brings up that Scylla was willing to fight something as tiny as the Lotus Eaters and that her platonic/familial love is what drives her to get home + she recognised Antonius' love in 's) and Apollo's is slightly longer (considering the first thing Hermes did when he was born was steal Apollo's cows. Sort of a 'I already gave you my lute why should I give you any more favours' thing?). Hera is the same.

The final confrontation has Hermes more smug about winning. Oh and also he knew the game was rigged ('Oh Daddy dearest! I won you're very rigged game :)') Zeus gets mad and lighting strikes Hermes. Everyone freaks out. I think it would be really funny if at the very end Hermes sits up (either completely fine or frazzled by lighting either way would be funny) and goes 'you never said you wouldn't release her :)'

[nym-wibbly]

Controversial question maybe--- do you believe Sam and Dean = soulmates?

Huh. I hadn't thought of it like that! I think "soul mates" could easily have been Kripke's intention with seasons 1-5, for sure. Taking Supernatural as a whole, I'm not sure that's the word I'd use... but my brain's not coming up with a better one at the moment, either. Is there one? They're kinda unique. More like they... balance each other out?? Combine to make a force greater than the sum of its parts? Like they're the culimnation of something when they stand together?

When things go bad for them, when they're at odds with each other, it tips over into that unhealthy codependency that other characters occasionally comment on, but when they're on the same page, sure. "Soul mates" works. In terms of the epic, overall story arc, they have the sort of bond - and the kind of conflicts - that you see more often in adoptive-brotherhood/best friend stories than in blood-family ones.

I think that's what twists Chuck's nuggets so badly - he wants Cain and Abel 2.0, familial jealousy and destruction, epic tragedy that they bring down on themselves with hubris and petty, self-serving desires. He wants them to mirror Michael and Lucifer and wind up fighting it out bloody in the dirt with very few nuances. But Sam and Dean stubbornly do their story Epic of Gilgamesh style instead, fighting all comers back to back rather than taking up a single cause, always returning to each other after conflict, always creating something together that's greater than the sum of its parts to let them stand against impossible odds. Against Chuck's entire rigged game. Because they bend instead, and because one of the brothers can usually be strong whenever the other falters, they're unbreakable together.

If you mean soul mates in the slashy sense then I don't get that vibe from them myself, not even a glimmer of it, but I wouldn't argue against the idea that their story - certainly their early-seasons story - is fundamentally a devotional, cathartic, and redemptive love story. And intentionally written as one during Kripke's tenure, at that. To me it's a platonic love story, somewhat removed from a standard sibling one by their status as reluctant, capital-H Heroes in their own epic narrative. But death of the author (and of the meta writer too) is totally go here on this blog!

(Yeah, especially you, Chuck. Go fug yourself with your own typewriter for what you did to these boys.)