#mobile coffee franchise

[bharv]

So I noticed with several of your posts that your interpretation of Banites are predominately masculine and is massively ‘good ol boys club’ leaning. I’m curious how in a world that operates under a different praxis of sexism, bio essentialism, economic discrimination, and fertility politics than our own, how and why this is the case. Does it have to do with the general personality types that are attracted to Banite worship? The group of people who just happen to have the means and motive to be attracted to Bane? Gortash’s conscious or unconscious bias? What does being a man mean in Banite culture, to you? I’m so sorry, this is way too long and way too serious ……

Eeee I get to get into this one! I'm only on my first cup of coffee and I am trying and failing to not make this a literal essay (EDIT I failed sorry this is long and I don't think I even answered everything)

And I'm also going to pre-empt this by saying I am not a sociologist, or a particularly smart person! So some of these ideas may be very hack!

So the first thing I have as a parameter here that there's three scopes of influence that inform looking at this to me - there is the version of Faerun and Dungeons and Dragons 5e that Larian put in the game (which I LOVE and appreciate very much, I love the direction that 5e has gone in) there is the history of the writing of some of these characters and the influences of those writers across the history of D&D, and there are the influences I have in how I've built my characters and the influences I'm taking. So I'll try and be clear about which is which where I can!

Under the cut for more as this is already too long!

So the first thing to acknowledge is that gender and D&D in 5e is at its best representation of all time, to me. Obviously things still to improve, but as somebody who started out in the days of 3.5 with all the myriad of problematic ways women were represented, and then through the 4e oddness of "Yes, you as a woman can do ANYTHING!" with no real backup in the worldbuilding, I really enjoy this and I like that Larian has gone for it too in a really meaningful way.

I also think that the Dead Three were created at a point of the most edgelordiest writing in the history of the franchise, and they wear that influence on their sleeves.

We're at a really interesting point in Faerun and Larian are really exploring that in BG3. We have the printing press, we have automatons starting to come into civilian life not just inter-planar stuff, we have pianos (!) and I think it's fair to say we are at a point of change and upheaval in how people live their lives. More information is flowing across the classes. There's more social mobility starting to happen. Automation brings different approaches to jobs, and it also brings unemployment, profit margins etc etc.

We're also at an interesting point with worship of the Dead Three. I'll leave the other two for now but The Church of Bane has already gone through a pretty dramatic reform partly due to the Banesdeath and subsequent rebirth of Bane (Sidenote I need to dive into the similarities and differences between Iyachtu Xvim and The Dark Urge at some point.)

My inference is that in a combination of changing socioeconomic and socio-political norms (we can also include what happened to Elturel and Neverwinter in that, two big local powerhouse cities dramatically altered in the past twenty years before the game) has opened up a lot of potential for a lot of uncertainty, fear, and opportunity in both the church and the way power is perceived. I think this is somewhat supported in the game with just how Gort has risen to power. We get tons of ambient dialogue about the sort of cult of personality he's ridden in on in the general public. He will literally say anything to anybody to get his own way, as shown by his political manifestos having different core values. So I think this is also reflected in the Banite worship.

The Banites traditionally are people with means and ambition, which makes sense, but who those people are could be seen to be shifting too. Landlords, foundry operators, new captains of industry are likely to hold as much sway as the fading patriars. I think it offers a great deal of potential both for progress, but also regression of ideas. It also means that it would be easier, I think, to target new members by positing it as a business venture, which I think we have a little, possibly, support of in the text. It's a club for people of means. Oh, and it's a cult. But you're okay with that, right? Here's some money and some contacts.

I've shown the good old boys club of Bane (which was influenced by the lore line that they were as likely to solve disputes through lively debate, it took me right back to gentlemen's clubs) but I think there are a myriad of ways of worship now that basically play to the indulgences of the participants that best show their hunger to usurp each other. Where they were literally killing each other for dominance, it's now a more subtle set of rituals. Gambling, sex, fight clubs. Rather than torture to evoke fear as the offering to Bane, fear is now a pact offering. Everybody has their metaphorical hands around each other's neck in vice.

I do think there are women, and I do think Gortash hosts them just as he hosts the boy's club I've put forward, but in my interpretation he sees value in dividing, in creating these silos of worship and letting people create their own competition to try and destroy. At the end of it he doesn't care about who is under his boot, as long as they are, as long as he has control of them, and as long as they're looking to each other as the enemy and not to him. I think he would absolutely play into gender politics as part of that.

When it comes to influences I bring, I really like the idea that progress is not as linear as we always assume it is. I read a lot of Victoriana and I find it so fascinating that a lot of British ideas of values and things were really completely made up in that era (on a very not smart note, that's what I'm evoking in my writing. It's literally "enforcing gender essentialism and being Victorian style reformers is evil, actually." Not really very deep.) Myths were repackaged, etiquettes re-examined. Attitudes to sex were a huge one - the Georgian period had a huge shift in attitudes to sexuality and then the pendulum swung back. So I'm putting forward that one of the easiest ways to gain followers is to play into people's worst instincts. I'm not retconning the crap gender politics in earlier editions of D&D, but saying they were of the time and history in-game as well, and Gortash is very cynically using them to gain support. He encourages people to think that they are special, that they are the power, and to look down on the other, but he changes who the other is to suit himself (very contemporary politics there, Gortash...)

The Dead Three have historically been very, very masculine, and I don't think this changes if you have a default Durge. There can, I think, be a case for a reading of the gods being of a different era, a bunch of cringefail men, and their choices of chosen which leans into old misogyny when it comes to Orin (who could have a whole post of her own because of course, as a changeling, she isn't bound to gender at all, but is percieved as girlish, more on that later.) Bhaal being obsessed with siriing offspring and the big buff Bane examples etc. and I do think there's something interesting in their values being also out-of-step with the world. They will never win not only because they suck, but because the world has moved on. Again, Kelemvor and Cyric deserve their own posts here...

I really, really like the idea of Bhaalists and Banites essentially swapping their worship styles a bit and this is only from my own readings. Bhaalists becoming more obsessed with hierarchies and secrecy, Banites becoming more of a club for vice and taking on some of the weird gendered things Bhaal is guilty of as a means of control.

(I also REALLY like the idea of the Dark Urge being a woman, non-binary, or gender-shifting through how they identify and/or being a changeling, firstly because I like the idea of Bhaal God of Mess wanting to try something new. I also like different idea of having a womb and being able to birth in changing Bhaal's plan. It's not wide spread of seed, it's gestation, it's something personal and can be seen as sacred. The Dark Urge is a vessel for Bhaal in multiple ways. And thirdly particularly in trans Dark Urge works I love the idea of autonomy in that. Does Bhaal approve or no? Is this defiance or blessing?)

I'm going to stop there because honestly I could go on forever but this is the surface-level considerations in the worldbuilding of my fics.

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Ryuusei Date SRW style robotfuckers welcome? y/n/fuggit, I'll know if it gets posted

Either way, I have definitely honked my bobo to Transformers, Mobile Suits, SRW grunt mechs, Scope Doggs, Big Sword Obari Posing bois, Super Robots, Real Robots, blatant bandai toy commercials, subtle bandai toy commercials, you name it, if it's made of metal, it's probably worked it's way into my brain on cum in some capacity.

The details are very unclear and when loads were blown thinking about what mechs, but my most distinct memory is the definitive awakening moment of nutting to some Char's Counterattack art of Sazabi and Nu Gundam with some lovingly detailed battle damage.

So as dumb as the franchise gets, no matter where that roller coaster crashes, Amuro and Char will always hold a special place in my heart as THE vaguely one-sided hatefuck relationship fighting bisexual boys.

One, a tired overgrown child who's childhood sucked really bad with bisexual leanings but a probably unreciprocated mancrush from his anime co-worker.

Another, a tired overgrown child whose childhood also sucked but he also lies like crazy and is a strong challenger for Patrick Bateman's "World's Unreliable-est Narrator" coffee mug title, so we don't really know exactly how much shit he just made up on the fly getting shitfaced during Garma's funeral, but I wanna hazard a guess of...a lot.

Two autistic manchildren fighting it out over a desperate ghost lady who just wants to watch them bone from the cuck couch in the space ghost love hotel and film it for ghost generations to pass down.

A dumb guy who got smart enough to bring a gun to a sword fight and a much dumber mama's boy who didn't just call his old besty because it was the 80s and Tomino didn't see mobile phones catching on in the Universal Century where actual non-metaphorical non-space real Hitler just canonically existed in a way no retcons will ever let us truly overlook.

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Baby and the Bitch

(I got sidetracked hard, but Megas XLR was cool and right. Chicks Dig Giant Robots. And hoo boy, I am CHICKS.)

.

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "Three is the Oddest Number" Episode Followup, Part 1

Well, ladies and gents and human beings...it's here. The finale of Odd Squad UK. Given PBS's track record with this franchise, I'm going to just deem it the series finale until some news decides to slap me in the face that the show got renewed for a Season 2/Season 5. And that's assuming it actually does.

This is a three-parter (considering "Should Odd Acquaintance Be Forgot" is chopped in two parts), so I'll be tackling this episode and hopefully get to the other two tonight. Maybe. Hopefully. I'm not exactly confident nor excited to see how it ends, but nearly anything could be better than the trainwreck that was "Odd Together Now". And never forget that I took a fucking bullet for all of you who watch Season 3 because I watched that shit early. (Funny to think that I had a big old speech for my Seren Reacts video about how the show's ending...and how it aged poorly. Didn't even get to do a final run on it!)

But enough talk! Let's have at this episode below the break.

(A post-editing note: I was informed that Leonie is, in fact, a girl, and not a boy like I thought. I'm keeping the LGBTQ+ theory because we've already gotten gay triangle villain and they could extend that to child villains too, but keep in mind that Leonie is a girl and not a boy. That's my bad.)

Ohhhh...a Niki episode. Once again, as long as it's not Omar or Tasha, I do not give a flying rat's Photoshopped ass.

That aside, this looks eerily similar to the classroom at the Academy where Orchid taught in "End of the Road". It's just more green, and there are no Mobile Unit agents, but the sentiment is there.

Hold on, hold on...this shit was all them?

Okay! Great! Cool! So riddle me this, then: why did we not get any hints about you in any of these episodes? Even a shot of any one of these three peeking around a corner -- or hell, even a funny background Easter egg or a symbol of some kind! -- would have helped tremendously.

You guys remember my complaint about them trying to squeeze a story arc into 12 episodes? This is the result of that and my complaints are legit so help me God.

Oh, hi, Ohlm. You got out of your eternal grounding and hopped on a plane to the UK? Didn't...didn't even serve any jail time for committing mass murder, huh?

(Yeah yeah, I'm aware that's not Ohlm. But you can't tell me it doesn't look like an older Jaiden at first glance.)

This is the most goddamn LGBTQ+ child villain I have ever seen, and I will leave the fandom to discuss their own theories.

Their...their logo is literally...it's just a slimmed-down version of...the...Science symbol...

Deja vu, I have in fact been in this place before, in "Oscar Strikes Back". And if neither of these three were Scientists, then what is point?

Oxandra is a name I'm fine with. It's Cassandra but Odd Squad-fied.

Offee, though? Is the name born from a mother with a severe caffeine addiction, and anyone who says it's toffee is wrong. Think about it. Sit on how demonized coffee is in this franchise. And then, find the symbolism.

SEE???? AND HIS NAME IS OLLISON. ALLISON. HE'S A BOY.

THE MOST OBVIOUSLY LGBTQ+ CHILD SINCE SEATTLE MR. O BAR ONLY HIM.

"To do that, we need to steal three shapes from their gadgets."

I see someone's taking their cue from Odd Todd in World Turned Odd.

"But we can't just go into Odd Squad HQ and steal it."

Actually yes you can, and lemme lay this out:

Get some agent suits

Maybe get some masks, or disguise yourself with a shapeshifting device

Get into HQ

Steal the shapes

????

????

Profit.

*long deep sigh*

No. Don't do this. Not after m' boi reformed. Don't do this. I'm recovering from last episode still. DON'T. DO THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-

Pretty sure I mentioned how good foreshadowing would be in "A Tour of Odd Squad", no?

And yet, they decide to shove it into this episode????? They decide to have the "kids in the superfan tour" thing in this episode?!?!?!?!

Okay, they cared about continuity this season, but only a sparse few times. They've bent the rules of continuity so many times that they could abso-fuckin'-lutely have put them in the tour in that episode.

"But Seren, you would still whi-" FUCKING YES I WOULD STILL WHINE. I HAVE A RIGHT TO WHINE THANK YOU.

Ohhhhh...because Icy Mouseeeeeeeeey.....

If this is shaping up to be a villain episode, then I'll say right now that "Villain Networking" handled it much better.

I...why do we need a time card? If they're already at the "assigning roles to the evil plan" portion, how the fuck long do they need?

Aaaaaaaah' c'maaaaaaaaaahn. You can't tell me they weren't thinking of Macklemore here. At least once!

"We don't follow fashion...?"

Already got my idea for a new Season 2/Season 5 character. And that's setting aside the fact that Onom is canonically a seamstress. (Seamster?)

No, that's a child in a mouse mask, Ryan Lewis. There is a difference between a bipedal mouse and a bipedal human wearing a mouse mask.

"Chasey or zappy" is a real PBS Kids way of saying "shoot first, or chase first?"

Though to be honest, wounding him would up the finale's ante considerably.

50/50 chance of Orli calling them out on being literal children instead of adults.

...

No, lemme change that. 90/10. And you should know what the 10 is for.

DID A WHOLE-ASS VISCERAL COUGH AT THIS LGBTQ+ CHILD ASKING ORLI TO TAKE A FUCKING SELFIE AND NAME-DROPPING SELFIE AND BRO WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING.

If I really wanted to, I could make an MLP unicorn telekinesis joke, but I don't want to, so I won't.

NOOOOOO. N O T THEM HAVING A PORTRAIT VS. LANDSCAPE DEBATE. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NIKI CHILD WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK- *explodes*

This slow head shake is fucking sending me. This entire scene is beautiful for a cold-open-not-cold-open.

Y'ALL GOT TWO MORE SHAPES TO FIND NOW W H A T ARE Y'ALL DOING.

I appreciate the villains giving the math lesson this time around, even if they are our big bads. We don't get many villain math lessons because villains are supposed to be st00pid at math.

Oxandra. Sweet summer child. Either drop the evil laugh or work on it. It's not for you.

Look, the more this very obvious Otis reference is brought up, the more I will fucking complain about it.

Again I have to ask: what is the writers' fixation on referencing Season 2 stuff? 10 years' worth of stuff to reference and you go with Season 2?

...Oh, and speaking of:

"Is...that just a regular magnifying gla-"

"JUST LET ME HAVE THIS ONE, ORLI!! PLEEEEEASE!!"

"they wouldn't have gotten away from me and this"

bro has feet

other bro has a limp and two tiny wheels

Think realistically, Orwell. Really think. Sit on it forever if ya have to.

Y'know, seeing this season makes me realize that they really just up and went "okay, make a gadget for anything and everything in existence".

And that's in addition to the 10k they already have, mind you.

(On to Part 2!)

[sparktober]

Sparktober Bingo 2023!

So excited to bring you this year’s collection of bingo prompts! As in previous years, we have collected a bunch of 2023 -tober prompt lists (found on this google sheet in the tober 2023 tab, with relevant links and hashtags. Check out the originals!). This year, we have also included generic tropes and additional rp/ask post prompts.

Add in a list of Atlantis episodes, crank up the soft-serve machine, and…

How to Play:

Choose all prompts or a mix of “flavors” from the prompt sets below the cut, then paste it into this fandom bingo card generator.

Adjust your browser size til it looks right and take a screenshot!

On mobile? Can’t generate your own? Generally sounds annoying? Check out this post for some pre-generated randomized bingo cards that you can take!

Sparktober Bingo Rules: (there are no rules)

Complete a row/column, corners, or a blackout of your card by November 1, or not! Update as you go. Spontaneously declare victory whenever you feel accomplished.

Tag #sparktober so people can see your bingo cards and creations!

All fan-works are encouraged: art, edits, fic, meta…

You are allowed to pull multiple cards until you get one that inspires you (hit “refresh” on the generated bingo card page).

You can also edit the prompt list as much as you want in advance to suit your likes and dislikes. Each “flavor” list is alphabetized.

There were tons of dialogue prompts this year in all categories, so those have been collected together in their own category.

Use the prompts liberally! “The Long Goodbye” could be an episode-related fic or a fic about saying goodbye or inspiration for a Raymond Chandler-esque Noir Detective AU. Go wild!

Flavor descriptions:

The prompt lists are below, in the following text blocks. Copy any or all of them into the bingo card generator!

VANILLA: Gen prompt lists from Fictober, Inktober, Flufftober, Trektober’s Gen and Trek lists, general tropes, and some prompts from various ask/rp prompt lists (additional lists and links are in the google doc).

CHOCOLATE: Smut themed prompt lists from Trektober NSFW and the #fawktober2023 kinktober list, and a few bonus tropes.

ROCKY ROAD: Whump prompts from the ever-fabulous whumptober! The multiple-choice-prompts-per-day have been broken into individual prompts.

COOKIE DOUGH: Dialogue prompts sourced from gen, whump, and rp prompt lists.

SEA SALT: Atlantis episode list (in order, in case you only want to copy certain seasons), along with Atlantis and SG-1 characters and some franchise-specific prompts.

THE WORKS: All of the above! For this flavor, copy and paste everything below the readmore. :)

Mod note: If you’re editing the list, make sure there’s a semi-colon (;) between your prompts. If you have semi-colons without prompts, you might end up with blank spaces. If you get a server error when using the bingo card generator, have some ice cream and try again!

Vanilla;

[…] At First Sight; A Very Long Hug; About-To-Die Confession; Academy; Accidental Kiss; Accidental Marriage; Adventure; Advertising; Age Difference; Amnesia; Angel; Angst With A Happy Ending; Animals / Pets; Anniversary; Another Character Ships It; Assassin; Assumed Unrequited Love; Back From the Dead; Bathhouse / Sauna; Beast; Bed Hair; Bed or Tent Sharing; Black Ops; Blind Date; Body Swap; Bounce; Candles / Lanterns / Fairy Lights; Canon Compliant; Canon Divergent; Castle; Celestial; Chains; Champagne; Character Survives; Chess; Childhood Sweethearts; Cinderella Moment; Coffee in Bed; Coffee Shop; College; Comfort / Care; Common Interests; Confession; Corn Maze; Counting Freckles; Court Martial; Coworkers to Friends to Lovers; Crew as Family; Crossover; Cuddling for Warmth; Cyberpunk; Dagger; Damsel in Distress; Dangerous; Decontamination; Demon; Dessert; Dinner Reservations; Diplomacy; Discovering One's Sexuality; Dodge; Domesticity; Dream; Dreams Do Come True; Dress Uniform; Drip; Drunken Confessions; Emergency; Encouragement; Enemies to Lovers; Evacuation; Everyone Knows But Them; Everyone Thinks We're Doing It; Eye Contact; Fairytale Retelling; Fake / Secret Identity; Fake Dating / Fake Marriage; Family; Fantasy; Fire; Fire & Ice; Fireplace; First Kiss; First Responder; Firsts; Fix-it; Fixing Each Other’s Clothes; Fluff; Forced Marriage; Forced Proximity; Forehead Kiss; Forehead Touch; Fortune; Found Family; Fraternization; Friends to Lovers; Friends With Benefits; Frost; Fuzzy Morning After; Genderswap; Giggling During Sex; Glossary; Golden; Hand Kiss; Hand-Holding; Handcuffed Together; Hiding Injuries; Historical; Hot Chocolate; Huddling for Warmth; Humming / Singing; Hurt / Comfort; Imprisoned Together; Injury Revealed; Insomnia; Ion Storm / Sci-Fi Weather; Island; Jealousy; Keeping Someone Safe; Kid Fic; Kidnapped / Rescued; Last Table at a Café; Late Nights; Linguistics; Lockdown; Long Shower; Lost Sense(s); Love Confession; Love of my Life; Loved Ones; Lovers to Friends; Lovesick; Mafia; Magic; Map; Marginalia; Markets; Massive; Matchmaker; Meet Cute; Meet Ugly; Melting; Mentor; Mirrorverse; Misunderstandings; Movie Night; Multifandom Crossover; Multiple Universes; Musical; Mutation; Mutual Pining; Neck Kiss; New Occupation; Nightmares; No Trespassing; Nobody Knows; Nook; Observation Deck; Obsession; Only One Bed; Original Character; Out of Uniform; Outdoor Event; Pajamas; Partners in Crime; Path; PhD; Phone Calls; Pining; Plump; Plural; Poisoned; Polyamory; Porch Swing; Post-Apocalyptic; Pregnancy; Present Day; Protection; Pumpkin; Rainy Day; Reading Each Other's Minds; Reassignment; Rec Room; Recovery; Recruitment; Red Alert; Regency; Remove; Rescue Mission; Retirement; Reunion Hug; Rise; Rivals to Lovers; Road Trip; Role Reversal; Roommates; Rush; Saddle; Scratchy; Secret Relationship; Self-Worth / Self-Love; Sex / Love Pollen; Shaken, Not Stirred; Shallow; Shared Dreams; Shared Injuries or Pain; Shore Leave; Sick Fic; Singing to Sleep; Sleeping in; Slow Burn; Slow Dancing; Snowed In; Soft Character Snaps; Soothing Touch; Soul Bond; Soulmates; Space Horror; Spacewalk; Sparkle; Spicy; Spiders; Spin the Bottle / Truth or Dare; Spooky; Spy; Superhero; Supernatural; Survival Training; Sweater Weather; Sweet Tooth; Sync; Take-Out; Taken Hostage; Target Practice; Tattoos; Telepathy; Tending to Injuries; Terminology; Things Have Changed; Time Loop; Time Travel; Toad; Trinket; Under a Spell; Undercover as Lovers / Married; Waking Up; Walking Home; Wander; Warning; Watching A Movie Together; Wearing Each Other’s Clothes; Wing Fic; Wrong […]; X + 1;

Chocolate;

69; A/B/O; About-To-Die Sex; Against a Wall; Alien Anatomy; Aliens Made Us Do It; Anal; Anonymous Sex; Aphrodisiacs; Bath / Shower; BDSM; Begging; Biting; Blowjobs; Body Worship; Bondage; Breath Play; Breeding; Caught Masturbating; Choking; Cock Rings; Cockwarming; Comfort Sex; Consensual Non-Consent; Corruption; Costumes; Cream Pie; Crying; Cunnilingus; Dacryphilia; Deep Throating; Degradation; Dirty Talk; Double Penetration; Edging; Exhibitionism; Face Sitting; Fingering; First Time; Fisting; Food Play; Forced Orgasm; Formal Wear; Frottage; Fuck or Die; Gagging; Glove Kink; Gun Play; Hand Job; Hate Sex; Heat / Rut; Hunter / Prey; Impact Play; In a Vehicle; Intercrural Sex; Knife Play; Lap Dance; Lazy Morning; Leather / Latex; Lingerie; Love Bites; Masturbation; Mirror Sex; Monster; Object Insertion; Oral; Orgasm Denial; Orgy / Group; Overstimulation; Partner Swap; Pegging; Period Sex; Pet Play; Piercings; Possessiveness; Praise Kink; Public; Rebound Sex; Rimming; Ritualistic; Role Play; Romantic Sex; Rough Sex; Seduction; Sensory Deprivation; Sex Toys; Sexting / Phone Sex; Shower Sex; Size Kink; Slow and Soft; Somnophilia; Spanking; Squirting; Stripping; Table Sex; Temperature Play; Tentacles; Thigh Riding; Threesome; Tit / Nipple Play; Undercover as a Sex Worker; Virginity; Voice Kink; Voyeurism; Wall Sex; Wax Play; We-Didn't-Die Sex; Whipping;

Rocky Road;

Aftermath of Failure; Alleyway; Animal Trap; Betrayal; Blanket; Blindfold; Bloody Knife; Body Modification; Borrowed Clothing; Brass Knuckles; Bridal Carry; Broken; Broken Phone / Radio; Buried Alive; Captivity; Cattle Prod; Cold Compress; Collar; Debris; Decoy; Delirium; Drugging; Emptiness; Examination; Flare; Flatline; Floral Bouquet; Glass Shard; Goodbye Note; Gurney; Hunting; Journal; Lab Rat; Made to Watch; Makeshift Bandages; Matches; Miscommunication; Mistaken Identity; Neglect; Outnumbered; Overcrowded ER; Panic; Pinned Down; Playing Cards; Polaroid; Psychological; Radio Silence; Recording; Red; Reluctant Whumper; Restraints; Sacrifice; Safety Net; Scars; Scented Candle; Seeing Double; Setbacks; Shadows; Shaking; Shock; Solitary Confinement; Stalking; Stranded; Suppressed Suffering; Swooning; Thermometer; Tortured for Information; Touch Aversion; Trapped Together; Troubled Past Resurfacing; Vehicular Accident; Vows; Water Inhalation; Working to Exhaustion;

Cookie Dough;

“Absolutely not.”; “Are you with me?”; “Be honest.”; “Be still.”; “Can I ask you something?”; “Can you hear me?”; “Come with me, hurry.”; “Did you miss me?”; “Did you plan for this to happen?”; “Do I look like I knew that?”; “Do you even know what this means?”; “Do you ever regret it?”; “Do you know a way out of here?”; “Do you know how long you were gone?”; “Do you know what you’re doing?”; “Do you recognize this?”; “Don’t do this again.”; “Don’t move.”; “Don’t shoot.”; “Don’t stop.”; “Don’t worry, I got you.”; “Everyone leaves.”; “Everything hurts.”; “Everything will be okay now.”; “Fine, explain it to me.”; “Fuck off.”; “Fuck you.”; “Go away.”; “Hey, wake up!”; “Hit them harder.”; “Honestly, why would I care?”; “How come?”; “How could you just show up after all this time?”; “How many fingers am I holding up?”; “I can’t wait for you.”; “I couldn’t tell you before.”; “I disagree.”; “I don’t feel so good.”; “I don’t know if they will accept this.”; “I don’t need anyone else but you.”; “I knew.”; “I know.”; “I love you.”; “I may not get another chance to say this.”; “I missed you.”; “I need you by my side.”; “I never said it would be easy.”; “I thought [X] was with you.”; “I thought we were past this.”; “I thought you were dead.”; “I told you I would come back.”; “I was worried.”; “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”; “I’ll never leave you again.”; “I’ll take care of it.”; “I’m done.”; “I’m fine.”; “I’m glad to have you through all of this.”; “I’m just getting comfortable.”; “I’m lost.”; “I’m not saying I didn’t like it.”; “I’m seeing this through to the end. With you.”; “I’m sick.”; “I’m sorry for leaving.”; “I’m sure.”; “I’m up, I’m up!”; “I’ve got you.”; “If you don’t stop now —”; “Is it really over?”; “Is that a challenge?”; “Is that you?”; “Is this okay?”; “It made me think of you.”; “It should have been me.”; “It stopped.”; “It wasn’t my choice.”; “It’s all for nothing.”; “It’s been a while.”; “It’s broken.”; “It’s good to see you.”; “It’s not too late, let’s go.”; “It’s not your fault.”; “It’s okay, I’m here now.”; “It’s raining.”; “It’s you.”; “Just hold on.”; “Just in case this doesn’t work.”; “Keep quiet.”; “Kiss me.”; “Leave me alone.”; “Let me see.”; “Let’s go.”; “Let’s talk.”; “Long time, no see.”; “Make it stop.”; “Maybe you should stay away from me.”; “My mother adores you.”; “Never mind.”; “Nice outfit.”; “No one knows us here.”; “No one will find you.”; “No way.”; “No, you won’t understand.”; “Not here.”; “Not much longer…”; “Now what?”; “Oh no, you’re a morning person!”; “Okay, show me.”; “Please listen.”; “Please stop.”; “Since when?”; “Slow down.”; “So… what’s new?”; “Stay here.”; “Stay low.”; “Stop distracting me.”; “Stop that.”; “Stop yelling!”; “Take it easy.”; “Take me with you next time.”; “That’s all? Easy.”; “That’s impossible.”; “They don’t care about you.”; “They’re not breathing!”; “Things were better before you left.”; “This better be good.”; “This sucks.”; “Try me.”; “Wait, you love me?” “I always have.”; “Watch out!”; “Watch yourself.”; “We agree?”; “We can’t do this on our own.”; “We can’t.”; “We only have each other.”; “We shouldn’t be doing this. Not here.”; “We’re fucked.”; “What happened to me?”; “What if we’re wrong?”; “What now?”; “Where have you been?”; “Where to?”; “Who takes care of you?”; “Who’s that?”; “Who’s there?”; “Why are you here?”; “Why did you come back?”; “Why did you leave?”; “You ass.”; “You coming?”; “You could have said goodbye.”; “You could say I’m fond of you.”; “You didn’t even try to look for me.”; “You don’t have to pretend.”; “You have me, always.”; “You in there?”; “You knew?”; “You left me to die.”; “You look awful.”; “You look like hell.”; “You need me.”; “You owe me an explanation.”; “You said you’d never leave.”; “You shouldn’t have left.”; “You told your family?”; “You will regret touching them.”; “You’ll have to go through me.”; “You’re a liar.”; “You’re here and that’s all that matters.”; “You’re joking.”; “You’re miserable.”; “You’re right.”; “You’re serious.”; “You’re the reason I came back.”; “You’re wrong.”; “You’ve changed.”;

Sea Salt;

Rising; Hide and Seek; Thirty-Eight Minutes; Suspicion; Childhood’s End; Poisoning the Well; Underground; Home; The Storm; The Eye; The Defiant One; Hot Zone; Sanctuary; Before I Sleep; The Brotherhood; Letters from Pegasus; The Gift; The Siege; The Intruder; Runner; Duet; Condemned; Trinity; Instinct; Conversion; Aurora; The Lost Boys; The Hive; Epiphany; Critical Mass; Grace Under Pressure; The Tower; The Long Goodbye; Coup d'Etat; Michael; Inferno; Allies; No Man’s Land; Misbegotten; Irresistible; Sateda; Progeny; The Real World; Common Ground; McKay and Mrs. Miller; Phantoms; The Return; Echoes; Irresponsible; Tao of Rodney; The Game; The Ark; Sunday; Submersion; Vengeance; First Strike; Adrift; Lifeline; Reunion; Doppelganger; Travelers; Tabula Rasa; Missing; The Seer; Miller’s Crossing; This Mortal Coil; Be All My Sins Remember’d; Spoils of War; Quarantine; Harmony; Outcast; Trio; Midway; The Kindred; The Last Man; Search and Rescue; The Seed; Broken Ties; The Daedalus Variations; Ghost in the Machine; The Shrine; Whispers; The Queen; Tracker; First Contact; The Lost Tribe; Outsiders; Inquisition; The Prodigal; Remnants; Brain Storm; Infection; Identity; Vegas; Enemy at the Gate; Ronon Dex; Teyla Emmagan; John Sheppard; Carson Beckett; Elizabeth Weir; Rodney McKay; Jennifer Keller; Aiden Ford; Radek Zelenka; Kate Heightmeyer; Evan Lorne; Laura Cadman; Kolya; Chuck; Peter Grodin; Steven Caldwell; Richard Woolsey; Samantha Carter; Jack O’Neill; Teal’c; Daniel Jackson; Janet Fraiser; George Hammond; Hank Landry; Carolyn Lam; Vala; Cameron Mitchell; Jonas Quinn; Alien Technology; Ancient Technology; Ancient(s); Antarctica; Ascension; Asgard; Asurans; ATA Gene; Athosians; Atlantis; Balcony; Control Chair; Control Room; Daedalus; DHD; Earth; Genii; Goa’uld; Infirmary; IOA; Lantea; Mainland; Mission Fic; Nanites; New Lantea; Ocean; Ori; Pegasus Galaxy; Puddle Jumper; Sentience; SGC; Stargate; Stasis Chamber; Storage Closet; Wraith

[spaceobloquy]

All the Armored Core VI Endings Are Bad

There's been some debate online as to which ending to the game is good and which is bad, and why, and I'm here to tell you that they're all bad in different but more or less equally horrible ways and you're wasting your time defending one over the other. Before we start in on that, let's lay some groundwork. I'd like to credit this video by MadLuigi with helping hone my thoughts, although a lot of the below are my own observations.

Dune & Blade Runner

The first thing you need to know is that Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (henceforth AC6) is extremely heavily based on the novel Dune and the movie Blade Runner.

The Dune connection is pretty obvious: Coral was originally named Mélange in the leaked information on the game, using the more technical name for the Spice which facilitates future-sight and thus enables FTL travel in the Dune books (among other things). That should tell you all you need to know, but it doesn't stop there. Of course, Rubicon 3 being the only known planet with Coral is just like how Arrakis in Dune is the only source of the Spice Mélange. The currency of all past Armored Core entries were the generically named credits, but in AC6, it's COAM. The big feudal megacorp of Dune, standing in as the space version of the Dutch East India Company, is CHOAM, Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles. While the AC6 currency might either be an acronym or a contraction and its full meaning is unknown, this is more than a coincidence. The Rubicon Liberation Front styling themselves as "Coral Warriors", their use of Coral as a quasi-religious substance and object of worship, and their zealous dogmatism is an obvious reference to Dune's Fremen, and particularly the Fedaykin, or death commandos. Dosers and civilians are kind of like how the people of Arrakis are inadvertently exposed to Spice simply through ambient sources with the Dosers taking Coral recreationally like how Spice is used in coffee, and mealworms raised on Coral being the source of most food on Rubicon 3. All this will be very important to know for the Liberator of Rubicon ending.

The references to Blade Runner are more subtle. While human augmentation (Human PLUS) has a long history in the Armored Core franchise (going back to the first game) and in the cyberpunk genre as a whole (to which AC6 absolutely belongs), one of the progenitors of that genre is Blade Runner (1982), released in the same year as the manga Akira, and predating the genre's "literary" birth with Neuromancer in 1984. Blade Runner has an immense influence on AC6's visual and auditory style, as well as its treatment of augmented humans in a way similar to the Replicants (that is to say, as basically slaves). If you want to see this for yourself, all you have to do is compare AC6's Reveal Trailer with the opening of Blade Runner. You should be able to easily hear how heavily Kota Hoshino and company were influenced by Vangelis's score, as well as see how the visual framing was influenced.

These are not the only references AC6 has or makes, but they form the bedrock of understanding its genre and heritage as a thoroughly dystopian cyberpunk work.

Coral

AC6 revolves around Coral, and you need to understand that Coral is also a number of allusions wrapped up into one. While at heart an alien substance of biological origin (but not necessarily a lifeform unto itself) which mimics Dune's Spice Melange, it also evokes many other things:

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Permet: Permet is a mineral which facilitates remote data connections and is used to enhance various technological products, as well as augmenting humans. In sufficient quantity, if activated correctly, it can also modify local spacetime conditions, and can even host conscious minds. Sound familiar? This is likely a case of simultaneous parallel evolution rather than direct reference, as G-Witch came out so near the end of the game's development, but the similarities with Coral are hard to ignore. I'm not the first to draw this connection.

The Andromeda Strain - Andromeda: The titular Andromeda is a biological organism from Earth's upper atmosphere which directly converts energy to matter and which is capable of rapid mutation; it goes from crystalizing blood upon initial landfall on the planet to eventually consuming rubber and plastic near the book's conclusion. Andromeda's ability to self-replicate using almost any source of energy and to mutate to fit its environment is obviously reflected in Coral being able to grow best in space and experiencing Mutation Waves.

Mythology - Red Mercury: A purely fictional substance, red mercury is supposedly involved in nuclear weapons manufacture or capable of being used as an extremely potent chemical explosive rivaling nuclear weapons in destructive ability depending on who one asks. Coral's combustibility and color is a fairly obvious allusion to this or something like it.

Real Life - Nuclear Weapons: It should probably come as no surprise to you that due to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and more recently the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, that Japan has long had a fascination with and revulsion toward nuclear weapons. Coral is an explicit reference to nuclear weapons technology, taking the place of a sci-fi equivalent to them: a nuke greater than nukes. You can tell because the visual language of the Fires of Ibis directly references nuclear test footage:

The destruction of the Grid system is visually a direct allusion to test examples of nuclear destruction.

Rubiconians

When I refer here to Rubiconians, I refer explicitly to Coral-based intelligence like Ayre, not the human population of Rubicon 3. This is an important distinction. It's also important to understand that intelligences like Ayre are a relatively recent phenomenon. We know this because the game tells us so:

The Mutation Wave detected at Watchpoint Delta, which 621 liberates by destroying the regulator, is Ayre, who subsequently makes Contact with 621. We know this because ALLMIND will also refer to Ayre as a "C-pulse wave mutation—Ayre" in the Alea Iacta Est ending mission. In other words, Ayre is relatively new. Coral has not traditionally manifested sapient personalities on Rubicon 3, certainly not prior to the arrival of humanity. Ayre is a direct reaction to humanity's actions. Given Ayre is a Wave Mutation, although she (and ALLMIND) refer to other Coral as her siblings, it is not at all clear that they are self-aware in the same sense as she is. She seems to be unique among Coral, which is why she and 621 are the triggers for Coral Release in ALLMIND's ending—only they have properly made Contact.

This should immediately make you suspicious for two reasons.

Firstly, humans are the way they are because of a long evolutionary process which begat physical, corporeal bodies, eventually resulting in anatomically modern humans that think and express in the ways we are familiar with. Coral does not have any of these constraints, and therefore should not naturally produce anything resembling a human mind, and yet Ayre seems remarkably human without having any of the physical neurological structure or evolutionary history to support that human mentality. This is extremely unlikely to happen purely by random chance.

Secondly, we learn over the course of the game that Ayre is capable of hacking, cracking, searching, and understanding human communication and data systems to an impossibly advanced degree. This is proven in small ways over the course of the campaign where she helps 621 out with locked systems—often to Walter's surprise—but is most grandly demonstrated in the Fires of Raven ending, when she takes over the PCA's abandoned Closure System to try and shoot down the Xylem, a feat which Carla asserts would be impossible for the corporations to do—and Carla is the best and brightest survivor of the Rubicon Research Institute. In other words, Ayre is capable of breaking into any piece of human technology, and can also easily determine what ALLMIND is doing despite encryption and it covering its tracks.

Ayre also has access to another piece of technology which is outfitted with a Coral transceiver: 621. Ayre is most likely readily able to approximate a human in mindset and expression because she's hooked up to a human full of human memories.

This is not to say that Ayre is or isn't deceiving 621 as to what she is. It's not clear how sincere or not Ayre is. It's not clear how truthfully she is presenting herself and her agenda. She could be perfectly earnest and forthright, or she could absolutely be presenting 621 with what she thinks 621 needs to hear to do what is best for Coral and using 621 as a tool and means to an end, or anything in between. She could be benevolent and a true believer in symbiosis, or she could be using 621 to liberate Coral so that it may parasitize humanity. It's worth noting here that the easiest means of hacking systems is social engineering, and that 621 was specifically targeted for Contact.

What you're really presented with in AC6 is an Outside Context Problem: you are interfacing with an alien entity that certainly seems to be sapient, agreeable, helpful, and wanting only the best for you and humanity as a whole. But does it really? The game is essentially about who you decide to trust as you make a decision on an evolutionary question about the future of humanity.

Are human morality and ethics, and a willingness to be open and inclusive and welcoming, an evolutionarily adaptive trait? Or are they, in this case, maladaptive? Or... neither? Is trusting Ayre a good idea?Or Rusty? Or Walter and Carla? Or even ALLMIND? Or is the road to Hell paved with good intentions?

The truth is... all your choices are bad.

Ending: Fires of Raven

Walter and Carla's point—and that of Overseer and Professor Nagai of the Rubicon Research Institute—is fairly easy to understand. If nuclear bombs could self-replicate and were also sapient, would you allow them to do so just because they asked nicely? Or would you consider that to be a threat to not just humanity, but all life on Earth? They see the question of Coral as this hypothetical writ large, because Coral can replicate endlessly throughout space.

If one planet's worth of Coral can burn and contaminate an entire star system (or several; the game isn't quite clear on how many systems were affected), then what could a star system's worth of it do? How about several star systems? Or an entire galaxy? Coral is potentially a threat to the entire universe if it's allowed to get off of Rubicon 3. That Coral can also be ignited at any time by any sufficient explosion or natural phenomena; solar flares, supernova, nuclear bombs, even a sufficient chemical explosive or friction heating can ignite it. It could all go off for any reason at any time. Coral will present a threat as long as it exists, because there will always be those who seek to claim its power as their own for whatever ends: "Where there's Coral, there's blood."

The calculation as far as Overseer is concerned is simple: burn Rubicon 3, everyone on it, and everyone near it to save the rest of humanity and the universe at large. The casualties are collateral damage compared to the stakes. There are far, far more humans elsewhere than there are on Rubicon 3, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Is that right? Is it right to make Coral extinct, and genocide those on Rubicon 3, to save the rest of humanity, which apparently lives under an oppressively hypercapitalist megacorporate dystopia?

(It's worth noting at this point that the PCA is not the military of some grand government off to one side somewhere, like the UNSC Navy. It's its own entity and is effectively the Rubicon space police. This is reflected not only in its ship design, but in its ranks ("high-ranking officers" in the PCA are First Lieutenants and Captains, which are junior officers in an army or air force, but high ranks among police), in its language (the PCA treats resistance as a "declaration of war" upon itself, not any government it represents), in its ability to be banished from Rubicon 3 and an inability to reinforce from anywhere else, from the PCA's System AI being buried in the depths leading to Institute City, from the its terminology (Ekdromoi, CATAPHRACT, and NEPENTHES are all references to ancient Greece, notably dominated by city-states), and from the fact that in the Fires of Raven ending, despite being disgraced and shattered it's still in a position to negotiate, which would have been taken over by a higher authority above it after its dismal performance if any such authority existed. The PCA was most likely set up by the corporations (or perhaps planetary-level governments) as an independent actor after the Fires of Ibis. There is no grander government out there to save the day, and Armored Core as a franchise has never centered governments outside of Armored Core 2: Another Age.)

Some say yes, for the reasons Overseer gestures at. It's simply too dangerous to let it live, whether it's exploited by corporations or not, whether it achieves a Coral Collapse or not. It's also not talked about much, but an entity like Ayre also represents an infinitely more capable danger than one like ALLMIND; all she might need is time to gather resources.

Some say no, arguing that entities like Ayre have as much right to exist as humans, and that extinguishing them is not only repeating humanity's greatest crimes but denying its future improvement. It becomes tempting at this point to draw historical parallels, but the truth is that any such parallels are of dubious applicability considering human-on-human violence is not the same as interspecies violence against aliens, which humanity has (seemingly) never encountered, let alone aliens which are effectively weapons of mass destruction unto themselves. Some go even further and suggest humanity as it exists within AC6 is not worthy of survival, which is a much more suspect argument which frankly reeks of ecofascism.

The answer is: it depends on your risk assessment. Neither we the players, nor 621, know enough to actually make a truly informed choice. All the people who do and who aren't blinded by greed and power lust (that is to say, Walter, Carla, and Nagai) think it's the right thing to do. Do you trust them? It's ultimately your judgment call.

If you take the Fires of Raven ending, you (supposedly) destroy all the Coral, purge life from Rubicon 3 and its system, and cripple human civilization at large. Walter, Carla, Chatty, Rusty, Ayre, and everyone else all die. 621 is perhaps the sole survivor. It seems the Fires of Raven are grander than the Fires of Ibis, and the disgraced PCA and depleted remnants of Arquebus and Balam agree to abandon Rubicon 3 as they try to rebuild. 621, as Raven, goes down in history as the greatest monster of all time.

It is, however, entirely possible, given FROMSOFTWARE's Dark Souls series, that the Fires of Raven is merely the second in a never-ending line of humanity having to return to Rubicon 3 to ignite more Fires again and again, in a kind of grim echo of "linking the fire" in the first Dark Souls.

But what if I told you that the reason this ending is bad isn't necessarily because of the apparent extinction of Coral, or all the deaths both personal and statistical? Those are bad things, to be sure, but the real tragedy of the ending is you failed to actually engage with the problem Coral represents. You threw the baby out with the bathwater, and although you may or may not have prevented a Coral Collapse, you did nothing to change humanity's dystopian reality, and actually only made it worse by making it post-apocalyptic on top of everything else.

This fundamental issue—not really engaging with the problem—is true for the other endings as well. Each is an all-or-nothing solution to the problems at hand, and that is why they are all bad. Let's skip over to...

Ending: Alea Iacta Est

In this ending, Ayre lives, as does maybe Rusty, but you kill Chatty and ALLMIND kills Walter and Carla. ALLMIND betrays you, you fight the personality upload of G5 Iguazu, and finally defeat ALLMIND, but initiate ALLMIND's Coral Release program yourself.

What happens next is... unclear. Interpretations of it vary.

To me, it appears to be a kind of transcendent technological singularity wherein Coral, humanity, and humanity's technology in the form of Armored Cores, all unite together to create new kinds of beings beyond time and space, and beyond even death itself. The closest analogy to this is probably the Human Instrumentality Project in Neon Genesis Evangelion, or the "stargate sequence" in 2001: A Space Odyssey where Bowman is uploaded into the Monolith and becomes the Star Child. Or, to return to Dune once again, Leto II's symbiosis with the Sand Trout of Arrakis to become a human/Sandworm hybrid. Given the other ACs present in the ending, this appears to not be limited to 621, but likely extends to everyone on Rubicon 3, if not all of humanity. Another analogy might be the true ending of Bloodborne, but on a much grander scale.

This has the same problem as a sort of similar ending from the Mass Effect series, Mass Effect 3's Symbiosis ending. While in that game, BioWare attempted to make it the "correct" choice by showing everyone happy and satisfied with it in its ending cinematic, the truth is that nothing can possibly be a grander violation of the rights of sapient beings than forcing them into a new mode of existence which is discontinuous with their lives theretofore. It is not simply a violation of individual decision-making ability, it is a violation of bodily autonomy and control—it is rape, by the commonly understood definition, as rape is truly about bodily power over others and not sex, and it is the most egregious kind of rape imaginable: becoming something else entirely beyond human. This is effectively an eldritch body horror ending in which somewhere between Rubicon 3 and the entirety of humanity, if not the entire universe, appears to have been raped in an irrevocable fashion.

Whatever its exact nature, this ending has the same problems as the Fires of Raven: it does not actually engage with any extant problems at hand, it simply throws the baby out with the bathwater. In this case, rather than it being Coral that's disposed of, it's humanity itself, as V.III O'Keeffe feared when you were sent to eliminate him on the road to this ending. Humans aren't human anymore. None of humanity's issues were actually dealt with, they were simply disposed of wholesale with humanity having been deemed unworthy of any expenditure of effort, merely replacement through upgrading.

And here we come to...

Ending: Liberator of Rubicon

On the surface, this seems like the good ending, which is why most people call it that. Ayre lives, although 621 has to personally kill Walter, Carla, and Chatty, and it seems like Rusty is killed. The RLF takes control of Rubicon 3. 621 and Ayre look to the cosmos with hopeful optimism. What's not to like?

Except... remember Dune? This is the ending of Dune.

Do you know what happens after Paul Atreides and the Fremen defeat Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and House Harkonnen on Arrakis, and Paul becomes Emperor himself? I'll tell you. His fanatical Fremen warriors spread his name throughout the rest of human space in Muad'Dib's Jihad, conservatively killing 61 billion people, mostly serfs and peasants and those who refused to forsake their faith.

Now you might say that Ayre and 621 don't want that to happen, but that's the point: it's not their choice to make, it's the RLF's. Paul didn't want it to happen in Dune either, he simply knew he couldn't stop it.

What exactly do you think is going to happen now that the faith of the Coral Warriors of the RLF is affirmed as righteous and true, now that they've defeated the PCA and corporations, now that they're in possession of all the Coral and all the Rubicon Research Institute's technology? What do you think Elcano is going to do with that research, alongside BAWS? Do you think they're going to just secure the system and be content?

Also, if Coral and humanity are to coexist together, doesn't that mean both growing in kind, together, as Ayre says? Doesn't that mean Coral augmentation surgery for everyone, with all the drawbacks that has? Or, at least, every human being a Doser to commune with Coral? What about all those who had Coral-replacement augmentation surgery, which negated the need for relying on Coral in the first place? Are they not automatically a threat to the new order, which must be destroyed to safeguard it?

Think that sounds too grim?

Don't you think it's odd that this ending comes with no narrated epilogue like Fires of Raven does, telling you what happened afterward? Instead you get Ayre telling you simply:

"Raven… One day, humanity and Coral will thrive together. You kept our potential safe. I know Walter feared a Collapse… but I promise you, there's another way. Raven… we'll find it. Together."

That sounds quite hopeful, but personally I key in on two particular phrases: one day, and we'll find it together. They remind me of something from another franchise:

Palpatine seduces Anakin to the Dark Side of the Force by dangling the prospect of cheating death in front of him, preying on Anakin's fear of visions of Padmé dying. After Anakain has committed to betraying his allies and helped kill Mace Windu, Palpatine admits:

"To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work together I know we can discover the secret."

I find Ayre's very similar speech after 621 has betrayed and killed Carla, Chatty, and Walter to be... uninspiring... personally.

Now, I'm not telling you that Ayre is Darth Sidious or a Sith Lord, although it sure is interesting Coral is red.

What I am telling you is to remember that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and where there's Coral, there's blood. You shouldn't naïvely assume that the story so heavily influenced by Dune, which is at this point directly referencing Dune, will stray very far from it, no matter how good Ayre's intentions might actually be. Because if Ayre is genuine, then she's exceptionally naïve herself, as we see from her reactions to ALLMIND's plans in Alea Iacta Est.

Even if no Dune-like Jihad sweeps AC6's universe, all the problems posed by Coral detonations and Wave Mutations and Coral Collapse still remain.

This ending, too, throws the baby out with the bathwater: instead of losing Coral, or overtly losing humanity, we have instead decided to discard the grim hypercapitalist megacorporate dystopia for a grim ultrafanatical cult religion dystopia which will also probably be even worse and/or the omnipresent threat of total mass destruction. In The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce gave the following definition:

Conservative (n.) A statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

If the Fires of Raven is conservative, preserving the status quo and its existing evils and making them worse, then both Alea Iacta Est and Liberator of Rubicon are liberal, ushering in different horrors which are only refreshing in so far as they are different than the ones that came before.

If Balam and Arquebus stand in for, oh, say, Amazon and Apple, then the RLF stands in for ISIS or Al Qaeda or the Shining Path. This is not a happy and uplifting ending, it's simply different and arranged to feel good in the moment to those who don't know what the game is drawing upon so it can pull the rug out from under them later.

Avatar

Since Dune has featured so prominently in this essay, I want to take a moment to talk about James Cameron's Avatar (2009), which has over time variously been derided as a rip-off of Dune, or Dances With Wolves or FernGully: The Last Rainforest in space, among other things. You might be asking why, so I'll cut to the chase.

The problem with Avatar is that nothing is actually resolved. Although Jake Sully's defection to the Na'vi results in the human Resources Development Administration being driven from Pandora, their hunger for unobtanium isn't quenched. Earth's resource crisis isn't solved. The shadowy elites ruling over humanity are still in charge. Nothing actually changes, problems are merely kicked down the road. The reason for this is simple: individual actions cannot solve systemic problems, whatever that systemic problem might be, be it classism, racism, environmental degradation, or so on.

In AC6, we observe systemic problems in the form of humanity's capture by corporations and bureaucracies that serve profits or power and not the common good, and the persistent problem of Coral which must be managed somehow. We do not actually resolve either of those issues as 621. We simply upset the balance one way or another and let the chips fall where they may, invoking this or that abhorrent deus ex machina.

Conclusion

While Fires of Raven represents the status quo (and stagnation and decay), Liberator of Rubicon represents the chaos of change (and likely war and fire) and Alea Iacta Est represents a fundamental rejection of humanity.

621 never actually lives up to the reputation of Raven in choosing a path of their own making. All the endings simply involve 621 choosing to trust one party or another, be it Walter and Carla and Nagai, or Ayre, or ALLMIND, rather than truly coming to their own decisions and directly addressing the actual problems at hand. This is represented in how the player is always held back until they have to deal with Xylem about to hit the Vascular Plant one way or another.

While I said that individual actions cannot solve systemic problems, they can begin to show the way toward systematic approaches to systemic problems. This is what we're told Raven represents when they're introduced properly, and also seems to be what Branch as a faction stand for. (It's notable here that when we meet Branch in NG+/NG++, they're working against the RLF, despite having previously fought the PCA.) It's also a video game, and thus is really about a power fantasy, but there's no power fantasy here. The game is never actually about your choice, it's only about who you choose to side with...

... And all the options they present you with are bad.

If there was to be an expansion, as with so many other FROMSOFTWARE games, I would hope it would be one focused around actually resolving the situation in a way of our own choosing, because that option is sorely lacking in an otherwise fantastic game.

[snapthistiger]

exercise 12012023

bike ride to the gym

3 x 10 lat pull

3 x 5 dips

3 x 10 tricep press

30 minutes on the step mill

3 x 10 tricep extension

1 x 10 seated press

bike ride to my Mom's and then home

the gym workers received York mints

my Mom was sleeping so i visited with the sitter

middle = a neighbor of mine bought a franchise for a mobile coffee truck similar to a food truck. i didn't have any money with me but went back and bought a cappuccino after i retrieved my wallet from home

bottom = holiday decorations painted on the doors and windows at a local dance studio. do businesses in your area get decorations painted on?

hope you have a peaceful afternoon and evening..

[matt-lifesage]

Matt’s 2023 Visual Novel Tier List

Another year, another tier list/countdown of all the visual novels I read!

(two-thousand words of inconsistently distributed visual novel rambling below the cut)

Honorable Mentions:

I read a couple mobile game stories via youtube videos that are worth talking about but don't really belong on this list. Anyway, I’m slowly on-again off-again catching up to Arknights (almost halfway through it all the last time I checked), and it's been solid, my personal favorite story being Guide Ahead. But the real honor goes to FGO’s Lostbelt 6. A triumph from Kinoko Nasu and the folks over at Type-Moon. One of the best high fantasy epic novels I've ever read, hidden away three hundred hours into a gacha game for extra emphasis. A genuine highlight of the franchise, and if it was eligible for my own list where I make all the rules (hey, wait a minute...), it would be somewhere in S-Tier.

D-Tier

The Humbling of a Holy Maiden

Kicked off this year with some nukige. I’ve been meaning to check out more of the genre to have proper expectations and to know what I’m actually talking about if the subject ever came up (also checked out more of the genre for the obvious reason, but shush!). Frankly, not a good start.

Our tagline is basically, “What if the degrading corruption arc of the holy maiden archetype was consensual?” Nothing groundbreaking but still potentially enjoyable. Shame this game’s execution couldn’t muster even middling entertainment. Between erotic scenes, the game repeats the same meandering attempt at a philosophical conversation between the flatly written leads, who both never feel like even they can take what they’re saying seriously. It wouldn’t be too bad if it happened once or twice, but it’s *every* conversation. They did this a dozen times. Even in a visual novel as short as this, it was mind-numbing. Unfortunately, the erotic scenes aren’t much of a relief. I didn’t share the priorities/kinks of the creators, and even if I did, I would probably find the sex a samey and dull representation of them. This game was a chore to sit through. I don’t recommend.

Also, the heroine’s ‘slutty’ design looks like two clashing sets of lingerie worn on top of each other, and it’s wildly distracting.

Coffee Talk

I’m noticing an annual trend of me reading VNs that assume I have a far more positive connotation with coffee shops than I actually do.

So… I don’t want to make too many comparisons to a certain cyberpunk bartender simulator, especially when those opinions would be based on six-years-removed, nostalgically-charged fond memories of a game I desperately need to reexperience. I went into this Coffee Talk acknowledging it's a pastiche but willing to accept its own identity and terms so I could give it a fair shot and hopefully enjoy myself.

With that being said, I kinda hated this.

Its characters and drama range from enjoyable to mildly unfortunate, mostly nothing too interesting but nothing too egregious either--with Freya, the most frequently appearing character, being our infuriating exception.

The game touches on some mature themes and topics, but more often than not, Coffee Talk’s hokey one-for-one urban fantastical allegories are weighty in the same way that inflatable dumbbells are *technically* weights. The game is so obsessed with these close metaphors that the setting fails to feel remotely believable. And because real-life identities or struggles are recast with the likes of vampires and orcs, it falls into many of the common and frustrating insensitivities of the genre.

Shout out to the art team, though. The game’s presentation is top-notch.

C-Tier

Cute Demon Crashers [reread]

I read this like eight or so years back when it first came out and wanted to see if it held up, so I slapped it on one random night and went through it all again.

Didn’t really have a good time. I’m not the target audience for this. Comfy vanilla might as well be the name of the game, and it’s very, VERY, targeted to an audience looking specifically for that. Full power to them. I can’t complain because it’s literally free. I just didn’t expect to be so immediately bored by it, even if it’s not really doing anything wrong.

Who is the Red Queen?

A quick read with some good stuff, but it didn’t stick around in my head for long after reading it. It feels weird to complain about a free indie game created by people more skilled than myself, but a chunk of the art didn’t sell the Wonderland aesthetic for me. It was fine, but I might have preferred it if it was just a text game so my imagination would interpret the world as even more ethereal and dreamlike in a way generic fantasy backgrounds didn't reflect.

If you're specifically looking for a free-to-play Alice in Wonderland-themed Yuri visual novel, it's a good one. Maybe give it a try.

Coffee Talk Episode 2

Ever read the sequel just to be a more informed hater?

In all fairness, this was a big improvement on the first game. The sequel starts with some basic world-building. There's still obvious parallels in play, but there is a little work to paint this as a separate world this time where similar issues arose, something the first game barely even tried. It doesn’t always work, but it does try, which makes it less open for me to interpret uncharitably.

A second improvement is new mechanics. I don’t think the first game fully earned its last-minute twist, but Episode 2's additional gameplay verbs, plus more significant story deviations to incentivize replay and trial-and-error, does a better job at selling the fiction that the barista has an actual effect in the characters' lives.

Finally, the characters and drama were overall improvements. It's more interesting, less cliche, and there’s a stronger thematic core to tie the desperate arcs together. The highs are higher, and the lows aren’t as low.

That said, while the execution was improved, it never escaped the same foundational approaches as the first game. The urban fantasy allegories are better, but it's still hit or miss. There's still the ever-prevalent issue of halfway through a lovely scene with likable characters discussing their interesting drama, all characters involved will turn to the camera and start speaking in the unnatural cadence of a monologue in an afterschool special. Today's very important topic: Social media harassment! Garth Marenghi would be proud. However, even that element is much better handled than the first game which literally had a character smugly declaring all of this was a one-for-one allegory to our world, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT.

After my distaste for the first game, I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel. It avoids the grating mistakes of Episode 1, but it's still too sanctimonious and I'll never vibe with its brand of gentrified twee.

Sweet Home ~H na Onee-san wa Suki Desu ka?~

Our final nukige of the list is Sweet Home. No, not the 1989 video game. No, not the movie that was based on. Not the webcomic either. (Gosh, there’s a lot of media sharing this title, huh?) 

If bland 'self-insert'-kun moving back in with his stepmom and having braindead sexy times with her roommates (plus some stepcest thrown in for spice) sounds like something you’d enjoy, then this one’s pretty a’ight. Mileage will vary if smut intended for the heterosexual male audience is even palatable to you. The game’s a quantity-over-quality situation, so you'll get plenty of it in this package for better or for worse. It got on my radar 'cause I dig how its artist, Kiriyama Taichi, drew ladies. I like their product. Probably wouldn’t have liked the game if a worse artist had been in charge--just to give you a taste of how shallow my enjoyment was lol. Consider any other game they were the artist for somewhere down in my TBR somewhere.

Ironically, for a game that’s whole fantasy is fucking (slightly) older ladies, my favorite route was the same-aged tsundere, probably because ‘childhood friend who's been repressing feels’ has more angst to it than 'new roommate wanted to see my dick.' After three of those routes, a crumb of drama might as well be a whole cake.

I couldn’t recommend paying full price. I think the asking price is too steep for this. Wait for a sale like I did.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

I’m not a Sonic fan, so despite this being incredibly charming and well done, it didn't have any staying power in my mind. Still good fun, though. It’s rare for "joke" games to be quality, and even if I'm not the target audience, the passion was infectious enough to still enjoy it.

B-Tier

You and Me and Her

This was a solid and fun metafiction experience. Faux fourth wall breaking isn’t my preference (besides, it was already perfected in the 1971 seminal literary classic The Monster at the End of This Book), I respond better to the flavor of metafiction you’ll find in Umineko or Alan Wake, but for what You and Me and Her was going for, it's pretty well-executed. Spoilers, but having a spiteful rivalry with a fictional character is a blast.

While I had a good time, I thought You and Me and Her missed an opportunity to expand its commentary outside the scope of a fourth-wall-breaking “what-if.” Several times through my playthrough, the game felt like it was on the verge of using its premise to explore amatonormativity and heteronormatity, but it never really did, and I was left twiddling my thumbs, feeling like I was unfairly expecting too much.

On that note, however, about a month after playing this game, I read the manhwa Surviving Romance--a very different exploration of the romance genre via different mediums. But it gave me that subtle yet poignant commentary I felt was lacking from You and Me and Her, so I’m using this spot to recommend that comic. It’s super solid. Go track down and read it. It’d be up in A-Tier if I kept track of and ranked the comics I read.

It gets so lonely here

A really well-done yandere horror experience. It has pretty art, tightly written, and does some fun things with its narrative structure. If you want a solid, free-to-play, and spooky yuri VN, I highly recommend this one. Go download it.

I think this game might have ranked higher during a different year, but the cut-off between A-Tier and B-Tier had to go somewhere.

A-Tier

The Radio Wave Bureau

A short, super cool interactive fiction about fixing your computer. We’re at the point with some of these where I don’t have much to say other than “go read it,” but this game is short enough it’s hard to talk about in a way that doesn’t speak for itself. It's like twenty minutes long. I really dug it. Go play it.

Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk

A beautiful and melancholic expansion for the first game. A character piece that elevates Milk and Milk 2 to 'must read' status. It’s difficult to rank which one I prefer since both enhance each other via contrast. While I adore this game’s detailed introspection, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the simplicity of--

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk

It's another read that's only around twenty minutes long, but no other VNs have ever grabbed me by the throat with their premise alone. Both these games are incredible and vulnerable slice-of-life works. Put them on your TBR.

S-Tier

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-

I made like a hundred posts about it. What else can I say?

Arcueid’s route on its own was the best VN experience I had this year. List over. That goes at the top beyond the next two entries. Sorry, not sorry. It was a beautiful, perfected reboot of the story. I loved everything about it. It made me fall in love with Shiki and Arcueid all over again. If we count the false start back in college when I didn’t get halfway through the original VN, the two times I’ve read Tsukihime all the way through, plus the twice I’ve read the manga adaptation, this was the SIXTH time I experienced this particular story. And I cried at the end. It’s that good.

Now, if I love that route as much as I do, why, you may ask, is this entry only third place? ‘Cause Remake is only half of a remake, and it really does feel like it. Not only do we not have Far Side yet, but there’s also a whole Tsukihime-worth of new stuff, half of which hasn’t been paid off yet either, so there’s a pervasive incompleteness that isn’t really a flaw with the game, but will bug me until we get the next part. Also, I wasn’t as blown away by Ciel’s route as other fans were. It turns out it becomes more obvious that I don't relate to Shiki in Ciel’s route nearly as much as I did to him in Arcueid's once you take what was basically the last four hours of the original and expand it to an almost forty-hour new story. Still love it, btw, but it’s only a 'Really really good OMG go read it' story, instead of a modern magnum opus from Nasu (what a disappointment, am I right? lol)

Anyway, this game is a triumph that met my overhyped expectations. I can’t wait to see what Nasu and the gang have planned for in -The other side of red garden-.

The House in Fata Morgana

Welp, that’s just special, innit. Michel and Giselle have planted themselves among some of my favorite leads of all time. The entire cast is strong across all the incarnations of the house. While the first act is still good, once the narrative behind the anthology format is revealed and the whole context comes into play, it becomes a fantastic tragic romance and a beautiful rumination on evil. It almost gets a bit sanctimonious near the end, but it doesn't fall into obvious narrative pitfalls. Considering the premise of the final act, it's appropriate, so I'll give it a pass.

Yet another classic that meets the hype.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL [reread]

On a technicality, this was the best magical girl VN I read all year too.

The top three VNs were neck-and-neck for the ranking, but I gotta give it to this one. It's short, but I think on every level of intent and execution, this game's incredible. A beautiful aesthetic. A creative and haunting choice/route system. Vibes for days. There are no caveats to be found here. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to. Read it. I'm not asking.

And that’s 2023! I’m going to try rereading Va-11 Hall-A in January now that Coffee Talk is fresh in my mind. Sometime after that, I’ll get back to 428--I feel really bad I left it hanging after the tutorial. As always, I hope to get through my downloaded backlog but I also plan on reading a few more Nitro+ games and my first AliceSoft title. Stay tuned!

[tsundereplease]

I wanted to do a little get to know me if anyone wanted to be friends :) mostly things related to my blog

Name: Louise

Age: 24

MBTI type: INTJ

Sun sign: Virgo

Hobbies: Reading, Video Games, Trivia

College: I got my degree in Botany :)

Career: I’m a Fungicide Biology Research Technician

Pets: 3 cats & a betta fish

Book or Movie: Book

Coffee or Tea: see I’m caffeine dependent but I started out as a tea exclusive gal, then I went to college and I couldn’t function without coffee, haven’t recovered since.

Favorite Game: can’t pick specifics but big fan of the Zelda franchise. I also liked Overwatch.

Favorite Game Genre: RPG, Action/Adventure

Favorite Book: too hard to pick but if you had a gun to my head I’d say The Court of Silver Flames

Favorite Otome: so I like Olympia Soirée on the switch and IkePri on mobile

Favorite Trope: Enemies to Lovers, and does vampires count as a trope too?

Least Favorite Trope: Miscommunication (it hurts!) & nobody likes Fade to Black. I want the details please.

Favorite Character Type: Tsundere or The Rival, Vampires, Yandere

Least Favorite Character Type: there’s a fine line in the Golden Retriever energy that either does it for me or gives me the ick. also don’t know what this is called but when there’s a character that looks/dresses/talks like they are young when they’re actually older - miss me with that - think it’s like reverse lolita? but not gender exclusive

Best Book Boyfriend: Cardan Greenbrair or Zade Meadows, honorable mention: Cassian

Best Book Girlfriend: Nesta Archeron

Favorite Otome Boy: Prince Chevalier, Takeru Sasazuka

Favorite Book Genera: Fantasy/Romance

Last Book I Read: The Queen of Nothing

Next on the TBR: probably How the King of Elfhame Learned To Hate Stories, but that will take me 1 day to read so afterwards probably Court of the Vampire Queen

my brain is fried now & I should go do my job.

but pls be my friend T.T

[coffeefranchisehub]

How Much Do Coffee Vans Make in Australia?

Coffee vans have become a popular sight across Australia. They are not just places to grab a quick cup of coffee; they are part of the culture. Many people love the convenience and the quality of coffee offered by these mobile cafes. As the demand for coffee continues to grow, many entrepreneurs are asking an important question: How much do coffee vans make in Australia? This article explores the factors that influence the earnings of coffee vans, the potential income they can generate, and the challenges they face.

Understanding the Coffee Van Business Model

Before diving into the earnings, it’s important to understand how coffee vans operate. Coffee vans typically serve espresso-based drinks, pastries, and sometimes light meals. They can be found at events, markets, corporate gatherings, and busy urban locations.

There are different models for running a coffee van. Some owners operate independently, while others might franchise their business. Each model has its pros and cons, affecting potential earnings.

Initial Investment for a Coffee Van

Starting a coffee van business requires a significant investment. Here are the main costs involved:

Van Purchase or Lease: A used coffee van can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000, while a new one can range from $50,000 to $100,000.

Equipment: This includes espresso machines, grinders, blenders, and refrigeration units. High-quality equipment can add another $10,000 to $30,000 to your initial investment.

Licensing and Permits: Depending on the location, you will need to obtain various permits. These can cost several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Supplies: You will need to purchase coffee beans, milk, and other ingredients regularly. The initial stock might cost around $500 to $1,000.

Insurance: Insurance is essential to protect your business. This can range from $1,000 to $3,000 per year.

Considering these costs, the total initial investment can range from $25,000 to over $150,000.

Revenue Generation

After investing in the van and equipment, the next step is to generate revenue. The income from a coffee van can vary widely based on several factors:

Location: High-traffic areas tend to generate more sales. Urban centers, business districts, and popular events can yield higher profits.

Hours of Operation: The more hours you operate, the more sales you can make. Many coffee vans operate during peak hours in the morning and at lunchtime.

Pricing: The average price of a coffee can range from $3 to $5, depending on the type and location. Specialty drinks may sell for more.

Customer Base: Regular customers can significantly boost sales. Building a loyal customer base is crucial for long-term success.

Events and Catering: Participating in festivals, markets, or corporate events can provide additional income. These opportunities often allow you to sell more drinks at a premium price.

Average Income of Coffee Vans

The average income for coffee vans in Australia varies significantly based on the factors mentioned above. On average, a successful coffee van can make between $300 to $800 per day. However, this can increase significantly during busy periods or events.

Daily Sales: If a coffee van sells an average of 100 cups of coffee at $4 each, that would generate $400 in sales per day.

Monthly Income: If a van operates five days a week, it could generate approximately $8,000 to $16,000 in monthly revenue, depending on daily sales.

Annual Income: After factoring in seasonal fluctuations, a well-established coffee van could earn anywhere from $60,000 to $120,000 per year.

Factors Affecting Earnings

Several factors can impact the earnings of coffee vans in Australia. Understanding these factors is crucial for potential owners.

Seasonality: Sales can fluctuate with the seasons. For example, summer may bring more customers as people enjoy cold drinks, while winter might see an increase in hot beverage sales.

Competition: The number of coffee vendors in an area can affect sales. More competition may drive prices down or lead to fewer customers.

Marketing: Effective marketing strategies can increase visibility and attract more customers. Social media, local advertising, and word-of-mouth can play a significant role in a van’s success.

Quality and Service: The quality of the coffee and customer service can determine repeat business. Customers are more likely to return if they have a positive experience.

Challenges Faced by Coffee Vans

While there is potential for high earnings, coffee vans also face several challenges:

Regulations: Navigating local regulations and health codes can be complex and time-consuming. It’s essential to stay compliant to avoid fines.

Maintenance Costs: Keeping the van and equipment in good condition requires ongoing maintenance, which can be costly.

Weather: Bad weather can deter customers, especially if the van is set up outdoors.

Variable Income: Income can be unpredictable, especially if reliant on events or seasonality. Having a financial cushion is important to manage slow periods.

Success Stories

Many coffee vans have become successful businesses in Australia. Here are a few examples of how they thrive:

Specialty Offerings: Some vans focus on specialty coffee drinks, attracting coffee enthusiasts willing to pay a premium.

Unique Locations: Coffee vans that set up in unique or scenic locations often attract more customers. For example, vans near beaches or parks can benefit from foot traffic.

Engagement with Customers: Building relationships with customers can lead to a loyal following. Offering loyalty cards or discounts can encourage repeat visits.

Social Media Marketing: Many successful coffee vans leverage social media to promote their brand and attract new customers. Regular posts about new drinks or special offers can increase engagement.

Conclusion

Coffee vans in Australia have the potential to generate significant income, with average earnings ranging from $300 to $800 per day. Factors such as location, hours of operation, pricing, and customer base greatly influence these earnings. While there are challenges in running a coffee van, many entrepreneurs have found success by focusing on quality, service, and marketing. With the right approach, a coffee van can be a profitable and rewarding venture in Australia’s thriving coffee culture.

For those considering entering the coffee van business, careful planning and market research are essential. Understanding the costs, potential income, and challenges will help set a strong foundation for success.

[kumbakonamdegreecoffee]

Which Coffee Franchise is better in Chennai: Kumbakonam degree coffee franchise or Karupatti Coffee franchise?

When looking for a coffee franchise in Chennai, both Kumbakonam Degree Coffee and Karupatti Coffee franchisees have distinct advantages. Each brand provides a unique cultural coffee experience, but which is better? Here's a comparison to assist you pick based on preferences, brand appeal, consumer base, operational costs, and franchise support.

1. Authenticity and Taste

Kumbakonam Degree Coffee has established a reputation over the years for its authentic South Indian filter coffee, which is steeped in the culture of Kumbakonam, a small town known for its coffee tradition. This coffee is made with high-quality milk, premium coffee powder, and contains no chicory. Its rich, creamy texture and distinct aroma make it a popular choice among classic coffee connoisseurs. The "degree" in its name denotes the pure milk used, making it a household name among true filter coffee enthusiasts.

Karupatti Coffee, on the other hand, focuses in creating a distinct flavor profile by sweetening the coffee with palm jaggery, also known as karupatti. This is a healthier alternative to sugary coffees, which appeals to health-conscious clients. The jaggery's characteristic smoky flavor adds a rustic appeal, providing a unique coffee experience compared to traditional filter coffee. For many customers, particularly the younger age, this health-conscious twist is a significant draw.

2. Brand Appeal and Target Audience

Kumbakonam Degree Coffee has a higher brand recall in Chennai as a result of its long history and link with tradition. It appeals to an older generation who value the nostalgia and familiarity of true South Indian coffee. Tourists visiting Chennai are lured to this brand for an authentic regional experience, as the name implies traditional flavors.

Karupatti Coffee caters to a more broad clientele, particularly health-conscious customers and younger consumers who seek something more than traditional filter coffee. The natural sweetener is popular among those trying to limit their sugar intake, and its distinct flavor profile delivers a modern yet traditional experience.

3. Franchise Model and Costs

Both franchises have distinct funding structures and support levels. Kumbakonam Degree Coffee franchisees typically demand a larger initial investment because of the brand's reputation, equipment, and setup to maintain quality and conventional standards. Franchisees, on the other hand, benefit from a proven business strategy, as well as training and marketing help. This franchise is ideal for those who value a dependable, trustworthy brand with a constant consumer base.

Karupatti Coffee franchisees may have a reduced startup cost and more flexible setup alternatives, including kiosks, tiny shops, and mobile carts. This flexibility enables franchisees to enter the market and operate in a variety of locations. Furthermore, the brand may offer particular assistance with obtaining karupatti, marketing materials, and early training, however the model may not be as well recognized or structured as Kumbakonam Degree Coffee.

4. Operational Insights and Customer Feedback

Customers commend Kumbakonam Degree Coffee businesses for their genuineness and dependability. Maintaining quality on an operational level might be more difficult, as preparing degree coffee requires specific methods to obtain the proper balance of coffee and milk.

Karupatti Coffee franchises, while easier to run and more flexible in preparation, necessitate an emphasis on maintaining the quality of jaggery-sweetened coffee, which varies depending on sourcing. Customer reviews frequently praise the coffee's distinct flavor, although its uncommon flavor profile may limit its popularity.

Conclusion: Which is Better?

Finally, the decision between Kumbakonam Degree Coffee and Karupatti Coffee boils down to your target demographic and company objectives.Kumbakonam Degree Coffee is a reliable, classic brand with a loyal consumer base and established standards. Karupatti Coffee, on the other hand, is an appealing option if you want a more adaptable, modern franchise with a health-conscious focus. For a franchisee, both alternatives have potential, but Kumbakonam may be a better long-term bet, whilst Karupatti may be excellent for those looking to attract a younger, health-conscious audience.

[naina10]

Boosting Success: Proven Strategies on How to Promote Your Franchise Business

Starting a franchise business can be an exciting opportunity, combining the advantages of a proven business model with the entrepreneurial spirit. However, successfully promoting your franchise requires more than brand recognition; it demands a tailored marketing strategy that attracts customers and differentiates your location from others. Here are some strategies on how to promote your franchise business effectively.

1. Leverage Local SEO

One of the most effective ways to attract local customers is through local SEO. Optimize your website and Google My Business listing with keywords related to your location and industry. For instance, use specific keywords like “best coffee franchise in [City]” or “top fitness center franchise near me.” Ensure your contact information, address, and opening hours are updated across all online directories to build credibility and boost local search visibility.

2. Engage in Community Events

Community engagement can be a powerful promotional tool for a franchise. Look for local events, fairs, or charity functions where you can set up a booth or sponsor an activity. This puts your franchise in front of potential customers and demonstrates your commitment to the community. Offer exclusive event-only deals or giveaways to encourage people to try your products or services.

3. Use Social Media to Build a Local Following

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter allow you to connect directly with your local audience. Share updates on new products, promotions, and events to keep your followers engaged. Highlighting local stories, tagging community partners, and sharing customer testimonials can make your franchise location feel more personal and accessible. Consider investing in location-targeted ads to reach potential customers nearby.

4. Run Targeted Promotions

Promotional campaigns, like discounts or loyalty programs, are excellent ways to bring new customers in and keep them coming back. If your franchise has the flexibility to set specific offers, create special deals for new customers or incentives for repeat visits. For example, offer a “first-visit discount” or a “buy one, get one free” deal for specific services or products. Running these campaigns through your social media channels or local ads can increase visibility and foot traffic.

5. Collaborate with Nearby Businesses

Building relationships with neighboring businesses can help boost your franchise’s visibility. Partner with other local franchises or businesses that complement your services or products. For instance, a fitness franchise could collaborate with a nearby health food store for cross-promotional events or discounts. These partnerships can expose your franchise to a broader customer base and enhance its reputation in the community.

6. Get Customer Reviews

Positive online reviews play a crucial role in establishing your franchise’s reputation. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, or other review platforms. Many franchise customers choose locations based on reviews, so a high rating can set your franchise apart. Consider following up with customers after a purchase to ask for feedback and express appreciation for their support.

7. Embrace Mobile Marketing

With so many people relying on smartphones for local search, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. Additionally, you can engage in mobile marketing by creating SMS marketing campaigns for exclusive offers, alerts, and promotions. Apps like Yelp and Google My Business also allow you to send promotional updates directly to customers’ devices, keeping your franchise top of mind.

8. Offer Exceptional Customer Service

Promotion isn’t just about bringing customers in—it’s about creating a memorable experience that encourages them to return. Exceptional customer service can turn first-time visitors into loyal patrons. Train your team to prioritize customer satisfaction and handle issues swiftly and professionally. Positive word-of-mouth can be one of the best forms of advertising for your franchise business.

9. Host Grand Openings and Anniversaries

If your franchise is new to the area or celebrating a milestone, hosting an event can generate buzz. A grand opening or anniversary event can include promotions, giveaways, and exclusive discounts, enticing people to visit. You might also consider working with local influencers to showcase the event and share their experiences with their followers.

Final Thoughts

Promoting a franchise business successfully requires a mix of digital strategies, community engagement, and personalized customer experiences. By leveraging local SEO, social media, collaborations, and exceptional customer service, you can boost your franchise’s presence and attract loyal customers. Whether you’re a new franchisee or looking to expand an established location, these strategies will give you a strong foundation on how to promote your franchise business effectively and create lasting community impact.

[ankitblogs0709]

Board Game Cafes Market Outlook: Global Trends and Forecast Analysis (2023-2032)

The board game cafe market, which was valued at approximately USD 1,268.94 million in 2022, is projected to undergo significant growth, reaching an estimated USD 2,495.12 million by 2030. This growth trajectory represents a CAGR of 10.14% from 2023 to 2030.

Board game cafes have become increasingly popular as social hubs where people can gather to enjoy a wide variety of tabletop games while sipping on coffee or enjoying snacks. These cafes offer a welcoming and casual environment where patrons can choose from extensive game libraries, featuring everything from classic favorites like Monopoly and Scrabble to modern hits like Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Codenames. Often staffed with knowledgeable "game gurus" who can explain rules and suggest games, these cafes provide an easy entry point for newcomers to the world of board gaming, as well as a gathering place for seasoned gamers. Beyond just a fun night out, board game cafes foster community by encouraging face-to-face interactions and helping people unplug from digital screens. Many cafes also host events, such as game tournaments, themed nights, and meetups, further enhancing the social experience. As the trend grows, board game cafes are carving out a unique niche in the entertainment and hospitality industries, attracting a diverse range of customers looking for an interactive and engaging way to spend their leisure time.

The board game cafe market has a range of growth opportunities as interest in tabletop gaming and social experiences continues to rise. Here are some key opportunities in this expanding market:

1. Expanding Game Libraries and Niche Offerings:

Offering a diverse selection of games, including exclusive or rare games, can attract enthusiasts and collectors, creating a unique selling point. Additionally, incorporating niche genres, like role-playing games (RPGs) or strategy-heavy games, can cater to specific customer interests and build loyalty among particular gaming communities.

2. Hosting Events and Tournaments:

Regular events, such as game tournaments, themed nights, and "learn-to-play" sessions, can bring in new customers and keep regulars coming back. Special events for popular games or genres can attract larger groups, boost customer engagement, and increase spending on food and beverages.

3. Building a Community with Membership Programs:

Offering membership or loyalty programs can incentivize repeat visits and foster a community atmosphere. Membership benefits could include discounts, priority seating, access to exclusive events, or free use of premium games, encouraging long-term customer relationships.

4. Expanding Food and Beverage Offerings:

Diversifying menu options to include themed cocktails, specialty coffees, or locally sourced snacks can enhance the customer experience and increase revenue per customer. Additionally, offering unique and high-quality food and drink options, such as sharing platters or game-themed treats, can attract foodies and patrons looking for a complete entertainment experience.

5. Integrating Technology for Enhanced Experiences:

Incorporating digital tools, like mobile apps for reservations, game availability tracking, and customer loyalty programs, can streamline operations and enhance customer convenience. Additionally, interactive features, such as augmented reality (AR) enhancements for certain games, could attract tech-savvy customers.

6. Expanding into Co-Working and Hybrid Spaces:

Many cafes are exploring hybrid business models, combining board game spaces with co-working areas. This approach could attract daytime customers who want a flexible workspace and stay for an evening of gaming. Offering reliable Wi-Fi, quiet zones, and refreshments during the day can cater to a broader customer base.

7. Franchising and Regional Expansion:

Successful board game cafes can explore franchising opportunities or open new locations in underserved regions. As interest in social gaming rises, there is significant potential for board game cafes in areas where such establishments are scarce, particularly in suburban or smaller urban areas.

8. Collaborating with Game Publishers and Local Retailers:

Partnerships with game publishers and local game stores can create marketing opportunities, such as early-release game nights or demos of new games, driving foot traffic. Additionally, selling board games or offering exclusive deals on games featured in the cafe can provide an extra revenue stream.

9. Offering Corporate and Private Event Packages:

Board game cafes are ideal venues for team-building events, birthday parties, and other private gatherings. Offering customized event packages for corporate groups, families, or friends can attract a wider customer base and increase bookings during off-peak hours.

10. Developing Game Education and Family-Friendly Programming:

Many parents are looking for activities that encourage face-to-face interaction and creativity for their children. Hosting family-friendly game nights, children's game workshops, or summer camps can attract families and help children learn social skills, strategic thinking, and collaboration through games.

11. Catering to Diverse Audiences:

By creating themed events that cater to specific demographics, such as solo players, couples, or seniors, board game cafes can attract a wider variety of customers. Gender-specific events, LGBTQ+ nights, and other inclusive programming can foster a welcoming environment for everyone.

12. Capitalizing on the Trend of Analog Experiences:

As people increasingly seek to unplug from digital entertainment, board game cafes can position themselves as ideal destinations for “analog” experiences. Marketing the benefits of digital detox, such as increased mindfulness and social connection, can resonate with customers looking to spend quality time offline.

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Key Players

Friend & Foe

Board Game Republic

The Uncommons

Tavern of Tales

Good Game Grill

Board Room DC

Jokers are Wild Game Café

Well Played Board Game Café

The Rook and Pawn

Mox Boarding House (Café Mox)

Game Knight Lounge

Victory Point Café

Gamehaus Café

Pawn and Pint

Pieces

Emerald Tavern Games and Café

Empire Board Game Library

Meepleville

Spielbound

Mac and Chess

D4 Tabletop Gaming Café

The Wayward Kraken

Meeple’s

Tabletop Board Game Café

The board game cafe market is influenced by several trending factors that are shaping its growth and popularity. Here are some key trends driving the board game cafe industry:

1. Growing Popularity of Social and Interactive Entertainment:

With an increased interest in social experiences over solitary or digital entertainment, people are flocking to board game cafes for interactive, face-to-face engagement. This trend is particularly strong among younger generations who value shared experiences and meaningful connections.

2. Rise of “Experience Economy”:

Consumers are increasingly spending on experiences over material goods, and board game cafes provide a unique entertainment experience. This aligns with the broader experience economy trend, where people seek out immersive, memorable activities, particularly for group outings, dates, and family gatherings.

3. Revival of Analog Games and Nostalgia:

Nostalgia for classic board games has contributed to the resurgence of interest in analog games. Many patrons, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are drawn to board game cafes as places where they can reconnect with games from their childhood while discovering new ones.

4. Demand for Digital Detox and Offline Engagement:

As people become more aware of the need for digital detox, board game cafes offer a space where customers can enjoy screen-free entertainment. This trend reflects a growing desire to unplug from devices, focus on in-person connections, and engage in low-tech activities.

5. Expanding Diversity of Board Games:

The variety and complexity of board games have expanded significantly, with genres ranging from strategy and cooperative games to party and storytelling games. Board game cafes are capitalizing on this trend by offering diverse game libraries that cater to a wide range of interests and skill levels, attracting both casual and hardcore gamers.

6. Rise of Themed Cafes and Niche Offerings:

Themed board game cafes, such as those focused on fantasy, horror, or specific genres like role-playing games (RPGs), are trending. Niche themes can create a unique ambiance, cater to specific interests, and differentiate cafes in a competitive market.

7. Community Building and Social Inclusivity:

Board game cafes are increasingly positioning themselves as community spaces that promote inclusivity. Many cafes are hosting themed nights, such as LGBTQ+ nights, solo player meetups, and family events, to appeal to a wider variety of patrons and create a welcoming atmosphere.

8. Growth in Food and Beverage Pairings:

Board game cafes are expanding their food and beverage offerings, from craft beers and specialty coffees to game-themed snacks and desserts. The trend of pairing board games with quality food and drink enhances the overall experience, making the cafe a destination for both dining and entertainment.

9. Interest in Learn-to-Play Events and Game Tutorials:

As people become interested in learning new games, many board game cafes are hosting "learn-to-play" events, where staff or “game gurus” teach patrons how to play different games. These tutorials are popular among newcomers who want to experience board gaming but may be unfamiliar with specific games or genres.

10. Integration of Hybrid Business Models:

Many board game cafes are adopting hybrid business models, such as combining the cafe with a retail section for board games, a co-working space, or an event venue. This diversification not only attracts a broader audience but also provides additional revenue streams.

11. Partnerships with Game Publishers and Local Artists:

Board game cafes are increasingly collaborating with board game publishers for exclusive events, early releases, and game launch parties. Some cafes are also showcasing local artists' work, creating a culturally rich environment and supporting local talent.

12. Emphasis on Environmentally Friendly Practices:

With a growing focus on sustainability, some board game cafes are adopting environmentally friendly practices, such as using recyclable materials, reducing plastic usage, and sourcing local and organic ingredients. This aligns with customers’ increasing preference for eco-conscious businesses.

13. Rise of Crowdfunding and Indie Game Culture:

The growth of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter has allowed for an influx of indie board games, which board game cafes can feature to attract customers looking for unique, lesser-known games. Showcasing indie games also supports smaller publishers and adds a layer of discovery for patrons.

14. Incorporating Digital Augmentation:

Although board game cafes focus on analog entertainment, some are incorporating digital elements like apps for scorekeeping, augmented reality (AR) enhancements, or QR codes that provide additional game information. These features enhance gameplay while keeping the focus on social interaction.

15. Increased Popularity of Membership Models:

Many board game cafes are adopting membership or subscription models, offering perks such as unlimited gaming, discounts, and exclusive events. This trend is appealing to regular patrons who enjoy frequent visits and value added benefits.

Segmentation

By  Type:

Dedicated Board Game Cafe

Hybrid Cafe

Theme Based Cafe

Bar

Other Board Games

By End User Type:

Food Café

Bar

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[dhananjaya04]

Small Business Franchises with Low Investment: Affordable Opportunities for New Entrepreneurs

“India’s startup economy has been growing since 2016 with businesses mushrooming rapidly across the country. As of April 2024, over 127 thousand startups had been officially recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).” Source

With the startup market booming in India, people are now looking for safe business ideas. However, the fear of high initial costs, lack of brand recognition, and the risk of failure often discourage people from pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. 

What’s the alternative?—small business franchises in India with low initial investment. These franchises provide an affordable entry point into the business world and are an excellent option for those looking to start their journey with a proven business model.

What Makes a Franchise Low Investment?

A low-investment franchise typically requires a lower upfront capital compared to traditional franchises or independent business ventures. Factors contributing to a low investment include:

Lower Franchise Fees: The initial franchise fee is relatively modest.

Reduced Royalty Payments: Lower ongoing royalty payments or a flat fee structure.

Minimal Overhead Costs: Businesses that do not require large physical spaces or extensive inventory.

Home-Based Opportunities: Franchises that can be operated from home or a small office.

Popular Low-Investment Franchise Options

Toy Store Franchises

Among the low-investment franchise options, a toy store franchise like Khilonewala stands out for its unique business model and affordability. Khilonewala, India's first toy library franchise, provides an innovative approach to the toy industry by offering toys on a rental basis. This model not only reduces the financial burden on customers but also presents an attractive opportunity for franchisees. Here’s why:

Innovative Model: Khilonewala operates on a toy rental basis, reducing costs for customers and offering a unique business model.

Affordable Startup: With a low initial investment, franchisees can start small, often from home or a modest space.

Established Brand: Benefit from Khilonewala’s brand recognition and customer trust in the toy industry.

Support and Training: Receive comprehensive support and training to streamline operations and ensure success.

Growing Market: Tap into the expanding market of parents looking for cost-effective and sustainable toy solutions.

Food and Beverage Franchises

The food and beverage industry offers several low investment options, especially for smaller, niche concepts. Coffee kiosks, such as Café Coffee Day’s Express outlets, provide mobile or kiosk-based coffee services that require a lower initial investment compared to full-scale cafes. Similarly, snack and beverage kiosks like Wow! Momo or The Juice Lounge offer affordable franchise opportunities, particularly in mall or kiosk formats. These options allow entrepreneurs to enter the industry with minimal capital while tapping into the growing demand for convenient food and beverage solutions.

Home-Based Franchises

Home-based franchises provide a cost-effective way for entrepreneurs to start a business from their own space, eliminating the need for a physical storefront and reducing overhead expenses. For instance, digital marketing franchises such as Digikull or The Growth Coach enable you to manage operations from home with minimal investment in technology and training. Additionally, personal service franchises like PetSutra or Portea, which offer services such as pet sitting or senior care, can be efficiently run from home or with a small team, making them ideal for those seeking a flexible and low-cost business model.

Health and Wellness Franchises

The health and wellness sector offers various low-cost franchise opportunities. Fitness studios, which focus on specialised workouts and personal training, provide an affordable entry point with initial costs lower than full-scale gyms. Similarly, health food franchises emphasise nutritious eating with smaller, manageable setups, catering to the growing demand for convenient, healthy meal options. These options allow entrepreneurs to enter the industry with reduced capital investment while addressing the wellness needs of their communities.

Educational Franchises

Educational franchises provide cost-effective opportunities for entrepreneurs, serving parents and children. Early childhood education franchises, such as Kidzee and EuroKids, offer essential learning experiences with minimal setup costs.

Exploring low-investment franchise options can be an excellent way to start your entrepreneurial journey without overwhelming financial commitments. Whether you’re interested in a service-based franchise, a retail or food concept, or a home-based opportunity, there are numerous affordable franchises available. By selecting a franchise that aligns with your interests and budget, you can leverage a proven business model while minimizing risk. As you embark on this exciting path, careful research and due diligence will be key to finding the perfect franchise opportunity to suit your goals and aspirations.

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Franchise Opportunities

InvestinBrands stands out as a premier manufacturer and supplier of franchise opportunities, renowned for its extensive portfolio and commitment to quality. As a key player in the industry, InvestinBrands offers a diverse range of franchise options, each designed to cater to various market needs and interests.

Among their notable offerings are Smoothie King and Dunkin' Donuts, both of which have established themselves as leaders in the food and beverage sector. Smoothie King, with its focus on healthy, delicious smoothies, provides a compelling option for health-conscious entrepreneurs. Dunkin' Donuts, on the other hand, represents a long-standing favorite in the coffee and baked goods market, promising steady customer traffic and brand recognition.

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By offering these diverse and high-demand franchises, InvestinBrands ensures that potential investors can find a fitting opportunity that aligns with their goals and market interests.

read more:

[lacodexgigas]

Hello & welcome to my writing blog!!

My name is Teiaiel, Tei for short. He/Him/His, agender, asexual & eternally exhausted at all hours. Hobbyist, artist & bird dad. Coffee fuels my bad decisions. I have an obsession with aesthetics & fashion.

This blog is a Roleplay blog for a multitude of characters from film, anime, manga, comics, video games & novella. This blog is Private, Selective & Mutuals Only. Blog activity can vary due to work schedule, IRL obligations or a focus on other blogs. Multi-verse, crossover & OC friendly. NSFW will be limited to violence, gore, horror themes & the like. Sexual themes will be limited to the comfort level established between myself & my writing partner. Extremely selective with romantic shipping, all other ships are encouraged. I WILL NOT SHIP HANNIGRAHAM. I am very open with my RP partners in regards to our writing & the nature of character relations & goals.

Plotting & engagement is encouraged. Discord is available upon request from MUTUALS after a certain amount of rapport through engagement is built up.

Link to Doc listed below, where you can view Rules, Character Bios, Verses & the like on mobile. Thank you so much for your interest!

To see a World in a Grain of Sand & a Heaven in a Wild Flower [ Doc under construction]

Character Chart & Important links as follows:

Novel: Will Graham - Thomas Harris Novels

Novel: Clarice M. Starling - Thomas Harris Novels

Comic: Loki Laufeyson - Marvel/Mythology

Anime: Tieria Erde - Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Manga: Kurama/Minamino Shuuichi - Yu Yu Hakusho

Manga: William Twining/King Solomon - Makai Ouji: Devils & Realist

Video Game: Leon S. Kennedy - Resident Evil Franchise

Video Game: Sub-Zero/ Kuai Liang - Mortal Kombat Saga

Video Game: Frost - Mortal Kombat Saga

Video Game: Faize Sheifa Beleth - Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Low Activity Characters:

Television: Special Agent Holden Ford - Mindhunter

Anime: Regene Regetta - Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Novel: Dr. Hannibal Lecter M.D. - Thomas Harris Novel

Video Game: Scorpion/Hanzo Hasashi - Mortal Kombat Saga

Video Game: Harumi Hasashi - Mortal Kombat Saga

Video Game: Kuzunoha Raidou - Devil Summoner Kuzunoha Raidou

Also Penned by Teiaiel:

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