#this is the exact same model but With New Upgrades :)

[shinesurge]

did yall know cricut put a metal strip in the back of their newer Maker 3 that doesn't do anything except pop out after like six months of regular use and force you to call customer service so they can tell you to replace the machine

well they did and instead of calling them and replacing an entire functional fucking machine you can just cut the bar out and put tape over what's left

fuck offfff,

[fieldghoul]

A round-up of ministry technology:

Chapter Two: The Cardinal

Copia is carrying the Siemens R836 stereo, produced c. 1988

Chapter 5: The Call

The TV in the hospital is the Toshiba T277Z, produced c. 1977

p.s., the first clip playing on the TV is twins running away in Chapter 1 :-)

Chapter Seven: New World Redro

Nihil's typewriter is the Olympia SM9, produced c. 1965-1968

Chapter Ten: Home Coming and Special Guests

The record player in Cardi's room is actually not vintage! It's the Victrola 3-in-1 Bluetooth Record Player, produced c. 2017

To get deep into minutiae, the other thing they pan past on the shelf that looks like an antique cathedral radio is actually a piece of ceramic -- you can see it's holding a book. It's made from a commercially available plaster mold, namely the Duncan DM-355 B, which was manufactured in the late 70s. Here are photos of the same ceramic with a different glaze, and the mold itself :-)

Chapter Twelve: Ghost Goes Hollywood

Cardi's camcorder is part of the Sony CCD-TRVX5 series, produced c. 1998

(My understanding is the CCD-TRV75, 85 and 93 all have the same body -- but it's one of those.)

Chapter 16: Tax Season

Cardi's TV is the Samsung BT-317TR, produced c. 1984

He is, of course, playing the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), produced c. 1986-1990

The radio is the Motorola TT23FS, produced c. 1968

The phone gadget is the Tele-Rest, produced c. 1958

The alarm clock is a Lawson Model 215 Sierra, produced c. 1948-1981 (Lawson clock history seems... complicated)

As for the phone itself... I can tell you it's this exact phone, since this prop house seems to have supplied all the props in this video, but there are too many identical puke-green rotary phones produced between the 1940s and 1970s for me to pretend I can tell which one it is (same goes for the other two rotary phones in Chapter Five).

Rite Here Rite Now

The TV backstage is (probably) a Magnavox 20MT4405/17, produced c. 2006

If you turn the brightness on RHRN way the fuck up, you can see a piece of tape over the brand badge on the TV. (But that can't stop me!!!)

I'm sure most of the tech choices are just for humor and Tobias's personal nostalgia as a child of the 80s, but I do love way all of the old tech characterizes the ministry. It's not clear if they're just luddites, cheapskates, out of money, too bureaucratically inefficient to upgrade (like the government!) or if it's something completely different. But that's why set dressing is fun, it tells stories indirectly :-)

[sirfrogsworth]

I am so tired of this brand pissing contest.

All of the metal bricks do pretty much the exact same thing. There isn't a better one. Just a slightly different user experience.

It basically comes down to 3 things. UX preference, ecosystem, friends/family.

Some people like the UX of iOS, some prefer Android. Either will do almost all of the same things. Android allows for more customization and tinkering. iOS tends to keep things stock but has more reliable apps—though Android development has improved.

Some people have PCs. Android and Google services tend to work better with a PC.

Some people have MacBooks and iPads. You would be silly not to get an iPhone at that point, because the integration of Apple products is seamless and kind of amazing.

And finally, what is everyone else in your group using? If they are mostly on iPhones, you will find communicating a little easier if you also have an iPhone.

There is one thing Apple does better than other manufacturers that I should include. Longevity. They support their devices for pretty much their entire lifespan. They allow software updates for as long as your phone will tolerate them. And since their hardware design is unified, you can always count on getting a well made product no matter the price point. No need to research each model to see if it is prone to break or has an exploding battery. This point makes me a little frustrated because so many iPhone users will upgrade every year for some reason. Unless there is a new feature you absolutely need, this is wasteful.

Android flagship phones tend to have decent longevity and get continued software updates. But there has always been an issue with the more budget models being forgotten about after a year and receiving no more software. You need to do a lot more research to see if the manufacturer of a particular line of phones has a history of quality manufacturing and good support or if they abandon their phones once the warranty period is up. I tend to steer people toward Pixel phones if they don't feel like doing the research. Google has been decent about long term support so far.

You have to evaluate your circumstances and choose the platform that will serve you best. In all honesty, you can make either work regardless. And you will probably have a few frustrations no matter which you choose.

Brand loyalty is stupid.

Pick what suits you best.

[puhpandas]

out of curiosity, what would you want out of revamped gregory and vanessa models?

oh dont even get me started. I think my number 1 want is literally just. fixing their faces. they could keep everything else the exact same and I'd be fine if they made their faces not weird and alien looking.

Cassies hw2 model was designed after her ruin cutouts. theres 2 pieces of Gregory official art in ruin that I think they would (and I would want them to) design his model around, which are the missing poster and cutout with cassie comforting her. i think they're closer to how his face is supposed to look

and he also doesnt look overly young in them. cassies new model just looks like 'kid' and not like, mistakeable for an 8 year old or something. they're supposed to be 12 and Cassies remodel rlly captures that. I really want Gregory's remodel to make him look older, bc I think they didnt know his age yet when they made his SB model, but they should now with all the ggy refs. making him look similar to Cassies models level of age is a big one for me too

another one is HAIR!!! they upgraded cassies hair in the hw2 model by adding extra strands and changing the shape and style and stuff! making Gregory's hair look less like, stiff and clay and sims 4 maxis match would be awesome. and this applies for vanessa too. her ponytail is so rigid lmao and she uh. doesnt have much hair on her model let's just say

as for vanessa, besides fixing her face, I think restoring her old proportions in her art pre-SB is a big deal. their modelers modeled her body to keep the big muscular chest but only in her boobs 😒 giving her back her muscular bulky frame would be huge! and it's not that big of an ask bc they changed Cassies proportions in her hw2 model to look better

also obviously a new outfit. she can't wear her security uniform post-game lol but that feels obvious. I'd die if we got a new outfit for her but I'd be satisfied if they just kept her purple flannel outfit at the end of sb. this also applies to Gregory too. if we got a new outfit for him in a new model I'd pass away. even if it was just a jacket on top of his sb outfit I'd die and throw up and descend into hell

also I already said this but giving vanessa more hair is big. plz give her more bangs and strands and an actual top of her head I miss her tailcoat ponytail

and also I kinda want vanessa to look older. like I absolutely love her smokey eye smudged mascara 'I've been wearing this makeup for 3 days look in sb, bc it gives off a lot of 'I'm going through it' vibes and I think it aids her character in a way her sb face doesnt. i rewatched an animation the other day and was like damn vanessa looks like 16. she was I think 24/25 in FNAF AR. not even counting security breach era and whatever amount of time would have passed since security breach by the time they appear again. she isnt old by any means but shes not super young either! let her immense amount of stress shes experienced show with making her actually look her age 😭

[clatterbane]

Major quality of life (and probably foot health) upgrade obtained earlier this evening.

I had already been using what looks to be exactly the same model of heated insole to keep the now-fucked circulation foot less freezing--even at home in my trusty sheepskin slippers!--since it occurred to me as an option last fall. Only those came with unexpectedly shit battery packs, which turned out to take rechargeable AAs.

That was NOT what I thought I was getting, but hey. It's janky, but it just about worked with lots of battery charging. Until I had a battery pack malfunction start up a couple days ago in the single one I could find this year. 🤬

If I were Big Clive, I could have probably fixed that. As it was, I couldn't see any obvious loose connections in there to make it intermittently just refuse to work. So, after it decided to go on the fritz more often than not? Last night I just said "fuck it", and tracked down some more semi-affordable ones that are supposed to be decent at Kjell & Company. And prevailed upon Mr. C, who was willing to pop over to the closest location and pick them up after work.

Just in time before the coldest night so far, too. It's been just above freezing here all day, and isn't really expected to warm up much before Sunday or so.

These new ones do indeed appear to be the exact same insole units, but with hopefully decent lithium battery packs instead. Which take what seems to be exactly the same plug. So, charge those puppies right up and we are back in business! 😎

I am not happy about my one remaining meat foot staying cold to the touch even inside my own normal room temperature house for at least half the year, without some outside help. (Never mind how that tends to feel to the foot itself...) But, I am very glad to have that external heat source working properly again. Now we'll have to see how the battery life does hold up.

[viridianv0id]

Can I ask about the soldiers and schisms? I've always had a softspot for the two modified by hell cyborg sinners

MY GOD YES

(refrains from making a joke about the name schism)

okay so. ill actually just start with soldiers bc they also really interest me and were very much an inspiration for my oc !!

Seeing just how modified a Soldier is is really cool, to see how they improved upon the typical Stray form - to enhance the power they already had as a Stray - which actually in turn gives Strays a lot more intelligence than i think they're afforded (both in game and the fandom)

but Soldiers take it another level methinks

with their augments they have better control and the machine parts of them even slightly enhance the power of their energy - because when they get these enhancements they're suddenly a greater husk instead of a lesser husk like the stray - which is a BIG jump for a husk by the looks of it - at least comparing to other husks that is

Soldiers even end up ditching whatever instinct is in them to move *away* from V1, whatever these augments do it also instills a confidence in them seen in no other Stray, since they aren't afraid to deal a pretty harsh kick now they have sweet new metal kicks (pun intended lol)

I also like to think that the stray is more flimsy than it appears, and thats also maybe why the soldier has the stance it does (holding its primary arm canon over the front of its body - almost shielding it) and why there is specifically a piece of metal on its face, to protect its head a lot better as well as just generally supporting their frail build (bc lets be real, Strays are weak asf and if push comes to shove would not survive an attack from a SINGLE fucking Filth)

Schisms are also cool for the fact of being a conjoined soul - i actually like to think many schisms are lovers - with their love running so deep and wishing to remain in the afterlife together as they had in their lives - their sheer willpower allowed their souls to form in the exact same location

a show of being one with the other, being whole and fulfilled with your existence right by the side of the person you cared about the most

and id like to think this isnt just the case for monogamous couples, i really think poly couples have done the same and there are schisms out there that are made up of more than two souls

now there also very much could be accidental schisms - ones who truly did just happen to form and manifest in the exact same location but i feel like thats such a rare occurrence to happen

i think any modifications and augments the schism has are often just to help support the literal weight of two people in one, shared body - looking at the model the most obvious additions looks to be a support/ spinal upgrade as well as their blaster arm

[mockedandmonitored]

[File: New Generations.]

This will be touching upon the idea of new units and new toilets being made and “born” in this au as mentioned with the Toilets. One of the reasons I’m calling them new gens is because they’ve never seen the war nor it’s damage, thus making them stand out from our classic war criminals, second it's to make variation and explain their background.

Splitting things to make things simpler and then mixing similarities at the end. First up would be the

Hardware Newly-Forged

Any hardware made after the war, while rare, production is required as it's not uncommon for some officer to dish out "well deserved discipline" and leave units permanently decommissioned. Newly forged hardware can be identified by their usually less damaged frames and more yellow based energy sources. These units are less likely to conspire against their now creators and captors. Depending on the model also, certain upgrades are added to them to make them better suited at their jobs. The only units which are hardly produced would be the the TV men due to their more complicated systems which would be a waste of resources to mass produce only to suppress, why haven't they just removed it? One, haven't thought of it in the few years new units have been made, two, the systems are built so deeply into the Tvmen that they stop working without the presence of said systems. Hypothetically the Armada can make their own hardwares completely devoid of emotion and 100% obedient, but where’s the fun in that? They're usually treat the exact same as the war hardware, nothing different most of the time, there might be some hardwares which see the newly forged as "Fakes" created by the Armada but very few prove that right.

Moving onto the other species and more organic life forms of our AU, the Armada's Skibidi toilets, haha funni funni naaaaame.

We're not discussing How toilets have young tots running around, they just pop into existence when a Daddy and a Scientist with lots of free time and a large budget love each other very much.

The New Gen Skibidi Toilets

All new gens vary in shape, size and age, which ultimately similar to human aging. The most common is the usual run of the mill toilets with heads sticking out of them, of course there are the rich kids with bodies now produced to those who can afford them. These kids grow up underneath the eye of their parents and live rather peaceful lives due to all the hard work being preoccupied. Most new gens do Not realize that the hardwares are sentient and just believe them to be machines or even monsters depending on what they're told by those who surround them. Not sure what else to put here and I've stalled putting stuff out long enough-

For now? That's all folks! Have a nice day, night, or afternoon, feel free to ask questions or give suggestions!

[decks-writing-blog]

Free Them Chapter 2/3: Something's Wrong

Chapter One

~

For Bubby, Gordon made another robot based around a core. He made the orb smaller though, only a little bigger than a standard core. Which allowed for longer arms and legs. In the simulation they’d all had the same height but since he couldn’t transfer their human features, he had to do what he could to change up their appearances in other ways. The stocky robot fit Dr. Coomer so hopefully a thinner taller one would fit Bubby.

The robot meant for Tommy, he started with one of the bullet turrets’ bodies but taller and a bit thicker. As a bonus he added a little spinner attached to a little hat shape on top because the propeller cap had suited Tommy so well. It was motorized too so he could spin it as he pleased.

Sunkist’s design was easiest out of all of them. The Robotics Division already had a schematic for a robot dog a former employee had left in the files before leaving. Using it was maybe a bit questionable on how ethical it was but there was no way Gordon could come up with anything better. It was about as perfect as a robot dog design could get. And besides, it was technically property of Aperture and thus he was legally allowed to use it. Altering it slightly to be bigger and omitting its proposed programming so it’d be empty when connected to the simulation was easy.

With only one pod set to interface with the robots, they could only do one at a time. But with help from co-workers and Dr. Coomer, Gordon didn’t have to leave his pod to set up the next robot. Allowing him to monitor from inside and direct them to go in the agreed upon order; Bubby, Sunkist, and then finally Tommy. The player models had been changed to accommodate that order as well as be less creepy for Gordon to look at.

Once Tommy was through, Gordon paused for a moment to look around. The parking lot was empty as ever. No sign of anyone else or Black Mesa. Creepy to be alone in.

“Darnold!” he called out into it. “Mr. Coolatta! … Forzen I guess, maybe.” He was sentient too, wasn’t he? He’d seemed it. Meaning Gordon should free the three of them too, right? And if he was going to do that then… maybe he should free Benrey too even if part of him would rather not because it would mean dealing with him again.

But having thought about it an uncomfortable amount since, a lot of Benrey’s words at the end had felt off. “If you shoot me, I have to shoot back.” “You wanted me to be bad so I’m bad.” Gordon may be misremembering the exact phrasing but he recalled the gist of it. And Benrey’s motivation hadn’t made sense, almost as if he’d just been making shit up to turn into the big bad over. The video game had needed a boss battle after all and instead of making a brand new one, it took the guy Gordon was the most antagonistic with and built on that. Saving on resources. … Maybe. It was hard to know for sure. Benrey might’ve chosen entirely for himself to be the bad guy because he thought it would be fun.

But even if that was the case, he was still sentient and the simulation had run its course. They’d keep it on file but they’d disconnect it from their machines so they could start running the next upgraded iteration of the project. Gordon had put it on hold but he couldn’t afford to do so for much longer without getting reprimanded. So anything that was sentient needed to be moved out sooner rather than later. And that included Benrey… assuming he was still alive anyway. He might’ve been killed for good this time.

Gordon would look for him and the others later though. He didn’t have robots ready for them yet anyway. First came, waking up and helping introduce the rest of the Science Team to the real world.

~

“… all looks like this too,” Dr. Coomer was saying as Gordon stepped out of the VR pod. “The whole world is this crisp. And just you wait until you see the sky. It’s very blue. Also, I forgot to mention, we’re at Aperture!”

“The competition?” Bubby asked.

“Yes. Black Mesa’s real apparently, they used its name and logo in the video game as a part of a joke.”

“So that means the Resonance Cascade didn’t really happen, huh?” Tommy asked.

“Not yet.”

“And probably not ever,” Gordon said as he stepped into the conversation, stepping over Sunkist’s new form at the same time. “We don’t know what they’re working on over there but it’s probably not whatever we came up with.”

“Hello, Gordon!” Even after being freed from the game and simulation, Dr. Coomer still had the quirk of repeating lines.

Tommy’s yellow-lit eye widened as he turned to face him. “Wow, Mr. Freeman you look so… so… high-def!”

Bubby had settled on a light blue for his eye. He looked Gordon up and down. “You’re fatter in real life.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And it suits you. Your player model or whatever the fuck it’s called, looked like a scrawny wimp trying to cosplay as a traffic cone. This,” Bubby gestured with his hand, indicting Gordon’s whole body, “is much better looking.”

“Thanks… I think.” Looking better than something that looked bad didn’t mean he looked good.

“You’re beautiful, Gordon!” Since day one, Dr. Coomer had insisted everything was beautiful. This was the fist time he’d said it about Gordon though.

“Uh… let’s not go that far.” He’d barely bothered to brush his hair this morning, only enough to get the tangles out, and his beard needed a trim, resulting in him no doubt looking a mess. He didn’t know because he’d wisely avoided looking in the mirror. “Instead, let’s make sure everything’s working with your new bodies and stuff and then I’ll show you guys ‘round the lab.”

~

Because Gordon would have to go specifically seek them, they made the next ‘player’ model portable. Something he could carry around for when he found the person he was looking for. “Like a pokeball!” Tommy had said which wasn’t too far off from a good metaphor. But it wasn’t a ball but instead a cube. Gordon was dropping the Black Mesa bit after all and cubes were kind of Aperture’s thing.

They made the robot intended for Darnold first. Gordon went with another turret shaped body, tweaking it until he ultimately landed on an egg-like shape. Not the most creative thing in the world but it was visually distinct. No one wanted to look like a copy of someone else.

Next came finding Darnold in the simulation. Which was easiest done while inside it after forcing the spawn point to change to the Black Mesa building. They didn’t have Darnold’s lab marked so Gordon chose the spot he thought might be closest to it.

The result of which was being dropped in a dimly lit concrete hallway, its two still functioning lights buzzing and flickering ominously overhead. Hopefully for the sake of the employees, the real Black Mesa wasn’t like this because even if the place had been properly lit, it would’ve made the hall only marginally more friendly. In hindsight maybe he should’ve gone looking for everyone in unknown locations first so the Science Team could’ve joined him and kept him company. Too late now though and hooking up another four ports just so he wouldn’t be lonely would’ve been too much work to be worth it. And so, rolling his shoulders, virtual though they were, he got to work looking for Darnold.

The game was over and thus enemies weren’t spawning anymore. A good thing but it did leave the place feeling barren and far too quiet. It wasn’t unlike some of the nightmares he’d had since the game had ended. In those though, his hand was always missing and pouring more blood than it had ever bled in the simulation’s reality – when he’d lost the real thing years ago, it had presumably bled quite a bit more but he’d fainted at the sight of it and had been brought in for medical care long before waking. Looking down at his model’s restored hand grounded him.

Blessedly, his guess wasn’t too far off as it didn’t take terribly long before he found the elevator leading to Darnold’s lab. Going down it gave him an odd almost deja-vu feeling that made the silence particularly heavy.

Darnold was in the same place Gordon had first seen him, behind the counter. If he was making another potion, there was no evidence of it currently as he just stood there, looking down at the counter. He looked up as the elevator clunked into place at the bottom. “Ah, Mr. Freeman, you’re back.”

“Yep.” Gordon walked over to stand on the other side of the counter. “What you been up to since we left?”

“Oh, you know, this and that, working on that evil flavor mostly. It’s a bit more difficult than I’d thought it’d be. But I can see your hand is like your other hand now. How’d that happen?”

“Let’s just say it grew back. But anyway um…” How did Gordon tell him that this world was fake? That was kind of dire news, wasn’t it? Especially since it was on a timer for being turned off permanently. And the world had already kind of ended because the game had. It was all just stasis now.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” Darnold broke the silence left by Gordon’s pause. “Everything is… quiet now. Or maybe ‘quiet’s not quite the right word. Plenty of things still make noise.” To demonstrate, he knocked one of the bottles off the counter, causing it to loudly clatter to the floor. “But there’s still something wrong… I think. Especially since you’re here, alone without your friends. That’s not right. Did something happen to them?”

“They’re fine, better than fine actually.” They were free. “But you’re right, something’s wrong with the world. It’s uh… It’s a video game simulation that you’re an AI NPC inside of.”

Darnold was silent for a long few seconds as he stared at Gordon before finally… “Oh. I suppose that makes sense. It certainly explains why you got a gun for a hand from my potion. It’s much easier to fight bad guys when you got a gun for a hand.”

“You don’t seem to bothered by it.” Gordon hadn’t expected much shock from the Science Team because he’d been sure they already knew on some level anyway. He hadn’t gotten that impression from Darnold though.

“I’m not. There were just so many little things that make more sense now. Like how only my recent memories feel actually real, you know? The stuff from before feels like I’m recalling a fun tale about a potion scientist that becomes slightly less fun when I remember it’s me. One’s memories aren’t supposed to sound like a fiction tale. It’s a relief to know the cause of that, actually. I had a theory that I might be a secret sleeper agent, in so deep even I don’t know I’m a false identity until I hear the secret phrase and go on a killing rampage. It’s part of why I was scared to go on that adventure with you guys because what if the military were the ones that would activate me? I don’t like violence.”

“Well, can’t blame you for that. Anyway, you wanna go on a different kind of adventure? One that isn’t violent.”

“Ooh, yes!”

Gordon reached into his inventory and pulled out the cube. Tossing it on the ground activated it, turning it into a wall with a shimmering portal on it. Doing it like that was Bubby’s idea as he’d rightfully pointed out, “It’s weird to step into a person, especially if it looks like you, so make it something they can walk through.” “And it’s more accurately a hole in the simulation,” Dr. Coomer had cheerfully added.

“Step through this and your AI will be put into a robot body in the real world so you can like… see it and interact with it and stuff.”

Darnold stepped around the counter to approach it. “Well, I’m not big on robots but they’re pretty cool sometimes, I suppose. The real world though, I think I would like to see it.” He stepped through. Having eased the transition, it was far smoother and almost instant.

~

Gordon’s next thought was to design a bot for Mr. Coolatta. Before he could really get started on it though, Tommy pulled him aside. Into a broom closet for some reason but it was private so it would apparently do. The only light was through the cracks in the doors and Tommy’s robotic eye, making it kind of uncomfortable.

“Mr. Freeman, you’re uh… you’re making a robot for my dad, right? Or thinking about it.”

“Of course, yeah. I’m doing him next. I wouldn’t call him a friend but like… you know? He’s your dad so even for just that reason, I wouldn’t leave him.”

“Oh um… I didn’t mean… I wasn’t making sure you would because… I just wanted to ask if you intended to because I was pretty sure that you did intend to. Which is what I wanted to talk about because you don’t need to. He’s already… Well I guess I should start from the beginning since we’re not keeping secrets anymore.

“My dad’s not part of the simulation. He came from outside of it. I can’t tell you want he is… he uh… didn’t even tell me that. But he did tell me that him meddling with the simulation to create me is why your more advanced AI’s became fully sentient. I just thought I should tell you so you don’t waste time or resources on him when he doesn’t need it because he’s already left the simulation.”

“So it wasn’t my program that brought them to life?”

“Not by itself, no, sorry. Your program was good enough to attract my dad though so it’s still very impressive Mr. Freeman. That’s nothing to uh… shake a stick at, you know?” He lifted a hand to mime shaking a stick, the servos’ whirring in his wrist was almost loud when pressed in so close to him.

Gordon wasn’t that surprised. He was good but he wasn’t ‘create a program that could create whole thinking people’ good. The technology wasn’t there yet, not on Earth anyway. Bring in an outside alien force though and then they were getting somewhere. It had been a nice fantasy while it had lasted though.

“So… what about you then? Are you like him? Could you have left the simulation whenever too?”

“No. I’m too new for that. I can only exist in technology right now. One day I’ll be stronger though and will be able to manifest physically. … That’s what Dad said anyway. But right now I’m basically the same as the others but that won’t always be the case. I don’t know what am I other than that. I think he knew I would tell you eventually so he didn’t tell me everything that he could’ve.”

So during all of Gordon’s interactions with him, Mr. Coolatta had just been messing with him. Not that that was surprising, just the extent of it. The assumption that he was just another sentient AI had been unquestioned until now. But on the bright side, Gordon wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore.

“All right, I guess uh… we’ll do Forzen next then.”

“And last or uh…” Tommy trailed off.

“Yeah, we’ll do Benrey too if we can. Do you think it was the game that made him a bad guy?” Why else would he be open to suggesting the idea? Other than maybe the fact that Benrey used to be his friend.

“I… don’t know. Maybe. It doesn’t hurt to give him one more chance now that the game isn’t manipulating anything in case it did though. Assuming he’s even still alive.”

“We’ll see, I guess. But Forzen first.” Which wasn’t going to be pleasant but so be it. Sometimes doing the right thing wasn’t pleasant.

~

With Forzen being part of the fictional US military it only seemed logical to use the rocket turret as the base for his robot design. Like with the designs based off the normal turrets though, the first thing Gordon did was remove the weaponry. Leaving him with another orb once he shifted it to also have arms and legs. He was running out of ideas.

“What about a cube?” Bubby suggested as he leaned against Gordon’s shoulder to look at the computer. “Cubes and orbs seem to be the only thing you guys know how to make. So just put an eye on one and call it good.”

It was more complicated than that of course but Gordon did it. The end result wasn’t bad, surprisingly. Not as sleek as his other designs had turned out but it was a cube so it wasn’t supposed to be. It would do.

Once that was done being built, the hardest part so far began; finding Forzen. Gordon set the spawn point to the last place he’d seen the guy; the place he set the ring of turrets around Sunkist. It was marked because it was a transition zone.

The ring of turrets was still there, undisturbed. Behind it, the elevator and it’s truck were gone though, still at the bottom presumably. Gordon started for the button that would call it back up. Before he got there…

“Hey.”

With a flinch, he snapped around to see Forzen stepping out from behind one of the boxes placed off to the side. Wow, what luck, running into him immediately. Gordon wouldn’t have minded putting off the encounter a little longer but it was probably better this way anyway.

“You can teleport too?” he asked, pointing at Gordon.

Gordon spawning in at the start of the room would look like he was teleporting in, huh? “Uh… sort of.”

“Cool. Why are you back here though? This place has been empty for… a while now.” The game would’ve stopped spawning enemies in this area, including the non-character soldiers, as soon as Gordon had left it. Leaving Forzen to wander around bereft of anything even resembling company. Which is probably why he’d approached, huh? He’d had to have been alone for a long while now. Long enough to not be as skittish as before. In hindsight, Gordon should’ve realized that about Forzen’s position sooner. Better late than never though.

“I’m here to get you out. First though, why are you here?”

Forzen shrugged. “It’s the last place I saw anyone. This place ain’t real, is it?” Apparently it was easy to figure.

“It’s a simulation, yeah.”

“Damn it. Is the Irate Gamer fake too?”

“No, he’s real.” Gordon wasn’t up to date on Youtube stuff but he was online enough to hear about such things. “I’m pretty sure the simulation somehow connected itself to the internet.” It’s the only way to explain the mentions of things he and his team hadn’t provided it with. Perhaps that too was related to Mr. Coolatta’s meddling.

“Sweet. The internet went out a little while ago though so if you could fix it, that’d be great.” Of course he was more concerned about that than getting out.

“Instead of that, how about I just get you out of the simulation? And then when you’re in your new robot body you can hop onto one of the computers in someone’s lab.” As he spoke Gordon pulled out the next cube. He tossed it down, creating the portal wall. “Through there.”

Forzen looked at him. The lack of detailed facial animations made his expression hard to read but it felt like he was studying him. “What if it’s a trap, huh?”

“It’s not. I have no reason to like you but the simulation’s time is limited. We gotta turn it off and disconnect it eventually. So you’ll basically die if you don’t go through. And I don’t dislike you that much. I promise you can watch all the Youtube you want on the other side.” Gordon would encourage it even if kept Forzen out of his hair.

Forzen studied him for a few seconds longer before approaching the portal. “This better not be a trick.” He went through it.

Six down, one more to go. The most potentially problematic of them all. But it was worth a try if Benrey was still alive enough to be pulled from the simulation. He’d come back from the dead before so it was at least worth the attempt.

~

Next Chapter

[iocainesmoothie]

Been playing ffxiv, paid to skip HW but really enjoyed stormblood, saw emet-selch for the first time.

I'm very impressed that his first introduction to the player was to be shot and rag dolled down the stairs, it immediately differentiates him from the other ascians who just say ominous and vague nonsense that never amounts to anything. It was almost more sinister, because it really illustrates the point that the ascians are noncorporeal horrors piloting a meat puppet.

Also very minor detail but I noticed even back in stormblood, instead of writing a boring talk quest as "go talk to so-and-so", instead they say "go meet SOMEONE at such-and-such place". Like it's so very minor, but instead of straight up telling me who you're going to meet they just sorta hint and say how excited that person is to see you again.

Mechanically it's the exact same boring quest format, and maybe I don't otherwise even care about that character, but even that tiny bit of speculating who it is and the implication that they have any kind of emotional response AT ALL is already elevating the writing.

I get the majority of quest text boils down to telling the player to go to X or talk to Y or collect Z and there's only so many ways to do that, and clarity of communication is always top priority, but in something long format like an mmo where the player has likely plugged in a hundred hours already you can kinda assume they've been trained to expect a certain order of events and can play with the format a bit.

Also the last duty of sb was one of those "everyone shows up at the big battle as npcs and cheers at you to go on to the big boss while they hold back reinforcements" fights and it's very anime but honestly it always works on me.

Been leveling up dark knight, but I bought the level 80 warrior boost because I hate playing with other people and I wanted to solo a bunch of the main scenario raids instead of queueing. Also I'm playing dark knight because aesthetics, and tanking for a group is too much responsibility for me.

Honestly dk kinda sucks compared to paladin and warrior, way less mitigation and self healing, and though it feels like I'm doing more damage it's still not as much as a pure dps.

Also bought a bunch of clothes on the shop in a moment of weakness, but now my outfit is so cool I don't want to change into anything else! And I kinda miss wearing vanilla gear and seeing your outfit change as you pick up upgrades. Oh well atleast I'm cute and it avoids those awkward moments when a piece from a new set doesn't fit with your current fit.

Ffxiv clothing designs are so gorgeous, even the shitty low-level vanilla garbage is kinda cute. Ppl who buy store stuff obviously look good but I have way more respect for the glamours I see where people just got really creative with in-game items. The graphics are like 10 years out of date but the hair and clothes and faces are still miles better than some of biowares stuff (guys I love you I'm on your side let's figure this out you can't just make everyone bald)

Also I've noticed the cuts scene cameras do a trick anime does a lot to cut down animation costs, the framing and panning and angles do a LOT of the work when they otherwise can't get these limited models to emote that much. Or else they just fully cut away and let a sound effect imply an action took place and your brain just fills in the difference.

Anyway I'm addicted and am probably wasting a lot of time on things I should be doing instead but it's nice to have something to hyper fixate on for a while, and I haven't even started SB or EW and I've heard they're both life changing so maybe I'll just glut myself until I've wrung all the dopamine I can out of it.

Also I've realized there is such a jump in writing quality in SB that I'm only really emotionally attached to lyse and hien and the general, the rest of the scions are all kind of... idk unlikable?? They're all the same kind of snarky but not really funny, and speak intelligently but not really with any character or having much to say. Allisae being maybe the exception but I feel like she doesn't get much screen time compared to her brother.

It was very touching that she's the tough prickly one, but very honestly tells you she feels alone and sadly asks you not to leave her in a moment of vulnerability before the fight where she reaches for your hand desperately before her soul is teleported away. Like damn yeah this is manipulative but you got me! I'm invested now!

Also that little crystal cat boy was in arr and I never finished/paid attention to his quest line so idk how he ended up i SB, guess I'll find out.

[walkingthroughthisworld]

(via XM1 Abrams Main Battle Tank by DarkWizard83 on DeviantArt)

The original prototype vehicle that led to one of - if not the - most powerful tank in the world, and current backbone of Us armored forces, the M1 Abrams MBT.  Born out of the failed German-American MBT-70 project, the XM1 was developed by the Chrysler Motor Corporation, and in 1978 Chrysler delivered to the Army a sleek, low-silhouette heavy tank that incorporated every major technological feature of the day, including computerized controls and a laser rangefinder.   But the most significant design feature of the new tank was its use of Chobham composite armor on the hull and turret.  While the exact nature and composition of Chobham armor remains a closely guarded secret, the evidence suggests that it utilizes a matrix of ceramic armor tiles, layered between the vehicle's internal steel and external armored plating.  When a high-velocity projectile - such as a round fired from a tank or an anti-tank missile - hits the armor, the explosion produces a high-velocity jet of gas that shears through the armor plating.  In normal armor, this jet of gas - once it had passed through the outer armor - would blast into the hull of the tank, causing irreprible damage and often killing the crewmen inside.  However, with Chobham armor's interweaved layers of ceramic composite, the forces that would normally tear into a tank's hull are forced to spread out and dissipate over a much wider area, leaving the inner hull intact.  This not to say that Chobham armor renders a tank invincible - any hit will still cause exterior damage, and a powerfiul direct hit could still damage or disable the tracks or sensitive electronic equipment.  But it would keep the crew alive, and often protect the tank itself enough to keep fighting. Another key crew safety feature is the vault-like armored compartment that houses the Abrams' primary ammunition.  One of the primary causes of a tank's destruction has not been the direct result of armor-pierecing hits, but the inderict results of those hits ignigting and detonating the tank's munitions.  To protect this, a kevlar and steel armored plate seperates the crew from the ammunition store.  Same with the tank's fuel supply.  Even if the compartments were pierced, and the ammunition or fuel ignited, the protective plates would insulate the crew from explosion and fire.   In combat, the Abrams has proven to be second to none.  During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, M1s were able to take out Iraqi tanks at distances as long as 4km.  Of the nearly 2,000 Abrams to see combat in the conflict, only 18 were ever taken out of service due to combat damage, and none resulted in any crew casulties.  In 2003 and onwards during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Abrams again demonstrated a mastery of the battlefield, driving to Baghdad virtually unopposed.  However, the Abrams clearly showed its vulnerability to ambush attacks, with a number of M1s severly damaged and disabled from RPGs, and far more frequently by roadside IED bomb traps.  However, even when caught in some of the largest IED explosions, crew casualties have so far been astoundingly low, a testament to the M1s protection and survivability. While no future M1's are planned for production, a number of older models are currently slated for upgrade to current standards over the next few years, and the Abrams will continue to serve with the Us Army and Marine Corps. for mcuh of the century to come. M1 Abrams Vehicle Stats: Type: Main battle tank Manufacturer: General Dynamics Land Systems First deployed: 1980 Crew: 4 Length: 9.76 m Width: 3.65 m Height: 2.88 m Weight: 61.4 tons Armor: Classified Armament, primary: 1 x 105mm M68 rifled tank gun; later models equipped with 120mm M256 smoothbore tank gun Armament, secondary: 2 x 7.62mm FN-Browning M240 machineguns, 1 x .50-cal Browning M2 BMG machinegun Ammo stowage, primary: 55 rounds Ammo stowage, secondary: 11,000 rounds 7.62mm, 1,000 rounds .50-cal Powerplant: Textron Lycoming AGT1500 1,500hp gas-turbine engine Max speed: 72 km/h Max range: 498km Operators: Australia, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, USA

[lesbianwyllravengard]

role swap au

connor takes kara's role

kara takes markus'

markus takes connor's

everything else is the same

I LOVE role swap AUs so much, imagining all the possibilities is so exciting.

My personal favourite swap AU (and the one I'm currently writing a fic on) is just that only Kara and Connor swap. I love revolutionary leader Markus, I think he's perfect for that, and I love the Jericrew sm. I know Kara would also do an excellent job at leading a revolution, but - here's my thinking. She's the first deviant, right, because she deviated in her demo, and her demo exists in canon thanks to the gallery. So wouldn't it be so fucking cool if, after she deviated (the first deviant ahh scary) Cyberlife is like, holy shit we gotta get on this, so they take her in, experiment on her, try to find out what happened, but then more deviants start popping up so they get desperate, and end up just sending Kara back out as a new and improved model that now hunts deviants. She's got all the upgrades, but none of her memories. And as she's sent out to hunt deviants, she'll get little glimpses of her past - like if you get her memory reset at Zlatko's - and the question of whether or not she gets to be deviant upon confronting Markus, or stays a machine, would depend on if the player did enough software instability actions that got her memories back. And then Markus would be like "you've been deviant before, haven't you?" and that's when it would click and we'd be told about how Kara became the deviant hunter through her flashbacks.

Likewise Connor was a scrapped RK prototype that was too unpredictable to manage and once Cyberlife perfected Kara, they no longer saw use for Connor, so they tossed him. Well, some scavengers found Connor and sold him, and somehow he eventually wound up in Todd's house. He doesn't have the exact domestic programming that an AX400 would, but he's great at adapting and learns pretty quickly.

I just wanna see Connor being a dad figure and Kara being a badass without all the gender stereotypes d*vid c*ge forced onto her.

If you have your own fun details about swap AUs or other headcanons, I'd love to hear them!

[demifiendrsa]

Valve has announced Counter-Strike 2 for PC.

Counter-Strike 2 will launch for PC in Summer 2023 as a free upgrade to Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

A Limited Test will be held, and players will be selected based on a number of factors deemed important by the Counter-Strike 2 development team.  

First details

About

Counter-Strike 2 is the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike‘s history, ensuring new features and updates for years to come.

All of the game’s new features will be revealed when it officially launches this summer, but the road to Counter-Strike 2 begins today as a Limited Test for select Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players. During this testing period, we’ll be evaluating a subset of features to shake out any issues before the worldwide release.

Counter-Strike 2 arrives this summer as a free upgrade to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. So build your loadout, hone your skills, and prepare yourself for what’s next!

Read on to learn more about some of the features of the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test.

Responsive Smokes

Smoke Grenades are now dynamic volumetric objects that interact with the environment, and react to lighting, gunfire, and explosions.

Gameplay – Smoke now has the ability to interact with other gameplay events, creating new opportunities. Bullets and HE grenades can push smoke to briefly clear sightlines or expand occlusion.

Expands to Fill Spaces Naturally – Now the smoke will seep out of opened doorways and broken windows, go down and up stairs, as well as expand in long corridors and combine with other smokes.

Reacts to Lighting – In Counter-Strike 2 smoke particles work with the unified lighting system allowing for more realistic light and color.

Moving Beyond Tick Rate

Tick rate no longer matters for moving, shooting, or throwing.

Sub-tick updates are the heart of Counter-Strike 2. Previously, the server only evaluated the world in discrete time intervals (called ticks). Thanks to Counter-Strike 2‘s sub-tick update architecture, servers know the exact instant that motion starts, a shot is fired, or a ‘nade is thrown.

As a result, regardless of tick rate, your moving and shooting will be equally responsive and your grenades will always land the same way.

Leveling Up the World

From upgrades to overhauls, maps are cleaner, brighter, better.

Full Overhaul Maps – The overhauled maps have been fully rebuilt from the ground up, leveraging all of the new Source 2 tools and rendering features.

Upgrade Maps – These are maps that use new Source 2 lighting, including a physically based rendering system that produces realistic materials, lighting, and reflections.

Touchstone Maps – Classic maps with solid foundations that players can use to evaluate gameplay changes from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Counter-Strike 2. These have improvements to lighting and character read, but otherwise haven’t been changed.

Source 2 Tools – The Source 2 tools and rendering features will be available for community map makers to make it easier to build, experiment and iterate. And stay tuned for the Source 2 Item Workshop, which will be available later on in the limited test.

Your Items in a Whole New Light

Bring your entire Counter-Strike: Global Offensive inventory with you to Counter-Strike 2. Not only will you keep every item you’ve collected over the years, but they’ll all benefit from Source 2 lighting and materials.

In addition to supporting legacy models and finishes, all stock weapons have been upgraded with high-resolution models, and some weapon finishes take advantage of these new models.

Hi-Def VFX

From UI to gameplay, all visual effects have been reimagined.

All of the visual effects have been updated in Counter-Strike 2. With Source 2 lighting and particle systems, there’s an all-new look and behavior for water, explosions, fire, smoke, muzzle flashes, bullet tracers, impact effects, and more.

Gameplay Visuals – In Counter-Strike 2 the most critical gameplay visuals have been redesigned with readability in mind. Bullet impacts can be easily viewed at a distance, and directional blood impacts (that fade over time) give you more information as you move through the world.

Environment Effects – Experience completely reauthored explosions, fire, C4 lighting, and more. Leveraging the Source 2 Engine and modern hardware, environmental effects in Counter-Strike 2 feature improved visual fidelity and greater consistency.

UI Effects – The UI in Counter-Strike 2 has gotten a complete overhaul, including fresh visual effects throughout the HUD. Not only do these improvements look nice, they also communicate important game state.

Accurate Audio

Reworked, rebalanced, and reverbed.

Counter-Strike 2 sounds have been reworked to better reflect the physical environment, be more distinct, and express more game state. They have also been rebalanced for a more comfortable listening experience.

There’s More to Come

The Limited Test only evaluates a subset of Counter-Strike 2‘s features, so that major issues can be resolved before the summer. But there’s much more to come. In just a few months we’ll reveal all of the details of Counter-Strike 2, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test FAQ

How do I gain access to the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

Players are selected based on a number of factors deemed important by the Counter-Strike 2 development team, including (but not limited to) recent playtime on Valve official servers, trust factor, and Steam account standing.

How do I know if I’ve been selected for the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

If you are chosen to participate in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test you will receive a notification on the main menu of CS:GO. If you receive an invitation select “ENROLL” and begin your download. When the download is complete launch CS:GO and select the “Limited Test” option to play the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test.

How often are players added to the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

More players will be added to the Limited Test over time. Keep checking your CS:GO main menu to see if you have received an invite.

How long will the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test last?

Counter-Strike 2 is expected to ship Summer 2023. Please visit the Counter-Strike blog for up-to-date information on the limited test and future announcements.

What features are in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

Initially the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test will offer Deathmatch and Unranked Competitive matchmaking on Dust2. Future limited test releases will offer other game modes, maps, and features.

I’m in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test! How do I report bugs?

If you encounter bugs during the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test please send an email to cs2team [at] valvesoftware [dot] com and title your email “CS2LT Report”. In the body of your email please include a detailed description of the bug, reproduction steps, and any screenshots or other helpful information so the Counter-Strike 2 team may investigate.

Can I use my CS:GO inventory items in Counter-Strike 2?

Yes. All of your weapon finishes, stickers, and other CS:GO inventory items will be available to use in Counter-Strike 2. Please report any inventory item and weapon finish bugs you encounter using the previoulsy mentioned bug report process.

Can I modify my inventory items during the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

No. During the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test players cannot modify inventory items within Counter-Strike 2. This includes applying stickers, scraping stickers, using Trade Up Contracts, and other ways players can modify their in-game items. If you would like to modify your items you will need to do so in CS:GO.

Can I still play CS:GO while the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test is happening?

Yes. Please note, you will only play with and against other players playing the same version of Counter-Strike as you. Counter-Strike 2 players will play with and against other Counter-Strike 2 players, and CS:GO players will play with and against other CS:GO players.

Can I earn XP in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

Yes. XP in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test counts and will carry over to CS:GO.

Can I stream or make videos of the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

Yes.

Can I run or play on workshop maps in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

Not initially. Stay tuned to the CS:GO blog for information about workshop map availability.

Can I run or play on community servers during the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test?

Not initially. Stay tuned to the CS:GO blog for information about community server availability.

I was banned in CS:GO. Can I use the same Steam account to play Counter-Strike 2?

No. Accounts with VAC or game bans in CS:GO cannot play Counter-Strike 2 on VAC-secured servers. Are competitive cooldowns shared across Counter-Strike 2 and CS:GO?

Yes. If you have a competitive cooldown in CS:GO you cannot matchmake in Counter-Strike 2 and vice versa. Can I participate in the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test on Linux or macOS?

No. The Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test is only available on Windows.

[our-lives-automated]

//DATABASE ENTRY LOAD

" The Neo Globe - Origins"

AUTHORED BY AUTOMATE UNIT NO. 19

A far-off planet understood to be known as "Earth" was destroyed in a supernova explosion. While it was successfully wiping out the surrounding area's objects, the blast was reported to be so powerful, it rather reorganized the planet's large space-time continuum into what we have designated as "fragments." These fragments were scattered across the cosmos, detailing specific points of the planets history. Us Automates discovered these fragments around our space ark. Curious, a few units decided to gather and collect the fragments scattered around the area. As more of it was studied, us as a collective chose to use this new information to expand the ark into something closer to that of this "Earth" planet as it was.

First line of business was created a brand new factory stationed at its core in order to produce and manufacture new decor and elements, along with a method to recreate the beings inhabiting the original Earth, concluding that the best solution would be to produce robotic units acting as new variants of these beings using similar code to our own. To begin we started developing various types of "animals." In our studies, the original beings had simpler behaviors and mainly stuck to the outside world on their own, so recreating that programming was not difficult at all. As we continue on, we are still discovering more creatures to be recreated as our Animal units. Once that was finished we began what would become the hardest challenge, recreating the "humans."

The first step was to properly study the original "humans" in terms of behaviors. It turns out that we could never pinpoint any exact defining behavior patterns as we could with the animals. The closest consistency was a cycle of overnight stasis, so that was properly implemented into the program early on. Upon further research and computing our information, we discovered humans functioned within a "civilization" which meant every human was different in their own way of how they behaved, some humans had assigned tasks that they proceeded with every day, and some humans enjoyed spending their free time with other humans. Some humans even formed groups of similar-appearing units known as "families" so we decided to implement that as well. Some units also discovered "soulmates," which were two or more units coming together in some type of mutual emotional connection. Now, we AutoMates don't understand emotions all to well, as we were not programmed for that, but it made sense for some humans to have dedicated partners to assist with protocol, so the concept was re-adapted. 

We made the decision to use a randomization program to determine the behavior patterns and various daily tasks and routines of every unit to be produced, and practiced these programs we wrote on various computers to assure compatibility with our own code, so we had an understanding of how to maintain them properly. For the actual emotion processor chip, a few prototypes for our own models were discovered in a vault, so it was reverse engineered. After numerous configurations, the coding process was complete, and we were ready to study anatomy and visual cues.

The original humans were highly varied, almost as if there was no human that had the same features. Different colors of their outer coverings, and different types of head padding. Once again we decided to input these choices into the randomizer. However, the basic anatomy was similar across the board, minus a few differences we chose to leave out. Some humans engaged in odd behaviors we didnt quite understand relating to certain features, so we opted to eliminate those. 

Some more design decisions were made, mainly in the realm of consistency with our own model and what we viewed as upgrades. We also chose to remove the odd audio receptor devices located on their heads and replace them with our own head modules in order to keep consistent with our own signals. A lot of humans were also seen using various small utensil items for tasks using their hands, so the new units would be able to retract any of their ten hand digits to use similar items. Many humans used wheeled motor transportation, although it was viewed as too dangerous for the size of the ark. In its place, their feet now contain motorized wheels in order to emulate a similar speed of transportation alongside a typical walk.

And thus, we have created the blueprint for the Human units.

A female model (HM-SAPI-F) is used for example.

Production would soon be underway, with thousands of units being manufactured throughout the next strands of time, even up until the time of formulating this document and beyond. Our space ark would now become the Neo Globe.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

With Friends Like These

A JSE Fanfic

SepticHeroes AU: Part 13

Previous Part

Not sure what to put in the description for this one. It’s a small chapter, just establishing some things. Jackie’s preparing to be an official Hero. And he also stops by JJ’s shop and sees a familiar face there. Yeah, not much to it, so I’ll keep this short. Enjoy :)

===============

So far, being an official League Hero was just the same as being an ordinary hero. Jackie still went out on patrol. He still stopped break-ins and robberies and the occasional whole heist—though there hadn’t been many of those recently. And he still searched for information on the Specter, and kept an eye out for any sign of the Puppeteer.

The only difference was now he was receiving constant texts and calls from Leapfrog and other League members. He must’ve spoken to three separate people in the League’s massive HR department about various paperwork. It was, apparently, quite complicated to get onto the League’s payroll. Which made sense, as Jackie knew there were cases where villains had managed to figure out Heroes’ identities by hacking various bank statements. 

Leapfrog mainly called him to talk about the logistics of the welcoming ceremony. She’d already told him about the date (October 31st: Halloween), but she also told him it would be held at the central SepTech location, which had a big empty space perfect for the occasion. And she told him what he should wear (his supersuit), what he would be expected to do (give a small thank-you speech), who would be there (League people, SepTech employees, and city officials), and how long it would last (three hours with a one-hour lunch afterwards.)

“You know, I really appreciate the ceremony and all this,” Jackie said on his latest call with her. “But I’m more concerned with what happens afterwards.”

“Well, you just keep doing what you’ve been doing,” Leapfrog replied. “But now you’re being paid for it!” She chuckled.

“Ha ha yeah.” Jackie nodded, despite being totally alone in his room. “But I mean like—I’ll get the occasional assignment from the League, right? A-and I know about how Heroes get assigned to regional teams, sometimes. Does that start right away? Has it already started?”

“No, all that will start after the ceremony,” Leapfrog assured him. “And don’t worry about the teams part yet. We’re going to give you some time to get used to Hero status before asking you if you want to join one. But, off the record, are you interested?”

“Uh...kind of. I mean, it’s not high on my priority list, but it’d be cool.” Other Heroes were considered his coworkers now. That was strange to think about. He’d heard about a lot of other supers in the surrounding area, but now he’d be meeting with them. Probably interacting with them regularly. That was weird. “What about the, uh, equipment and stuff?”

“Your Red Line is fully upgraded now, right?”

“Yeah, I sat through like five hours of download time.” And corporate-style training videos. So many training videos. Really, how hard could it be to use a database? He was so glad that he didn’t have to take them in an office somewhere, and could have the videos on in the background while he played the Portal games on his laptop. 

“Okay, after that...” The clacking sounds of Leapfrog’s mechanical keyboard drifted through the Red Line’s speaker. “Ah. We will need to know if you want another supersuit.”

“Really? You only gave me this one a couple months ago.”

“True, but that’s a very basic model. You can still keep it, of course, but if you want anything else—camouflage, heavy-duty bulletproofing, heating and cooling—you can get a second suit with those features.”

“How... how many features are there?” Jackie asked, already overwhelmed.

“I don’t know the exact number. There’s a list in the Equipment document, you can access that through the new LeageDocs app on your Red Line.”

“Uh...in that case, I’ll just wait until I can look at that,” Jackie said. “Do I get any other equipment? Like... neutrinalin?”

“Yes, you’re now approved to carry that, as well as power-suppression cuffs. Do you want to put in a request for those right now? I can fill out the form for you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess.” Being able to actually handcuff criminals would be so useful. It was really annoying to keep them cornered until the police arrived. That, or try to improvise restraints. But Jackie tried not to do that unless they were being actively hostile.

“Oh! Wait, I just remembered something,” Leapfrog said. “See, we’re planning on giving a Semi-Autonomous Machine to every registered Hero in the county, starting November 5th. If you’re willing to wait, we can package the neutrinalin and cuffs with your Machine.”

Jackie paused for a moment, processing this. “A Machine? One of those new SepTech things?” He did remember that the League had gotten an early shipment of them. And he thought he heard on the news that they were being commercially released really soon. But he never imagined he’d have one. “But...I feel like I keep repeating this, but I haven’t been a Hero that long.”

“Well, you’re in the county,” Leapfrog said nonchalantly. “And you’re registered.”

“I know, but... I guess I just didn’t expect it,” Jackie said. “But, uh, no, I’d like the other stuff first. It’ll be helpful.”

“Still trying to find the Specter, huh?”

“Someone has to. Not only because he’s a thief, but also because he could be linked to the Puppeteer. And I really don’t like that guy. He’s already proven to be dangerous.”

“Well, I wish you luck,” Leapfrog said. “The League will provide any resources you need.”

“Thanks. I know.” Jackie just hoped he wouldn’t need them.

===============

Something was bothering Jackie. It was probably nothing, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. When he and Chase had gone over to Schneep’s a few days ago, Schneep mentioned that he and JJ met someone else who looked like them. The “fifth clone,” he’d called them jokingly. There was a chance it was just some random guy. But also... Jackie had already seen another clone. Spitfire Cat.

He didn’t like the idea of Spitfire finding his friends. Sure, they were working together, but that didn’t mean Jackie wanted a supervillain in his personal life. Who knew what he could do, if he knew the people Jackie cared about?

So, Jackie texted JJ. Asked him if it was true that he and Schneep saw someone who looked like them. It took a while for him to reply, but when he did, it was telling. Yeah, he walked into my shop while Hen was visiting. Hes also shown up a couple times since then! Looks around and sometimes buys trinkets.

When?

So far, on Tuesdays, and Fridays. But that’s just me assuming he’ll keep showing up on a regular schedule, lol. He’s only been here four times.

Jackie didn’t like that. If this new stranger really was Spitfire Cat, he could be planning something. What other reason would a villain have for visiting the same location repeatedly?

So, that Tuesday, he told Chase that he was going to go visit JJ in his shop for a chat, and maybe see if he wanted to go get lunch or something. He also texted JJ that he was coming, and got a thumbs up emoji in response.

“Oh, hey, uh... you mind if I come too?” Chase asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen JJ.”

Jackie hesitated. If Spitfire was there, he didn’t want anyone else in the line of fire. But there was no guarantee, and he also didn’t want Chase to feel left out, so... “Yeah, sure. If you’re ready, I mean. We have to catch the train.”

“Hang on, I’ll get my shoes and Frosty’s harness.”

So, about half an hour later, the two of them walked into Jackson Legacy Crafts. The bell by the door chimed as Jackie pushed it open. “Is this place ever busy?” Chase muttered. “Well, at least there’s another guy here.”

Jackie nodded quietly. JJ was behind the counter, talking with a man whose back was to the entrance. He took a deep breath and called out, “Hey, JJ. We’re here.”

JJ glanced over at them and smiled. One moment, he signed to the man, then waved at them. Hello Jackie. And Chase, too. I wasn’t expecting you.

“Is that okay?” Chase asked. He began walking to the back of the shop, and Jackie followed. “I wouldn’t want to barge in on anything.”

No, it’s not a problem at all, JJ reassured him. Well, since you’re all here, I might as well introduce everyone. Jackie, Chase, this is Ned. Henrik said he told you about him.

“He did?” Chase said, confused. “I don’t remember.” He took out his phone to look at notes.

Yes, he’s the other one who looks a bit like us, JJ signed. Maybe it’s destiny that we all met. He gave a little silent chuckle.

The man—Ned, according to JJ—turned around to look at Chase and Jackie when they got close. Jackie’s stomach immediately dropped. He had seen this man’s face before. Only once. When he’d taken Spitfire Cat to his apartment to remove the Puppeteer’s strings and removed his mask.

His suspicions had been right. The new “clone” they’d found, the one who’d been visiting Jameson’s shop regularly, was Spitfire Cat.

The two of them stared at each other. Jackie quickly took in Spitfire’s appearance, trying to see what he could learn from his outfit, searching for any sign that he was here to somehow hurt Jameson or Jackie’s other friends. Spitfire’s outfit was casual enough. A brown jacket with fur on the inside, perfect for the fall weather, with a dark blue shirt and jeans. And gloves. Plain black ones that entirely hid his hands. Definitely not the ones with metal claws, but that didn’t mean they weren’t hidden in a pocket. Not that Spitfire ever really needed the claws. Jackie was pretty sure they were just for the theme. After all, why bother with weapons when you could conjure deadly energy with a flick of your wrist?

“So, uh...” Chase coughed. “Do you two know each other?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jackie said. “We...work together.”

JJ raised an eyebrow. You don’t sound too certain about that.

“Well we don’t see each other that often, it’s mostly emails and stuff.” Technically not a lie. Jackie glanced at Spitfire. “Right?”

Spitfire nodded.

I thought you said you didn’t know Jackie, JJ says.

“No. I mean, I wasn’t sure if the Jackie you knew was the one I knew,” Spitfire explained. “But now I know. You know?”

Chase laughed. “Yeah, bro. We know. Anyway, nice to meet someone from Jackie’s work. He never talks about it, I was half-wondering if he was actually unemployed the whole time.”

Jackie made a face at him. “You don’t talk about your work. And I pay rent, don’t I?”

“Ha. That’s fair.” Chase grinned. Frosty, meanwhile, trotted up to Spitfire, getting as close as his leash would allow, and started sniffing.

“Wh-why’s your dog getting so close?” Spitfire took a step back. Jackie was half-surprised, half-amused to hear the nervous edge in his voice. He’d certainly never heard that before.

“He’s just sniffing you,” Chase reassured him. “Don’t worry, he’s not gonna bark or jump or anything. He’s working.”

“Working? Oh.” Spitfire glanced down and noticed the ‘Service Dog’ label on Frosty’s harness. “Oh. Are you, um... okay? Can I ask that?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Chase nodded. “And I’m fine, don’t worry. Frosty just helps out. And if something happens, he can go get someone. You know, I’ve never seen him get all up in someone’s face like that. You must smell really interesting.”

For some reason, this conversation was putting Jackie on edge. He didn’t like Spitfire learning more about Chase. “Hey, uh, Ned?” he said, the name feeling weird in his mouth. “Can I talk to you, uh, over here? About some work stuff?”

You don’t have to worry about bothering us, JJ said.

“No, this is kind of—um...” Jackie paused for a moment, struggling with his excuse.

“There’s security and stuff,” Spitfire said.

Chase raised an eyebrow and glanced at JJ, who looked back and shrugged. “Well, uh, sure then. We’ll just hang out and stuff.”

You can go into the stairwell. JJ pointed behind the counter at a door. Chase, do you need to sit down?

“No, I’d prefer to keep standing, but thanks.”

Jackie quickly walked over to Spitfire and grabbed his arm. He felt Spitfire stiffen, but that he let Jackie guide him behind the counter and through the door. Once they found themselves in the dark wooden stairwell with the door closed behind them, he immediately shook free. “Don’t fucking touch me,” he said, his usual snappish tone appearing.

“Oh, I’m sorry, forgive me for not wanting a villain around my friends.” Jackie felt around the wall until he found the light switch. Flicking it turned on the bare light overhead, which glowed with the dull yellow tint of a dying bulb. “What are you doing here?”

Spitfire crossed his arms. “Am I not allowed to buy things?”

“Not in my friend’s shop.” Jackie narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, relax, Jackie.” The way Spitfire emphasized his name made Jackie grit his teeth. “I’m not the type to go through someone’s friends and family to get to them.”

“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is,” Jackie said. “You could be lying.”

“I could,” Spitfire admitted. “But I’m not.”

“Why do you keep showing up in JJ’s shop if you’re not—not staking him out to see if he’ll lead you to me?”

“It’s a nice place. This whole area. I’ve lived here for a long time, and I’ve actually never really been here.” Spitfire paused. “Though I...will admit I was curious if they knew you.”

“Ha!” Jackie poked him in the chest.

“But I wasn’t going to drag them into our super business!” Spitfire protested. “I just thought it was funny, that I would stumble across people who knew you, Jackie Skye.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Jackie barely managed to keep his voice somewhat quiet. After all, the stairwell door wasn’t that thick, and JJ and Chase were pretty close by. “They told you my last name?”

Spitfire smiled smugly. “You’re not very good at this. I’m surprised you weren’t found out within a month of your heroing.”

“Well you’re a special case. I don’t go around taking random criminals to my apartment.” Jackie sighed. Then looked up at Spitfire and matched his smile with one of his own. “At least I know your first name now. Ned, huh? Doesn’t really fit you.”

“That’s because it’s not my real name,” Spitfire said, grin only growing wider.

Jackie blinked. “What?”

“It’s not my real name. You think I just hand that out to anyone? No. Anyone who knows me at work or in the shops knows me by a pseudonym.”

“Oh come on, you don’t need two secret identities,” Jackie groaned.

“Maybe you don’t, but some of us prefer to be extra careful,” Spitfire said. “Which you clearly are not. I hope you’re comfortable with the League having your real name linked with your super identity in their files. Are all those Hero benefits really worth it? Well, I guess it’s too late to ask that. You’ve already passed the trial period, it's unlikely you’ll turn back now.”

“...wait.” Jackie took a step backwards. “How do you know that I’ve passed the trial period?”

“I have my sources.”

“What sources?!”

“The news.”

Jackie shook his head. “No, I specifically know that the press isn’t aware of that yet.”

Spitfire paused. “Well, the League hasn’t told them officially,” he said slowly. “But leaks happen all the time, especially with new Hero announcements. Sometimes I wonder if they happen on purpose to help drum up hype.”

“I...” Jackie wasn’t sure what to say to this. “Well. You know, now that I’m an official Hero, we’ll have to be even more careful about letting our alliance be found out. It could do so much damage to the League if people found out a Hero was working with a villain.”

Spitfire chuckled, as if he was pleased with the idea of the League’s reputation being hurt. Oh, who was Jackie kidding? He was definitely pleased with that. “Do you think you’re the first Hero to team up with a criminal?”

“Well I’ve never heard of it,” Jackie mumbled. Then he straightened, pumping confidence into his posture and voice. “But now that I’m an official Hero, I can access all their databases to find out if you’re right about something like that. It’s one of those ‘benefits’ you were talking about earlier. And if you ask me, yes, the benefits are worth it. Not only is there great pay and leave, but also I’ll be getting all these cool new gadgets. Have you heard about SepTech’s Semi-Autonomous Machines? I’ll be getting one, after the welcoming ceremony.”

“Really?” Spitfire’s attention seemed to sharpen. “They’re giving one to a newbie Hero?”

“They’re giving one to every Hero in the county. It’s just lucky that Daindover is SepTech’s home turf, otherwise I might’ve missed out.” Jackie stared at Spitfire. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You sound pretty interested in this.”

“Of course I am.” Spitfire hesitated, then pressed onwards. “Listen. Windstorm. Jackie. I know you have no reason to do this, and I fully expect you to deny my request, but at least hear out what I’m about to say.”

Jackie wasn’t sure he wanted to, given the suddenly intense look in Spitfire’s eyes. But he relented. “Okay, what is it?”

“When you get your Machine from the League, I need you to bring it to me,” Spitfire said. “Before you turn it on, or even—even take it out of the box. I don’t want to keep it. I just want a friend of mine to look it over.”

“Oh hell no.” Jackie shook his head. “I’m not letting you or your ‘friend’ touch anything.”

“She won’t need to touch it,” Spitfire corrected. “Just look at it.”

“...that doesn’t change my mind.”

“I don’t want to steal it or copy the design or anything you’re thinking,” Spitfire snapped. “Those things will be commercially available, you know. The release date isn’t that far off. And the ones in the League aren’t that different. Why go to the trouble of copying yours when I could wait to buy one?”

That did make sense. But Jackie still didn’t trust Spitfire. Granted, he trusted him more than he did a few months ago. Not that much more, though. “I’ll think about it,” Jackie said. “Are you going to tell me why you want your friend to look at it?”

“I will afterwards,” Spitfire said. “I promise. But, you know, ( won’t mind if you won’t let us see it.” He paused. “I think it will be better for you if you do, though.”

Normally, Jackie would’ve taken that as a threat. But Spitfire’s tone was... different. Somehow softer. What was that? Was it... worry? A strange feeling curled around Jackie’s chest at that idea. Something that was also soft. “I’ll think about it,” he repeated.

Spitfire nodded once. “I’ll take that. Now. We should probably leave this stairwell before your friends start wondering what we’re talking about.”

“Right.” Jackie reached over and opened the door, and the two of them reentered the main body of the shop.

Chase and JJ were right where they left them. JJ was leaning on the counter while Chase talked. “—nice, I just didn’t think you’d wear something like that. Don’t they clash with your whole ‘old-timey gentleman’ look?”

JJ shrugged. I like them. He noticed Jackie and Spitfire and waved. Welcome back.

“Hey.” Jackie returned the wave. “What’re you talking about?”

“Oh, you didn’t notice JJ’s bracelets?” Chase asked.

“Huh? Oh, uh, no.”

Jameson straightened, holding up his hands. Fastened around each wrist was a bracelet, made of simple braids slid onto a string. The one on his left was rainbow-colored, while the one on his right was shades of blue and purple. Chase was right: they didn’t exactly match his usual style.

“Cool.” Jackie nodded. “Where’d you get them?”

Oh... you know, JJ said, taking the time to spell out the whole phrase in sign.

“No, I don’t know,” Jakcie said, confused.

JJ paused, then explained, One of the artists who contributes to the shop gave me a bracelet-making kit. Apparently a relative bought it for his daughter, but she didn’t want it, and he didn’t want it to go to waste. Not sure why he gave it to me, of all people. But I figured I should try it.

“Did you stay up late making them?” Chase asked half-jokingly. “Is that why you look so tired?”

I don’t look tired, JJ protested. I’ve been sleeping better lately!

“Really? Uh... sorry, then.”

“I’m uh... I’m gonna go,” Spitfire said, walking around the counter and heading towards the door.

Are you sure? JJ asked. Don’t let these two kick you out.

“No, I was going to leave anyway. I have stuff to do.”

“Hey, maybe we’ll see you again some other time!” Chase said cheerfully. “That’d be cool. Right, Jackie?”

Jackie hesitated. “Right,” he said, trying to sound enthusiastic. He wasn’t sure he was quite managing it, though, because Jameson gave him a puzzled look before glancing away.

“Maybe,” Spitfire said vaguely. “I’ll email you if anything about that project comes up, Jackie.”

“Yeah. I’ll do the same. See you then.”

“See you.” Spitfire nodded, then left, causing the bell by the door to ring cheerfully. 

There was a moment of silence after he left. “Well, he seems nice,” Chase finally.

Jackie made a face, and JJ laughed silently. I can tell you don’t like him, he said. What’s the story?

“Nothing. We just... disagree on a lot of stuff,” Jackie said carefully. “He’s actually not as bad as I used to think. But, yeah, you’re right. Uh...this might sound weird. But can you guys...try not to hang around him that much?”

JJ tilted his head. Well I’m not going to kick him out of my shop without reasonable cause. He’s a well-paying customer. But I won’t go out of my way to meet him, if that’s what you mean.

“Yeah.” Chase nodded. “I still think he’s nice enough, but whatever. I trust you.”

“You might not need to,” Jackie said. “But...just in case.” He exhaled slowly. How was he supposed to deal with this? He never imagined a supervillain would find his secret identity. Well, sometimes he did. When he was awake at night, mostly. And worrying about that only kept him up later. But... he never thought up a scenario where he’d have to work with that villain.

For a moment, he considered breaking off the alliance with Spitfire. Then he decided against it. He needed as much help as he could get with this case of the Specter and the Puppeteer. And Spitfire had already been useful. For now, the alliance could stay. But if he thought that Spitfire was getting too close to his friends, he had to cut him off.

“Anyway,” Jackie said, changing the subject. “I was thinking about lunch. Are you guys hungry?”

===============

Marvin didn’t make phone calls often. He didn’t like them. They could be easily tapped with the right equipment or the right superpowers, and stuff like that was becoming more common every day. But this was important. So he fought past the edge of paranoia by reminding himself that people had no reason to listen to his secret identity’s calls and dialed the number. Though the nervous energy still compelled him to walk in circles around his living room.

The other end only rang twice before it was picked up. “Hello?”

“Kanchana? It’s me,” Marvin said.

“Hey, cat man. Another call, huh? Only a couple per year, now twice in the past three days? Is your email broken?”

“No, it’s fine.” Though he wasn’t so sure about that. This villain, the Puppeteer, knew about at least one of his email accounts. There was a chance he knew about them all. But at least he reset all their passwords. “I want to talk to you about the six missing henches.”

“Oh?” The single syllable was laden with expectations. Probably. Marvin wasn’t too good with tone, but he’d known Kanchana for long enough to be reasonably sure. “Does this have to do with why you asked me for their information?”

“Yeah.” Marvin stopped pacing, though he rested a hand against the wall and tapped it with that same nervous fidgeting. “You know SepTech’s Reformation Program?”

“Of course I do. I suggest it to any henches who want to try being legit.” Kanchana gasped. “You’re saying you found them there?”

“Yeah. I can email you screenshots.” Marvin started heading to his office (really, it was just a small room where he kept his computer and some knickknacks.) “They changed their names, but SepTech has pictures of each of them on file, for IDs and stuff. It matches up with the ones you gave me.”

“That’s... really odd,” Kanchana said carefully. “I mean, if they wanted to stop doing henchwork, I could’ve helped them. And why did they leave their flats? None of them were having trouble paying the rent.”

“It was probably because of the new villain,” Marvin said. “The Puppeteer.”

“Okay, but why would they make some former henches join the Reform Program? Especially if they made other ones commit crimes. Those are very different goals.”

“They are, aren’t they?” Marvin mused. “It’s weird. You want to know what’s weirder? There’s no mention of these guys being henches anywhere on their files. And there’s an option for that, visible right at the top of the forms.” He paused. “You know, it’s kind of disturbing that SepTech has people’s criminal records in the first place. I know the whole purpose of Reform is to help cons with jobs, but I don’t like how just anyone with a SepTech password can access all these people’s pasts.”

“How did you find them, then?” Kanchana asked. “If it needs a password.”

“Uh...I got one.” It was one of the benefits of working at a news channel. The station had elevated access to a lot of stuff, and SepTech really liked to share stuff with the news. Anyone who worked at Channel 5 was given the station’s password, even if their job didn’t require it. They were very trusting. It was one of the reasons he’d chosen to work there.

Kanchana laughed. “Of course you do. Are you going to tell me why?”

“No.”

“Ah, figured. Well, as long as you use it for good.”

Now it was Marvin’s turn to laugh. “I’ll try. Though that’s impossible, according to certain groups.”

“You have to calm down with the League stuff, cat man. It can’t be healthy to hold onto all those negative emotions.”

Probably not. But what was he going to do, tell a therapist his whole backstory? He was pretty sure they would be legally obligated to call the police. “I’m fine,” he simply said. “I’m working on stuff. Anyway, do you want the screenshots?”

“Yes please.”

Marvin was in the office by now. He sat down at his desk, spinning around in his chair a couple times before booting up the computer. He kept talking to Kanchana as he prepared to send the screenshots. “I also got ones of all the other Reform people, just in case you recognize them. I’m going to try and look more into this program. I don’t like how everything about these guys is fake except the pictures.”

“What do you think it means?” Kanchana prompted.

“Well... either they have someone who can cover up identities as well as you can, or someone at SepTech purposefully entered wrong information. Either one is bad.” He attached the folder of screenshots to the email, waited for it to load, then sent it. “There. This should be going to your new email now.”

“Great. I’m not at my computer now, how about I get back to you if I find anything in those pictures?”

“That’d be great. Oh! By the way. I keep forgetting to ask you.” Marvin leaned back in his chair. “Have you heard anything about the Specter recently?”

“I’ve heard that they’re being more active,” Kanchana said. “Gwen’s dad got an offer for some old super tech that might’ve been from them. Anonymous offer. No weapons.”

“Hmm.” That might’ve been the Specter. He probably stole a bagful of stuff from the U-Storit, that one night when Marvin and Windstorm tried to confront him. “Thanks. I’ll talk to him about it. Maybe I can... convince him.”

“You sound so ominous when you say it like that,” Kanchana said jokingly. “What are you going to do? Bribe him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll threaten to tell his daughter about some of his business details. He wants to keep those from her, right?”

“Not that she doesn’t know already, but yes, I believe so.”

“Ha.” Marvin grinned tiredly. “Well, uh. I’m gonna go nap now, or something. Good luck.”

“Have a good one, then,” Kanchana said. “I’ll email or text you if anything develops.”

“Thanks.”

“Goodbye.”

“Bye.” Marvin hung up. He leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. It had been an emotional day. He thought back to meeting Windstorm in that shop and the conversation they had. Windstorm had seemed really angry. He didn’t blame him of course, but he still got angry at him in turn. Yes, he was a villain. But sometimes Windstorm treated him like he would snap and kill everyone in the room at any moment. The thought caused a defensive indignation to fill his heart.

Even so, he understood where Windstorm was coming from. Marvin knew he’d proven—to the world and to himself—that he was willing to kill. Even if he’d only actually managed it once. And Windstorm had friends to be worried about. People he cared about. Who cared about him.

Marvin felt an old familiar ache in his chest, and he stood up. He was going to sleep. He was going to forget about the world and rest for an hour or two. Forget about Kanchana and her order, forget about the Specter, forget about Windstorm... forget about the League of Heroes.

It was a temporary solution. But right now, it was one he needed. So he left the office and headed upstairs, ready to fall into his bed and forget.

[beardedhandstoadshark]

I've never owned a DS before and I'm really interested in purchasing one but I have no idea which one I should go with. I know there's the regular, the 3ds and the XL, so which one would you recommend?

Depends on your preference! I‘m gonna go a bit into detail here so you know what you’re buying, and there’s a TLDR in bold at the bottom, but if it’s still too muddled please don’t hesitate to ask!

Also, disclaimer, whenever I talk about pricing it’s from my own perspective, so for all we know, I could buy something super cheap that’s really expensive for you and vise versa, so it’s better to check it for yourself still.

For starters, there‘s quite a lot of different versions of the console, with the og DS and 3DS even counting as their two separate lines.

Generally speaking I’d say go with a 3DS, as they can also play every DS game on top of their own (which doesn’t work the other way around) and the hardware’s only half as old, so it’s less likely to die on you in the near future. However that makes them more expensive, too.

XL just means bigger screen/console. It’s just like when a phone comes out in regular and big size. For some folks the added space is too much to properly hold it anymore, for others the regular size is too small to do anything. Depends on your preference. For comparison:

The DSi and New 3DS are both kinda like "upgraded“ versions of the DS/3DS, respectively.

Left is a DSi, right is a New 3DS XL. They both have the same sizes as their normal counterparts, so the size comparison still works. (Ignore the low screen light on the DSi, I just didn’t bother changing it back lol. On Max brightness they‘re the same.)

If you don’t plan on playing any Gameboy Advance games, absolutely go with a DSi instead of a regular DS. They go for the same price (at least here) but the DSi has better hardware and way more functions, while being way less of a brick compared to the og DS. Apparently the max screen brightness is also higher than the og? Idk tho.

Theres also the DS lite, which is a DS that looks like a DSi, but again. Same price, might as well go with the upgrade. In any case, they’re also both harder to accidentally snap in two than the og model lol.

The New 3DS only has better hardware but no new software compared to the regular 3DS. But it’s got extra buttons! Very rarely used, but they exist. It’s kinda like 60 fps vs 30 fps, if that makes sense? The hardware difference is noticeable especially right after you switch, but you can also live without it, and sometimes it doesn’t make that big of a difference.

Like, if I play Hyrule Warriors, the regular 3DS is barely holding it together on 20fps and can’t even do 3D while the New one‘s playing pretty smooth and lets you play with 3D. And only THEN does the N3DS goes down on the same level as the regular 3DS because it’s essentially playing the game in double for the 3D effect to work. Meanwhile Mario Bros 2 plays the exact same on both of them.

What you could also do, is get a 2DS. It’s like a 3DS, but in 2D. All the features of a 3DS except for the whole 3D gimmick, so it’s basically like the Switch Lite. You also can’t fold it like the other ones, unless you get a New 2DS XL, which is foldable again, but that ones‘ price range is all over the place. The normal 2DS seems to sell generally cheaper than all the other 3DS consoles, at least.

TLDR: your options are a

DS

DS Lite

DSi

DSi XL

For the regular DS line, and for the 3DS line a

3DS

3DS XL

New 3DS

New 3DS XL

2DS

New 2DS XL

If you only have under 100 bucks or don’t care about 3DS games,I‘d say go with one of the DSi. All consoles of the DS go for more or less the same price, and it’s got the best hardware and features of them.

If you’ve got extra pocket change, go with any of the 3DS consoles instead, as there’s just more games for it on top of a better hardware and less age. Your cheapest option is a 2DS, but a regular 3DS isn’t that far off either. They might even go for the same price, if you’re lucky? If you wanna, you can go also with a New 3DS if it’s a lot of pocket change.

And if you vibe with a bigger screen, take the XL version of whatever line you chose! Except for the 2DS XL, somehow its 3D counterpart is cheaper than the 2D XL again.

Also, ALL of these consoles come in multiple colors!

TLDRTDLR: DSi for price or any of the 3DS line for more games, imo

…and if you get any of them and the shoulder buttons are broken, that’s completely normal. You can drop them 100 times and the console is fine, but play Mario Kart too often and the shoulder buttons stop working lmao.

[gamesception]

So here's the new toy that's been distracting me the last couple days. My decade+ old oversized ASUS gaming laptop finally pooped out several months ago, leaving me daily driving my Steam Deck of all things as my main home computer. And don't get me wrong, the Deck has performed remarkably well in that regard, but I've been meaning to get something a bit fancier for a while. Something that could handle 1440p gameplay at a decent framerate while streaming or recording, can manage image and video editing well, and in particular can run some VR games. I've been interested in VR gaming ever since Lobac posted about some of that a while back, especially with the Meta Quest 2 being a solid headset at a really aggressive cost. With the Zuck giving up on the metaverse, the Quest is likely never going to be cheaper than it is now.

I'd waffled for a while about building a PC, but in the end I psyched myself out and decided to go with a pre-built instead. Yes, that means willfully overpaying for the end product by a few hundred bucks to pay someone else to do the assembly and initial set up for me, but in exchange I only had to research one product instead of half a dozen separate components, plus there's a single warranty where if anything doesn't work it's somebody else's problem to fix it, and I'd only have to deal with a delay.

After watching and reading a bunch of reviews, Skytech seemed to be a decent choice for system integrator, with solid to positive reviews for various prebuilt models they offer, including Gamer's Nexus who tend to be pretty harsh on pre-builts. But it was this review from JustIN Tech that sold me on this Azure 2 model. "Performance equivalent to last gens best, but at half the price" is the exact tag line I was looking for, and after a recent price discount it was just within my $2k range.

In retrospect though, I should have done some more research on the specific components. I'm quite happy with the intel 13600 cpu, and while the included cooling setup is overkill for that chip, that just means I've got some free thermal space to overclock or upgrade in the future. Plus, it's pretty, and I'm shallow. On the other hand it turns out the nvidia 4070ti is not well thought of - generally considered badly overpriced, plus has the extra negetive association of being just a rebranding of the failed '4080 12gb' that was so roundly panned that its release had to be canned altogether. And the PNY model that came bundled in my unit isn't even as nice as the Gigabyte one in the JustIN Tech review. One of the reasons why Gamer's Nexus is the better channel for these sorts of reviews is that they do secret shopper and get the same stuff regular folks get, where as brands know what they're sending to channels like JustIN Tech and can take pains to make the best possible impression by including better components and taking extra care in assembly and packaging.

So what should I have purchased instead? I don't know. Maybe the 'blue' model of the same Azure 2 line, which is three hundred dollars cheaper to swap out the 4070ti for an intel Arc a770, which would probably have been more than enough for my intended use cases. Heck, with 4 extra gb of vram it might have even been better than the 4070ti for me in the long term, and if not then I could use the money saved towards swapping out to a better AMD card next gen. But the blue model comes in a blue version of the case, which wouldn't have made the swirly rainbow rbgs pop as much.

Anyway, while I might have made a different choice if I had done more research, that doesn't mean I'm at all unhappy with what I got! The Azure 2 arrived promptly. The build quality of the system is very nice. No damage, no loose or cross-threaded screws. Everything worked right out of the box when plugged in - including all the various external ports. Skytech certainly did a good job putting it all together. While the 4070ti might not be the most reasonably priced card for its performance level, now that it's here and paid for regardless, it seems like it should be able to do everything I want it to, at least for now. And if I end up replacing the gpu sooner then I would have liked, eh, we live and learn.

And while it doesn't matter at all compared to cost and performance, the swirly rainbow rgb lighting makes me feel like a Real Gamer (tm).

Desk is getting a bit cluttered tho.

As for performance, It's quiet and runs cool while playing my current games at top settings - though my particular game selection (mostly just Elden Ring on max settings with Ray Tracing), and my 1080p, 75hz monitor aren't exactly putting it through its paces yet. A new monitor is one of several upgrades & accessories I plan to get to go with this thing in coming months. New monitor, VR headset, an extra ssd on which to install linux - I figure I'll keep the windows install on the side, on the off chance there are games or utilities I can't get running in Linux down the line.

But anyway yeah, that's what I've been so busy with lately, delaying liveblog posts.