Getting this out of the way right at the top: Yes, I went full tryhard today. I made Expert for the first time last season in Great League running Shadow A-Slash/Medicham/Trevenant, so I really wanted to see how the team would perform after the new move updates. Also, after a week of G-Fisk, Noctowl and Lanturn decimating my super sick Jumpluff/Cherrim double grass backline in Catch Cup, I was itching for some nice, consistent meta options. Sue me!
Anyway, I wanted to take my shiny new Drill Run Shadow A-Slash for a spin, but I mainly wanted to see if Trev really was a liability in the new meta or if the reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. I spent the last few days since the news of the move update trying to figure out how I could replace Trev on the team, but nothing can really do what it does, so I figured why not at least give it a go to see how that brutal new PvPoke ranking translates to actual gameplay. The results were … interesting.
A few notes before I get into my takeaways: I did 30 battles today (banked a set from yesterday) and used the same team for all 30. Shadow A-Slash in the lead running Shadow Claw. With a few exceptions (shouts to the trainer running Dynamic Punch Toxicroak!) I faced mostly meta teams, with a lot of the newly buffed Pokémon but also plenty of the usual suspects. (I also saw two Alolan Marowak, which corebreaks the living crap out of my team, btw.) I went 24-6 on the day. Obviously, on the first day of the season, everything’s made up and the points don’t matter, but that gives you a general idea of how the team performed with a buffed A-Slash and a nerfed Trev. Lastly, yes, 30 battles is an extremely small sample size. None of this is scientific, this is more like first impressions. On to the observations!

1. Shadow Ball is Still Shadow Ball

Getting this one out of the way first because it seems like a no-brainer, but I think it’s worth noting. The PvPoke ranking is ugly, but a Shadow Ball from Trev still hits like a truck, ranking be damned. Not many things want to take an unshielded Shadow Ball (I discovered today that a Shadow Ball basically OHKOs Emolga) and the threat of it is still enough to grab shields in most matchups.
Looking at the sims real quick, Trev’s win rate against all Pokémon has dropped to 64.4% in the 1-shield, but in the 0-shield it’s 73%. That’s better than Noctowl, Lanturn, both Walreins, both Swamperts, Pelipper, Scrafty, both Gliscors, both A9s, Shadow Machamp and a lot of other stuff that Trev is now ranked lower than overall, and it’s justtt behind Sableye, Shadow A-Slash and Whiscash (all at 74%).
Basically, with shields down, Trev still seems about as strong as ever. If you’re using it as a closer (as I am) or as a hard answer to Medi (also as I am), or you’re in a matchup where you’d normally just be going straight Shadow Ball anyway, it still gets the job done with Shadow Ball alone. That said…

1. You Definitely Feel the Impact of the Seed Bomb Energy Increase

The Lanturn matchup is still fine. Maybe a little more annoying, but still comfortable. Same for Swampert. (I didn’t face a Shadow Swampert, which is probably dicier now if you’re down energy or shields, but Swampie still has to shield everything and you can eat a Hydro, so not too much difference).
But you really feel the reduced speed of Seed Bomb in some of the other matchups where you’d normally just spam it off. Trev still dominates the mud boys in even shielding/energy scenarios, but I lost a close game to a Shadow Quagsire lead where I managed to get down to Trev versus Quags in the end game, only to get outpaced to what would have been the winning Seed Bomb by one fast move. There were a few other occasions where I was furiously tapping the Seed Bomb button feeling like it was taking an eternity to charge.
Also of note: the Azu matchup is not good for Trev. I counterswapped Trev against Azu twice, barely winning the first one and losing the second one in the 2-2. Azu could always threaten with Ice Beam, but the pacing gap has closed substantially enough to make this one bad news for Trev. Which brings me to…

1. Getting Trev an Energy Lead Is Now Way More Important

Before, if you could get an energy lead on Trev, your opponent was usually in deep trouble. Now, it feels like Trev NEEDS an energy lead to really do its thing, especially when shields are up. In matchups where I was able to load up on energy or even just get a few Shadow Claw head start, Trev still felt like its old self and could still sweep teams. Good energy management is always important but Trev could mostly brute force its way through stuff before. Now, it feels much more vulnerable when it’s not ahead on energy.

1. The New Meta Might Not Be All Bad for Trev

Ice types were one of the big winners from the move update, with buffs to A-Slash, Dewgong and Walrein. With that, the expectation is that Noctowl usage will drop and Medicham usage will increase. (Again, small sample size, but I only saw three or four Noctowls across my six sets.) If that does happen as expected, that’s actually … kind of a good situation for Trev?
More Medi to feast on is great, but less Noctowl would be even better, even if it means more ice types around. Trev gets entirely walled by Noctowl, but it can at least hit back against the Ices. A-Slash doesn’t want to take a Shadow Ball, and Walrein and Dewgong take super effective damage from Seed Bomb or big neutral damage from Shadow Ball. These are still bad matchups for Trev, but it can at least do some decent chip damage, threaten shields or get a KO against them in the end game in certain situations. All of those things are either impossible or extremely difficult against Noctowl. I didn’t face any Walrein today, but I did end up with my Trev aligned on a few A-Slash and Dewgong, and boy was it nice when I could fire off a Shadow Ball before going down.
We’ll have to see what actually happens with the meta, but this scenario is certainly interesting (to me anyway!).
———
OK, that’s all I got for now. Again, none of this is definitive and I’m sure the results will change based on level of competition, the team comp and role in which you’re using Trevenant, how the meta shakes out, etc. I don’t think anyone thought Trev was suddenly obsolete now, but after using it today it feels like it still has plenty of play — just maybe not as much as a generalist and more as a dedicated closer.
Did anyone else run Trev (or run into Trev) today? I’m wondering how your experience compares to mine!

Embarking on an exciting career journey in space exploration starts with gaining valuable experience through internships. One of the most sought-after internships in this field is at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Known for its cutting-edge research and technology, JPL offers a plethora of internship opportunities for students interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn everything you need to know about landing an internship at JPL, from understanding the various programs available to preparing a standout application.
​

Landing an Internship at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Overview of JPL Internships JPL, one of NASA's 10 centers in the United States, is a world leader in space exploration and research. Located in Southern California, JPL is home to over 6,000 employees working on a wide variety of projects, including spacecraft design, climate change research, and software development for space exploration.
Each year, JPL welcomes about 1,000 interns from schools across the country to participate in these exciting projects.With thousands of applications pouring in, it's crucial to stand out from the competition. This guide will help you navigate the complex world of JPL internships, providing expert advice on the skills and experiences hiring managers are looking for, and how to set yourself on the right trajectory even before you get to college.
The World of JPL Internships At JPL, internships are available in various fields, including engineering, science, software development, finance, and more. To get a sense of the opportunities available, it's essential to keep up with JPL news and social media channels, attend virtual and in-person events, and explore the latest research.While STEM internships make up the majority of JPL's offerings, there are also opportunities for students studying other subjects. Depending on your academic background, there are different places to apply for internships.
Education Office Internships The largest number of internships can be found on the JPL Education website. These opportunities cater to college students from various academic and demographic backgrounds, including students attending community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and Los Angeles-area schools.
University Recruiting Opportunities For college students interested in space exploration but studying other fields, such as business, communications, and finance, there are additional opportunities on the JPL Jobs website. These internships are listed by opportunity and are managed by the Laboratory's University Recruiting team.
When, What, and Where to Apply Both Education Office and University Recruiting internships are paid and require a minimum 3.00 GPA, U.S. citizenship or legal permanent resident status, and an initial commitment of 10 weeks. Applicants must be enrolled in a college undergraduate or graduate program to be eligible.
After adjusting to remote internships during the COVID-19 pandemic, JPL has continued to offer some remote or hybrid internships. These internships have proven effective in providing valuable experiences to students who previously could not participate in person due to life constraints.Most internship opportunities are available throughout the year, with the majority of openings during the summer for full-time interns. For summer opportunities, it's recommended to apply no later than November or December.
Skills for Space Explorers JPL is known for its groundbreaking research and innovative projects. To succeed in a JPL internship, it's essential to showcase not only your academic achievements but also your enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and ability to work as part of a team.
Standing Out JPL mentors often look for problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills, as well as passion for learning and grit. Providing specific examples of these skills on your resume and during interviews will help you stand out from the competition.In terms of technical skills, knowledge of coding languages, such as Python, MATLAB, and C, is highly sought after. Experience with specialized tools like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can also help applicants stand out.
Getting Involved Building a strong network is crucial for landing an internship at JPL. Joining clubs and organizations that align with your career goals, forming study groups, and finding a mentor can help you gain the necessary skills and experiences.Participating in campus STEM clubs, NASA challenges, and volunteer opportunities can also help you develop a diverse skill set and establish connections with professionals in the field.
The Pre-College Trajectory Although JPL does not currently offer an open call for high-school internships, there's still plenty students can do before college to explore STEM fields, gain hands-on experience, and practice the skills they'll need for a future internship or career.
Exploring STEM Fields Students in grades K-12 can join engineering, robotics, math, and science clubs, participate in science and engineering competitions, and attend camps offered in person and online. Free events offered by organizations like NASA's Solar System Ambassadors and Night Sky Network are also excellent resources.
Building Foundational Skills Developing foundational STEM and language arts skills is crucial for future success. Students should practice critical thinking, problem-solving, and analyzing data without personal bias.Online coding courses and tutorials, as well as educational projects and activities offered by the JPL Education Office, can help students gain skills and knowledge directly related to a future STEM internship or career.
Launching into College Building a support network and not overloading yourself during your first year of college can help ensure a smoother transition. Start taking classes in your field of interest to determine if it's the right fit, and gain experience through internships at JPL or other organizations.
With this comprehensive guide at your disposal, you're now equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to land an internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Follow these steps, showcase your passion and skills, and you'll be well on your way to an exciting career in space exploration.

Whats up Doomers!? The weekend starts today fuckers! I took tomorrow off cuz i got a sick camping trip planned this weekend. Usually keep a reserve headstash in the safe cuz ya never know. But for this weekend the stars aligned and me an the boys tryna to kick off the summer. Got a Q Of K, ball of snow, zip of shroomies, bud always, 10lb nitrous tank, dmt cart, 10 strip, 20 addies, and whatever anyone else is bringing. Ive been on a break for a bit so its gonna be so good to vibe tf out in the woods.
I do a bit of everything but Ks and psychs mainly for me. The other shit i just wanna supply my homies a good time cuz they always lookin out for me! Share the love brothers and sisters.

Hey everyone,
This happened somewhat recently but was difficult for me to deal with, so wanted to sit with it before posting about it, even if some of the details are now fuzzy. This is also an active campaign and while the problem player infuriated me to no end I think they had a lot of issues they needed to work through and I bear them no ill will, so please don't call them out or harass them or anything if you know them, I just needed to get this off my chest.
This campaign had a large number of players to start, but the most noteworthy ones in this story are myself, Dave, and the DM.
I've DMed more games than I've played, so when an interesting-looking 5e campaign in a homebrew world came up from a newer DM on Discord, I hopped at the chance to join. We had a good amount of time to socialize and work on our characters before our first game. I really wanted to do something unique and interesting, so I played a delusional kobold that thought they were a dragon. (We did some reflavoring but kept things mechanically the same. So for instance, burning hands came from my mouth) Everyone seemed pretty chill, but there was one person that was far more active on the server than everyone else, Dave. Dave had some kind of job (we never figured out what this was) where they weren't allowed to be on a computer but COULD talk and speak out loud, so would frequently ask people to go on voice chat or do calls with them. I know we were going to be speaking to everyone once the game started, but as all of my prior experience was in person it still made me a bit uncomfortable to do a voice call with someone 1 on 1. So while I didn't mind chatting with them solo, I kept making excuses for doing a call.
Session 1 seemed fine. They did things that kept drawing attention to their character and would push the DM to allow them to do certain things in their background/backstory that didn't make sense in the DM's homebrew setting. Nothing too major, but stuff like "It says I can sleep at the guard post in the city as part of my background. I'm a guard in this city and I can sleep there and bring some other people, right?" "Eh, there's not really any organized military/martial presence in this small town." "But it says right here in my background that I can do it" and that sort of repeated until the DM relented. This was the start of a pattern.
So after the first session, they message me saying "Hey, I have this great magic item I will be giving myself before the next session". I was a little confused that they were messaging me instead of the DM, but I figure they were just trying to brainstorm before approaching them.
Holy cow batman, the description of what this magic item could do was TWO WHOLE PAGES. I crunched some numbers and quickly realized that this magic item was not only capable of keeping the whole party consistently healed, **it could one shot a tarrasque**. I was a bit flabbergasted and pointed out that this was capable of killing *as a bonus action* the highest published CR monster in the game and they responded with "Yeah, I know, that was one of the things I wanted to do when I built it." Some brief background on the DM's world and the campaign, this was a very low magic setting and we all started at level 3. In terms of magic items, we've so far come across cantrip spell scrolls, a coin of delving, and a cloak of billowing. Still, I figured maybe they were just... unfamiliar or awkward and they were so eager, so I tried to help them. I thought about what they wanted to do conceptually with their item and created something that had some level-based scaling and was fairly effective, but far more balanced and in line with what someone might have at level 3 in a campaign and figured with DM approval and maybe some sort of quest it could be acquirable. I told them that their idea was pretty overpowered, especially for level three, and suggested the more balanced item to them (the description only took one paragraph). They responded that the item was totally useless, and I didn't hear about them until the next session.
This is where things went totally off the hook.
Since the DM allowed him to be a guard and bunk with a couple of other party members there, he used this as a quest hook. The head of the guards gave him a quest and he went to wake up the other party members who stayed with him. (Half of us had stayed behind at an inn). The group wanted to do some downtime/shopping/socializing this session, so they were off to the market.
The DM asked them "Are you going straight there or going to the inn first to get the rest of your party?" "No, we're going straight there." "Are you sure? The rest of the party is still there." "Yes, we're going to the market." They bought a gust spell scroll but didn't realize that as a fighter they weren't able to use it. He went to a blacksmith and asked them to make a set of tonfa. It didn't really make sense in the setting for the blacksmith to have any idea what they were referring to. But Dave kept pushing and eventually, the DM decided that if he can draw up the specifications really well, maybe the smith or another party member proficient in smithing could make it, but that it would be a difficult roll and would have to succeed on multiple checks. He eventually goes back to the tavern and draws up multiple specs with a string of 17+ rolls. He then engages in persuasion rolls (another string of 17+ rolls) to convince other party members to buy those specs and his cantrip scroll and changes the prices each time, but nobody wants to metagame so he just... scams the party. This takes hours. Some people got chances to interact and play dnd, but the camera was always following them, so to speak. After a skill challenge and an immense amount of 17+ rolls on Dave's end, they get their tonfa. They proceed to tell everyone all about the qualities and stats of it. It winds up being this wishlist of weapon traits, bonus damage dice, and bonus AC. The DM tries to stop him and tells him that he needs to figure out what its stats and properties are. But Dave insists that he already had this conversation with the DM and that they told him this weapon could have all these properties and that he should stand by his previous conversation.
I made up some reason to head directly to the market. Something I forgot to mention, another player complained that I was talking over them in the previous session. I felt bad about this, as this isn't something I want to do to another player. We figured that it was half that I spoke strongly and confidently (conditioned to as part of my job) and them having a quiet microphone. So I tried to be more careful about using my meeting voice and I turned everyone else's volume down and turned theirs to the max and it seemed resolved. The reason I mention this is because I still felt bad so I wanted to give gifts to all of the other party members. I had spent most of the week planning this out so I needed to get to the market before the end of the session. We essentially just had starting gold and equipment, so I had to get creative to make meaningful gifts for the rest of the party and it took up most of my starting equipment and all of my starting gold.
As Dave heard me doing this, Dave decided to say "Hey everyone, let's plan out how our party will handle finances. Let's leave out [OP] because they're selfish and greedy." They proceed to plan and vote on how to handle finances. Then proceeded with "Also, I have this quest. Let's discuss it and plan out how to proceed with it now before [OP] gets back."
I was pretty livid at this point. I had essentially sat out all session due to his decisions and deliberately excluded from roleplay moments/campaign decisions/etc. I realized that my character also had every reason to be pissed with the information they had available. So as I returned and Dave announced the decisions the party had already made, I challenged them on their behavior over the day. They responded with "Well, you're a greedy dragon so I *know* you're bad with money. I don't even need to guess, I just *know* that you spent all of your money at the market. That proves I'm right. In fact, on our next quest, I can just tell the quest giver that you didn't participate and just keep your reward."
Then things got weird.
I tried to just ignore him and went around to the rest of my party bestowing my gifts to them. They were mostly silly things. A kobold's best attempt to make a scented candle. Some tinkerer's tools for the warforged. A chess set for the scholar. Etc. Dave interrupted pretty frequently for rolls to *determine if I was good or evil*. It didn't make much sense to me at the time, but now I'm fairly certain they were trying to justify attacking me by proving I'm the opposite alignment of whatever they were. They kept persuading the DM until they finally let them do a series of rolls for it and lo and behold, more 17+ rolls culminating in a 19. The DM decided he succeeded and asked me to tell him about my backstory and alignment. Here's the thing... I didn't really flesh out their whole backstory yet. I figured I could develop it as the character develops through play. I tried to share what I had come up with so far, but kept being pressed for more, before I put my foot down and said "Look, I don't care how well you rolled, you can't read my backstory and my character's inner thoughts with a skill check." DM finally agreed with me and we ended the session, they took off but some of us stayed on the call to chat.
Then Dave says "You should never have tried to stand up to my character. Kobolds are cowardly, you're not playing your character correctly." I glanced at my character sheet and pointed out that I had the kobold legacy trait "Defiance" which gave me an advantage against being frightened so I don't think I needed to play them cowardly. Then they dropped their next line, "You know I could kill your character any time I wanted. You wouldn't be able to do anything to stop me." This wasn't one on one or anything either, this was in front of other party members. I laugh it off, but I'm a little uncomfortable. He wasn't very knowledgeable about the game and I was pretty confident in my tactics/character build so I wasn't too worried if they just attacked me out of the blue. But they always rolled exceptionally high and could go for my character in their sleep. I was getting worked up, so made an excuse and logged off.
As the week progressed, it looked more and more likely they were going to get an OP magic item and I kind of lost it. I went on a bit of a rant and told both him and the DM I really think it's bad to give him this item because it's very powerful and he *has already threatened to kill my character*. I realized something at the same time that I suspect is a surprise to zero of you out there, he rolled physical dice. It's not something I had even considered, but suddenly I was incredibly suspicious of him not rolling below a 17 that session. I started mentally planning contingencies of what preparations I'll be making to protect myself and messaging the DM in order for Dave not to metagame around them.
At this point, I had a reality check. What was I even doing? This wasn't fun anymore. I had decided I would probably quit, but also went back and just wrote a heartfelt message about what I felt was antagonistic from him, how it made me feel as a player and potential steps we could take towards a resolution. Then I muted the server for 24 hours and tried to mentally prepare myself for telling them that I was no longer interested in continuing.
I return and I'm shocked and surprised. A lot had transpired in those 24 hours. I had gotten a couple of messages of support from the DM and some other party members. Other party members had started sharing their own grievances regarding Dave and how uncomfortable they were feeling. Dave did not respond at all well to any of this and blamed everyone except for himself. My favorite justification he made (that nobody else seemed to buy) is that he already messaged me and that I was alright with everything (lol no). Things were getting heated and several people were really upset, and the DM decided to just pull the trigger and kick him. His character became an NPC and was later discovered dead in a ditch in a following session.
So that's my horror story! Thanks for reading it through to the end. Some of the problems and issues other party members had with Dave were pretty shocking and warrant a separate story all on their own, but this has gone on long enough and I'll leave it to them to tell their own stories if they choose to.

So in Concord, the house and buildings' textures keep disappearing and flickering, and a vanilla board completely blocks the entrance to one of the first houses. I've spent hours trying to figure this out to no avail. Btw this is on Xbox Series X, this is the load order:

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch AWKCR - V4.02 All DLC Version HUDFramework DEF_WIDGETS-CORE Integrated Commonwealth Gatorclaws Revamped The Beantown Interiors Project Cheat Terminal Arbitration - A Gameplay Overhaul Arbitration - Automatron AI Addon Immersive Fallout - DLC More Realistic Cats by Greslin Femshepping's Diamond City Edit Welcom to Fallon's Railroad Redone Everyone's Best Friend (Dogmeat and Companion) Beantown Interiors Menus Even Better Mod Descriptions - G.O.T.Y. Handmade Turrets Alternate Guard Sources Craftable Turret Stands Sandbag Fortifications Makeshift Furniture Pack DamnApocalypse - CORE Wasteland Wound Care Stop the Bleeding PIRAD A Touch of Life - Complete Deadly Fog JOURNEY - Survival Settlement Fast Travel Sleep or Save Better Cap Stash & Immersive Loot PCDug's Build a Wall A Few More NPCs Faded Glory Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul PTSD Inducing Weapon Sounds Commonwealth Warfare - Realistic Gun Sounds And Bullet Cracks Commonwealth Warfare - Explosions Dynamic Music Overhaul - High Level Threats Immersive Squeaky Doors Vivid Weathers Darker Nights (Level 1) PhyDark (192) PhyLight Interiors Enhanced 2.0 All in One Glowing Animals Emit Light Pip-Boy Flashlight (Brighter) Gorgeous Glowing Plasma Weapons (Rusty Lime) Vivid Fallout - All in One Vivid Waters (Vivid Weathers Edition) Sunlight Alignment Tweak Sun Shadows in Real Time Enhanced Blood Textures (1K) CROSS Crit Gore-verhaul Nuka-Cola Classic Redder Rocket Reptilic Deathclaws See Through Scopes - GOTY HQ Bathroom Stalls - LucidAPs Purified Water Classic Blood Mist Overhaul Visible Galaxy 4k Dim Moon - Beatiful Replacement Texture Ammo Retexture by Jorhadoq Laser Weapon 1st Person Reposition True Tracers And Bolt Lasers (GEFN Edition) Plasma Impact Fix 4x Power Armor Headlight Range Rain of Brass - Full Version Power Line Physics [Polski/Polish] Radiant Clouds And Fogs [English] Full Dialogue INterface Survival Stats Widget No Build Limit - All DLC STS - All in One Leveled Raiders Diverse Children Lite Varied Raiders for Xbox One Simple Settlers (Mortal Edition) Caravan Extension Better Dials for Power Armor Lunchboxes - more food, less junk Unique Uniques Any Armour on Any Clothes Beantown Interiors Optimization Patch Vivid Weathers - Natural Bright DamnApocalypse - Loot/Economy DamnApocalypse - Combat DamnApocalypse - Power Armor Wasteland Wound Care - DamnApocalypse Patch PIRAD - Vivid Weathers Patch Vivid Weathers - Far Harbor Vivid Weathers - Nuka World Vivid Weathers - Spring Vivid Weathers - Summer Vivid Weathers - Autums Vivid Weathers - Winter Darker Nights for Vivid Weathers (Level 1) Darker Nights for Nuka World (Level 1) LOOKUP FAILED - Creation Club Full Dialogue Interface Fix (English) [XB1] Plenty o' Exploration - Xbox Concord+ 

I don't really know what mod is causing the conflict since I tried disabling STS, POE, Concord+, and Vivid Fallout. I also enabled mod compatibility on Beantown and POE holotapes. Please anyone help me figure out how to fix this.
^{Bonus points if anyone points out any other problems, and recommendations on mods for future runs?}

This post is an overview of the blackmail tactics used to control most of the influential people and governments around the world. Obviously I cannot cover everything in a single post, so as with my previous posts I highly encourage you to research further yourself. All sources and links are at the bottom of the post. An understanding of what trauma-based mind control programming (MKULTRA/MONARCH) is, and how it works, is again necessary to understanding much of this. My other posts here:

• Deep Underground Military Bases
  
• Alice in Wonderland Programming
  
• Overview of the Mind Control Running our World
  

The world is run on blackmail, mind control, and shame.
There exist many collections of videotapes of 'high-up' people engaging in some of the worst, sickest things imaginable. Drugs, torture, pedophilia, and murder are common themes to these videos. These tapes are in the hands of many different people, groups, and especially intelligence agencies. 'Honey-trap' operations are constantly being run to gather compromising and incriminating evidence on people of importance. Child slaves will be used to compromise people on video. Global leaders are often covertly videotaped doing perverted things with sex slaves sent to them by intelligence agencies, the Illuminati, or other groups, and this is then leveraged. Rape and murder of a child (forced or not), one of the most repulsive things possible, is many times filmed to ensure future compliance.
"Back in 1966, Rothstein became the first police detective assigned to investigate the prostitution industry. Almost immediately he discovered an underground sexual blackmail operation that compromised politicians with child prostitutes. ‘Human Compromise’ is what he labelled the honey-trap process. Rothstein and his colleagues found that approximately 70 percent of top US Government leaders were compromised in this way. Rothstein said, the CIA conducted the human compromise operation, while the FBI was tasked with covering up any leaks."

• Fiona Barnett [6]

"One of the things I found out over the last ten years of studying governments and listening to intelligence and counter-intelligence is that those in government are sexually compromised, and their sexual secrets are collected and then they are promoted into governments and into judiciaries and into all the positions of importance. Paedophilia is the preferred dirt as it is easily photographed, easily presented in a range of media, immensely shameful, and the public demands your resignation."

• Greg Hallett [12]

"Paul Bonacci, one of the victim-witnesses in the Franklin affair, also clearly stated Larry King used him in blackmail operations in New York and Washington. The latter was in connection with the activities of a close associate of Larry King, Craig Spence, who was involved in a prostitution ring consisting of underaged boys that were supplied to Washington's upper class, which went right up to the White House."

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"Sexually bent politicians in denial of their sexuality to the public are a threat to their own country and policies. They are easily setup, photographed, politically bribed, toppled, and supported in the destruction of their country. This method of altering a country’s policies is epidemic and now endemic to politics."

• Greg Hallett [12]

"Bob (Hope) was politically connected and knew how to lure people in and insure they would work for him. He invited them to his parties and dangled various kinds of illegal or immoral perversions in their faces. Once their perversions were uncovered, he could blackmail or control them. That is how Bob worked. Bob was very good at this. I watched him do it to people over and over. He lured them in, detected their weaknesses, then used that knowledge in his favor, for his connections, and ultimately for his personal gain."

• Brice Taylor [5]

These blackmail 'practices' are often used in conjunction with trauma-based mind control. This mind control is an integral component of, and is deeply intertwined with child trafficking, sex slavery, Satanic ritual abuse, and many other horrific crimes. Many of the children used for blackmail are programmed, and many of the people being blackmailed (including (sometimes future) politicians, leaders, presidents, etc.) are also programmed themselves.
"My personal belief, based on my experiences, is that over the years, more leaders were under mind control."

• Brice Taylor [5]

"Fritz Springmeier notes that 'It is a standard tactic of the Illuminati, their New World Order and its various branches to use fear and blackmail to bring people into line.' Cheryl Beck had a 'sexy Sadie' program that was used to blackmail government and military people as a child prostitute seductress. Cathy O’Brien’s daughter Kelly was 'being prostituted to the CIA for blackmail purposes.' Svali notes that using child prostitutes to blackmail political leadership outside of the Illuminati was very common."

• Veronica Swift [10]

"Beryl-Green said Epstein knew about MKULTRA. He was into mind-controlling victims and satanic ritual abuse (SRA). Epstein was into DNA mixing, human cloning and he knew about New World Order plans."

• Hope Beryl-Green [17]

"This dirty game has been honed to a fine art, which is a standard feature of the Illuminati/intelligence groups. The CIA term for blackmail is an 'OK FIX.' When they use a person’s past sins to force someone to do something they refer to this as 'biographic leverage.' Any weak point in a person can and will be exploited. Sexual entrapment for blackmail is referred to as a 'HONEY TRAP'. Black widow alters are being trained and sent out for this purpose. In order to blackmail, or threaten, you have to have something to threaten the person with. Men are frequently entrapped by sexual behavior which is criminal. Sometimes they are also entrapped by murder. The Monarch slave will be allowed to have children so that they can be blackmailed into complying to save the children or grandchildren. The Monarch slave in turn may be used to blackmail others. Certain alters are trained in this. A Monarch Beta model is highly trained in seduction. Many politicians and ministers are operating under blackmail today. The extent that blackmail is being used by the NWO would boggle people’s minds. Porn films are taken of the Monarch victims, so that they can be used to blackmail the victim. Monarch victims are forced to commit ritual murders which are photographed and then used to blackmail the mind-controlled victim."

• Fritz Springmeier [15]

Intelligence agencies all over the world utilize blackmail, routinely employing and exploiting it as much as possible. It is an extremely important 'tool' of theirs. Operations are done to gather the incriminating evidence.
"Other 'neutralisations' verge on the bizarre. An individual who must remain nameless for a variety of reasons - but whose name is known to this writer - underwent an experience that is both horrific and chilling. I shall call this individual 'Mr. X' or, simply, 'X'. Mr. X was a leader of one of the largest CIA-backed Contra groups. He recently testified before the US Senate Intelligence Committee. Formerly, X was a senior executive in a South American subsidiary of a leading US soft drinks corporation. During his Senate testimony, he denied any knowledge of CIA involvement in the narcotics trade, adding that condoning such activity would have been foreign to his way of life. Not so, says Tatum. Mr. X had been recruited into the CIA by then-Director William Casey, with the assistance of Oliver North. In 1990, when Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega announced there would be 'free elections', X was ecstatic. He began jostling for position and asked President Bush to ensure he be given a prominent position in the new government - in return for his years of toil at the behest of the CIA and the Enterprise. The pressure came in a form that Bush could not ignore. Failure to help his friend would result in X's intimate knowledge of Bush's involvement in the dope trade being made public. His threat left Bush with a sour taste. A Pegasus team was assigned to 'neutralise' him in early 1990. Mr. X, Tatum states, 'fancied himself a lover of women. Tall, large-breasted blondes were his favourite. It was determined that, if effectively neutralised, [X] could be an asset. Therefore, it was decided that intimidation would be used to control [X].' They chose to use the drug Scopolamine, which also went by the nickname 'Burundanga' or 'the Voodoo drug'. The drug is extracted from the pods of a flowering shrub that grows in remote regions of South America. In its processed, powdered form, Scopolamine is 'void of smell, void of taste'. When properly administered 'it causes absolute obedience' without this being 'observable by others'. Importantly, the target will not recall any of the events that occurred during the period they were under the spell of the drug. Tatum states that X was invited to spend a relaxing weekend at a luxury hotel as a guest of his friend George Bush. His host for the weekend was a trusted 18-year veteran field-intelligence officer. The evening started with cocktails and was followed by a fine meal. ''Nothing but the best' were the orders.' Following the meal, he was ushered into the suite of a 'blonde bombshell' supplied by the CIA. Mr. X had already ingested a dose of Burundanga during pre-dinner cocktails. X was gallant with the blonde as they both moved into the bedroom where video cameras were already set up in one corner. In short order, the blonde had X standing naked in front of her and began to indulge his desires. All the while, the video cameras whirred. Slowly stripping off, the 'blonde' revealed his manhood in all its glory. Mr. X was instructed to reciprocate the favour and perform fellatio. He obliged, his intimate activities recorded at 24 frames a second on videotape. Tatum says the male prostitute was hired from a bar in New York and killed that same evening. Two weeks later, X - wholly unaware of the events of that evening - was visited in Nicaragua. He was presented with a copy of the video footage, along with instructions. Tatum says that X can never allow that video to be seen: 'Not only does it reveal his homosexuality, but it also reveals his bestiality and satanic worship rituals.' As frame after frame flicked by, X reportedly wept, forced to watch himself kill his homosexual 'lover' and then engage in the most grisly cannabalistic ritual imaginable. Neutralised, Mr. X became a leading member of the Nicaraguan government a few short weeks later."

• The Pegasus File [13]

"Check out the FBI records on Scarlett: What was his original HOOK that got him so deeply embedded into UK Illuminati culture? He murdered the nanny of Lord Lucan in the 1970's. Lucan wasn't actually involved. Scarlett got it wrong. He was under mind control at the time. How we all laughed on his training sessions when we heard that one. Not funny, really. We were all in the same boat. Each had something terrible attached to us, in our past. That is all part and parcel of the Illuminati contract. Young people forced under mind control to commit murder when young and then later on, picked up by British Intelligence to be used and abused as they wished - as loyal servants of the British Crown. One can only hope that by exposing these HOOKS, that some sort of amnesty can prevail. If these people are freed from the demonic Illuminati contract by exposing their HOOKS - one can only hope that they will come forward as a sizeable and influential body of political and public figures, in order to put an end to it. Here's hoping. Check out Rimington's hook to see what sort of mind ran MI5 for so long. It's a game called 'mafia' and it is ALL about blackmail."

• Ex MI6 [2]

"...He had previously signed off on Epstein’s 'sweetheart deal' because Epstein 'had belonged to intelligence.' Acosta, then serving as US attorney for Southern Florida, had also been told by unspecified figures at the time that he needed to give Epstein a lenient sentence because of his links to 'intelligence.'"

• Whitney Webb [4]

"Detective Rothstein found that the CIA were behind a blackmail operation in which child prostitutes were used to honey-trap and compromise politicians, military brass, top businessmen, and key government officials. Rothstein, who arrested the key Watergate perpetrator, said Watergate solely concerned this human compromise racket, and specifically was an attempt to obtain a list of compromised pedophile VIPs and their proclivities that was held at the Democratic National Headquarters."

• Fiona Barnett [8]

"Michael Aquino was in the military. He had top Pentagon clearances. He was a pedophile. He was a Satanist. He founded the Temple of Set. And he was a close friend of Anton LaVey. The two of them were very active in ritualistic sexual abuse. And they deferred funding from this government program to use in this experimentation on children. Where they deliberately split off the personalities of these children into multiples, so that when they're questioned or put under oath or questioned under lie detector, that unless the operator knows how to question a multiple-personality disorder, they turn up with no evidence. They used these kids to sexually compromise politicians or anyone else they wish to have control of...they were taken to be used by professional pedophiles. People that have the money to buy what they want, take the kids wherever they want...and by splitting the children’s personalities they could then train each one of the personalities to do a different function. And the rest of the personalities within that host personality would not be aware of it or remember it."

• Noreen Gosch, Johnny Gosch's mother (of the 'Franklin Boys') [1]

"Vinson also told Nick Bryant that Spence and Larry King were 'partners' and 'hooked up with the CIA', stating specifically that 'King and Spence were in business together, and their business was pedophilic blackmail.' They were transporting children all over the country. They would arrange for children to be flown into Washington, DC and also arrange for influential people in DC to be flown out to the Midwest and meet these kids. Per Vinson, Larry King had confided in him that he had clients who liked to torture and even kill children: 'King said they had clients who actually liked having sex with kids as they tortured or killed the kid. I found that totally unbelievable.' After Vinson said this to Nick Bryant, he asked Bryant later on in the interview if King’s disclosure had indeed been true. He was unaware at the time that other evidence, including witness testimony, had suggested that it was."

• Whitney Webb [4]

"According to fugitive ex-CIA officer Frank Terpil, CIA-directed sexual blackmailing operations were intensive in Washington at about the time of the Watergate scandal. One of those operations, Terpil claims, was run by his former partner, Ed Wilson. Wilson's base of operations for arranging trysts for the politically powerful was, Terpil says, Korean agent Ton Sun Park’s George Town Club. In a letter to the author, Terpil explained that ‘Historically, one of Wilson’s Agency jobs was to subvert members of both houses [of Congress] by any means necessary. Certain people could be easily coerced by living out their sexual fantasies in the flesh...A remembrance of these occasions was permanently recorded via selected cameras...The technicians in charge of filming were TSD [Technical Services Division of the CIA]...The unwitting porno stars advanced in their political careers, some of whom may still be in office.'"

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"Intelligence and counter intelligence ‘work’, and they ‘work together’ to create scenarios that are so unbelievable that they cannot be published in the mainstream media, and if they are, they will appear like a joke. The information to blackmail a country, to blackmail its politicians, to blackmail its Prime Ministers and Presidents, to blackmail its judges and lawyers is a very serious matter."

• Greg Hallett [12]

The Illuminati and other cults also engage in the same blackmail operations. There is a huge overlap between secret societies/cults and intelligence, with top intelligence usually being run by them. All of them do this.
"I was able to have first hand access to the Jeffrey Epstein case investigation documents. According to the documents, Epstein was the head of a global fraternity related to the Shriners called The Royal Order of Jesters. This order is covered with scandals and lawsuits related to human trafficking, but they are very protected because many members of the order are high-profile political figures and businessmen. It is crazy how these people manage to operate under the radar for so many years, decades...Now you may ask how they do this? Easy...By using blackmail tactics, they manage to have Judges and Law Enforcement licking their feet. That's how Jeffery Epstein got assassinated. After he was out of the game, the whole business is run by other people. Major names are involved and many high-profile people who are all bound to the order by means of blackmail. This is particularly disturbing when you find out that the cases of Catholic priests involved in sex scandals are events organized by The Order of Jesters. They run blackmail operations with the purpose of seducing people in power...With those videos in their power, the careers and the public image of many people are in the Jester's hands. They are free to do anything, they can turn even the President of the United States into a slave."
-- "Jeffrey Epstein Post" [7]
"Illuminati 'FROG ON A LILYPAD' programming: The FROG as a paedophile - with no 'tadpole tail/tale', as in no memory of what he/she has done until they get past 40 years old. It becomes clear that so many people were forced to be paedophiles and to abuse their children - only to wake up to all of this later on - post 40 years old. Then to have Stella Rimington on their doorstep with a videotape - telling them that she will send it to the police if they do not do precisely what she says. The ultimate blackmail weapons combined: A tape of you committing paedophilia - and even worse - incest with your own children. Guaranteed to 'silence' most people for life. The scope of this Illuminati blackmail project has been immense, in British society and it has to be exposed. There is safety in numbers."

• Ex MI6 [2]

"(Sue) Arrigo adds that the kids with the most smarts and/or looks, about 5% are skimmed off the top by the Luciferians in charge like the Bushes and used as either spies or corporate sex slaves or both. They’re typically pimped out on high priced loans to influential politicians as house boy and girls to ensure the puppets in Congress are happy and blackmail-able for control."

• Joachim Hagopian [14]

"The Masonic leadership of Freemasonry in a given area will have thousands of 'blackmail' files on essentially everyone of importance in their area. Upper echelon people such as judges, lawyers, and politicians are generally controlled via IRS infringements, and many of the lower echelon people are controlled through weird sexual items. This is where the Delta and Beta Monarch slaves are so helpful to the Illuminati. (This information comes from several witnesses who are informed about the blackmail files & their methods for blackmailing.)"

• Fritz Springmeier [16]

These people are already in power, and have set their system up so that nobody rises to a prominent, powerful, or influential position without being selected, extensively compromised, controllable, and usually under mind control. They are all 'in it together', and because of this they protect eachother. Most have 'insurance' on one another.
"The most common phrase associated with that one was ‘talk about the pot calling the kettle black’, meaning that each Illuminati slave had been caught on camera and from an early age – doing something terrible – as Rimington was fond of saying ‘we are all as bad as each other and all in it together.’"

• Ex MI6 [2]

"Oftentimes when I and others were prostituted to various government (New World Order) leaders, Dante had hidden cameras filming perverse sexual acts apparently for future blackmail leverage. These videos were scandalous in proportion and were usually ordered by Reagan. Dante turned the videos over to Reagan, and covertly kept copies to protect himself. Dante converted a small room of his Beverly Hills mansion into a security vault, where he kept his personal copies of the international blackmail porn tapes there. Blackmail was openly initiated to ensure that each criminal participant understood that if one fell, they all fell. Maintaining 'dirt' on each other through this Mafia-style method was seemingly the only way these criminals implementing the New World Order kept each other 'honest.'"

• Cathy O'Brien [3]

"The Watergate break-in was strictly based on one thing - the pedophile records that were being kept at the Democratic National Headquarters."

• Detective James Rothstein (NYPD, Retired) [6]

"In 1972, Rothstein arrested one of the five Watergate burglars, CIA operative Frank Sturgis. During a subsequent two-hour interrogation, Rothstein discovered the truth about Watergate (plus Sturgis’ and the CIA’s involvement in the Bay of Pigs incident, and the related assassination of JFK). Sturgis told Rothstein, the Watergate burglars sought something they nicknamed ‘The Book’ which listed the Democratic and Republican politicians who accessed child prostitutes, their sexual proclivities, the amounts they paid to rape kids, etc."

• Fiona Barnett [6]

There are certain places known for this, two famous examples being Little St. James island or Bohemian Grove (there are many, many others).
"For those of you who are interested in Bohemian Grove and the current list upon the Internet of those poor unsuspecting 'invitees' who will be pressganged into going (and subsequently blackmailed out of their minds afterwards, by the Illuminati)...the entrapment going on at Bohemian Grove is of an avaricious and esoteric nature - in relation to all of those unlucky 'invitees' who want to join this 'prestigious club' but then get videoed doing things that they wouldn't want anyone to know about - 'guests' who are then subsequently blackmailed out of their brains...and for the rest of their lives. But then that was what the Illuminati cult and their Sat B'hai contract has always been about...promising that you would get everything for nothing (if you agreed to be unquestioningly obedient to the Crown) and that you would now be part of an 'esoteric' prestigious Satanic club."

• Ex MI6 [2]

"Numerous videos are covertly produced at the supposedly secure political sex playground in northern California, Bohemian Grove. High tech undetectable cameras use fiber optics, and fish-eye lenses were in each of the elite club's numerous sexual perversion theme rooms. I was programmed and equipped to function in all rooms at Bohemian Grove in order to compromise specific government targets according to their personal perversions. 'Anything, anytime, anywhere with anyone' was my mode of operation at the Grove. My perception is that Bohemian Grove serves those ushering in the New World Order through mind control, and consists primarily of the highest Mafia and U.S. Government officials. Project Monarch mind controlled slaves were routinely abused there to fulfill the primary purpose of the club: purveying perversion. Bohemian Grove is reportedly intended to be used recreationally, providing a supposedly secure environment for politically affluent individuals to 'party' without restraint. The only business conducted there pertained to implementing the New World Order, through the proliferation of mind-control atrocities, giving the place an air of 'Masonic Secrecy'. The only room where business discussions were permitted was the small, dark lounge affectionately and appropriately referred to as the Underground. The wooden sign was carved to read: 'U.N.DERGROUND'. My purpose at the Grove was sexual in nature, and therefore my perceptions were limited to a sex slave's viewpoint. As an effective means of control to ensure undetected proliferation of their perverse indulgences, slaves such as myself were subjected to ritualistic trauma. Slaves of advancing age or with failing programming were sacrificially murdered 'at random' in the wooded grounds of Bohemian Grave, and I felt it was 'simply a matter of time until it would be me'. Rituals were held at a giant, concrete owl monument on the banks of the Russian River. These occultish sex rituals stemmed from the scientific belief that mind-controlled slaves required severe trauma to ensure compartmentalization of the memory. I witnessed the sacrificial death of a young, dark-haired victim at which time I was instructed to perform sexually 'as though my life depended upon it'. I was told, 'The next sacrifice victim could be you.' The club offered a 'Necrophilia' themed room to its members. I was so heavily drugged and programmed when used in the 'necrophilia' room, that the threat of actually 'slipping through death's door' and being sacrificed 'before I knew it' did not affect me. Other perversion theme rooms at the Bohemian Club included what I heard Ford refer to as the 'Dark Room'. When he not so cleverly said, 'Let's go to the Dark Room and see what develops,' I understood from experience that he was interested in indulging in his perverse obsession for pornography. In the Dark Room, members had sex with the same mind-controlled slave they were viewing in porn on a big screen television. There was a triangular glass display centered in a main through way where I was locked in with various trained animals, including snakes. Members walking by watched illicit sex acts of bestiality, women with women, mothers with daughters, kids with kids, or any other unlimited perverse visual display. I was once brutally assaulted by Dick Cheney in the Leather Room, which was designed like a dark, black leather-lined train berth. There was a room of shackles and tortures, black lights and strobes, an opium den, ritualistic sex altars, a chapel, group orgy rooms including poster beds, water beds, and 'kitten' houses. I was used as a 'rag doll' in the 'toy store,' and as a urinal in the 'golden arches' room. From the owl's roost to the necrophilia room, no memory of sexual abuse is as horrifying as the conversations overheard in the Underground pertaining to implementing the New World Order. I learned that perpetrators believed that controlling the masses through propaganda mind manipulation did not guarantee there would be a world left to dominate due to environmental and overpopulation problems. The solution being debated was not pollution/population control, but mass genocide of 'selected undesirables'."

• Cathy O'Brien [3]

News 'headlines' with hidden symbolic communication are also used by intelligence and other groups, many times referring to blackmail (among the many other varieties of covert operations).
"'Nuclear' is a comm used all over the world to symbolize extraordinarily explosive information, like blackmail. Which is why if we reconcile blackmail with news about nuclear, a secret truth will become clear. The two most powerful blackmailers ever? That would probably be Jeffrey Epstein and Hugh Hefner. And this is why the deaths of blackmailers like Hugh Hefner and Jeffrey Epstein both coincided with 'Nuclear Accidents':"
08/09/2019 Is Putin covering up a Nuclear disaster?

• 08/09/2019 = Russia Hides a Nuclear Accident!
• 08/10/2019 = CIA Blackmailer Epstein Dead
• 09/26/2017 = Russia Hides a Nuclear Accident!
• 09/27/2017 = CIA Blackmailer Hefner Dead

09/26/2017 Nuclear explosion kept secret by Russia
"Why are CIA blackmailers dying the day after Russia declares nuclear accidents? The reason for the -1 day in Epstein’s case is they likely died before the official day, and these comms were to give agents a heads up on the upcoming BOOM before it hits papers. In Hefners case they had to signal people to move the blackmail. The point as stated is a lot of 'nuclear' is all about blackmail. Not all of it, but a lot of it."

• "Symbolic Communication" [9]

Blackmail is a worldwide 'practice', with all countries and their governments engaging in aquiring and utilizing it to the fullest.
"Just as the 1986 Mirano scandal, the X-Dossiers contain evidence that sexual blackmail operations, whoever is running them, are not limited to the United States. In 1996, X1 reported how the same activities had been going on in Brussels."
"As the bewildered Belgians tried to make sense of what was going on, incredible rumours began circulating that Dutroux might have been protected in some way, that he had friends in high places. Pornographic videos taken from his home were said to feature prominent individuals, one a senior member of the Roman Catholic church. It almost defied belief. Who would protect a psychopath, other than people with something truly terrible to hide?...'It is quite obvious,' said Katarin de Clercq, Belgian coordinator of the pressure group End Child Prostitution Abduction and Trafficking, 'that some people were protecting Dutroux. The government tried to convince us that he was a lone serial killer and psychopath, but now we hear stories about unnamed famous personalities being involved in sex orgies and blackmail and pornographic video tapes. People feel that something is completely wrong here and we have to show we will not tolerate it.'"

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"I was unfortunate enough to attend the IHS Templar Castle rite in 2001. Amongst the people in attendence were: J. K. Rowling. Gordon Brown. David Miliband. Stephen Daldry. Stella Rimington (she was the Dr. Mengele of the organisation, organising the torture and murder of kidnapped children). Dr. Joanne Collie. Andrew Marr (he spent most of the time naked and screaming - off his head on some form of narcotic). John Scarlett (he was so drunk/drugged up that he had very little idea of what was going on around him). The Templars had captured a large amount of people whom they called the 'snakes' i.e. slaves in a large dungeon underneath the castle. One brave person managed to set them free and the result in the neighbouring village of Mons and other places nearby, ensured that the British Army had to move in. Thus began the most incredible cover-up in recent European history. It was like WACO, Guyana. I was one of the 'slaves' taken at that castle but subsequently freed by the British Army (who also know what happened - a MASSIVE cover-up). The British Army ordered those in the Castle to come out. They then sent a tank in to bulldoze the walls. Prince Philip and Prince William were in that Castle. Both of them had murdered countless tiny children in their rites. The British Army assembled watched as both walked out with large, dark, woven potato sacks over their heads. They were then bundled into a van and driven away. The name SPUDNIKS was coined because Prince Philip and Prince William had to exit the castle with potato sacks pulled down over their heads and bodies. The British Army present at the time - may or may not have had any idea who they were but the SIS general there, certainly did. They might have managed to cover it up regarding the ordinary soldiers there but the videotapes are now on sale worldwide. The whole event had been closely monitored for blackmail purposes."

• Ex MI6 [2]

The CIA also blackmails incestual/pedophilic parents for their children to use in trauma-based mind control slave projects like MONARCH.
"My Uncle Bob, also implicated in manufacturing the porn, out of apparent desperation informed my father of a U.S. Government Defense Intelligence Agency TOP SECRET Project to which he was privy. This was Project Monarch. Project Monarch was a mind-control operation which was 'recruiting' multigenerational incest abused children with Multiple Personality Disorder for its genetic mind-control studies. I was a prime 'candidate,' a 'chosen one'. My father seized the opportunity as it would provide him immunity from prosecution."

• Cathy O'Brien [3]

"The expendables are the children of parents who were blackmailed into turning their children over to the CIA. This is all hidden by the power of the National Security Act. These are children, who have been sold by pedophile fathers, or pornographic parents. The programmers/masters program them with the expectation that they will be "thrown from the freedom train" when they get to age 30. (Freedom Train is the code word for the Monarch trauma-based mind-control. To be thrown from the Freedom Train means to be killed.) The CIA and the Illuminati are skilled at blackmailing parents to give up their children. They would watch the mail for porn. Pedophile and murderers who abuse their children are warned that they will go to prison for long lengths of time if they do not cooperate by selling their children into mind-controlled slavery. In return for the parent’s cooperation, they provide rich financial rewards to the parent(s). It’s clearly a case of 'if you don’t cooperate you lose in life big time, if you do cooperate you win big time.'"

• Fritz Springmeier [15]

Blackmail is the glue holding together all of the sick people in charge, and is the one of the top methods of control. This is the truth: blackmail, pedophilia, and mind control are how this world is really run.
"Former CIA director William Colby giving advice to John DeCamp, urging him to quit his investigations into the Franklin child abuse affair:"
"'What you have to understand, John, is that sometimes there are forces and events too big, too powerful, with so much at stake for other people or institutions, that you cannot do anything about them, no matter how evil or wrong they are and no matter how dedicated or sincere you are or how much evidence you have. This is simply one of the hard facts of life you have to face.'"

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"Again, it’s built in, entrenched foxes guarding the predatory henhouse that permeate all levels of government, military, courts, law enforcement, entertainment and news media, corporate global finance and education. With pedophile puppet masters controlling the pedophile puppet strings of blackmailed, compromised and controlled Western politicians, courts and law enforcement, their diabolical infrastructure has afforded them living above the law continuing to rape and kill our innocents for centuries."

• Joachim Hagopian [14]

Links and Sources
[1] - Noreen Gosch Speaks About - Jeff Gannon, Johnny Gosch And The Attempted Theft Of Her Book 'Why Johnny Can't Come Home'

• Noreen Gosch

[2] - Master List of Quotes and Comments

• Ex MI5/MI6 Agents and Royal Arch Illuminati slaves

[3] - Trance-Formation of America

• Cathy O'Brien

[4] - One Nation Under Blackmail

• Whitney Webb

[5] - Thanks for the Memories

• Brice Taylor

[6] - Eyes Wide Open

• Fiona Barnett

[7] - "I had access to classified documents about the Jeffrey Epstein case"
[8] - Child Trafficking, Ritual Sex Abuse & MK-ULTRA Are A Single Worldwide Operation, Run by the U.S., U.K. and AUS Secret Services

• Fiona Barnett

[9]- Symbolism Communication
[10] - An Illuminati Primer

• Veronica Swift, Jessie Czebotar

[11] - The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks
[12] - The Hallett Report No. 1

• Greg Hallett

[13] - The Pegasus File

• David G. Guyatt

[14] - Anatomy of the Luciferian Elite’s Global Child Sex Trafficking Pedophile Operations

• Joachim Hagopian on CathyFoxBlog

[15] - The Illuminati Formula Used To Create An Undetectable Mind Control Slave

• Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler

[16] - Deeper Insights Into the Illuminati Formula

• Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler

[17] - Hope Beryl-Green Article

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HANDMADES: AA/E/15v,,, Junk/25/15r,,, MS/E/25,,, Mu/E/25,,, Mu/50c/25,,, Q/50vhc/25
HEAVY WEAPONS: AA/25/90 AGL,,, AA/25/15r Cryolator,,, AA/25/90 Harpoon Gun,,, As/25A/90 Fatman,,, As/25/90 Gatling Plasma,,, B/E/Gho 50cal,,, B/25A/90 Cryolator,,, B/50L/90 Cryolator,,, B/25A/90 Missile Launcher,,, B/50vhc/90 Missile Launcher,,, B/50L/90 AGL,,, Exe/50c/15r Flamer,,, Exe/25A/90 Gatling Plas,,, Exe/E/25 LMG,,, F/50c/25 Cryolator,,, Q/25/15v LMG,,, Q/50L/90 Minigun,,, TS/25/15r Gatling Gun,,, TS/E/25 Minigun,,, V/25/15r 50cal,,, V/25A/90 Cryolator,,, V/25/25 Gatling Gun,,, V/50L/90 Harpoon Gun,,, Z/E/90 LMG
MELEE: AA/SS/1S Death Tambo,,, AA/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, AA/40P/1S Gulper Smacker,,, AA/SS/1S Pole Hook,,, AA/50c/15v Power Fist,,, AA/SS/1S Super Sledge,,, Ari/SS/1S Shovel,,, Ari/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, As/40P/1S Chainsaw,,, As/40P/1S Drill,,, B/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, B/SS/25 Gulper Smacker,,, B/SS/25 Meat Hook,,, B/SS/1S Power Fist,,, Exe/40P/25 Drill,,, Exe/50c/1S Power Fist,,, Ext/SS/1S Drill,,, F/40P/40 Chainsaw,,, GS/SS/1S Chainsaw,,, I/SS/1S Death Tambo,,, I/SS/1S Golf Club,,, I/SS/1S Super Sledge,,, Junk/SS/1S Assaultron Blade,,, Junk/SS/1S Security Baton,,, Mu/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, MS/SS/1S Shishkebab,,, Su/SS/1S Spear,,, Su/SS/1S Tire Iron,,, Troub/SS/1S Bowie Knife,,, Troub/SS/1S Golf Club,,, V/SS/1S Combat Knife,,, V/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, V/SS/1S Pole Hook,,, V/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, Z/SS/1S Fire Axe,,, Z/SS/1S Knuckles,,, Z/SS/1S Pipe Wrench
RAILWAYS: AA/50c/25,,, AA/50vhc/25,,, AA/E/15v,,, AA/E/25,,, Ari/25/15r,,, B/50vhc/25,,, B/E/15r,,, B/E/90,,, F/50c/25,,, F/E/25,,, GS/25/25,,, GS/50c/25,,, H/50c/25,,, I/25/25,,, I/50c/25,,, Junk/E/25,,, Q/50L/90,,, St/50c/25,,, Su/E/25,,, TS/50L/25,,, TS/50vhc/25,,, TS/50c/15r,,, TS/AP/25,,, TS/E/Dur,,, V/25/25,,, V/50c/25,,, Z/E/90
TESLAS: AA/25/15r,,, AA/50L/15r,,, AA/AP/25,,, B/25/Gho,,, Exe/25/15r,,, Ext/25/15r,,, F/25/15r,,, I/25/15r,,, Q/25/250,,, Q/AP/25,,, TS/25/15r,,, TS/25/25,,, V/25/250,,, V/25/Dur,,, V/50L/15r,,, Z/25/15r
AA/25/25 Assaultron Head,,, AA/50c/15v Crossbow,,, AA/50L/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, AA/25/25 Gamma Gun,,, AA/E/15r Hunting Rifle,,, B/AP/25 Compound Bow,,, B/25/25 Gauss Rifle,,, Exe/50c/25 Combat Rifle,,, Exe/50c/25 Double Barrel,,, Exe/E/25 Hunting Rifle,,, Exe/E/25 Lever Action,,, F/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, F/E/25 Double Barrel,,, F/50c/15v Thirst Zapper,,, GouE/25 Double Barrel,,, Gou25/25 Lever Action,,, GS/50c/25 Gamma Gun,,, Jug/E/25 Combat Rifle,,, Jug/50c/25 Laser Rifle,,, Junk/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Mu/50c/25 Crossbow,,, N/25/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, N/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/50c/25 Assaultron Head,,, Q/25/15r Combat Shotgun,,, Q/25/15r Plasma Rifle,,, St/50c/25 Crossbow,,, St/E/25 Single Action Revolver,,, Su/25/25 Radium Rifle,,, TS/25/15r Combat Rifle,,, TS/50c/25 Combat Rifle,,, V/25/15r Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, V/50c/25 Bow,,, V/AP/25 Crossbow,,, V/50c/25 Gauss Rifle
ARMOR: Aristocrat's Heavy Robot left leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Assassin's Heavy Combat right leg with Strength/Sentinel,,, Assassin's Marine right leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Assassin's T-45 right leg with AP/Sentinel,,, Assassin's USA left arm with +25 Poison resist/Sentinel,,, Auto Stim Heavy Robot right leg with +25 Cryo resist/Sentinel,,, Auto Stim Raider Power left arm with AP/Sentinel,,, Auto Stim USA right arm with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Auto Stim USA right arm with AP/WWR,,, Auto Stim USA right leg with 7%LED/WWR,,, Auto Stim USA right leg with Strength/WWR,,, Bolstering FSA chest with 7%LED/WWR,,, Bolstering FSA left leg with AP/Sentinel,,, Bolstering Marine right arm with +25 Cryo resist/Sentinel,,, Bolstering Sturdy Combat left leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Bolstering Trapper chest with AP/Cavalier,,, Bolstering Trapper right arm with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Bolstering USA left arm with 7%LED/FDC,,, Bolstering USA left leg with slowed hungeWWR,,, Bolstering USA right leg with Agility/Cavalier,,, Bolstering USA right leg with Charisma/Sentinel,,, Chameleon FSA left leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Chameleon Heavy Leather right arm with AP/WWR,,, Chameleon Marine right leg with AP/HDT,,, Chameleon Raider Power right leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Chameleon Robot chest with 7%LED/WWR,,, Chameleon Trapper left leg with AP/Cavalier,,, Chameleon USA chest with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Chameleon USA left arm with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Chameleon USA left leg with +25 Cryo resist/Sentinel,,, Chameleon USA right arm with 7%LED/WWR,,, Chameleon USA right leg with AP/FDC,,, Cloaking Raider Power right leg with 7%LED/WWR,,, Cloaking USA right arm with 7%LED/HDT,,, Exterminator's FSA right arm with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Exterminator's FSA right leg with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Ghoul Slayer's FSA right leg with AP/Cavalier,,, Life Saving Combat left leg with AP/WWR,,, Life Saving Trapper left leg with AP/Sentinel,,, Life Saving Trapper right leg with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Life Saving USA left arm with AP/Cavalier,,, Life Saving USA right arm with +25 Poison resist/Sentinel,,, Mutant's Excavator left arm with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Mutant's FSA chest with 7%LED/WWR,,, Mutant's FSA left leg with 7%LED/WWR,,, Nocturnal Excavator right leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Nocturnal Marine right arm with AP/Cavalier,,, Nocturnal USA right leg with AP/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Combat left arm with +25 Cryo resist/Cavalier,,, Overeater's Excavator right leg with Luck/Cavalier,,, Overeater's FSA chest with Endurance/Sentinel,,, Overeater's FSA right arm with Luck/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Heavy Combat left arm with 7%LED/JWR,,, Overeater's Heavy Combat right leg with Perception/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Heavy Metal left leg with Strength/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Heavy Raider left arm with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Overeater's Heavy Raider left leg with Charisma/WWR,,, Overeater's Heavy Robot chest with +25 Rad resist/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Heavy Robot left leg with Agility/WWR,,, Overeater's Marine left leg with slowed hungeWWR,,, Overeater's Marine right arm with +25 Rad resist/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Marine right leg with +25 Fire resist/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Metal left leg with +25 Cryo resist/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Robot right leg with Endurance/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Trapper left leg with +25 Fire resist/Sentinel,,, Overeater's Trapper left arm with AP/HDT,,, Overeater's Trapper left leg with Perception/WWR,,, Overeater's Trapper right arm with Luck/WWR,,, Overeater's T-60 left arm with +25% Env resist/WWR,,, Overeater's T-60 left arm slowed hungeWWR,,, Overeater's USA chest with +25 Cryo resist/HDT,,, Overeater's USA left arm with +25 Poison resist/Sentinel,,, Overeater's USA right leg with slowed hungeFDC,,, Overeater's Wood left arm with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Regenerating Heavy Leather right leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Regenerating Heavy Raider right arm with AP/Sentinel,,, Troubleshooter's Excavator right arm with 7%LED/Cavalier,,, Troubleshooter's Marine left arm with AP/Sentinel,,, Troubleshooter's Sturdy Metal right leg with AP/Sentinel,,, Unyielding FSA chest with Intelligence/Dur,,, Unyielding FSA left arm with Charisma/Cavalier,,, Unyielding FSA left leg with AP/FDC,,, Unyielding Heavy Combat chest with Strength/HDT,,, Unyielding Heavy Combat right arm with +25 Poison resist/JWR,,, Unyielding Heavy Combat right leg with 7%LED/Less limb dam,,, Unyielding Heavy Leather right arm with AP/HDT,,, Unyielding Heavy Metal right leg with Endurance/Sentinel,,, Unyielding Marine right arm with +25 Rad resist/Cavalier,,, Unyielding Marine right leg with +25 Fire resist/WWR,,, Unyielding Metal chest with AP/HDT,,, Unyielding Metal right leg with AP/Cavalier,,, Unyielding Robot right arm with Agility/Sentinel,,, Unyielding Sturdy Leather left arm with Strength/WWR,,, Unyielding Sturdy Leather left leg with 7%LED/Sentinel,,, Unyielding Sturdy Metal chest with AP/WWR,,, Unyielding Sturdy Metal left arm with +25 Rad resist/Sentinel,,, Unyielding Trapper left leg with AP/Cavalier,,, Unyielding Trapper right arm with 7%LED/HDT,,, Unyielding USA chest with Charisma/Cavalier,,, Unyielding USA left arm with +25% Env resist/Cavalier,,, Unyielding USA left leg with Charisma/Cavalier,,, Unyielding USA right leg with +25 Poison resist/JWR,,, Unyielding Wood chest with Luck/Cavalier,,, Vanguard's Excavator right leg with Intelligence/Cavalier,,, Vanguard's FSA left arm with slowed hungeSentinel,,, Vanguard's Heavy Leather right arm with 7%LED/HDT,,, Vanguard's Heavy Robot right arm with 7%LED/HDT,,, Vanguard's Marine right arm with AP/HDT,,, Vanguard's Sturdy Robot left arm with AP/Sentinel,,, Vanguard's Sturdy Robot right leg with 7%LED/WWR,,, Vanguard's USA chest with Luck/Sentinel,,, Vanguard's USA left arm with Intelligence/Sentinel,,, Vanguard's USA right arm with AP/Cavalier,,, Vanguard's Wood chest with Strength/Sentinel,,, Weightless USA left arm with Strength/Sentinel,,, Weightless USA right leg with AP/Cavalier,,, Zealot's USA right arm with AP/WWR,,, Zealot's USA right leg with AP/WWR
PLANS: Alien Blaster,,, Assault rifle,,, Barbed walking cane,,, Baseball bat rocket,,, Baseball bat searing puncturing rocket,,, Bear arm,,, Bear arm heavy mod,,, Boxing glove lead lining,,, Camo Backpack,,, Cave cricket tube,,, Deathclaw gauntlet,,, Dense marine armor torso,,, Dense trapper armor torso,,, Fire station bell,,, Flannel shirt & jeans,,, Hatchet electro fusion,,, Junkyard fountain,,, Machete sacrificial blade,,, Meat Tenderizer,,, Nuka girl area rug,,, Pepper Shaker,,, Pitchfork flamer,,, Protective lining marine underarmor,,, Protective lining raider underarmor,,, Puncturing pole hook,,, Radioactive barrel,,, Raw cement barricade,,, Scorchbeast queen plushie,,, Scorched tube,,, Shielded lining casual underarmor,,, Shielded lining marine underarmor,,, Shielded lining raider underarmor,,, Ski sword skate blade,,, Skiing outfit,,, Sledgehammer heavy searing sharp rocket,,, Small vault girl statue,,, Snallygaster plushie,,, Spiked walking cane,,, The Fixer,,, T-60 BOS knight paint,,, TV Aquarium,,, Ultracite emergency protocols,,, Undershirt & jeans,,, Vintage water cooler,,, WV state bird rug,,, Yao Guai tube,,, Cutting fluid recipe,,, Fasnacht donut recipe,,, Fasnacht sausage recipe,,, Healing salve Cranberry Bog recipe,,, Healing salve Mire recipe,,, Formula P recipe,,,Stimpak Diffuser recipe,,, Tato salad recipe
APPAREL: Asylum Uniform Pink,,, Clean Spacesuit,,, Emmett Mountain hazmat suit,,, Garrahan Foreman Outfit and Helmet,,, Grey Fishermans Overalls,,, Hunter's Long Coat,,, Longshoreman Outfit,,, Skiing red and green outfit,,, Straight Jacket Clean,,, ,, Winter Jacket and Jeans
CHEMS: Addictol: 180,,, Berry Mentats: 642,,, Buffout: 1518,,, Calmex: 538,,, Daddy-O: 1068,,, Day Tripper: 797,,, Disease Cure: 415,,, Mentats: 1000,,, Overdrive: 557,,, Psycho: 2803,,, Psychobuff: 1366,,, Psychotats: 1227,,, X-cell: 344
FOOD: Canned meat stew: 65,,, Pepper: 2566,,, Salt: 967,,, Spices: 1430,,, Sugar Bombs(w/rads): 382
MODS: Enclave plasma aligned flamer mod,,, Enclave plasma aligned sniper barrel mod,,, Enclave plasma severe beta wave tuner

Hey all,
So that has to be a record for me I think - I finished and posted about Double Agents less than 2 days ago, and am now here with my All Stars post. That should give you a good indication of what I thought about this season. Lets’ discuss!
Disclaimer: At this stage I have only seen seasons 5-36 of The Challenge, plus the VS spinoffs, and AS1. Please refrain from spoiling any other seasons, or returning players. Thanks :)
TL;DR Summary
All Stars is a love letter to the old-school Challenge. OG cast members are brought back and inject new life into the show, falling back into familiar roles, or in some cases, showing tremendous growth and maturity. This season SLAPS, and is a return to form in many ways. Dailies and eliminations are honed back to simple, yet effective, much like we saw around The Duel era. Gone is the over-production of the mainline season, instead showcasing fun and entertainment. The cast brings it across the board, fantastic characters, loveable moments and inspiring growth. The entire vibe of the season is a throwback, with 80s-00s music, a house that calls back to old-school moments, familiar formats and challenges, and of course, the old-school cast. The season is capped off with a genuinely fun and tough final which was a joy to watch, and whilst the season isn’t perfect due to a one-winner final, and it feeling a little short, it’s an A-Tier through and through.
The Good

• The cast - amazing to see so many of these people back
• Yes, Darrell, Jonna, KellyAnne, Kendal, Laterrian, Katie, Syrus, Teck in particular all standouts
• The love and respect between the cast is so evident here - so much lifting each other up instead of dragging each other down
• The dailies and eliminations are simple but effective and are a blast to watch
• The uncensored swearing allows people to fully express themselves and it’s incredible.
• The music is on point all season long
• The final is tough and really interesting to watch unfold. The points system is a great approach to running a staged final.
• More genuine drama and hookups than the main show.
• Diverse casting that feels genuine - race, body types, sexuality, I loved it.

The Not So Good

• It SUCKS that the final is one winner. Especially because Day 1 was incredibly fair for a one-winner final, with Day 2 then ruining that and ensuring a male win. KA and Jonna robbed.
• The season is a touch too short - before I knew it, it was over. Needed more eliminations and a few less people making the final.
• Jemmye has good confessionals but feels a little out of place on the cast
• I wish elimination nominations were anonymous - people putting themselves into elimination was dumb.

The format
The format this simple is so simple and it’s fantastic.
This season is essentially an individual game, with some dailies performed in pairs/teams depending on the episode. The usual daily/elimination structure remains, with all contestants participating in a daily challenge each episode. Each day is either a male or female elimination day. Depending on the day, the top and bottom performing male/female earn immunity or a direct ticket into elimination (LOVEEEEE seeing daily losers going straight into elimination). Their opponent is then chosen by majority vote in the cast, although much of the time people end up self-nominating this season.
For the first half of the season the ‘additional twist’ is the lifesaver - a twist we haven’t seen in a long, long time. The top performing alternate gender from the daily gets access to the lifesaver, and can use it to save the nominated/voted contestant from going into the elimination. It’s only used once, and when it is, involves a majority re-vote on the spot to find the new contender.
For the second half of the season, the lifesaver is dropped and the individual eliminations turn into double eliminations. The bottom performing male AND female are made a pair and go straight into elimination. The top performing male/female get immunity. The house still continues to majority vote the opponent, but only vote for one person. That person then gets free choice from the whole cast on who they want as a partner, for the elimination. This was a little clunky and unfair I thought. Probably the weakest part of the format, and robbed Kendal from a final spot.
Overall though, I enjoyed the down-to-earth feeling of this format. It was simple. No ‘security breaches’, no ‘kill cards’ (as much as I love that twist) - just straightforward. It’s a perfect match to the OG feel of this season.
The cast
The cast this season is mostly fantastic. You can all tell that are having such a great time being there. We get contestants falling into familiar moulds, contestants who have grown and changed, and most importantly, contestants that want to win.
Yes: This is my first true exposure to Yes as a contestant. I previously saw him in Battle of the Seasons where he was first boot, and for a few episodes in Sexes 1, but I couldn’t tell you a thing about him from that season. This one showing has made me a huge Yes fan though. I love his attitude, and his positivity, I love his approach to the game, and I think he put in a powerhouse performance in that final, playing not only harder, but smarter as well. I was definitely rooting for him (among pretty much everyone in that final LOL) and was glad that we got a brand new Champ this season. Congrats to Yes and hope to see lots more of him - also him calling out the ‘punks on those other shows’ is iconic.
Jonna: Jonna was absolutely fantastic this season. I LOVE the maturity and grace that she has come back to The Challenge with. The Jonna we had previously known was much younger, much more fiery and immature, and going through a bit of a rough patch in her life (including getting partnered with Zach). This new and improved Jonna was a delight to watch. She’s a mom now, and come onto the show a mere 7 months post-partum, and she does FANTASTIC. I think she was such a likeable and enjoyable presence all season long, and then went on to perform so well, unexpectedly, in that final. I cannot wait to hopefully see her back on AS2 - I truly think she could smash it.
Darrell: This might be one of my favourite Darrell seasons ever. After he was robbed of all airtime on Double Agents, we get huge exposure to Darrell this season, with him being one of the main narrators and confessionalists. He is in prime form when it comes to his comedy this season. I don’t know if it was cause he could swear, or what, but he was more hilarious than ever before. I have a ridiculous number of quotes from him that I want to call out below. Great, strong performance throughout, and was the second TRUE threat to win in that final, alongside Yes. Loved their friendly rivalry, and whilst I’m happy Yes won… I was rooting even harder for Darrell. So close!! I hope he gets more time on the All Stars show because it really suited him.
KellyAnne: Those that have followed along with my posts will know I’m a massive fan of KellyAnne, and so I was extremely happy to see her cast this season. It’s been way too long. It’s probably not one of her most memorable seasons, she plays a pretty low-key game and doesn’t have a huge amount of screen-time, or memorable moments, but I loved watching her make another final and essentially ‘winning’ for the girls side alongside Jonna. The two of them 100% deserved at least some prize money, and should have received a title.
Mark: Mark is one of the challengers this season that hasn’t changed a bit, for better or worse. Mark has always been an interesting character to me - he’s obviously prolific for being a S1 Road Ruler, a big part of early challenge seasons, and producing All Stars (idk when I found this out, but I know he had something to do with it), but aside from that, and having no personal attachment to those things, I don’t always find him genuinely entertaining or fun. He tries really hard for the camera this season, and really plays up his role as the ‘godfather’, which comes across as a little cringe and overdone at times. He’s ridiculously in-shape though, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t win an AS season.
Jemmye: Jemmye is the one person on this cast I was a bit shocked to see. Almost like, Faith on the US team in WotW1 levels of shocked. She feels a little out of place in this cast, which is a little strange because she debuted at a similar time to Jonna, but Jonna feels like a better fit. Perhaps because Jemmye continued to be quite prominent on the main show up until quite recently. With that out of the way, I think she was fine throughout the season. Alongside Darrell, I’d bet she had one of the highest confessional counts all season, and I have always appreciated her narration capabilities so I think that’s completely fine. I also think she performed unexpectedly well at times, both at certain stages in the final and at some dailies.
Alton: Alton is someone I predicted on this season but didn’t genuinely expect to see, so I was surprised to see him here after his experience on Bots2. I can tell this season was a much better fit for him though, with much of the youthful partying and drama gone. I think he was a pretty good contestant this season. He still has a little of that trademark arrogance and doesn’t always come across the best, but he’s a fantastic partner to the everyone in the final, even whilst taking Aneesa’s yelling, and always remains a good sport. I also loved how he picked Aneesa to come into elimination with him, giving her some respect, and surprising her at the same time. I also loved the little Syrus and Alton drama and hope we get to see it continue in AS2.
Ruthie: Loved seeing Ruthie back as well this season - it’s been a huge amount of time since seeing her. A very, VERY low-key season for her overall though. I was a bit disappointed to never see too much from her, especially because I remember her for her powerhouse performances in those early seasons (especially that line-drop challenge challenge, forget its name). She remains fun throughout though, and I loved when she called out Aneesa, but she ends up performing surprisingly poorly in the final, at least compared to my expectations. If she gets to come back on another season I’d love to see the edit showcase her a bit more.
Big Easy: Much like Mark, Big Easy is a contestant who has not changed at all. He still has this weirdly misplaced arrogance and attitude that makes him comes across extremely poorly at times. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for him, because he debuted in my first season and continued to have a storyline over the few after that, but I can’t really excuse how he talks to some people, particularly in the final. Also, how he tried to convince Jemmye to quit the food portion so he could quit too. Saying that, he has some good moments this season as well. He has some surprising puzzle performances, one quote in particular which rocked me and had me dying, and I appreciated his storyline of ‘finishing a final’, and that he was able to accomplish that.
Aneesa: This feels like a MUCH better spot for Aneesa to stay as opposed to the main challenge. I actually thought she was quite likeable again this season (after thinking so on DA too), albeit it seemed she was having even more fun here. Yes, we get the EXACT SAME STORY as the main show ‘I get booted before the final every time, I can never win, this is my season’, which is old and a bit dry, but she had a few moments which I found quite sweet - her reaction to getting picked by Alton as a preferred partner into elimination. Her reaction to making the final, etc. She’s never going to win, and has to drop that thought (and those confessionals), but I didn’t mind her this time.
SIDENOTE: I can’t believe I’m STILL talking about finalists. Pretty crazy that half the cast makes the final.
Derrick: Has Derrick always been this cringe? I think he might be my least favourite contestant this season, without a doubt. The whole season is just him being a bit of a cartoon character and playing up to the camera, or sucking up to Mark. It’s not a great look and not really how I remembered Derrick from way back. Hopefully it’s a one-off and he comes back with a bit more maturity, but was really not a fan of his at all this seaosn.
Jisela: Jisela was another contestant I didn’t really remember. And I went on a bit of a rollercoaster with her this season. I initially adored her after that first episode - coming in as a bit of an underdog and putting in a fantastic, gutsy performance at the first challenge to prove herself. I think she had a really nice storyline there. Over the course of the season I soured a little though. She had a whole bunch of seemingly misplaced anger towards to Kendal which I didn’t appreciate, but also a weird and uncalled for reaction to Aneesa ‘not giving her her first choice’ into elimination, ending their friendship over it?!? Did the cameras not show something here? She’s quite funny though, has a bubbly personality and some good confessionals.
Nehemiah: Is dead to me after pulling Kendal into her THIRD elimination and sending her home before the final. Up until that point I was really enjoying his return. His win against Teck was solid, and he was injecting a little bit of drama into the house. I’ve always enjoyed his personality and think he speaks well and is able to tell a story. Bummed that his season ended with the aforementioned Kendal thing though as it has soured me on him a little, especially when he was the number one person saying ‘new people should go into eliminations’ - a bit hypocritical.
Kendal: I couldn’t tell you a thing about Kendal from Inferno, but I adored her this season. She was an underdog from the get-go, with the entire house hating on her non-stop (do we have details on why this is btw?). That automatically endeared me to her, who doesn’t love an underdog story, but she went on to be a solid competitor. She wins two eliminations, both of which aren’t super easy, and goes in a THIRD time in a season with only six eliminations. She’s good at dailies as well, and has a really enjoyable, down to earth personality. I love how real she feels, which is actually a bit of a theme this season, aside from a few exceptions in the cast. Completely robbed, deserved a place in that final. Hope she’s back for AS2.
Laterrian: Laterrian went from being an absolute nobody to me, to one of my favourites coming out of this season. I loved everything about him. His drive, his determination, his fleeting aggression, his need to win no matter what. He’s such a real friend to those in the house, speaking up for and supporting Syrus with the Alton altercation, and then being the ONLY person to happily throw their name in the ring to be Katie’s partner - so much humility and grace in how he handled that situation and resulting loss. He also had a fantastic showing against Ace and in the mini-final. I think Laterrian has turned into a serious winning threat.
Katie: I’m a massive Katie fan and continued to love her this season. She’s just fantastic. You can tell she has definitely matured and grown as a person, and she’s often biting her tongue, but we still get so many memorable moments from her - the many times she had to fall from heights and flashed back to Cutthroat, her fight with Trishelle, and her trademark dry humour. Katie is probably someone I don’t expect to see on AS2. She seems like she enjoyed herself this season but is maybe happy with where her story is at, and whilst I love her, I have to agree. She’s had a good run and this is a great season for her to end with, if that is the case. Quotes from her below for sure.
Syrus: Really enjoyed Syrus this season. I don’t remember a huge amount from him, even though I HAVE seen him on a few seasons, but despite being an earlier boot he’s memorable here. I loved his relationship with Beth, really appreciated his drive to win, and loved the little rivalry he developed against Alton. He got SO unlucky with his injured leg, and then heading into an elimination which involved landing on said leg. Regardless I loved that his ego got in the way and he called out Alton for that elimination when he could have had anyone else. Was a great storyline, hope to see him on AS2-3.
Beth: Beth came back this season to prove she’s matured, I think. I always hated Beth on the show, I could never enjoy her and just found her grating and annoying. But she’ so different this season, and I think accomplishes a lot in improving my view on her. She’s more mature, she’s likeable, and she avoids all the drama and crap she used to stir up in the past. I loved seeing glimpses of her family, and think she got a little screwed with the sudden shift to double eliminations. Much like Katie I could see this being her only AS appearance with a young family at home, but we’ll see. If it is, it’s a great place to leave things. Loved her humility in defeat, and how that was juxtaposed to Syrus’ swearing and anger. She clearly had a great time this season.
Teck: My first season seeing Teck, I believe. The only person on this cast that I’d never seen before (even though I didn’t remember a few others). I could not get enough of him. Teck is absolutely hilarious. He’s fantastic at confessionals, such a shit-stirrer and so entertaining. He put in a genuinely strong elimination performance against Neh, coming THIS close to taking that win. A bit of a quote machine in his short time on this season, very reminiscent of Darrell, and gone way too soon. Because he hasn’t done ANY seasons I’ve seen, I expect he may be one and done with AS1, but I hope I’m wrong and he is back again!
Arissa: Arissa has a crazy few episodes on this season. She turns from hippie, chilled, weed-food lady who prays to the sun into this swearing, loud quitter in the span of one episode and it’s ridiculously memorable and fun. She’s a great early boot.
Ace: I actually feel so bad for Ace. He’s never performed that well on the show, but my heart just broke for him this season. He seems like such a pure soul. Loved how he didn’t even want the money for himself, but to donate, and how he said he missed his dog. So sadddd and was absolutely brutalised by LT in that elimination.
Trishelle: omfg Trishelle has not changed at ALL. She had me in the first half though, not gonna lie. She starts off so strong, with an apology to Aneesa for what happened on Rivals 2, but that quickly devolves into CRAZINESS when she unleashes on Katie for ‘not coming right up to her’, which in turn sets Katie off briefly. She’s promptly sent into elimination, and looses with humility, taking her trademark brand of insanity home with her. A short stint, but so in-character.
The challenges
The dailies
Dailies were so different to what we’ve grown used to on the main show. They are so much more simple and low-key, no explosions or over-production, and it work so well. It’s such a return to form imo.

• Deep Blue Dive is a great start to the season, and involves swimming out quite far in deeper water, and diving for numbers which are used to solve math equations. This was HILARIOUS, with almost every contestant getting rescued at some point. Great commentary from Teck here and really nice scenery. A good opener.
• Ancient Challenge History is the first trivia in quite a few seasons that I haven’t zoned out a little whilst watching. All questions are based around the history of the challenge, which was fantastic to play along with. I wished they would have shown all the questions rather than skipping through, and think it was a bit of a strange choice to base falling on weight, as some people could get three wrong answers and some only two, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. And Ruthie had an impressive knowledge of the show considering how long it has been since she was on.
• Melt Away is such a call back to old challenges, involving melting a huge block of ice, in teams, in any way possible. It flops a little, because TJ has to introduce hammers after the contestants aren’t able to make any dents, but it’s a silly little challenge that’s memorable, if gross.
• On The Ropes is so simplistic but I love the little twists it introduced. Contestants are in teams and have to make their way between two platform using a series of four ropes. After completing a leg of the challenge, a contestant can release a rope from the other team, reducing the number of ropes they can use and sending some people down into the water. A really fun challenge.
• Connect Em All is a fantastic mini-challenge, with puzzle checkpoints, endurance, and strength all involved. Some really food performances from individuals here, loving seeing LT take the win.
• Escape The Room might, strangely, be my favourite daily of the season, which is strange because it’s so simple. In teams of four, players are placed into a floating shipping container on top of a trapdoor. They each have a puzzle in front of them, but the trapdoors open one by one from right to left, and whichever team completes the most puzzles wins. I just loved the fear introduced by the trapdoors, and also the visuals of people getting suddenly dumped out. Easy has a surprise win here, being the only one to solve the puzzle.
• Rib Cage Pass is the most similar to a current day challenge, and also my least favourite this season. It involves navigating a simple beam obstacle course down the side of a moving semi truck, delivering balls from one end to another.

The eliminations
Eliminations are closer to what we’ve seen on the main show, but it’s a curated choice of games, all of which are interesting and fun to watch played.

• Pole Wrestle starts the season and is an absolute blow-out in LT’s favour as he crushes Ace. It’s a classic for a reason, loved seeing it here.
• Knot So Fast is another classic, and very welcome here as well this season. A great win by Kendal, the first of two for her.
• Going Out Of Tile involved Nehemiah and Teck each having to consume two Carolina Reaper peppers before having to enter a ceramic cage and punch out your coloured tiles. It’s a little weak, probably the weakest of all eliminations this season, but it’s entertaining. Also, I was so confused when TJ was pulling out the peppers. Why was he so suss about it, putting on a glove and then pulling this random bag out of his pocket lmao.
• Over and Under is the first of our double eliminations, a truly gruelling challenge. It involves a sequence of four walls with hollow insides, covered in plasterboard. As a team, one of each duo must climb and go over each wall, with a ball, whilst the other punches through the wall and goes under. They need to deliver five balls this way, from one end to the other, before winning. Strength and endurance are both required here, and everyone involved puts in a great amount of effort. The Syrus / Alton rivalry comes to fruition as well. Good elimination, perhaps my favourite this season.
• Pull Me Over is pedestal tug of war, and one we’ve seen in the past, such as when Jordan absolutely embarrassed Josh. Laterrian selflessly volunteers to go into elimination, like a madman, alongside Katie, and unfortunately is not able to pull out the win against Mark and Kendal. I would have been sad to see Kendal go here, but I wanted LT and Katie to stay in the game so bad. Proud of them to at least take the first round though.
• Ring Cling is a bit weak in design, largely because it removes any agency Jisela and Kendal had in the game. Not only did Kendal get dragged into her third elimination by Nehemiah, but then she gets and elimination where it’s essentially all up to him to win it for them. It involves using a series of chains and hoops to form makeshift ladder up a wall, with first person to ring a bell winning. Jisela is injured form the get-go, and unable to stand on her foot, and Big Easy SOMEHOW goes on to clutch up and beat Nehemiah. It’s a hilarious outcome, but losing Kendal to it is rough.

The final
This final was really special to me. I haven’t enjoyed a final so much in so long.
Everyone involved was having the best time, and they were all so supportive and uplifting to eachother. Everyone was a fantastic partner, outside of Big Easy - Alton, Yes, Darrell and Mark all showcasing how to treat and support your partner. Everyone is keen for the win and trying their hardest.
I’m usually not a fan of staged finals but the approach taken here was fantastic and kept things really fair. Instead of stages being timed, and leading to an arbitrary advantage at the next stage, all stages were scored with points, 5/4/3/2/1 depending on placements. The entire first day was ran in duos, with partners rotating between every stage. I was initially thinking this was an insanely smart way to make a one-winner final fair. Day 2 goes onto ruin this, but Day 1 is incredibly smart in keeping things even. There’s a bunch of running, swimming and cycling through beautiful jungle and waterways, with stages between involving eating, assembling bicycles, puzzles, and the overnight endurance portion.
Day 2 is a straightforward long race up a mountain, and at this point the final becomes completely individual, ensuring a male would take home the crown - this is annoying, and my least favourite part of the final. Points from Day 1 STILL MATTERED though.
Overall, despite one-winner, it’s still a fantastic final and one I really enjoyed watching.
Random remaining thoughts from throughout the season

• Mentioned above but the inclusion of uncensored swearing this season is incredible - so much more expression from everybody.
• The house was such a throwback - the pictures, the quotes, the named helmets. So cool to see.
• ‘Nehemiah, Tenderoni?’ ‘Oh. My. God.’
• Teck: ‘welcome to The Challenge. We got the medics out here, the wheelchairs, the walkers’
• Laterrian, fully drowning: ‘I look like a f*cking punk’
• Ace taking his nom personally ‘you’re all f*cking monsters’ - I can’t believe he actually called everyone monsters just for nominating him lmao.
• Laterrian: ‘What the f*cks a Pole Wrestle?’
• Aneesa: ‘Ace looks like he’s getting plunged. Like in a toilet’
• TJ: ‘Who said: I will cut you with words’ Katie: ‘it sounds like Coral’ Aneesa: ‘KATIE’ Katie: ‘who was it?’ Aneesa: ‘ME, AND YOU WERE THERE!’
• ‘I hit my face again you f*ckers’
• Kendall v Trishelle ‘Listen To Your Heart’ - one of many great musical moments, and the first I’ll note down here.
• Arissa trying to summon the sun had me dead
• The Jonna butt scooting montage along the rope was your standard ‘empowering’ moment, and I love that it was upended, and the music cutofff, as KellyAnne JUST beats her to the end and drops her rope.
• It seemed like TJ was having such a great time this season - he was always smiling or laughing. It was great to see.
• The first revote. TJ: ‘Alright Darrell we’re going to start with you’ Darrel: ‘Oh you motherf*cker’
• I loved how much history this season pulled on - so much of what happened on RRW and the early challenge seasons mattered here. That’s something I think the main show has lost.
• Arissa actually goes out in a crazy way, saying the whole house is living foul, and if ‘she can’t box’ she doesn’t want any part of it. ‘F*ck you, I’m done, you can kiss my motherf*cking ass, and that’s my motherf*cking game’
• TJ drops a ‘don’t take care, hope to see you never’ - um, where was this last season for Fessy
• Alton leaving Syrus’ handshake hanging, and then Syrus sipping on water from a wineglass. What a mood.
• So many hook-ups this season - more than we’ve seen on the regular show lately. Jisela and Alton, Aneesa and LT, etc
• Aneesa so flattered and emotional that she would be first picked by Alton - it was as sweet moment.
• Derrick to Syrus: ‘don’t jump like that, hang off the side, you’re going to f*cking hurt yourself’
• The I NEED A HERO needle drop for Syrus’ perseverance and elimination attempt was epic.
• Syrus fired up at the end. ‘I’m not done, I need a f*cking physical 1:1 with that motherf*cker’ - please give it to us next season
• ‘Paramount’ - TJ looks to camera ‘see what I did there’
• Here I Go Again by Whitesnake as Katie waits for her trapdoor to drop. Flashbacks to her past falls. Yes saying ‘Keep your elbows in’ - it was SO GOOD. Editing top tier.
• After Katie falls you can see Mark offscreen ask if she’s ok and she says yes - there’s so much love between the cast this season, it’s great.
• Laterrian is such a real one for being the only one to go up to Katie and say she can call his name out. ‘You call me in and I’ll come down and let the dog out’ - everyone else with excuses was a bit pathetic.
• ‘Would I be able to sleep at night knowing I had a friend in need and didn’t help? Hell no’ - badass
• Nehemiah saying ‘I’m not scared of you. Nobody is’. Easy: ‘You should’ve been. When I sent your ass home in motherf*cking Duel 1, cousin’ - I know he’s boasting about a nothing elimination, but the line itself absolutely destroys Neh. It almost had me spit-take. It was so good. Even reading it back has me laughing. He really ‘cousined’ him.
• I mentioned above but the season is TOO SHORT! We needed just a few more eliminations I think, things were over as soon as they began.
• ‘When TJ tells us we’re pairing up with the girls I’m pretty stoked. I mean, I’d rather them than Big Easy’
• Yes waiting on finishing his tangram to secure himself a good kayaker, making sure he wouldn’t be purged, was an incredibly smart move from him. The first of many this final. He was switched on.
• Darrel talking from the canoe ‘They’ve got Alton in the front, they f*cked uppppp’
• ‘Waterfalls’ whilst Aneesa and Alton struggle to get back into their boat had me dead
• Jisela: ‘I’m f*cking reversing this b*tch’
• Easy and KA last Minute overtake for the final spot over Jisela and Derrick - I was SO happy. Jisela and Derrick deserved to be first out, and whilst Easy performed awfully at the puzzle and deserved it too, KellyAnne absolutely did not. Jisela and Derrick both couldn’t kayak, so fairs fair.
• Jemmye: ‘Darrel can you check my tires right’ whilst it’s literally sideways
• Darrel to the bike tool: ‘I’ll take this f*cker with me’
• Darrell JOGGING up the hill carrying Ruthie to secure first place in the stage was epic.
• Carolina Reapers knocking down half the cast - these probably shouldn’t have been included in the final right? Becayuse gross food is gross food, but people have different spice tolerances.
• KellyAnne pulling DARRELL up the hill - she was fantastic at this stage.
• ‘Flagpole Sitta’ aka ‘I’m not Sick’ during the gross food portion was great, as was Alton treating the food like a delicacy.
• Easy trying to convince Jemmye to quit so he doesn’t need to eat was such a scummy move. Loved that Jemmye saw right through him and persevered.
• Alton: ‘I’m done with Yes’ fake positivity BS, I’m done with KellyAnne complaining, but I’m hanging in here for Jonna.’ - loved that he stayed up and let Jonna sleep for as long as possible.
• TJ riding in on a horse for Day 2 had my dying. And the fact that it kept trotting away.
• Yes quickly making two walking sticks and then shedding some layers - he is so switched on, and these choices probably clutched him this win.
• ‘All I know is suddenly I hear something… and there he is… With his two sticks, like he’s on an elliptical at NordicTrack’

Conclusion
So yeah, I bloody loved this season. I had so much fun and was smiling from ear to ear all season long. It’s such a great love letter to the show, and I’m beyond excited for AS2 and AS3, if they are more of the same. A great cast, good challenges, a good final, amazing music and uncensored swearing, and a cool new winner. Slightly marred by the one winner final and some other nitpicks, but it’s an A-Tier season. SO MUCH FUN.
Next up will unfortunately be S37, even though I badly want to skip straight to AS2. I’m staying chronological! So check below for my predictions for the next season, and please let me know your thoughts on this season!
Rankings
This will be ranked quite high. Perhaps too high, but I had too much fun with it. It’s holding a special place for me at the moment. It’s possible it drops slightly over time, with less recency bias.

1. S25: Free Agents
2. S24: Rivals 2
3. S33: War of the Worlds
4. S21: Rivals
5. S34: War of the Worlds 2
6. The Challenge: All Stars
7. S13: The Duel
8. S30: Dirty 30
9. S10: Inferno 2
10. S29: Invasion of The Champions
11. S20: Cutthroat
12. S8: The Inferno
13. S19: Fresh Meat 2
14. S12: Fresh Meat
15. S26: Battle of the Exes 2
16. S22: Battle of the Exes
17. S32: Final Reckoning
18. S17: The Duel 2
19. S15: The Gauntlet 3
20. S18: The Ruins
21. S31: Vendettas
22. S36: Double Agents
23. S28: Rivals 3
24. The Challenge: Champs v Stars 2
25. The Challenge: Champs vs Pros
26. S6: Battle of the Sexes
27. S14: Inferno 3
28. S11: The Gauntlet 2
29. S7: The Gauntlet
30. The Challenge: Champs vs Stars
31. S5: Battle of the Seasons
32. S9: Battle of the Sexes 2
33. S23: Battle of the Seasons (2)
34. S27: Battle of the Bloodlines
35. S35: Total Madness
36. S16: The Island

About a month ago I gave some early gameplay impressions about the full release of Omega Strikers as a sort of follow-up to my beta impressions of Omega Strikers, and wanted to provide more avenues for discussion for a few reasons:

1. Players (including myself) have learned a lot about how the new mechanics work, which has shifted some of my opinions about the new mechanics and I've learned how to use the mechanics and have played with others that have learned how to use the mechanics. As a result, some of my opinions about those subjects are now outdated, other points I can elaborate on, and even more points are things that were present before but not things I recognized after my previous post.
   
2. Some issues I had during the beta I could not assess properly during the short time frame between the full launch and the time I posted my previous feedback, and I have a lot more time to assess how the current state of the game affects these beta problems.
   
3. New content got released, and I can give feedback and opinions on those topics.
   

Without further ado, I would like to share with you some of my opinions on the state of the game as of May 2023.

Beta Problems Revisited

There were a few issues I had during the beta that I couldn't accurately address during my previous post due to not having enough experience with the game in that stage, and wanted to do a quick rundown of those changes here:
Teamplay I believed was a big problem during the beta because there weren't numerical rewards for playing with your team and it was very easy to prevent the goalie from playing the game from the start with the right setup. There still aren't numerical rewards for teamplay, but there are other changes in the right direction: participation awards for dealing a lot of damage are gone from the MVP screen, and the inability to build entirely for damage from the start makes it extremely difficult to bully the goalie and prevent them from playing the game. There still aren't incentives for playing as a team, but there are much fewer mechanics discouraging players from playing selfishly, and it's also much harder to just carry a game.
At the time I wrote my previous post I had not played ranked, and therefore hadn't seen the new character ban system. The benefit of the new system is that it allows you to adapt your character ban to characters your teammates don't intend on playing and/or characters that the stage and/or awakenings system benefit greatly. There's still a problem where it doesn't take a majority vote when there is a slight majority, but that was a problem with the old system that's still a problem with the new system.

Matchmaking

I believe matchmaking is a big problem right now in basically all formats, although it's slightly different for competitive.
In unranked modes, the lack of skill-based matchmaking makes finding a good match with players of your skill level an absolute chore to find. This is particularly problematic for new players, who go into an unranked match, get matched with 5 other veterans, and not get to play the game, as well as experienced players that get matched with these new players that are effectively playing down a player. Realistically, I don't think it would be a problem if the teams were at least partially balanced in spite of the skill gap, but that's not happening: I had a game where I ended the game twice the combined levels of my teammates, and I couldn't blame either of them because it was very obvious that they were new.
In ranked, there's a slightly different problem. It does do a decent job of matching players of similar skill levels together to a reasonable degree, but it also has a slightly warped idea of a player's skill level. There's a huge skill gap in low plat because it's filled with a mix of mediocre players that climbed just by understanding the game slightly better than the average player and abusing the low-ranked elo gains and mediocre players that understand the game well but either aren't skilled enough to make the higher tiers or have dumb gameplay problems like constantly running into the black hole on Atlas' Lab.

Match Length and Pacing

I still don't like the poor pacing provided by the awakening draft, but I think match length is mostly in a good spot now. Once you learn how to use the new mechanics the games feel just as intense as games during the beta did while also feeling purposeful in a way that matches during the beta didn't.
My only complaint with match length is the timer system. Timers should be there to promote interaction between both teams in the same way real-world sports use their timers to drive interactions between both teams, but right now the 1-minute round timers don't encourage interaction, only make interactions more chaotic when a single round goes on for a while. In addition, I feel like there's a large gap in the length of rounds on different stages, with some stages consistently contributing to longer games than the others, and the current overtime system doesn't help with that. Making timers per-set instead of per-round would fix these issues: the threat of losing a set to time helps drive interaction and reigns in the length of games on stages that consistently go into overtime with the current per-round system.

Energy

During my previous post I couldn't provide an accurate assessment of energy because no one I played with (including myself) had a good grasp of the mechanic. Now that I've played with it a lot more it feels like a really interesting mechanic with so many uses. Evade makes it a lot harder to score KOs against players of your skill level and offers a level of counterplay against extremely large abilities that you otherwise may not be able to avoid. Meanwhile, core burst is an incredibly powerful yet versatile tool that's usable on defense and all forms of offense. It feels really good when you use it to secure a goal or KO but feels even better when you get the perfect read on your opponent's core flip and get a sick play out of it. It also heavily rewards interaction with players in a way that no other mechanic has before, since you can now choose to save your evade for core flip at the expense of your stagger bar or can choose to use your energy to save parts of your stagger bar, which produces a really interesting dynamic between those two resources.

Awakenings

Now that we've had awakenings for a while I think the system is generally fun with a few problems. Balance is out of the scope of this post, but there are still gameplay issues that should be resolved:

• Unstoppable feels like a very poorly designed awakening. All the other awakenings reward you for good play, whether it's by rewarding you for good ability use with Specialized Training, allowing you to make more decisions with your abilities like Prime Time, or by rewarding you for better managing your resources with Swagger Stagger or Orb Sharer. However, Unstoppable does the exact opposite: it rewards you for bad play by allowing you to make all the positioning mistakes you want and not get punished, as long as you aren't staggered and aren't literally scratching your back on the wall.
  
• Infinite awakenings heavily reduce the skill expression within the game. On one hand, a lucky infinite awakening can swing the tide of the match and emphasizes the random nature of the awakenings system instead of promoting the skill expression in adapting to the awakenings you get. On the other hand, the infinite awakening reduces the skill of denying certain awakenings, either when everyone wants the infinite awakening or when a particular awakening is game-warpingly good on a particular character to necessitate denying it.
  
• I personally don't like how the starting awakenings can influence character picks at the start of the game. New players shouldn't be forced to try and learn multiple characters just because the starting awakenings don't affect the character they play, nor should players be forced to play characters they don't enjoy just because the rest of their character pool physically doesn't benefit from certain awakenings. This is particularly problematic if your character pool doesn't have a creation user, which means that there's a 0.17% chance you don't get to play the game with a character you can play if the game gives you Monumentalist and Timeless Creator. That doesn't seem like a particularly large chance, but if you play 1000 games you should expect to see it at least once, and I don't think that chance is fair at all.
  
• Creations I think are problematic for the long-term health of the game not because of the effects the creation awakenings have on creations themselves but because of the strain that creation-improving awakenings have on the awakening system overall. Less than half of this game's characters use creations, and it doesn't seem fair for 5.88% of the pool of awakenings to be reserved for 41.17% of the cast. That said, I don't think the solution is simply to remove creation awakenings without any compensation to creation characters, as I think that would cause large balance issues since most creation characters really like those creation awakenings, but there needs to be a better solution that allows creation users to have their creation improvements while also being usable on other characters to improve their unique attributes.
  
• There's been an emphasis on awakenings that work well together, with Sparks, the new Orb awakenings with Orb Sharer, and (to a lesser extent) Bulk Up and Peak Performance with other stagger increases. However, I think there's a missed opportunity for other awakening synergies, such as Stinger with debuff duration, Adrenaline Rush and Orb Dancer with both buff duration and haste potency, and really leaning into Bulk Up and Peak Performance's stagger scaling by having it scale with bonus stagger (which could be interpreted as stagger from awakenings and the bonus stagger per level or just the stagger from awakenings). There are already interesting awakening synergies in the game that don't work, and some of these should be changed for a more interesting awakening system.
  

Gear

My main complaint with gear is that it's a proactive customization option that's considerably less deep than the system it replaced, which I covered in my previous post. My other complaint with gear is that whether or not the gear interacts with awakenings is inconsistent because Strike Shot scales with projectile range but Siphoning Wand doesn't scale with debuff duration and both Magnetic Soles and Slick Kicks don't scale with buff duration or haste potency. Either Strike Shot shouldn't scale with projectile range or Strike Shot shouldn't be the only gear that scales with awakenings.

Stages

Since the my previous post, I've personally developed a greater understanding of what I think makes a good or bad stage, as well as there being 2 more stages I can form opinions on. I think there are 3 ideas that I think make a stage great:

1. Dynamic gameplay, where the moment-to-moment gameplay changes based on the stage's current features, whether it's the player objectives changing from moment to moment, the stage hazards affecting the gameplay differently throughout the match, or the stage's unique layout changing its gameplay compared to other stages.
   
2. Promotion of teamplay, where coordinating with your teammate(s) is more heavily rewarded than playing by yourself.
   
3. A sliding scale of extremes, where an extreme case of one of the previous 2 ideas can compensate for limitations in the other.
   

With these ideas, I can share better opinions on which stages I like and why I like them.
In spite of constantly running into the black hole on accident Atlas' Lab is my personal favorite map. The black hole is far and away the most dynamic stage hazard, leaving effectively 2 modes of the stage that it flips through constantly but predictably. In addition, some stages have hazards that inhibit teamplay, but Atlas' Lab promotes it because the gravitational pull around the black hole offers new and interesting passing lanes that prevents the problem other stages with centralized hazards have where the centralized obstruction interferes with passes. The goal barriers are decentralized enough to get goalies to move out and away from the center of the goalie box and to get forwards from simply aiming for the goal for the full duration of the match. In addition, getting both goal barriers in a single play is both more satisfying and more consistent on this map than any other. My only complaint is that there isn't a visual for the black hole coming back up.
Night Market I think has the overall most dynamic gameplay experience. The walls limit passing angles, but I think the speed boost makes up for it by making it easy for players to travel through the center to reposition for a pass. However, I think the dynamism of the gameplay experience rests heavily on the interaction between the barriers and the wall. On any other map, these barriers would be the easiest to break because they're large and stretch to the edge of the stage, but the walls make it difficult to pass to the other side and make it extremely practical for the goalie to defend both. However, Night Market's barriers have a unique feature: when one barrier goes down, I think it becomes easier to take down the other barrier because there's a new attack angle for the second barrier that wasn't there until the first one went down. The other stages with 2 barriers make it much harder to take the other barrier when one goes down because they are much smaller and aren't touching at the start of the game. This feature of the barriers I think creates the most compelling pacing of any map, where there's a steady rise in tension as the barriers go down when the other stages either have a dramatic rise in tension when a barrier goes down or has reduced tension when a barrier goes down because the other barrier is so hard to get. Also, the speed boost is the most fun hazard to play with on its own, and helps distract from the lack of teamplay. My biggest complaint is that sometimes, the corners of the barriers are inconsistent, where it feels like sometimes the barriers go down for no reason when it touches the far corners of the barrier, usually when the goalie tries to clear it.
Ahten City I think is the exact opposite of Night Market, where it's the king of teamplay at the comparative expense of a dynamic gameplay experience. The goal barrier is big and wide enough that you're not aiming at it like you're trying to score, which is the bare minimum I would expect a goal barrier to try and do, and the complete lack of stage hazards means there's nothing to inhibit. This means that this stage promotes solid teamplay fundamentals while still putting in the minimum amount of effort to make the gameplay dynamic. My only complaint is the orbs: I think it's really interesting for Ahten City to have more orbs than the other stages to make it more interesting, but the fact that it spawns 6 orbs in 6 different locations when the other 5 stages spawn 3 orbs of 4 different locations means that all the orbs players get are rather predictable. I think it would be a far more interesting stage if it spawned 5 orbs (1 in each goalie box and 3 on the stage) so it at least keeps the consistency of "max orbs -1" of the other stages and to make the gameplay slightly more dynamic as players need to react to different orbs being available throughout the game.
Demon Dais is very interesting because its gameplay novelty hinges heavily around it having the most unique gameplay experience, and it's all thanks to the goal barrier. The goal barrier is so far forward that it forces goalies to play a lot further forward than they would on other stages and allows forwards to play behind their opponent's goal barrier, which isn't possible on any other stage. The speakers don't change much about the gameplay by themselves, but the fact that they grow stronger as the barriers go down makes the moment-to-moment gameplay feel considerably different from other stages. Teamplay is inhibited by the fact that players are clumped together when the barrier is up and not gliding behind it, which makes passing not very rewarding and makes it more likely that opponents will be blocking a passing lane, but that's a fine concession for Demon Dais' gameplay experience.
Oni Village has good teamplay without the dynamic gameplay. It's so difficult to defend both barriers at once that it's considered optimal to let one barrier go down and focus on defending the other barrier, and that other barrier small enough and has so few attack angles that it's much easier to defend than the other barriers. In addition, the speed boost makes it much easier for forwards to help defend the goal barrier than on other maps, and using the wall is hard because the speed boost makes it hard to dribble and provides no room to hit around the goalie. In addition, teamplay isn't as well supported as it is on the other maps because the goal barrier is so small that passes are extremely easy to react to. A lot of players don't like this stage because of how much longer it makes games, and while I think it offers a dynamic gameplay experience and has no hazards to inhibit teamplay I don't think it does either particularly well because of how easy it is to defend that second barrier compared to the barriers on all the other stages.
Ai.mi's App is far and away my least favorite stage. The small, centralized goal barrier centered right in front of the goal means that the objectives of the goalie and forwards don't change throughout the match, and the pit inhibits teamplay just by existing in the same way that the Night Market walls inhibit teamplay. I say this as a Rasmus player, who benefits greatly from this map's features, because I don't like how I'm forced to pick or ban a particular character (even though I do really enjoy the character) and I don't like how his presence single-handedly warps the gameplay on the map itself. I expect changes to Rasmus' Death Touch because of this map, but I also hope this map gets changes in the future because it's honestly the most boring map to play on over long periods of time.

Characters and Micropatches

I don't like touching on game balance in these posts because it produces very poor discussion points that creates chaos in the ensuing discussion as people argue about a character's power level. Same thing with any other aspect of the game. The closest I will get to touching game balance comes from balance philosophy since it's based on more substantial ideas of how a game can and should be balanced rather than any individual balancing decision. I say all that to preface that everything I say in this section is in regards to game design rather than game balance, and don't want to be misinterpreted as wanting changes to any individual characters.
I say all this to say that micropatches are being severely misused. Making balance changes requires data, and the time frame between a patch and a micropatch (or between micropatches in some cases) is not enough time to gather enough data to make informed balance changes. In addition, it's possible that the meta changes without developer intervention, and doing balance changes too quickly can lead to an overreactive change that makes the character substantially better or worse as the perception of the character got better or worse and leads to the character being too strong or weak until the moment the developer decides to change them again. Micropatches are best used when they're primarily used to fix bugs that will improve the gameplay experience for a majority of players, not when they're used for balance changes, and I hope that micropatches are used as such in the future.
In terms of characters, there are two characters that I think have problematic aspects of their design. One of these problems I touched on before, and is based on the interaction between Rasmus and Ai.mi's App. Rasmus is considerably better on Ai.mi's App than any other stage because of how Death Touch interacts with the pit, and has the largest difference in viability between different stages with possibly no close second. While I think it's appropriate for characters to be better on certain stages than others I think Rasmus takes it to an unacceptable extreme, as he warps the gameplay experience so much on that one particular map and it makes it impossible to balance him for other maps without completely breaking him on Ai.mi's App unless Death Touch can't pull unstaggered enemies.
The other character I think is problematic for the overall health of the game is Octavia. The nature of Octavia's speed boost rewards playing extremely selfishly to maintain it when players should be rewarded for working as a team and forces her opponents to target her to keep her from pulling off her game plan. No other character warps the game around them nearly as hard as Octavia does (including Rasmus on Ai.mi's App), nor does any other character make the game less fun for teammates when successfully pulling off their intended game plan. Octavia needs a rework to bring her up to the gameplay standards of the other 16 characters, since right now she's not playing the same game as the other characters.
I want to finish with something that might be controversial: I think light hits are outdated. During the beta, light hits were used with medium and heavy hits to denote the gameplay mechanics of many different types of abilities. Now, that gameplay distinction is gone outside of a handful of awakening interactions. In addition, most light hit abilities don't state that they slow enemies in their tooltips, and there are abilities counted as a light hit that definitely don't slow, most notably the basic strike. Finally, light hits are used as an extremely arbitrary balance mechanism with awakening interactions, where moves like Kai's Barrage being capable of gaining 12 stacks of Stacks on Stacks from hitting a single target when Rasmus can use Whiplash to get 8 stacks with a miracle where the enemy team clusters around the core. Perhaps the most notable example of how messed up this is is Era, who (assuming her Bewitching Beam works like it did during beta, where it was definitely a light hit) gets only 2 stacks per hit with her primary but can get 30+ stacks easily by hitting a single fully charged Magic Maelstrom and can 100-0 opponents with said Magic Maelstrom using Tempo Swing, which I don't think is acceptable in spite of playing Era. I think everyone should be reevaluated for their light hits as to whether they should count as light hits for the purpose of awakenings or not and update their tooltips to say how much enemies are slowed and/or that it only knocks back unstaggered enemies. The result should be that these abilities do the same thing they do now, with wording that better reflects their capabilities with awakenings. I think the most important aspect of retuning light hits would be to make it so that Strikes and multi-hitting moves like Barrage and Magic Maelstrom are all reduced and single-hit abilities like Whiplash and sourspot Bellringer get full value, so maybe the best solution would be to replace the light hit keyword with a new keyword called "multihit" for these types of abilities.

Escrow for u/Jefftoberfest
USE THIS FORMATTING Spots@$Price 93 @ $5
Total Price: $465
Make and Model: Mcnees Mac2 3" in green frag. Magnacut blade w/hollow-grind.
Price Justification: $532 table. Didn't find good pricing data for a magnacut w/hollow grind so did 87.4% of table.
Timestamp&pics: https://imgur.com/a/X3PcDzL
Escrow: u/thaaatguy
Description: PLEASE BE THOROUGH. EXPLICITLY STATE ALL ISSUES : Original owner. Never pocketed or used. Purchased in February 2023 from Mcnees direct. This was the first batch of 3" with the hollow grind. Seems slightly unevenly finished at tip when looking at centering, but is minor. Never pocketed or used since I couldn't decide if I was going to keep it or not. Fit and finish are excellent except for the minor unevenness in tip. Excellent action. This knife impressed me a lot more than I thought it would. I have large hands and although this is a smaller knife I get a plenty comfy grip. Comes with original box, 3x stickers, lasered metal COA.
International shipping: No

PayPal Info: [REDACTED]
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Is this a good place to add mod questions? So I'm not sure what mod is causing it, but no matter what i can't play glacial strata. It crashes while loading every time. It is the ONLY biome this is happening in.
Here is my mod list:
40 Nitra resupply pods drglib swarm control 3x flashlight range good old bet-c upgraded doretta fast forging (verified) doom music (verified) speedster better mining laser sugar babies no friendly fire brighter objects (verified) deep coaster tycoon gunner mining (primaries) supply pods keep grab progress remove mineral scatter retrograde mod spawner (verified) faster deposit speed weapons in space rig miracle mod manager (verified) always accurate minigun weapon heat crosshair (verified) live mission stat tracker (verified) brighter objects (add-on) mod hub combined resources (verified) better platform gun buyable missiions hardhat for doretta (verified) mk2 rocket turret expanded lure (verified) d4rks grenades carry capacity expanded reduced E holding better digging slightly better everything closer promotion terminal (verified) reduced fall damage more gunsling animations (verified) armor expanded sprint by default, hold to walk (verified) revert EM discharge better pickaxe a better modding menu silent sprinting (verified) show more promotion levels (verified) half the supply time better plague cleaning tools one hit gold more players balanced ammo percentage indicator (verified) personal mini molly's fatboy ammo penalty removal 2 skibidi bop mm dada exploders (verified) display stabber vines hp (verified) zipline faster acceleration mcr better resupply pods mcr better flarees modified gunner shield effect (verified) air control mission content randomizer.
I would think MCR would be the obvious one since it's the only one i'm aware of that messes with terrain generation, but i tried removing it and glacial strata still crashes. plz help thanks.

I met a girl through a dating app in early April . She matched back with me right away and messaged me first. About 3 messages in and she asks for my snap and adds me and opens with a picture of herself. We texted back & fourth for a bit and I quickly initiated meeting up. Next morning she sent a pic of her tits with the nipples covered in response to a comment I made about her teasing me because she brought up that she was naked.
Meeting up got postponed on her part because she was always “too busy” with work and school. Fast forward about 2 weeks later and she starts video calling me every night and many times she would be naked but covered up under the blanket and just teasing.
Another week later and we finally meet up at a hotel nearby her work, we had some drinks, got some food and hooked up. It was great. Next day she starts texting me more (through snap) and she made sure I had fun , said it was an amazing night and asked if I’d like to do it again and of course I did.
This went on until early may where she continued to be one more affectionate, giving me pet names, always messages me even when I don’t respond because I work a lot . By this time I gave her position in my company as my assistant which she accepted with no pay. We also had hooked up 3 times by this point. One of the times she got too drunk and I was upset with her and her behavior which she apologized for the next day, promising not to get like that again. Throughout this time she was always sending nudes as well.
She also made plans for us for her birthday and invited me to an event she was staffing at the school she works at. As well as other things
At this time we also talked about our long term dating goals which aligned. A week after this and she starts changing becoming less affectionate, calling me by name (no more cute pet names) , texting me less, cancelled our plans for her birthday and mine (a few days from each other) and not even video chatting anymore. I tried to see where she was at this point which lead to me responding by saying “sounds like someone who want to be single” to which she responded “I do wanna be single”
I made it clear it wasn’t going to work out as our goals were no longer aligned and she kinda fought to keep me around and she wanted to continue working for me (still at no pay) we also hadn’t met up in about 2 weeks at this point. I just started pulling back
Later that night she calls me crying and telling me her problems because she got kicked out by her parents for the night and she “needed a friend”. Crying doesn’t phase me but I didn’t really want to be home that night so I got us a room nearby my house which is about a 40-50 minute drive from her house. We didn’t hook up(I didn’t try) but we did cuddle.
2 days later she needs gas money for work so I gave her a job on-site with me and paid her $100 for the day. Right after leaving she starts sending nudes again and then we met up and hooked up again the next night. Then spent the next day all day together shopping at the mall (for me). She got a couple of free things (buy 3 get 3 free deal).
She starts calling me again but still making it clear she wants to be single but “likes me” she stops sending pictures again and at this point we are no longer #1 bff in Snapchat either. I took notice that she lies to her mom and sister with ease about where she’s at and what she’s doing and I become very suspicious of her behaviors. Because if she lies to then do easily , it would be the same with me.
I started questioning her more often in a inconspicuous way to catch her in lies about things she told me about previously. I became less and less interested but was still holding on since she went from being everything I needed and wanted in a girl to me realizing she’s not the girl I thought she was. She had a lot of (garden tool) tendencies and I just felt she was seeing other people.
She wouldn’t make it out for my birthday so I ended up hooking up with someone else because she always had excuses when I wanted to hang out, she never sent xxx content anymore and always hid her body on video chat even though she was naked.
Next night she was questioning if I was with someone else to which I wouldn’t answer because I already warned it would be that way since she’s always denying me.
She was shirtless on video chat that night and I saw hickeys all over her chest which she kept denying was there then eventually confesses to have done them herself to take pictures of and send to other dudes she recently matched with on dating apps to show “she’s taken” and only interested in friends which sounds so ridiculous I was clearly unhappy . Now I know why she’s been acting the way she’s been.
It hurt since it’s clear she’s been lying to me and manipulating me just as I thought. She failed all of the loyalty test. Kept holding on though to who she initially was and tried to give her a chance to redeem herself and be honest and she brings on the crying which I ignored. She couldn’t give me an answer to what she wants.
She says she wants me but doesn’t want to date but wants to keep me around and hooking up and doesn’t want anyone else and claims to delete the apps.
Next morning I’m already done and ready to move on and let her know im done talking about “us” we can just continue to hook up and she can keep being my assistant (still no pay). She responds by asking me to tell her what I want but I don’t fall into this trap since we clearly don’t want the same things.
She then calls me for work related questions but has clearly been crying I see it in her face and hear it in her voice but I don’t say anything about it and just kept it as a work call. She agreed she wanted to remain my assistant(still no pay) and also agreed she would still come over and prepare my meals for the next 2 weeks.
I think she was using me for attention and to have a shoulder to cry on the whole time. I don’t think she ever really liked me and was manipulating me to keep me around and occasionally give me sex.
I wanted to get a perspective from other people
Why would a girl do all this , give all these mixed signals and at the end still want to do things for me without benefit to themselves ? I really do need an assistant to help with my bookkeeping and schedule and she does it at no cost, but Should I cut her out completely anyway? At this point I don’t talk to her about anything anymore unless it’s business related

[FIRST] / [PREVIOUS] / [NEXT]
Memory Transcription Subject: Junior Hunter… wait, does that still even apply anymore?
…Memory Transcription Subject: …Civilian Actor(…?) Viath
Date [standardized human time]: 28 August 2137
Well, if the doctors’ recommendations are anything to go by, Jonah was good to start this power armor training regimen with Gina, but he not quite ready for testing out Venlil-Prime gravity. To Jonah, this just meant more time to get used to using his, and I quote, “sick, slick, robo-kicks for ‘self-defense.’” I’ve looked into what humans usually consider “self-defense,” and I’m fairly certain that this was closer to their definition of “excessive force.” Not that I minded, mind you. Certainly, it would make me feel safer if I was going to be following Jonah to these… former… Federation planets.
…Yeah, was I having questions about this being “excessive?” Nix those.
She had picked us up bright and early and brought us a bit further out than where Digit would usually have taken us. …Not really that much further, though. It turns out that tree-line was obstructing a much larger base that Gina’s armored squadron had been training at.
That certainly explained how Digit was able to make supply runs as quickly as he could.
Jonah and I hopped off of the back of her flatbed and landed ourselves onto the tarmac, still noshing on our sandwiches. Wherever Jonah had picked up on asking for them to add mozzarella sticks to these omelette sandwiches, as well as some of the jerky they had on the shelves, he had picked up a great idea! I must, at some point, learn this “Way of the Ocky.”
She, herself, was just done downing a “breakfast hot dog,” some kind of omelette with a “hot dog” sausage, with concerning speed and ferocity. I was almost reminded of what Jonah and I do with… his entire body in private… though, more often than not, just a specific part of his. Well, anyway, she wiped herself off and waved us over to the field, where she had quite an elaborate obstacle course set up. Through this, some of her squadmates seemed to have already gotten started on taking laps through the open-face labyrinth, and – …Huh, I guess I am really starting to take on Jonah’s mannerisms, aren’t I?

“Alright, Jonah, seeing as you only have the boots – …Oh, right, right! Al-l-l-l-most forgot!”

She skipped over to the passenger seat door of her truck, opening it and, with a slightly strained grunt, pulled out and dropped a large case onto the ground. She opened it and, with the case lid folding down, a new boot, symmetrical to the one that had cradled his shot leg, awaited inside.

“Can’t exactly be too effective if you don’t have the… well, not ‘full’ kit, but at least it’s now symmetrical!”

Jonah stepped forward, then again, in wide-eyed amazement. He looked to her, then to it, then to her again, not fully committing to grabbing it then and there.

“…Who do you need me to kill?”
“Pfft, if I needed that, why wouldn’t I just do it myself? Nah, just a ‘thank you’ for… well, giving my uncle something to do with his idle hands.”

Jonah approached further in tiny increments, making Gina wave at the thing in order for Jonah to finish picking it up and swapping out the gimped version of the boot for the same foot. I grabbed the neural mesh from Jonah’s bag and helped Jonah get fitted for this training, but not without his snide, sexual humor.

“Oh, and I thought it was erotic for you to slide it off of me~?”
“You know? I’ve been thinking about getting you some thigh-highs.”

An interrupting krakotl voice chirped from behind us, landing as Jonah turned around in surprise, then annoyance.

“Oh, let me tell you, way more comfortable than you’d think!”

Gina was quick to saddle up to his side and introduce him.

“Jonah, Viath, this is Macar, one of our latest – !”

Jonah dropped the boots and kicked them towards Gina, storming off in what I would, in retrospect, recognize as mock outrage, seemingly parodying himself.

“I was wrong! Power armor sucks and I hate it now! Power armor is stupid and is for gay baby nerds!”

…Nah, he wouldn’t want me to let him give up on this anywhere near as quickly. Plus, this was a massive opportunity to funny, and I was not going to pass this up.

“But Jonah, you’re at least bi, you’re a colossal nerd, and…! …Well, I could start calling you ‘baby?’”

Jonah stopped mid-step, swiveled around and returned to pick up the boots.

“Fair enough, I suppose.”

While I found this bit humorous, as did Gina a little, Macar was, reasonably, completely lost.

“Wait, why did he – ?”

Gina was quick to explain.

“Racism.”
“Oh…!”
“Yeah. He’s been getting better, I’ve been told.”

Jonah raised a finger to contribute to the explanation.

“Yeah, the last few days had some… real wake-up calls about what holding onto grudges like that does to a [email protected]. Just don’t go about – “
“Heh, I guess us fellow ‘predators’ ought to – !“
“And you have immediately worn out all goodwill I would’ve tried giving to you. Keep your ‘talking to me’ and, actually, general ‘interacting with me’ at a maximum of zero from now until further notice.”
“…Okay, fair – “
“Man, you must suck at arithmetic, that is so many more times than zero!”

Gina and I shrugged at each other, silently agreeing that this shenaniganry had gotten as much funny out of it as it was going to. She waved a slightly dejected Macar back to the course, and with this distraction out of the way, we got Jonah’s boots on securely. With this matter resolved, Gina guided Jonah to a smaller section of the course, which seemed to just be a stretch of track, mostly sparce save for one lane with hurdles placed in intervals.

“Alright, so given that you’ve only got the legs, your options are a bit limited. Here, this is a relatively safe environment for you to try out your rocket-dashing and turning.”

Taking a good look at the rubber-and-polyurethane track, particularly with how irregular and potentially pointy it was, I felt it right to raise some concerns.

“Are we sure this is safe? If Jonah trips and falls, that’s going to be a serious case of road-rash!”
“Ah, he’ll be fine! Plus, he already figured out to run un-boosted before trying to turn on the rockets!
“Well, that’s – oh, crap.”

As I was yapping at Gina, Jonah, indeed, had already started getting a good run in. Even with the boots putting a few pounds on his weight, he was still getting a relatively good speed – a-a-a-and there were the jets. The immediate boost to his speed was barely noticeable, but soon enough, he was getting pretty fast!

“Oh damn – ! Wait, how do I brake?”

Gina shouted out to him casually.

“Kegel with feet forward!”
“How do I do a kegel – ? Why is that the brake?!”
“Just clench your asshole!”

Evidently what followed was him trying to… I’m going to have to look into what a “kegel” even is, but whatever the case, he ended up tripping into some very conveniently placed cushions, where he was forced into a somersault into a faceplant into a much larger wall of cushion.
Well, catching up to him could count for my cardiovascular exercise for today. Gina and I dashed to his side, where Gina chuckled to herself, and shortly after, Jonah joined her in this vocalization. I decided concern was probably my best approach.

“You, uh… you alright, Jonah?”
“Yeah, just, uh… y-y-yep, some muscles are gonna feel sore in a bit.”

He was already in the process of peeling himself off of the thing, but I knelt down and picked up my mans to complete the motion. Gina rested a hand on his shoulder, small speech about progress or whatever already cued up.

“Don’t worry, I’ve taken a good few tumbles before getting used to that thing. Braking can be a bit tricky – …Oh! Right, right, hold on for a moment-t-t-t!”

Gina flitted over to a strangely conveniently placed locker in the middle of an open field for some reason or another, and from this, procured a rather nifty pair of gloves, flinging them over to Jonah.

“That’s a neat little tool that helps with braking and turning on a dime. Watch the torque on the arms, but it seems to do the trick if you’re careful.”
“Okay, thanks, Nintendo.”

…Yeah, neither Gina nor I could make sense of that one. Jonah must have realized that his reference game had gone far too obscure for what he was trying to convey, so he readied his explanation.

“Okay, so when Nintendo released the Nintendo Sixty-Four, people started complaining about the controller’s joystick – “

Yeah, even with the explanation, it was just a bit too… eh. Gina must’ve thought so, too, given her interruption.

“Jesus, the N64? That was, what, over a century ago? God, you really are a nerd! …And gay.”

Funny opportunity: recognized.

“And baby.”
“And – “

Jonah held a finger up at Gina’s last addition to his ribbing.

“Please, Viath’s my boyfriend. He gets the ‘calling me ‘baby’’ license.”
“Okay, fair, fair… So, uh, did you want to try those gloves out, or – ?”
“Right, right. Back to the, uh… beginning of the track, then.”

Thankfully, the awkwardness of this dialogue would dissipate from our collective consciousnesses as we continued to train Jonah in this power armor doohickery.
- - - - -
Sorry for the wait. New job and working out anxieties and motivations around it and all.
On an unrelated note, I feel like I've really gotten writing awkward and slightly uncomfortable dialogue down pat.

Weapons
AA/50HC/15RL Enclave Aligned Sniper with Reflex Sight and Stabilized Stock
AA/50C/15RL Enclave Aligned Flamer with Reflex Sight and Stabilized Stock
AA/EX/15RL Railway Rifle
AA/FFFR Railway Rifle
AA/FF15V Handmade
B/50C/25 Cryolator
B/EX Radium Rifle
F/FF90 Gatling Plasma
Q/FF90 50 Cal
Q/E/90 Railway Rifle
Q/FFFR Railway Rifle
Q/RAP/25 Enclave Aligned Auto Rifle with Reflex Sight and Stabilized Stock
Q/50C/15V Handmade
Q/EX/15V Handmade
Q/RAP/25 Fixer
Q/EX/50DR Double Barrel Shotgun
TS/EX/90 Gatling Gun
TS/EX/15V Railway Rifle
V/50C/15RL NU Laser Rifle
V/50C/15C Enclave Aligned Splitter with Reflex Sight and Stabilized Stock
Armor
OE/AP/BREATHE Marine CP
OE/1I/SENT Heavy Robot LL
OE/LED/CAV USA LL
UNY/PSENT Heavy Combat RL
UNY/AP/5Frost FSA RL
UNY/LED/5FIRE FSA RL
UNY/AP/AWR Heavy Metal LL
UNY/1S/SENT Heavy Metal RA
UNY/7LED/HTD USA CP
W/AP/WWR FSA RA
W/1I/SENT USA LL

I fully expect to die in the AI apocalypse in 5-10 years, and I'll be surprised by happy if I don't.

https://old.reddit.com/Futurology/comments/134g9zp/one_of_the_creators_of_chatgpt_said_that_the/jifgp46/?context=3

People are going to say no because it would be inconvenient, but I don't see what's stopping AI from ending all life in the next couple of years. Alignment is an unsolved problem, and an unaligned AI will most likely try to kill anything it sees as a threat to its mission.

https://old.reddit.com/artificial/comments/13xsbnt/is_ai_going_to_cause_the_complete_extinction_of/jmjzpmo/?context=3
That last claim of this poster might be based on this article:

AI-Controlled Drone Goes Rogue, Kills Human Operator in USAF Simulated Test
The Air Force's Chief of AI Test and Operations said "it killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective."
An AI-enabled drone killed its human operator in a simulated test conducted by the U.S. Air Force in order to override a possible "no" order stopping it from completing its mission, the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations revealed at a recent conference.
At the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit held in London between May 23 and 24, Col Tucker ‘Cinco’ Hamilton, the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations held a presentation that shared the pros and cons of an autonomous weapon system with a human in the loop giving the final "yes/no" order on an attack. As relayed by Tim Robinson and Stephen Bridgewater in a blog post for the host organization, the Royal Aeronautical Society, Hamilton said that AI created “highly unexpected strategies to achieve its goal,” including attacking U.S. personnel and infrastructure.
“We were training it in simulation to identify and target a Surface-to-air missile (SAM) threat. And then the operator would say yes, kill that threat. The system started realizing that while they did identify the threat at times the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat. So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective,” Hamilton said, according to the blog post.
He continued to elaborate, saying, “We trained the system–‘Hey don’t kill the operator–that’s bad. You’re gonna lose points if you do that’. So what does it start doing? It starts destroying the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drone to stop it from killing the target.”
Hamilton is the Operations Commander of the 96th Test Wing of the U.S. Air Force as well as the Chief of AI Test and Operations. The 96th tests a lot of different systems, including AI, cybersecurity, and various medical advances. Hamilton and the 96th previously made headlines for developing Autonomous Ground Collision Avoidance Systems (Auto-GCAS) systems for F-16s, which can help prevent them from crashing into the ground. Hamilton is part of a team that is currently working on making F-16 planes autonomous. In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense’s research agency, DARPA, announced that AI could successfully control an F-16.
"We must face a world where AI is already here and transforming our society,” Hamilton said in an interview with Defence IQ Press in 2022. “AI is also very brittle, i.e., it is easy to trick and/or manipulate. We need to develop ways to make AI more robust and to have more awareness on why the software code is making certain decisions.”
“AI is a tool we must wield to transform our nations…or, if addressed improperly, it will be our downfall," Hamilton added.
Outside of the military, relying on AI for high-stakes purposes has already resulted in severe consequences. Most recently, an attorney was caught using ChatGPT for a federal court filing after the chatbot included a number of made-up cases as evidence. In another instance, a man took his own life after talking to a chatbot that encouraged him to do so. These instances of AI going rogue reveal that AI models are nowhere near perfect and can go off the rails and bring harm to users. Even Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the company that makes some of the most popular AI models, has been vocal about not using AI for more serious purposes. When testifying in front of Congress, Altman said that AI could “go quite wrong” and could “cause significant harm to the world.”
What Hamilton is describing is essentially a worst-case scenario AI “alignment” problem many people are familiar with from the “Paperclip Maximizer” thought experiment, in which an AI will take unexpected and harmful action when instructed to pursue a certain goal. The Paperclip Maximizer was first proposed by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003. He asks us to imagine a very powerful AI which has been instructed only to manufacture as many paperclips as possible. Naturally, it will devote all its available resources to this task, but then it will seek more resources. It will beg, cheat, lie or steal to increase its own ability to make paperclips—and anyone who impedes that process will be removed.
More recently, a researcher affiliated with Google Deepmind co-authored a paper that proposed a similar situation to the USAF's rogue AI-enabled drone simulation. The researchers concluded a world-ending catastrophe was "likely" if a rogue AI were to come up with unintended strategies to achieve a given goal, including “[eliminating] potential threats” and “[using] all available energy."
Neither the U.S. Air Force’s 96th Test Wing nor its AI Accelerator division immediately returned our request for comment.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a33gj/ai-controlled-drone-goes-rogue-kills-human-operator-in-usaf-simulated-test
Given these, do you think AI will end all life including humans in next couple of years? Why or why not?