My wife(24F)came to visit my grandmother with me(25M) and my brother. She was just wearing a tank top, which meant her breasts were clearly visible (she has no bra under it). My grandmother got very upset and called her names. Since my wife has piercing in her nipples and C cup tits, it was easy to see them through clothes. She is also really tattooed all over her body. Also my grandmother thinks that the fact that we have an open marriage (we love only each other and romance is reserved for us but we can have sex with others from time to time) makes our marriage invalid and says that she doesn't care that in the Ufficio dello Stato civile, I don't know how it is in English but it's the place where civil acts are registered, our marriage is official. How should we react? My wife doesn't do anything wrong and I love my grandmother.

The day all started when I was sat in the camper and I heard the door to the toilet open and out of the corner of my eye I saw my mom go into the bathroom so once I heard the door click shut after her I quietly got up and walked over to the door of the bathroom and put my ear next to the door. As I leaned in towards the door I could hear her peeing in there which let to me slowly becoming hard but just as I had build up enough courage to open the door she finished and opened the door to see me standing outside with my ear next to the door. As soon as she saw me she asked what I was doing so I responded saying that the sound of her peeing made me excited so I couldn’t help but listen to her peeing and then asked if it would be okay if next times she had to pee I could join her in the bathroom to watch her. At fist she seemed slightly shocked but then quickly responded saying sure I will let you know next time I need to go. Later that day I heard her shout my name which made me excited again making my dick get hard and as soon as I entered the bathroom I saw her pulling down her panties as she sat down on the toilet and the sound of her peeing made more thoughts go through my head so I decided to see how she would react if I tried to remove her bra and to my surprise she seemed to get excited as I reached to take it off which then revealed her huge 40DDD breasts. The sight of her tits made me even harder so I decided to lean i and try to suck on her nipples which she seems pleased about as she responded saying that feels amazing and not to stop. As she finished she said to me maybe we can shower together later to which I responded saying that would be amazing. Later that day she let me know that she was about to shower so I followed her into the bathroom and watched her slowly strip naked infront of me which turned me on a lot and as she finished undressing she turned around and said come on your turn hurry up and get in the shower so I quickly undressed and got in the shower with her and while I was stood behind her she said could you put some soap on my back so I took the opportunity to do it and then reach around to feel her tits which then let to her turning around and saying you can suck on them again if you want so I slowly leaned in and began to suck on her tits until she said that was enough and she was ready to get out the shower.

Lifetime - Staked: 865.9u, Profit/Loss: +28.08u, ROI: 3.24%, Parlay Suggestions: 164-63 Dog of the Week: 13-14
2024 - Staked: 218.8u, Profit/Loss: -5.28, ROI: -2.41%
As always, scroll down for UFC 301 Breakdowns. The following is just a recap of last event’s results.
UFC Vegas 91 (PREVIOUS CARD)
Staked: 8.5u
Profit/Loss: -0.29u
Parlay Suggestions: 2-3
Definitely not my best work there, but a testament to why hedging is an important tool to utilise when possible because it bailed me out of some bad bets. Thanks to those early moves, I managed to reduce my losses a lot more, so I’m happy with the overall results despite actually getting most of my bets wrong here. Onama’s ability to hit that reversal from back control was ridiculous, and if Pearce addressed that I think he would have been just fine. Guskov was a nice hit. Nicolau getting flatlined was not.
❌ 2u Matheus Nicolau to Win at -170
✅ 1u Bogdan Guskov to Win at +175 (won +1.75u)
❌ 1u Jonathan Pearce to Win at -140
❌ 1u Jonathan Pearce to Win & Over 1.5 Rounds at +150
❌ 1u Maheshate to Win by KO/TKO at +150
✅ 2u Liang/Petrovic FDGTD & Means/Medic FDGTD at -105 (won +1.9u)
❌ 0.25u Na Liang to Win in Round 1 at +1200
❌ 0.25u Parlay Pieces at +633
✅ Mayes/Machado Arb (won +0.63u)
✅ Silva/Lipski Arb (won +0.93u)
​
UFC 301
We really were spoiled by UFC 299 and UFC 300, because this PPV looks anaemic in comparison. I guess it’s mainly because those events used up some of Brazil’s biggest names (Pereira, Figgy, Moicano, Andrade, Jailton, Marina, Lopes, Burns), and these kinds of cards are always Brazil vs the World (my favourite kind of style of card). I’m still looking forward to it compared to the typical Apex garbage though=, so no complaints from me!
It didn’t take long to realise that this card has been curated to be very Brazilian friendly. I am absolutely not one of these conspiracy theorists who thinks the UFC is rigged, but I think it’s very important when betting to ask yourself WHY this fight was booked (especially for PPVs). The UFC’s business model runs off creating stars and generating hype (the existence of DWCS proves this), so these kind of cards are the perfect opportunity to do that. The matchmakers are literally paid to make decisions on who fights who, so none of this stuff is accidental. If you’re familiar with my history as an MMA Trader, you’ll know that thinking about public perception is where my skills lie, so I’m always excited for PPVs because there’s extra narrative in a lot of the fights.
Let’s get into it!
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Alexandre Pantoja v Steve Erceg
This is a very weird main event. The Flyweight division is starting to fade again, as its top 15 is littered with fighters who have either shown their ceiling is below championship quality, or guys who aren’t active enough to be given title shots. Erceg has managed to bag himself a title shot from 11th in the rankings, despite having only three fights in the company. Aside from fighters coming into the organisation with a strong reputation in combat sports, or women’s divisions, I can’t think of a fighter who has made their way to a title shot quicker than Erceg has in recent years.
Historically, I bet on Pantoja against most opponents because I’ve always been convinced he’s been championship calibre, and has multiple paths to victory every time. I have tried to fade Erceg mostly due to the rapid stepping up in competition, but I also bet him against Costa.
I know there’s a bit of a theme with me being non-committal towards betting on title fights (except Pereira last event, hehe), but I think this is probably an acceptable fight to shrug my shoulders at – purely because of the unknowns regarding Erceg. I don’t really think you can look at his performance against Alessandro Costa or David Dvorak and come away with any conclusion regarding his chances against Pantoja. I guess you could take something from the opening five minutes against Schnell…but that’s still not a great comparison because Schnell’s biggest weakness is still Pantoja’s biggest strength (chin/durability)?
On the flipside, what we do know about Erceg is that some of his best strengths are actually in the areas that Pantoja looks to exploit. The Brazilian is one of the most durable fighters in MMA history, having never been finished in 32 professional bouts – 14 of which took place in the UFC. He weaponizes that by pushing a pace and creating chaos that he knows he can be the more durable fighter in. Aside from that, he’s also got an elite submission game, and his grappling is top notch. His striking certainly isn’t bad either.
But, as I said, that doesn’t sound as much of a nightmare for Erceg as it does for a lot of other guys. Steve’s done most of his work in the UFC on the feet, where he has shown some very impressive durability (and on the regional scene). People also therefore forget that he’s primarily a grappler also, having six submissions on his record. Of course I expect him to be inferior to Pantoja in both areas, but I don’t see him getting steamrolled like Perez, Royval (1) or Schnell did.
So whilst there are still a hell of a lot of unknowns about Erceg, what we do know is enough to predict that this is unlikely to be Pantoja’s most dominant win. If the Brazilian can’t get finishes against an opponent, he has to rely on his minute winning ability. Whilst those are still very good skills (and enough to get the better of Brandon Moreno!), it’s definitely the way he can be exploited the most (a 9-5 record in fights that go the distance, to quantify that belief).
So in short, despite not having much confidence in my line here, I have to grade Pantoja as less of a favourite than the books currently do, but a favourite nonetheless. Erceg’s ceiling is still unknown, but logic would dictate that this is too much too soon. It’s therefore no bet from me on the moneyline, but my belief in Erceg’s durability will obviously lead me to consider the overs in this fight. Not too sure what I expect to see here but if the FGTD is plus money then I’ll probably get involved somehow. Keep an eye on the bet list at the bottom of the post to see what/if I bet.
How I line this fight: Alexandre Pantoja -188 (65%), Steve Erceg +188 (35%)
Bet or pass: I may look at the overs, but the ML is a pass
Prop leans: None
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Jonathan Martinez v Jose Aldo
Second fight, second non-committal stance, I’m afraid. I know this one is around a pick’em, and I know it’s super interesting…but do any of you train with Jose Aldo or know him personally? If not, I don’t think any of us have even the slightest clue how he’s going to look in the cage after almost two years on the sidelines. Yes, he’s been boxing, which gives some positive signs that he’s still keeping in some sort of shape – but he drew with Jeremy Stephens and beat two guys with combined pro records of 0-9-1. Hardly enough to believe he’ll be as sharp as when he was an active UFC fighter.
Jonathan Martinez on the other hand is eight years younger than Jose Aldo, and in his athletic/career prime. He’s currently riding a six-fight winning streak that includes wins over Said Nurmagomedov and Adrian Yanez. He’s a very well-rounded fighter that uses leg kicks to great effect, as is typical from a Factory X homegrown talent. He’s also been criminally underrated in these last few years after the shock loss to Davey Grant. Dude was -105 against Zviad Lazishvili (who even is that?), and both of the aforementioned wins.
Unfortunately for Martinez, Aldo is not going to lose out to the leg kicking game, instead he may be the one landing the significant leg strikes there. That kind of takes away one of Martinez’s most reliable weapons, which makes this one even more interesting.
Other than that, I genuinely don’t know what more to say. Logic and history tells us that the younger and more conditioned Martinez should win here, but if Aldo manages to find a special Brazilian doctor of some sort, or if he just ends up being fortunate that father time is generous to him, then the Jose Aldo we know and love should confidently beat Jonathan Martinez.
Who wins this fight? I have no idea. Neither do you. That’s why it’s a pick’em. Don’t think about it anymore than that. Just pass and enjoy watching the questions get answered inside the cage.
How I line this fight: No idea.
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
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Paul Craig v Caio Borralho
Hell yeah, I love it when we get fights like this. Guys I rate very highly and always look to bet, vs guys I think are massively overrated and always look to fade. In case it wasn’t obvious, Craig is the fade and Borralho is the prospect.
I have a lot of love and respect for Paul Craig. He’s long been one of the most successful and inspiring UK fighters – and his fights at various UFC Londons have often been the highlight of the entire events. Also, the man has an exquisite music taste - his walkout song choices always result in me finding new bands and albums to listen to. Thanks for that Paul!
But in terms of in-cage ability…he’s as one dimensional as it gets. His style is pretty much identical to Royce Gracie in the earliest UFC days. He has an elite submission game, but everything else in his skillset is hugely inferior, which will always limit him. Statistically, I rate all of his skills at a 3, but his pure submission game as a 9.
It’s been really fun to see the UFC booking Craig in fights that allow him to show his best work (as opposed to the Volkan Oezdemir fight, which was painful to watch), but MMA is much more complex than sheer submission ability. Against Muniz he was victorious because he was actually the superior striker, and also had the superior cardio that night…but the fight against Brendan Allen showed those limitations again. Going back to those aforementioned skillset rankings, Craig was inferior in every area of MMA, but he was matched or even trumped by Allen’s BJJ too. In short, I knew that Craig had no consistent way of winning that fight, and needed a high variance Hail Mary. I bet Allen quite confidently there.
And that conclusion is the exact same one I come to here. Caio Borralho is actually a severely underrated wrestler, and that is what makes him so great. I have no doubt that his wrestling is superior to Craig’s, which will result in more top control time for the Brazilian. Of course, Caio is an elite BJJ fighter himself, so like Allen and Muniz before him, I’m not worried about Craig’s offence from guard.
So the only other ways I see Craig winning this fight are the same as the Muniz fight, via superior striking or cardio. Right off the bat, I don’t think Craig’s a better striker than Caio (though it’s competitive enough), and the aforementioned wrestling success should stop that from being the story of the fight if Caio approaches the fight intelligently…but the cardio dynamic could be one to be wary of. I personally think the complaints about Caio’s cardio are vastly overdone – he’s won the third round on 11 of the 12 scorecards that has been submitted in his UFC career (if we ignore the point deduction against Omargadzhiev).
Therefore, that leads me to conclude that I think this is a well-booked fight by the UFC, who want to bolster the record and popularity of one of their most interesting Brazilian prospects and get a big win for the home crowd. Craig will give Caio the fight he wants, and he will likely lose in doing so. Caio should win this fight at least 80% of the time, I think…which gives me about 6-7% of value on the -275 price tag I pounced on. As expected, that’s long gone now. That’s a 5u bet for me.
How I line this fight: Paul Craig +400 (20%), Caio Borralho -400 (80%)
Bet or pass: 5u Caio Borralho to Win (-275)
Prop leans: Caio could win this fight in any of the three ways tbh.
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Anthony Smith v Vitor Petrino
The UFC reward Anthony Smith for his years of warrior spirit, company-first mentality, and his contributions on the UFC analyst bench…with a fight against one of the LHW division’s scariest upcoming prospects. How generous of them. Nonetheless, Smith is still talking crazy in interviews saying he’s close to a title shot with a win here, lol.
Vitor Petrino had one of those questionable records coming into the UFC. People have tried to fade him with Anton Turkalj, Marcin Prachnio, Modestas Bukauskas, and most recently Tyson Pedro. I understood the Modestas one, but the others were ridiculous. I bet Petrino at -250 against Pedro, and I think he definitely justified the price tag there.
Petrino is just so physically imposing. Whether he’s using his wrestling or striking, it just always feels like his opponents are tentative that Petrino’s about to do something explosive and dangerous. It’s been quite impressive seeing him show off his wrestling ability, as most believed him to be a pure striker that would struggle on the ground.
Anthony Smith is a very interesting litmus test for any aspiring top 15’er though, because despite the fact that Smith is very shopworn and clearly a bit mentally muddled (the “you attacked my family” thing against Walker was terrifying and really should not have been glossed over IMO), he is still a very well-rounded martial artist that is respectably skilled everywhere. He can be outgrappled by a safe guard-chilling gameplan, or just by generally being a more powerful striker though, as seen in his multitude of losses in recent years to the likes of Rountree, Walker, Ankalaev, Rakic, and Teixeira.
Those are two routes that Petrino can take, because we’ve already seen him follow those paths on multiple occasions. Whilst that’s clearly enough to deem him the favourite against a clearly declining Smith, this is enough of a step up in competition that I’m not convinced enough by Petrino to get on board with the idea of him being -400. Yes he probably goes and starches Lionheart, but if the finish doesn’t present itself easily then I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this one turn more competitive than that line indicates. Therefore, -200 to -250 sounds like an appropriate price to me, so it’s no bet.
How I line this fight: Anthony Smith +250 (29%), Vitor Petrino -250 (71%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
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Michel Pereira v Ihor Potieria
This is a pretty simple one to break down. Doesn’t surprise me that it kicks off the main card. This fight makes absolutely no sense from a ranking perspective, but it makes all the sense in the world from a narrative and promotional perspective.
Michel Pereira is one of the hardest non-Heavyweight hitters in the UFC. Ihor Potieria is a bang average fighter that is basically being used as a litmus test for a lot of unproven prospects. He’s a very beatable fighter and the perfect sacrificial lamb to get you an easy UFC win on your record. He was originally scheduled to face Shara Bullet Magomedov, who is definitely flavour of the month. Hell, they even tried to use him as a softball for 40 year old Shogun Rua last year!
Potieria’s recent upset win over Robert Bryczek does demonstrate that he’s got SOME life in him though, but there’s a massive difference between Bryczek and Michel Pereira. Potieria isn’t overly interested in shooting for takedowns either, making this even more of a nightmare fight for him.
Another highlight reel KO for Michel Pereira is expected, and I’d be quite surprised if he didn’t get it here. Therefore, I fully expect that prop to be priced at something around the -150 mark, maybe even steeper.
Took some time for the line to come out but -400 sounds about right in my eyes. I decided to combine Pereira with Mateusz Rebecki on next week’s card. -140 for the double.
How I line this fight: Michel Pereira -450 (82%), Ihor Potieria +450 (18%)
Bet or pass: Potentially on the KO, price dependant
Prop leans: See above
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Joaquim Silva v Drakkar Klose
This was the first bet I made on this card, and I placed it a couple of weeks ago when the line was much closer. I bet Drakkar Klose at -137.
I bet against Drakkar Klose when he faced Joe Solecki last time, and I’m still frustrated by how unlikely that finish was. Klose was definitely looking the inferior fighter there, but a moment of brilliance can be all it takes sometimes.
This one seems pretty cut and dry to me. Klose is a well-rounded fighter whose biggest issue had typically been his lack of finishing ability, but he’s still a very reliable fighter that will work hard for 15 minutes. He’s been in competitive fights with the likes of Beneil Dariush, Marc Diakiese, and Bobby Green in his time, and these bouts have spanned across all different realms of MMA. He’s never really done anything that will blow your hair back (aside from being on the receiving end of that amazing KO by Dariush, and the recent slam of Solecki), but I think that makes him a bit underrated. He’s 36 years old now, but he’s never been the fastest fighter, nor has he had a long and gruesome career.
Joaquim Silva has a similar level of experience, but his UFC record paints a different picture by comparison. The calibre of fighters he has lost two really does vary, but a decision loss to Vinc Pichel, as well as being finished by Ricky Glenn and Nasrat Haqparast, doesn’t really fill someone with confidence.
Silva’s most recent win came against 41-year-old Clay Guida, where he clearly lost a round and honestly could have lost the fight with a couple of adjustments. That fight was a terrible look for the -320 favourite, and to me that was a clear indication that he seems to be on the decline. Klose, by comparison, seems to be operating on a similar enough level to how he has done for most of his UFC career. Yes he has taken a step down in competition lately, but he’s performing as you would expect him to.
Statistically, Silva has a negative strike differential, and most of the key metrics are inferior to Klose as well. There’s every chance that this one turns into a barn burner, which would definitely suit the more dangerous Brazilian...but I fully expect Drakkar Klose to put on a typical 15 minute performance, where he settles down into his pace, and mixes in his superior striking and wrestling to coherently win rounds. It probably won’t be the most entertaining fight we’ve ever seen, but a commanding win is perfect for me. A vintage Drakkar Klose performance.
In terms of the betting line, I had Klose capped at around -200. The -137 available was a steal and I was very keen to take it, but I’d definitely be passing on this fight if I was looking at it for the first time now. Another reason why it’s important to keep track of my bet list at the bottom of each post, as I gave this out when -137 was widely available.
How I line this fight: Drakkar Klose -200 (67%), Joaquim Silva +200 (33%)
Bet or pass: 2u Drakkar Klose to Win (-137)
Prop leans: None
​
Alessandro Costa v Kevin Borjas
Alessandro Costa is a very flawed fighter. Good skills across the board, but the guy’s volume is so, low. I bet against him when he faced Steve Erceg, and that was most of the reason.
He faces Kevin Borjas, who we don’t know much about other than he isn’t as good of a striker than Joshua Van…which doesn’t tell us much at all. He did win a round in that fight, but that’s because Van is a bit of a slow starter and will take some time to get going.
I didn’t do tape on this one because I’m still kind of unsure about Borjas, and the betting line kind of reflects that the books don’t either. He’s a non-committal underdog at +110, where the books think he’s inferior but they don’t believe it with any degree of confidence. That sounds about right to me.
I just hope Costa wins this one so I might get another opportunity to fade him in the future.
How I line this fight: I didn’t tape but it looks about right to me.
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
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Dione Barbosa v Ernesta Kareckaite
I lost money on Kareckaite’s DWCS fight, in what was brilliant demonstration of why you really shouldn’t bother betting or researching that show. Ernesta basically followed the blueprint I thought Judice was going to use, almost like I’d gotten the fighters the wrong way around. Super high variance when they’re so green.
And we’ve got more green-ness here. Both women have less than 10 professional fights. Barbosa is a -225 underdog. I’d blindly fade that if you had to bet on this fight. Otherwise I’d leave it alone. Take it as an opportunity to learn more about them for next time.
How I line this fight: Don’t know, didn’t tape
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
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Joanderson Brito v Jack Shore
Banger. This is potentially the most exciting fight on the card, as you have to really high skilled grapplers facing off against one another.
I am convinced that Joanderson Brito is quite overrated. He’s so explosive and dangerous, that it actually makes up for some pretty significant flaws. He’s an awful minute winner, and any opponent that is able to stay safe against him is likely going to win on the scorecards. He has bulldozed three opponents in R1, shown a moment of brilliance against Jonathan Pearce, and been out-hustled by Bill Algeo. That shows a 4-1 UFC record, but all I see is a guy who has actually lost more minutes in the UFC cage than he’s won. I think he’s also getting second hand hype because he beat Diego Lopes on DWCS, and that guy is possibly the most exciting prospect in the UFC right now.
So can Jack Shore stay safe here? Well he’s definitely got the grappling to give it a good go. Just like Jonathan Pearce before him, Shore can use his intense wrestling to stay safe from Brito’s striking. Shore also has good BJJ, which makes me feel confident he can avoid Brito’s opportunistic but ultimately low percentage submission from bottom – at least better than Pearce did.
Obviously the striking is where Brito has a big advantage, and his dangerousness will certainly show itself there in the early goings. Shore hasn’t really fought any dangerous strikers in his UFC tenure so far, so it’s kind of hard to say how well he will fare in those striking moments.
This is one of those fights where breaking down the betting line from a probability perspective just results in an uncomfortable feeling, however you spin it. Brito has more ways to win and is somewhat of a fan favourite, so I can understand why he has the minus next to his number. However, I can really easily see the path to victory for Jack Shore, and I don’t think it’s crazy to say he could go out there and look like a -300 favourite. But then if I think about making Shore the favourite I’m immediately thinking about how dangerous Brito is and how he could easily look -300 as well! It’s a mind fuck.
At the end of the day, the line is relatively close at the moment. Shore sits around +125 which, given he hasn’t fought for a year and is going up against the flavour of the month, I guess I’m okay with. If Shore moves to +140 or better, I think I’ll have to play him. I think he could easily do what Jonathan Pearce or Bill Algeo did. Brito is a boogeyman who is half the fighter he’s hyped up to be if he can’t find a finish.
How I line this fight: Joanderson Brito -110 (52%), Jack Shore +110 (48%)
Bet or pass: Pass, for now
Prop leans: Brito ITD probably the best looking prop available, Jack has too many paths
​
Elves Brener v Myktkbek Orolbai
Man, what does Elves Brener have to do to catch a break!? Dude steps into the UFC (possibly on short notice?) and gets a win as a massive underdog against Tukhugov, then pulls off another upset against Guram Kutateladze. His opponent pulls out of his third fight and they give him a guy with a 15-1 record. Now he’s 3-0 and you’d finally think they start to give him the chance to build up some hype…but then they go and book him against Myktkbek Orolbai!
For those who haven’t seen Orolbai’s debut against Uros Medic last year, it was definitely one of the best debuts of 2023. He stuck to the Serbian like glue and, despite some persistent get ups, managed to find the submission relatively easily in what was a dominant performance.
Unfortunately, that fight was so one-sided that we don’t really know anything else about Orolbai at this level, as his other recent bouts took place on LFA against guys with 18-14 and 10-7 records.
With no further relevant info, there are too many gaps to form an opinion on Orolbai. What I will say is that Elves Brener has continued to play spoiler so far in his UFC career and continues to be underrated by the books despite that. Does he deserve to be around +200 here? Only if Orolbai is the real deal.
We will get our answers, but there’s no reason to put money on this fight. Anyone who does is putting blind faith in nine minutes of dominance against a Serbian on the mat…or they’re just chatting shit.
How I line this fight: Impossible to say
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
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Jean Silva v William Gomis
On the subject of underrated fighters, William Gomis features in our next bout. The Frenchman has a very underrated style, one that isn’t going to grab all the highlights or get him clamouring for a main event, but it’s still a very useful one inside the cage. He’s well-rounded, has great kicks to compliment a very technical striking style that goes well with his long frame. I was made first aware of Gomis when he dismantled the overhyped Cage Warriors prospect Tobias Harila. He was calm amongst the chaos, and put in a really professional performance that likely got the ball rolling to eventually earn him a UFC contract. The experience from that fight will serve him well here.
He faces Jean Silva, a very explosive Brazilian that trains with Caio Borralho’s Fighting Nerds. We saw him most recently when he obliterated the vastly inferior Westin Wilson – God knows how that kid got asked to come to the UFC. And they’re giving him a third fight. Really is an embarrassing company at this point.
Before that we saw Silva go 15 minutes on DWCS, and his style looks a lot less impressive when he can’t find a finish. There wasn’t much investment in striking fundamentals, everything was a big action with fight ending intentions. That’s all good when you’re fighting Westin Wilson who blocks punches with his face, but what about when you’re facing a talented kickboxer who prioritises defence and range management? I could very easily see Silva hitting air for 15 minutes.
So I think the line is the wrong way around here, and that William Gomis has the potential to win this one quite comfortable if he can play the matador game. Whilst that sounds like I am gearing up to bet him, I’m actually going to pass on this one currently. He’s only at +110 so it’s not like he’s at a clear underdog price, and considering he’s not the explosive fighter that’s going to be chasing the finish and doing the damage, I think he’s got more of a job to do to impress the judges. Furthermore, we are obviously in Brazil where I think the crowd can certainly emphasise the work that Silva does, which may twist the judges’ arm a bit more.
So there’s value on Gomis, but not enough to warrant a bet. It’s a reluctant pass for me. If there’s major line movement I might play Gomis at like +150, but I doubt it goes that far.
How I line this fight: Jean Silva +120 (46%), William Gomis -120 (54%)
Bet or pass: Pass, unless the line moves.
Prop leans: None
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Karolina Kowalkiewicz v Iasmin Lucindo
If Craig v Borralho was a nice gift for me as a bettor, this is possibly my worst nightmare. I’m probably one of KK’s biggest fans, and Iasmin Lucindo is a prospect I am very high on. I bet on these women pretty much every time I can, and I think I’ve actually won money on both Moneylines and Method of Victorys in every fight they’ve both had since I started posting here.
If you read my stuff every week, you’ll know Karolina is my girl. Genuinely my favourite fighter. But I think this is the wake-up call she and I knew was coming eventually. KK’s resurgence has been such an inspiring journey, from getting absolutely brutalised, struggling badly with her mental health, taking the time off and coming back to string together four wins on the trot. That post-fight interview against Herrig was one of my favorite interview moments in UFC history.
But, having said all that, the UFC have been really kind to her. They’ve given her competitive fights that she is capable of winning if she keeps herself together…but Diana Belbita, Vanessa Demopoulos, Silvana Gomez Suarez, and Felice Herrig are certainly a lower calibre within WMMA who have already shown us their ceiling. Iasmin Lucindo is a completely different fighter.
Lucindo is a prospect, pure and simple. She’s got great striking, and great BJJ. I said when she fought Jauregui in her debut that these two could easily meet again in the top 5 of the division in a few years time, and I think her sophomore performance against Polyana Viana showed that (I bet her quite heavily in that one). Viana’s trash and it was the perfect matchup for her, but there’s reason to believe that this one could be too.
Kowalkiewicz’s resurgence has relied on her fighting opponents that mostly want to strike, and even if not, the wrestling of these women has been at a level she could handle…I don’t expect that to be the case against Lucindo. Iasmin has an advantage in speed, and age/youthfulness as 16 years the junior. We know that plays a massive part in fights, and I expect it to here. Karolina isn’t particularly good on the mat if those takedowns, but we just haven’t seen it for some time. If Lucindo gets top time, I think she probably manouvres her way to a submission with relative ease.
Of course, this one is much more competitive if they choose to strike, as Karolina’s got the right blend of determination, volume, and technique to keep any B grade or lower striker honest over the course of three rounds. Lucindo’s not the most amazing striker I have ever seen, but I also don’t expect her to be outclassed by Kowalkiewicz either. In WMMA, if you don’t have a unique striking style such as power or suffocating pressure (which neither girl has), then there’s only so much you can really do at this level to separate yourself as the superior striker. If they fight 100 rounds on the feet, I wouldn’t expect either woman to win more than 65 of the 100 times.
So that’s the key bit of information when looking at the betting line here. I know Lucindo deserves to be a significant favourite, due to youthfulness and a style that finally doesn’t actually suite her Polish opponent…but Karolina is sound enough to easily make this one competitive. If Lucindo doesn’t show a significant urgency or even desire to shoot takedowns, or if Karolina can stuff them, then this one looks much closer to a 50/50ish fight on the feet.
Whilst that sounds like I’m leaning towards playing my girl Karolina Kowalkiewicz, I’m unfortunately not. It’s impossible to really say how much success Lucindo is going to have with her takedown attempts here, so I can’t clearly quantify how much of a favourite she could be. If she can land them with ease, she might look -500. If she can’t land them at all, she could look +100. Compared to the -300 betting line we are getting, that definitely sounds like a pass. If you’re someone who likes to bet on every fight for the fun of it, a roll of the dice on Kowalkiewicz definitely isn’t the worst idea.
However, I will be keeping an eye out for that Lucindo by Submission prop. I doubt I’d get a good line on it with her being -300, but there’s always a chance the books get caught napping because it’s WMM and they expect a decision. We’ll see, I’d probably take +200 or better.
How I line this fight: Iasmin Lucindo -200 (66%), Karolina Kowalkiewicz +200 (33%)
Bet or pass: Pass on the ML, might bet Lucindo by Submission if I get a nice price (I’m talking +225 or better)
Prop leans: See above
​
Mauricio Ruffy v Jamie Mullarkey
Mauricio Ruffy has won all of his professional fights via KO, and has fought quite a few cans in his day. He is the -160 favourite and is obviously very undeserving of that price tag against a guy with a decent amount of UFC experience.
Jamie Mullarkey is very unreliable, has bad fight IQ, and just generally isn’t very good. Dude lost a striking fight to Michael Johnson and got KO’d by Nasrat Haqparast – two things I thought were very hard to do in this day and age.
Pick your poison. Or don’t, and just be smart and leave this fight alone.
How I line this fight: who knows
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
​
Ismael Bonfim v Vinc Pichel
Ismael Bonfim returns from what was originally a massive upset at the hands of Benoit Saint Denis last July, but thankfully for him the Frenchman’s performances since have helped that result age well, as he elevated himself to prospect status and faced Poirier.
I was sadly all aboard the Ismael Bonfim hype train, as I deemed his debut win over Terrance McKinney as arguable the debut of the year for 2023. McKinney’s actually been fraud checked a fair bit since then so that win has coincidentally aged badly on the reverse. Nonetheless, I still think this Bonfim is good and will eventually turn into a top 15 fighter (not like his brother, an overrated fraud that I faded against Nicholas fucking Dalby).
Either way, the UFC are trying to run the Ismael Bonfim hype back again by pitting him against a 40 year old Vinc Pichel, who they’re probably just looking to get off the books as he likely has a contract that pays far more than he’s worth (by the 10/10 standard, anyway). Pichel is old but not particularly shop worn due to lack of commitment to his MMA career. He’s a well-rounded guy that always seems to end up in grappling-based fights. He has been competitive with the likes of Mark Madsen, Austin Hubbard, Jim Miller and Roosevelt Roberts in recent years, which kind of paints the picture that he’s capable but limited.
I think it’s fair to assume that Ismael Bonfim really should have Pichel covered here. He’s the way more dangerous fighter, and will be the one having moments of success where he threatens to finish. Outside of some sort of massive cardio dump, I think he can either find a finish or competently win 2/3 rounds with relative ease.
He’s -400 on the betting line so the odds clearly reflect that. I definitely wouldn’t be interested in playing him at that number, seeing as he’s returning from a massive setback and may not be the same as he once was. I could see him winning via all three potential methods of victory, so I’m not really sure a bet is possible here.
How I line this fight: Ismael Bonfim -400 (80%), Vinc Pichel +400 (20%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None
​
Bets (Bold = been placed)
Xu Pantoja vs Erceg to last Over X.5 rounds (+XXX, can’t really say what I’d bet until I see numbers)
5u Caio Borralho to Win (-275)
1u Michel Pereira to Win by TKO/KO (+XXX, probably not bettable but I’d take under -150)
2u Michel Pereira + Mateusz Rebecki to Win (-105)
2u Drakkar Klose to Win (-137)
2u Jack Shore to Win (+140 or better)
1u Iasmin Lucindo to Win by Submission (+XXX, I’d take +225 or better)
0.25u Parlay Pieces (+XXX, props not out yet)
Parlay Pieces: Pantoja/Erceg Over 1.5 Rounds, Caio Borralho, Michel Pereira, Drakkar Klose, Ismael Bonfim
Dog of the Week: Jack Shore

hypocrisy

"Biden shared how after the passing of his first wife and 1-year-old daughter, he had a fleeting suicidal thought. "You don't have to be crazy to commit suicide. If you've been at the top of a mountain, you think it's never gonna be there again." But I get a life sentence for not wanting to be in a painful dictatorship of constant physical abuse. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/howard-stern-interview-biden-happy-debate-trump/story?id=109695601

homeless

"Forced Treatment and Criminalization Won’t End Homelessness...alternatives to involuntary inpatient treatment like peer support networks." https://progressive.org/op-eds/forced-treatment-criminalization-wont-end-homelessness-fairbanks-240426/

redundant

england, “Staggering” cost of locum psychiatrists...Have those in charge got any idea how traumatic it is having to explain the trauma and abuse they've suffered and witnessed every time they see a different locum psychiatrist?" If they would read my Advance Directive there'd be no problem. https://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/health/staggering-cost-of-locum-psychiatrists-4607449

experiment

757 swedes, "increased mortality rate among patients with schizophrenia was mainly due to unnatural causes of death and cardiovascular diseases, particularly among males." https://www.avhandlingar.se/avhandling/8d19d87b32/#google_vignette
"their (pharma companies) influence corrupts the results. The research should also be funded by governments or noncommercial organizations. That would eliminate all the supposed arguments for patents on medicines." To get approval a drug should be much more effective than placebo. https://stallman.org/archives/2024-jan-apr.html#27_April_2024_(Drug_trial_to_prove_cost_of_tuberculosis_treatment)

excessive

india "keeping the patients in hospitals even after their recovery...number of states still lack Medical Boards that are tasked with reviewing complaints of alleged medical negligence, which must be addressed on priority." https://archive.is/vJr9D

pregnacy

"bipolar disorder medications have the potential to cause birth issues including neural tube defects, heart defects as well as developmental delay...medications left (selena gomez) feeling "gone," she explained, until a different psychiatrist took her off all but two drugs...I had to detox, essentially, from the medications." https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/movies/selena-gomez-says-she-may-153123378.html

slavery

nigerian-american psychiatrists husband and wife, "maximum of 20 years in prison for each forced labor count." My parents also stole passport, forced to do office work under physical/chemical abuse. https://mybeachradio.com/ixp/385/p/nj-couple-bolarinwa-abused-women-forced-labor-burlington-county-moorestown/

sleep

“I’ll say, sleep eight hours a night for the next two weeks,”...they’re at 50 percent of their stress level two weeks later with no therapy at all...more people confusing “milder forms of distress as mental health problems,” according to one academic paper...Stress is when you have too many demands and not enough resources, like time or money to outsource some responsibilities, Rosmarin says...“Even if you do have anxiety, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have an anxiety disorder,” says psychologist Juli Fraga." https://www.vox.com/even-bette24140293/anxiety-catchall-unpleasant-emotion-emotional-intelligence-mental-health

gender

"differences between male and female brains but also help understand how neuropsychiatric conditions that affect women and men differently." https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/science-has-discovered-that-men-and-women-s-brains-actually-do-work-differently/ar-BB1iC7X9?ocid=iSEM_L_Money

personal experiences

April 27 1 PM mother said for September 2022 I was not recovered unless forgiving (never) and talking to her.

I (M29) have been with my girlfriend (28, who I'll call Lucy) for about 5 years now. Other than a few minor ups and downs, we've had a great relationship and I intend on proposing soon.
She has a corporate job that requires a fair amount of travel. It's annoying in the sense that it means I spend less time with her, but we earn a healthy income from it so can't really have too many complaints. When she goes on these trips, she's typically away for two days or so, so the packing is usually quite light.
She was preparing to go away for a trip the other day and while she was cooking downstairs, I put a few of her favorite chocolates into her bag as a treat (which I usually do). When I was doing this, I noticed something lacy and red amongst her clothes. When I opened the suitcase to have a look, I noticed she'd packed a lacy matching red bra and thong and then a black bra and thong. I'll preface this by saying this isn't something she usually wears. She typically wears plain cotton brief style underwear and even a plain thong is a once a year (if that) occasion. It immediately set alarm bells off in my head because she was going on a work trip and I didn't see why she would be packing this unless she intended to show it off to other people.
As I didn't want this hanging over me the two days she was away, I decided to confront her. I brought her upstairs with the lingerie in hand and asked why it was packed in her things. Before asking why I was going through her things (which I explained was to put the chocolates there) she said that it was a new set she bought and she was trying it out, that's all there is to it. I didn't buy it and straight up accused her of cheating.
She started to cry, then got angry and asked how I could accuse her of such a thing based on seeing underwear in a bag after 5 years. I started to feel bad but it just didn't feel right; why would someone who wears cotton briefs suddenly pack lingerie for a work trip? Within her hysterics, she told me that she just wanted to feel confident on the trip and if I'm so insecure about underwear, that's my concern. She then told me she was going early as couldn't believe I'd accused her of cheating.
As I wasn't in the mood, I let her go and we haven't had any correspondence since. It's been two days which is the longest we haven't spoken. Part of me feels I may have jumped the gun but then again, this has to be a good sign she's cheating because suddenly buying lingerie to "feel confident on a work trip", which isn't like something she's worn before, doesn't add up.
AITAH?

Frank Miller's Daredevil and the Ends of Heroism (Comics Culture) eBook : Young, Paul
This was the first honest-to-god analysis of a work of fiction I ever bought. Sure we all think about the stories we read but I had never sought out a professional look at it before. The interviews with Miller and others are really an invaluable look into his creative process, IMO.
I really recommend this book for insights not just into Daredevil, but Batman and Punisher, too.
For anyone curious, here are a lot of the parts which really stood out to me - although of course I have my own interests and you might have parts of the book you love which I just passed over. The first comic I ever remember reading and being deeply impressed by was JMS' Supreme Power. To me, the best superhero stories ask "what does it even mean to be a (super)hero?" I think Miller has some invaluable insights on this topic.

Miller's problem with Spider-Man was all the angst. "All my reservations about the character are in how he talks 'cause his visual is still very confident, and very strong - it's just that he never stops whining." Spidey's self-pity, his penchant for martyrdom, and his borderline masochistic self-neglect attracted fans' identification but also made his life more or less a continual nightmare. Even worse, it made his success as a superhero hard for Miller to swallow. Spider-Man's trademark heckling of villains during fights only made his effectiveness less believable:
"I don't believe that Spider-Man would last two weeks [as a crime fighter] the way he's conceived. In order to have power over the criminals, you would have to be that rotten; [criminals] would have to accept him as almost one of them... Daredevil has to reach the point where when he walks into a room. they're terrified of him. because he has to be accepted as a force they'll respect. That isn't done much in comic books; it's around in other kinds of fiction. I'm more comfortable with that; I don't see him as being happy go lucky when he's up against a bunch of guys with guns."
[...]
Miller would probably have incited comparisons to Batman in the fan press simply by transforming Daredevil into a grittier, more deterministic series, but Miller openly stressed the parallel in his Daredevil-era interviews. In 1981, Miller draws an explicit contrast between Daredevil and Batman: "Daredevil . . . operates on a basic motive of love for seeking out justice. . . . [Batman] is punishing those who killed his parents. Batman's focus is on the criminal, Daredevil's is on the victim."27 Critics picked up on Miller's concern with Daredevil's motives, as well as the productive task of measuring them against those of the Batman. Reviewing Miller's work thus far in the Comics Journal in 1982, Ed Via wrote that Miller had made Daredevil "first and foremost a moralist, a person with a strong sense of fairness and . . . compassion, someone whose actions were as directly in line with his convictions as humanly possible."28 Even Daredevil's scuffles with criminals differed from Batman's in that they were performances rather than acts of vengeance:
"I see Matt Murdock as being a grown man and Daredevil as almost being a boy. . . . He believes in everything he's doing and he works very hard at it, but part of him just gets off on jumping around buildings."29 "I'm also trying to develop him as a guy with a terrific sense of humor, who scares criminals and has a great time doing it. Like [Steve Ditko's DC character] the Creeper, he laughs and laughs and laughs, and thinks [to himself], 'Jeez, they're buying it!'"30
Miller's favorite means of exposing his hero's antic side was to send Daredevil to Josie's Bar, a fictional dive where New York's entire population of petty thieves seems to turn up every night. Digging for clues to various cases, DD inevitably sparks fights that trash the place, hurling thugs through the front window while Josie protests (for the umpteenth time) that she just had it repaired. Sometimes he even orders a drink first, but as Miller points out, it's always a glass of milk. The milk (and the milk moustache it leaves behind) comically telegraphs Matt's wholesomeness compared to the hardened types guzzling whiskey and beer all around him, but it also underscores Miller's description of DD as Matt's boyish side, the inner child that "comes alive" while playing superhero.31
Ultimately, however, the contrast Miller once drew between the borderline psychotic Batman and the psychologically healthy Daredevil sounds like an overstatement of the argument, fronted by the Village Voice in 1965 (and echoed in Esquire the following year), that "Marvel Comics are the first comic books to evoke, even metaphorically, the Real World."32 By those lights, "real world" referentiality meant that Marvel heroes dealt openly with persecution, neuroses, and family squabbles and turned out to be their own worst enemies nearly as often as protagonists did in postwar literary fiction.
By contrast, DC didn't raise any schlemiels, with the possible exception of Clark Kent, whose inferiority complex is all an act to keep people from noticing that, but for the eyeglasses and the hunched shoulders, he looks exactly like Superman. DC stories followed the logic of such classical storytelling modes as the epic or the chronicle, where decision making is an exponent of action instead of a process inflected by character subtleties and every action thus taken is world-historical in importance. Its editors exiled strong emotion, anxiety, mortality, and other everyday complexities to the infamous imaginary stories of the fifties and early sixties.
This means of distinguishing Silver Age Marvel heroes from those of DC hits a snag, however, when we stack Batman's origin up against that of Spider-Man or Daredevil. The emotional crux of all three is the Spidey triumvirate of all-too-human gut reactions: guilt, shame, and a desire for revenge. Indeed, the most obvious precedent for Daredevil's origin is the first version of Batman's origin story in DC's Detective Comics #33 (December 1939), in which an anonymous street thug robs and shoots Bruce Wayne's parents before young Bruce's eyes. Batman's origin sets underexamined precedents for many origin stories from Marvel's Silver Age: dead parent, angry child, costume chosen to strike fear into what the Batman of 1939 touts as a "superstitious, cowardly lot" of evildoers, an initial state of helplessness igniting the desire to bulk up and do right. Not unlike the death of Jack Murdock in Daredevil's case, Bruce Wayne's extraordinary childhood loss forges Batman's determination to avenge that loss on all criminals everywhere forever after and to transform himself into a steroidal, bat-eared Sherlock Holmes.
Miller brought the Punisher, then Marvel's most homicidal lead character, into the comparison to develop a pet point about Daredevil's singularity: his duty to the legal system, for better or worse. In 1981, when Richard Howell asked Miller point blank, "Is Daredevil Marvel's Batman?" Miller answered that, no, "the Punisher is Marvel's Batman."33 Miller argued that, unlike the Batman, whose parents' murder catalyzed every major life decision he made from then on, the death of Battlin' Jack did not have as "big an effect on [Matt] as his father's life, and he is his father's son, being a natural born fighter."34 The Punisher, by contrast, shares not only Batman's desire to murdered loved ones but also his will to stop killers and drug dealers in their tracks. He exceeds Batman's mission only in that he executes the bad guys on the spot.
The Punisher, Miller tells Howell, is "Batman without the impurities. The side of Batman that makes him spare the criminals is something that's added on. It's not part of the basic concept of his character. . . . Daredevil's basic concept is very dissimilar. I see Daredevil as someone who operates on a basic motive of love for seeking out justice."35
This was not to say, however, that the Punisher's use of deadly force made him less heroic to Miller than Daredevil or Batman were. The Punisher is a hero, Miller says, but "I don't consider him a role model. The main difference between him and Daredevil is Daredevil's sense of responsibility to the law. The Punisher is an avenger; he's Batman without the lies built in."36
The "lies" Miller mentions refer in part to Batman's vow never to kill; he wields a gun only two or three times in his entire first forty-five years in print, due in each case to editorial inattention. While the no-kill rule probably helped keep Batman out of trouble with parents worried over comics' influence on young children, it exacerbated the tension between his desire for justice and his sense that the legal system is inadequate to the task of collaring mass murderers and rooting out corruption. If Batman's prime motive is to champion justice in the legal sense, to quash anarchy and restore social order, then why does he have such contempt for the police and the legal system except insofar as they can help him achieve his goals?
[...]
The ambivalence about due process expressed here stems in part from Miller's decision to make Daredevil a character whose convictions don't necessarily match his own: "I don't necessarily believe that Daredevil's right about everything he says. The character is built on very strong basic principles, and it would have been a terrible violation of those principles . . . to let Bullseye die. Daredevil has to believe that the law will work in every instance, but I'm allowed to believe differently."17 Miller had much tougher critiques of Daredevil-style liberalism waiting up his sleeve, including the bleeding-heart psychiatrists in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns who claim that Two-Face and the Joker (the Joker, for crying out loud) can be rehabilitated and an unforgettable throwaway joke about liberal hypocrisy in the same book, in which a Central Casting suburbanite tells a reporter that he doesn't believe in Batman's brand of vigilante justice but then snorts that he himself would "never live in the city." But to paint Miller as a legal or social conservative would not be accurate, at least not at this point in his career. Satirically, in fact, Miller plays the entire political field, broiling John Ashcroft and George W. Bush in The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2) for exploiting the Twin Towers' destruction to further their own political agenda (and while these men were doing exactly that in the aftermath of 9/11, no less).
The Daredevil run, though, is less a satire of Matt's position, or anyone else's, than it is a Brechtian experiment in which Miller draws sympathy to Murdock's point of view while examining it with a microscope at the same time, pushing harder and harder on the question of whether justice is served if lives are left at risk, while putting just as much pressure on the opposing question of whether preventive justice deserves to be called justice at all.
[...]
Matt's reaction to the death of Elektra is to bully Heather into the submissive role that Elektra couldn't play. Miller attributes to Matt not a single thought balloon to suggest that he is aware of the toll his bullying takes on her, while Miller continually draws the reader's attention to that toll via Matt's glib condescension and Heather's devastated reactions to it. The soundness of Daredevil's judgment is now more questionable than ever. Does his heroism stem from a neurotic urge to control everything around him, and is that neurosis reaching a tipping point? After all, we see him suffer a nearly dissociative breakdown when he convinces himself in #182 that Elektra somehow survived her own murder. The splash page of that issue still chills me with its full-face close-up of Matt in a cold sweat, staring into our eyes, as if pleading with us to believe something we know to be utterly false just because he believes it: "SHE'S ALIVE." By #189, only seven issues later, his demeaning paternalism has driven his new fiancée straight to the bottle.
In spite of the ugliness of Matt's abuse, and the emphasis Miller places on that ugliness, it's difficult for me to decide whether terrorizing Heather this way makes Daredevil less heroic or more heroic in Miller's definition. Miller has often spoken about the archetypical hero as something other than human, as dismissive of what others think they need as Matt is of Heather's feelings. When Miller discusses The Dark Knight Strikes Again!, which he and interviewer Gary Groth agree is nearly a parody of superhero comics, he emphasizes Batman's abstract quality, born of the kind of social isolation that Stick enforces on Matt: If Batman's "motto is striking terror" into the hearts of criminals, then "Batman can only be defined as a terrorist. . . . I don't want you to like this guy." "My feeling about Batman is that he's similar [to James Bond] in that you'd want him to be there when you're being mugged, but you wouldn't want to have dinner with him. The way he cheers Hawkman on as he crushes Luthor's skull . . . For me, [such scenes demonstrate] the idea [of Batman] coming into its own without the bullshit on top of it being a socially acceptable role model and all of that."23
Matt's disregard for Heather's emotional state during the Glenn Enterprises affair further clarifies Miller's sense of the heroic impulse: it is prosociety but deeply antisocial, convinced that Right and Wrong are real and unchanging standards but dangerously solipsistic in its interpretation of how to achieve Right at the expense of Wrong. The true hero, according to Miller, is, compared to "normal" human beings at least, a pathological narcissist. Daredevil, with unwavering faith in his own judgment, performs "necessary" services for a culture whether it asks for them or not, while those who are under his protection see him as unfathomable at best and terrifying at worst. But even if Miller thrills to his own extrication of the "lies" and "bullshit" from the Batman persona a few years later, in Daredevil he employs dramatic irony to relate the high cost, to both individuals and their community, of the uncompromising, take-no-prisoners heroism that Americans think they want. "Dirty Harry . . . is a profoundly, consistently moral force," Miller tells Kim Thompson, but that wouldn't keep him out of jail for "administering the 'Wrath of God' on murderers who society treats as victims.
An authoritative study of Jack Kirby, Charles Hatfield has suggested that Marvel Comics distinguished itself in the 1960s in part by placing new stress on the tension intrinsic to superhero comics between the hero's desire for justice and the extralegal means by which she or he pursues it.25 I would add that Marvel's Silver Age stories place the stress primarily on the plotting opportunities provided by this tension, as in the case of Spider-Man, whose good deeds only draw the ire of a public (understandably) suspicious of ununiformed law enforcement.
Miller further develops the "upstanding vigilante" paradox from a cliché of the genre into a philosophical dialectic that, though sometimes decried as fascistic, cannot be reduced to an unironic plea for authoritarian rule. The superheroic fantasies on display in 300, the Sin City graphic novels, The Dark Knight Strikes Again!, and even the controversial Holy Terror cast a clear eye on the paradox of the specifically American fascination with the superheroic ideal. All pose to the reader the implicit question, Is this really what you want? Considering the consistency of this theme dating back to Daredevil,
I think of the pre-9/11 Frank Miller as less conservative than libertarian, a posthippie refugee of the 1960s who disdains the everyone-is-special relativism of grade-school participation trophies and liberal humanism but shares with the conscientious objector and the bra burner a fervency for personal liberty: "I'm no middle-of-the-roader, but I find that people who tend to follow any party line, of the left or right, tend to all end up saying the same thing, which is 'Do what I tell you.' Quit those habits I don't like, don't use the words I don't like, don't draw the pictures I don't want my children to see. . . . So yeah, I have a very jaundiced view toward most authority."26 In any event, Miller's focus on Daredevil's unflagging moral code, and his attention to how a relentless diet of violence might change that code into an ideological prison, allows him to explore the upstanding vigilante figure from multiple angles—the broadly liberal defense of constitutional protection for criminals and victims alike; the broadly conservative ideal of defending one's own body, family, and property without impediment from the state—without readily disclosing his personal politics.
[...]
Slowly and steadily, Miller was maneuvering out of Code territory into the world of frankly adult themes and pressing harder and harder on the contradictions on which a traditional concept of heroism depends. Miller's The Dark Knight Returns steps even further into that world even as it sets up new "walls" to push against, namely, the postsixties culture of liberal humanism and so-called moral relativism. Miller's Batman has all of Daredevil's desire for justice but lacks any of DD's concern for the civil rights of the alleged perpetrators; indeed, if Daredevil's primary concern is with the victims, as Jim Shooter taught Miller, then Batman's primary concern is with crushing the perps. And he gets called on it throughout The Dark Knight Returns by loads of liberal-sounding talking heads who claim that Two-Face and the Joker were actually turned into supervillains by Batman's example, that even convicted homicidal maniacs deserve a second chance, and so forth.
What Miller has done is to take Daredevil's line of legal thinking regarding the rights of criminal defendants, the same line that made him save Bullseye from being mashed on the subway tracks, and put it in the mouths of comic-relief characters such as the brain surgeons and psychologists who try to make Two-Face a productive member of society again. Miller's Batman, by contrast, is an epic hero who refuses to mistake good for evil or vice versa, and he gets to define on his own what each term means. Miller's Matt Murdock refuses such a metaphysical view of good and evil as all-or-nothing opposites on idealist grounds of a different sort. Matt believes that obscured innocence and hidden guilt have to be brought to light intellectually by finding proof and testing it, while Batman, who was at one time represented as a detective at heart, relies entirely on instinct when Miller has the reins.
To be fair, Miller presents the crudeness of Batman's worldview as a serious problem and has even done so in the midst of a conflict that seemed to many Americans to draw the brightest possible line between the national Us and a foreign Them. DC had already published the first issue of Miller and the colorist Lynn Varley's Dark Knight sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again!, when al-Qaeda operatives commandeered the planes that destroyed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, an event that, Miller told Groth, made it impossible to leave Batman's catchphrase about "striking terror into the hearts" of evildoers unannotated. As I've mentioned, Batman's dialogue in The Dark Knight Strikes Again!—even the dialogue written before 9/11—makes the ugliness of his philosophy unmistakable: "Striking terror. Best part of the job."
Groth even points out to Miller that one Batman speech, in which he refers to American capitalists and the federal government as "tyrants" and promises that he and his team will "strike like lightning and . . . melt into the night like ghosts," sounds uncannily like "the point of view of radical Islamists" toward the United States.13 Miller doesn't take such a crack at the obvious bad guys, however. Rather, he immediately pounces on the political reaction to the bad guys and how the George Bushes, Dick Cheneys, and John Ashcrofts of the world use crises like 9/11 for their own purposes. They stand in for the heroes we think we need in tumultuous times but slip the bounds of law at every turn—and Miller attempts to reduce our sympathy for them. This Miller, chastened by the 9/11 attacks but ever the shrewd critic of the media that deliver such disasters to us, digs into the fascistic politics of superhero comics, the news media's role in sensationalizing global politics and inciting fanatical nationalism, and the real-world politics of vigilante justice all at once. He claims comics as a space to explore what "heroism" means—and not necessarily to him but rather to contemporary US culture. If the one who "saves" us from tyranny, even the tyranny of our own leaders, claims he has to act like a terrorist to do it, do we even want to be saved?
At the same time, both Miller's comics and his interviews have long scrutinized the insolubility of the paradox—heroism is necessary to restore order, but it's also authoritarian in its purest form, even fascistic—as a necessary evil. Batman seems the purer Miller "hero" in that Batman's sense of justice is unencumbered by any complicating factors. He metes it out as he sees fit, on the basis of an Old Testament version of righteousness: you take my eye, I'll take yours, score settled. This hero is no model for quotidian life, but as in such classical Hollywood Westerns as John Ford's The Searchers (1956), the frontier will remain forever a chaotic wilderness without him. Only Ford's half-wild hero Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) can save his niece from hostile Comanche in post–Civil War Texas, but his intense race hatred makes him a relic, unfit to cross the threshold into the orderly world of law, family, and home that his very wildness has helped bring to the western frontier.
The civic-minded Daredevil would be welcome in any such home, but for the later Miller especially, that taste for civilization and its rules reads as an "impurity," a liberal-humanist streak within traditional superheroism that Miller once talked about strictly in terms of character type (it's the difference between Batman and his "purer" doppelgänger, the Punisher) but that lately he describes as a moral fault, without any of the irony he mustered up a decade ago. There are signs dating back to 1986's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns that this irony was ambivalent anyway, considering the extent to which Batman adopts the Western hero's ruthless stance when taming the "frontier" of racialized criminals, right down to trading in the Batmobile for a horse.
The progressive reverence with which Miller's comics after Daredevil treat that definition of heroism has everything to do with 9/11 and the scale of twenty-first-century global terrorism as Miller has processed it since The Dark Knight Strikes Again!. Back in 2003, he told Groth, "For at least the foreseeable future, [9/11 is] the whole point of my work. I'm going to play around with doing some propagandizing,"15 but this sentiment did not prevent him from making the US government's reaction to the disaster a target for satire in his second Dark Knight story or lambasting the Bush administration for branding disagreement with its policies as providing solace to terrorists. By contrast, the Fixer, the costumed hero of Miller's frankly propagandistic graphic novel Holy Terror (Legendary Comics, 2011), doesn't care whether he gets thrown out of the house or not; his lot is to make the world safe for civilization, American style, not to inhabit it, and he likes it that way. The Fixer, a behemoth who shares a name with a character that Miller created for his high school newspaper's comics page, kills terrorists like a sledgehammer breaks pavement. There's no second-guessing motives or anything else; as far as the Fixer is concerned, if you're Muslim, you've got a bomb strapped to your midsection, so there's no danger that he will smash the wrong face.
Unsurprisingly, the character originally at the center of Holy Terror was Batman. Finally, Miller had freed the character of its impurities. To do that, he also had to burn off the "impurities" of the fundamentalist foe by painting al-Qaeda as representatives of all Islam and all Muslims and playing on every Arab stereotype he could scratch onto his Bristol board, from big noses to using Evil English to express delight in the torture and murder of "infidels." He has matched such images with political commentaries on National Public Radio, his personal blog, and elsewhere that show none of the critical distance that once made his work as jarring and energizing intellectually as the best Dashiell Hammett novel you've ever read. Our terrorist enemy, Miller has said, is "pernicious, deceptive and merciless and wants nothing less than [our] total destruction." Never mind that the majority of victims of al-Qaida and now ISIS are, in fact, Muslims.16
The hardline right position that Miller takes in Holy Terror differs so dramatically from that expressed in interviews dating back to the early 1980s that one has to wonder if he's been replaced by a Life Model Decoy from Nick Fury's supply closet. But Holy Terror was a critical disaster, prompting fans and critics alike to swear off any future Miller work and even to claim that his comics have rallied around a "sexist, fascist" flagpole since as far back as The Dark Knight Returns and possibly even before. Spencer Ackerman echoes the most scathing reviews when he writes in Wired, "Frank Miller doesn't do things halfway. One of the true comic-book greats, he's created several of the most extraordinary stories ever to grace the art form. So perhaps it's fitting that now he's produced one of the most appalling, offensive and vindictive comics of all time.
[...]
I can't subscribe to such uses of Miller's Batman to evaluate Miller's own character. Critics have been mistaking the positions Miller examines in his comics for his own convictions for decades. Indeed, Miller would agree with every one of Kevin's criticisms of Batman and even offer an aesthetic justification for this portrayal that depends on a dramatic irony that is difficult to locate, precisely because superhero comics have always traded in absolutes; criticism of those absolutes would understandably be less obvious to a dedicated reader of superhero comics, not to mention a nonreader convinced of superheroes' intrinsic lack of sophistication, than to someone interested in exploring or exploding the limits of the Batman mythos. Now, however, it not only looks like Miller has given away his critical distance; he also wants everyone to know it and to decide for themselves whether what he's done is worthless as a result, as comics or as political activism.
Back in 1998, discussing 300 with Christopher Brayshaw in the Comics Journal, Miller acknowledges the historical irony of Greece, the epitome of civil organization and intellectualism in the ancient West, needing a nation-state of cold-blooded warriors to fight its battles. In another context, he tells Brayshaw, he might have invited readers to ponder that irony and consider its paradoxical relationship to the development of democratic ideals.19 He does not do so in this context, however. For Miller, 300 is all about the necessity of saving civilization—Western civilization—from barbarism. The three hundred Spartans did what was necessary; they lost the battle, badly, but without their sacrifice, discipline, and utterly unambiguous worldview, we would apparently still be living in mud huts today.
Even with 300, though, Miller argues that he's playing around just a tiny bit with our tendency to collapse heroes with role models. Miller makes Leonidas admirable but not likable and renders most of the other 299 Spartans as less admirable and even less likable. But maybe, Miller has said not only about the Spartans but about the Punisher, Batman, and Superman, cultures need guys like that, and I do mean guys—the reckless male narcissists who can't or won't make subtle distinctions between good and evil—to do the dirty work of "preserving civilization as we know it." Usually, as in The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again! and to a certain extent the noir riff on Dante's Inferno that is Sin City, Miller lets us sit with that ugly possibility, lets us squirm at our own enjoyment and/or disgust. He forces us to wonder if peace and forward movement are ever possible without the bright lines between good and evil and at the same time makes us ponder whether by drawing those lines, we put our humanity at risk. The generous way to interpret what Miller says here is that, like Hitchcock, he's casting doubt on the very notion of heroism that rules superhero comics, that is, the fantasy that superheroes could do what they do and yet remain "ordinary" people. Miller turned Batman into a living symbol of the fear that criminals should feel when threatened by "good," at least in a Platonist universe, but don't. However, when it's no longer comics, the First Amendment, or aesthetic complexity at stake but national security, take-no-prisoners tactics—in art as well as war—look to Miller like the only way to go.
[...]
In what I want to believe is a triumph of Miller the listener over the absolutist Miller who sneers at the same First Amendment he once sacrificed his industry goodwill to defend, Miller now refuses to comment further on his anti-Occupy rant. Perhaps he thinks it all speaks for itself, or perhaps he has accepted certain tenets of his critics just as he graciously (and legitimately, it seems) accepted the differing opinions of Groth and other interviewers as recently as a decade ago. Either way, he has stopped talking much about politics of any stripe. His blog is now abandoned due to "computer problems," Miller says, glowering during an interview for a Wired profile when Sean Howe suggests he find "a better technician" to fix it. "I will," Miller says, after a long silence.22
Look back on Daredevil's nemeses from the '79–'82 run with Miller's current anti-Islamicism in mind, though, and watch the ambiguities and nuances of his first major achievement get harder to pinpoint. Bullseye is a psychopath, complete with brain damage caused by cancer to guarantee it. Elektra is irredeemable despite her ostensibly clean bill of mental health: "The feeling I've been trying to get across is that she's betrayed something. She was meant to be something better than she is."23 But once you've fallen from grace, that's it. Some people are evil, through and through—think of the "reformed" Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight Returns, whose ruined mind no amount of reconstructive surgery can repair—and they must be punished, locked away for good, dismissed, disposed of. There's no other way to get the cancer out of society. Miller dates the rising scale of violent crime in Daredevil back to his getting mugged and robbed in New York: "The experience filled me with anger, and that translated right into my comics."24 As he got angrier, however, the struggle over right and wrong that plagued Daredevil seemed to get a lot less interesting to him than staking an unwavering claim to right.
Howe shrewdly characterizes Miller's use of secondary characters as a kind of misdirection: "Daredevil's dastardly supporting cast allowed Miller to have it both ways by making Daredevil's barrage of kicks and punches look reasonable in comparison."25 The bleak view on Miller's career would paint it as a slow but momentous roll past such apologies for superheroic vigilantism and into the stark light of the Fixer's gleeful, openly sadistic rampages, a development that Howe connects to Miller's personal victimization by crime prior to plotting Batman: The Dark Knight Returns:
"As Miller's career was taking off, the everyday violence in Manhattan at the time was taking its toll. "New York is no longer fit for human habitation," Miller told one friend. After enduring three robberies in the course of a month, he and [the colorist and his then-girlfriend Lynn] Varley decided to escape to LA. While she went out west to search for a home, he stayed behind to set up more work to get them out of debt. He had a check in his pocket when, once again, someone tried to rob him. "Frank just went berserk on the guy," Varley says. "He didn't hit him or anything, he just went so berserk the guy backed off and ran away. We were on edge."26
Such anger floats to the surface of his work with a bang in 1986, the year I graduated from high school, with not one but two smash-hit stories about characters that didn't belong to him: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Miller's most lauded Daredevil story, Daredevil: Born Again, his 1986 return to the Daredevil series, penciled by David Mazzucchelli.
[...]
It's a hell of a second coming for a character whose series stubbornly still bore a Comics Code seal. I won't fault Miller for the anger of that story today any more than I did when I read Born Again at seventeen; on the contrary, I still believe there's not much point in going through adolescence in the United States without some rebel-themed mass culture to embrace for the sole reason that your parents would hate it. Still, I marvel at how much Miller's perspective on his audience had changed between 1983's "Roulette" and the Born Again story line in 1985–86.
According to Howe's account of Marvel in the eighties, Miller's inspiration for Born Again was losing everything himself. Ramped up on the success of Ronin and eager to get away from the city that fostered at least one person's transformation into a real-life vigilante ("one Bernard Goetz is enough"), Miller moved to Los Angeles, found himself dead broke, and decided to pitch a new Daredevil story that started with Matt Murdock in similar straits.28 No doubt it was satisfying to create a world in which a bloated mob boss—somebody, anybody—could actually be held accountable for downturns of fortune, instead of such mundane external forces as random robberies or astronomically high rent. But Born Again also recommends interpretations of Miller's work as reflective of his worldview, making it more difficult to give him the benefit of the doubt when he says he is investigating the justification of defensive violence rather than sponsoring it.

[...]

Ryo Saeba

(Alternate Header Image 1 2)

"You pulled off a shrewd plan, I applaud you for that. But you made one mistake. You showed me the tears of a woman. And now you have to pay the price for it."

Anyone who has spent considerable time in Tokyo, or Japan as a whole for that matter, may have heard rumors about the blackboard in Shinjuku station. They say that if you have a problem and can't go to the police, all you have to do is write a note with the letters XYZ at the end and wait for the mysterious City Hunter to come and find you. However, pretty much anyone that's done this will tell you that the City Hunter isn't exactly the man you might expect.
At the incredibly young age of three years old, Ryo Saeba was traveling with his parents when their plane crashed in a country in Central America that was in the middle of a civil war. Being the sole survivor, Ryo wandered the jungle for days until he stumbled upon a village of guerilla fighters that were battling their country's government. The guerillas would only accept warriors that could fight with them, so Ryo joined their ranks in order to survive. They taught him everything they knew about fighting, weapons, and warfare until Ryo grew to be one of the most dangerous men on the battlefield. However, the government forces eventually overwhelmed them, chasing the guerillas out of the country. Now an adult, Ryo made his way to the United States and opted to become a sweeper, a mercenary/bounty hunteprivate detective that performs off the books jobs to clean up the filthy criminal underworld. Partnering with Mick Angel, another sweeper and one of his best friends, Ryo formed the team known as City Hunter.
At some point, Ryo left the US and returned to Japan, the country of his birth, where he kept the City Hunter name for himself and continued doing sweeper work with a new partner, ex-detective Hideyuki Makimura. Ryo's reputation spread rapidly, becoming known as one of the most dangerous men in the criminal underworld. So what's the problem? Well, he does have one weakness: Beautiful women. Despite his upbringing, Ryo is a goofy pervert and womanizer that would only accept jobs from the prettiest women around if he had his way. For awhile, he had Makimura to keep him in check, but his partner would meet a tragic end after refusing a job from a powerful drug syndicate, giving Ryo the dying request of looking after his little sister Kaori. Initially planning to help Kaori get out of the city, Ryo was surprised to find that Kaori wanted to take her brother's place as Ryo's assistant/partner and continue the work he thought was so important. Together, they became the newest iteration of City Hunter, sweeping the streets of Japan of evil and assisting any beautiful women that requested their services.
While his methods may be questionable, rest assured that the City Hunter always sees a job through no matter what criminal organizations, serial killers, or assassins stand in his way.
Note:

• Surprisingly, City Hunter was never given a full official English translation until early 2022. While chapters have been releasing steadily since then, this translation is still far from complete. This thread uses all available pages of the official translation, but afterwards will be forced to rely on fan-translations. Also note that the English translation splits up the original release's chapters into smaller bits, so the chapter numbers won't align between the two. Despite occasionally using the English translation, feats will all be labeled with the original release's corresponding chapters.
• Kaori hitting Ryo in the head with hammers whenever he acts pervy is a running gag throughout the series, which results in some of his better durability feats. While it may seem best to write these off as gag feats, there's plenty of evidence to suggest these feats are actual aspects of the City Hunter world and should be taken literally.
  • The hammers are acknowledged by unrelated bystanders as too heavy to lift^Ch99
  • A hammer plays an integral part of a serious scene, with it's handle being destroyed leading into the villains kidnapping Kaori^Ch120
  • Kaori literally destroys their bath to prevent Ryo from getting intimate with a woman which affects the plot of that chapter^Ch145
  • Kaori is legitimately strong in her own right so these feats aren't unprecedented^Ch187
• The most notable feats in each section will be bolded.

Strength

Striking
Vs Enemies

• Knocks out a man with a pistol whip^Ch3
• Knocks out a biker far larger than him with a single punch to the stomach^Ch8
• Knocks out three Yakuza members with a camera^Ch45
• Incapacitates a large biker gang, including a member who was twice as tall as the others^Ch75
• Sends a large man flying down an alley and later knocks that same man out of a window^Ch121

Destructive Output

• Breaks a baton and sends a mob member far larger than him flying back^Ch6
• Smashes through a wall with a wooden mallet^Ch69
• Sends a man far larger than him flying back, destroying the set of a dance recital^Ch71
• Kicks open a locked door^Ch131
• Knocks a pair of thugs through a wooden door^Ch166
• Defeats a group of mercenaries offscreen, one of which was shown to have had his head smashed into a small crater in the ground^Ch174
• Kicks down a metal gate after shooting the lock^Ch175

Lifting/Throwing

• Carries Kaori away from an explosion^Ch5
• Catches a swing from a baseball bat^Ch8
• Lifts a student off the ground, smashing his head through the ceiling of the lecture hall and leaving a sizeable hole^Ch15
• Isn't slowed down at all as he carries his ally while fleeing a torrent of bullets^Ch21
• Catches one of Kaori's hammer swings^Ch47
  • The majority of Kaori's best hammer feats can be found in the Durability section for scaling
• Catches a punch from behind and throws the attacker hard enough to knock over some tombstones^Ch81
• Throws a knife hard enough to embed it in a wall^Ch95
• Lifts a man off the ground with one hand^Ch143
• Stands up while a giant spikey metal ball is tied to his back^Ch162
• Grabs a thugs arm and throws him out of his car^Ch164

Jumping/Charging

• Leaps through the ceiling of his apartment in terror^Ch65
• Dives with enough force to smash his head through a stone wall^Ch94
• While tied to a giant spikey metal ball, he lifts it up and uses it to crash through a wall and stop the man that was attacking his client^Ch162

Flicking

• Flicks pachinko balls with enough force to be painful^Ch46
• Flicks a pachinko ball hard enough that it knocks a knife out of a thug's hand which is embedded in the handle of a wheelchair^Ch102

Other

• Uses garrote wire to decapitate a man^Ch4
• Carries two girls to the surface of the water before they drowned^Ch35
• Digs his fingers and toes into stone to avoid falling into a spike trap^Ch53
• Bites through the tip of a spear^Ch93
• [Anti-Feat] Was unable to free himself after getting his dick trapped in the doors of a train^Ch104
• Bites and stabs his toes into a stone wall so that he could climb it despite being tied up^Ch109
• Easily catches the stab and breaks the wrist of a serial killer^Ch131

Speed

Travel

• After killing a suicide bomber he charges a short distance to knock him away before his body can fall to the ground^Ch5
• Pushes a woman out of the way of a speeding truck and then proceeds to briefly outrun that truck^Ch14
• Drastically outspeeds an ex-mercenary, catching up to a runaway baby stroller moments before it crashed into a ditch^Ch88
• In the time that it took a thug to enter a building and break into a girl's appartment, Ryo traveled all the way there from his appartment (the exact distance is unclear, but the reflection of the girl's telescope appears to be at least several blocks away)^Ch102
• While bra-lusted, he runs straight through a mine field and emerges unharmed^Ch154
• Instantly crosses a large warehouse to where his opponents were standing^Ch159

Reactions
Melee

• Sidesteps a biker's punch^Ch8
• Casually ducks under a girl's stab^Ch8
• Grabs someone so that they take a bat to the face for him when the swing was mere inches from his head^Ch35
• Easily dodges and catches a serial killer's stab^Ch130
• Ryo narrowly avoided Mick Angel's attacks after he had been injected with Angel Dust^Ch182
  • Angel dust increases muscular power beyond its limits^Ch184

Aim Dodging

• Leans back and narrowly avoids a point blank pistol shot from Miki, an ex-mercenary^Ch86
  • He later jumps around a store so that she was unable to land a shot on him^Ch86
• After Miki hypnotized herself to shoot him immediately after he said a certain key word, he was narrowly able to react in time to knock aside her gun^Ch88
• Avoids Koumori's aim long enough to get thrown his own gun and retaliate (Koumori is another professional hitman)^Ch124/118
• Pushes Kaori out of the way of a laser security system after it had activated (but not fired), which could respond fast enough to shoot a cigarette pack out of the air^Ch137
• Pushes a women to the ground just in time to avoid a gunshot from the street^Ch138
• Narrowly avoids Umibozu's shots at various points throughout their duel^Ch148
  • Ryo previously described Umibozu as a sniper of the highest caliber and one of the most dangerous guys in the business^Ch53
  • Umibozu is an incredible shot in his own right, hitting numerous perfect shots while blindfolded^Ch145
• Jumps to avoid nearly point blank machine gun fire from a professional assassin called the Black Lizard^Ch153
• Engages in a gunfight with Mick Angel, during which he climbed the outside of his building without getting hit^Ch175
  • Mick claims to be the number one sweeper in America and Umibozu corroborates this, saying that Mick is likely Ryo's equal in skill^Ch175
• Avoids the fire of several well trained soldiers at once^Ch191

Projectiles

• Moves Kaori out of the way of some thrown daggers^Ch6
• Avoids the explosion of a bazooka and immediately after runs out of the way of a collapsing tower^Ch12
• Dodges and reacts to various thrown, metal-edged playing cards^Ch23
• Reacts to a revolver round, moving his erection an instant before it was blasted off^Ch53
  • This comes with the caveat that Ryo already knew Umibozu was watching him to make sure he didn't act up, and he realized his mistake before the shot was fired^Ch53
• Catches a thrown knife with his teeth^Ch90
• Seemingly deflect trap arrows while sprinting down a booby trapped hallway^Ch93
• Chops two trap spears that were launched at him to the ground^Ch154
• Shoots through a knife after it was thrown at him^Ch162
• Narrowly reacts to darts fired from a mechanism on Mick's wrist^Ch188

Other

• Protects himself with a table before a grenade can explode in his face^Ch112
• Grabs Kaori and dives out of the way of an incoming plane^Ch116
• After triggering a car bomb it's revealed that he managed to avoid it^Ch167

Combat/Attacking

• When a drugged up opponent attacks him from behind, Ryo draws his gun and shoots him to the ground and, by the time he staggered to his feet, had already moved behind him to strangle him^Ch4
• Leaps high into the air, moving fast enough to seemingly vanish to his attackers^Ch8
• Repeatedly stabs the space between his fingers at high speeds without cutting himself^Ch10
• Moves faster than a soldier can track, appearing behind her after dodging her punch^Ch20
• Even while his opponent has a gun trained on him, Ryo throws a bra over his eyes and scampers into the ceiling before he can recover^Ch21
  • This man could react fast enough to catch knives thrown from a short distance away^Ch20
• Flicks a series of pachinko balls at some thugs at high speeds^Ch46
• Steals Reika's bra off her person before she can realize what happened^Ch59
• Beats up a group of Yakuza in a few seconds^Ch72
• Jumps over a shotgun blast, moving fast enough that the shooter assumed they hit him^Ch86
• When a disguised police detective has a gun trained on him, Ryo grabs and throws a scalpel into his hand before he can pull the trigger^Ch103

Quickdraw/Shooting

• Has multiple examples of shooting opponents who were already aiming at him
  • High ranking mob member^Ch6
  • Foreign prince that could react fast enough to catch knives thrown from a short distance away^Ch21/20
  • Assassin hired by a business man^Ch38
    • Bests this assassin again by throwing and shooting a bottle of nitroglycerine before he can pull his trigger^Ch39
  • Professional killer^Ch119
  • A well trained soldier^Ch190
• Quickdraws a shotgun to destroy his attacker's whip mid-swing^Ch9
• Using a mounted machine gun, he takes out a squad of terrorists before any of them could fire a single shot back^Ch19
• Beats his opponent in a quickdraw even after giving him a head start (this opponent also claimed to be more skilled than ordinary soldiers)^Ch19
• Quickdraws and fires before a Yakuza hitman had even grabbed his weapon, moving so fast that the hitman didn't believe him to be human^Ch23
• Notices a series of scalpels falling from the sky and shoots them out of the air before they can hit his client^Ch38
• Uses his gun to disarm six thugs in a split second before any of them could pull their triggers despite having their guns trained on him and then immediately does it again^Ch76
• Beats a hitman in a quickdraw, disarming him and destroying his belt to drop his pants before he realized what happened^Ch90
• Defeats Koumori, not just in a quickdraw but actually managing to hit him in the face with his gun before the other man pulled his trigger (Koumori is another professional hitman)^Ch124/118
• While Umibozu had his gun trained on him, Ryo managed to pull his gun and fire in the same time it took Umibozu to only pull his trigger^Ch149
  • Ryo previously described Umibozu as a sniper of the highest caliber and one of the most dangerous guys in the business^Ch53
• Shoots multiple hidden explosives in an instant^Ch159

Agility/Mobility

Acrobatics

• Vaults over a countertop and tackles a cashier to the ground to avoid a torrent of gunfire^Ch30
• Flips out of the way of an incoming truck from a seated position^Ch74
• Performs several back handsprings to distance himself from an explosion^Ch154

Jumping

• Leaps high enough to smash through his ceiling^Ch65
• Narrowly avoids a car slamming into him by jumping up into a tree^Ch65
• Leaps from a stage and gets tangled in the lights^Ch68
• Repeatedly jumping across a street while traversing rooftops without any sleep the night before^Ch94
• [NSFW] After falling from a rooftop, he leaps back up to retaliate against his opponent^Ch95
• Leaps up to a second story platform where his opponents were standing^Ch159

Climbing

• Gets out of sight just as a group of guards opened the door to the roof he was on, hiding on a window below^Ch27
• Rapidly scales the side of a building^Ch94
• Performs pullups by sticking his fingers into holes in the ceiling^Ch102
• Clings to the side of a window^Ch102
• Climbs down a wall like Spider-Man^Ch109
  • He has done this on several occasions^Ch173
• Scales the outside of his building during a gunfight^Ch175

Hanging

• Dangles from a rope by his feet like a spider^Ch68
• Clings to a windowsill by his toes^Ch98

Propping/Wedging

• Props himself in the top corner of a room^Ch65
• Wedges himself between two ceiling rafters^Ch82
• When he's attacked mid-shit, he leaps up and props himself in the bathroom's ceiling so that he can disarm his attacker^Ch87
• Hides from Kaori by going into an alley and propping himself high between two buildings^Ch102
• [NSFW] Props himself between the wall and ceiling of a shower at an impossible angle^Ch161
• Taunts a kidnapper from behind in an alley and wedges himself between the two walls above him in the time it took him to turn around^Ch170

Swinging

• Uses a rope to swing onto a stage and save an idol from a rabid mob^Ch24
• Rides a wrecking ball through the side of a Yakuza clan's headquarters^Ch84

Recovery

• Falls through a trap door and catches himself on the walls before landing in a spike trap^Ch53
• After the rope he was dangling from was cut, he managed to save himself by grabbing a ledge^Ch162

Other

• Drops onto a moving car from a tree branch, maintaining his balance with apparent ease even when the car crashes into a light pole^Ch16
• Runs along walls while avoiding booby traps^Ch93
• Spies through a window by hand standing on top of the windowsill^Ch106
• Saves a man from a collapsing floor^Ch114

Durability

Blunt

• Kaori embeds him into the ground and then smashes his head through the side of a building^Ch52
• A massive hammer craters him into a wall^Ch62
• Gets sent flying through a door and embedded in a wall^Ch68
• Kaori hits him hard enough to make a crater bigger than he is^Ch78
• Kaori smashes an entire bed over his head, partially sending him through his apartment's floor^Ch79
• Kaori knocks him through the wall of a bathhouse and he isn't bothered at all^Ch85
• Umibozu slams him into a wall hard enough to crater it and he immediately recovered^Ch87
• Takes blows from Umibozu on multiple different ocassions, with Umibozu being strong enough to crush the top of a car and and split a wooden table in half with his strikes^{Ch147/90/55/146}
• Immediately gets up after Kaori smashes him into the pavement^Ch104
• Gets smacked into a light post, severely bending it^Ch109
• Kaori smashes his upper body through the wall of a hotel^Ch109
• Umibozu rips a lamp post from the ground and throws it at Ryo's face hard enough to bend it^Ch146
• Kaori knocks him through a stone wall^Ch151
• Kaori craters him into the roof of their building^Ch175

Piercing

• Getting swarmed by piranhas and has no visible damage after^Ch112
• Gets slammed by a giant spiked ball trap with no visible puncture wound afterwards^Ch151

Explosive

• Gets caught in a trap where multiple grenades and dynamite packs explode on top of him, blasting a hole in the side of his apartment building^Ch87
  • Here is the destruction from that blast from several other angles^Ch88
• Is hit with a pointblank explosion that destroys a wall in his appartment^Ch102
• Repeatedly shoots through a plane from the inside, causing it to blowup so he can escape^Ch119

Falling

• Jumps from the top of a mansion and lands face first on top of a sunroom on ground level though this does leave him in a complete daze the next time we see him^Ch21
• Jumps from his apartment and crashes onto a car below, heavily denting the top of it without injury^Ch32
  • We see in a later chapter that Ryo lives on the fifth floor^Ch67
• Gets dropped from the fourth floor of a hospital, crashing into the pavement and forming a fairly large crater^Ch38
• [NSFW] Falls from a rooftop and craters into the street^Ch93

Electrical

• Kaori electrocutes him twice with a defibrillator and he immediately gets up (though the third time causes his heart to stop)^Ch47
  • Afterwards he was revealed to have been temporarily crippled by the attacks^Ch47
• A door trap electrocutes him and soon after the same thing happens when he touches barred windows^Ch53

Endurance/Survivability

• Saeko kicks him in the face with heels, puncturing his forehead^Ch19
• Has sex with forty women over the course of two weeks, leaving him visibly drained but still able to continue^Ch21
• Gets a needle smashed into his skull^Ch38
• Capable of fighting effectively even with a broken leg^Ch38
• Gets his head flattened by a hammer immediately snaps back into shape^Ch42
• Gets flattened and pops back into shape^Ch69
• Kaori hits him with a spikey metal ball and a spike goes straight through his head^Ch97
• Drank extensively for two days straight without sleep and was still able to operate at normal efficiency^Ch159

Other

• An onslaught of gunfire sends him flying back into his car (though he was protected from the bullets themselves by a bullet proof vest)^Ch6
• Gets trampled by a crowd of rabid idol fans that had previously burst through several walls^Ch24
• Gets crushed under a large weight^Ch67
• His Super Mokkori pushes him up against concrete with enough force to crack it^Ch86
• Is standing on the roof of a several story tall abandoned building when Kaori accidentally triggers the explosives she'd filled it with, causing the building to collapse and he survives^Ch175
• Pray for his recovery...^Ch185
  • Oh god not again...^Ch185
• After getting injected with a tranquilizer, he was able to defend a surgeon immediately after, claiming a Yakuza's animosity negated the tranquilizer's effects^Ch186

Cock

Yes, you read that right. Ryo's penis, his erection, his boner, his mokkori. It's frankly capable of some pretty incredible things and seems to have stats that are completely independent of Ryo's other physical abilities. So much so that it's probably best to have an entire section of the thread dedicated to it. I'm not sorry.
Physicals
Strength/Growing Power

• Tilts a table^Ch15
• Bursts through bullet proof glass^Ch21
• [NSFW] Supports a 100kg weight^Ch28
• After getting placed in a steel chastity belt, Ryo eventually gets a boner so strong that it breaks through^Ch32
  • Though this does leave him in a... rough state^Ch32
• Bursts straight through a wall (though he was unable to free himself afterwards)^Ch40
• Traps Ryo's head between it and the roof of a car like a vice^Ch46
• Knocks a door off its hinges^Ch73
• Pushes against a store's wooden support beams with enough force to crack concrete and eventually destroy several of the wooden beams^Ch86

Speed

• Moves to avoid a bullet from a revolver when is was an inch away from hitting him^Ch53

Durability

• [NSFW] Is electrocuted when it touches a mannequin that had been attached to an electrical outlet, and after the initial shock Ryo recovered mostly fine^Ch24
• Withstands getting smashed through a wall twice^Ch45
• Caves in Ryo's face when his head is slammed into it by Kaori, implying its durability is higher than that of Ryo himself^Ch48
• A rapist breaks his ankle trying to kick it^Ch48
• [NSFW][Anti-Feat] Gets trapped in the door of a train^Ch104
  • This was revealed to have seriously injured him^Ch104

Abilities
Detecting Women

• His boner let him detect that his assailant was a pretty woman even when he couldn't see them in the dark^Ch12
• Ryo acts up after accidentally walking in on his client who had disguised herself as a man, despite not actually seeing through the disguise himself^Ch77
• [NSFW] Acts as a "beauty detector" to lead him towards beautiful women, but it has been fooled by dirty magazines before^Ch104

Other

• Even if you don't use your eyes Ryo is canonically packing heat^Ch38
• I just... I... uhhh...^Ch45
• Can repeatedly retract it at will and at a moment's notice^Ch45
• [Anti-Feat] Seeing a princess in a leotard did nothing for him, with Ryo describing it as if she has an aura that blocks his horny power^Ch65
  • He later describes this aura as "the repulsion of a girl who didn't know what love was", which disappeared when the princess began to fall for him^Ch65
  • The princess' handler later describes it a "noble aura" that not even Ryo can break through^Ch65

Gear

Firearms

• Colt .357 Magnum^Ch2
  • Has a second magnum he keeps in an ankle holster for if the first one runs out of ammo^Ch6
  • Comes with a scope for longer distance shots and a silencer which was effective enough that he didn't draw attention after firing in the middle of a crowd of people^Ch28/10
  • While it theoretically only holds six bullets he has fired more than that either without reloading or by seamlessly reloading between shots^Ch28
  • Strong enough to fire straight through a plane's exterior (also another example of firing more than six shots in rapid succession)^Ch119
  • Was modified by a legendary gunsmith to be more accurate^Ch124
  • Shots partially destroy various gravestones^Ch147
  • Fires straight through a stone wall into the opposite wall^Ch175
• .44 Magnum^Ch19
• .41 Magnum (he considers this to be a "one of a thousand" gun with far greater accuracy than other firearms)^Ch19
• M36 Revolver^Ch7
• M686 Revolver^Ch90
• Rifle^Ch1
• Pump-Action Shotgun^Ch6
• Machine Gun^Ch26
• Submachine Gun^Ch114
• Sniper rifle^Ch27

Other Long Ranged Weapons

• Bazooka^Ch37
  • Blasts large craters in the street^Ch37
  • Kaori later used one to blast sizeable holes in concrete^Ch114
• Twin RPGs^Ch191
• Crossbow with short arrows, making them impossible to pull out^Ch2
• Various throwing knives lining his inner coat^Ch11
• Pachinko balls which he can flick with pinpoint accuracy^Ch102

Melee Weapons

• Garrote wire^Ch4
• Hidden ankle blades^Ch5
• A glove with a metal attachment that gives a secondary blow to whoever he punches^Ch6
• Brass knuckles^Ch25
• A hidden knife in his belt buckle^Ch142

Ammo

• Full metal jacket bullets for his Colt Python that ricochet off of solid surfaces and produce sparks when they do^Ch3
• A golden .500 Nitro Express that Ryo claimed can move a 2 ton object a whole foot when fired from over 100 meters away, which when fired into a target's ear sticks to the inside of their skull without piercing through^Ch1
• A .30 M1 Carbine Jacket that fires and spins slowly enough that it can shoot through a man's stomach without damaging any internal organs, resulting in a wound rather than a fatal shot^Ch10
• Rubber bullets^Ch28

Explosives

• Nitroglycerine, which Ryo claims an entire spilled bottle would blow a pair of kidnappers to smitherines^Ch16
• Remote explosives which he uses to destroy a lab^Ch37
• Dynamite that when used repeatedly eventually resulted in a yakuza clan's headquarters to be completely leveled (the headquarters was a fairly tall building)^Ch84
• His partner Kaori has shown to pack grenades which she would've gotten from his armory^Ch168
  • This is true for flash bangs as well^Ch172

Espionage/Tracking/Surveillance

• Small microphones to bug targets^Ch6
• Police radio^Ch6
• Homing transmitter^Ch42
  • Ryo has dozens of them attached to people of interest around the city, all of which he can track using a device in his car^Ch80
  • Their signals are fairly weak, having a range of only one kilometer^Ch80
• Gear that allows him to listen in on Umibozu's phone call^Ch174

Chemicals

• A ring laced with fast acting poison^Ch5
• A fast acting sleeping pill which he stores in his tooth^Ch20
  • Says that someone he used it on would sleep "at least till tomorrow" (the time of day he used it is unclear but it would presumably be at least 12 hours)^Ch113
• His secret weapon PATCH-WORK PATTERN PANTALOONS (a pair of boxer briefs that are filled with packets of various chemicals, including anesthetics, truth serum, and sleeping agents)^Ch20
• Instant acting sleeping powder^Ch64

Other

• Bullet proof vest (along with fake blood packs to be extra convincing)^Ch6
• Ear plugs^Ch109
• Lighter^Ch142
• The inner lining of his coat is lined with a special chemical that, when burned, causes a massive cloud of tear gas to emit from it and the outer coat is packed with plastic explosives and a detonator^Ch142
  • He also keeps various hidden weapons in the lining of his coat, such as a dismantled revolver, a miniature time bomb that he uses to blow up a criminal organization's ammo depot, and most importantly condoms^Ch141/142

This Thread is Continued in the Comments Below

DO NOT COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS. I am NOT OP. Original post by u/Pure_Metal7749 in pregnant
trigger warnings: pregnancy, mentions of abortion
mood spoilers: none
I’m 42 and pregnant. Husband is 65 - 02/25/2024
I’m 42 and unexpectedly pregnant.
My head and my heart don’t agree about what to do. I have no children.
My husband is 65 years old. We’ve been together for 20 years, married for 12. Yes, we’re both aware of the large age gap. It was nothing either of us was looking for, but we met and we clicked and I’m still so incredibly in love with him.
One major thing we discussed early on was children. He has 4 children with his first wife. They’re all adults, some with kids of their own now. He told me when we first started dating that he didn’t want any more children. It took me a while to decide if I wanted to pursue a serious relationship with a man who had children with somebody else and didn’t want any more. I had never felt 100% sure about having kids of my own anyway. I ultimately decided that I was ok with not having kids. I’ve been happy in my life with him, although I have sometimes felt a hole in my heart regarding not having children. I think I especially started to feel it when my much younger sister had a baby and then when my husband’s kids had their babies. Being around all of these little ones made me wonder what I had maybe missed out on.
I’m very early on in my pregnancy right now. It was not planned. I started to worry that I might be pregnant and felt very mixed about it. At times I felt excited and hopeful and at other times I felt completely dread. I figured my period would eventually come and when I thought about that I felt disappointed but somewhat relieved. But my period didn’t come. I took a test once my period was a week late and it immediately showed a positive result without even needing to wait the full time.
My heart wants this baby. I think deep down I regret not having a child of my own and fear the regret will fester as I grow older. I also lovey husband so much that I want to have his baby. I’ve always been quietly and privately jealous that his ex-wife shares 4 children with him.
My head knows this is stupid. I’m 42 but my husband is 65 years old. He’s a grandfather. His oldest kid is just a year younger than me! He doesn’t want to have a baby now. It’s not right to have a baby because I made a decision that I regret. I know that. We’re both too old to do this now.
I know what I really have to do, but I’m sad and angry about it. Really just sad and angry with myself. I think I could have accepted never having children, but allowing myself to get pregnant has really been like a form of self torture.
It would be totally selfish to have this baby, right?
No, I’m not asking the internet to decide what I do here. I just want honest opinions. I’m not sharing this information with any of my loved ones at this time and I may never share it with them. I know they would give me biased feedback anyway. So please, tell me how bad would it be if I did this instead of what I know I probably should do?
I’m 42 and pregnant, husband is 65 - an update sort of - 03/02/2024
I want to thank everyone who commented on my first post asking if it was selfish for my husband and I to have a baby at our ages. I received some good feedback and perspectives I appreciate the honesty of some of the comments.
This isn’t really a rant, but just sort of me pouring my heart out somewhere since I’m choosing to not share this information with anyone in my life quite yet.
I’m 42 and he’s 65. I’m 7 weeks pregnant, although I haven’t been to the doctor to confirm anything yet. I track my cycle very closely so I feel pretty confident about how far along I am. It wasn’t planned or expected at all. We had planned to never have kids because he was already done having kids by the time I let him when he was 45 and he made it very clear.
I think having this baby would be a very selfish thing to do, but I can no longer deny that I really want this baby for me. I feel a huge hole in my life not being a mother to my own child. A bigger hole than I could ever let myself admit. I didn’t feel this longing back when I met my husband or years later when we married. I never felt like being a mom was a huge dream of mine or a requirement for my life.
When I made my original post, I think I was looking for reasons to go through with an abortion. Not consciously. I just felt that’s what I “should” do and wanted more reason to do the right thing. So if complete strangers agreed that yes it would be incredibly selfish to have a baby then I’d be able to tell myself that my fantasies of this baby and ever becoming a mom were best left as fantasies and it would help wake me up to reality.
Two days after I posted here, my younger sister sent me a picture of a positive pregnancy test. She’s pregnant with her 2nd baby. What are the chances that my sister would be pregnant right now? Of course I was happy for her, but I felt so sad for myself. When I told my husband, he just said “That’s nice” with seemingly no comprehension of how much my sister’s new stung me.
Then at work the next day my co-worker was talking about needing to take a pregnancy test because she thought she might be pregnant, which triggered a whole group conversation about people’s pregnancy experiences.
Needless to say, I was feeling pretty sad and sorry for myself when I went home that day. My husband asked what was wrong. I told him nothing, I was fine. He said he knew something was wrong, I had sad eyes. I told him I’m dealing with things he cannot understand, but that it’s my problem to deal with and unknown what the right things to do is and I’m just going to be sad for a little while. It’s like he still didn’t know exactly what I was referring to and then he realized and asked “Is this about the baby?” Of course it is! It’s been the only thing I’ve been thinking about since I saw the positive pregnancy test. I feel tortured over this!
To him, it was already a forgone conclusion that I wasn’t continuing the pregnancy. So again he said “I’m 65 years old, we’ve talked about this! I’ll be over 70 years old by the time the kid is in kindergarten. It’s not fair to do that to a kid.” I told him I know and I understand. I realize it’d be selfish to him and to a child. I told him to leave me alone and let me cry over it for a while.
Then later he asked me if I was going to leave him over this and that he knows I could find a younger man who would be willing to have a child, since there’s still time for me. I told him now, because I’m not considering leaving him at all. I love him with all my heart and I don’t want to be with anybody else, even if it might mean I could have a baby. I don’t even know if I could easily get pregnant again and my chances will only continue to drop. I don’t even want a baby just for the sake of having a baby and experiencing motherhood. I want to carry my husband’s baby. I want to be the mother of his children.
I asked him if he’d leave me if I insisted on having the baby. He said no. He said he thinks I’d be a fantastic mother and he’d love to see me have his baby and he’s thought about it over the years but he doesn’t think he can be the type of dad a kid needs at this point. He doesn’t want to die before they’ve even graduated high school or leave me to handle everything on my own. Also, it’ll change everything about our lives and our plans. Right now we can basically go do whatever we want when we want and all of that will end. But he also said he can’t stand to see me so sad and questions what will happen if I cant ever get over this. So, now he’s not saying absolutely no. He told me to go to the doctor to even see if this is a healthy viable pregnancy so far and then we’ll talk. Of course, the longer I remain pregnant the more attached I get to this idea and the harder it’ll be for me to go through with anything.
I feel a mixture of pure happiness, like overwhelming all over my body happiness, but also dread.
I was able to jump on an appointment with my OBGYN this coming Tuesday due to a cancellation that was happening right when I was calling to make an appointment. I’m trying to brace myself for any news I might receive.
I’m officially pregnant and I’m sad - 03/06/2024
I’ve posted a few times about my pregnancy. I’m 42 and pregnant for the first time. My husband is 65, father of 4 adult kids and doesn’t want more.
I went to the doctor yesterday to confirm the pregnancy. I’m 8 weeks, 1 day pregnant, which is exactly in line with my calculations.
Everything seems normal as far as the pregnancy goes so far. They did a transvaginal ultrasound and I heard the heartbeat. My doctor says everything looks and sounds just as it should at this stage, and she sees no reason to not proceed with the pregnancy if it’s what I choose to do. Her goal is to help me have the healthiest, safest pregnancy possible and while there are increased risks associated with my age it’s really nothing out of the ordinary these days. She went over the genetic tests available and what she would recommend based on my age and concerns. She could also refer me to a genetic counselor based on my age alone, even without having any red flags at this time.
I got out of there and went to my car and just cried. I had a pity party for myself, let me be honest.
When I got home my husband asked me how it went. I told him it was fine, everything normal, I’m 8 weeks pregnant just like I knew I was. I also told him I was having an abortion. I told him I know that’s what I need to do. It’s the right thing to do. I’m just going to cry about it and be sad for a little while, but I’ll be fine. It would be selfish to him and the future person I’d give birth to. I missed my chance. Maybe if this had happened 10 years ago, or if I had realized back then that I had this longing for a baby we could have talked about it and made a decision less influenced by our ages. Just because I’m pregnant now doesn’t mean this is fate or any sort of special sign from the universe that I’m supposed to have this baby. Plus, what if something goes wrong? Or what if I just really end up regretting it and making a decision so totally based on emotions that I can’t take back? I like my life. I’ve survived this long without having children, I can keep living this way and being happy with a more certain future and my freedom.
I went to the bedroom to just lay there and cry. He came in and said “You don’t really feel that way, do you.” I told him to not question how I feel because that’s only going to make it worse. He said he’s fine with me making a decision and he’s not telling me to not terminate, but he doesn’t believe I’m actually making a decision based on what I want to do at all. If I’m going to spend the rest of my life acting like a martyr over it, he rather I just have the baby. It’s not about me being a martyr. I KNOW from a rational place that I shouldn’t have the baby. I wish I could let my emotions win but I just can’t seem to let my emotions have any say. I really wish I could be selfish this once, that I could just let myself and deal with the consequences later.
I’m 42 and pregnant - A happy update - 03/09/2024
I’ve posted about my pregnancy a few times very recently. I’m 42 and my husband is 65. We have no kids together. He has 4 adult children from his first marriage.
My last update a few days ago was that I had been to the doctor to confirm my pregnancy and that I was 8 weeks along. As of a few days ago, I was planning to terminate because I felt it was the right, least selfish thing to do. I really wanted to have the baby but I felt like wanting it was just not a good reason to justify bringing another human into the world.
It probably still isn’t a good enough reason, but my husband has convinced me to be selfish and to do this simply because I want to. I’m deliriously happy. I’m only about 8.5 weeks pregnant and I know that due to my age I’m at increased risk of miscarriage, but I just had to go buy a bunch of baby things today to make it real and perhaps to say “there’s no turning back now.” It felt wonderful. My husband even reacted enthusiastically as I showed him everything I bought. He was happy that I was happy and he said this is much better than how I’ve been acting the past few days.
My husband told me he knew that an abortion was not what I wanted. I admitted that no it wasn’t what I wanted at all, but I just couldn’t get over the guilt of doing something this serious and this big simply because I wanted it. He asked me why I’m always holding myself to this strict moral code, and for whom? He said sometimes you just have to be selfish and it’s ok, screw anyone who is going to judge me for having a baby. I’m 42, not 15.
He says this will be a totally different experience for him. His first child was born over 40 years ago. He worked a lot of the time and was away from home. Now, he’s retired. I work part time and if I want to I don’t have to work at all. He says we can afford it, maybe even get a nanny to help (I don’t know how I feel about that). He resents that anyone would think he couldn’t keep up with a toddler. He’s almost turned it into a challenge for himself. He told me he wants to have a baby together, he wants me to have his baby and it makes him feel good and wanted that I want to have his baby too.
He even said he has been selfish (which I don’t agree with) and that I was right when I said he can’t possibly know how I feel regarding this child sized hole and missing out on motherhood.
Ultimately, he told me he won’t tell me what to do, but he thinks we should proceed with the pregnancy and see what happens. He said the only factor I needed to consider was whether I wanted it or not. He told me he’d get over his whole not wanting more kids thing, don’t worry about him. In the other hand, he doubted I’d ever get over this. If I wanted it, I needed to just jump off the cliff and do it and enjoy it. So I decided to jump off the cliff and I feel overwhelmed with joy. I didn’t want to terminate at all. I already love being pregnant. I love every bit of it, even the morning sickness (which doesn’t ever come in the morning, btw) and the achy breasts. I love every bit of it. I want to experience it all.
I do plan to wait until at least 12 weeks to tell loved ones. I’m nervous about some of their reactions but at this point I don’t think any criticism could really touch me. I almost feel like I’m floating I’m so happy. I’m not even going to consider any other option. There is no if, just yes.
I’m due on October 15. Anyone out there due around that time?
NIPT Results & Telling my husband’s adult kids - 4/12/2024
Some of you may remember that I post about 1.5 months month ago because I was conflicted about whether I should continue my pregnancy or not. I’m 42 and while I wasn’t too overly concerned about my age, my husband is 65 and had made it clear from the start of our relationship that he was done having kids.
Ultimately, I decided to continue the pregnancy barring any devastating results found during prenatal testing.
First hurdle done! Everything came back low risk on the NIPT. I had made myself sick waiting for the results. I’m just ecstatic now.
And the test says we’re having a girl! I already have a name picked out and everything.
It’s so hard to pace myself. I want to start planning the nursery next but my husband keeps telling me to slow down. I’m in my 2nd trimester now, so chances of something happening are much lower and get lower with each passing day.
I had some morning sickness, but that’s passed. My main symptom now is some bloating (no actual bump) and extremely sore breasts. My breasts have already grown 2 full cup sizes. When I have a bra on, it looks like I got a major boob job. It’s weird, I feel less pregnant now than I did at 8-9 weeks.
I think we’re going to tell his kids soon. They’re all adults and 3 of them have kids of their own. They may need some time to adjust to the news, understandably. I know we could wait longer, but I don’t see any reason to. I feel like they might take it worse if we wait until 16-20 weeks, plus I hope to be showing by then. Yes, this is my one and only pregnancy I’ll ever experience and I want to experience it all. I also don’t know if it’s be best to just tell them very straightforward or do some sort of cute announcement. I want to do a cute announcement but I’m not sure if they’d appreciate that. What do you all think? How did you announce to family and friends?
His adult kids are going to be the first people we tell. Well, I told my sister already, but I’ll be announcing to the rest of my family and friends soon. I’m mostly just nervous about his kids. I get along great with them but they’re so close to my age that it’s never been a step parent/step child relationship. I hope they’ll accept it and be happy for us but I will also understand if they have other feelings. He has grandkids that will be older than our baby and I get that it could be awkward for some.
Mixed reactions from husband’s adult kids - 4/19/2024
Ok, even though I’ve already shared that I feel really silly stating this every time, people have told me to keep doing it. I’m 42 and my husband is 65. I’m pregnant with our first baby. He has 4 adult kids from his previous marriage.
Last time I posted I had asked for input about telling his kids about my pregnancy. I decided that all of the comments about NOT doing a cute announcement were probably the way to go. I was already strongly leaning toward not doing it but I thank those who gave their opinions.
It was always the plan for my husband to be the one who actually told them. It wasn’t going to come out of my mouth first. Originally I thought that maybe we would have them all over for dinner and tell them in person, without anything cutesy involved. I started to get nervous about it. I told my husband maybe he should just call them each or text them. He said he wasn’t going to tell them via text. He told me he’s never shared any sort of serious news with them via text, just doesn’t feel right to him. He said he understands and appreciates that I’m sensitive to his kids’ feelings, but they’re adults who need to accept that their opinions don’t matter in our decision on this topic and that if he’s agreeing to having this baby I’m not allowed to start hiding his happy I am for his kids’ sake.
I told him ultimately he could decide since they’re his kids. So he decided to tell them in person. He said he felt they could all handle it and he felt better telling them in person.
I think he was very sensitive to their possible feelings when he actually announced it, but also let them know our decision has been made it’s not open for discussion. It was all very uncomfortable for me.
They were very surprised. Reactions were a bit mixed but I expected that. One son and one daughter seem to be fine with it, not expecting the news at all but I’d almost say they’re happy for us. Those are the two kids I’d say he’s closest to. He’s close to all of his kids but I think he has closer, more special bonds to those two. They both congratulated me, hugged me, seemed to be genuinely smiling when talking to us about it.
His other son was like “are you sure this is a good idea?” He essentially expressed that he thinks it’s a crazy thing for his dad to do. He specifically said he can understand me wanting to have a baby but not his dad. Since then he’s talked to my husband and told him he thinks it’s weird but he understands it’s our life and our choice and he’s not mad at his dad about it.
It was only his oldest daughter who reacted badly. I shouldn’t say badly because she’s entitled to feel how she feels and those feelings are valid. She didn’t say anything and after about a minute she got up and went into another room and closed the door. My husband said to just let her go, and then after about 5 minutes he went and talked to her. When she came back to where everybody was, it was obvious she had been crying. She stayed quiet most of the evening after that.
His oldest daughter is the one who is only a year younger than me. She’s also very close to her mom and very loyal to her mom. It took her the longest to warm up to me and I’d say I’m the least close with her out of all his kids. I expected her to be upset. Honestly, I understand. I’d probably react the same way if I were in her shoes. It still made me cry after everyone left. Maybe I should have talked to her myself , but I figure I’m not the person she’d want to talk to. I just hate knowing something I’ve done has upset somebody like that. She doesn’t think it’s fair for me to “force” him to have a baby now because I want one — that I missed my chance and just have to deal with it. I don’t know everything she told him because he said it’ll just upset me unnecessarily.
His kids obviously told his ex-wife right away. I noticed she had been texting him a lot. I don’t look through his phone. We just don’t guard our phones and he frequently asks me to check texts and respond for him when he’s driving or busy doing something else. I admit I was curious about what she was saying,, so I read her texts. She thinks he’s stupid and is shocked he didn’t already have a vasectomy. She assumed he did and that was the only reason I didn’t get pregnant 20 years ago when we met, especially considering he apparently didn’t even want them to have their 4th baby. But she also said their oldest daughter will be fine once she has some time to process it. Apparently she’s always reacted this way to the news of a new sibling.
Ok so this turned into more of a diary entry than anything. I’m just feeling a little sad. I’m planning to announce it to a few close friends this weekend so I hope that’ll make me feel better.
Reminder - I am not the original poster. DO NOT COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS.

Mortos:
The early morning chaos of the town setting up had me gasping in wonder, Ali calling me in for some reason. Opening the door to the hangar, she had her legs sticking out from underneath a ship. Her pension for inventing and level of intelligence garnered my respect, never mind the fact of becoming a captain at sixteen. Like most boys my age, my teenage years had been spent screwing around. Pushing herself from underneath the ship, a comical amount of grease covered her cheeks. Stopping the trajectory with her boot, her smooth ease into the sitting position matched her personality to a tee.
“How do you feel about going on a rescue mission with just me today?” She queried with a tired smile, my mind wondering how long she had been up. “It is a couple of planets away. My friend that runs the market is having a gang problem. It should be a quick fix. Before you ask, I have permission from Jack to head over there. In fact he gave me a list of supplies to pick up.” Noting the paper fluttering in her bra, that didn’t seem like Jack at all.
“If you wish me to go.” I answered with a smile rotted with concern, her smile brightening to her natural one. No wonder my brother admired her, my heart aching to hear him call me from the jail’s radio. Popping to her feet, her worn boots crashed into her ship. Coming out with a new uniform with my name and title, she presented it to me with pride in her eyes.
“I made you a better one.” She bragged with glee, her excitement stealing my depression away. “It even reads Captain Mortos!” Accepting it with a gracious smile, the fact that she would go this far for us proved her eligibility to be president. Jack came downstairs in his boxers and a white t-shirt, Ali leaping into his arms. Spinning her around with a groggy yawn, he pressed his lips against hers hungrily as he lowered her down. Sensing the love between them, the way they chatted with the biggest smiles had me wishing for my own love. Cupping her cheeks, another kiss had her blushing a deep scarlet. So the future president was human after all, I chuckled to myself. Pecking his lips one last time, the elated look on her face had my fraying nerves relaxing enough for me to keep my composure. Patting my shoulder on her way into the medium sized ship, her confidence had been restored. Humming as she plopped into the captain’s chair, her slender hands clicking the harness on. Wiping the grease off with her sleeve, her kind gaze watched me take the seat next to her. Strapping myself in, a push of a button had the door groaning open. Flipping the myriad of switches, this model seemed more complicated than the normal ship. The engine roared to life, the ship backing into the street. Straightening out, the sheer force of how fast we shot into the sky impressed me. Freedom glittered in her eyes, the ship stabilizing. Her snakes slithered to her side, her palm rubbing their scales. Her name as the snake president fit her to a tee, the darn pets never leaving her side.
“This is my newest model. She runs off of the rocks from the battery mines. Those rocks are fantastic unsung heroes.” She bragged with an adventurous grin, tucking her waves behind her ear. “The technology is beyond anything I have ever managed. I will have to teach you the schematic of the engine.” Excitement had my heart skipping a beat, most people in the force wishing to have heard her offer. Little did she know that every officer begged on to be on her ship, her leadership skills stunning us all. Leaving me to stew in my own thoughts, the short four hour flight had us landing into the sole free spot on the docks. A chain shot out on its own, the links tying perfectly around the hook. Pushing several buttons had the engine dying down, she excused herself to get changed. Unhooking myself, my fingers drummed on my olive green cargo pants, the long brown leather jacket making me feel a little epic. Coming back out in an onyx leather suit, badass was the only way to describe her. Tugging on a pair of leather gloves, golden energy buzzed in her palm. Opening the door, the sounds of a bustling city roared to life. Spinning on her heel, her hand reached for mine. Checking for my guns, relief washed over me in their presence. Saluting her as I jumped to my feet, my fingers curled around hers. Guiding me out, a metal shell locked it down. Metal groaned with every step, her hand dropping to her hips.
“We are looking for a coyote gang. Kind of like a dog but scruffier.” She explained with another one of her trademark smiles, her lips blowing off a bit of dust. “The point is to execute them. Treasure says that they have kidnapped several kids. People like that don’t change.” Following her into the bustling crowd, her sharp eyes scanned the crowd. Whistling sharply, a devious grin danced across her lips. Rattling had her kissing each snake, her fingers tickling a spot underneath their ears. Thankful for their presence, the feeling they oozed had the newest people in town shrinking back.
“I need you to tell me where to find your little problem Coyote is and none of you will get hurt!” She shouted while I panicked behind her, respectful gazes admiring her. “You want your kids back, right?” One by one they raised their hands, the information planting itself in her mind. Thanking them with a natural smile, a couple of aliens bounced up to her. Passing them the list, they bowed as they scurried off. Patting them again, my mind wondered how she managed to tame the most volatile aliens in the universe
“How did you garner so much respect?” I asked incredulously, her shoulders shrugging. “How do they have so much light?” Scratching the back of her head, her head nodded to similar looking generators. Piecing it together, her genius had helped these guys as well.
“I gave them some generators so they didn’t have to depend on the main power lines. The connection honestly had a bit of a lag.” She answered simply, her hand bouncing her staff against her leg. “I simply did what most people would do.” Rolling my eyes, a weak sure flooded from my lips. Not everyone can provide power to an entire city, I thought to myself. Her hand raised in the air, gaudy suits catching my eyes, a sea of scraggly fur catching my eyes. Bootleg guns glistened in their hands, Ali counting them all. Turning back towards me, a tracking pin glittered in between her fingers. Flicking it into one of their necks, a long breath drew from her lips. Shifting around her pocket, a sleek black tracking device hummed to life. Following her to an alcohol stand, the two spoke discreetly as he slid a case of alcohol in her direction. Popping off all the corks, curiosity peaked in my eyes. Placing a couple of bottles underneath their fangs, deadly venom dropped into the dark ale. Glowing for a second, the color returned to normal. Repeating the process until the bottles had been tainted, a flick of her wrist had the venom melting the dirt by my feat.
“You can reseal these, right?” She questioned with another one of her natural smiles, a deep yes coming from the elderly man. Popping the corks back in, the kind man sealed the corks in new wax. Plucking it off the counter, her eyes flitted between the street and her device. Coming upon an abandoned warehouse, she motioned for me to cover her back as her slender hands switched out the top case of ale with hers. Shrinking into the shadows with her, Ratalia and Ratonia lifting us up to the window. Sitting patiently for them to bring in the alcohol, her hands rested on her lap. Glancing at the box every now and then, the grimace on her face spoke of a wearing patience.
“Is this the normal procedure?” I whispered discreetly, her brows lifting. “This won’t eat at you if they die from poisoning.” Shaking her head, a story lingered on the tip of her tongue. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks, her fingers scrunched up the hem of her jacket.
“No. Revenge is a bit of my logic for this job.” She admitted dejectedly, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “One of my first missions was taking him down before he killed the children he kidnapped. I failed. Every single child died and he got away. So yeah, poisoning him is what I want to fucking do.” Refusing to look at me, tears splashed onto her pants. Forgetting that she was in charge of that mission, the rumors flew about her lack of skills in that department. The next mission she led proved them wrong, the drug bust shutting down the biggest organization. Not to mention the biggest kilos of drugs had been confiscated in that mission alone, her breaths growing shorter.
“Do you remember when I said that you could talk about it with me? We are here to help you if you find yourself in the middle of a panic attack.” I pleaded quietly enough for her ears and her ears alone. “None of that was your fault, right? If I remember correctly, they had thousands of aliens on your twenty officers. Take a deep breath and remember Jack's smile or something like that.” Wiping away her tears, one of her snakes hissed to see if she was okay. Parting her lips to speak several times, horror rounded her eyes. Scratching at her cheeks, her eyes darted all around me. Shit! She was going to give us away. Yanking her onto my lap, my hand covered her mouth. Screaming into my palm, something had her riled up. Glancing over, the box of ale was gone. Turning her head in the direction of the missing box, her breathing slowed back down to the normal rate. Apologizing glumly, her ears pinned back. A thin layer of sweat glistened on her skin, her puffy eyes quivering. Lowering us down, her legs shook like jelly. Leaning onto her staff, lines of blood covered her cheeks. A snake tongue snapped her back to reality, her back straightening.
“Let’s go! The venom takes effect immediately.” She ordered briskly, scratching at her face. “I want to get this over with.” Kicking in the door, twitching coyote aliens foamed at the mouth. Dropping around her, rattles announced her scaly bodyguards. Spinning her staff in her palm, golden energy glowed to life. Wonder brightened my eyes, a ribbon of venom dancing around the core.
“Find the children and get them home safely!” She barked hotly, Coyote rising from his golden throne. “That is a fucking order!” Golden energy devoured her body, my boots clicking emptily out of the warehouse. Pausing to listen for children, dozens of children’s screams echoed a couple of warehouses down. Seven voices ordered them to shut up, my fingers curling around my guns. Golden lights flashed in the rusting steel warehouse, the walls groaned. Plucking my guns from my belt, the safety clicked off on its own. Humming to life, the lighter guns were light years over the ones that Solomon had. Kicking the door down, lasers shot from the muzzle. The quiet whistles had the aliens hitting the worn floor, children of all ages running over to me. A groaning had me placing the kids behind me. An alien with a coyote head crashed through the roof, the steel gray fur fluttering in the wind. His golden eyes widened with pure terror, a quick blast of my gun had golden blood pooling around his head. A busted Ali limped in behind us, a bag of cookies swinging in her blood covered hand, the kids shivering behind me. Wiping the blood off of her face with her sleeve, the fear melted away. Bruises covered her skin, her left arm dangling precariously. Smiling bigger through the raw agony of a dislocated shoulder, tears diluted the blood oozing from the scratch marks on her cheeks.
“Why don’t you all have a cookie?” She chirped cheerfully, her hand cupping her side. “Please know that you are safe! Have a snack before you get h-” Smashing into her legs, violent sobs wracked her body. Crouching down to their level, she continued to laugh through the pain. Passing the bag around, the children’s face lit up brighter with every passing second. Lanterns glowed in the distance, children ran to their eager parents. Wails echoed in the warm evening air, parents squeezing their kids like their life depended on it. Nudging my shoulder, her slender finger pointed to her shoulder.
“Mind knocking her back in for me?” She choked out through a wall of tears, shame dimming her eyes. “Don’t tell Jack about what you saw.” A hearty voice called her name, a cat alien in a pirate style outfit bounced into view. Tipping his hat in her direction, his onyx cat ears pinned back. Tucking his tail in between his legs, his fluffy black hair floated up with his huff. Concern darkened his cat eyes, his hand knocking her shoulder back into place. Her scream died down, his arms burying her into a desperate embrace. Resting her chin on his shoulder, the few times that they met led to the clear admiration between them. Jamming a needle into her neck, she collapsed into his arms. Tossing her over his shoulder, his tail twitched with anxiety. Following him up to a sprawling home, a couple of staff offered me a drink. Tucking my guns into my belt, a broken fear hid underneath my nervous half-smile.
“Jack told me to heal her if she got gravely injured. Where are her snakes?” He inquired seriously, the behavior making since. Excusing myself, my boots pounded through the streets to the warehouse. Creeping into the warehouse, every ounce of food burned its way up my throat. The carcasses of her snakes lay in their own pool of blood, a couple of hisses giving me hope. Sinking to my knees, a faint pulse was there. Fishing around my boot, my shaking fingers yanked out the medical kit we were all given. Opening up the kit, several vials had me confused. What would help them out?
“Use the yellow and light blue.” A gentle female voice spoke cautiously, my breath hitching at the gorgeous alien next to me. Her fluffy ivory cat ears pinned back, her snow white tail wagging as she proceeded to mix the right ones. Her petite body looked so delicate in her frilly sage dress, her sage eyes twinkling with excitement. Going on about how she wished to be a vet someday, her fangs hung over the right side of her smile. Assuming that was her natural smile, several drops of her concoction had the poor snakes slithering back to life. Hissing the moment they rose over us, angry snake eyes darted around. Settling on the lady who helped me out, neither could bring themselves to bite her. The floors squeaked in protest as she popped to her feet, her five foot one frame causing my heart to flutter. Snuggling into her palms, animals seemed to be her talent. Spinning on her heels, a tender blush rose to her cheeks.
“I am Catz, a local cat alien looking to get out of here. You must be Mortos.” She sang while wagging her hips, her fingers dancing up my chest. “How long has it been since you had a bit of evening fun?” Swallowing the lump in my throat, this was becoming too much. Stepping back, her dainty hands tugged on her ears.
“Curse this heat. Why did it have to come now?” She hissed under her breath, her hands covering her face. “Can you help me bring her scaly friends to her?” Walking back in a pensive silence, every cell in me wanted her in the most primal way. Entering the front doors, a manic Ali was pacing back and forth. Ratalia and Ratonia snaking around her body, mixed emotions bringing her to her knees. Covering her up with their massive bodies, her arms refused to let them go. Pointing their heads towards Catz, a sad smile dawned on her lips. Stumbling to her feet, that drug must have worn off faster than normal. Snatching her into a bear hug, profuse thank yous burst from her lips. Swaying back and forth with her, confusion lived in my mind for a second. Releasing her, Catz and Ali introduced themselves politely. Hoping that she would find a friend in her, my mind zoned out completely. A loud yes had me snapping back to reality, Catz bouncing up and down while clapping her hands. Staring numbly ahead, Ali traced the fresh scars on her cheeks. Treasure stole her away to sign some sort of contract, Catz tugging on my sleeve. Glancing up at me with big eyes, her finger tapped her cheek.
“Can you help me out with my problem? I think that you are my mate.” She pleaded adorably, wiggling back and forth. “Please, I need you.” Checking the nape of my neck in the reflection, a cat tattoo appeared. Yanking her close to me by my waist, the consequences would be immediate. Hesitation burned in my eyes, the staff scoffed in disapproval.
“Hold on until we get home with some pr-” I began to protest, her lips pressing against mine hungrily. Time stopped, our heartbeats echoing in my ear. Releasing me from her spell, scarlet burned on our cheeks. Donning a goofy grin, her hand pinned me to the wall. Wagging her tail, her spell had devoured my apprehension. Stealing me away to my bedroom for the night, our desires took over. Crashing down next to her, a knock had me flying off the bed. Tugging on my outfit on the way to the door, Catz snored behind me. Cracking open the door, Ali laughed to herself with her hand over her mouth.
“Has the summer died down?” She teased with a wink, her bare feet thudding back as I let myself out of my room. Fixing my button up shirt for me, her hand rested on her hip.
“Have your friend and your ass ready by dawn. I have a family to get back to.” She whispered as to not disturb my mate, the word sounding weird in my mouth. “Have a nice evening.” Spinning on my heel to leave, my fingers curled around her wrist. Forcing her to look at me, the blaring scars would be obvious to Jack. Her smile fell, silent tears staining her cheeks.
“The dead children were screaming at me.” She admitted brokenly, her palms rubbing her arms. “They were yelling at me. Sorry for losing it on you. I promise it won’t happen ag-” Passing out, my arms caught her. Carrying her back to her room, the stress had become too much. Tucking her in, her snakes slithered onto the bed. Curling around her body, something told me that she would be okay. The flames of hope burned with her, my footfalls feeling hollow as I made my way back to the room. Pausing in front of the door, my own future awaited me.

My mom was telling me about how one of her Facebook friends wrote this long post “warning” parents who have young Swifties about TTPD. She said that post was mainly centered around how she thought Taylor should have done the due diligence of putting out a message for parents with young Swifties, warning them that the album is not for children given that 11 songs are explicit and the album covers themes like drug abuse, suicide, depression, and masturbation.
I’ve always found shit like this to be so fucking ridiculous. Taylor is a 34 year old woman, and she has zero moral responsibility to cater her music to young children just because many of them listen to her music and deem her to be a role model. To complain that she didn’t do the “due diligence” of warning parents about how it’s not a PG album is hilarious considering each explicit song has an E next to it, signifying that it is an explicit song. Not to mention, there are clean versions of both the standard version and the anthology, so if children want to listen to the album, they have easy access to versions that omit the explicit lyrics.
I don’t know why parents think these grown women have a responsibility to make music that is appropriate for young children just because they have some young fans. The same parents complaining about this are probably the same ones who took their kids to the GUTS tour and were shocked that Olivia was acting slightly suggestive and swearing on stage, even though the album the tour is centered on has a parental advisory sticker and opens with a song called “all-american bitch”, showing that the album might not be for the little ones. They were complaining about this type of shit during Miley’s “Can’t Be Tamed” era and when Selena Gomez starred in “Spring Breakers” while still being on Disney, and over a decade later, they’re still being shrill and obtuse on purpose. The same parents who have unwarranted greviances towards Taylor for this are the same parents who had no issue taking their kids to The Eras Tour, where they witnessed her sing about men doing lines, her being "fucked in the head," and flying in all her "bitch pack" friends, yet songs that are a bit more direct in their explicit content are a step too far.
I’m also kind of laughing trying to picture one of Taylor’s 8–11 year old fans listening to TTPD and enjoying it. I’m sure they would like how upbeat ICDIWABH is, but they’d most likely find all the ballads boring and the lyrical content too heavy and wordy for them to understand.
Has anyone here ever encountered any soccer mom pearl-clutchers who think pop stars have a moral responsibility to always stay and act PG?

TL:DR I am happy when mistaken for a man or looking more masculine but have no gender dysphoria. Is it possible I'm trans or somewjete under that umbrella or is it a style thing instead.
Small summery... 3 years ago I was CIS straight. Then bi then pan and now also poly. And I'm wondering if I still haven't fully figured it out yet.
So I guess this is why I'm wondering if I'm trans. When I (F 23, now 25) first started dating a then woman I finally felt encouraged to cut my hair very short. It felt very freeing I cut 13 inches. I also came into my style and embraced wearing more mens clothes and gender neutral clothes. Being in an arts program a lot of queer people made me feel very comfortable. Some in the year below me would come up to me and say things like "I love your outfit you look 'so gender' " and it made be feel good to be seen as androgynous or outside my gender. also to be inclusive or not make mistakes my prof address is using they them pronouns if we didn't specify which we preferred and I also liked that. On top of that I'd been mistaken for a man on several occasions (skip 1,2,3 if too long)
1: my Indian coworker brought her daughter for a meeting. She shook my coworkers hand, skipped her male partner, shook my partner's hand and skipped me and it wasn't until I'd spoke about something in the meeting that the girls eyes got big and she realized I was a woman. I saw no disrespect and laughed about it myself and partner later
2: I held a door open for a man and his daughter and he said "thank you sir" and it made my day and I googled about it to myself
3: my best friend saying "when you got out of the truck in those boots I thought you were a man walking up to me haha"
All of these instances made me happy but I still feel a bit of shame about enjoying looking more masculine . My best friend at one point said she felt uncomfortable looking at my profile pic BC my peach fuzz hadn't been waxed in a while and I looked like a man. So I waxed it. Body hair is a big insecurity of mine but not because I don't like it. But because people point it out.
I'm in a different country at the moment and my boyfriend here has been amazing. He is CIS straight and I'm his first partner. We're slowly exploring things in the bedroom and he talked about anal play but he feels embarrassed about it. So one night when kissing I started grinding on him and like dry humping I guess? To hit the spot. And he loved it and I loved it haha and now I have a lil strap on and it feels nice to play that role.
Other than this sometimes I have thought like "I'm glad I never got lazer hair removal on my face incase I ever transition one day" and lately I just have told a few closer people to not be surprised if I identify as a man in 10 years.
My partner in my country is now transmasc/ gender fluid. They describe it like "I just want to be a feminine man that wears makeup" they talk about having some dysphoria with their chest and having a binder and feeling stressed about not wanting to use the women's change room but not feeling safe to use theens. I don't really worry about this much, I personally really like my boobs but with them being a B personally don't need a bra and I can usually just keep them at bay with a tank top when I want to look More masc
I guess my question is has anyone had a similar experience? Is this gender fluidity? Or is this just a style preference with joy of not following social norms. I changed my social bio to include they and idk it felt like I nice little start. But I'm afraid to be wrong or reading in too much and I don't want to negatively impact the community by not understanding what being trans or genderfluid is really like. I am a huge trans ally and will call out or try to educate any sense of transphobia or trans misconceptions I see my day to day. But yeah any advice or opinions on this are great

TL:DR I am happy when mistaken for a man or looking more masculine but have no gender dysphoria. Is it possible I'm trans/gender fluid or is it a style thing instead.
Small summery... 3 years ago I was CIS straight. Then bi then pan and now also poly. And I'm wondering if I still haven't fully figured it out yet.
As in the title I don't feel dysphoria towards my womanly body. I'm actually very comfortable with it and am in the process of being more confidant with leg hair and put hair etc.
So I guess this is why I'm wondering if I'm trans. When I (F 23, now 25) first started dating a then woman I finally felt encouraged to cut my hair very short. It felt very freeing I cut 13 inches. I also came into my style and embraced wearing more mens clothes and gender neutral clothes. Being in an arts program a lot of queer people made me feel very comfortable. Some in the year below me would come up to me and say things like "I love your outfit you look 'so gender' " and it made be feel good to be seen as androgynous also to be inclusive or not make mistakes my prof address is using they them pronouns if we didn't specify which we preferred and I also liked that. On top of that I'd been mistaken for a man on several occasions
One: my Indian coworker brought her daughter for a meeting. She shook my coworkers hand, skipped her male partner, shook my partner's hand and skipped me and it wasn't until I'd spoke about something in the meeting that the girls eyes got big and she realized I was a woman. I saw no disrespect and laughed about it myself and partner later
On another occasion I held a door open for a man and his daughter and he said "thank you sir" and it made my day and I googled about it to myself
The last one was my best friend saying "when you got out of the truck in those boots I thought you were a man walking up to me haha"
All of these instances made me happy but I still feel a bit of shame about it. My best friend at one point said she felt uncomfortable looking at my profile pic BC my peach fuzz hadn't been waxed in a while and I looked like a man. So I waxed it. Body hair is a big insecurity of mine but not because I don't like it. But because people point it out.
As a kid I remember wanting to use more mens products like deodorant or not wanting to wear women's bathing suits. My mom protested the deoderent idea condescending saying "you really want to smell like a man. Is that what you want?" ..yes ... But I said no. Now I do use 'mens' deoderent and cologne and I get so many compliments on it haha. Also as a kid I loved the movie "she's the man" and would sit in my mirror with a baseball hat trying to tuck my bangs just right to look like a boy. And really wanted to cut my hair short but was afraid
I'm in a different country at the moment and my boyfriend here has been amazing. He is CIS straight and I'm his first partner. We're slowly exploring things in the bedroom and he talked about anal play but he feels embarrassed about it. So one night when kissing I started grinding on him and like dry humping I guess? To hit the spot. And he loved it and I loved it haha and now I have a lil strap on and it makes me laugh to look at it on me
Other than this sometimes I have thought like "I'm glad I never got lazer hair removal on my face incase I ever transition one day" and lately I just have told a few closer people to not be surprised if I identify as a man in 10 years.
My partner in my country is now transmasc/ gender fluid. They describe it like "I just want to be a feminine man that wears makeup" they talk about having some dysphoria with their chest and having a binder and feeling stressed about not wanting to use the women's change room but not feeling safe to use theens. I don't really worry about this much, I personally really like my boobs but with them being a B personally don't need a bra and I can usually just keep them at bay with a tank top when I want to look More masc
I guess my question is has anyone had a similar experience? Is this gender fluidity? Or is this just a style preference with joy of not following social norms. I changed my social bio to include they and idk it felt like I nice little start. But I'm afraid to be wrong or reading in too much and I don't want to negatively impact the community by not understanding what being trans or genderfluid is really like. I am a huge trans ally and will call out or try to educate any sense of transphobia or trans misconceptions I see my day to day. But yeah any advice or opinions on this are great

Like every work of science fiction, there is a theme of how realistic it is compared to others, and WipEout is no exception. You can be forgiven for thinking that most of the lore and art style of WipEout is mostly utopian, but you have to remember that there are dark undertones and otherwise dystopian things like the Temtesh Bay disaster (alludes to the 1955 Le Mans disaster).
Like my post in WipEout Zone, below are a list of certain real-world phenomena predicted by WipEout and how they came to be:
The events of the F9000 League - The current state of Formula One (2021-present)
The organizers of F1, including the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) has become quite corrupt and immoral to the point where they allegedly bend rules and fix races in favor of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and show the most favoritism towards him, and have an utter lack of transparency from behind the scenes.
This was exemplified on a number of occasions such as the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the revelation of Red Bull violating the cost cap the year later, all for the sake of entertainment value, and likely as a conspiracy to prevent Lewis Hamilton from achieving his eighth championship title and breaking the record of Michael Schumacher in terms of championships, which he is on par with, which led to public opinion of the FIA turning rapidly against them.
In WipEout, however, this was depicted in the F9000 League where after Tigron took control of Qirex, they discovered that the former parent company, Overtel Corp. (comparable to Liberty Media, the owners of F1) were involved on a number of crimes, scandals and illegal activities, which then led to Tigron blackmailing them to bend the rules in their favor, which led to the numerous cases of race-fixing in the first half of the F9000's history.
Not surprising considering Tigron will do absolutely anything, even if it's by means of foul play (hence, their extremely violent tendencies and bloodthirsty habits of eliminating others) to achieve any shape or form of success. As a result, the closest F1 constructor that Tigron may reference is indeed, Red Bull Racing. (Ironically, Tigron's craft was called the "BULL-666".)
Comparisons can also be made with Omarr Khumala being similar to Max Verstappen and Sveta Kirovski being that of Sergio Perez, where it was once said that in Vohl Square, which was said to be Sveta Kirovski's home circuit in her native Russia, they actually favored Omarr Khumala more. This is also quite true where the folks at Red Bull seem to prioritize Verstappen more than Perez, especially when it comes to their team tactics, instead of allowing the both of them to try to win races at their own discretion.
It also took one major event for everything to go down the drain, in this case with F1, being the manipulation of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and in the F9000, the Temtesh Bay disaster, where F.E.I.S.A.R., and in particular, Daniel Johnson, used the controversial “Super Missiles” on the first lap of the Australian race track’s medium course, which caused a chain reaction, leading to the mines’ collapse, and a massive fireball from the resulting explosions, leaving six pilots dead. Despite this, Johnson would win the 2164 season, with F.E.I.S.A.R. as the constructors’ champions amidst the controversy.
This is not to say that a controversial event has rocked the F1 scenes for the first time; the early 90s can also be considered similar to the F9000 era, in terms of the level of danger from within the sport, and reached a tumultuous point during the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna during qualifying and the actual race, respectively, during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
During the same season, and after Ratzenberger and Senna's deaths, there were rumors of alleged cheating by the Benetton team, of which the eventual champion, Michael Schumacher, was racing for, due to perceived use of electronic driver assists, and was eventually fined and given a two-race ban after failing to provide the team's engine management software.
However, much later on, off-track action around Formula One circles have begun to spiral out of control, with news such as Lewis Hamilton's shock transfer from Mercedes to Ferrari, then drama behind the scenes at Red Bull. The press releases from WipEout Fusion also seem to be somewhat similar to this in some respect. It could likely be used as a form of distraction or mind conditioning from the reality of how the sport is actually being handled.
Some people are even beginning to suspect that the racing in F1 is somewhat scripted and engineered in such a way, in order to fuel the drama in the "Drive to Survive" show, which is, a reference to Overtel, being a mass media company, taking control of anti-gravity motorsports in order to generate exposure and spectacle.
Icaras' re-establishment before the FX300 League - Brexit
According to WipEout team lore, it seems as though Great Britain had to break away from F.E.I.S.A.R. just for the purpose. It was also possible that Brexit has since been undone in the far future by the series' timeline, but the UK being one of F.E.I.S.A.R.'s member states in the early years of the history of anti-gravity motorsport was the exemplification of this. This might cause on-track friction (or lack thereof, as it's anti-gravity motorsports) between F.E.I.S.A.R. and Icaras for reasons yet unknown.
If anything, it's also possible that Germany also broke away from F.E.I.S.A.R. when Van-Uber was established in the F9000 League.
Paris Hair - Blackpink
Yes, WipEout did predict Blackpink. By far one of the most controversial acts in the music industry today, this K-pop girl group is known for its songs with nonsensical lyrics (especially compared to other K-pop groups, and the global music industry in general), lazy performances, over-sexualization, untransparent members engaged or involved in otherwise shady and corrupt activities, as well as controversies including, but not limited to: blatant racism, cultural appropriation, as well as inorganic streams of content.
They are also known for their notoriously creepy, toxic and morally bankrupt fans, known as "Blinks", who would send death threats and other such offensive things to just about anyone who criticizes them. The members are silent about this issue, as if condoning this behavior. They also encourage immoral and indecent acts to promote their group, by means of inappropriate content or artificially boosting them in terms of stream and view counts across their platforms.
This was exemplified when Blinks consistently stalked and harassed an Instagram model named Allissa Shin, who was said to be a look-alike of one of the group's members, Rosé, and was considered an enemy of the group due to Shin's uncanny resemblance to her, ultimately leading to an attempted attack on Shin through a stabbing.
As a result of this, Blackpink can be considered as a cult. Most of the cult surrounding Blackpink seems to revolve around the group's leader, Jennie, and also to an extent, Lisa.
The Paris Hair track in the FX300 League, while it was designed for the Omega DLC pack in WipEout Pure, may have foreshadowed Blackpink to such an extent, where at least three of the girls in the track's surroundings actually and coincidentally foreshadow and resemble some of the members, with the girl in the start section resembling Rosé, followed by the girl in the second corner, just after exiting the mouth, resembling Lisa, and the girl in the split section, just before the finish line, resembling Jennie. Unfortunately, Jisoo is nowhere to be found in the track, so WipEout definitely predicted the likenesses of 75% of the group. At least the idea is there.
Another thing to take note of is that the track's color palette seems to match most of their music videos, most notably "Ice Cream", featuring Selena Gomez.
Arc Prime - Orwellian surveillance becoming a reality
The description of Arc Prime in WipEout Pulse depicts the track as a neo-totalitarian venue where nobody could seem to escape from the constant surveillance, and that the track's "fortified walls and secure network channels offer privacy at a price" (sic). Given the track is located in Seattle, it is a predominantly left-leaning state, which would have been the least unlikely venue in order to do something like this. But if it's anything with how democracy and the world order is played out in the universe of WipEout, it may not be entirely utopian in some parts of the world, even past the F9000's collapse.
This may also be a reference to how modern-day life in China is like, with constant surveillance operated and engineered by the Chinese Communist Party to monitor its citizens, not to mention their planned use of their "Social Credit System". Nowadays, the mention of "fortified walls and secure network channels" may actually reference VPNs (virtual private networks), and that VPN's within the area of Arc Prime can likely be considered a luxury to those who could afford it.
Basilico - COVID pandemic, especially with sports being held behind closed doors
In the description of Basilico in WipEout Pulse, it seems as though nobody is actually watching the race live, only to be replaced by digital spectator avatars due to a viral outbreak plaguing the track surroundings.
This is a reference to the outbreak of COVID-19 (2020-2023) having canceled many events and gatherings all over the world, and with many world governments going on lockdown to mitigate the spread of the virus. The spread and the virus' lethality has mostly dwindled down with the rise of vaccines, thus allowing the world to operate normally again, but as with the case of Basilico, this could prove to be a very risky proposition, especially due to the FX400 being a global motorsport series, where much later on, pilots, officials and race crew would have to travel to the next venue, and any risk of contracting the Basilico virus may be highly detrimental and the cause of a potential pandemic.
Any other real-world events or phenomena WipEout predicted?