Edit: apologies, I have had very bad weather here, and it has caught up to my connection, which has started dropping like crazy. I will reply continue trying to reply to people, however it may be slow. Please don't pay any mind to slow replies, I am 100% going to get this art done. Thank you for your patience.
Direct Messages: Direct messages regarding this post will not be read and will result in blocking.
Comment Requirements: Comments that miss a particular, key element mentioned in this post will result in the commenter not being considered for the project and may result in blocking. I will insta-block you if you make out like you have read the post and it is clear that you have not.
Central Theme: Zim as the chaotic mastermind behind a wildly dysfunctional city that is a Civilization VI & Cities Skylines mashup, with Dib desperately trying to restore order.
Comic Book Page Layout (note, panels 1 and 2 can be swapped):

1. Panel 1 - Zim's Introduction:
   • Description: Show Zim from the front or side, close up at, unbeknownst at this point to the viewer, his control panel, dramatically saying one of his scheming declarations ("Behold my masterful urban chaos!", "I shall rewrite history and traffic laws!" or "With a flick of my switch, empires fall and traffic jams... rise!" or other like that). I am thinking it should be shown first.
   • Purpose: This panel sets the tone and introduces Zim as the central antagonist, highlighting his delight in chaos. It focuses on his expression and excitement, drawing viewers into the story.
2. Panel 2 - Dib's Reaction:
   • Description: Dib is depicted within a chaotic city or urban environment from Civilization VI, appearing panicked/overwhelmed/frustrated/determined/bewildered (not sure which) and trying to manage the mayhem. Wonders from Civ VI are visible in the background. Maybe only one? I am not sure what Dib should be saying. Perhaps "Not again! Why does it always have to be city-wide chaos?", "This can't be good... even for Zim's standards!" (<-not this one if shown first) or "I knew I should've stayed in bed today..."
   • Purpose: If shown second, this panel reveals the impact of Zim's actions, adding tension and narrative depth. If shown first, it creates suspense and engages viewers by making them question the cause of the chaos.
3. Panel 3 - GIR's Antics:
   • Description: GIR humorously claims a huge sized role in the chaos, with a speech bubble like "I'm the mayor of everything!" or "I'm the boss of all the buildings!" or something else GIR-like. Perhaps he is interacting with a Wonder, too, to drive home the fact that this is a Civ VI mashup.
   • Purpose: Adds a layer of humour and showcases GIR's chaotic innocence amidst the havoc.
4. Panel 4 - Full Scene Reveal:
   • Description: A wider shot from behind or to the rear-and-side of Zim at his control panel, with screens showing both the game-like world and its chaotic scenes, including Dib and GIR. Show the in-game game HUD over the main screen. The HUD should not be dominant, should feel like a natural inclusion into the piece (so with a more alien design than the standard Civ VI or Cities: Skylines HUD). It basically only needs to be there as a way to drive home the tie in the piece has to Civ VI and add to the user wondering whether Dib is actually inside a game or if it is the real world. He should be exclaiming something, perhaps ""As the puppet master, I control the fate of empires and the flow of your so-called traffic!", "Witness my ultimate conquest! This world bends to my will!" or "Marvel at my strategic brilliance! I turn civilizations into playgrounds and playgrounds into chaos!"
   • Purpose: This final panel reveals the overarching scenario --- Zim manipulating these events as if they were part of a video game, tying all previous panels together into a cohesive narrative. The user might even wonder if Dib is inside a game or if Zim is altering the real world from his control panel.

Art Style and Detail Expectations:

• Budget Consideration: As long as it remains within the stated budget, I am open to the idea of the artwork being spread across two canvases if it enhances the overall visual impact. Artists who feel that a larger space could better serve the project’s needs should feel free to propose how they would utilize the additional canvas, ensuring the total cost remains within the budget limits.
• Preferred Style: Aim for a dynamic, expressive style akin to "Invader Zim," rich in bold lines and vibrant colours. Open to variations that maintain the energetic essence of the theme. I would highly prefer the style in the image I have posted to my profile. Note that it doesn't have to have that level of detail.
• Atmosphere: The piece should be lively and chaotic, yet humorously so, capturing the cartoonish essence of a villain's scheme gone awry in a video game world.
• Easter Egg: To test if you are reading this, include (do not draw attention to it, I will notice it even if you don't, just stick with how the following example places it where it doesn't make sense) a one-word bathroom item (e.g., towel, paste, brush, floss, soap, shaver) in the middle of your comment. Do not comment about this rule other than to place the word appropriately. For example, "I would love to create this artwork for you as I love Invader soap Zim and know exactly how I should stylise their gesture!"
• Detail Distribution: Each panel should carry consistent detail, adapted to fit the broader narrative scope of the scene. Emphasis on key elements to maintain visual interest and storytelling clarity. See the image posted on my profile for a visual guide.
• Printing Size: This artwork will be printed on an 18 x 12 inch canvas. Also will be used as a desktop wallpaper (I will rearrange the panels to use it as a desktop wallpaper). It does not need to be detailed enough for said size. It is ok to look good for a print size (eg, paint it with the detail/time-taken for an equivalently priced normal sized piece, but at the resolution of what I am asking for. If that doesn't make sense, let me know)
• Focus Areas: Emphasise Zim's reactions, Dib's challenges, and GIR's mischievous impact, ensuring these elements draw and retain viewer attention.
• Reference: For a visual guide, refer to the fanart piece posted on my profile. It illustrates the desired level of dynamism and expressiveness. Note that it doesn't have to have that level of detail.

Other Notes:

• Orientation: Portrait orientation to enhance the sequential flow of the panels. This orientation supports a top-to-bottom progression that aligns with the unfolding story, making it more intuitive for the viewer to follow the sequence from Zim’s initial action, through the chaotic scenarios, to the final reveal.
• Scene Flow: Open to swapping panels 1 and 2 if it improves narrative flow. Initial thoughts lean towards starting with Zim to align with the show’s style.
• Communication: Please only engage through comments for discussions. Direct messages about this post will not be read and will lead to blocking.
• Recording: Something that will strongly sway me is if you are comfortable with recording the piece being made as you create it and uploading it privately to YouTube (I don't care if it is small, e.g., 360p). Once commissioned, communication methods such as direct messages or email are good to be used to share such links privately.
• Your Process: Please briefly describe your commission and artistic process in your comment to provide insight into how you plan to approach this project.
• Time to Produce: Please give me an ETC (ETA).

Direct Messages: Direct messages regarding this post will not be read and will result in blocking.
Central Theme: Zim as the chaotic mastermind behind a wildly dysfunctional city that is a Civilization VI & Cities Skylines mashup, with Dib desperately trying to restore order.
Comic Book Page Layout (note, panels 1 and 2 can be swapped):

1. Panel 1 - Zim's Introduction:
   • Description: Show Zim from the front or side, close up at, unbeknownst at this point to the viewer, his control panel, dramatically saying one of his scheming declarations ("Behold my masterful urban chaos!", "I shall rewrite history and traffic laws!" or "With a flick of my switch, empires fall and traffic jams... rise!" or other like that). I am thinking it should be shown first.
   • Purpose: This panel sets the tone and introduces Zim as the central antagonist, highlighting his delight in chaos. It focuses on his expression and excitement, drawing viewers into the story.
2. Panel 2 - Dib's Reaction:
   • Description: Dib is depicted within a chaotic city or urban environment from Civilization VI, appearing panicked/overwhelmed/frustrated/determined/bewildered (not sure which) and trying to manage the mayhem. Wonders from Civ VI are visible in the background. Maybe only one? I am not sure what Dib should be saying. Perhaps "Not again! Why does it always have to be city-wide chaos?", "This can't be good... even for Zim's standards!" (<-not this one if shown first) or "I knew I should've stayed in bed today..."
   • Purpose: If shown second, this panel reveals the impact of Zim's actions, adding tension and narrative depth. If shown first, it creates suspense and engages viewers by making them question the cause of the chaos.
3. Panel 3 - GIR's Antics:
   • Description: GIR humorously claims a huge sized role in the chaos, with a speech bubble like "I'm the mayor of everything!" or "I'm the boss of all the buildings!" or something else GIR-like. Perhaps he is interacting with a Wonder, too, to drive home the fact that this is a Civ VI mashup.
   • Purpose: Adds a layer of humour and showcases GIR's chaotic innocence amidst the havoc.
4. Panel 4 - Full Scene Reveal:
   • Description: A wider shot from behind or to the rear-and-side of Zim at his control panel, with screens showing both the game-like world and its chaotic scenes, including Dib and GIR. Show the in-game game HUD over the main screen. The HUD should not be dominant, should feel like a natural inclusion into the piece (so with a more alien design than the standard Civ VI or Cities: Skylines HUD). It basically only needs to be there as a way to drive home the tie in the piece has to Civ VI and add to the user wondering whether Dib is actually inside a game or if it is the real world. He should be exclaiming something, perhaps ""As the puppet master, I control the fate of empires and the flow of your so-called traffic!", "Witness my ultimate conquest! This world bends to my will!" or "Marvel at my strategic brilliance! I turn civilizations into playgrounds and playgrounds into chaos!"
   • Purpose: This final panel reveals the overarching scenario --- Zim manipulating these events as if they were part of a video game, tying all previous panels together into a cohesive narrative. The user might even wonder if Dib is inside a game or if Zim is altering the real world from his control panel.

Art Style and Detail Expectations:

• Budget Consideration: As long as it remains within the stated budget, I am open to the idea of the artwork being spread across two canvases if it enhances the overall visual impact. Artists who feel that a larger space could better serve the project’s needs should feel free to propose how they would utilize the additional canvas, ensuring the total cost remains within the budget limits.
• Preferred Style: Aim for a dynamic, expressive style akin to "Invader Zim," rich in bold lines and vibrant colours. Open to variations that maintain the energetic essence of the theme. I would highly prefer the style in the image I have posted to my profile. Note that it doesn't have to have that level of detail.
• Atmosphere: The piece should be lively and chaotic, yet humorously so, capturing the cartoonish essence of a villain's scheme gone awry in a video game world.
• Detail Distribution: Each panel should carry consistent detail, adapted to fit the broader narrative scope of the scene. Emphasis on key elements to maintain visual interest and storytelling clarity. See the image posted on my profile for a visual guide.
• Focus Areas: Emphasise Zim's reactions, Dib's challenges, and GIR's mischievous impact, ensuring these elements draw and retain viewer attention.
• Reference: For a visual guide, refer to the fanart piece posted on my profile. It illustrates the desired level of dynamism and expressiveness. Note that it doesn't have to have that level of detail.

Other Notes:

• Orientation: Portrait orientation to enhance the sequential flow of the panels. This orientation supports a top-to-bottom progression that aligns with the unfolding story, making it more intuitive for the viewer to follow the sequence from Zim’s initial action, through the chaotic scenarios, to the final reveal.
• Scene Flow: Open to swapping panels 1 and 2 if it improves narrative flow. Initial thoughts lean towards starting with Zim to align with the show’s style.
• Communication: Please only engage through comments for discussions. Direct messages about this post will not be read and will lead to blocking.
• Recording: Something that will strongly sway me is if you are comfortable with recording the piece being made as you create it and uploading it privately to YouTube (I don't care if it is small, e.g., 360p). Once commissioned, communication methods such as direct messages or email are good to be used to share such links privately.
• Your Process: Please briefly describe your commission and artistic process in your comment to provide insight into how you plan to approach this project.
• Time to Produce: Please give me an ETC (ETA).

🪞 “It's much easier to get in that it is to get out,” Emilie Autumn used to say. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4.1 - Part 4.2
She was not wrong. Welcome back to the Asylum write-up!
In this installment, we're finally getting down to the nitty-gritty of the enmity between EA and her fans.
It's time for war. It's time for blood. It's time... for tea. 🎵

THE PRESENT DAY: “ASK ME ANYTHING (WELL, NOT QUITE)”

​

"Ask me anything" titles are catchy, and that’s why I’m using one. But, obviously, don’t ask me anything, by which I mean that, if you think I wouldn’t answer it, you’re probably right. Ask me something really good. I’d love to answer you. I’d love to have comments on these posts, in fact, so that I could answer questions there regularly and ask you things as well, but insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, or so Einstein is supposed to have said, and attempting to create yet another interactive online venue after every previous attempt has ended in heartbreak—forums, facebook groups, social media accounts—it would indeed be insanity to think that this time would be any different. So there are no comments. This too is heartbreaking in the sense that, and you may not realize this, but I desperately want to connect more completely with you—to be able to intelligently converse and share and exchange. We can do that in person, of course, because the wrong people never show up in person. Isn’t that funny… So, perhaps we’ll have to arrange that;). I’ll start you off with an example question I’d want to know if I were you (I can almost guarantee that you do not want to know this). Q. Hey EA, how do you keep your wireless bodypack transmitter secure when you are leaping about in skimpy costumes and doing frequent costume changes? Also, dye your roots. A. Fantastic question, EA, and I just dyed my roots thank you very much. ... (Deleted blog post followed by a year of radio silence, 2022 📝)

Sooo. For the past five-ish years, the vibe in the Asylum has been that of a protracted Christmas dinner where everyone is tensely moving their food around in their plate, bracing themselves for whatever will trigger the screaming match. Wondering what it's going to be this time. Weary old-timers make small talk about the food because no other topic feels safe. Every glance, every forced smile, is fraught with eons-old grudges and unspoken regrets; every nervous pleasantry sounds like a thinly-veiled accusation. Aunt Emilie always insists on hosting, but not-so-secretly hates having people over. Sooner or later, she finds a way to get all of these assholes out of her house. Most of the adult children are daydreaming about going no-contact.
Everyone ready for some dysfunctional family history?
CW for discussion of bullying, online harassment, mental illness stigma.

YE OLDEN DAYS: CUCKOOS OF A FEATHER NEST TOGETHER

In the beginning, it was beautiful.
EA had the excellent instinct to start banking on her online presence📝 long before MySpace was even a thing. She had a website, several online stores, an active LiveJournal and a ProBoards forum right from the turn of the millennium.
In 2004, she attached an official forum to her website; the earliest archive shows 74 registered users. By the time Opheliac came out in 2006, that number had grown tenfold. And it was, by most accounts, a pretty dope place to be! (I should specify that this write-up focuses on the anglophone side of the fandom: there were also thriving fan-run communities in at least German, French, and Spanish. Because EA doesn't speak any of those languages, the lucky bastards were mostly left alone.)
Forum users enjoyed interacting with some of EA's closest IRL friends and associates – and with the mistress of the house herself (user flair: PsychoFiddler), when she occasionally responded to comments under her own posts. But that wasn't even the main appeal for many. For a long time, on top of all EA-related topics, the official forum had very active “Off-Topic” subforums, with lively and friendly conversation on a variety of subjects. (There was even a “Filthy Libertines (18+)” sub for a while, which was closed due to preemptive concerns about minors.) Swear words (not slurs) were allowed and encouraged, and moderation was overall pretty loose beyond basic enforcement of civility. There was a lot of mutual support, creativity, and solid banter going around.

It wasn't just about Emilie on the forums. People could chat about almost anything with near free reign, making connections and lifelong friends. ... This community mattered SO MUCH to people. They felt included, accepted, and understood within the walls of the Asylum. People invested their time and creative energy into keeping the forums a vibrant, active community, and made sure that carried over into the real world. ... I've never seen anything like it in a fan space. I doubt I ever will again. (@Asylum_Oracle - “Fandom History” Instagram highlight 🔍📝, which contains most of the sources for this segment.)

And it did, indeed, carry over into the real world. There were numerous meet-ups – a few organized by EA, many more spontaneous. People who didn't know any other EA fans in real life, or were just excited to add new Plague Rats to their friend group, would regularly connect with other forum users from their area to meet up and hang out before EA shows. “Who else is dressing up??”
In 2008, for instance, EA held an afternoon meet-up at Lincoln Park in Chicago. 📺 The event was free to attend; it featured live acoustic music and a reading from EA's upcoming book, the intriguingly-titled Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.
On the appointed day, EA rolled up in a fabulously tousled red wig, bedazzled white corset and steampunk-altered wedding dress. She had brought friends alongs. Sporting blue hair and a pink bustle and corset was her Chicago bestie, the main forum admin. Rocking a guitar and a top hat was EA's sound engineer, the soft-spoken wizard behind the Victoriandustrial sound, who was also a forum mod. The photographer from the original Opheliac cover art was there as well; he was formally introduced by EA and got his own round of applause.

People who would never normally be involved in an artist's fanbase were in EA's world. And not only were they known – they were respected and incredibly active with the fanbase. These people who managed an online message board were willing to engage in real-world meet-ups (with no security??) because of how tight-knit the community they had built was. People turned out to this event. People traveled to go to this event. It was a short reading of a book that hadn't been released yet, and wouldn't be for some time. Why? Because not only was it a chance to meet Emilie and listen to parts of the new book, but it was also a chance to hang out with their friends from the Asylum. ... The fandom really was a family for a lot of people. (@Asylum_Oracle)

“SERIOUSLY, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE.”

It all started with The End.
The End Records, that is! Quick refresher: in 2009, after three years or so with Trisol, EA split from the label over allegations that the owner was embezzling money from ticket sales. A few months later, she signed with The End Records. Understandably, EA still wanted to sell the album that had made her famous, and to which she had smartly retained the rights – which meant a brand new, “Deluxe” release of Opheliac. (Remember, from part 3? The one you could pre-order as a bundle with the book? Some projects are just cursed, I guess.)
At that point, Opheliac had been released three times already, as recently as the year before, with only slight variations in format and tracklist. (Yes, that is a theme in this story.) The End Records version would feature new cover art and a handful of new tracks, but overall, it was... you know... the same album.
(The following paragraphs are largely sourced from this excellent recap 🔍📝, which also provides potato screenshots for all quotes.)
One fateful day of August 2009, a user started a thread entitled “Opheliac US edition deluxe re-release??” in the “EA News” subforum. In the thread, some people were kind of balking at the re-do, pondering whether to buy the “new” Opheliac or sit this one out. Some expressed that after three years, they were jonesing for a new album. Others shared what B-sides or dream covers they would have liked to see included on the bonus disc. Just... fans being fans, in a fan discussion space.
And then EA jumped out from behind the curtains.

Fan: Okay. Before I start, I just want you to know that I think it's very good that EA is getting more popularity, and that she can release lots of albums, but - are 5 editions of the same album really needed? You may say now “ah, it's not the same, it has 2 bonus tracks” or whatever, but I mean: it's not new material. Now don't get me wrong. I'm happy for it, maybe I'll even buy it, but I'm just wondering if she shouldn't keep herself busy with other (maybe more important) stuff? * hides * EA: Nobody's forcing you to buy it. Thanks.

Record scratch.

Fan 1: is this Opheliac release version number 4? lol If she's recording NEW tracks, then surely they deserve to be sold by themselves, otherwise people are going to have to buy an album that they may have already bought twice (like me!). But... alas, I am a fool and adore everything this woman does... im buying it lol Fan 2: exactly – if it was just reissuing the last version of Opheliac to tap into new markets that would be fine (...) but if they start adding extra bits of material to albums people already have then the true muffins are going to feel obliged to buy new copies (...) EA: How exactly are you obliged to buy anything? Nobody is forcing you to spend a fucking penny, my dears. I suppose it would make more sense to you to simply not have my records available any more as the old label I just escaped from will no longer be distributing them? Forgive me for adding extra tracks. No obligation necessary.

...Okay, so I'm pretty sure that we can see both sides of the argument here. Fans are annoyed at the idea of spending money on barely-anything-new, because they love EA and buy every single CD she releases. EA is exasperated by fans acting like she's twisting their arm and somehow resenting the inclusion of new material, when she was just ensuring that her album would remain available for purchase and trying to keep things interesting.
But maybe we can also agree that those replies should have been screamed into a pillow rather than typed out on a keyboard.
EA was getting increasingly (and, I'll just say it: disproportionately) sarcastic and defensive in her replies. Enter poor FantineDormouse.
FantineDormouse meant well, I think. Maybe she thought, she's spiraling. Maybe she thought, friends don't let friends go down that road. Granted, FantineDormouse probably should have known better than to phrase it the way she did. Or to assume that EA perceived her as a friend.
Either way, at some point, FantineDormouse jumped in and posted the comment that finally made EA lose it. THE comment which, overnight, ended the honeymoon period of the Asylum, triggering a doomsday domino effect from which the fandom would never truly recover. Are you comfortably seated?

FantineDormouse: Uhm, Emilie, love, I don't mean to sound rude or anything... but maybe you should have a cup of tea and relax a little.

...
* sound of archduke getting shot *

EA: Excuse me? You can throw this onslaught of absolute cruel bullshit at me and those I work with in my own space that I own, and I can't say anything back? How fucking patronizing. Relax? Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? FD: I'm not trying to piss you off even more, Emilie. And trust me, I have to deal with it myself, and as much as I would really love to punch the cunts I have to deal with in the face, I don't. You're pissed off, I get it. You're bipolar, which makes it 10x worse, I get that. I'm just not the person to stand around and do nothing when a fight where I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of regret is going on.

Famous last words. Literally! Immediately after EA delivered her irate closing statement – which includes one of my all-time favorite EA zingers, bolded...

EA: I cannot believe this... You just don't stop, do you? So just because I've shared the personal information with you all that I happen to be bipolar, I can't get pissed off at all of you being perfectly awful in the very space that I pay fuckloads a month to have up (has it ever occurred to you all that I pay dearly for this space you play around in?) Why not just tell me that I must be upset because it's my time of the month? Seriously, get the fuck out of my house. You are unbelievable, and your level of patronization is almost criminal. Don't make me write another book. With muffins like you, who needs enemies? Nothing I say or feel is legitimate, not ever ever ever because I'm bipolar... discredited before I begin... unbelievable...

...FantineDormouse got permabanned.
Jaws dropped. After days of infighting between white knights, detractors, and crossfire negotiators, several mod resignations, and general mayhem surrounding the ban, EA made a post entitled “In Which: I Invite You to Make a Fucking Choice.” 📝 For brevity's sake (cue laugh track), I can't reproduce it in all of its righteous splendor, but it's quite a read. It runs the gamut from fair and articulate points about how mental illness shouldn't be used to discredit someone's legitimate anger... to histrionic commands that “deserters to the cause” should “turn in their weapons” if they can't handle her way of doing things.

To those of you who appear not to understand why said posts, most especially those of the banned party, were offensive to me, I give you the option to either educate yourselves on your own time and in your own space (because please never forget that this is my space that I share with all of you at my own expense, and in which I generally give you all the freedom I would wish for myself), or to resign your posts in the Asylum Army – this is not the place for you, and I humbly suggest that you turn your attention and support towards other artists of a more placid, non-controversial, and less opinionated nature; there are more than enough of them out there, and I’m sure they all have forums of their own.

Some fans did leave. Most stuck around, whiplashed. Soon, the storm quieted down, and business as usual resumed on the forum. But something had been damaged beyond repair. The FantineDormouse fiasco had erected walls and drawn lines in the sand, both around EA and among her fans; its sad specter would haunt every Asylum crisis that spiked up forever after. “Fucking Patronizing Fucking” or “FPF” 🔍 became memetic shorthand in the fandom for overreaction and self-righteousness. 🐀
...And now you understand why, in the following years, some fans were so delicate and diplomatic in voicing their very legitimate complaints about messed-up orders, unsigned books, and puzzling lies... while unofficial platforms like Tumblr flourished with pent-up resentment and snark. 🦠

A NOTE ON HARASSMENT: “MAD GIRL, CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO YOU?”

Wouldn't they stop When you asked them to leave you alone? (“Mad Girl”, 2008 🎵)

Now, let's be clear, because it should not be minimized: EA has also been the target of genuine online harassment. Based on the simple fact that she is a woman with a public presence on the internet, I have zero doubt that EA has received (and perhaps continues to receive) more than her share of truly vile, bigoted, creepy and threatening messages – and, knowing what I know about the darker recesses of the Asylum, a terrifying amount of emotional blackmail and obsessive projection from people who hold her to punitively high standards. I'm also inclined to believe that it started way before she ever did anything that warranted any backlash. And that fucking sucks. It's repulsive and inexcusable, and the people who harass her should crawl into a hole and live among the worms.
Notwithstanding. In my decade-plus of following EA drama, the public comments on EA's own platforms (where people knew she was likely to be reading) have been, for the most part... civil and nuanced, and relatively mindful of the human? Even very confrontational comments (some clearly written from a place of anger and desire to shame) rarely resorted to outright name-calling or cruelty. When abusive or bigoted language did crop up, it was often promptly shut down by other fans as gross and uncalled for. In short: I have, with mine own two eyes, in real time, read some of the comment sections that EA described as cesspools of blind rage and odious attacks, and... I just couldn't see it.
If anything, for a long time, a lot of the angry comments directed at EA during any given controversy read more like break-up letters to an ex-best friend: harsh, curt and targeted in a way that cuts deep.... but also kind of screams how much love you still have for this person, against your better judgement.
Not that it wouldn't mess a person up to get hundred of those in a matter of hours, even if they don't individually qualify as “abusive”.
It's worth noting that prior to becoming semi-famous and regretting it, EA was also (by her own account and among other forms of abuse) a victim of intense childhood bullying. It feels like the two situations are closely connected in her mind when her focus seamlessly transitions from one to the other. 📺 I don't think that tremor in her voice is put on.
Based on her writings, I get the feeling that over the years, EA has developed a very black-and-white view of two monolithic groups of people. There's (an idealized vision of) her “real audience”, well-dressed, well-read, kind-hearted, and Asylum-savvy, who she fully trusts to “get it” – and buy it, and love it, unquestioningly, whatever “it” may be at any given time – because that is the true measure of love and loyalty. These are the people she makes art and merch for, the people she writes heart-emoji-filled newsletters to, and desperately longs to see in person again.
And then there's the lynch mob, those who really don't “get it”: the trolls, the faceless creeps, the basement-dwelling mouthbreathers, the ones who stalk her every move obsessively, waiting for any chance to spam her with vicious abuse and slander and obscenities. The latter only exist online (they are manifested into arbitrary existence by the internet itself, not by anything EA said or did), and there is zero overlap between the two sets of people. That seems to be the official narrative.

The "public eye" isn't an [enviable] place to be, and the closer I've come to it, the more horrified I've been. Because, for starters, who is "the public?" Is "the public" my audience? Hell no. My audience is special. They are not the general public. If they were the general public I would be a lot wealthier. The "public eye" means getting stalked, harassed, viscously judged, and put in danger. If I do things in the future that gain notoriety, I will do them in spite of fame, not because of it. I am out for world domination, but not fame. (Interview for The Moaning Times, 2014 📝)

In real life (well, mostly online, but I mean: on this shared plane of existence), things play out slightly differently. The Venn diagram of “true blue fans” and “people who criticize EA" and "people who know way too much about EA” is a circle. The call is 100% coming from inside the Asylum, and I think EA rationally knows that. But here's the thing: no matter how many shows and meet-and-greets you've dressed up for, how many loving and supportive comments you've left, or how many family heirlooms you once pawned to purchase a copy of the not-for-sale 2003 DJ pressing of Enchant... the instant EA feels attacked, everyone is a saboteur and a bully until proven otherwise, and suspected treason is dealt with on the spot. One strike, you're out. Unfortunately for everyone involved, her threshold for bullying seems to be “any remotely thoughtless opinion from any stranger on the internet”.
It makes for outstanding human-interest entertainment... but it also sounds an awful lot like the unhealthy patterns of a person suffering from all sorts of PTSD. 🔍 So, please bear that in mind as you read through this write-up. It's easy to make EA out to be the sole villain, a paranoid and delusional drama queen, based on her extreme reactions to things that often “weren't that bad”. Anything can, in fact, be “that bad” when you're thrown back into the very worst moments of your existence every time your brain decides that the situation is even remotely similar.
PTSD takes over your rational mind and actively distorts your perception of reality. That can be how a person ends up impulse-reacting to “a few people expressing an unfavorable opinion” as if the entire internet had just ganged up on them with knives. Which makes their audience feel unjustly accused, which makes them hostile, which gives the person actual good reason to feel attacked... and so the cycle of hurt continues.

You know the games I play And the words I say When I want my own way You know the lies I tell When you've gone through hell And I say I can't stay You know how hard it can be To keep believing in me When everything and everyone Becomes my enemy, and when There's nothing more you can do I'm gonna blame it on you – It's not the way I wanna be I only hope that in the end You will see: It's the Opheliac in me... (“Opheliac”, 2006 🎵)

And YES, it is extremely regrettable to have this as a trigger, when you're a public figure and you're bound to receive more negative feedback than the average citizen. “It's what she signed up for”, “it comes with the territory” and all that jazz. I really don't think EA was unaware of that fact when she decided to become a musician, share her personal life, and form an intense parasocial bond with her audience. But maybe she underestimated how hard it would be to process and recover from.
Just because you expect something unpleasant to happen, doesn't mean your psyche will be ready to handle it when it does – or that you'll pick the best and most effective strategy to deal with it.

A MADHOUSE UNDER MARTIAL LAW: MARCHING INTO THE FORUM WARS

There are two sides to every story... except for this one! (“If I Burn”, 2012 🎵)

You may have noted the military imagery in EA's “Make a Fucking Choice” response post – “resign your post in the Asylum Army”! What do psychiatry and the military have in common? They're both institutions of top-down social control. 🔍 EA's mixed metaphor may be a bit clunky, but it did foreshadow the evolution of the Asylum – in terms of aesthetics and power dynamics – in the years that followed the FantineDormouse incident and the release of The Book.
EA's next big release after the Asylum book came in 2012. It was a new album, an outline of the soon-to-be Asylum musical, called Fight Like a Girl (FLAG for short). As the name suggests, the main mood was bellicose. Incidentally, in the interim years, EA's communication style generally became noticeably more combative, incendiary, and (within her own spaces) controlling.📝 You remember those quirky word filters on the forum, that would change “fan” to “muffin” and “bra” to “teacup holder”? They kind of took on a Nineteen-Eighty-Four-burlesque flavor when you realized that one filter automatically changed “Fischkopf” to “Liddell” - and that circumventing the rule to address her totally real last name would get you banned, as would any discussion of her family. (“Wikipedia, random internet sites and heresay are not credible sources.” - Mod reminder of forum rules, 2010.)
Also, you try sustaining a serious, grown-up conversation among concerned fans about how Emilie Autumn should “take ratsponsibility for her mistakes out of ratspect for her muffins”. Thus, the official Asylum forum kept a tight grip on overt criticism of EA's claims and actions.

The Emilie Autumn forum is a dystopian hell. Truth be told, when I decided to leave you could not do anything but gush about Emilie. Otherwise all of her extremist arse kissing fans will be down your throat, ripping you apart in seconds, if you so much as questioned her behaviour. So much for freedom of opinion, let alone the idea of creating a harmonious community for ‘outcasts’. Hahaha. (2014 🐀)

The word filter thing really wasn't a big deal – I'm just pointing it out as one goofy expression of EA's need to control the narrative and rhetoric, which became especially noticeable in those post-book, pre-FLAG years. By that point, EA's fuse had been shortened by near on half a decade of non-stop touring / recording / writing / promoting / adjusting to the pressure and demands of an ever-growing fanbase, while also dealing with a horrorshow of personal turmoil and health issues behind the scenes. In other words: she was done taking any shit, in any form, or humoring anyone's ridiculous feedback regarding anything.
To be fair, it was never her forte to begin with. Will it come as a shock if I tell you that EA doesn't have the greatest track record for successful collaborative work? Let's do a quick-cut montage!
EA's very first corporate sponsor was her mother's “Enchant Clothing & Costume” online store 🔍; she went on to claim that her mother was dead. She sessioned for Billy Corgan, that went super well. 🎵 She liked Courtney Love for a minute, but that didn't work out because she felt that Courtney only valued her for her pee. 📝 (It probably didn't help that in early 2006, while EA was recording her post-break-up-tell-all album about Corgan, C-Love was recording her post-rehab-redemption album with Corgan. 🔍 Either way, EA didn't seem to like Courtney anymore after that. Courtney likes her, though! 📝) The one artist EA has ever approached for a duet (and by approached, I mean she recorded a demo and threw the CD on stage when he played Chicago in 2004) was, of all people, Morrissey. That never came to pass, thank mercy 🔍 – this fandom has suffered enough. In 2005, EA recorded some haunting vocals and violins for a potential collab with the frontman of Attrition. When, three years later, they were used on one track 🎵 of Attrition's All Mine Enemies Whisper, she alleged 📝 that the recordings had been obtained from her under the false pretense of a different project, then hideously altered to sound “out of tune”, and used without her permission. She enlisted her fans to boycott the album and the band, and threatened legal action. Meanwhile, on LiveJournal and Attrition's message boards, band associates were appalled: according to them, EA had been aware of the project's nature from the start... and had been completely unreachable, even through her label, during the months of its development. (Besides, Attrition is a semi-obscure English darkwave band from the 80s, whose micro-distributed albums don't even have their own Wikipedia pages... so I wonder what EA was hoping to get out of that theoretical lawsuit. These people own nothing but vintage gain pedals!) The song “Cold Hard Cash” 🎤 by Angelspit (who contributed a remix to one of her EPs in 2008) may or may not be an EA diss track. 🐀 Back when indie jewelry brand RockLove (which now has licensing deals with Disney, Marvel, and DC) was still someone's bedroom project, their first drop was an EA-inspired collection 🔍, which appears in many early Opheliac photoshoots. The partnership was terminated on bad terms, for unclear reasons; the RockLove owner shared in a statement that EA had “drunk the cool-aid” of Trisol Guy's shady business practices, and that the two of them had been spamming her with “crazed angry message[s]” for days.
Why am I talking about this? Because it was precisely one such ill-fated business partnership that triggered the Great Asylum Secession.
One fine day of spring 2010, the owner of vegan make-up brand Aromaleigh popped onto the Asylum forum to announce that they were cutting ties with EA, with damning receipts of copy-pasted emails (lost to time). Basically, the brand had been sponsoring her for half a decade, and while Aromaleigh had been actively promoting her music and tours, EA hadn't exactly been returning the favor. (Indeed, the extent of EA's sponcon seemed to have been a banner link to their website on her front page, and a single “random drunken endorsement” LiveJournal post that kind of reads like satire📝, from 2005.)
EA responded by banning the owner's account, deleting the thread, and posting this flippant statement a few days later:

Dearest Plague Rats, To be honest, I have no idea of what the hell happened with Aromaleigh, and I don't care to find out – the whole drama is a complete mystery to me, as I've been away for months touring and have not been in contact with anyone. All I know is that I've been promoting the company for ages and have not asked them for anything in years. (...) Please focus on more interesting things. I am. (“Save the Drama...” forum post, March 2010)

Posts questioning her good faith in the conflict were deleted from the forum. Shortly thereafter, citing how prolific and labor-intensive the Asylum forum had grown, EA shut down all non-EA related subforums – which, among many other topics, included a pretty active thread about Aromaleigh products.
So one Plague Rat decided to create a separate, members-only forum 📝, where users could recreate some of the now-defunct off-topic threads... and also freely voice their critical opinions of EA's behavior without fear of backlash from mods or rabid stans. Thus, “The Reform” was born. (Reform [n]: amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved.)
For a few weeks, the two-state solution seemed to work fine. And then word spread among forum mods and other diehard fans that there was this horrid other forum, where obsessive haters gathered to spew disgusting lies and vitriol about EA... and soon enough, it was bedlam in the Asylum.
Any explicit mention of the Reform was forbidden on the Asylum forum. Suspicion of participation in the Reform would get you banned. The party line was that The Reform was the enemy 🐀 – even though a number of people were active on both forums, because they liked freedom of expression almost as much as they liked EA. Double agents would lurk on the forum and report back with snark material; sycophants would infiltrate the Reform to identify traitors – much to the amusement of the “haters”, who mocked them and their ilk for “licking EA's pink sparkly boots”. There was no containing the seething, or the sass, among Asylum ranks.
Pretty soon, the insubordination spread to Tumblr. There was the “Ask the Reform” Q&A blog, where questioning fans could interact with “Rebel Rats”, get more details on past drama, and make up their own minds about the people EA called bullies.
And then, there were the “confession blogs”, which published anonymous submissions about EA, positive, negative or neutral, with little censorship. Finally, you didn't even have to pick a throw-away username on a private forum to voice your hottest / strangest / most controversial EA takes. Fans could vent, rant, lament, wonder, shitpost to their heart's content, anonymously. Obviously, given the context of frustration and censorship in the fandom, a lot of the first waves of confessions were EXTREMELY negative.
EA's acolyte Veronica managed to get the first one shut down. If memory serves, she misunderstood the confession blog format, and may have believed that all the posts on “Emilie Autumn Confessions” came from one or a small group of individuals. She was genuinely devastated, and wrote the blog admin to let them know that they were a terrible person who said terrible things. The admin was mortified, apologized profusely and deleted the blog of their own initiative. (Which goes to show that the concept did not come from cruel and malicious anti-fans, as detractors often claimed.)
But a new blog sprung up almost immediately, with a different mod team, and did not surrender. And much like in EA's own book, once the Plague Rats found out that they possessed the gift of speech... well, they really took to it.
Established in 2011 and passed on through generation after generation of mod teams to the present day, Wayward Victorian Confessions would turn out to be the longest-lived institution in the EA fandom. For over a decade now, through all the bleakest nights and dankest debacles of the Asylum, and despite its initial reputation as a troll den, WVC has acted as a kind of neutral ground and vox populi for the active fanbase and anti-fanbase. (The last nominally-active EA fansite to date, She Fights Like a Girl, is actually an offshoot of WVC: one of the old admins created it as a database to answer “frequently asked questions” about EA.)
Wayward Victorian Confessions has now outlived every other EA platform, official and unofficial. Were it not for the continued existence of the “troll den”, what little fan community survives in 2024 would be non-existent, plain and simple. To quote from late 20th century Canadian philosophy: isn't it ironic?

I feel like [WVC] is the only place I feel any of that old Asylum community kind of feeling I felt before EA got so focused on the book. It sucks that it’s so full of unhappiness, and I wish she hadn’t poisoned the sanctuary she claimed to have built. It’s just kind of fallen apart, like a crumbling building. (🐀 2016)

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

I was playing my mono red Norin Stickers/Attractions deck. It’s goofy concept supported by using a lot of good red cards and all the decent interaction I can muster. It’s a fun mid powered deck. I get Norin is hard to deal with but in this day and age with pingers Mayhem Devils and the like he dies more often than you’d think.
I typically however have a rule 0 discussion since I have Goblin Blastonauts in my deck and I ask that Norin use older rules that would allow him to go to the command zone and not be locked out of play should something happen to his trigger. Putting stickers on him is literally the reason I play the deck.
Flash forward to the Inalla player going for a deadeye Navigator lock (having dual caster and eventually a counterspell ETB wizard) I REB the navigator then after that’s countered I kill it with soul bond on the stack. It was that or likely we all lose. Then the threat of stifling Norin comes up. I said “if that is what you want to do you can do it but I’ll probably concede the game. It’s no longer fun for me if I can’t do the thing I am in the mood to do”. I don’t mind stax because that is a challenge to overcome. Even lockout enchantments can be killed and mono red can do that. Being permanently locked out with no recourse blows.
Was i salty? Yeah. I am not proud of it and for some reason it does kind of eat at me a bit.
Has anyone had a moment like that?

Looking to watch Dance Mom the Reunion in UK on Lifetime? Look no further as we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know.

Quick Steps: watch Dance Mom the Reunion in UK on Lifetime

1. Select a VPN service that is optimized for streaming. We recommend ExpressVPN or PIA VPN
2. Download the VPN and connect to the US server.
3. Log in to Lifetime
4. Watch Dance Mom the Reunion in UK on Lifetime!

Why do you need a VPN to watch Dance Mom the Reunion in UK?

Accessing Lifetime in UK can be tricky due to licensing restrictions that limit its availability outside the USA. When you try to stream shows like Dance Moms: The Reunion from UK, Lifetime’s system detects your IP address and blocks access.
However, there’s a workaround: using a VPN. By connecting to a VPN server in the USA, you can change your IP address and fool Lifetime into thinking you’re accessing the service from within the USA. This allows you to watch Dance Mom the Reunion in UK on Lifetime without restrictions.
Using a VPN helps you bypass geographic limitations and adds a layer of security to your online activities by encrypting your data and preventing third parties from accessing it. Additionally, it can prevent your internet service provider (ISP) from throttling your connection, ensuring a smooth streaming experience.
For the best streaming experience, consider opting for a premium VPN service while in the USA to ensure reliable and uninterrupted access to Lifetime and other geo-blocked content.

Episode Details – Dance Mom the Reunion

Episode	Title	Date	Description
Season 9 Episode 1	The Reunion	May 1, 2024	Favorite dancers reflect on their journey, recalling the highs, lows, and lasting impact on their careers.
Season 9 Episode 2	Epic Showdowns: Call 911	May 1, 2024	Christi Lukasiak dissects intense clashes between dance moms, including memorable showdowns.
Season 9 Episode 3	Epic Showdowns: Mommy Mayhem	May 1, 2024	Christi Lukasiak revisits fierce battles between moms, recalling heated confrontations and rivalries.
Season 9 Episode 4	Epic Showdowns: If Looks Could Kill	May 1, 2024	Christi Lukasiak recalls wardrobe mishaps that caused chaos during the show’s run.
Season 9 Episode 5	Epic Showdowns: Pyramid Pandemonium	May 1, 2024	Christi Lukasiak revisits pyramid disagreements and dramatic walkouts, highlighting tense moments.
Season 9 Episode 6	Epic Showdowns: That’s Messed Up!	May 8, 2024	Christi Lukasiak hosts a review of uncomfortable conflicts that unfolded on the show.
Season 9 Episode 7	Epic Showdowns: Flyin’ Solo	May 8, 2024	Christi Lukasiak remembers standout solo performances and the moments that defined them.
Season 9 Episode 8	Epic Showdowns: Reunion Madness	May 8, 2024	Christi Lukasiak recounts memorable scenes from reunion specials, featuring heated exchanges and confrontations.
Season 9 Episode 9	Epic Showdowns: Abby Flips Out	May 8, 2024	Christi Lukasiak revisits explosive moments involving Abby Lee Miller and rival dance studios.
Season 9 Episode 10	Epic Showdowns: Cathy Chaos	May 15, 2024	TBA
Season 9 Episode 11	Epic Showdowns: Mother Knows Best	May 15, 2024	TBA

Meet the cast of Dance Mom the Reunion

Name
JoJo Siwa
Mackenzie Ziegler
Nia Sioux
Chloe Lukasiak
Kendall Vertes
Brooke Hyland
Melissa Ziegler
Paige Hyland
Kalani Hilliker
Kelly Hyland
Holly Frazier
Jill Vertes
Christi Lukasiak
Jessalynn Siwa
Kira Hilliker

Dance Mom the Reunion – News

According to The Hollywood Reporter, nearly five years after the last episode of Dance Moms aired, fans are eagerly anticipating the reunion special, Dance Moms: The Reunion, set to air tonight on Lifetime. The two-hour event brings together former star dancers JoJo Siwa, Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Kendall Vertes, and Kalani Hilliker, along with their respective moms Jessalyn Siwa, Christi Lukasiak, Kelly Hyland, Jill Vertes, and Kira Hilliker.
Scheduled for Wednesday, May 1, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET, viewers can tune in to Lifetime to catch the reunion. Serving as a precursor to a new series in the Dance Moms franchise titled Dance Moms: Epic Showdowns, hosted by Christi Lukasiak, the ninth season promises to revisit the most explosive dance battles and memorable moments from the series’ history, including interactions with famed dance coach Abby Lee Miller and the momagers themselves.

At popular request you can now get this as a newsletter. Sign up and help support these posts! Have a great weekend, Mother's Day is on Sunday so you still have some time to get a gift together.

THURSDAY - MAY 9

NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs Cavaliers @ TD Garden @ 7PM
After Dark @ MIT Museum @ 6PM Enjoy an adult-only lively evening of entertainment, science, and tinkering.
‘Cat & Nat Unfiltered’ Podcast Live @ The Wilbur @ 7:30PM Best friends, moms, best-selling authors, and creators of the award-nominated podcast Cat & Nat present a hilarious and interactive live comedy show.
Celeste Barber Comedy Show @ Shubert Theatre @ 8PM
Ahren Belisle Stand Up @ Laugh Boston @ 8PM
Candlelight: Tribute to Coldplay in Concert @ Simons Theatre @ 7PM / 9PM Coldplay’s biggest hits ‘Fix You,’ ‘Viva La Vida,’ ‘Clocks,’ and many others are performed by a string quartet!
Hatsune Miku EXPO @ Wang Theatre @ 8PM The concert features brand new Hatsune Miku songs as well as the big hits for fans who had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity to see her on stage.
The Whiskyx @ Roadrunner @ 7PM With St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Holly Humberstone @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM
Cheekface @ Brighton Music Hall @ 8PM With Yungatita
Jerry’s Middle Finger @ The Sinclair @ 8PM
JER x Insignificant Other @ Crystal Ballroom @ 7:30PM

FRIDAY - MAY 10

Red Sox vs Nationals @ Fenway Park @ 7:10PM
NHL Playoffs: Bruins vs Panthers @ TD Garden
Late Nites @ MFA @ 8PM This after-hours party celebrates current exhibitions and features dancing and DJs, pop-up performances, exploring the galleries, art-making activities, and more.
Nate Jackson Stand Up @ Shubert Theatre @ 7PM
Justin Silva Stand Up @ The Wilbur @ 7:30PM / 10PM
Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer in Concert @ Simons Theatre @ 7PM / 9PM Hear Hans Zimmer’s best soundtracks from ‘Inception,’ ‘The Lion King,’ ‘Interstellar,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ and more.
Freddie Gibbs + Madlib @ MGM Music Hall @ 8PM
Chicano Batman @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM With Lido Pimienta
Olive Klug @ Brighton Music Hall @ 7PM With Chrysalis
Svdden Death @ Big Night Live @ 9:30PM
Hot Water Music @ Royale @ 7PM
Alice Merton @ The Sinclair @ 8PM With Juliana Madrid
Big D and the Kid’s Table @ Crystal Ballroom @ 7PM

SATURDAY - MAY 11

Red Sox vs Nationals @ Fenway Park @ 4:10PM Promotion: El Alfa Day
Ongoing - Artisan Market @ Rose Kennedy Greenway @ 11AM
Somerville’s PorchFest @ 12PM Musicians and bands in styles including funk, blues, gospel, bluegrass and so many more serenade passersby from porches throughout Somerville.
Watch City Steampunk Festival @ Waltham Common @ 10AM The festival will feature costumed performers, musicians, kids' activities, and a large collection of unique vendors peddling all things Steampunk!
Aries Spears Stand Up @ The Wilbur @ 7PM
‘Encanto’ in Concert @ Symphony Hall @ 2PM Disney’s Academy Award-winning film comes to life in a concert event, featuring the entire feature-length film with a full orchestra performing the score.
Zucchero @ Emerson Colonial Theatre @ 8PM
Madison Beer @ MGM Music Hall @ 8PM With Charlotte Lawrence
Sanguisugabogg + Jesus Piece @ Paradise Rock Club @ 6PM
Emo Night Brooklyn @ Brighton Music Hall @ 9PM
Ride @ Big Night Live @ 7PM
Silk R&B Party @ Big Night Live @ 9:30PM
Indo Warehouse @ Royale @ 10PM
Sawyer Hill @ The Sinclair @ 8:30PM With Raue
Tim O, l.ucas, Jiida, Rilla Force, & Faybee @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM

SUNDAY - MAY 12

Red Sox vs Nationals @ Fenway Park @ 1:35PM Promotion: Sherpa Belt Bag, Moms and Kids Run the Bases
NHL Playoffs: Bruins vs Panthers @ TD Garden
Duckling Day @ Boston Common @ 10AM A beloved Mother’s Day tradition, this event features activity booths, lawn games, magic, live music, and a duckling parade.
Say Anything @ MGM Music Hall @ 7:30PM
Alpha Wolf @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM With Emmure
Combo Chimbita x Panchyman @ Brighton Music Hall @ 8PM
Sunny Day Real Estate @ Big Night Live @ 7PM
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets @ Royale @ 7PM
Lewis Ofman @ The Sinclair @ 8PM With Fonteyn
Frankie Cosmos @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM

ALL WEEKEND

FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Gianmarco Soresi Stand Up @ Laugh Boston
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Doug Key Stand Up @ Nick’s Comedy Stop @ 8PM
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Harry Connick Jr. in Concert @ Symphony Hall @ 7:30PM World renowned artist Harry Connick Jr. returns to the stage at Symphony Hall to perform with the Pops for the first time in 23 years in a superlative Opening Night at the Pops!
All weekend - ‘Spring Experience’ Ballet @ Citizens Bank Opera House Explore Boston Ballet’s dynamic and captivating Spring program composed of three masterful ballets featuring classical and modern dance elements.
All weekend - ‘A Strange Loop’ Musical @ Wimberly Theatre Winner of Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, Michael R. Jackson’s blisteringly funny masterwork exposes the heart and soul of a young Black artist grappling with desires, identity, and instincts he both loves and loathes.
All weekend - ‘Jersey Boys’ Musical @ North Shore Music Theatre Featuring legendary hits, this award-winning musical tells the behind-the-scenes drama of the international sensation boy band The Four Seasons.
All weekend - ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Play @ Calderwood Pavilion Brought to life by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Shakespeare’s most famous duo return in a flurry of forbidden love, exhilarating fight scenes, and tragic fate.
All weekend - ‘Orpheus in the Overworld’ Play @ Black Box Theatre LAST CHANCE - In this play, The gods have forced Orpheus and Eurydice to repeat their tragedy for centuries, but this time everyone is a bit more queer than usual.
All weekend - ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ Play @ Lyric Stage LAST CHANCE - This bubbly love letter to musical theater sparkles with one show-stopper after another, story mix-ups, mayhem, and a wedding (or two).
All weekend - ‘Mermaid Hour’ Play @ Arrow Street Arts Fast-paced, funny, and heartfelt, ‘Mermaid Hour’ follows two parents and their trans teen kid as they all seek to understand who they are and who they wish to be.

ONGOING

Ongoing - Immersive Disney Animation @ Boch Center Step into the art and legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios and celebrate the music, artistry and animation from the creators of Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Big Hero 6 and many more.
Ongoing - Musical Shows @ MoS Planetarium Museum of Science puts on special experiences adapting the music of Pink Floyd, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and The Divas to immersive visuals in the Charles Hayden Planetarium.
Ongoing - ‘Firelei Báez’ Exhibition @ ICA One of the most exciting painters of her generation, Báez explores the multilayered legacy of colonial histories and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and beyond.
Ongoing - ‘Wordplay’ Exhibition @ ICA Highlighting the rich interplay between imagery and text, the exhibition showcases how contemporary artists have played with words to animate and expand their art practices.
Ongoing - ‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ Exhibition @ MFA Enjoy an immersive and multisensory journey through Korea’s fascinating history, and celebrate its contemporary vibrant creative force.
Ongoing - ‘Dress Up’ Exhibition @ MFA Through more than 100 works from the MFA’s collection including 20th- and 21st-century clothing, jewelry, accessories, illustrations, and photographs, this exhibition explores adornment and its role in the creation of a look.
Ongoing - ‘Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party’ Exhibition @ MFA This exhibition brings together 27 powerful photographs by Stephen Shames that feature the women of the Black Panther party and showcase their crucial work for the movement.
Ongoing - ‘Thinking Small: Dutch Art to Scale’ Exhibition @ MFA Featuring 15 intriguing objects from 17th-century Netherlands such as paintings, prints, silver medals, and books, this exhibition compels viewers to reconsider their relationship to the world around them.
Ongoing - ‘Raqib Shaw: Ballads of East and West’ Exhibition @ ISG Museum Shaw’s images of magic and mystery combine Western artistic tradition with ornamental elements derived from the Japanese, Persian, and Indian cultures that he vividly remembers from his youth.
Ongoing - ‘Picasso: War, Combat, and Revolution’ Exhibition @ Harvard Art Museums The exhibition explores the dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain, imagery of death, struggles of good and evil, political and artistic revolution, and issues of desire and capture.
Ongoing - ‘Our Time on Earth’ Exhibition @ Peabody Essex Museum This traveling exhibition from the Barbican Centre in London celebrates the power of global creativity to transform the conversation around the climate emergency.
Ongoing - ‘AI: Mind the Gap’ Exhibition @ MIT Museum MIT Museum presents its latest riveting, interactive exhibit exploring the tremendous promise, unforeseen impacts, and everyday misconceptions of AI.

Join Metro State RP, a DOJ-based vMenu GTAV, non-whitelisted server. As we continue to fine-tune our server, we are eager to welcome more players into our community!
We understand that a thriving server relies on a diverse and engaged player base. That's why we are actively seeking individuals to join us as civilians, fire/ems, and law enforcement. We believe that every role is essential and contributes to the vibrant tapestry of our community. Whether you prefer patrolling the streets as a dedicated officer or causing a little mayhem as a cunning criminal, there's a place for you here.
Of course, our civilians are the lifeblood of our server. We value the feedback and contributions of our regular players just as much as our administrators. We strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and valued. We are currently open to expanding our staff team, provided they are active and involved in various aspects of the server and the community.
Metro State RP is already in a fantastic state, with extensive optimization, a wide array of MLOs, over 1500 custom cars, EUP compatibility, and a host of exciting features. We have carefully curated scripts and small details that enhance the roleplaying experience, such as interactive emotes, hiding in trunks, GSR tests, and more. Additionally, we offer engaging activities that you can enjoy with your friends, like mini-golf and arcade games at Dave and Busters. Our commitment to continuous improvement means that we will keep expanding and refining these features.
Let's not forget the thrilling server events we organize! Our goal is to host diverse and immersive events, such as alien invasions, zombie apocalypses, and even the Purge, to keep our players engaged and entertained.
At Metro State RP, we are determined to foster a community that prioritizes its members' voices and values their opinions. We believe that everyone should have a say in decisions that impact their experience and gameplay. As such, the community's votes hold significant weight, ensuring that the server evolves in a way that resonates with our players.
Server Offerings:
1500+/- Add-on Cars (Optimized)
60+ MLO's (Optimized)
LSPD, BCSO, SAST, SAFD, DOT, etc. (more to open in the future)
Sonoran CAD
Cayo Perico, including a travel script with cutscene.
Fire Alarms, Fire Sirens, Fire script, Fire tools, Fire/EMS Pager, Ladder Script, etc.
CarPlay script to play custom music in your car.
LIDAR, Speed Radars for in-car and on-foot.
Looking forward to seeing you in Metro State RP!
discord.gg/metrostaterp

Join Metro State RP, a DOJ-based vMenu GTAV, non-whitelisted server. As we continue to fine-tune our server, we are eager to welcome more players into our community!
We understand that a thriving server relies on a diverse and engaged player base. That's why we are actively seeking individuals to join us as civilians, fire/ems, and law enforcement. We believe that every role is essential and contributes to the vibrant tapestry of our community. Whether you prefer patrolling the streets as a dedicated officer or causing a little mayhem as a cunning criminal, there's a place for you here.
Of course, our civilians are the lifeblood of our server. We value the feedback and contributions of our regular players just as much as our administrators. We strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and valued. We are currently open to expanding our staff team, provided they are active and involved in various aspects of the server and the community.
Metro State RP is already in a fantastic state, with extensive optimization, a wide array of MLOs, over 1500 custom cars, EUP compatibility, and a host of exciting features. We have carefully curated scripts and small details that enhance the roleplaying experience, such as interactive emotes, hiding in trunks, GSR tests, and more. Additionally, we offer engaging activities that you can enjoy with your friends, like mini-golf and arcade games at Dave and Busters. Our commitment to continuous improvement means that we will keep expanding and refining these features.
Let's not forget the thrilling server events we organize! Our goal is to host diverse and immersive events, such as alien invasions, zombie apocalypses, and even the Purge, to keep our players engaged and entertained.
At Metro State RP, we are determined to foster a community that prioritizes its members' voices and values their opinions. We believe that everyone should have a say in decisions that impact their experience and gameplay. As such, the community's votes hold significant weight, ensuring that the server evolves in a way that resonates with our players.
Server Offerings:
1500+/- Add-on Cars (Optimized)
60+ MLO's (Optimized)
LSPD, BCSO, SAST, SAFD, DOT, etc. (more to open in the future)
Sonoran CAD
Cayo Perico, including a travel script with cutscene.
Fire Alarms, Fire Sirens, Fire script, Fire tools, Fire/EMS Pager, Ladder Script, etc.
CarPlay script to play custom music in your car.
LIDAR, Speed Radars for in-car and on-foot.
Looking forward to seeing you in Metro State RP!
discord.gg/metrostaterp

My Roxanne deck is built to be a sort of Voltron/Enchantments/Burn deck. It's main goal is ramping up Mana quickly in order to do consistent (mostly noncombat) direct damage.
https://www.archidekt.com/decks/7601628/roxanne_burnenchantments
The plan is to ramp and enchant/equip her so that she can be protected while she attacks for her triggers, and then using cards that magnify that damage, like [[Fiery Emancipation]] and [[Solphim, Mayhem Dominus]] to make those meteors make a bigger impact every turn. Outside of the meteors, I have a lot of burn spells and enchantments that punish players with direct damage when they take certain actions (I'm also wondering if cards like [[Manabarbs]] and [[Burning Earth]] are a bit too mean to play at a casual table. They aren't in my current list but would like to know.)
I've included basically as much card draw as I can, my logic is that since I'll have a lot of Mana pretty quickly, I'll need to keep my hand full of spells to cast to make good use of it. One thing this deck is weak on is instant-speed interaction, but since most interaction is removal and my whole deck is built to burn, I'm thinking it's ok to mostly be doing it on my turn.
I'm wondering if the amount of card draw I have can make up for some ramp and if I should cut a bit of ramp out to keep my strategy more focused.
TL;DR, which cards would you cut to get down to 100? Why? Also, are there any cards that would be strictly better upgrades of cards I already have?

Currently, regardless of if you have the notification turned on or off in settings - if you're aligned with Caerleon faction (the best faction in the game) you don't get Bandit assault notifications.
I guess because we can't capture outposts during Bandit? But that doesn't matter, I want to know when Bandit assault is so that I can take part in the mayhem.
There's no reason for Caerleon aligned players to not get notifications, do you want people interacting and playing your game or not?

ChocoPro 372: Golden Week Day 4 On the next ChocoPro: Golden Week closes out with one last bit of Ichigaya Chaos! The Golden Rumble brings the usual delayed entry battle royale levels of mystery and mayhem, featuring a large portion of the roster and some special appearances. Meanwhile in the Main Event, GENTARO debuts to celebrate his 30th Anniversary in Pro-Wrestling against Masa! It is time to send off Golden Week with a bang. Let’s Go, ChocoPro!
⭐ Trainee Hiyori will have an exhibition match against Tokiko Kirihara this time! 💃
🍫 When it airs, it will be available HERE! (Usually at night around 9 pm EDT / 6 pm PDT / the next day at 2 am BST, 10 am JST) on YouTube!
Don't forget to Adjust Your Volume, Wrestling is Loud!
Need a change of pace? ChocoPro is built different. Join us for this episode or check out the back catalog of hundreds of episodes on the Gatoh Move ChocoPro YouTube channel...360+ ChocoPro’s with stories and pro-wrestling like you've never seen. New to the promotion? It features a roster of skilled veterans, rising stars, and wonderful guests fighting in the strange and wonderful ChocoPro Arena: Ichigaya Chocolate Square. This is not your regular wrestling show!

Delayed Entry Battle Royale Featuring: Mei Suruga 🍎, Ken Ohka 🤠, Chie Koishikawa 🏵️, Miya Yotsuba 🍀, Sayaka 👗, Sayaka Obihiro 💙, Tokiko Kirihara 💃, Baliyan Akki ♠️, and more!

Golden Rumble!

ChocoPro’s rumbles are out of this world! How can Ichigaya support a Rumble? With delayed entry, wild brawling, and window-based eliminations, of course! What sort of madness will this Golden Week version give us? Probably lots of violent comedy and surprisingly complex combinations! If a single holiday Rumble is madness, imagine what chaos one themed around an entire week of holidays could bring? ChocoPro Special Matches are tons of fun, they tend to be completely unpredictable but also bring a very warm mix of confusion and excitement. Anticipate the maximum amount of goblin antics and spicy twists. Expect the unexpected!

Masa Takanashi 🍶

VS

GENTARO (Debut) 🆕

GENTARO 30th Anniversary Match

Who better to cap off the night than the Drunken Monkey of ChocoPro? Masa Takanashi seems to be a wonderful candidate for anniversary matches. Whether teaming with Chris Brookes in CDK, working as president of Gatoh Move, or just showing off his comedy chops...Masa always gives it his all. This rough brawler with a unique vibe is one of a kind, able to flow with nearly any style (much like his opponent). He is a swaying, smooth as butter Counter Fighter. If you've never experienced a defensive technician, buckle up! Unfortunately for Masa he will be taking on someone that has been in the business much longer, who is known for his knowledge of match layouts, mat wrestling, and character work! (Basically an ideal guest for ChocoPro!)
Wrestling celebrations are the best. A legend has chosen Masa for a match on his 30th Anniversary in pro-wrestling tour! GENTARO has been known by many names (which means he fits in with the Ichigaya regulars) but the FREEDOMS representative will be making his first appearance on ChocoPro to close out Golden Week. This veteran has done plenty of matches in his long career, but even the most experienced wrestlers can find themselves out of sorts when facing Masa in the Chocolate Square. GENTARO is known for his vast adaptability, however, so don’t write him off just yet. Having been long associated with the machinations of Emi Sakura, this heavily decorated technician might just give Masa a run for his money! Can this master of the ground overtake the Drunken Monkey? You can find GENTARO reflecting on his best bout here!
Happy Golden Week!
ChocoPro is a free online promotion run by AEW's Emi Sakura, that takes place in the legendary Ichigaya Chocolate Square! It features a steady pace of Episode releases, fan interaction, long story arcs, and much more! A place where the turnbuckles are replaced with 14th floor windows, the ropes are replaced with fans, unforgiving walls provide creative avenues for skills otherwise unthinkable, and you can take solace in knowing that the referees usually do nothing. While it might be a shocking change at first, the intensity and storytelling will leave you wanting more. Think of it like the Hart Dungeon but as a promotion, if that helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

Join Metro State RP, a DOJ-based vMenu GTAV, non-whitelisted server. As we continue to fine-tune our server, we are eager to welcome more players into our community!
We understand that a thriving server relies on a diverse and engaged player base. That's why we are actively seeking individuals to join us as civilians, fire/ems, and law enforcement. We believe that every role is essential and contributes to the vibrant tapestry of our community. Whether you prefer patrolling the streets as a dedicated officer or causing a little mayhem as a cunning criminal, there's a place for you here.
Of course, our civilians are the lifeblood of our server. We value the feedback and contributions of our regular players just as much as our administrators. We strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and valued. We are currently open to expanding our staff team, provided they are active and involved in various aspects of the server and the community.
Metro State RP is already in a fantastic state, with extensive optimization, a wide array of MLOs, over 1500 custom cars, EUP compatibility, and a host of exciting features. We have carefully curated scripts and small details that enhance the roleplaying experience, such as interactive emotes, hiding in trunks, GSR tests, and more. Additionally, we offer engaging activities that you can enjoy with your friends, like mini-golf and arcade games at Dave and Busters. Our commitment to continuous improvement means that we will keep expanding and refining these features.
Let's not forget the thrilling server events we organize! Our goal is to host diverse and immersive events, such as alien invasions, zombie apocalypses, and even the Purge, to keep our players engaged and entertained.
At Metro State RP, we are determined to foster a community that prioritizes its members' voices and values their opinions. We believe that everyone should have a say in decisions that impact their experience and gameplay. As such, the community's votes hold significant weight, ensuring that the server evolves in a way that resonates with our players.
Server Offerings:
1500+/- Add-on Cars (Optimized)
60+ MLO's (Optimized)
LSPD, BCSO, SAST, SAFD, DOT, etc. (more to open in the future)
Sonoran CAD
Cayo Perico, including a travel script with cutscene.
Fire Alarms, Fire Sirens, Fire script, Fire tools, Fire/EMS Pager, Ladder Script, etc.
CarPlay script to play custom music in your car.
LIDAR, Speed Radars for in-car and on-foot.
Looking forward to seeing you in Metro State RP!
discord.gg/metrostaterp

Join Metro State RP, a DOJ-based vMenu GTAV, non-whitelisted server. As we continue to fine-tune our server, we are eager to welcome more players into our community!
We understand that a thriving server relies on a diverse and engaged player base. That's why we are actively seeking individuals to join us as civilians, fire/ems, and law enforcement. We believe that every role is essential and contributes to the vibrant tapestry of our community. Whether you prefer patrolling the streets as a dedicated officer or causing a little mayhem as a cunning criminal, there's a place for you here.
Of course, our civilians are the lifeblood of our server. We value the feedback and contributions of our regular players just as much as our administrators. We strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and valued. We are currently open to expanding our staff team, provided they are active and involved in various aspects of the server and the community.
Metro State RP is already in a fantastic state, with extensive optimization, a wide array of MLOs, over 1500 custom cars, EUP compatibility, and a host of exciting features. We have carefully curated scripts and small details that enhance the roleplaying experience, such as interactive emotes, hiding in trunks, GSR tests, and more. Additionally, we offer engaging activities that you can enjoy with your friends, like mini-golf and arcade games at Dave and Busters. Our commitment to continuous improvement means that we will keep expanding and refining these features.
Let's not forget the thrilling server events we organize! Our goal is to host diverse and immersive events, such as alien invasions, zombie apocalypses, and even the Purge, to keep our players engaged and entertained.
At Metro State RP, we are determined to foster a community that prioritizes its members' voices and values their opinions. We believe that everyone should have a say in decisions that impact their experience and gameplay. As such, the community's votes hold significant weight, ensuring that the server evolves in a way that resonates with our players.
Server Offerings:
1500+/- Add-on Cars (Optimized)
60+ MLO's (Optimized)
LSPD, BCSO, SAST, SAFD, DOT, etc. (more to open in the future)
Sonoran CAD
Cayo Perico, including a travel script with cutscene.
Fire Alarms, Fire Sirens, Fire script, Fire tools, Fire/EMS Pager, Ladder Script, etc.
CarPlay script to play custom music in your car.
LIDAR, Speed Radars for in-car and on-foot.
Looking forward to seeing you in Metro State RP!
discord.gg/metrostaterp

Apex Legends: Upheaval Gameplay Trailer
https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/news/upheaval-game-updates?isLocalized=true

NEW UPDATES COMING WITH APEX LEGENDS™: UPHEAVAL

Want to watch the world burn, Legends? Get ready to disturb the peace, because upheaval is upon us!
Bend the world with Alter and her Void-based abilities, then sow chaos in Solos Takeover—with kitted guns and new ways to dodge (and deal) death. Descend into a new age of Broken Moon, unearthing new POIs and faster paths to mayhem. More fights? That just means more opportunities to slice in style with the latest customizable Apex Artifacts. It’s time to sew mayhem across the Outlands, so let’s get to it!

TAKEOVER: SOLOS

Well, well, well…looks like Solos is coming back after all! Replacing Duos from the beginning of the season, take on the Outlands by yourself in this revamped variant. We’ve taken aspects of some of our most popular modes and integrated them to keep things interesting: use your Battle Sense to detect nearby enemies, tear things up with pre-kitted weapons and attachments, and keep the fight going with auto heal and Second Chance mechanics. We get it–sometimes you want to drop hot and heavy without having to carry the squad. It’s every Legend for themselves…for now. Solos Takeover is live May 7, 2024 to June 24, 2024.

NEW LEGEND: ALTER

When Alter emerged from her dimension into another with her past held close to the chest, she had only two things: her interdimensional traveling Void tech, and a desire to have fun. She did what she wanted when she wanted, never needing to stick around for the consequences of her actions. Morality and responsibility were things of the past as Alter traveled throughout different realities, drawn to worlds on the edge of complete destruction.
Whether something devastating was already happening or she helped usher in the apocalypse herself, Alter was always there to watch whatever catastrophe ensued. She loved seeing worlds end and seeing the true nature of the people come out within the chaos. However, in some ruined dimensions, there was a common denominator that intrigued her–one that would lead her to witness the grandest apocalypse of all. Seeking out the next world it would condemn, Alter has landed in ours, ready to do what’s necessary to see her wish fulfilled.

ALTER

When Alter emerged from her dimension into another (with her past held close to the chest), she had only two things: her interdimensional traveling Void tech, and a desire to have fun. She stole the fanciest of foods, learned to fight through dicey situations, and took on odd jobs for personal favors–though she didn’t have a problem double-crossing her clients if it was more beneficial or amusing. Never needing to stick around for the consequences of her actions eroded any sense of morality or responsibility she had. She could focus on what was important: making sure life was never mundane.
Alter was drawn to worlds on the edge of complete destruction. Whether something devastating was already happening or she helped usher in the apocalypse herself, she was there to watch whatever catastrophe ensued. It was only in those moments, after all, that people took off the masks they always wore and she could see their true selves.
Finding these world-ending events was a toss up. Sometimes she’d find what she was looking for, and on others, she’d have missed the main event in worlds already ruined. But in some of these ruined worlds, Alter began to notice an interesting commonality…
Many of these worlds hadn’t met their end by some random event; they had been destroyed by the same person.

• Real Name: YingLing Lui (雷盈灵)
  
• Age: Unknown
  
• Home World: Unknown
  
• Class: Skirmisher
  
  • PASSIVE: GIFT FROM THE RIFT: Alter can see and remotely interact with nearby death boxes to claim a single item. While she cannot take shield cores through the void, any other prize can be snatched from afar.
  • TACTICAL: VOID PASSAGE: Alter fires a void blast from her tail that shatters against a surface to open a dimensional gateway through from one side to the other for a short time. Crossing through the portal is instantaneous, and can be done from either direction, but travelers will remain phased briefly after exiting. The angle of this shot determines what surface the exit will open on and can be used to open passages through ceilings and ledges, allowing Alter to place her passages creatively through the environment.
  • ULTIMATE: VOID NEXUS: Alter can deploy a Void Nexus that allies can remotely interact with to open a phase tunnel back to that point. When a tunnel is opened, that player will phase walk from their location to the Void Nexus and leave behind a portal that any player can follow through. The Nexus can be used even while downed, and it is an incredible way for Alter and her squad to regroup to a position of power for a reset, provided interlopers do not pursue…

APEX ARTIFACTS

The pantheon of Apex Artifacts is expanding. Check out our dedicated blog for all things Apex Artifacts including lore connections and customizations.
What began with the Cobalt Katar continues with a new way to personalize your Apex Legends experience! Carve your destiny with Apex Artifacts, customize each variant’s Theme, Power Source, and more with Exotic Shards, mixing and matching to craft your own calling card of destruction.
Apex Artifacts were given to each of the Legends by the Mercenary Syndicate to bring something new and exciting to the Games to distract from the recent disruption of Revenant and untimely death of Duardo Silva. The smallest particle of Branthium indefinitely powers each Katar in order to maintain their ominous presence.
With the assistance (and insistence) of Rampart herself, the Katars were created with the ability to be modded for customization to each wielder’s preference—that means you.
The Legends have their heirlooms, and now you have something that’s yours.

• YOUR MELEE, YOUR WAY

It wouldn’t be a Rampart influenced item if it wasn’t unique!
First, we start with the Katar Base—the item itself—which is available via the Mythic Shop and may appear in Milestone events (like the Cobalt Katar in Shadow Society). From there it’s all about upgrades, mate. With Bases, Themes, Power Sources, Activation Emotes, and Death Boxes, there are more than 200 combinations. Will you customize it to your in-game or out of game personality, find a combo to match your favorite skin, or go for something totally random?
Anyone who unlocked the Cobalt Katar in the Shadow Society will have a bit of a head start with their collection. Because you’re a trailblazer, you deserve to be rewarded: every player with the Cobalt Katar in their inventory at the start of Upheaval’s launch will automatically unlock four Cobalt upgrades: the Cobalt Katar Base, Theme, Power Source, and Activation Emote. Boom…now go get some!
Image
Note: once a player owns the Katar Base, they can start unlocking customizations for any set (i.e. Molten or Gladius), but customizations must be unlocked in sequential order: Base → Theme → Power Source → Activation Emote → Death Box

• CHASE VARIANT: NITRIDE

Once all five variants of an upgrade component have been collected, you will automatically unlock the Nitride variant of that piece. For instance, you’ll unlock the Nitride base once you’ve collected the other five Katar set bases. Considering the other five Katars have ties to Outland locations, Nitride is a curious choice…don’t you think?

• EXOTIC SHARDS

Each upgrade component, including the Death Box, can be acquired using Exotic Shards. This new currency can be purchased directly like Apex Coins, and we may see small amounts earnable in future via events or Battle Pass—like the 10 you can earn this season.

MAP UPDATE: BROKEN MOON

Our goals for the Upheaval update were to bring a new combat experience throughout Broken Moon and within the new POIs, while also changing the identity of the map. Detached and now floating in outer space between Cleo and Boreas, the colony of Hope is forever changed. The Terraformer has had to recalculate and adapt which has, in turn, mutated familiar biomes and created an exotic landscape.

POINTS OF INTEREST (See EA website for images)

• QUARANTINE ZONE
  
  • Where Promenade East met West is now the Quarantine Zone. Promenade was wiped out by the Stasis Array Node that crashed down to the map. When what appeared to be Olympus collided with the Stasis Net satellite, Broken Moon’s protection was no longer—allowing the crash debris and meteors to rain down along with unknown biological material that has required the area to be quarantined.
  • From a game design perspective, the goal was to deliver a faster-paced and more deliberate combat experience. We condensed the whole center of the map, making it more predictable where players can and cannot rotate from. The layout of this POI makes for fast pace looting, combat, and some fun action with the covered ziprail loop, while also providing a safe rotation from teams at the lower end.
• BREAKER WHARF
  
  • Breaker Wharf was also affected by the debris raining down, which gave us some room to play. Because this POI was so secluded from the rest, we felt that there was an opportunity to move it – and move it did! Now, look out for it where the Backup Atmostation was.
  • This design change is one that aims to break up the playstyle of this side of the map, where there were a lot of science buildings that played in a similar manner. Bringing over a more industrial kit will help break that repetitiveness, offering more gameplay variety to players.
• SPACE PORT
  
  • Space Port is a smaller POI that breaks the mold of the original larger POIs and sits in the area that once was Breaker Wharf (recreated by the mobilization to help keep Broken Moon alive and together). It serves a bigger purpose to bring more action to spaces less-traveled, and is the perfect drop for one team to get some good loot.
• CLIFF SIDE
  
  • Cliff Side sits in-between the Quarantine Zone and Stasis Array, and is another smaller POI with an interesting X layout allowing for a tug-of-war between the high and low grounds. Its placement also allows for less of a hike to rotate and it’s a great spot to strategize during your next rotation.
• SOLAR PODS
  
  • Solar Pods utilizes the new Lunar buildings to introduce the bridge between Foundry and Cultivation as a new POI. The intent of this placement is to speed up the pacing of the map between POIs and offer a new combat experience within them.
• UNDERPASS
  
  • Underpass is another one of the smaller POIs that allow for a slower paced beginning for teams looking for less of a hot drop. This POI also sticks to the high-level goal of speeding the pacing up while allowing for more desirable rotations.
• EXPERIMENTAL LABS
  
  • Experimental Labs was an addition to a camp that existed and allowed for more loot in a less-than-desirable landing location. Looking for some fun rooftop to rooftop combat? This is your drop.

NEW ROTATIONS (See EA website for images)

What would an Apex Legends map update be without some fresh and updated rotations? Here are a few that you may want to be aware of to avoid getting pinched…
Hazmat Tunnel is a new rotation that connects Quarantine Zone and Terraformer for a risky, but rewarding rotation. Offering speed and more loot, it’s up to you to decide how long is too long to stick around. This tension point should allow for some fun and interesting conflict
This rotation between Terraformer and Stasis is a nice anchor point and the perfect spot for strategy planning while avoiding difficult chokes.
Connecting Cultivation, Terraformer, and Quarantine Zone, this area has multiple power positions with interesting ways to attack each of them.
Between Quarantine Zone and Underpass, this quick rotation has some fun slide downs and links to a covered bridge
Use the space between Space Port and Perpetual Core to avoid being caught thanks to multiple rotation opportunities.
This rotation connects Perpetual Core and Quarantine Zone, offering some fun platform to platform combat.
The team had a lot of fun putting this update together and we hope you enjoy the galactic effort. There are also some smaller quality of life details that have been improved upon as well, but we’ll leave those for you to discover.

SEE YOU ON THE DROPSHIP

With Broken Moon rising from the rubble, the long awaited return of Solos, a fresh pantheon of Apex Artifacts, and a brand new Legend, this season is just beginning. Strap in, Legends, who knows what will awaken when peace is disturbed. One more time with feeling: the upheaval is upon us.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself given I've yet to approach many of the works in the study guide. Notwithstanding, I ask of the more knowledgeable and serious communists in this subreddit, is this book worth reading? If not now then at any point?
I've seen a variety of opinions on JMP and his works within and outside this subreddit, ranging from appraisal, to denunciation. Those more aligned with the latter tend to claim he or his works are opportunist, revisionist, etc., albeit with a frustrating lack of clarification as to why.
I briefly skimmed through his blogs and socials to find any indication of such anti-Marxist tendencies, and the only thing I've found thus far is him positively interacting with the author of that awful Geese Magazine article that was recently posted to communism. If there are any here who are more familiar with JMP who have any any advice myself and any potential reader of his works should heed, then please share.

At popular request you can now get this as a newsletter. Sign up and help support these posts!
Enjoy your weekend and have a safe and festive Cinco De Mayo. ☺️

THURSDAY - MAY 2nd

Red Sox vs Giants @ Fenway Park @ 1:35PM
Free First Thursday @ ISG Museum @ 3PM
Let’s Dance: Popular Caribbean Dances @ ICA @ 7PM Discover some of the Caribbean’s most popular dance forms in these fun introductory sessions led by internationally renowned dance and music company, Masacote Entertainment.
Boston Fight Night @ Royale @ 7PM Don’t miss a night of intense showdowns and see the city’s best boxers!
Corinne Fisher Stand Up @ Laugh Boston @ 8PM
Dustin Lynch @ Leader Bank Pavilion @ 7:30PM With Skeez
The Decembrists @ Roadrunner @ 8PM With Ratboys
Teezo Touchdown @ Paradise Rock Club @ 7PM
Giggs @ Brighton Music Hall @ 7PM
Here Come The Mummies @ The Sinclair @ 8PM

FRIDAY - MAY 3rd

Cinco de Mayo Celebration @ Downtown Crossing @ 12:30PM Enjoy live music, cultural performances, artisan showcase, and craft fair in Downtown Crossing in celebration of this special holiday!
First Fridays: Prom Night @ ICA @ 6PM This retro-glam gala will feature drinks, dancing, art talks, and other fun shenanigans that will bring you high school nostalgia.
Pete Jr. Stand Up @ Nick’s Comedy Stop @ 8PM
‘Judith’ Play @ JMAC Worcester @ 8PM ‘Judith’ is an unexpected solo show that explores ambition, self-worth, and queer identity.
Andres Cepeda @ Shubert Theatre @ 8PM
Harvard Square Chocolate Tour @ Harvard Square @ 7PM
Dustin Kensure @ Brighton Music Hall @ 7PM With The Brevet
Emo Nite @ Big Night Live @ 9PM
Ra Ra Riot @ Royale @ 6PM
Liquid Stranger @ Royale @ 10PM
Sarah Jarosz @ The Sinclair @ 8PM
Barnstar! @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM

SATURDAY - MAY 4th

Bruins vs Maple Leafs @ TD Garden
Food Truck Festival @ The Greenway @ 11AM This culinary experience gathers 20 of the city’s best food vendors offering everything from dumplings, Danish hotdogs to bubble tea and ice cream.
Tacos & Margs Crawl @ The Greatest Bar Join an all-access fiesta at Faneuil Hall's best bars & restaurants for Cinco de Mayo!
Sneaker Con @ Hynes Convention Center @ 12PM Shop latest sneakers and streetwear, find exclusive collector items, and experience the world’s biggest sneaker store under one roof.
Teen Night: New Wave @ ICA @ 5:30PM ICA’s free teen night is full of exciting happenings including an open mic, art-making, drinks and snack bar, and endless opportunities to connect!
Beyond the Spectrum Kids: Fashion Unraveled @ MFA @ 10:30AM In this class, kids delve into the exciting world of fashion by examining MFA’s own collection, studying unique styles, materials, and their cultural significance.
Leo Skepi Live Show @ Chevalier Theatre @ 8PM Viral Internet personality Leo Skepi brings his honest and inspirational opinions to a live stage!
Red Bull Dance Your Style @ House of Blues @ 6PM See what happens when Boston's top dancers face off in test of skill, creativity & musicality.
TWRP @ Paradise Rock Club @ 8PM
Layto @ Brighton Music Hall @ 8PM
Black Kray @ Big Night Live @ 7PM
Black Romero @ Big Night Live @ 10:30PM
Ragheb Alama @ Royale @ 9PM
Slothrust @ The Sinclair @ 8:30PM
Chappell Roan Dance Party @ The Sinclair @ 9:30PM

SUNDAY - MAY 5th

Celtics vs Heat @ TD Garden (TBD)
Cinco de Mayo @ Harpoon Brewery @ 12PM Enjoy the festivities at Harpoon with delicious food and drinks offerings.
Mon Laferte @ Orpheum Theatre @ 8PM
Bayside @ Roadrunner @ 7PM With Finch & Armor For Sleep
Saxon + Uriah Heep @ House of Blues @ 7PM
Juliet Ivy @ Brighton Music Hall @ 7PM With Tristen
Odumodublvck + Shallipopi @ Big Night Live @ 8PM
Donny Benet @ Royale @ 7PM
CSS + Sloppy Jane @ The Sinclair @ 8PM
Sheer Mag @ Crystal Ballroom @ 8PM

ALL WEEKEND

FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Seth Meyers Live @ The Wilbur
FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Vlad Caamano Stand Up @ Laugh Boston
All weekend - Independent Film Festival Boston Catch the best of last year’s independent feature and short films at various cinemas in the city!
All weekend - Berlioz’s ‘Romeo et Juliette’ in Concert @ Symphony Hall BSO is closing its season with Hector Berlioz’s most successful composition ‘Romeo et Juliette’- a vibrant symphony inspired by the works of Shakespeare.
All weekend - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Performance @ Wang Theatre See the insanely talented dancers from the Ailey company perform their hit dances that celebrate the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience.
All weekend - ‘Carmen & Kingdom of the Shades’ Ballet @ Citizens Bank Opera House LAST CHANCE - In this powerful and mesmerizing program, Boston Ballet presents the tragic story of Carmen choreographed by Jorma Elo as well as the critically acclaimed classic ballet ‘Kingdom of the Shades.’
All weekend - ‘Clue’ Musical @ Emerson Colonial Theatre Based on the cult 1985 movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, ‘Clue’ is the ultimate whodunit that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.
All weekend - ‘A Strange Loop’ Musical @ Wimberly Theatre Winner of Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, Michael R. Jackson’s blisteringly funny masterwork exposes the heart and soul of a young Black artist grappling with desires, identity, and instincts he both loves and loathes.
All weekend - ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Play @ Hanover Theatre Don’t miss your chance to see Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin’s stellar adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork.
All weekend - ‘Twelfth Night’ Play @ JMAC Worcester William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ is a romantic comedy about mistaken identity and self-discovery, complete with musical interludes and mischief.
All weekend - ‘Orpheus in the Overworld’ Play @ Black Box Theatre In this play, The gods have forced Orpheus and Eurydice to repeat their tragedy for centuries, but this time everyone is a bit more queer than usual.
All weekend - ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ Play @ Lyric Stage This bubbly love letter to musical theater sparkles with one show-stopper after another, story mix-ups, mayhem, and a wedding (or two).
All weekend - ‘Mermaid Hour’ Play @ Arrow Street Arts Fast-paced, funny, and heartfelt, ‘Mermaid Hour’ follows two parents and their trans teen kid as they all seek to understand who they are and who they wish to be.

ONGOING

Ongoing - Immersive Disney Animation @ Boch Center Step into the art and legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios and celebrate the music, artistry and animation from the creators of Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Big Hero 6 and many more.
Ongoing - Musical Shows @ MoS Planetarium Museum of Science puts on special experiences adapting the music of Pink Floyd, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and The Divas to immersive visuals in the Charles Hayden Planetarium.
Ongoing - ‘Firelei Báez’ Exhibition @ ICA One of the most exciting painters of her generation, Báez explores the multilayered legacy of colonial histories and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and beyond.
Ongoing - ‘Wordplay’ Exhibition @ ICA Highlighting the rich interplay between imagery and text, the exhibition showcases how contemporary artists have played with words to animate and expand their art practices.
Ongoing - ‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ Exhibition @ MFA Enjoy an immersive and multisensory journey through Korea’s fascinating history, and celebrate its contemporary vibrant creative force.
Ongoing - ‘Dress Up’ Exhibition @ MFA Through more than 100 works from the MFA’s collection including 20th- and 21st-century clothing, jewelry, accessories, illustrations, and photographs, this exhibition explores adornment and its role in the creation of a look.
Ongoing - ‘Thinking Small: Dutch Art to Scale’ Exhibition @ MFA Featuring 15 intriguing objects from 17th-century Netherlands such as paintings, prints, silver medals, and books, this exhibition compels viewers to reconsider their relationship to the world around them.
Ongoing - ‘Raqib Shaw: Ballads of East and West’ Exhibition @ ISG Museum Shaw’s images of magic and mystery combine Western artistic tradition with ornamental elements derived from the Japanese, Persian, and Indian cultures that he vividly remembers from his youth.
Ongoing - ‘Picasso: War, Combat, and Revolution’ Exhibition @ Harvard Art Museums The exhibition explores the dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain, imagery of death, struggles of good and evil, political and artistic revolution, and issues of desire and capture.
Ongoing - ‘Our Time on Earth’ Exhibition @ Peabody Essex Museum This traveling exhibition from the Barbican Centre in London celebrates the power of global creativity to transform the conversation around the climate emergency.
Ongoing - ‘AI: Mind the Gap’ Exhibition @ MIT Museum MIT Museum presents its latest riveting, interactive exhibit exploring the tremendous promise, unforeseen impacts, and everyday misconceptions of AI.

Finding Your Way in Appalachia: The Definitive Fallout 76 Quest Order Guide

Welcome fellow Vault Dwellers, this is a tweaked and added upon version of u/SuperPippo5111’s Finding Your Way in Appalachia: The Definitive Fallout 76 Quest Order Guide he made a while ago. I'm planning to update this guide when I can/feel like and, hopefully, eventually include every quest that's currently part of the game and added in future. If you have any complaints or something that I should add to the guide, please comment down below.

Steam Guide Version HERE,

Steam gets updated first and is 1 whole instead of split in 2 as well as having the correct formatting
Just a note from me, the formatting is a mess and I apologise I'm working on it but I'm not familiar with reddits formatting rules and I ported it from my steam guide and it broke things, it'll be sorted sometime soon.
PART 2: https://www.reddit.com/fo76/comments/1cii3pd/finding_your_way_in_appalachia_the_definitive/
Some general advice for new players:
Whenever you enter an area it's possible that different repeatable events or daily challenges trigger. Feel free to do them if you like. They will give XP, loot, and usually points for the scoreboard.
If you want to level up quicker try to increase your intelligence as much as possible (each point of intelligence gives +2.072% XP). Joining a casual team grants up to +4 intelligence. There's also a perk under charisma called "Inspirational" that can give you +15% XP at rank 3.
Here you can plan your build and experiment with different card combinations. In this guide, I won't give you any premade build. You can experiment with your build in the beginning as it is possible to completely respec as soon as you reach level 20. There are many guides on Reddit and YT for builds if you're looking for one. I highly recommend AngryTurtle.
If you level up, you can take perks from a different category than the stat you just upgraded (f. ex. I can upgrade my endurance but still take a perk from perception)
If you dislike the Power Armor HUD, you can turn it off in the settings menu
In the pause menu you can find daily and weekly challenges which grant points for your season pass level. Don't stress too much about those when you're just starting out and do them only if they don't require you to go out of your way too much. Later it will become easier to clear those challenges efficiently.
If your screen gets too crowded with quests, then you can turn off the ones that are not important by going to the data tab in your pip-boy and unselecting the quests.
Here is a post by with some more useful tips and another one by .
Disclaimer: This is just a recommended quest order for full immersion and is not focused on getting you to the endgame as fast as possible. Keep in mind that the optimal quest order in Fallout 76 can vary depending on the player's preferences and objectives where as this one tries to follow a chronological order. There is no one "correct" quest order, as some players prefer to complete the main storyline first, while others prefer to explore the world and complete side quests along the way. This is just my take on it. Also, you don't need to always stick with the quest order strictly. If you see an event on the map or other activities you'd like to participate in then by all means do whatever you like. You can always come back to the quests at a later stage.
Sometimes in notes I will mention that there is a unique gear tied to a quest, note that the level of the unique gear will vary with the current level of the player character at the time of quest completion. Because this is the only chance a unique gear can be obtained, it may be desirable to defer completing this quest until reaching level 50.
When you see an (S) or next to a quest this will mean that this quest is a side quest aka this doesn't need to be done right now it can be done whenever you feel like doing it as it shouldn't affect the main story in any way I have however put them in places I find as natural stopping points for these quests like when you’d naturally stumble upon them for example.
Key
Bullet Points • - These are representative of major task changes if an entry does not have one chances are it's because the task is in the general vicinity of your location and you can do them then and there.
(1/X) - Quest Stages, These are representative of the current stage of the quest you are on and can be found at the end of each line if applicable. I will add exact details later on.
(Optional) - Optional quest that you don’t need to do but are worth doing for extra rewards or story.
(S) - Side quests have nothing to do with the main story for the most part but offer good rewards
(A) - Ally quests Two allies, Sofia Daguerre and Beckett, offer unique questlines and an overarching story, at the end of which they can be romanced if one decides to pursue that option. This provides the player with a temporary XP boost, Lover's Embrace, upon sleeping in a bed with the romanced ally nearby. The other three allies (the raider punk, settler forager, and settler wanderer) only offer radiant quests.
(D) - Daily quests, offer the same quest every from when you did it the last time, can offer unique rewards
(E) - Expeditions, Expeditions is a PvE game mode of repeatable missions in Fallout 76. The mode takes players to explore and travel outside of Appalachia, and encounter NPCs and enemies along the way.
(R) - Repeatable Quests, These quests can be played as frequently as desired.

CHAPTER 1: THE FOREST

1. The Responders I

• Reclamation Day
  (Optional) Eject the Overseer's Log - Vault 76 from the terminal in her office before leaving the vault.
  Check out the newcomers outside of Vault 76
  
• Wayward Souls
  (Optional) Check out the isolated cabin on your way down to the Wayward
  
• Hunter for Hire (1/3)
  Tip: Place your camp close by Wayward and the Overseer's Camp and don't forget to pick up the Overseer's Log - C.A.M.P
  Before heading to the "Relay Tower EM-B1-27" complete "First Contact" first and head to Flatwoods
  
• First Contact
  Pick up the Overseer's Log - Flatwoods
  Craft a Weapon (First Contact)
  Craft a piece of Armor (First Contact)
  
• Thirst Things First
  
• Second Helpings
  (Optional) Event: Fertile Soil
  Info: may not activate if you're on a public server as it has a 2-hour cooldown
  Pick up and listen to the Overseer's journal, entry 1 from inside the Vault-Tec Agricultural Research Center (Personal Matters) (S)
  (Optional) Find all the Survivor Story Holotapes in Flatwoods
  
• Hunter for Hire (2/3)
  Head to "Relay Tower EM-B1-27" and finish the quest
  

2. The Free Radicals

• Hunter for Hire (3/3)
  head back to Vault 76 and from there complete the rest of the quest
  (Optional) Find Jangles at "Tyler County Fairgrounds" once you get there
  (Optional) Claim Workshop at Tyler County Dirt Track
  Info: This is the only claim workshop I will list as there are 16 that you will naturally come across, but it is worth at least claiming them each once as there is a challenge to claim all 16 workshops for 80 Atoms.
  

3. Find Duchess' people

• Strength in Numbers (1/2)
  (Optional) Mine coal in Gauley Mine
  Head to Sutton to find the Overseer's journal, entry 2 (Personal Matters) (S)
  From Sutton follow the road to Summersville
  (Optional) Find jukeboxes to bring the music back to Summersville
  Strength in Numbers (2/2)
  

4. Crane's Treasure

• The Elusive Crane
  
• The New Arrivals (1/4)
  For now, just listen to the broadcast. We will come back to this quest at a later stage.
  

5. The Responders II

• Final Departure
  Note: Unique Weapon Somerset Special
  The highway up north will lead you to Morgantown Airport
  (Optional) Explore Morgantown Trainyard on the way and find the responder supply crates
  Find the Overseer's Log - Morgantown inside the Morgantown Airport
  Register for advanced Responder Training (Tentative Plans)
  
• Tentative Plans (S)
  Tip: You can move your Camp close by to build a Generator
  Note: (Currently Unobtainable) Unique Armour Silver Lining
  
• Safe for Work (S)
  (Optional) Event: Collision Course
  Event takes place at the east landing zone of the Morgantown Airport
  

6. Morgantown

Head south to Morgantown
Find the Overseer's journal, entry 3 inside Morgantown Highschool (Personal Matters) (S)
Find the Overseer's journal, entry 4 inside Vault-Tec University (Personal Matters) (S)
Find the "Party Poster" either at the train station or on walls around the exterior of Vault-Tec University and attend the fraternity party

• Wasted on Nukashine (S)
  Info: You will need one Nuka-Cola Quantum for this quest which you might not have at this point. The quest will mark a Nuka-Cola Quantum location on the map but it will be pretty far away. You can either fast travel there by using other players' camps or nearby events or postpone this quest until we will go to this area later.
  Completing the quest will unlock the following repeatable daily quests which will unlock different recipes for beverages whenever you complete them. Although there's no need to do them at this point.
  Tipsy Taste-Test (D)
  Wasted on Alcohol (D)
  

CHAPTER 2: THE TOXIC VALLEY

7. The Mayor

Tune into WGRF Grafton Radio (Bureau of Tourism)

• Head to Grafton and find the Overseer's Log - Grafton
  Speak to the Grafton mayor
  Go to Clarksburg and head to the Clarksburg Shooting Club
  
• Bureau of Tourism (S) (1/4)
  From there take the road northwest to "Wavy Willard's Water Park"
  
• Bureau of Tourism (S) (2/4)
  Contact Miss Annie
  
• Cold Case (S) (1/2)
  Note: Unique Weapon Perfect Storm
  you have to fast travel a bit back and forth for this quest.
  when you're sent to Grafton Dam you can put this quest on hold until a bit later.
  Head to "Black Bear Lodge"
  
• Bureau of Tourism (S) (3/4)
  Go back to Clarksburg and take the highway east
  

8. Pioneer Scouts

Go to Camp Lewis

• The Order of the Tadpole (S)
  Info: This quest sends you to many different locations in Appalachia. Isn't necessary to complete this quest to advance the main story and even impractical at this time.
  You can finish this quest as you see fit. One of them is easily doable at this point as it is close by. Finishing the questline will unlock the large backpack
  Talk to Pioneer Scout Leader Pompy at the Kiddie Corner Cabins
  

9. Solving the Puzzle

Go to Grafton Dam (south of Pioneer Scout Camp)

• Cold Case (S) (2/2)
  Go to "Prickett's Fort"
  
• Bureau of Tourism (S) (4/4)
  Note: Unique Armour Trail Warden
  Info: By now you should have run into some prison marshal Mr Handys in the toxic valley area especially around the Eastern Regional Penitentiary area if you have looted the Arrest Warrant holotapes off their body's this will begin the quest Falsely Accused.
  
• Falsely Accused (S)
  Note: Unique Weapon Civil Unrest
  Visit the Shelters Claim Center
  
• Home Expansion (S)
  

CHAPTER 3: THE ASH HEAP

10. Inoculation

Travel to Sutton to talk to the Overseer

• The New Arrivals (2/4)
  After stage 2 which requires you complete An Ounce of Prevention we will be leaving this quest a while after that even as it operates under the assumption that you have met a character from later on (Rose) and this can take a while so do not worry, we will be coming back to it.
  Take the highway south and head to Charleston
  (Optional) At "Cows Spots Creamery" you can find a note on the corpse of Amy Kerry which is needed for a later quest.
  When you arrived at Charleston explore "Hornwright Industrial HQ" (The Motherlode)
  
• The Motherlode (S)
  
• An Ounce of Prevention
  

11. The Fire Breathers

• Go to the Charleston Firestation and collect Overseer's Log - Firehouse
  
• Into the Fire
  Note: Unique Weapon Anti-Scorched training pistol
  (Optional) [Search Big Bend Tunnel for Survivors]
  (https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Search_Big_Bend_Tunnel_for_Survivors)
  (Optional) Visit the Purveyor at "The Rusty Pick". It's not recommended to buy any weapons or armour.
  

12. Personal Matters

Go to Rollins Labor Camp

• Narrow Escape (A)
  Info: This is the start of a pretty long questline revolving around an NPC, it sends you all across Appalachia, so we put this on hold after completing Narrow Escape for now until we advance towards the endgame as you will have travelled to all regions.
  You can have Allies in your camp by placing their associated item. When talking to Beckett at your camp for instance he will give you the next part of his quest.
  Head to Welch
  (Optional) Event: Battle Bot
  
• Find Overseer's journal, entry 5 (Personal Matters) (S)
  (Optional) Find Duchess's stash
  Go to Mount Blair
  
• (Optional) Claim Workshop at Mount Bair
  Learn how to activate the giant extractor
  
• Earth Mover (S)
  Info: Completing this quest requires a lot of materials and 30 minutes of defending a workshop. It's probably not worth doing at this point as you will need all the materials you can get for the next quests. I still included it here for the sake of completion. It's up to you.
  
• Find Overseer's journal, entry 6 (Personal Matters) (S)
  
• Complete Personal Matters (S)
  
• What Slept Beneath (S)
  (Optional) Event: Seismic Activity
  

13. Garrahan Mining

Head to Garrahan Mining Headquarters
Interact with the "Garrahan Mining Excavator Poster" if you haven't already to start the quest (Miner Miracles)
Discover Garrahan Mining's Innovation (Miner Miracles) * Miner Miracles (S)
You will very likely not have enough Black Titanium and Nuclear Material. Black Titanium can be obtained by scrapping Miner Suit Scrap dropped by Mole Miners, and Nuclear Material by scraping the red Volatile Materials Boxes that are laying around in many locations around the Ash Heap. Here is a list of good locations for finding both: The Rusty Pick (Rooftop) Hornwright Air Purifier Site #01 Belching Betty The Burning Mine Mount Blair Trainyard Mount Blair Welch
All those locations are marked on the map guide in yellow. You can also find a Power Armor Chassis in some of them if you still need one.
If you don't feel like looking for materials, you can postpone this quest and complete it at a later stage as it is not necessary for advancing the main story.
(Optional) Event: Breach and Clear

14. Wild Appalachia

• Lying Lowe (S)
  
• Baa Baa Black Sheep (S)
  Note: Unique “Weapon” Pearly Peepers
  
• The Lowe-Down (S)
  
• Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (S)
  Note: Unique Weapon The Fixer
  Use an assaultron recall keycard at the cabin terminal (Event: Encryptid)
  (Optional) Event: Encryptid
  

CHAPTER 4: THE SAVAGE DIVIDE

15. Order of Mysteries

Info: This questline is completely independent of the rest of the story and can be completed by itself whenever you would like to. I'm putting it here for the sake of completion and because it happens to be on the way to our next destination.
Go to "Riverside Manor"
Tip: If you haven't found the body of a young woman in a random encounter yet you can check this page and find one at those given locations.

• Into the Mystery (S)
  
• Initiate of Mysteries (S)
  Note: Unique Gear Veil of Secrets , Garb of Mysteries
  
• Novice of Mysteries (S) (1/2)
  Info: The following three quests can be completed along the way as we continue. Just activate each of them at the terminal, listen to the holotapes, search Cryptos for information, and hide them using your Pip-Boy for now.
  
• Chasing Shadows (S) (1/3)
  
• Forging a Legend (S) (1/3)
  You can already get the Swing-Analyzer from the Fabricator
  
• Prototypical Problems (S) (1/3)
  Note: Unique Gear Blade of Bastet, Voice of Set
  

16. The Whitespring Resort

Overseer's log - Mountainside
Note: The tape can be found on a makeshift table on the porch of the Mountainside Bed & Breakfast.

• Go to "Whitespring Resort"
  
• Forging a Legend (S) (2/3)
  Obtain the sword, attach the "Swing Analyzer", and kill 6 different creatures.
  Tip: Keep this sword in one of your quick-slots and just kill enemies with it as you discover a new area with different enemies. The sword just needs to deal the killing blow.
  (Optional) Kill unruly golfer feral ghouls at Whitespring
  (Optional) Collect and hold Whitespring holotapes
  
• Responders Reborn
  Tip: If you're unlucky you will get sent to Cranberry Bog in this quest as it's a random location. In that case, you can either decline and change the server to get a different location, fast travel nearby "Watoga Emergency Services" using someone's camp or finish the quest at a later stage.
  Info: Completing this quest unlocks Expeditions that are not necessarily meant to be completed at your current level so you can skip on those for now except if you really want to see the new locations I have suggested below a place/time where each expedition could make sense this is at stage 26 and 28 but these can really be done at any time. Despite the difficulty, there is no timer on those missions so you can take your time exploring.
  
• Go to "Whitespring Station”
  

17. Rose

• Tune into Top of the World Radio Signal
  
• Go to "Top of the World"
  Collect Overseer's Log - Top of the World
  
• The Missing Link (1/3)
  
• Signal Strength
  
• Flavors of Mayhem
  Note: Unique Weapon Black Diamond
  
• Key to the Past
  
• The Missing Link (2/3)
  
• Retrieve the Uplink
  

18. The Mistress of Mystery

Now you can finish up the remaining quest from the Order of Mysteries questline

• Chasing Shadows (S) (2/3)
  Obtain a HalluciGen gas canister from Garrahan Mining Headquarters if not already in possession.
  Tip: You can also complete "Miner Miracles" here if you didn't do so yet.
  
• Forging a Legend (S) (2/3)
  Kill 6 different creatures if you didn't already
  
• Prototypical Problems (S) (2/3)
  
• Novice of Mysteries (S) (2/2)
  Return to "Riverside Manor" and craft all three weapons using the Fabricator
  
• Chasing Shadows (S) (3/3)
  
• Forging a Legend (S) (3/3)
  
• Prototypical Problems (S) (3/3)
  
• Seeker of Mysteries (S)
  
• The Mistress of Mystery (S)
  Note: Unique Apparel Eye of Ra
  

19. Wastelanders

• The New Arrivals (3/4)
  At this point the quest splits off into needing to meet the leaders of the settlers and raiders hence why we waited this long as meeting rose would make sense as the overseer suggests you talk to her to help with meeting the raiders. You can do these next two quests in what order you want
  
• Here to Stay
  
• Strange Bedfellows
  
• The New Arrivals (4/4)
  
• Overseer, Overseen
  With Overseer, Overseen completed you will now have to side with either the settlers or raiders which will lock you out of rewards from the other side, make sure you want to walk the side you choose as there is no going back from this after reach a certain point, the lockout quests are called Siding with Foundation or Crater respectively
  It is suggested to do all possible faction quests without locking yourself out from the other route by passing Siding With... on either side to get yourself maximum rewards such as the Chinese stealth armor) with the settler's side of quests.
  It’s at this point that I suggest you leave this questline for now and continue the main story till the end after Event: Scorched Earth or at the very least till we get to Chapter 6 as in my mind you’d want to deal with the impending 2nd apocalypse before that could befall anyone at anytime than well anything else. At which point we will pick the quest line back up.
  

CHAPTER 5: THE MIRE

20. The Free States

• The Missing Link (3/3)
  
• Early Warnings
  Note: Unique Armour Stand Fast
  Pick up the Overseer's log - Free States
  
• An Organic Solution (S)
  Note: Unique Weapon Daisycutter
  
• Reassembly Required
  
• Coming to Fruition
  Pick up the Overseer's log - Charleston
  
• Crash Landing (A)
  Info: This is the start of a pretty long questline revolving around an NPC, it sends you all across Appalachia, so we put this on hold after completing Crash Landing for now until we advance towards the endgame as you will have travelled to all regions.
  Investigate Harpers Ferry (Tracking Unknowns)
  Investigate the gate terminal (Tracking Unknowns)
  
• Tracking Unknowns (S)
  Note: Unique Gear Pyrolyzer , Prototype hazmat suit
  Outside of Harpers Ferry two locations can be found the burrows north and/or south, head inside and a dead brotherhood member can be found nearby, grab the Burrows Mission Brief holotape to start the Waste Management quest.
  
• Waste Management (S)
  Note: Unique Weapon The Gutter (Craftable)
  (Optional) Kill a Wendigo while wearing a clown costume
  

CHAPTER 6: THE CRANBERRY BOG

21. Brotherhood of Steel

• Defiance Has Fallen
  Pick up the Overseer's log - Camp Venture
  
• Forbidden Knowledge) (R)
  You most likely would have picked up some Technical Data if you have been looting as you have gone along, this quest has the use for that and can give you some nice rewards.
  
• Recruitment Blues (1/2)
  When you can’t progress because you need “basic training” you will need to start the Back to Basic quest to continue
  Pick up the Overseer's log - Allegheny
  Start your training at Camp McClintock
  
• Back to Basic
  Pick up the Overseer's log - McClintock
  
• Recruitment Blues (2/2)
  Pick up the Overseer's log - Fort Defiance
  
• Belly of the Beast
  Investigate Watoga (Mayor for a Day)
  Reach the Mayor's Office (Mayor for a Day)
  
• Mayor for a Day (S)
  Note: Unique Weapon All Rise
  Note: Completion of this quest will allow the player character to move more freely through the town of Watoga without being attacked by the robots.
  (Optional) Clear out Watoga Civic Center
  (Optional) Investigate the Emergency Services Building
  (Optional) Clear out Watoga Emergency Services
  
• Breaking Radio Silence (S)
  
• Welcome to the Neighbourhood
  Info: This will begin the steel dawn questline this can be completed at its own pace as it is a self-contained story, but I will suggest waiting till after completing the main story I will put it where I believe is good but as mentioned it is self-contained.
  

22. Enclave

• Uncle Sam
  
• Bunker Buster
  
• One of Us
  Note: Unique Weapon Bunker Buster)
  
• Officer on Deck
  Note: Unique Armour Last Bastion
  
• I Am Become Death
  Pick up the Overseer's log - Site Alpha, Bravo or Charlie
  Info: Alpha, Bravo and Charlie all have unique logs I have just put them all as one for brevity's sake Pick up the Overseer's log - Nuke launch
  
• Death from Above! (S)
  
• Event: Scorched Earth
  

Hit the 40000 Limit
PART 2 : https://www.reddit.com/fo76/comments/1cii3pd/finding_your_way_in_appalachia_the_definitive/

Hey everyone! Somewhat recently there was a video posted by Salubrious Snail where he talks about power levels in EDH. In the last half of the video, he talks about a pod he had in college and the decks that they used. A pool of hyper refined budget decks, meant to be played only against other decks in the pool, and were very competitive in nature.
This part of the video scratched an itch for me, the concept really addressing my current desires with my EDH pod. A form of casual competitive EDH with limitations on deck building. This deck (list here) is my first attempt at building a deck for this pool. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated along with any other commanders that could be a good fit!

Guidelines

• Avoid over prioritizing commander synergy.
• Budget will be kept to $45-$60 using Moxfield's built in calculator.
• Decks are built to be played against other decks in the pool.

It's a pretty loose set of rules but one I think covers a lot. I, and most of my pod, have often fallen into the deck building trap building entirely around the synergy of the commander. But this can commonly be shut down with interaction spells leading to them seeming too strong. These decks will have a good number of interaction spells so balls of pure synergy just won't work well.
The point of a budget in this ruleset is to not have a measure of affordability but rather a form of standardization. We know that a higher budget doesn't immediately mean a deck is better, $2,000 of land in a precon doesn't do too much, but it can feel like more expensive cards are better. This budget gives us a lower floor, we aren't trying to make the cheapest deck possible, and the higher end will mean that other cards will need to be looked at outside of the usual staples.
With all the discussion and guidelines set, let's introduce the first commander [[Zoyowa Lava-Tongue]]

The Commander

I picked this goblin warlock as the first commander for a couple of reasons:

• His ability is low investment and low reward, so I will be less tempted to over focus synergy.
• I'm familiar with Mid Range Rakdos in Standard in Pioneer and I wanted to draw on that for inspiration.
• He's just a lil cutie.

The important keyword here is Descend which will trigger his ability once on our end step, if a permanent has gone into our graveyard on our turn. This encourages discard over sacrifice, but not milling or dumping our hands into the library every turn. Ideally, we want permanents on board that do things, and get some bonus value when we discard a permanent.
Decklist here: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/o4\_tKemsg0KBLcrlJmkUng

Notable Inclusions

We picked up most of the 2 mana "discard a card, draw two" spells: [[Tormenting Voice]] [[Thrill of Possibility]] [[Demand Answers]] [[Highway Robbery]]. [[Bitter Reunion]] is a stand out for being two descend triggers.
I've been a big fan of the evoke cards [[Shriekmaw]] and [[Ingot Chewer]]. I wish more cards with this keyword had a home in the deck. In the same vein [[Oliphaunt]] and [[Troll of Khazad-dûm]] are the our cycling creatures just because they're more efficient then other options.
Surveil surprised me as a keyword, it's not one I really paid attention to before and a number of cards fit really well here [[Dogged Detective]] [[Sanguine Spy]] [[Unshakeable Tail]]. This keyword almost trapped me and I've removed a lot of surveil cards in editing.
[[Undead Gladiator]] is one of my favorites in this deck. He gives a descend trigger to draw, one to return to hand, and he's a useful body on board.
[[Brass's Tunnel Grinder]], [[Enterprising Scallywag]], and [[Molten Collapse]] are the only other cards in the descend package to make it.
[[ Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger]] Is the most expensive card in the deck.

Notable Exclusions

Sacrifice as a theme didn't make the cut. There's potentially a way to make it work but I felt like I was sacrificing (heh) too much of the deck identity to reliably get descend triggers off. [[Braids, Arisen Nightmare]] [[Mayhem Devil]] [[Fleshbag Maruder]] [[Plaguecrafter]] all required too much in deck building. Other cards like [[Reassembling Skeleton]] and [[Squee, Goblin Nabob]] didn't do enough. The deck can't afford cards that only exist as discard/sac outlets.
That's the biggest one, it felt like a lot because I kept getting tempted to dive into sacrifice.

Thoughts

This was a fun challenge and I'm excited for the rest. I definitely found myself focusing too much on descend at times and even now the spell list is probably still lacking because I'm worried about trading out permanents.
Thank you to whoever made it this far, hopefully I will see you again for part two!